Author Topic: On the commute today  (Read 2462242 times)

Paul

  • L'enfer, c'est les autos.
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20850 on: 01 October, 2019, 05:06:41 pm »
Anyone else fed up with getting absolutely drenched?
I've got two kits on the go: one is drying out while the other is getting wet.
What's so funny about peace, love and understanding?

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20851 on: 01 October, 2019, 05:19:19 pm »
[...]

I've occasionally thought about dropping the cool tool from my armoury: I have a full-length 15mm ring spanner for the nuts on the wheels of the fixed bike, and pedal removal with the adjustable spanner would be so hard that I'm not sure it would even work. But I'm fond of it, and you never know when an adjustable spanner might come in handy - like last night.

Good stuff.   :thumbsup:

The 6" adjustable probably sees more action than anything else in my on-bike tool kit.  Not only is it useful for more exotic thing-bending problems and general BSO-fettling, it's something most other cyclists don't bother carrying.  I've even used it on my own bike a couple of times.

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20852 on: 01 October, 2019, 11:15:50 pm »
Anyone else fed up with getting absolutely drenched?
Stopped on the way to work to put on overtrousers.  Stopped a minute later for overshoes.  I have never added waterproofs mid-way on a ride in before.
But I am starting to enjoy the rain.
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20853 on: 02 October, 2019, 08:21:41 am »
Anyone else fed up with getting absolutely drenched?
I've got two kits on the go: one is drying out while the other is getting wet.
No tumble drier, no heating on and RH of 95%; nothing is drying! Now up to 3 sets of kit ...

It didn't rain this morning, hurrah!
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20854 on: 02 October, 2019, 09:05:14 am »
Anyone else fed up with getting absolutely drenched?

Oh yes, nothings drying, I've got sores on my sores  :'( , all this started when I stupidly rode a bike without guards last week  :facepalm:

Oh and I'm sick of the smell of wet hair

ian

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20855 on: 02 October, 2019, 09:25:24 am »
The torrential rain, at least, was enlivened by thunder last night. The power poncho is working quite well, though I had to sit on to expose the rear light. I do get very wet feet though. The amount of surface water on London roads is atrocious. Enormous road spanning lakes in several places.

Paul

  • L'enfer, c'est les autos.
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20856 on: 02 October, 2019, 12:47:35 pm »
Anyone else fed up with getting absolutely drenched?
I've got two kits on the go: one is drying out while the other is getting wet.
No tumble drier, no heating on and RH of 95%; nothing is drying! Now up to 3 sets of kit ...
Indeed. If it hadn't been for
It didn't rain this morning, hurrah!
I'd have been wearing some very bottom-of-the-drawer stuff.

(I'm very lucky in that we have a whole room at work for drying kit, which is a luxury: those horrible evenings when I had to put wet stuff back on to ride home are over. However, that doesn't stop you getting wet on the way home, and our house was turning onto a lycra launderette, with wet tendrils of the stretchy stuff dangling from every head height protuberance. It was like trying to navigate Shelob's lair!)
What's so funny about peace, love and understanding?

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20857 on: 02 October, 2019, 01:15:37 pm »

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20858 on: 02 October, 2019, 01:25:07 pm »
The hot pipe under my cage at work - for the avoidance of doubt, that's a drying cage for clothing - was fixed last Friday. Better late than never. The combination of wrapping wet stuff round a hair-dryer hose* while I'm showering, and 8 hours hanging in the cage above the hot pipe works well for lycra and jackets. Mitts are placed directly on the pipe when I've not had the foresight to pack a spare pair. Shoes are the problem. So I wear sandals when I can (with socks this morning, for the first time in months).

*I hope no-one uses the hair dryers for drying their hair.

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20859 on: 02 October, 2019, 07:39:01 pm »
Nice n'sunny.  Used a bar-end mirror (Cateye bm-45) for the first time ever; actually found it quite useful - so it will stay for the mo...
Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20860 on: 02 October, 2019, 11:13:13 pm »
Very cold one this morning. Frost on the cars and it wasnt a surprise on passing the second junction to see a car turing on to the main road with a tiny wee square cleared on his windscreen.

Nice commute though, especially the ride back.

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20861 on: 03 October, 2019, 11:41:15 am »
The hot pipe under my cage at work - for the avoidance of doubt, that's a drying cage for clothing - was fixed last Friday. Better late than never. The combination of wrapping wet stuff round a hair-dryer hose* while I'm showering, and 8 hours hanging in the cage above the hot pipe works well for lycra and jackets. Mitts are placed directly on the pipe when I've not had the foresight to pack a spare pair. Shoes are the problem. So I wear sandals when I can (with socks this morning, for the first time in months).

*I hope no-one uses the hair dryers for drying their hair.

I assume you mean the sock dryer. I had a go at someone in our work changing rooms for using the sock-dryer for drying his hair.

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20862 on: 03 October, 2019, 04:39:26 pm »
Idiot in a car overtook the cargo bike in front of me, which meant that they nearly drove head-on into a cyclist coming in the opposite direction (narrow road only big enough for one car).
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20863 on: 04 October, 2019, 07:03:20 pm »
Anyone else fed up with getting absolutely drenched?

Oh yes, nothings drying, I've got sores on my sores  :'( , all this started when I stupidly rode a bike without guards last week  :facepalm:

Oh and I'm sick of the smell of wet hair

That's a problem I'd like to have Si.


Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20864 on: 04 October, 2019, 10:17:49 pm »
Got a lift up the hill and rolled back down it; but I think it's still a bit soon to try and hold on to even MTB bars with broken fingers. I was in quite a bit of pain by the time I got home :(

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20865 on: 05 October, 2019, 06:17:41 am »
Anyone else fed up with getting absolutely drenched?

Oh yes, nothings drying, I've got sores on my sores  :'( , all this started when I stupidly rode a bike without guards last week  :facepalm:

Oh and I'm sick of the smell of wet hair

That's a problem I'd like to have Si.

Happy to help

Guy

  • Retired
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20866 on: 09 October, 2019, 09:07:46 am »
I had to put my lights on this morning. The first time in over 6 months.
"The Opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject"  Marcus Aurelius

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20867 on: 14 October, 2019, 11:27:59 am »
Monday morning gridlock through west and central London.  HGVs making deliveries - difficult as it will be to achieve, surely they have to be off the road after 5am?  And hundreds of police, almost as many as needed to round up the peaceful ExR protests.  Welcome to police state Britain.
How much can a koala bear?

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20868 on: 14 October, 2019, 06:38:08 pm »
Damp.
"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20869 on: 15 October, 2019, 10:50:02 am »
Monday morning gridlock through west and central London.  HGVs making deliveries - difficult as it will be to achieve, surely they have to be off the road after 5am?  And hundreds of police, almost as many as needed to round up the peaceful ExR protests.  Welcome to police state Britain.

I that the same thought while walking over Waterloo Bridge last week. There must have been 50 odd coppers, lining each side of the bridge like some sort of ceremonial guard, yet not a single protester to be seen. 

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20870 on: 15 October, 2019, 10:53:23 pm »
Some driver decided to pull a U-turn in a gap in peak-hour traffic. Unfortunately I was the gap.

A gentle roll onto the bonnet resulted, along with scuffed handlebar tape and a small bruise. I may be getting a bit too blasé about or distracted during my cycle-commute, given the close calls I’ve experienced recently.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20871 on: 16 October, 2019, 09:52:04 pm »
Some driver decided to pull a U-turn in a gap in peak-hour traffic. Unfortunately I was the gap.

A gentle roll onto the bonnet resulted, along with scuffed handlebar tape and a small bruise. I may be getting a bit too blasé about or distracted during my cycle-commute, given the close calls I’ve experienced recently.

Whoah !  Hope this is the wake up call you need if your getting too blase.  A close call. Glad your OK.

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20872 on: 18 October, 2019, 09:58:30 am »
Not me, but my colleague.

Shared use pedestrian/cycleway here: https://goo.gl/maps/1F4mWEVTDd9aR5MW6

Approaching sirens from behind. 4x4 passes my colleague and immediately turns left, mounts kerb and stops (presumably to 'get out of the way' of the emergency service vehicle). Colleague clatters into the side said 4X4. The lady driver apologies and explains that he hadn't seem him - the cyclist she had just driven past in the hi-vis yellow coat and red flashing lights.  :facepalm:

God help us all.

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20873 on: 18 October, 2019, 12:39:31 pm »
last commute of my 50's today - where have all the time/miles gone? Been doing this commuting by bike for some 30 yrs and I still love it - esp on the fixed altho' I may go back to 48x19 this winter.

Re: On the commute today
« Reply #20874 on: 18 October, 2019, 12:50:02 pm »
Anyone else fed up with getting absolutely drenched?

Oh yes, nothings drying, I've got sores on my sores  :'( , all this started when I stupidly rode a bike without guards last week  :facepalm:

Oh and I'm sick of the smell of wet hair
That's a problem I'd like to have Si.

 ;D

Been running 40 mins or so late these last couple of days, it never fails to amaze me the chaos that appears in that brief time frame.

Commuting seems to have got a lot easier since the GPS receiver in my phone died, totally unconsciously I'm taking it easier but the journey time is the same.