Tales from today's commute....

[Linford]

Here is a story about my commute today @User1314
I've not ridden since Monday due to various commitments so I decided to commute in this morning (about 6 miles) and take in an extended ride this evening after work (maybe another 20-25 miles time dependent)
Anyway, stopped at the newsagents after about 1 mile, taking it nice and steady to warm up properly for a couple. I then ride out onto a main road and about 100 metres up from there, this guy comes flying past me on a roadie with a cheery 'Hello' and with legs spinning like a windmill in a gale, he blasts on and gets about 50 -70 metres in front and I'm thinking jeez, there are some fast commuters out there! Anyway, he turns in the direction I'm going, and I follow him at a distance for about a mile, and then think 'I'm actually beginning to catch him. We turn onto another long straight road which is about 3/4 mile from a barrier controlled level crossing, I catch him up and then pass him 200 metres before the crossing and I exclaim 'the barrier is down'.
Now there are only 2 properties before this crossing point and I know both owners of the properties as they keep horses there, they are just horse yards, not dwellings (as we keep horses, we get to know everyone else), so he has no business going into either. I stop at the barrier and there is a guy on a MTB on the far side waiting and I say hello to him. This guy on the roadie who dropped me further back and who I am now waiting to join me at the barrier just vanishes into the ether (or one of the driveways) as I guess he doesn't want to follow or pass and stay in front of me for the next few miles (lol).
Now I am only a month back in so still got a good way to go and realistically only will go at a pace I'm happy with, but I did think it funny that he burned himself out trying to show off

 

[Beebo]

It was very foggy in Kent this morning, and this wasnt helped by the fact that my glasses kept steaming up. Glad I have good lights, but plenty of cars and bikes didnt.
BBC news are reporting a massive pile up in Sheppy due to the fog, stay safe cyclechatters!!

 

[BSRU]

Here is a story about my commute today @User1314
I've not ridden since Monday due to various commitments so I decided to commute in this morning (about 6 miles) and take in an extended ride this evening after work (maybe another 20-25 miles time dependent)
Anyway, stopped at the newsagents after about 1 mile, taking it nice and steady to warm up properly for a couple. I then ride out onto a main road and about 100 metres up from there, this guy comes flying past me on a roadie with a cheery 'Hello' and with legs spinning like a windmill in a gale, he blasts on and gets about 50 -70 metres in front and I'm thinking jeez, there are some fast commuters out there! Anyway, he turns in the direction I'm going, and I follow him at a distance for about a mile, and then think 'I'm actually beginning to catch him. We turn onto another long straight road which is about 3/4 mile from a barrier controlled level crossing, I catch him up and then pass him 200 metres before the crossing and I exclaim 'the barrier is down'.
Now there are only 2 properties before this crossing point and I know both owners of the properties as they keep horses there, they are just horse yards, not dwellings (as we keep horses, we get to know everyone else), so he has no business going into either. I stop at the barrier and there is a guy on a MTB on the far side waiting and I say hello to him. This guy on the roadie who dropped me further back and who I am now waiting to join me at the barrier just vanishes into the ether (or one of the driveways) as I guess he doesn't want to follow or pass and stay in front of me for the next few miles (lol).
Now I am only a month back in so still got a good way to go and realistically only will go at a pace I'm happy with, but I did think it funny that he burned himself out trying to show off

School boy error, should have just pulled over and pretended to answer his mobile

 

[MisterStan]

Heavy traffic all the 11 miles to work this morning. Got a couple of half mile clear patches, that's all. Makes you wonder why folk are happy to just sit there stuck ?

I commented to @martinclive this morning that i'd missed having all the traffic to whiz past!

 

[Linford]

School boy error, should have just pulled over and pretended to answer his mobile

I'll have to remember that one

 

[glenn forger]

It was very foggy in Kent this morning, and this wasnt helped by the fact that my glasses kept steaming up. Glad I have good lights, but plenty of cars and bikes didnt.
BBC news are reporting a massive pile up in Sheppy due to the fog, stay safe cyclechatters!!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...y-conditions-New-Sheppey-Crossing-bridge.html

 

[Frood42]

Very, very foggy this morning, but it made the cycle through the country roads nice.
There was also a rather chilly wind blowing, so with my heavy hot breathing and the chilly wind my glasses were a bit useless, needed window wipers on them, and add the fog on, it made the ride more interesting.

Despite the fog it was still a lovely commute, most drivers had their lights on, and I got loads more room than I would normally from passing traffic (so my lights must have been visible).

It was an exhilirating and yet scary ride at the same time, but I enjoyed it.

Never cycled that far in fog before, so very different.

Still foggy here depsite the sun being out.
I hope this pea soup clears up a bit before I head home, as I was hoping to detour along the Lee Valley Way, but I have some fast road stretches to negotiate from Ilford up to Stratford and then Bow before I can join onto the canal path.

The Lee Valley Way is lovely for cycling, but there are parts which can get a bit muddy in the wet, so I prefer to use it in the nice weather.

 

[Bodhbh]

I would just like to moan about the amount of 4x4s on the road since the kids went back to school that is all !

Actually, enjoying the new nip in the air too. Enjoyed summer, but the change won't hurt. Miss the hands burning getting into the work shower.

 

[XRHYSX]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...y-conditions-New-Sheppey-Crossing-bridge.html

That's only a mile up the road from me! heard all the sirens this morning,

 

[glenn forger]

"Ooooh, it's all misty! I know, I'll carry on driving at my usual speed and assume everything's gonna be ok, LOL!"

 

[martinclive]

You can definitely tell the schools are back. Also starting to feel a chill in the wind when I set off. Winter is coming...

Yes - far more cars coming into Cambridge - but on the plus side - we did scalp many queuing cars!

 

[Linford]

I would just like to moan about the amount of 4x4s on the road since the kids went back to school that is all !

Actually, enjoying the new nip in the air too. Enjoyed summer, but the change won't hurt. Miss the hands burning getting into the work shower.

I am much more concerned about the poor standard of driving of commercial vehicles. 4x4' numbers may fluctuate with school patterns in the London area, but they are a fairly constant presence up my way, and I've only had one close call with one a few years ago.

 

[Linford]

That's only a mile up the road from me! heard all the sirens this morning,

100+ cars in the pile up

 

[subaqua]

nice foggy ride in . Hackney Marsh was invisible from Eastway, and it was like that all the way to the Shoreditch Triangle when it lifted a little. tis a burning blue sky now so looks like a warm commute home

 

[donnydave]

Mega fog this morning, agree with others that more people should have had lights on, on bikes and in cars. The number of grey/black cars with no lights on that came looming out of the mirk when someone was overtaking me was beyond a joke. A lot of them were taxi's too, you would have thought if your were a "professional" driver, i.e. your job was to drive and your entire livelihood relied on being able to drive then you would do so with care and consideration and remember things light lights.

From yesterday's commute, I had to drive from Cambridge to Fairford, Glocs. My good Lord I was almost ready to hang myself by the end of it. I barely ever drive at normal commuting times. Just a few miles on country roads then on the guided busway on my bike so I don't have the day-to-day experience of commuter traffic but I was starting to get seriously depressed about the human race. Countless cars with one single occupant, no doubt most of them doing no more than 5 miles or so. The same people who complain about the cost of motoring when the solution (for most but not all, I admit) is staring them in the face but would require a certain amount of personal discomfort (obv I'm talking about cycling). There's just too much momentum in the way people are used to living their lives that I don't see it will ever change. Human beings can be really rubbish at times.