Tales from today's commute....

[All uphill]

This.

I work on the assumption that all PCV / commercial vehicles now have dashcams so if I have an issue with one under any circumstances, report the reg, time and location to the company in question; requesting that they review dashcam footage and tell me whether they consider this acceptable conduct.

I reported a bus driver two years ago for aggressive driving and was disappointed to see him still behind the wheel in the next few weeks.

He still scowls at me all this time later so maybe his employer took action with him.

 

[Arjimlad]

Just a lovely day to be riding to work.

 

[markharry66]

Another lovely morning suns out, as were all the idiots, three point turn prick was out this morning, watched him wait for all the cars to pass and soon as he saw the bike time for him to start his manoeuvre stopping me dead in the road. As I passed I did my manoeuvre with two fingers and shouted through his window. Funny he seemed less than impressed as was I.

 

[fossyant]

Lovely ride, even got let out, to cross a main junction, by a truck driver. Nice temperature, but it's going to be sticky later.

 

[ianrauk]

Phew, its a warm one out there this morning and it's only going to get hotter. Should pop 30° by this afternoon here in Londinium.

 

[biking_fox]

Weird flat tyre when I got to the bike last night. No obvious hole. I think the hot temps had allowed at least one of the multiple patches to unglue slightly. replaced with a new tube.

Took the SS in on the roads today, fine riding apart form one roadwork'd junction which is going to cause chaos. I'll find a better way home.

 

[wafter]

The stage was set last night for a miserable ride home; after a crap day at work for various reasons I discovered that the battery was inexplicibly utterly flat in my MP3 player so no tunes. Worse, two miles into the extended ride the back tyre felt decidedly bouncy; upon stopping I found it bereft of sealant after weeks of a slow leak I / the sealant had been unable to sort.

Another kick in the nuts and probably the death of the protracted tubeless experiment (at least with these tyres) but not the end of the world and mildly reassuring that I'd been pragmatic enough to ensure I had all the gear required to resolve the situation. Up-ended the bike on the grass and spent a measured half hour cleaning the area up and fitting a tube; surrounded by young people enjoying the sun which made me feel quite isolated and once more miserable that I don't have the luxury of living so close that I can do the same.

I pressed onward to the rings; the searing heat and scant appointment of folks in the park pushing me to remove my base layer. The work was tough on account of the temperature, my general tiredness and decidedly defeatest attitude, however once back on the bike after a bit of a stretch I felt a lot better so headed back into town for a non-alcoholic beverage and water bottle refill at the White Horse. From there it was a relaxed saunter back to the car; the post-exercise endorphines and cooling temperature refreshing my memory as to the value of just appreciating what you have in the moment.

Between the extended ride, puncture repair, rings, beverage stop and much bramble-harassment on the way back I didn't get home until gone-half-nine; however this was infinitely preferable to sitting inert in my stifling room trying to distract myself from the prevailing misery of it all.


This morning exhaustion made everything late, however a tailwind and surprising amount of energy (probably thanks to lots of questionable food yesterday) made for a swift and pleasant journey in the sun, allowing the usual route / stops whilst still just about arriving on time

 

[wafter]

Post-pub last night I took a meandering route in the coolish night air to the other side of the city to have a quick unofficial shufti at a flat.

As usual the knobhead agents had listed the location as about half a mile away from where it actually was, and I'd almost given up mincing round the streets looking when I stumbled up it. Turned out to be a total hole so the misery continues...

Back into town and by the time I'd hit the tow path it was pretty dark; the front light just enough to see where I was going with the reasonable assurance from previous work that I'd not encounter any surprise brambles. The tow path itself was pleasant with fairy lights on a lot of the boats and their inhabitants standing around socialising.

All that pretty much doubled the distance home for another evening 14-miler; meaning about 44 miles for the two days of the week.


This morning I was out on time having been wrenched reluctantly back to consciousness an hour early by my bladder. It was gloriously sunny and I stopped in quite a few places to trim brambles. At one point the inevitable happened and one fought back; striking from above and resulting in the need to remove a 3ft long piece that had anchored itself to my base layer down my back / to the hair on the back of my head... thankfully I managed to remove it with no apparent damage to myself or gear by remaining calm and gently tugging at it; although at one point i did think I might need to seek assistance from a grown-up.

A bit further on the swans were seeking to dominate the path again; my cheery "morning" as I passed eliciting an attempt to bite my leg... a lucky escape I feel as we all know the wings of swans are so strong that they can take a man's head clean off with one swipe.

A quick stop at the bars for a solitary pull up and dead-hang; made less fun by my freshly-dressed callouses and sweaty hands.

On to the butchers but no sausages today as I could really do with a fast.. we'll see how that goes. Thankfully I think that's all as I'm even starting to bore myself...


Oh, in other news I've just noticed that by the somewhat-arbitrary-and-not-super-accurate method I use, the Brompton has now saved me £500 in fuel costs

 

[Alex321]

Oh, in other news I've just noticed that by the somewhat-arbitrary-and-not-super-accurate method I use, the Brompton has now saved me £500 in fuel costs

Strava is showing 115 matched rides on my commute to work (I only come into the office twice a week).

Each commute round trip if I drive is going to use approximately 3 litres of diesel, which has probably averaged about £1.55 per litre for the time I have been doing it. So that is about £720 in fuel costs saved.

Nice commute in this morning, in pleasant weather without much traffic. Nothing significant to report.

 

[fossyant]

Steady ride in this morning - going to be warm later. Dodgy bike/motorbike is still in the pedal bike shelter.

 

[wafter]

Strava is showing 115 matched rides on my commute to work (I only come into the office twice a week).

Each commute round trip if I drive is going to use approximately 3 litres of diesel, which has probably averaged about £1.55 per litre for the time I have been doing it. So that is about £720 in fuel costs saved.

Nice commute in this morning, in pleasant weather without much traffic. Nothing significant to report.

Good work - how many miles are you cycling if it's saving three litres of Diesel a pop?

Steady ride in this morning - going to be warm later. Dodgy bike/motorbike is still in the pedal bike shelter.

Have you raised the issue of the bike from a fire risk / liability / negligence perspective? Might get things moving other than simply "oh noes, it's illegal"...

 

[PedallingNowhereSlowly]

Yesterday's 'faux commute' started at 16:45. I had planned to join a tri club track session in the evening, so first port of call was the athletics track to see what cycle parking was like. Suffice to say, there's lots of car parking provided - enough for fifty or sixty vehicles, but only six cycle spaces using a rack with a terrible design. Fortunately I'd taken a longer, but less good D-lock with me was just long enough to reach the main triangle. I had to settle for using the good D-lock on the front wheel. I used the bike's integrated lock to 'secure' the rear wheel.

Having got the lay of the land, I continued on my way, planning another 15 km or so. Reached a traffic light at a box junction on a two lane piece of road. They changed to yellow on approach and would clearly be red before I reached the stop line, so I slowed down ... only to have the driver of the minibus shoot past me - practically through me - so they could blast through the stop line with a red signal.
Further along the same road, I got a mouthful of abuse in an eastern european accent from a driver who had the luxury of an entire lane to safely pass. I filtered past the driver at the next set of lights. On the next stretch, they passed me again - this time gunning the engine and moving into the left lane, N.B the space I was occupying.

I caught the driver in traffic, yet again. When they took the next turn onto a residential street, I took the left turn too - I thought I'd do a ride by - just to demonstrate that his anger/aggressive driving was not justified. I was confronted after turning around. Needless to say the driver launched into a diatribe and behaved in an abusive and threatening way. I retained my composure - and calmly called the police. Thankfully, at this point the driver desisted.

I know, I should have left well alone and not given that driver another opportunity - but honestly, I don't take well to being threatened with a motor vehicle or verbally and I don't see why anyone should have to tolerate that for merely riding a bike.

I think this individual was causing conflict because they were spoiling for a fight. He had the rage and there was no reasoning at all what-so-ever.

I'm going to concede to previously given advice and buy a camera. And stick to quietly reporting these idiots whilst avoiding confrontation.

 

[Arjimlad]

We arose with the 0645 alarm as usual but on getting downstairs it was actually 0720. Something had gone wrong, maybe a power cut. Still managed the usual ten mile route though.

Not much traffic about.

The Wales and West Utilities driver has been reported to police and employer. Didn't let it spoil the ride.

Bizarre when the little blue car passed with so much space.

 

[Alex321]

Good work - how many miles are you cycling if it's saving three litres of Diesel a pop?

15.3 miles each way, so a little over 30 miles round trip. The way I go by car is another mile or so, but much faster roads.

 

[Maylian]

We arose with the 0645 alarm as usual but on getting downstairs it was actually 0720. Something had gone wrong, maybe a power cut. Still managed the usual ten mile route though.

Not much traffic about.

The Wales and West Utilities driver has been reported to police and employer. Didn't let it spoil the ride.

Bizarre when the little blue car passed with so much space.

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I used to work with/for WWU and I'd expect them to take this seriously and hopefully give you a decent response. Not sure if your camera (what do you use by the way?) is making that look more of a blind hill than it actually is?