On the commute today

[Jurek]

Maybe, one day in the summer, those of us who commute up Peckham Rye should have a flashcoffeeandcake at the posh new cafe next to the old prisoner of war camp (aka the one o'clock club) on the Rye.

That's an old POW camp? 
I understood it that it was a stones throw from where Boudicca met her maker at the hands of The Romans....

[TimO]

There was a moderate amount of wind on the way home tonight, but it was quite variable, sometimes seemingly a tailwind, sometimes from the side, and all too often a headwind.  It didn't seem too bad at the time, but earlier on, I got up, and found my legs were impressively stiff, so they must have been working harder than I thought!

[PaulR]

Maybe, one day in the summer, those of us who commute up Peckham Rye should have a flashcoffeeandcake at the posh new cafe next to the old prisoner of war camp (aka the one o'clock club) on the Rye.

I like that idea.  My commute switches between the Brockley Path/Peckham Rye/canal route, the Brockley Path/Ivydale/Hollydale/Asylum route and (more frequently) the Brockley Cross/Goldsmiths/OKR route.    I've sometimes wondered whether I've seen an ian on the commute.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Plenty of handlebar chewing last night.  Rear mech has just about lost its last legs, its spring has sprung, so had to ride all the way back into the wind in the big ring.   

Return to work this morning like floating on air.  Until the unavoidable broken glass on Brunswick Hill and the inevitable squashy tyre.  The Roberts gets new running gear today (chain ring, chain, rear mech, rear cassette).  Looking forward to the ride home. 

[zigzag]

hmm, had a very close overtake this morning for no reason. caught up with the car at the roundabout, knocked the window (bad move) and explained that it's dangerous to overtake like that. the lady went ballistic, got out of the car and all i could hear was f-words and threats. i wonder now if i've ever seen such a furious person? it's a shame that a young (4-5yo) boy who sat in the car had to listen to his mother's(?) "performance". after half a minute of verbal abuse i just noted down a license plate and rode off seeing that there's more traffic in the front and i'd be clear of her. otherwise i wouldn't want to be in front of her and risk being mowed down. it's dangerous to have drivers like that on the road. i'll be taking a different route for some time.

[iddu]

Ewwww...

Mr Farmer, when dumping your slurry pile on the field, please to be making sure wet weather won't cause a  tonne of it to slide down the verge and across the road.

Never been so glad for floods

[Jurek]

...... it's dangerous to have drivers like that on the road. ........

En route to anger management class, perhaps? 

I had one like that last night - trying to turn right in front of me across my path. I said 'Wait' as I steered round him. The vehemence with which he told me to f*** off was quite astonishing. And wholly disproportionate. There's some deeply angry people out there. I occasionally wonder if it's the frustrations of driving that cause people to be like that.

[Kathy]

One flat tyre and one escaped pony. I was a bit late for work.

[citoyen]

Maybe, one day in the summer, those of us who commute up Peckham Rye should have a flashcoffeeandcake at the posh new cafe next to the old prisoner of war camp (aka the one o'clock club) on the Rye.

I'd be up for that. 

Although I broadly agree with various comments about the pinch points on Peckham Rye, I find a much bigger problem is the one you can see on the left of this picture:


d.

[jane]

Goodness, just how many people on here do commute up Pekham Rye sometimes?  And how many of them used to commute up there when there was both a lido and a paddling pool in which to cool down on a hot summer's day. 

[SteveC]

Wasn't raining when I stepped out of the house this morning.
Was by the time I'd got the bike out of the garage.
But the full semi-circle rainbow (with a very faint double) on the ride in made up for the wet.

[FatBloke]

On my commute this morning I was accompanied by the gentle tinkle of disintegrating front wheel bearings.   

Diet not going well, Fatters?

Git!   

[CJBrewer]

...... it's dangerous to have drivers like that on the road. ........

En route to anger management class, perhaps? 

I had one like that last night - trying to turn right in front of me across my path. I said 'Wait' as I steered round him. The vehemence with which he told me to f*** off was quite astonishing. And wholly disproportionate. There's some deeply angry people out there. I occasionally wonder if it's the frustrations of driving that cause people to be like that.

I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people (people what don't cycle on the roads, and especially in this city) don't realise quite how many dangerous drivers there are about. People with serious anger and stress management issues...

But I'm pretty sure it's a Jekyll/Hyde thing when some people get behind the wheel, and for what it's worth, there's the same issue on commuter trains around evening rush hour. Horrible, selfish arrogant behaviour.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Today, the wind blew my decreasingly loved Kno cap off my head! It was run over by three cars before I could pick it up  passing between the wheels of each one and remaining unsquashed.  This happened near Evans, which might be taken as a sign of something. 

[spindrift]

...... it's dangerous to have drivers like that on the road. ........

En route to anger management class, perhaps? 

I had one like that last night - trying to turn right in front of me across my path. I said 'Wait' as I steered round him. The vehemence with which he told me to f*** off was quite astonishing. And wholly disproportionate. There's some deeply angry people out there. I occasionally wonder if it's the frustrations of driving that cause people to be like that.

But I'm pretty sure it's a Jekyll/Hyde thing when some people get behind the wheel,

That Disney cartoon with Goofy, mild-mannered and polite as a ped, a foul sweary monster behind the wheel.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/0ZgiVicpZGk&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/0ZgiVicpZGk&rel=1</a>

[Meegat]

Not a happy bunny today. Met several varieties of dangerous/illegal driving in the <1km hop round the corner to work   Arrived stressed and pissed off at people's lack-of-shitgiving for care around ped crossings especially, as ride not long enough to cycle off the anger (I usually walk!)

[Basil]

Train to Nottingham - Train back from Nottingham.
Bit boring, really.

Oh, I did a bit of work between the two journeys.
That was also a bit boring.

[Bunker22]

My first 'commute'....a very short ride on a Boris bike from Newgate Street to Waterloo station across a very windy Blackfriars bridge. All of 15 minutes. But FUN 

[ian]

Maybe, one day in the summer, those of us who commute up Peckham Rye should have a flashcoffeeandcake at the posh new cafe next to the old prisoner of war camp (aka the one o'clock club) on the Rye.

I like that idea.  My commute switches between the Brockley Path/Peckham Rye/canal route, the Brockley Path/Ivydale/Hollydale/Asylum route and (more frequently) the Brockley Cross/Goldsmiths/OKR route.    I've sometimes wondered whether I've seen an ian on the commute.

Surely my cloak of anonymity isn't failing (in case I'm a teenage girl pretending to be older man, and thus reversing the polarity of the internet) but I do mostly cycle down Peckham Rye (I venture up from the foothills of Mount Crystal Palace via Penge, Sydenham, and Forest Hill), though generally I don't go to work until after 10am; being the boss of subdeck 14G sector 385476894 of an intergalactic mothership has some compensations. I mostly follow (sort of) LCN 23 home as it's quicker and the drop down Anerley Hill with the views out over Kent rather fetching, but involves the mountain, which I rarely feel ready for first thing the morning. Plus I like saying hello to the dinosaurs at the bottom end of the park.

Anyway, I'm easily spotted, because (a) I don't believe in hurrying and (b) my bike isn't very posh but it is exceptionally dirty. Except this week, as the dirty bike is broken*, and I'm forced to ride a nicer bike (which is marginally less dirty and a lot, lot faster). Don't tell me there's cake in Peckham, I have a serious cupcake addiction.

*the gear cable has been threatening demise for sometime, and I was good enough to get a replacement – unfortunately when I removed the old one the outer cable sheath things disintergrated and the rear derailleur bolt turned out to have been replaced by cheese metal product.

[citoyen]

Don't tell me there's cake in Peckham, I have a serious cupcake addiction.

I've mentioned this before but a friend of mine has a good café on Cheltenham Rd, just south of Peckham Rye. She tweeted a pic of some rather good looking bread pudding earlier, which was on today's menu.

d.

[clarion]

Anyway, I'm easily spotted, because (a) I don't believe in hurrying and (b) my bike isn't very posh but it is exceptionally dirty.

Ah.  Then there's a significant risk of my being mistaken for you.  Even when I am hurrying, the outcome is that I don't make rapid progress.  And I believe I have a bike under the grut.

I don't usually commute via Peckham Rye, as it's very much the wrong direction, but I have been known to go home that way.

ftr, I love the veggie sausage butties at the cafe.

[Jurek]

Thank you, Mr. Wind.
Now, will you kindly Foxtrot Oscar.
I'm not sure what hurts more, following tonight's ride home.
Leg muscles from fighting the headwind, or sphincter muscles from clenching......
Gah!

[jane]

I saw you grinding along Brockley Rd.  I was being whisked along on the wings of Aeolus in the opposite direction.  You didn't see me, your head was down, into the wind and you had a strange, twisted grin girn on your face. When I returned two hours later, on the same road, I realised why.  And the wind had dropped a bit in that time.

[jane]

Don't tell me there's cake in Peckham, I have a serious cupcake addiction.

I've mentioned this before but a friend of mine has a good café on Cheltenham Rd, just south of Peckham Rye. She tweeted a pic of some rather good looking bread pudding earlier, which was on today's menu.

d.

Oh yes, I remember.  And I pass it every day.  It's called Dish and Spoon (?) I believe.  It is however, never open when I pass.  Too early in the morning, too late in the evening, I guess.  So maybe not the place for a flashcakemunch.

[jane]

And even the cafe on the Rye seems to close early.
http://www.cafeontherye.co.uk/.  So unless we can all get a half day, seems unlikely (or a picnic).