Author Topic: On the commute today (Read 2488515 times)

John Henry · « **Reply #550 on:** 08 February, 2010, 08:06:51 pm »

I got loudly beeped at by some red-faced bloke in a Seat. I will never know what for: I hadn't been anywhere near him and despite the fact that he was shouting loudly, he hadn't bothered to lower his car window.

Never mind. I'm still ahead on karma, as I got lots of thumbs up after pointing out some horrific potholes to a chap in a Mini yesterday.

TimO · « **Reply #551 on:** 09 February, 2010, 03:21:24 am »

Since I left quite late today, even for me, around 2am, I was curious about how much traffic I'd see.

When I lived in Cheltenham, at 2am on a Monday night/Tuesday morning, you'd be lucky to see any moving traffic. Probably less than half a dozen vehicles would be busy, and several of those would be police cars!

In London, over a bit less than an hour, I saw 89 motor vehicles, 5 cyclists, and 10 pedestrians. That was actually more motor vehicles than I expected.

GruB · « **Reply #552 on:** 09 February, 2010, 06:13:53 am »

Well my commute was like a return to the beginning of my cycling revival. I had to go to Marlborough for a change so went up up up and then down down down. It was actually very enjoyable. I compensated with a much shorter but steeper ride by having a very full Nelson Longflap including some heavy shoes and jeans.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #553 on:** 09 February, 2010, 06:32:58 am »

Horrible last night - dark, wind-driven snow like needles in the eyes, and some git had spilled diesel all along the lanes for the last two miles.

TheLurker · « **Reply #554 on:** 09 February, 2010, 07:53:30 am »

Quote from: rogerzilla on 09 February, 2010, 06:32:58 am

Horrible last night - dark, wind-driven snow like needles in the eyes, and some git had spilled diesel all along the lanes for the last two miles.

Isn't astonishing the difference only a few (about 10 or 12) miles can make to weather conditions? I had a straightforward, dry, ride home albeit with a strong bitterly cold breeze in my face.

L CC · « **Reply #555 on:** 09 February, 2010, 08:32:40 am »

I was bitterly cold on the way home yesterday, cold cold wind finding the slightest gap in my layers, and fine precipitation lacerating my front (it felt).
Arriving home with snot & tears (from the wind) all over my face, I looked in the mirror to see it's unlikely my single status will change any time soon...

jogler · « **Reply #556 on:** 09 February, 2010, 10:13:25 am »

Quote from: fboab on 09 February, 2010, 08:32:40 am

I was bitterly cold on the way home yesterday, cold cold wind finding the slightest gap in my layers, and fine precipitation lacerating my front (it felt).
Arriving home with snot & tears (from the wind) all over my face, I looked in the mirror to see it's unlikely my single status will change any time soon...

real beauty lies within:the outside is merely the wrapping which should not be used to judge the contents.

Andrij · « **Reply #557 on:** 09 February, 2010, 10:38:48 am »

Commuting time has improved, even though I took the slightly longer (+1km) route I was still a couple of minutes quicker than a few weeks ago. I wanted to include the Isle of Dogs loop but didn't leave early enough.

Today was the first time I did my commute before 7am and a lot of the drivers were right tossers, especially those using the bus lanes before the restrictions started. I've learned my lesson: from now on I will ride right in the middle of the lane instead of sharing. Traffic is light enough - they can use the other lane, the ba5tard5.

John Henry · « **Reply #558 on:** 09 February, 2010, 06:46:41 pm »

Quote from: John Henry on 08 February, 2010, 08:06:51 pm

I got loudly beeped at by some red-faced bloke in a Seat. I will never know what for: I hadn't been anywhere near him and despite the fact that he was shouting loudly, he hadn't bothered to lower his car window.

And today I saw the same driver, in the same place, drive along for several yards with two wheels on the pavement rather than waiting for three seconds to allow the driver in front of him to turn right.

His abuse to me yesterday was obviously nothing personal - he's just a nut-job. Phew.

GruB · « **Reply #559 on:** 09 February, 2010, 08:26:07 pm »

I had the highs and lows.
I saw a Hustler type magazine, well many pages of said item displaying all sorts of pink fleshy shots but then a little further on a dead badger.
On the way home I met a big boss that was going home on his bike so we chewed the fat for a bit.

Moloko · « **Reply #560 on:** 09 February, 2010, 08:28:06 pm »

Quote from: Grub on 09 February, 2010, 08:26:07 pm

I had the highs and lows.
I saw a Hustler type magazine, well many pages of said item displaying all sorts of pink fleshy shots but then a little further on a dead badger.
On the way home I met a big boss that was going home on his bike so we chewed the fat for a bit.

Sounds like the badger was so engrossed in the magazine that he never noticed the car bearing down on him.

GruB · « **Reply #561 on:** 09 February, 2010, 08:30:31 pm »

They say too much of that causes one to go blind

Moloko · « **Reply #562 on:** 09 February, 2010, 08:42:23 pm »

It was the height of summer and I could smell a dead badger.

Where was it? Only a further 100 metres or so down the road from where I first could smell it.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #563 on:** 09 February, 2010, 08:42:47 pm »

Quote from: Grub on 09 February, 2010, 08:26:07 pm

I had the highs and lows.
I saw a Hustler type magazine, well many pages of said item displaying all sorts of pink fleshy shots but then a little further on a dead badger.
On the way home I met a big boss that was going home on his bike so we chewed the fat for a bit.

So...which was the high point? And which of the three aroused you the most?

Moloko · « **Reply #564 on:** 09 February, 2010, 08:44:18 pm »

Quote from: Grub on 09 February, 2010, 08:26:07 pm

I had the highs and lows.
I saw a Hustler type magazine, well many pages of said item displaying all sorts of pink fleshy shots but then a little further on a dead badger.
On the way home I met a big boss that was going home on his bike so we chewed the fat for a bit.

You dirty fecker!

GruB · « **Reply #565 on:** 09 February, 2010, 08:45:06 pm »

Hustler caused a wry smile to youthful memories of furtiveness.
Badger caused a tinge of sadness.
Boss was enjoyable as I had not caught up with him for a while and it was good to chat.

None aroused me whatsoever

teethgrinder · « **Reply #566 on:** 09 February, 2010, 10:12:06 pm »

Quote from: fboab on 09 February, 2010, 08:32:40 am

I was bitterly cold on the way home yesterday, cold cold wind finding the slightest gap in my layers, and fine precipitation lacerating my front (it felt).
Arriving home with snot & tears (from the wind) all over my face, I looked in the mirror to see it's unlikely my single status will change any time soon...

Quote from: fboab

It's all about grip strength

TheLurker · « **Reply #567 on:** 10 February, 2010, 07:49:17 am »

Mixed bag this morning.

On the not quite plus side I had to ride the main road, there was a bitterly cold head/side wind pretty much all the way and a 10 minute shower of sleet - out of an apparently clear sky. Weird.

On the quite definitely plus side it was obviously beginning to get light at 0630, there was beautiful crescent moon, the volume of bird song has definitely increased significantly over the last week and leaving aside the pillock in the artic in Lechlade all the motons gave me lots and lots of room.

The darktime is ending!

CrinklyLion · « **Reply #568 on:** 10 February, 2010, 08:24:42 am »

Apparently the smallest CrinklyCub had his second off

Turning right, black ice, down they went. One exploded front light, no injuries, bike probably OK. Littly cried for 30 seconds and has apparently been going round the nursery telling everybody "I was crying before. We fell off daddy's bike." It's slippy out there!

Jacomus · « **Reply #569 on:** 10 February, 2010, 09:09:50 am »

Nearly hit 3 times.

1) Narrow road due to roadworks a twat in a Volvo passed me so close that if I hadn't made a corrective swerve he would have hit me.

2) Mini-RAB, approaching to turn right, sitting to the RHS of the lane, big signal. As soon as I dropped my arm to the bars and entered the RAB a police car opposite assumed that I had given up on my turn and started forwards. An e-stop from her and a nervous swerve on the paint for me.

3) 2 lanes going round a dogs-leg at Oval, car decides that the racing line is appropriate and comes within centimetres of taking me out.

Then I nearly got hit by bird poo.

Then I got snowed/hailed on for 10minutes.

TimO · « **Reply #570 on:** 10 February, 2010, 01:10:48 pm »

Rather bizzare weather today, almost the entire way in every five or ten minutes it swapped between snow and bright sunshine.

The snow wasn't settling, but was the small really hard stuff that can be quite painful, and at times made me slow down, since it made it difficult to see when it was going straight into my eyes. $:-\$

Aside from that and the damned North-Easterly wind that's been a drag for the last week or so, it was an uneventful commute.

Sergeant Pluck · « **Reply #571 on:** 10 February, 2010, 03:03:42 pm »

It is rather variable in London. Got lucky this morning - rode in early for a lecture at 0800, thereby missing some snow type stuff that I would have been out in had I rode in at my usual 30 mins later. Left work early - first daylight ride home from work this year, bright and sunny

Also my first ride outside of the rush hour in ages, lovely. Commute average is around the 15 mph mark these days, regardless of traffic. I noted a nice comfortable cruising speed of 18 mph today, possibly wind-assisted. I'd never noticed this before as my computer is on the top tube and I never like to look at it in rush hour conditions, but today I got to lower my head to it for a bit

JonBuoy · « **Reply #572 on:** 10 February, 2010, 05:03:34 pm »

Proper snow here in Leicestershire and it appears to be sticking. The ride to the leisure centre in 30 minutes for badminton will be entertaining and the ride home after rehydrating could end up a tad unpleasant. Not sure whether this still counts as part of the commute though.

Gandalf · « **Reply #573 on:** 10 February, 2010, 05:20:30 pm »

The ride home tonight was strange, lovely and sunny but the wind was ludicrous. I plumbed new depths with my gearing just to get nowhere.

I don't know if I'm imagining it, but now it's getting lighter the dangerous overtakes seem to be on the increase.

Just about to harvest the footage.

GruB · « **Reply #574 on:** 10 February, 2010, 09:12:35 pm »

Ride to work involved ice patrol.
Ride home was horribly cold and windy and involved more ice patrol.