Author Topic: On the commute today  (Read 2462361 times)

ian

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20700 on: 02 May, 2019, 09:25:26 am »
Enjoying my regular evening's contemplation of the school of both cycling and driving that insists you must accelerate as fast as possible from any stop and then have to slow down immediately at the next obstacle. Rinse and repeat. Unless they're full-on lycra boys, they're usually there at the next lights. Same with cars, of course. They have to floor it and then slam on the brakes.

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20701 on: 02 May, 2019, 01:43:35 pm »
binary people.

ian

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20702 on: 02 May, 2019, 03:35:46 pm »
It's weird, it's the majority of people. It's almost savant-like, they just have to go for it, even though it's evident they're (often almost immediately) going to have to slow down again. I used to think it was just car drivers, but it's the same imperative, it seems, for anything that moves slower than walking pace.

Andrij

  • Андрій
  • Ερασιτεχνικός μισάνθρωπος
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20703 on: 07 May, 2019, 09:52:18 am »
Yesterday I returned to commuting.  Huzzah!

Having been off a few months it's no surprise I'm a bit weak, it I was generally OK.  I was worried about the Ramadan Rush on the return leg, but it was pretty quiet.  Then remembered it was a bank holiday, so most would already have been home to break the fast.  Tonight, OTOH, will likely be back to the usual homicidal standards of driving.
;D  Andrij.  I pronounce you Complete and Utter GIT   :thumbsup:

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20704 on: 08 May, 2019, 03:15:06 pm »
Car in front of me had the rear windscreen wipers attached the wrong way round (180 deg out) so that instead of wiping the rear windscreen it wiped their rear numberplate.
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20705 on: 08 May, 2019, 11:35:14 pm »
My commute takes me approx an hour and have found that my shoulder bag is starting to hurt my back.  I've ordered a carradice barley ! It will look pretty odd on my carbon hybrid, but my back will welcome it for sure.
Wet today, both directions with added strong headwind on the way home.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20706 on: 08 May, 2019, 11:38:25 pm »
Car in front of me had the rear windscreen wipers attached the wrong way round (180 deg out) so that instead of wiping the rear windscreen it wiped their rear numberplate.

I've seen that a couple of times recently, though not actually in operation.  Assumed it was a result of vandalism (the BloodyStudents delight in breaking windscreen wipers and kung-fu-kicking door mirrors on their noisy drunken amble up the hill), but maybe there's something subtle about fettling the things that makes it easy to cock up?

mcshroom

  • Mushroom
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20707 on: 09 May, 2019, 07:07:24 pm »
I can confirm the brakes on my tourer are still pretty effective. I would have preferred the woman in the black Berlingo that pulled out on me while I was doing 30mph into Beckermet not to have relied on that, however!

Also, I can't wait for spring to return. I'm back in my February commuting gear.
Climbs like a sprinter, sprints like a climber!

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20708 on: 10 May, 2019, 10:58:13 pm »
Second day of my new 18 mile each way commute (Emsworth to Botley) today. Definitely need to take more to eat in the afternoon - felt decidedly bonked on the Portsdown Hill climb on the way home.  :-\

But views from the top were magnificent!  ;D

TJG

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20709 on: 16 May, 2019, 01:41:36 pm »
Just been advised by a colleague that "You should have been wearing high viz yesterday because I nearly didn't see you as I pulled out of the carpark....I just want you to be safe."

He had gone before I composed my self enough to think that what I should have replied with was "I just want you to look properly before you drive across the footpath and cycle lane." Or maybe to ask if he also advised the two members of staff who were walking to wear high viz?

This evening I have the joys of a newly pebbledashed section of my commute to contend with.  It did not look too bad this morning where they had the heavy roller on it a few minutes after dressing it.  I am sure that by this evening it will have been torn up again by the cars driving too fast!

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20710 on: 16 May, 2019, 02:58:33 pm »
This evening I have the joys of a newly pebbledashed section of my commute to contend with.  It did not look too bad this morning where they had the heavy roller on it a few minutes after dressing it.  I am sure that by this evening it will have been torn up again by the cars driving too fast!

This reminds me, a surface dressing innovation has appeared on one of my regular lanes:  The chips seem to be finer than usual, and for whatever reason there aren't vast swathes of loose material to contend with.  Which is at least theoretically an improvement, except that they've not done anything about the uneven surface they've applied it to.  So the road's just as hazardously bumpy as before, but a uniform colour/texture to make the holes that much more tricky to spot (especially in bright sunlight filtering through trees).   :-\

Andrij

  • Андрій
  • Ερασιτεχνικός μισάνθρωπος
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20711 on: 16 May, 2019, 03:04:52 pm »
Meant to post this yesterday:

Eeewwww, the cycle lanes were full of ... cyclists!  :o
It's been a few years since I've done the morning rush-hour commute.  Dear Lord, there were more than a few people out there.  Great to see so many people commuting by bike, but that also means an increased number of numpties.  It will take some time, but I'll get used to it.
;D  Andrij.  I pronounce you Complete and Utter GIT   :thumbsup:

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20712 on: 16 May, 2019, 03:26:19 pm »
Got outrageously cut up by a sportive wannabee yesterday prompting a wholly involuntary cry of 'Fucking hell" from me.

He wasn't all that quick up the hills (he slowed down, I maintained pace) so at the next set of lights I put it to him that maybe he was a little too close. This elicited a mumbled "sorry" followed by a "Where's your helmet ?"

Fucker.

He then deliberately close passed me on the next straight, but again, slowed up on the next hill.
All I could be arsed with was "Shit cycling is always shit cycling" as I passed him.   Hardly the most inspired response. He blew through the next red light.

And, in other news, my commute is generally a delightful affair.
Rust never sleeps

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20713 on: 21 May, 2019, 01:15:02 pm »
WVM doesn't like a bike filtering through queued road work traffic, to end up in front of said van, then van following bike through roadworks, even though bike keeps pace with the car in front.   ::-)
Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20714 on: 21 May, 2019, 07:10:44 pm »
Well mate, that's obvious, innit.
Rust never sleeps

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20715 on: 23 May, 2019, 03:31:01 pm »
 ;) O:-)

of course I wouldn't do it deliberately...
Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20716 on: 23 May, 2019, 04:18:14 pm »
Just been advised by a colleague that "You should have been wearing high viz yesterday because I nearly didn't see you as I pulled out of the carpark....I just want you to be safe."
There's a yehuda moon for that.
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20717 on: 23 May, 2019, 04:54:13 pm »
Had the slow 'I'm not going to wait for you, but will slow right down while I encroach on your space' pinch point pass today...

Couple of days ago, on the way home, I had a continental HGV, bide it's time to overtake, but when it finally did - the oncoming vehicle had to stop completely, to avoid a head on!
Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson

ian

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20718 on: 23 May, 2019, 06:53:20 pm »
Nearly got sideswiped by a Smart car. There's something about Smart cars that ensures they're driven by people who are definitively not very smart. I'll charitably say she must have had an itchy ear and it wasn't the fact she was deep in a phone conversation that was causing her to drift all over the road. I don't think she even noted my existence as she wavered off into the distance.

Yesterday was one of those evenings. Endless close passes. Speeding drivers everywhere. Hefty whiffs of marijuana from cars with a single occupant. General unabated idiocy. That will, of course, remind me not to meander through South Norwood and the northern regions of the London Borough of Croydon. I think the last time the police pulled over a driver there was in 1992 and then only because the police officer was under the misapprehension he was in Bromley. It's basically utterly lawless. Every road is a rat-run or drag strip. And the people there seem to be stuck a perpetual audition for next Mad Max movie.

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20719 on: 23 May, 2019, 07:15:25 pm »
Nearly got sideswiped by a Smart car. There's something about Smart cars that ensures they're driven by people who are definitively not very smart. I'll charitably say she must have had an itchy ear and it wasn't the fact she was deep in a phone conversation that was causing her to drift all over the road. I don't think she even noted my existence as she wavered off into the distance.

Yesterday was one of those evenings. Endless close passes. Speeding drivers everywhere. Hefty whiffs of marijuana from cars with a single occupant. General unabated idiocy. That will, of course, remind me not to meander through South Norwood and the northern regions of the London Borough of Croydon. I think the last time the police pulled over a driver there was in 1992 and then only because the police officer was under the misapprehension he was in Bromley. It's basically utterly lawless. Every road is a rat-run or drag strip. And the people there seem to be stuck a perpetual audition for next Mad Max movie.

Ah!
My bold.
Wickham Road, Brockley (where Kate Bush used to live) and Chatsworth Road, Clapton (an example of Britain's last "traditional" high street).
Two roads on my commute where the waft of skunk from single occupancy cars is almost guaranteed.
Being on a bike, doesn't that just make you feel fantastic?

ian

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20720 on: 23 May, 2019, 07:53:22 pm »
It certainly makes a change from the diesel fumes. Drug driving doesn't really seem to be on the radar in the same way drink driving was (though I'm not sure the police are especially bothered by that now, other than the brief bit of press before Christmas). Since I started back at the mothership and commute home a couple of days of week, I've seen precisely one traffic stop, in South Croydon for a car that was either dramatically overloaded or had no suspension, and I suspect both. The only place I can be reliable assuring of seeing police presense is the inevitable Wild West Croydon fracas, where one drugged up or pissed skinny bloke kicking off will require four police vans, a dozen squad cars, and a helicopter. I think they'd send a battleship if they had one.

The other disturbing thing was the number of speeding cars – and I don't mean the almost standard 40 in a 30 20 zone, I mean serious. Mostly youngish blokes in the usual 'performance' cars. Two zoomed past me on Landsdowne Road in Croydon at faster than motorway speeds. They were on the other side of road, so it wasn't a close pass, but needless to say when you hear a car coming up behind at those sorts of speeds you pretty much bail straight onto the pavement and find religion.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20721 on: 23 May, 2019, 08:07:27 pm »
Nearly got sideswiped by a Smart car. There's something about Smart cars that ensures they're driven by people who are definitively not very smart.

Car that's too small for anything you'd reasonably want to use a car for means it inherently appeals to the sort of people who use a car as a coat and/or bicycle.

I'm still impressed-but-not-surprised that Birmingham's short lived Smart-based Boris-car scheme failed.  They blamed a "strong culture of private motoring" for lack of demand.

ian

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20722 on: 23 May, 2019, 08:25:07 pm »
The most annoying thing was that the road was empty, she was just so engrossed in her phone call that really I didn't exist. There's still a large proportion of drivers that simply still haven't got the message. Probably best we don't text it to them.

Oh, the other thing that was really annoying me: those little pedestrian islands that councils love popping into the middle of the road because they can't be arsed with proper crossings (or whatever sundry attempt they make at justification). I always take primary if they're narrow because they encourage the most egregious close passing. Which means a good proportion of drivers just accelerate as hard as they can the moment they think they've got a shot at getting by, buzzing your back wheel in the process.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20723 on: 23 May, 2019, 08:31:31 pm »
Oh, the other thing that was really annoying me: those little pedestrian islands that councils love popping into the middle of the road because they can't be arsed with proper crossings (or whatever sundry attempt they make at justification).

You know what's worse than pedestrian refuges?  (Which have a bollard each side, a gap in the middle level with the road surface, and dropped kerbs on either side of the road so pedestrians can access them.)

Traffic-enraging pinch-points that aren't even pedestrian refuges.  Like these bastards that were installed a couple of years ago opposite the Mega-Global BRITISH Chocolate Corporation of Bournville, Middle Earth:  https://goo.gl/maps/bufXcBfYbYEvUcz16  (A true pedestrian refuge is visible in the distance.)

You can imagine how much fun cycling up that hill became after they appeared.

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20724 on: 23 May, 2019, 11:02:50 pm »
I worked quite late tonight and had to sprint hard to get to the polling station in time. Virtually rode the bike through the doorway but made it by two minutes with sweat dripping off my nose. A watermark on the paper is a good thing, right?
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...