Tales from today's commute....

[apb]

Commuting along the meadows when a guy on a cross bike joined the road from a shared path without looking and almost knocked me off. I told him as such and he was very apologetic. I caught up to him at a set of lights and he said sorry again and i said "no bother".

You can't really get that interaction when you're in a car, you just get the horn. Another reason bikes are a more civilized way of traveling.

 

[Frood42]

Not completely uneventful commutes but quiet enough.

I don't normally have cause to complain about other cyclists but there really was an idiot rider on a blue and white carrera road bike (with a red mud guard on the back for MTB's) last night, he also had no lights... so I stayed behind him as he had no cycle/road craft (a bit of a danger really to others as well as himself).

Quite a few cyclists about as well last night and this morning, there was a whole 6 of us sat in an ASL on the CS2 extension this morning, I had to count twice just to make sure
.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Heavy rain for about 7 miles, felt like someone was moving alongside with a power washer pointed at me. Kit now spread out all over the shower room drying.

 

[Beebo]

I had two fun interactions today.
One was a little terrier dog in the passenger seat of a builders van, I was cycling along with the van on my right for about 30seconds, the dog was going nuts about 2 foot from my face. I was just laughing at it, but I'm glad the window was shut.
The other was a large west indian lady walking on the pavement who asked me for a lift as I overtook her up a hill. When I shock my head she gave the biggest, loudest west indian laugh.

 

[ianrauk]

One of those commutes this morning where everything seemed to go my way. Traffic was light, roads were dry, the lights were green, car drivers and peds behaved and a little SCR thrown in for good measure.

Cycle commuting days like this make me feel alive when on the bike. Magic.

 

[Andrew_P]

My first consecutive 4 days commuting since I came off on the 7th of October, January will be the first 500+ month since September. Been a bit of struggle at times but still enjoying it. Amazing how quickly the legs forget what 150 miles a week is, last year I was boasting that even on Friday nights my legs were not showing any evening stiffness last night I was getting up out of the sofa like an old man!

 

[BSRU]

How embarrassing, when reporting a danger in the road it is a good idea to get the name of the road correct. The road I reported was actually County Road, called that because it is next to the County ground(STFC ground). What a plonker I felt when it was pointed out to me

 

[fossyant]

Wet, very wet.

That said, decided it was time to really test the Altura Varium jacket. Not yet been caught out in extended rain, so today was ideal. Must say, I stayed warm and dry. The jacket does start to soak up the rain, but it doesn't come through to the base layer, so I was quite sweat free on arriving at work (would be soaked if I had the waterproofs on). I do think the weather was probably outside the design limits of the jacket, but it worked well enough for 40 minutes.

 

[I like Skol]

Seemed to be the day for idiots.....

They're all out at the moment, multiple incidents on last nights commute.
The most interesting/shocking was with a driver of an artic wagon pulling a 40ft, 3 axle box trailer. I was filtering to the right of queuing traffic in Denton/Crown Point when the traffic started to nudge up to the lights. I slotted in with plenty of space but the truck driver went nuts, hammering on the horn. Against my normal, mild mannered nature I decided to have a 'chat' with the driver. I explained that there really was no need for his reaction as I was in no way inconveniencing or affecting him and although it was busy he needs to calm down a bit. He just didn't get it and started rabbiting on about "riders like me that get cyclists a bad name", "we [cyclists] are always complaining about motorists but should be more careful ourselves" and then went on to tell me I should be riding to the left of the queue!
Thanks for that bit of advice Einstein, unfortunately I will stick with passing queuing cars in the empty lane on the right rather than trying to squeeze down the left between the kerb and a 40 ton truck.

I left it at that as the lights changed and I shot off, getting a good start and then moving into the painted cycle zone on an otherwise clear straight road. I suppose it's sixth sense but when he came past me 100yds later I sort of knew what he was going to do so I was prepared for the murderous 'punishment' pass. He came over into the cycle lane so far that if I hadn't reduced my speed the moment he started to drift he would certainly have hit me! By the time I dropped behind him he was only 12" from the kerb.
This really got my goat because I had made the effort to be civil when we were having our discussion but now I decided the conversation wasn't over.....

I think he got quite a shock when he joined the next queue after climbing the Bredbury curves and I tapped on his door to tell him what an inbred pr!ck he was (amongst other things ). I told him he had potentially murdered me then went on my way feeling surprisingly calm and OK about it?

 

[fossyant]

Did you get the company name ? Drop the Transport Manager a line if you did - they usually go mental !

 

[potsy]

Wet, very wet.

That said, decided it was time to really test the Altura Varium jacket. Not yet been caught out in extended rain, so today was ideal. Must say, I stayed warm and dry. The jacket does start to soak up the rain, but it doesn't come through to the base layer, so I was quite sweat free on arriving at work (would be soaked if I had the waterproofs on). I do think the weather was probably outside the design limits of the jacket, but it worked well enough for 40 minutes.

Blue sky here now

 

[fossyant]

Blue sky here now

I know ! Kit still drying out. Steamed up office !

 

[HLaB]

Woke a wee bit earlier and got out of the door for what would have been a delightful 12 miler in the sun, it was quite nice not to need lights.At halfway my first pass of the office it started to spit and it looked very dark in Fens so I headed into the office bing a fair weather cyclist. Which was a wise decision it turned dark and torrential overhead 15mins later.

 

[MisterStan]

Aside from the zombie peds that @martinclive mentioned, I was also dive bombed by a random bird - literally felt it brush my head!
Claud had had another overnight visit, so I chucked the contents of the pannier in a rucksack and took the best bike. Got to work dry and the rain has passed over us now.

 

[Hacienda71]

Forgot my front light and had to turn around after 3 miles and track back to get it. Then had a truck drive at me on a roundabout where I had right of way, revving it's engine and jerking forward. He had seen me and braked at he junction as I was on the roundabout. I normally am pretty chilled but this time ended up screaming fark off at him it was just too close. Tempted to phone the company the vehicle was from in Leeds and make a complaint.