On the commute today

[CommuteTooFar]

So am I going to get to work this morning.  I thought about the train but my cycling soul rebelled, I must ride.  So daylight comes and I consider the options.
1. Red bike - change tyre to the one I intended to put on yesterday but found a "better" choice.
2. Green bike - unlikely to puncture but I like to have at least one working brake.
Overnight I decided Red bike but this morning I decided Green bike.
So I look at the jammed front brake.  It took me ages of wiggling it back and forth to remove it.  I cleaned the corrosion off the brake boss and replaced it. Now freely springing back and pulling forward, good job.
The back brake needs a screw I do not have but it seems to stay put without.  I wonder when I lost the screw.

I set off half an hour late.  This puts me into lighter traffic particularly past the schools so I arrive 10 minutes late just before my boss.

[menthel]

Weather was nice this morning- too warm for my LS base! Pootle in post coaxing people along a 52 mile charity cycle from London to the Sanger Institute. Nice ride actually and some people put in an amazing effort to complete it! Shame I subsisted on flapjack, brownies and shot blox yesterday, am in need of real food!

[Guy]

Not today but last Thursday morning...

<sings>

When you slam your car straight into me
That's when I get a load of injuries

Bruises on my hip bone
I get cracks in my ankle
Damaged tendon in my shoulder

Aching all over

Stupid bastard mistook an ugly 6-footer in a bright red sweatshirt for an empty roundabout. At least the bike's not too badly hurt.

[matthew]

Ouch!

GWS, did this happen in a location where the RSM will be involved?

[mcshroom]

Ouch - sorry to here that.

Hope you are feeling less achy soon.

[Guy]

'Twas on the A507 outside of Camp. I'm waiting to hear back from the rozzers.

In the meantime, having done a whole morning of "achy-achy-ouch-ohbugger OUCH!" I'm going home (by bike, natch).

[clarion]

Not good.  GWS.

[Guy]

Thanks for the kind words

There's no chance of a criminal prosecution. Apparently "I'm sorry ossifer, I didn't see him. The sun was in my eyes" is an acceptable alternative to actually checking a junction is clear before driving onto it

And Oh! The irony. He's insured with Liverpool Victoria. "LV - for careful drivers like you" ouch.

[simonp]

Cretins, the lot of them.

[CommuteTooFar]

Stupid tv weather forecasters. They, the BBC national and BBC Wales presenters, said it was going to rain on my commute. Fortunately I have a secret technique that I will share with you. Look out the windows if you do not see rain it is not raining. So I didn't put on my rain coat and rode to work in comfortable bike wear. 

The problem is not now but in a few weeks time my secret technique will not work.  I will open the curtains and all I will see is darkness.  I can not detect the rain unless it is really heavy. So I will dress as directed by the weather forecasters and have a sweaty ride to work.

   

[Feline]

I didn't meet a bad driver anywhere. No one passed too close, got inpatient or didn't see me at junctions. And I was on main roads all the way home. A noteworthy journey for it's pleasantness! 

[marcusjb]

'Found' a new road (I have ridden it the other way, but found a neat cut through) from my fast route to the office (I have a good 3 or 4 routes depending on time availability and weather - but mornings are almost always using the fast main road route) - it cuts out the worst bit of main road nicely and didn't add on any time (despite being another 1km).  It was nice not to have to brave the national speed limit, single carriageway main road and the familiar gust of wind as a wing mirror passes your elbow at 60.  Not a single car passed me, either direction.  Lovely.

[TimO]

For the second day in a row, I met a Boris Bus^[1] on my commute.  Checking on Wikipedia, they're now being used on routes 24 and 11, and even though I guessed it was route 24, that doesn't touch my commute.  Route 11 does cross my path though, just south of Sloane Square, so I suspect that means they'll be a regular sight now.  I'm surprised that it's taken me this long to see one, since they've apparently been operating on Route 11 since September 21st.

Footnote [1]: Yes, they're not Boris Buses, but it works as a name.  Much as I dislike Boris, he has the perfect first name for this purpose.

[alexb]

For the second day in a row, I met a Boris Bus on my commute.

Weird, I saw one on Queenstown Road this morning - I'd never seen one close up before.
It occurred to me that for a vehicle designed to be driven in heavy traffic it has weirdly close-spaced and low-mounted indicators.
I'd have preferred to see a second set of high mounted indicators and brake lights as fitted to conventional double deckers.

[GothonaBrompton]

TBH I think they are a bit form over function.

I work in the Victoria area, so at the confluence of both routes, plus the 38 on which they were trialled, and still occasionally run.

Having travelled to school in the 80s on the originals, I did try one, particularly the top deck, but found it very cramped.  I wasn't much smaller then.

Tourists seem to like them though.

[Cudzoziemiec]

TBH I think they are a bit form over function.

I work in the Victoria area, so at the confluence of both routes, plus the 38 on which they were trialled, and still occasionally run.

Having travelled to school in the 80s on the originals, I did try one, particularly the top deck, but found it very cramped.  I wasn't much smaller then.

Tourists seem to like them though.

Red double decker buses and black taxis are London for tourists.

[Kim]

Don't forget the telephone boxes.

[Pedaldog.]

I didn't meet a bad driver anywhere. No one passed too close, got inpatient or didn't see me at junctions. And I was on main roads all the way home. A noteworthy journey for it's pleasantness! 

Yebbut! That's cos you was in Valiants Panzer innit?

[jane]

Not really a commute, but felt like it.  Up before dawn, riding through  pouring rain through central London.  However,  I seem to have misjudged how much time you save when you don't have to wait at red lights.  (I am no longef an RLJ'er, but won't hang around on a deserted street corner for no reason other than a red light glowing at me)  I now have 3/4 to kill before.  No one seems to have told Euston station we are now living in a city that never sleeps.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Is there a word to describe getting so wet that you can wring water out of your clothes?

[GothonaBrompton]

Don't forget the telephone boxes.

Particularly the sodding annoying one that blocks the line of sight exiting the Petty France cycle lane onto Buckingham Gate ......

[menthel]

Nice ride in, managed to missed the rain! Supposed to pootle but couldn't help but crank up the legs a couple of times!

[fuzzy]

Is there a word to describe getting so wet that you can wring water out of your clothes?

Ratted?

Swamped?

Massively Moist?

[Vince]

Is there a word to describe getting so wet that you can wring water out of your clothes?

Saturated? I was on a ride at the start of the year and wrung out my socks before going into the cafe, to the amusement of the cafe owner.

For me, a fast commute, mainly because I overslept, left late and had a phone conference at 9:30.

[Reg.T]

Is there a word to describe getting so wet that you can wring water out of your clothes?

Slightly Damp (cf. Scenic)