Tales from today's commute....

[BSRU]

What a good day, 4000km reached and according to MCL 1 tonne of CO2 saved, now with the added bonus of receiving my C2W voucher .
Most importantly perfect cycling weather, now wind, not too hot or cold and lovely sunshine(although still a little low early in the morning).

 

[Beebo]

Lovely morning for bimbling through south east london with out a care in the world.
Decided to get some sunshine on my head so left the helmet and cap at home.

 

[BSRU]

Some evil SCR this morning, guy joined the road I was on and I could see he was giving it some beans to catch me up.
I watched as he slowly got closer and closer, he was probably thinking it was in the bag.
Then I reached the end of warm up, stuck it on the big ring and sped away

 

[fossyant]

Pleasant start. Bumped into a mate who was on his new bike. Planet X Nano, full Sram RED and RS 80 wheels. Bought it off a mate who had ridden it twice for £1k... I need a mate like that...

Half way into town, turning onto the A34 a woman in a focus tried to left hook me to take the left exit. I glare at her and shout. Out comes a load of fowl mouthed abuse, so this gave me a good opportunity to reply through the open window "learn how to drive you fat cow". Cutting insult of the day delivered. She was old, fat and ugly so I was only being accurate.

Swift ride into Manchester with most of the lights in my favour. Told one guy in his car to get out of the cycle lane, as I passed him on the right.

 

[Leodis]

Pretty much knackered today with a slight headwind zapping any energy left in my legs, past a couple of fair weather commuters, I just didnt have the legs and as they sped past me I thought... Meh.

I think I need a road bike... wait til I get down to 11.5 stone when lycra doesnt make me look but . Was looking at Halfords pinarello collection.. hmmm...pinarello. Though will end up with a Ribble trainer no doubt.

 

[Frood42]

Lovely commute yesterday afternoon and this morning, the weather has just been great.

Not even the little too close bus driver runied the mood, the majority of bus drivers are normally courteous, so this one got a hard mans stare (well my best impression) and a shake of the head (as I passed him not that long after he overtook me, he was already looking out his window at me and seemed to be expecting my non-approval, so I couldn't really not give it ).

This did seem a little daft to me
This road/tunnel http://goo.gl/maps/TTe9p is always a massive choke point for traffic, when the light is red I normally sit behind the first car, in a position where the driver behind in the second car can see me clearly. However a cyclist goes past me, sits in front of the first car, which is already a little over the white line (a failed attempt to set the sensor off, I think), I thought for a minute the cyclist wasn't going to stop and was instead going to carry on through the tunnel and grab his Darwin award part way through!

 

[HLaB]

A glorius sunny morning which you think might encourage some out of their cars, 'No'. I took a route out that fortunately took me quickly away from the congestion, over the A1 and into the countryside. I then cut down Bullock Road and over Morborne Hill Bump on the fixie and then down towards the delightful vilage of Folkworth. I then cut back over the A1 and this is where the congestion started again. I wasn't really in the mood for close passes so for the first time I opted for the farcility alongside the A15. I then cut away was the heavy traffic into Yaxley/Farcet, through to Fletton (South Peterborough) thats when the heavy congestion started once more and this time even more congestested (why do these idiot less than a mile from the city centre insist on driving on such a glorius day). Faced with the jams I cut through Bridge Street at near walking pace before the ban (No Cycling 9am-6pm) and through the Cathedral courtyard to work. I probably cycled 18.5miles in the same time it took some of the cars I passed 5miles and more impotantly had a fantastic time

 

[clarion]

I set off a bit (well, an hour) later than usual, so there were ridiculously long, schoolrun-enhanced, queues of jousting motor traffic all the way to Tooting, but then it was clearer.

I've remembered some of the thinks I like about commuting. But this morning really pointed up what puts me off even more than the sheer tedium of London's streets: Motor traffic. I just get weary of having to watch out for incompetent imbeciles constantly, and expecting moronic activity on every single ride.

 

[Glow worm]

Faced with the jams I cut through Bridge Street at near walking pace before the ban (No Cycling 9am-6pm) and through the Cathedral courtyard to work.

I wish there was a way for cyclists to get past that barrier in the courtyard without having to ride on the pavement (which I would never do of course ). Just a 3 foot gap would do it.

 

[HLaB]

I wish there was a way for cyclists to get past that barrier in the courtyard without having to ride on the pavement (which I would never do of course ). Just a 3 foot gap would do it.

There is, I always go to the left and unclip one foot. That easier coming from the town than to it however

 

[Glow worm]

There is, I always go to the left and unclip one foot. That easier coming from the town than to it however

Good call- I'll have a go next week when I visit my work's Peterborough office.

 

[MisterStan]

Another lovely morning run in to work. Claimed a few scalps along the Busway. Traffic light in Cambridge, lots of runners out this morning.

 

[Twilkes]

I normally get home just after 6, but tonight I'm not meeting someone until 6.30. So I've challenged myself to cycle home at 2/3 my normal speed. I honestly don't think I can manage it......

Well that was difficult. If I changed to an easier gear, my legs were moving too fast with no resistance, and it felt like I had an itch I couldn't scratch. But change to a harder gear and my cadence crept up to its normal level, meaning I was going at normal speed. So I don't think it's actually technically possible for a bicycle to go slowly.

But I did find that if I eased away from Really Making An Effort just a little bit, then my legs and lungs were in much better shape at the end, and it probably only added a few minutes to an hour journey. A bit like in a car, where there's a noticeable increase in engine effort from 70mph to 80mph, but in an hour's journey it would only save you 7 minutes, if that. Granted it would allow you to squeeze in an extra episode of Pingu, but really, what's the point?

 

[jarlrmai]

hello wind I didn't really miss you.

Riding at a low heart rate is a good training exercise.

 

[potsy]

Light tailwind into work, much stronger headwind by the time I came home

Had a middle aged woman on a shopping bike pass me as I was stopped at some red lights, I said 'red light' to her as she made her way into the middle of the junction waiting for a gap in the now crossing traffic.
She then carried on so I said it again slightly louder, 2 seconds later the lights turn green and I'm past her in an instant shaking my head as I go