On the commute today

[PaulF]

Anyone cycling west tonight? How mad is venus and jupiter dead next to the moon on its back?!

Which one was which 

Nearest the moon ..........
Further away ...........

Venus was below and to the left of the moon, Jupiter higher and to the left of the moon. At least at 7pm from my vantage point in SW London, observers in more far flung places may have had a different view

[Redlight]

A BMW sat patiently behind me for the entire length of the Blackfriars Underpass, which was down to one lane

Is that a long-term closure, do you know?  I may avoid it on the way home (going east)

[Tynan]

I knocked a pedistrian over, the bike in front narrowly missed him, he then continued to cross, still without looking at what was coming, saw him very late as he appeared from behind the bike in front, scratghed shin for me, bike fine, ped took quite the thump I'm afriad, nasty limp but walking wounded

[GruB]

Saw a rat, healthy looking bugger.
Got buzzed by some bats just before I went over the M4 too.

[Wendy]

I knocked a pedistrian over, the bike in front narrowly missed him, he then continued to cross, still without looking at what was coming, saw him very late as he appeared from behind the bike in front, scratghed shin for me, bike fine, ped took quite the thump I'm afriad, nasty limp but walking wounded

Glad the bike's OK, and hope your scraped shin isn't a bad one.

I could so tease you for that over on CC, but I won't mate. 

[Oscar's dad]

I knocked a pedistrian over, the bike in front narrowly missed him, he then continued to cross, still without looking at what was coming, saw him very late as he appeared from behind the bike in front, scratghed shin for me, bike fine, ped took quite the thump I'm afriad, nasty limp but walking wounded

I do wish peds would look with their eyes not their ears. 

[Si_Co]

First one for two and a half weeks and what a lovely ride, the world is good again.

Just have to be careful how I unclip the left foot for a few weeks

[jezzasnr]

....i fell off.

new tyres / greasy kerb / poor approach angle.

the start of middle age & my life with Schwable Marathons hasn't started well, but i really want to like them. Other than that, they were good.

[Jacomus]

I watched in horror as a cyclist, riding fast, undertook a slowly left turning tipper truck. I am pretty sure that he brushed the side of it, leaving behind a cleaner smudge just in front of the rear wheels (though that could be my eyes playing tricks on me). He made it past and shot off up the road.

In much more fun news, after I had got a cup of coffee, I watched as a mother and child pedalled past on a Dutchbike - child sitting on the rack. It made me smile.

[Oscar's dad]

I watched in horror as a cyclist, riding fast, undertook a slowly left turning tipper truck. I am pretty sure that he brushed the side of it, leaving behind a cleaner smudge just in front of the rear wheels (though that could be my eyes playing tricks on me). He made it past and shot off up the road.

This sort of thing annoys the hell out of me. Had the cyclist's error of judgement proved fatal the press would have been full of "Shock horror, another cyclist killed by a lorry" but in this case the lorry was not at fault.

[Wendy]

This sort of thing annoys the hell out of me. Had the cyclist's error of judgement proved fatal the press would have been full of "Shock horror, another cyclist killed by a lorry" but in this case the lorry was not at fault.

If it had been the lorry driver to blame, would it have annoyed you more or less?

[Oscar's dad]

I would be equally annoyed and upset. 

[alexb]

so many cyclists today and so many kids with mums too. It seems hard to believe that only a few weeks ago we were riding in snow and ice!!!
If this carries on though, some parts of my route will actually be quite tricky due to the number of cyclists.

There are several junctions I use regularly that simply don't have the capacity for the numbers of cyclists now using them - Clapham North Side cycle route needs a longer green light phase for cyclists and a larger assembly area for waiting cyclists for example, Cedars Road, junction with Lavendar Hill often has 10-20 cyclists waiting at the lights, far more cyclists than cars cross on each green phase. Great chunks of CS7 have more cyclists on them than cars on the road alongside. You can really see a major change in the roadscapes that the politicians are slowly coming to recognise. Like it or not the roads at rush hour are becoming dominated by bikes.

[Wendy]

I would be equally annoyed and upset.

OK, fair enough. Perhaps it's just me, but the post came across as very TRL549 to me (i.e. we need to stop blaming lorry drivers). Sorry I got that wrong.

[Oscar's dad]

No worries I could have have been clearer.

My point is that there are a significant number of stupid cyclists just as there are too many dangerous drivers.  I am.also concerned that the press maybe not be as balanced as they could be. Cycling in major cities should be much safer and we all need to take care, that includes pedestrians, us and drivers. The press could really help by promoting a balanced discussion.

[jezzasnr]

No worries I could have have been clearer.

My point is that there are a significant number of stupid cyclists just as there are too many dangerous drivers.  I am.also concerned that the press maybe not be as balanced as they could be. Cycling in major cities should be much safer and we all need to take care, that includes pedestrians, us and drivers. The press could really help by promoting a balanced discussion.

and not just on cycling matters.

it's to easy for opinions to become polarised buy lazy assumptions. i sometimes find my own lazyness frightening in this respect.

[Wendy]

Yes, absolutely!  Look at it this way: Careless cyclists almost without exception kill or injure only themselves. Careless drivers kill and/or injure others, and occasionally themselves too.

I do spend some effort on silly cyclists - just look at the contributions so many of us put towards the series on YouTube, but I think from the above it's very obvious where many orders of magnitude more effort needs to be spent.

[matthew]

Like it or not the roads at rush hour are becoming dominated by bikes.

Unfortunately I would say this is only on a very few roads, you are fortunate that it is the road you use.

[Notsototalnewbie]

I knocked a pedistrian over, the bike in front narrowly missed him, he then continued to cross, still without looking at what was coming, saw him very late as he appeared from behind the bike in front, scratghed shin for me, bike fine, ped took quite the thump I'm afriad, nasty limp but walking wounded

I do wish peds would look with their eyes not their ears.

I’ve been watching that Death Unexplained programme on iplayer (following the work of a coroner). The second ep dealt with the case of a man in his eighties who’d been killed by a cyclist overtaking a stopped bus; it seemed likely he’d been ‘looking with his ears’. Very sad for both him and the cyclist.

My singlespeed Dutch bike is extra silent but luckily the big dingdong bell I’ve put on it tends to ring itself a little every time I hit a slightly bump in the road (not hard in London). This is quite useful in announcing my presence.

[Ham]

My singlespeed Dutch bike is extra silent but luckily the big dingdong bell I’ve put on it tends to ring itself a little every time I hit a slightly bump in the road (not hard in London). This is quite useful in announcing my presence.

As a clanger veteran (I bought mine in Belgium about 10 years ago) I would like to point out that you can tune the amount it clangs to itself by changing the angle it sits on the bars, trimming it to your preference.

[ian]

My singlespeed Dutch bike is extra silent but luckily the big dingdong bell I’ve put on it tends to ring itself a little every time I hit a slightly bump in the road (not hard in London). This is quite useful in announcing my presence.

As a clanger veteran (I bought mine in Belgium about 10 years ago) I would like to point out that you can tune the amount it clangs to itself by changing the angle it sits on the bars, trimming it to your preference.

In homage to Bill Bailey's marvellous horn-machine, my bike bell has now been replaced by a proper honk-honk horn. I'm transformed. I may add more so I can play Enter Sandman, or perhaps more appositely the Ride of the Valkyries as I descend into Peckham.

[Arno]

Old car (Morris Minor?) trying to squeeze through the queue of cars by  ovelapping the cycling lane, gave him a good angry stare (the helmet cam incidentally was also staring at him).
Later at the traffic light the middle age rough-bearded chap at the wheel opens his window and asks, 'was it one of them cycling lanes I went over? really sorry mate'. All very civilized and heartfelt apology (hopefully not just triggered by the fear of being filmed), made me instantly feel better.

[Wendy]

Doesn't it just? That's a great story!!

[Tynan]

I knocked a pedistrian over, the bike in front narrowly missed him, he then continued to cross, still without looking at what was coming, saw him very late as he appeared from behind the bike in front, scratghed shin for me, bike fine, ped took quite the thump I'm afriad, nasty limp but walking wounded

Glad the bike's OK, and hope your scraped shin isn't a bad one.

I could so tease you for that over on CC, but I won't mate. 

it honestly wasn't my fault in any way at all, other than being there, it never is, i can only ride in a straight line in primary, I genuinely wonder how I don't hit one every single ride, there's that many flitting through the traffic, usually without looking at all, the shin is only just a scratch

[Wendy]

Totally, it was just a gentle windup. I know you're an excellent rider.