Tales from today's commute....

[Frood42]

Coldest commute of the autumn so far, amazed to see someone cycling in shorts

That would be me (still in shorts that is)

But I am in London and the feel like temperature was only 0 or 1 degrees C
I have made a concession though, I have got the footy socks out, so people just get to see my knobbly knees as I cycle now

 

[Frood42]

A nice uneventful commute, and it really was uneventful this morning, even had a black cab driver anticipate my intention to move into primary, he held back and I made sure to communicate my intention clearly that I was going to move into primary to join the queue of traffic (there was a WVM in the ASZ, so pointless filtering up to it, felt sorry for him a bit as I was able to filter further up and he was stuck in the queue of traffic, well not really, but it was nice of him to hold back rather than barge past).

The CS3 was very chilly and I was met by a rather annoying headwind on part of it, but it just adds to the fun of it all
.

 

[mangid]

Passing parked cars,possibly too close, but there was oncoming traffic in the other lane ...

http://goo.gl/blL9na

Noticed lady on pavement scrapping passenger window, looked at oncoming traffic to make sure was well, looked left again, and lady had started walking around the front of her car, and was about to step out without looking my way .... Shout, she stops, heart rate goes up ....

Carried on to place where I could turn round, and went back and apologised, twas a bit of a shock for me, and I'm sure for her.

She was fine, and thanked me for coming back, alls well that ends well, but thing change very quickly ...

Other than that, toes nice and warm in my NorthWave boots, SealSkinz Lobsters and GoreTex over gloves kept fingers on just the right side of painful, and Garmin 810 crashed twice (pile of crap)

 

[BSRU]

That would be me (still in shorts that is)

But I am in London and the feel like temperature was only 0 or 1 degrees C
I have made a concession though, I have got the footy socks out, so people just get to see my knobbly knees as I cycle now

Just think of your knees, no idea if it is true or not but I always thought it was my knees best interest to be covered up when it gets cold.

 

[HLaB]

Passing parked cars,possibly too close, but there was oncoming traffic in the other lane ...

http://goo.gl/blL9na

Noticed lady on pavement scrapping passenger window, looked at oncoming traffic to make sure was well, looked left again, and lady had started walking around the front of her car, and was about to step out without looking my way .... Shout, she stops, heart rate goes up ....

Carried on to place where I could turn round, and went back and apologised, twas a bit of a shock for me, and I'm sure for her.

She was fine, and thanked me for coming back, alls well that ends well, but thing change very quickly ...

Other than that, toes nice and warm in my NorthWave boots, SealSkinz Lobsters and GoreTex over gloves kept fingers on just the right side of painful, and Garmin 810 crashed twice (pile of crap)

Thats a rarety in Cambridge (not hitting a ped), when we were there for an hour on Sunday we saw a fair few collisions

I might be wrong but my other observation was that drivers were getting so fustrated that when there was an opportunity to overtake they would take it even on a fast busy road with oncoming traffic (its OK they'll stop )

On the positive we never say a RLJ cyclist, just a couple of RLJ drivers.

 

[apb]

Crispy morning for the wee man and me. We've recently moved house so we commute about 5 miles to his nursery now.
He didn't want his gloves or hat on bless him. We got about a mile in before he changed his mine about his gloves, but was adamant about his hat. Most of the commute is on the cycle paths and about 1/4 mile on the roads, but they are cobbled, and progress is slow. That doesn't stop drivers using the same roads as a short cut revving their engine and following as close as possible, being what i'd refer as "Cocks".

 

[fossyant]

Icy side roads this morning. Managed OK on the fixed with 23mm, but it was dodgy until the main roads. Knocked up 19 miles.

Saw a fool nearly get himself squashed by a bus. Tried to undertake the bus as it was approaching a bus stop. The bus signalled it's intention and slowly headded to the stop. Bloke had to abort his undertake, then passed on outside shaking his fist at the driver. I caught the rider and shouted across 'that was your fault mate'. He didn't look at me at the next set of lights !

Down side is my lad came off on the way to school. He was asking for studs, but it's a waste of money on a school bike (he has N+1) and considering that 'kids' these days just wear a school jacket (coats are frowned upon by the other kids), it will be way too cold. He's OK, apparently the bike went from under him and carried on sliding !

 

[HLaB]

It was a tad frosty don here this morning so it must have been pretty icy up your way.

 

[Octet]

A bit of a disastrous commute today.... about a mile in my right rear pannier collapsed and started clipping the wheel so I had to stop and do some make shift repairs at the (cold) roadside. From then on my heel kept hitting the pannier which, despite attempts to fix it, was still very lopsided and as such my ankle is now rather bruised.

I was then overtaken way too closely by a driver in, you guessed it, a Chelsea Tractor. To give you a bit of backing, it is a single lane, one way road (granite walls on both sides) which leads onto a turning right to enter the opposite lane (both roads fork either side of this triangular wall) or you can continue straight to enter the two way road. I was coming along, about four car paces in front there was a car waiting to turn right so the road was blocked when all of the sudden there was this almighty roar from behind as this ignorant driver shot past in an attempt to fill a gap which was closing rapidly before braking harshly so that he/she too could make the same turning.

Then on my commute home, my panniers failed again and got caught up in the wheel, so stopping to inspect it I realised there was a large rip forming down the bottom (not on the seam, but actually through the fabric) I thought it would be best if I walked the final mile or so home instead of risking losing my stuff down the road.

 

[fossyant]

Well another 30 mile day. Happy so far. Ice bike tomorrow.

Nearly witnessed a lady pushing a pram get flattened by a Focus driver. He shot past me without noticing the ped crossing on red. The lady was already half way out in the lane. Fortunately he just managed to stop. Idiots, look beyond the end of your bonnet please.

 

[kevin_cambs_uk]

Cycled home and caught by @MisterStan!
I had to up my pace and we were then overtaken by 2 guys obviously on a mission, at the promise of a great drafting, I latched on with Stan behind. These 2 were not hanging about, but the slipstream effort was so worth it!
Later on at the next Guided Bus way junction, Stan went in front of me and continued with the other two, and then the legs gave out and I was cut loose to see them all drift off into the darkness of the bus way!

Great fun, I am not sure if I am just getting old but I don't seem to have the speed to keep up but then I do need to loose weight again, well that's what tell myself!

 

[Frood42]

Chilly tonight , and that's it

 

[ianrauk]

Chilly tonight , and that's it

Yup, glad I wore the Spesh Defroster boots today.

 

[fossyant]

Despite being a good 2 mph down on my average speeds over my commute, still nobody has passed me. Oh well.

 

[ianrauk]

Despite being a good 2 mph down on my average speeds over my commute, still nobody has passed me. Oh well.

Come to Londinium guv and get a real workout