On the commute today

[Basil]

Hmm, got most of the way home and realised I'd left the house keys on my desk

Commute ended up rather longer than planned

Having had that happen to me, I now have my bike keys, house keys and work keys all on the same ring.
If I leave my house keys on my desk, I can't unlock my bike. 

[grani]

Hmm, got most of the way home and realised I'd left the house keys on my desk

Commute ended up rather longer than planned

Having had that happen to me, I now have my bike keys, house keys and work keys all on the same ring.
If I leave my house keys on my desk, I can't unlock my bike.

Same here. Except I still managed to get home once without my keys as I had unlocked my bike, taken tools out to tighten my seatpost and left my keys on the floor of the car park. Luckily I called the building management and they retrieved the keys and I was saved.
I recommend keeping the keys in the same ring but is not a substitute for a working brain.

[mcshroom]

Hmm, got most of the way home and realised I'd left the house keys on my desk

Commute ended up rather longer than planned

Having had that happen to me, I now have my bike keys, house keys and work keys all on the same ring.
If I leave my house keys on my desk, I can't unlock my bike. 

I don't lock my bike at work* so that won't work unfortunately. The keys are all on the same ring, but I got hurried out of the building as it closed and I forgot to put them in my bag**.


*My bike is stored behind security fences, guard dogs and armed police
**For once I wasn't wearing a cycle jersey so I had no pockets which I'd normally put the keys in

[fields5069]

I saw lots of bunny rabbits today, as usual. I cursed the leaden trekking bike, each noisy pedal revolution enfuriated me (definite front mech adjustment required along with strange high-pitched clicks which obviously don't occur when I turn the cranks by hand), and I gave up struggling and span slowly into work. I'm waiting for some inner tubes for my 70's racer, then it's back on that for the forseeable future hopefully.

I think the hatred of the practical but stodgy trekking bike was largely mental this morning, plus I am convinced that the racer is the best thing since my boyhood Raleigh Arena.

Then I forgot to collect my towel from the drying room before showering, and had to get dressed back into my sweaty top and shorts to fetch it, and I was practically dry by the time I got back to the shower room.

[davelodwig]

As Riding up to the swan roundabout in Yardley I noticed that the traffic was backed up and I could see the outline of Police cars. As I pulled onto the roundabout that was being contolled by the police I saw the reason why.

Someone had driven there aygo up the side of a saloon car, and was now wedged sideways on up on two wheels across the side of the saloon.

As I was waved through by the copper he turned to me to say

"Take care mate they can't drive round here"

While it was probably quite scary for those involved in the crash I still hadn't stopped giggling when I got to the bike shed at work some 10 minutes later.

[Kim]

As I was waved through by the copper he turned to me to say

"Take care mate they can't drive round here"

They're not wrong.

[GothonaBrompton]

You can tell where all the bl**dy traffic on this road in that there London comes from.  It was deserted out here for about an hour while most of the taxi drivers were protesting in Whitehall.

[Arno]

lovely weather nice breeze shifting some of the air pollution away from the road today.
Had a discussion with a BMW driver about taking primary position. The sequence of events was this one:
1. take primary to avoid parked cars in Bethnal Green Road eastbound, east London
2. at this point   there are no parked cars for 30- 35 meters as its prohibited (eastbound) followed by more car parking ( although on the google aerial view, no cars are using the parking space).

It took between 4 and 5 seconds to cover this gap (according to cam footage). The question is would you have relinquished primary for this time interval to let him pass? The driver's wife hinted that it would be more considerate, and the driver himself didn't like my lack of courtesy so decided to stick to my rear wheel with a few cm to spare.

Arnaud.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Nice long row of bike stands there. What's more they appear to be actually spaced properly so two bikes can be parked next to each other without handlebars, panniers and so on clashing.

[mrcharly-YHT]

It took between 4 and 5 seconds to cover this gap (according to cam footage). The question is would you have relinquished primary for this time interval to let him pass? The driver's wife hinted that it would be more considerate, and the driver himself didn't like my lack of courtesy so decided to stick to my rear wheel with a few cm to spare.

Arnaud.

No
Not for 4-5 seconds, too much risk that another car would try to nip through, just as I had to move out again to avoid the parked cars.

[velosam]

In my haste to get to work for a 9am meeting, I managed to decorate the side of a van. I guess the blame was 50;50 as he was going quite quick and I was filtering.

My beloved ciocc seems quite damaged and the wheel is really buckled.

Right side is a bit painful all over. sigh

[clarion]

Oops.  GWS.

[Arno]

Nice long row of bike stands there. What's more they appear to be actually spaced properly so two bikes can be parked next to each other without handlebars, panniers and so on clashing.

very true....

It took between 4 and 5 seconds to cover this gap (according to cam footage). The question is would you have relinquished primary for this time interval to let him pass? The driver's wife hinted that it would be more considerate, and the driver himself didn't like my lack of courtesy so decided to stick to my rear wheel with a few cm to spare.

Arnaud.

No
Not for 4-5 seconds, too much risk that another car would try to nip through, just as I had to move out again to avoid the parked cars.

My thoughts as well. It sometimes seems to take people 2 or 3 seconds to register a change of position of a bike on the road.

[Notsototalnewbie]

Riding down CS7 when a car pulled up alongside me indicating left. It was too late for evasive action so I kept going while bellowing 'Stay where you are'. Those of you who've been lucky enough to go offroading know my voice can be suitably loud on occasion.

After I'd made it safely past him, another cyclist (who'd presumably been behind me and hence had more time to react) said 'I went down the outside'. He may or may not have been being smug or offering 'advice', I don't know, but I replied that I'd not had that choice.

It might have been one of you buggers, he had a Carradice saddlebag...

[Crock of Gold]

I first posted on ACF in Autumn 2007 when I first started commuting 30 miles both ways from SW London (Zone 5) into EC1, on a 2nd hand sirrus specialized. I said I was happy with being a utilitarian and slow and helmeted and flat-pedalled cyclist in cheap Tesco's clothes, who never drank alcohol whilst pedalling. Yesterday, having arrived home after 200 commuting miles for the working -week on a 44x16 fixed cooper sebring, with a spare viva pista in the shed, walz capped, Timbuktu bagged and 3 pints in my tummy, I realised I was still slow. :-(

[mrcharly-YHT]

"You don't get faster, it just gets easier"

[mcshroom]

I'm finding that each day I commute I seem to be raising my top speed on the fixed. 56km/h today (~170rpm) Pretty sure I don't want to go much faster than that though it was getting slightly uncomfortable.

Commuting times now seem to be similar fixed/free/geared to within a minute or two.

[citoyen]

First ride in to the new job this morning - 18km from Victoria to Teddington.

Lovely!

I largely followed Wascally Weasel's excellent advice and stuck to the quieter back roads as far as possible, though there was one bit where the GPS signal went screwy (I was following a track on my Edge 510), so I went off piste and ended up on the South Circular for a bit. Had another couple of other minor diversions where I missed turns or couldn't quite fathom the road layout, but pretty plain sailing really. I can't imagine the main road routes would be any quicker when you factor in the traffic. Turning right into Battersea Park as you come off Chelsea Bridge is a bit interesting though.

The section through Richmond Park was just glorious. Passed a huge herd of deer. No dogs in pursuit.

And when I got here, I discovered they have excellent facilities - including a decent shower about 30 seconds walk from my desk. Plus I have a view of Teddington Lock from my desk. Which is nice.

Shame I'm only going to be here for two months!

[mcshroom]

Nice for the summer though citoyen. Congratulations on the new job

[citoyen]

Cheers!

[menthel]

This mornings commute revealed that my face stuffing fest of the past few weeks, along with the subsequent increase in weight has left me a ruined mess. Bum.

As for turning right from Chelsea Bridge to Battersea park it always looks a bit hairy- the traffic is usually flowing fairly well in the mornings and there are lots of bikes going into town too. Its a turn I would take very carefully!

[mrcharly-YHT]

I'm knackered. I have a headache. There is a headwind blowing.
Not really feeling like tackling the ride home.

[David Martin]

Late for a meeting - pedalling hard on the downhill. Hit all the lights on green, no opposing traffic on the right turn. Fast run into the right hander and over the roundabout and dumped the bike in my office instead of the bike shed because I was a few minutes over time.

[menthel]

And home with a tailwind, wheeeeeeee!

[PhilO]

My slightly longer than usual commute home became slightly longer again, thanks to 'Jerry'.