Tales from today's commute....

[ianrauk]

So glad I no longer have to rely on trains to get into work, for what you pay they are an absolute rip off.

It's the way that it is. It's the payoff with having a nice house in a very nice place. I pay £350 a month for a train season ticket which is a lot but being a gold card means I can use the ticket outside of commuting and also get good discounts on other train fares. If a train is cancelled or late by more then half an hour then I'm refunded that fare direct into my bank account. But the trains are more often then not on time, reliable and clean. Staff are great too and never really busy.
This mornings commute in, on the big boys bike for the 27 mile ride home in the sunshine later today.

 

[HLaB]

A quiet Commute to the Station with a lot of patient drivers. The most notable thing was the wind has changed again and it was a stiff and fresh headwind all the way. After diving through the 20mph zone and up the hill with a patient driver behind me. My legs almost died for the descent, they still would overtake despite it being wide (I actually want them to overtake there and trigger the traffic lights at the bottom).

I'm debating a longer ride tonight but it'll be straight into that headwind for 18miles 🤔

Oh jolly, we've got two minutes out of the station and ground to a halt!

Eventually we u'turned (Train Style) to Peterborough just missed one train because the doors stayed locked for 5mins. After that we got the next one which was delayed for 'operational reasons '. We are finally moving.

 

[HLaB]

But the trains are more often then not on time, reliable and clean. Staff are great too and never really busy.

I was with you right up to that point after 10 stationary minutes the train driver announced he has to set back, whatever that means. He just passed I think we are driving back to Peterborough.

This train is empty but some of them can be very busy, especially when something goes wrong.

The trains are OK but I wouldn't describe them as clean.

The advantage though of being on a popular train route is that the prices are relatively low. £26 return twice a week for me and I'm not paying Hertfordshire house prices. (It goes down to £21 if I get off the train early and cycle the last 11miles but I haven't did that since before Christmas).

 

[cyberknight]

It's the way that it is. It's the payoff with having a nice house in a very nice place. I pay £350 a month for a train season ticket which is a lot but being a gold card means I can use the ticket outside of commuting and also get good discounts on other train fares. If a train is cancelled or late by more then half an hour then I'm refunded that fare direct into my bank account. But the trains are more often then not on time, reliable and clean. Staff are great too and never really busy.
This mornings commute in, on the big boys bike for the 27 mile ride home in the sunshine later today.
View attachment 767789

your train ticket is more than my mortgage

 

[ianrauk]

your train ticket is more than my mortgage

Well, luckily my mortgage is paid off otherwise It would be a bit of a struggle.

 

[biking_fox]

Nothing special to report just a glorious week of sunshine riding. Not so keen on the wind, especially the morning chill, but you can't have everything. A mix of the faithful commuter and the roadie SS. If only I didn't have to stop riding and work all day.

 

[ianrauk]

I was with you right up to that point after 10 stationary minutes the train driver announced he has to set back, whatever that means. He just passed I think we are driving back to Peterborough.

This train is empty but some of them can be very busy, especially when something goes wrong.

The trains are OK but I wouldn't describe them as clean.

The advantage though of being on a popular train route is that the prices are relatively low. £26 return twice a week for me and I'm not paying Hertfordshire house prices. (It goes down to £21 if I get off the train early and cycle the last 11miles but I haven't did that since before Christmas).

Yep, have had the busy train experience a few times. But if a problem like I had Wednesday, I can either just cycle all the way, to another station or get another train to elsewhere then cycle. One of the bonus' of living in the South East and having a pretty good rail network.
Worse comes to the worse, if the trains are buggered any morning I can work from home.

Luckily it seems that Southeastern Train Company must pay their cleaners well as the train I was on this morning was spotless.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

What a fabulous week to commute.

Last night a particular highlight with the first work "club" outing on the way home.

35 miles, 900m climbing, nearly got blown over on the tops, glorious sunshine, lots of lambs and a very nice pint to boot.

 

[cyberknight]

Well, luckily my mortgage is paid off otherwise It would be a bit of a struggle.

with the bank crash 2008 ? i had to start mine from scratch again

 

[ianrauk]

with the bank crash 2008 ? i had to start mine from scratch again

Sorry to hear that.

 

[HLaB]

Yep, have had the busy train experience a few times. But if a problem like I had Wednesday, I can either just cycle all the way, to another station or get another train to elsewhere then cycle. One of the bonus' of living in the South East and having a pretty good rail network.
Worse comes to the worse, if the trains are buggered any morning I can work from home.

Luckily it seems that Southeastern Train Company must pay their cleaners well as the train I was on this morning was spotless.

It's a bit too far of a cycle for me for a commute, timewise at least. It's something like 69miles one way.

 

[blackrat]

What a fabulous week to commute.

Last night a particular highlight with the first work "club" outing on the way home.

35 miles, 900m climbing, nearly got blown over on the tops, glorious sunshine, lots of lambs and a very nice pint to boot.

View attachment 767801

Marvelous! It is envy that I am.

 

[ianrauk]

It's a bit too far of a cycle for me for a commute, timewise at least. It's something like 69miles one way.

Yep, way too far. It's 27 for me. So very doable. I've done it 4 times since I moved here in October. Now the weather is much kinder I'll be doing it more often.

 

[HLaB]

Yep, way too far. It's 27 for me. So very doable. I've done it 4 times since I moved here in October. Now the weather is much kinder I'll be doing it more often.

Mitigated the train to a degree tonight, by only taking the train between 3 stations.
There was alot of headwind though, especially for the 2nd leg when the wind had finished switching to a NNE.

 

[tinywheels]

wish I was home