Tales from today's commute....

[BSRU]

Last night some complete muppet cyclist decided that the traffic was not quite going fast enough.
Just as I am about to turn left, he undertakes me but instead of staying on the road he uses the drop kerb to go onto the pavement.
He then rides along the pavement at high speed and jumps back onto the road, his crass manoeuvre gaining him a massive two places, me and the car in front of me
A bad combination, in a mad rush and completely selfish .

 

[Mark Tobin]

oh it was a cold one,-2 i think, cars covered in frost/ice, however left the Alfa at home. I'm really lucky though, I've got a gorgeous route for commuting, all quiet back roads, no real traffic as they all use the main road which runs beside the old road, & nice countryside. One BMW driver who I'd have to admit came a bit closer to me than I'd have liked as he drove past, but apart from that all quiet, its times like this I'm really glad I moved out of Dublin! About 9.4km this morning, the last couple of km are quite hilly in places, but there's a huge amount of satisfaction knowning I've put the effort in & cycled to work.

 

[Melonfish]

100 from mankychester to warrington almost had me off last night.
having just joined the a57 from liverpool road in caddishead i was heading towards the lights when the sod shot past me so close i almost had an accident in my padded shorts.
it was without doubt the closest pass i have ever had.
i fortunately had the room to swerve as he passed, i was in the gutter, the bit that looks like a cycle lane but isn't but i was lucky not to come off.
he pulled up at the lights to turn right and i've never sworn so much in all my life i pointed right at him and shouted he was a total idiot! which got lots of smiles from the passengers.
naturally i totally failed to get the reg i was that freaked out and i don't run a cam.
lessons learned i'm getting a couple of gopro's whenever things like this happen i'm concentrating too much on the road to take licences.

 

[Harry_Palmer79]

For one reason or another it was my first time on the bike in nearly a week today. I thought I must be mad as sleet started to fall as I left the house, but it's just cold rain really and it had stopped after a few minutes, so then it was just cold!

Otherwise a fairly uneventful ride in and looking forward to the return leg (in spite of feeling a bit sniffly - I guess I'll just need to MTFU as they say?!)

 

[Arjimlad]

it was without doubt the closest pass i have ever had.
i fortunately had the room to swerve as he passed, i was in the gutter, the bit that looks like a cycle lane but isn't but i was lucky not to come off.
he pulled up at the lights to turn right and i've never sworn so much in all my life i pointed right at him and shouted he was a total idiot! which got lots of smiles from the passengers.
naturally i totally failed to get the reg i was that freaked out and i don't run a cam.
lessons learned i'm getting a couple of gopro's whenever things like this happen i'm concentrating too much on the road to take licences.

Ouch... but good reaction.

 

[Arjimlad]

A pal accompanied me on my ride to work today as he is in training to cycle from South Glos to Lindisfarne. We did 16 miles mainly along quiet country roads, with the frosty fields and Severn Bridge as views. With some tasty climbs and fast descents built in, it was a great start to the day and I have found yet another interesting route to work.

 

[chqshaitan]

100 from mankychester to warrington almost had me off last night.
having just joined the a57 from liverpool road in caddishead i was heading towards the lights when the sod shot past me so close i almost had an accident in my padded shorts.
it was without doubt the closest pass i have ever had.
i fortunately had the room to swerve as he passed, i was in the gutter, the bit that looks like a cycle lane but isn't but i was lucky not to come off.
he pulled up at the lights to turn right and i've never sworn so much in all my life i pointed right at him and shouted he was a total idiot! which got lots of smiles from the passengers.
naturally i totally failed to get the reg i was that freaked out and i don't run a cam.
lessons learned i'm getting a couple of gopro's whenever things like this happen i'm concentrating too much on the road to take licences.

Damn, that sucks bud, glad you are okay, that is the main thing.

 

[Glow worm]

A nice, incident free, sunny ride in this morning. No close passes, no dodgy pulling out in front of me, no idiot beeping & pointing to the useless cycle farcility adjacent to the road- wish it could be like today more often. Maybe my new CC top put them off!

I am finding my winter tyres quite hard work now and am looking forward to switching them once (or if) the weather warms up a tad.

 

[Kookas]

Bit of student slalom today after two girls decided they'd step out into the middle of the road to try to cross as I was doing about 25mph. Terrified the hell out of me.

On that note, I've got some SwissStop Greens in the post. Can't wait to have some decent stopping power.

 

[kevin_cambs_uk]

Coming home today, dry roads, sunlight, warm temperature, little wind. I thought I was dreaming.
The ride home was idyllic, made me realise why I kept going thru all he crap weather, the warmth today made my legs get right into it and the ride home was no effort at all.
It was topped off perfectly by the wafting smell from the fish and chip shop as I dreamily cycled thru St Ives.

 

[Matthew_T]

Scalped a guy going up a hill today. However, it didnt really go to plan. I was planning on cycling past him on the hill however just as we arrived at it, he stopped and got off. I still count it as a scalp though.
Had quite a few patient and impatient people today. 2 lorries and a bus that waited patiently for me to pass cars/go through pinch points.
Had one guy point to the left at a pinch point and another who nearly drove into the back of me. Also had a woman who started signalling left on the approach to a mini roundabout and then started to overtake me. She got a death stare and then I muttered to myself how pointless it would be to do it.

 

[sheffgirl]

Coming home today, dry roads, sunlight, warm temperature, little wind. I thought I was dreaming.
The ride home was idyllic, made me realise why I kept going thru all he crap weather, the warmth today made my legs get right into it and the ride home was no effort at all.
It was topped off perfectly by the wafting smell from the fish and chip shop as I dreamily cycled thru St Ives.

My ride home is punctuated by the smell of sweets (Cadbury Basset factory) and the nice smells from the bakery I ride past. It differs depending on what they are making, but at the moment it is liquorice allsorts and hot cross buns

 

[Supersuperleeds]

A nice, incident free, sunny ride in this morning. No close passes, no dodgy pulling out in front of me, no idiot beeping & pointing to the useless cycle farcility adjacent to the road- wish it could be like today more often. Maybe my new CC top put them off!

I am finding my winter tyres quite hard work now and am looking forward to switching them once (or if) the weather warms up a tad.

x2 re the winter tyres, hoping to hit 200 miles on them this week and my legs really felt it tonight

 

[HLaB]

A beautiful crisp clear commute this morn, I awoke a wee bit early took one look out of the window at the and immediately got up It was a bit nippy at first but there was no wind and I headed to a road which I knew would be untreated but it had been dry so I could avoid the frozen patches and by the time I got to the office, it had warmed up nicely; its just a pity I had to work. Then I remembered I had a site visit to make, my line manager had sent me an email asking me to drive out but there was no way I was driving and he was off
Unfortunately I felt something niggling the roof of my mouth and in case it headed for my throat I decided to take the short easy route this evening. The only thing I can remember was a muppet taxi driver, who rather than waiting behind me a red light thought he'd crawl up beside me even if that meant he was on the wrong side of the road; I had great delight when the junction snarled up and I just cut through Doubly nice when he did catch up as I was being held up by traffic and he couldn't overtake. And tripply nice when he could overtake he seemed to give me respect, with a nice overtake

 

[potsy]

Tonight's inward commute was mainly 10 miles of cold drizzly
Was meant to be having a car day too, still, on the plus side my gear has 8 hours to dry out ready to get wet again going home