On the commute today

[Peter]

Nice day here, commute spoiled by a) too many insects trying to commit suicide on my face and b) broken Heineken bottle strewn across the Innocent. On the other hand, I overtook a bloke on a recumbent on the downhill after the tunnel, despite being heavily panniered and despite not even trying! 

You sure he wasn't just lying in the road?

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Cheekypants.

[jogler]

yours,his or Peter's?
 

[clarion]

I had a lovely commute home.  I went down Embankment, making 32 passes in aggregate (3 people passed me; I did 35 overtakes) between Lambeth and Battersea Bridge.  Then I pressed on to Richmond Park, chased a bike down to look at the seatstay detail, then went over Spankers Hill.

I was making good time, but I spotted a woman standing beside the road inspecting her tyre.  This very nice German lady had a slo puncture, but didn't have far to go, so I used my pump to refill the tyre to get her home.  She thanked me a lot, then got on her way.  I paused as I refixed my pump to the bike, then set off and repassed her and checked she was OK before I left her.  Gave me a warm feeling on a lovely evening.

I trundled onward, and kept a good time, passing cyclists all the way home.  Best scalp was a chap on a racy Pearson in Sutton.  I got up behind him, and he attacked a rise, but didn't shake me.  I waited till we were most of the way down the other side, so I knew I had the measure of him, then zoomed past and away.  He tried to respond, but didn't have anything.  I thought he'd catch me as I turned up the next rise, but he didn't.

I wish all commutes could be like that.

[citoyen]

I lost a KOM on Strava the other day. Thought I'd try to win it back this morning and was going well but halfway up the steep section, my chain slipped, my right foot unclipped and I only narrowly avoided ending up in a hedge. Bollocks.

I put my nice bike back together at the weekend and I think the rear indexing needs a bit of fettling. Although it's possible that it's misbehaving because the chain and cassette are quite worn.

The new front shifter works like a dream though - thanks, Sgt Pluck!

d.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Passed aftermath of what looked like a very ugly accident last night. Bike by side of road, front wheel bent into a paperclip. Police cars blocking off junction. Ambulance sat there, no lights on, crew outside talking to the police.

Haven't found mention of it in the papers yet. Given the stationary ambulance, I suspect it was a fatality. Can't see why the police would have blocked a major junction at rush hour for anything else and if the casualty wasn't dead, surely the ambulance would be on the way to hospital.

[alexb]

Sometimes those things turn out to look much worse than they are. You might have found that the "casualty was walking wounded and waiting for a lift home, or simply that everyone is sitting around taking statements before the ambulance heads off at low speed.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Crossed fingers that was the case. The police cars blocking the road (it's a very major junction) made me think otherwise.

[Si_Co]

Came so close to being T-boned onna roundabout tonight it was incredible, missed the rear wheel by about 3 inches. The driver apologised and was obviously contrite, left him stopped dead in the road and visibly shaking.

[sg37409]

Nice commute back to hotel around lake union and back up the hill to the space needle. Nice road surfaces and working trams, patient drivers on the whole. Seattle vs Edinburgh. Compare and contrast.

[PaulF]

As it's probably my last commute before I move house I took the Pugsley for a change, a little slower than usual but with singlespeed on 32X20 and 4" tyres I wasn't expecting it to be fast although I did overtake a couple of people.


Pugsley goes sightseeing by paulfulford, on Flickr

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

One dozy dog, one dozy owner, one pavement cyclist carrying a pair of axillary crutches, and one V-sign to a driver trying to beep me to move left into the door zone.

[citoyen]

Tried a new route from home to Faversham this morning, which was really lovely - a bit more varied terrain than my usual route and less traffic (except for a short stretch on the A2 at the end), plus a few extra miles as an added bonus (18km instead of 12km).

I meant to take it easy to give my tired legs a rest* - plus there was a very noticeable headwind - but I can't help myself at the moment: I averaged just shy of 30km/h.   

d.

*I did a total of 81km over my four commute rides yesterday, pushing quite hard on all of them.

[Butterfly]

Tried a new route from home to Faversham this morning, which was really lovely - a bit more varied terrain than my usual route and less traffic (except for a short stretch on the A2 at the end), plus a few extra miles as an added bonus (18km instead of 12km).

Which way did you go?
We might be riding down again on Saturday and nice route suggestions are always welcome.

[citoyen]

Which way did you go?
We might be riding down again on Saturday and nice route suggestions are always welcome.

I went a bit inland via Selling. No hills to speak of but a bit more rolling than the coastal route. Will you be riding all the way from London? I can certainly give you some pointers on nice roads round my end of the route.

Here's a route, roughly based on my ride this morning, that takes you from Faversham to Whitstable station - not too lumpy but not so flat as to be boring, and mostly on quiet roads (plus a bit of light offroad trail at the end):
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=420751

Annoyingly, I'm going to miss you being in Whitstable again - I've got to drive a van down to Brighton on Saturday to pick up some furniture and probably won't be back until late. Anyone would think I was trying to avoid you.

d.

[alexb]

I saw a classic numpty bike on bike accident on Cedars Road last night.
Two cyclists set off from the lights, quite close to each other and then collided on the clyce path when one slowed down as the grade increased.
I'd seen it was going to happen and was easily able to ride around them.

Nothing I could do to help, since I had no first aid kit, they weren't going to need witnesses and Sainsbury's at the corner would have someone able to patch up any scrapes.

I really don't like that junction. It's always blocked by cars encroaching into the ASL, there's a stupid bus stop on the left for a bus which turns right (across 2 lanes of traffic) and frequent spills of gravel from the concrete works down the road.

[DrMekon]

Prat using our road as a rat run decided to "confront me" after I commented "that was sensible" when he tried to turn left on me. I held my lane, so he overtook and got out of the car. Sadly, he wasn't very brave once he was out of the car, and his top lip got all wobbly. Bless. However, despite offering to meet him when he'd calmed down, he got all brave as I was cycling off and shouted "don't die, eh?" after me.

4 junctions later (Coton roundabout for Cambridge locals), there was one of those ambulance cars at the side of the road. Cyclist on his back, in a neck brace. A micra was on the side of the road with a cyclist shape imprinted in it's smashed windscreen. I asked if there was anything I could do - like take the bike back to the guys house. Paramedic said it was all under control and they'd get the bike in the ambulance, but thanked me for stopping. Couldn't tell how the cyclist was doing - he seemed to be conscious. Hard to tell what happened, but looked like the Micras smidsy'd him when joining the r/bout. Hope the young chap is alright.

[Karla]

That sounds like an eventful commute, Dr M.  I hope you can still concentrate after that start to the day?

[DrMekon]

Had a bit of a blub after seeing the young chap on the deck, but I'm soft like that. Struggled a bit to be productive today, too. However, I'm really lucky where I ride, as that's the first RTA I've seen in well over a year.

[simonp]

Overtaken by a pickup truck on Coldhams Lane, 40 limit. Probably 60-70mph.

[clarion]

Cor, that was a struggle!

I'm still not well, but need to do some end-of-financial-year-type-stuff.  So, with a raging temprerature and a chest infection, I set off into a visibly polluted Great Wen.

Because of gear cable issues, I couldn't use my tourer, so rejigged my fixed slightly and rode that.

When I came to the first difficult roundabout, I dismounted and crossed as a ped rather than duel with mad drivers.  I took this as a signal that I should not be attempting Stockwell, Oval or Elephant & Castle, all of which feel like rehearsals for Ben Hur.  So, at Clapham Common, I turned off and took the back way through. 

I wasn't slow, I was surprised to find, but did just want to collapse in a heap when I got to work, utterly sweaty with the heat, the fever, and the effort.

I did enjoy the ride, I suppose, but I worked for the privilege.

[JJ]

Coton roundabout for Cambridge locals

No idea if it's to blame this time, but that roundabout is a classic example of how if is safer on the road going fast than on the cycle path trying to cross the exit roads.

Incidentally and OT, one of Cambridge tri's quickest Ironmen has just landed the job of cycle paramedic in town.  That should cut response times.

[alexb]

Shaking down the long distance bike for the Dun Run over the next couple of days. Boy oh Boy is it fast compared to the regular hack. Over 50kph across Tooting Bec with ease, 46kph down Queenstown Road and easily holding 32-35kph everywhere else.

I guess there are advantages t pushing hard on heavy slow bikes the rest rest of the year round.

[seraphina]

Coton roundabout for Cambridge locals

No idea if it's to blame this time, but that roundabout is a classic example of how if is safer on the road going fast than on the cycle path trying to cross the exit roads.

Incidentally and OT, one of Cambridge tri's quickest Ironmen has just landed the job of cycle paramedic in town.  That should cut response times.

DrMekon - hope you are OK.

JJ - I totally agree. In particular the M11/A10 roundabout in Trumpington - if you're on the cycle route you have to cross the M11 entry slip road, which is just as cars are speeding up to motorway speeds as they leave the roundabout.

As an aside, the new cycle routing on the road from Trumpington Park and Ride through to Trumpington High St. is diabolical - no cycle priority, needless crossing of roads, and lots of kerbs. The guys who came up with that should be asked to justify their actions.

My commute was okay - legs fine but cardio system was showing the effects of the long weekend rides.

[Si_Co]

Very muggy today, made it hard work really. Could do with a damn good thunderstorm before hometime, especially since all the humidity alarms in the lab are going off.