Author Topic: On the commute today  (Read 2500167 times)

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3375 on: 10 November, 2010, 10:49:47 pm »
Yeah major gridlock tonight on the way in.  Love it!!  Much clearer on the way home though, and the coldest ride of this autumn so far.  Brrrrr!

My new Bont cycling shoes are the business, if a little too well ventilated for tonight's temperatures.  It's probably psychological but I was 2kph up on tonight's average speed for the round trip.
Your Royal Charles are belong to us.

Andrij

  • Андрій
  • Ερασιτεχνικός μισάνθρωπος
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3376 on: 11 November, 2010, 07:29:54 am »
*insert profanity*

My back hurts.  I should have realised the extent while getting the bike down the stairs.  Stupid, stubborn Andrij!  >:(

Struggled to maintain 20kph, any road imperfections were painful, so turned around and came home.  I think that may have been the worst 1.9km of my life.

Looks like I'm working from home today.
;D  Andrij.  I pronounce you Complete and Utter GIT   :thumbsup:

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3377 on: 11 November, 2010, 07:45:29 am »
Oooh bummer dude.  Hope you GWS.
Your Royal Charles are belong to us.

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3378 on: 11 November, 2010, 07:59:19 am »
0o yesterday morning, 12o this morning. I preferred yesterday.

iddu

  • Are we there yet?
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3379 on: 11 November, 2010, 08:34:03 am »
Tailwinds FTW :thumbsup:

Wonder if it'll last if I start a Great Circle ;)
I'd offer you some moral support - but I have questionable morals.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3380 on: 11 November, 2010, 08:59:20 am »
Tailwind(ish) here, which certainly helped.  Gusty, mind.  Less rain than I expected, and much more fun.
Getting there...

Chris S

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3381 on: 11 November, 2010, 09:08:13 am »
Any cycle-commuter who lives south of where they work should have been well early for work this morning :).

itsbruce

  • Lavender Bike Menace
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3382 on: 11 November, 2010, 09:15:31 am »
Tailwind(ish) here, which certainly helped.  Gusty, mind.  Less rain than I expected, and much more fun.

I'll echo that.  Only it was a stiff crosswind for parts of my commute; would have been blown sideways into a car on Kensington High Street if I hadn't been alert.
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked: Allen Ginsberg
The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads: Jeff Hammerbacher

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3383 on: 11 November, 2010, 09:17:08 am »
OK, tailwind(ish) does mean it was a crosswind pretty much all the way, but fairly well behind side on for most of it.
Getting there...

vorsprung

  • Opposites Attract
    • Audaxing
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3384 on: 11 November, 2010, 09:32:53 am »
Bit of a wet one

Lime green Peugeot over takes in the 20mph zone near the school, breaking the speed limit as he does.  Then he has to stop in front of me as a recycling truck maneuvers in front of us both.  I slip past him and the truck first of course and then he breaks the speed limit/over takes again.  Then I finally loose him at the mini roundabout where I pass the queued back traffic

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3385 on: 11 November, 2010, 09:45:46 am »
It was wet. Not very wet, just wet and a bit miserable. Coffee should improve things.

..d
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

Redlight

  • Enjoying life in the slow lane
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3386 on: 11 November, 2010, 10:00:10 am »
Was one of a group nearly taken out by an idiot Central Buses driver who pulled out from a bay in Bermondsey without bothering with any of that mirror and signal nonsense. I swung out and got squeezed between him and a van in the right hand lane and I could hear a fair bit of swearing and cursing behind me from other cyclists. Tried to engage the driver in conversation at the next lights but he was having none of it.

Apart from that, even with the crosswind, it was a pleasant ride in.
Why should anybody steal a watch when they can steal a bicycle?

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3387 on: 11 November, 2010, 10:08:35 am »
Gusty Head wind  :-\ I hope it stays till the ride home.

Damp, and dull, the IQ Fly sensor decided to be on the whole way in from 8:30 till 9!!


TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3388 on: 11 November, 2010, 10:15:20 am »
A bit choppy on the way in this morning, but nothing unbearable.
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

ian

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3389 on: 11 November, 2010, 10:18:35 am »
Gridlock from Elephant & Castle to Balham.

Then remarkably quiet roads.

Weird.

Be scared, it's the deepening Elephant and Castle gravity well beginning to suck in surrounding traffic. It's only a matter of time until it goes critical and turns into a black hole from which nothing can escape.

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3390 on: 11 November, 2010, 11:00:50 am »
Like others, a bit of a tailwind, with gusts.  The trouble with the wet'n'windy days, is that you can't really take advantage of the speed that the tailwind gives you, because the wet (and en-chutnied) roads are too slippery to risk having to try and stop fast.  With London traffic, I'll reckon on a couple of hard stops every journey, and with wet rim brakes that just doesn't work very well.  I must get the commuter built up with it's disc brakes. :-\

There seemed to be an outbreak of indicator failure in South London today, as well.  Apparently wet weather makes the use of left turning indicators optional after overtaking cyclists. :(
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

fuzzy

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3391 on: 11 November, 2010, 11:24:29 am »
Last nights ride home was so cold that my man bits were a) in agony and b) AWOL when I tried to find them to warm them up ;D

As for this morning, all you folk riding North this morning and experiencing a tail wind or crosswind from rear quarters can thank me. This morning was my last commute to work for some time (at least till I get settled in the new job and find a parking space to leave the car overnight) so the Commuting Gods gave me a wet headwind for my ride generaly South this morning. Those of you heading South this evening should be OK as I will be heading North ::-)

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3392 on: 11 November, 2010, 11:33:45 am »
b) AWOL when I tried to find them to warm them up ;D

Nothing a bit of vigorous rubbing won't cure. ;)

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3393 on: 11 November, 2010, 11:34:27 am »
Get a grown up to help you with that one.
Getting there...

fuzzy

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3394 on: 11 November, 2010, 11:36:23 am »
b) AWOL when I tried to find them to warm them up ;D

Nothing a bit of vigorous rubbing won't cure. ;)

d.

Get a grown up to help you with that one.


She said no, rolled over and went back to sleep :-[

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3395 on: 11 November, 2010, 11:37:15 am »
...the Commuting Gods gave me a wet headwind for my ride generaly South this morning. Those of you heading South this evening should be OK as I will be heading North ::-)
Well that's me stuffed either way then; my  route is east / west.  Any chance you could take an east-bound route home tonight? :)
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

vorsprung

  • Opposites Attract
    • Audaxing
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3396 on: 11 November, 2010, 11:50:34 am »
...the Commuting Gods gave me a wet headwind for my ride generaly South this morning. Those of you heading South this evening should be OK as I will be heading North ::-)
Well that's me stuffed either way then; my  route is east / west.  Any chance you could take an east-bound route home tonight? :)

It depends where you are, see
Wind Map - Britain Observations

around London, to the east there is a southerly wind.  To the west there is a westerly with a southerly component

In the South West where I am there is a south-westerly

Latest observations from Leeds show a definite westerly but in Bridlington, not far away there is a definite southerly

Generally the further east you are the more the wind is southerly and the further west you are the more the wind is westerly

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3397 on: 11 November, 2010, 01:21:07 pm »
A few years ago, a car had a problem immediately in front of an Ambulance on blue lights at the Wandsworth roundabout.  As you say, it was me and another cyclists who stopped and pushed it out of the way. :-\

Somewhat off topic, but I was one of a team of 3 cyclists, several squaddies and a Salvation Army Band who pushed a dead Green Goddess trying to get to a fire in Bedford during the fireman's strike of 197x (?). Not a single car stopped to help even though we pushed it the best part of 2 miles with it's blue light going and some joker ringing the hand bell. By the time we eventually got there the fire had sort of burnt itself out  :( I must admit to being lathered. However I was in a much better state than the Sally army tuba player who we thought was going to have a heart attack...

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3398 on: 11 November, 2010, 03:51:49 pm »
It depends where you are, see
Wind Map - Britain Observations

around London, to the east there is a southerly wind.  To the west there is a westerly with a southerly component

In the South West where I am there is a south-westerly

Latest observations from Leeds show a definite westerly but in Bridlington, not far away there is a definite southerly

Generally the further east you are the more the wind is southerly and the further west you are the more the wind is westerly

If you look at the Met Office rain radar, that's not so at the moment.  It seems XCWeather is slightly wrong.  Wind is currently between westerly and WNW.  Looking out the window here at Biggin Hill confirms the metoffice rain radar observations, and not XC Weather's.
Your Royal Charles are belong to us.

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #3399 on: 11 November, 2010, 06:04:21 pm »
XCweather shows surface wind.  Rainfall radar shows wind at height (not sure what height, but rain height).  They are different.