Author Topic: On the commute today (Read 2481907 times)

sg37409 · « **Reply #19900 on:** 14 September, 2017, 11:32:18 am »

Been doing a ton of work from home: In the office today though, and quite enjoyed the ride in. Quite cool, very nice riding conditions.
Enjoyed feeling wide awake for start of work.

TJG · « **Reply #19901 on:** 19 September, 2017, 01:59:56 pm »

Not one single close pass. 3 lorries waited behind me with no crunching of gears or revving of engines until it was safe to pass.
Not sure if it was anything to do with the heavily loaded pannier having an effect or just a coincidence but all in all it was a lovely ride in.

Under the arches · « **Reply #19902 on:** 20 September, 2017, 01:24:06 pm »

First post since the last commuting on bikes to Newport. Now upto Gloucester. A nice run through the lanes as the sun was coming up and then on to the A38. Not the nicest but the quickest. Incident free.

Onto another 7miles & then the train home. Too far for there & back see.

Jacomus · « **Reply #19903 on:** 20 September, 2017, 04:30:12 pm »

Quote from: TJG on 19 September, 2017, 01:59:56 pm

Not one single close pass. 3 lorries waited behind me with no crunching of gears or revving of engines until it was safe to pass.
Not sure if it was anything to do with the heavily loaded pannier having an effect or just a coincidence but all in all it was a lovely ride in.

I always feel a little guilty about the revving engine. There is a collection I go to fairly frequently where, on the way out, I'll be running at exactly 44 tons. Often I will meet a cyclist or two or three right at the foot of a steep hill up through the village. Crawling up it in second gear with that much weight on at a handful of kmh behind the cyclist is a noisy experience, nothing to do with attempting to pass.

sg37409 · « **Reply #19904 on:** 22 September, 2017, 10:57:49 am »

Soaked through yesterday morning, but what a difference a day makes.
Beautiful ride in today, cool: 5.1C on the Garmin but no wind,dry, just the best way to get to work

TimO · « **Reply #19905 on:** 25 September, 2017, 09:29:13 am »

The first really damp dark commute of the season. Not too bad overall, but I was a bit slower than optimal, because of nervousness on the wet roads. It wasn't that heavily raining, but fairly continuous drizzle for an hour, will soak you, regardless. However, I did get a colourful image on the camera !

mcshroom · « **Reply #19906 on:** 27 September, 2017, 06:15:47 pm »

I planned that wrong. I had to commute between site ond out offices in Whitehaven today, so I ended up riding there and home into a stiff headwind, and catching a train on the tailwind leg.

We also had a strike in site which meant really long queues of annoyed drivers trying to get through the gates - that I could ride straight past

Nethypete · « **Reply #19907 on:** 28 September, 2017, 09:48:28 pm »

Stunning early morning commute from Nethy to Aviemore railway station, linking with NCN7 and Speyside Way - dawn, rainbow and solitude. Stunning.

alexb · « **Reply #19908 on:** 02 October, 2017, 05:18:38 pm »

First time through Tooting Bec since the council massacred the Chestnut Avenue.

They've replanted with Small-Leafed Limes, thus completely changing the future character of the path as well.

TheLurker · « **Reply #19909 on:** 05 October, 2017, 08:35:27 pm »

One hour seven to ride 15 miles? Oh well 5 weeks off the bike and a nasty headwind were bound to take their toll. At least I didn't get rained on.

hatler · « **Reply #19910 on:** 05 October, 2017, 08:48:24 pm »

I bumped into an old colleague on CS7 yesterday morning. We chatted all the way into the City. What a great catch up that was.

Today I saw nerk-onna-bike nearly twat himself good and proper in Tooting. Tall white van preparing to turn left in the traffic lane running parallel with CS7. Van is indicating left and slowing down, and starts the turn whilst NOB is accelerating hard. Van stops the turn leaving a gap of about 1' between a line from the kerb and front of van. NOB slices through the gap, and slams into the back of a van that had been coming the other way and was turning to his right. Which means that the NOB wasn't able to react in the time it took a whole van to pass in front of him. He rolled off, dusted himself down and was underway again within a minute.What a way to commute.

sg37409 · « **Reply #19911 on:** 05 October, 2017, 10:45:16 pm »

Superb harvest moon commute this evening.

Nethypete · « **Reply #19912 on:** 06 October, 2017, 06:09:41 am »

Quote from: TheLurker on 05 October, 2017, 08:35:27 pm

One hour seven to ride 15 miles? Oh well 5 weeks off the bike and a nasty headwind were bound to take their toll. At least I didn't get rained on.

If time off makes you that fast I must take a break

TheLurker · « **Reply #19913 on:** 06 October, 2017, 05:22:40 pm »

Quote from: Nethypete on 06 October, 2017, 06:09:41 am

Quote from: TheLurker on 05 October, 2017, 08:35:27 pm
One hour seven to ride 15 miles? Oh well 5 weeks off the bike and a nasty headwind were bound to take their toll. At least I didn't get rained on.

If time off makes you that fast I must take a break

*Chortle*. Alas, there's an important word missing from my post; minutes. One hour seven _minutes_. I usually expect work-bound to be just under the hour and on many days it will be close to 55 minutes. So some 10 or 12 minutes slower than usual.

clarion · « **Reply #19914 on:** 09 October, 2017, 01:12:39 pm »

Good grief, it's me!

I might actually be a cyclist after all! I've had a few days of heaving a fixed over some mildly rolling Worcestershire landscape (and some wildly ridiculous bits of Dudley/Rowley Regis etc), but I now have my tourer with me, and find that I can ride up all the hills Kidderminster throws at me (albeit slowly). I think I may be getting my groove back via a resurfacing mojo.

I hope I can keep at this commuting lark, but I also hope that I am living somewhere less rurally isolated by the time the serious weather happens :/

Feanor · « **Reply #19915 on:** 10 October, 2017, 05:56:03 pm »

Going into the bike shed yesterday afternoon for the ride home, I discovered not one, but *two* flat tyres.

Caused, I think, by me mis-judging a ramp that leads to the bike shed, on the return from our lunchtime ride.
I crashed up a sharp kerb quite heavily.

So I had to fettle 2 flat tyres.
One tube from my seat pack, and one from my stash in my desk drawer.
Another from the stash went into back into the seat pack.

Bah!

clarion · « **Reply #19916 on:** 11 October, 2017, 09:42:28 am »

Severe case of Friday legs today.

Thank heavens it's the weekend!

What?

telstarbox · « **Reply #19917 on:** 11 October, 2017, 12:13:09 pm »

Nearly a horrible accident on CS5 at Vauxhall Cross today. Crowd of cyclists waiting at the lights to go west onto Vauxhall Bridge (by the MI6 building). One decides not to wait and turns right onto Albert Embankment, straight into the path of an HGV whose driver does well to brake and just avoid a collision. Cue much sucking through teeth and tutting from the rest of us...

TigaSefi · « **Reply #19918 on:** 13 October, 2017, 01:20:24 pm »

Quote from: telstarbox on 11 October, 2017, 12:13:09 pm

Nearly a horrible accident on CS5 at Vauxhall Cross today. Crowd of cyclists waiting at the lights to go west onto Vauxhall Bridge (by the MI6 building). One decides not to wait and turns right onto Albert Embankment, straight into the path of an HGV whose driver does well to brake and just avoid a collision. Cue much sucking through teeth and tutting from the rest of us...

Idiot cyclist. did he/she carry on cycling oblivious to it all?

telstarbox · « **Reply #19919 on:** 13 October, 2017, 03:50:31 pm »

Yeah, they weren't stopping for anyone.

Charlie Polecat · « **Reply #19920 on:** 13 October, 2017, 05:38:41 pm »

Not commuting, but something similar happened to me on Sunday - rando ride - when I came up to a main road where often there is little traffic and I usually head straight across, but this time found myself heading straight into a line of trucks and could not unclip my shoe to stop and dismount, so I had to immediately veer right coming alongside the line of vehicles, all who stopped and probably collectively said: Stupid cyclist - and rightly so.

clarion · « **Reply #19921 on:** 16 October, 2017, 09:54:05 am »

So I did (almost) a full week last week. Couldn't ride Friday because we were heading to Worthing by car straight after work, and we did NOT need an extra bike on board!

Back on the bike this morning. Feels good.

mcshroom · « **Reply #19922 on:** 16 October, 2017, 06:43:34 pm »

The ride home was interesting. It's a little bit blowy out!

clarion · « **Reply #19923 on:** 17 October, 2017, 02:12:30 pm »

Blowy enough here in the West Midlands. I bailed on the second part of my cycle commute. I hate to imagine what it was like in the wild coastal NW!

mcshroom · « **Reply #19924 on:** 17 October, 2017, 07:44:22 pm »

It wasn't that bad actually. Most of the time I ~~had a stonking tailwind~~was having a very good day

Unfortunately the care the drivers were showing in the wind yesterday has gone today. Two bridges are closed round here at the moment, and the rat-runners on the rural lanes are a pain in the backside. I decided not to extend my commute home tonight because I wasn't enjoying dealing with the impatient morons on lanes hardly wider than the cars they were throwing around.