Tales from today's commute....

[markharry66]

Monday and back out on road bike today, cold start, no weekend cycling afteralll as according to her indoors shopping on both days is more important. Nice sunny start, lack of traffic and a different route into work, I thought I would avoid the agg of bin day on my usual route and take the scenic route though the park, kept my speed down in the park. Typical once got through the park realised I had not passed a single person in there. Bumped into one of our van drivers from work exchanged light hearted v signs. Nice journey into work.

 

[PeteXXX]

Londoncentric, but will the new Silvertown Tunnel, which opens today, be if any use to anyone?
Dedicated bike shuttle service, apparently..

 

[biking_fox]

Good start to the week, still cold but fine cycling on school holiday empty roads.

 

[ianrauk]

Londoncentric, but will the new Silvertown Tunnel, which opens today, be if any use to anyone?
Dedicated bike shuttle service, apparently..

View attachment 768162

Its a complete and utter mess. Especially for pedestrians and cyclists. No thought has been put into it to make the tunnel inclusive which should have happened from the start. It's also a very busy area car wise both sides of the river. Cyclists will have to wait for a token bus service which they have said will be free for the first year. Then what? It will go the similar route to the Dartford Crossing for bikes. They will slowly erode the transport until it is pretty much useless and even may start charging.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Perfect just slightly frosty morning. Absolutely beautiful to be out.

 

[PeteXXX]

Its a complete and utter mess. Especially for pedestrians and cyclists. No thought has been put into it to make the tunnel inclusive which should have happened from the start. It's also a very busy area car wise both sides of the river. Cyclists will have to wait for a token bus service which they have said will be free for the first year. Then what? It will go the similar route to the Dartford Crossing for bikes. They will slowly erode the transport until it is pretty much useless and even may start charging.

I read an article on it somewhere.. I think it was a sentence the final paragraph that had a mention of bikes in it.. 😞

 

[cyberknight]

Frosty start with the cars being white over and a few patches of freezing fog.
The FD has gone really stiff , i need 2 hands to move it and i cant see why as the FD moves fine by hand and if i take the slack the shifter works ok and it was fine last week !

 

[markharry66]

Londoncentric, but will the new Silvertown Tunnel, which opens today, be if any use to anyone?
Dedicated bike shuttle service, apparently..

View attachment 768162

saw this on the local news cyclist by the looks of it are a bit of an after thought, one bus every 12 minutes, with 8 spaces per bus, better off using two foot tunnels woolwich or Greenwich. This is only going to be free for the first 12 months, after which they will either stop running it or charge for it.

 

[HLaB]

It's that time of the year again when it's starts off 1 deg and will rise to 15deg just before my return. I could never work out the point of zip off sleeves on jackets, they only make them more vulnerable in the wet, until I moved down south.

On the commute I got one dodgy pass from a driver that couldn't follow the bend which prompted the next driver to hold back for ages before doing a safe wide overtake.

The other thing I saw was at the other side of the pedestrianised square a homeless person had cobbled together an adult bike front with a kids 14" rear wheel. I kinda wish I owned a bike shop, I'd give him a chance as it looked a reasonable job.

 

[markharry66]

Its a complete and utter mess. Especially for pedestrians and cyclists. No thought has been put into it to make the tunnel inclusive which should have happened from the start. It's also a very busy area car wise both sides of the river. Cyclists will have to wait for a token bus service which they have said will be free for the first year. Then what? It will go the similar route to the Dartford Crossing for bikes. They will slowly erode the transport until it is pretty much useless and even may start charging.

Yeah apparently the bus service alone according to local news is costing tfl 2 billion a year to run currently at a loss as they are running the first 12 months for free after that it will probably be chargeable, the tunnel is a complete disaster, as for charging for blackwall tunnel thats a complete disgrace, wouldnt expect anything else from the current mayor. Supposedly wants clean air in London then builds a tunnel for the fossil fuel burning cars you could write this, comedy gold.

 

[cyberknight]

Freezing again this morning, boss asked why I was limping as I only took thin overshoes my feet were fozen

 

[Arjimlad]

Lovely sunny ride in, but a little cold. I have a lightweight jacket which fits in my bag for the way home. I extended the ride to 14 miles as I had a little more time than usual & really enjoyed it all.

It takes in some beautiful back lanes with an old lime kiln and views across to the east before blatting back down the A38 as fast as I can ride, which today was only just over 16mph on average.

 

[Arjimlad]

But the ride home yesterday featured a nasty close pass, I was pleased to get home safe to an Apple and Rhubarb crumble. Reported the VW van.

 

[cyberknight]

got ready to come home and my glasses frame snapped , i have had them a fair few years and they were only rock bros specials so i cant moan , had to wear a spare pair of work safety glasses and will have to rummage around to see if i have a spare pair .

 

[HLaB]

I was tempted to cycle to Arelsey, it's a lovely 16deg out there now. But I thought I'd be better with the earlier and faster train that doesn't stop there. Sod's law (or every half term 🤔) one of the 3 trains an hour is cancelled and it was that one. So this one is rammed. Amazingly though one passenger in the bike rack seats actually gave up his seat. He got one not far from me but he could have been standing for at least 4 stations. Oh the joys of mixed mode commuting!