Tales from today's commute....

[martint235]

I cycled to work for many years down the A2, one of the busiest arterial roads into Central London. I had several few misses a week but you got the feeling the driver cared. He'd tried to run you off the road either because he was a general psycho or because he disliked the fact that I was better looking, taller and moving faster than he was. But at least he cared.

Now I commute by bike to Croydon which is hardly the back end of beyond but 99% of my near misses are because the driver just doesn't care/couldn't be arsed to look. School mums are the worst. All they care about is little Tarquin or, judging by the number on mobile phones, little Tarquin's next social gathering. It's dispiriting and finally getting to me. I won't give up cycling but I may give up commuting by bike

 

[Beebo]

I may give up commuting by bike

take a week off, remind yourself how crap public transport is, and the fact there is no direct route from Welling to Croydon, and you will be back on your bike quicker than you can say Catford gyratory.

 

[martint235]

take a week off, remind yourself how crap public transport is, and the fact there is no direct route from Welling to Croydon, and you will be back on your bike quicker than you can say Catford gyratory.

Strangely enough it's all sane again by the Catford gyratory, it's all the crappy roads between there and Croydon.

 

[kevin_cambs_uk]

Well got away with that, no rain but damp wet roads, but so many nice drivers on the way home, so many to thank, I thought my arm was gonna fall off from all the waving!

I did have one thought at the end, I don't know how I keep going, in fact any of us on here, day in , day out.

So to all you commuters out there, well done and have a beer its Friday!

 

[Ollie W]

All they care about is little Tarquin or, judging by the number on mobile phones, little Tarquin's next social gathering. It's dispiriting and finally getting to me. I won't give up cycling but I may give up commuting by bike

Tarquin? In Croydon? Unlikely! but yeah, the drivers there are hellish, when I lived there I constantly had idiots near missing my car, let alone my bike. Hope it gets better.

 

[MisterStan]

Well it didn't actually rain whilst I was coming home, but I did get a little bit mucky....

 

[kevin_cambs_uk]

Well it didn't actually rain whilst I was coming home, but I did get a little bit mucky....
View attachment 43400

Did you come home via the busway?

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Most Friday's I'm in the car, today the cars having a cam belt change so I'm on the bike, dry ride in on a cold grey morning with a strong head wind, wet ride home and an even wetter ride down the garage to pick the car up, I also made a major mistake this morning, at the Griff island I used the cycle path instead of going round the island, as I always do in the morning, turning right off the path onto the B4113 Coventry road I totally misjudged the speed of the oncoming car and had to back out of the turn, this put me broadside across the outside lane forcing the woman in the estate car in the outside lane to back off and give me time to sort it out and make the turn, made me very cross with myself for making the mistake, the woman in the estate car works at my place so when I got in I went and apologised to her about it, not happy and not a good start to the day.

 

[mangid]

Well it didn't actually rain whilst I was coming home, but I did get a little bit mucky....
View attachment 43400

That's the busway for you :-)

 

[Exile]

Yesterdays commute home was horrid. Started out nice enough, then was nearly taken out by a Range Rover performing a classic "left-hook". First time on the commute I've actually shouted something at a driver. Then it started raining. Hard. It was as if someone had dumped a bucket of water over me. Wasn't as bad as I'd feared once I'd spun up a bit more heat, but probably not something I'd like to do every ride.

Then came the killer. Rear tyre blow-out. Really loud bang which almost gave heart attacks to me and the bloke at the bus stop 20 yards further up. Thankfully it was about ten minutes walk from home so I just got the bike there. Will get a proper look at it on Sunday after a weekend away but already thinking new, more resistant tyres are on the cards after having three visits in as many weeks.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

The Winter cold is starting to set in . My Garmin showed 3°C during my ride to work this morning, and I wore a light cycling jacket over the jersey for the first time this year.

 

[BSRU]

I couldn't use any of my extended routes into work this morning due to thick fog, as they all go through "valleys" and are very prone to thick fog.
A little drizzle and the fog/mist just turned into overcast conditions but a nice 55km ride in, after two days of no riding it was nice to get back on the bike.

 

[ianrauk]

Back on the bike for the first time in 10 days. It's been a good rest. Also first ride on the new commuter. The Pinnacle Pyrolite Disc. My last commute was during half term so was spoilt with clear roads. Today was very different, the school run was back with a vengeance. Horrid traffic jams.

 

[MickeyBlueEyes]

Somehow managed to pop BOTH gear cables on the way in this morning, about 25 miles out. Oh how I laughed

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Back to work after the Easter break. Scalped the same roadie twice as I took the scenic route, he must of thought I was a nutter as I also saw him twice going in the opposite direction as well.