On the commute today

[Jurek]

Lurgy seems to have settled in the lungs, wheezing along like a broken steam engine this morning, feels like I've been back on the fags.

I felt like that on Sunday! Christ, it was hard keeping up. Still managed 18 mph avg so not all bad. I just need to up the stamina!

Southwark Bridge way on the CSH had a huge spill of diesel. Can I report this anywhere?

Southwark Council - environment@southwark.gov.uk
Clicky

[TigaSefi]

Thanks! I'll take a picture of it tonight if it shows up on my camera phone ok or tomorrow morning!

[Jurek]

Unless things have changed recently, I think they'll respond to reports of a diesel spillage without waiting for photographic evidence.
Duty of care and all that.

[Ashaman42]

I've just called the police (non-emergency number) in the past for a big-ish gravel spill.

Now whether they sorted it out or got the council to do it I don't know but it had gone by the time I went home.

Either way they didn't say I shouldn't have called them.

[Si S]

The streets of Stretford seem to be paved with glass this morning 

[Si S]

Nearly rear ended someone on a hybrid this morning, I'd been aware of him drafting on the run down to the M60 bridge, as we went underneath it he'd obviously got some momentum, came past and pulled in a bit sharpish as we exited the bridge and he nearly came to halt - yes mate it is that bloody windy  I put a bit of effort in and left him to it. Making my turn to put the wind cross and it was like someone had let the brakes off.

[matthew]

The gas board have four way lights on my commute. As this is currently an irregular journey due to working away from home most of the time I was caught out by the combination of this and the school run.

Journey 5 minutes slower than it should be.

[clarion]

I managed another commute today!

With freehub and gears this time, in the fog all the way to the hospital for an 0800 meeting (which had, in any case, been rescheduled to 0830), and then on to work from there.

Looking forward to the ride home, but my knees aren't :/

Maybe not riding every day this week

[fuzzy]

What happens when you leave work 15 minutes late?

You get involved in a car v cyclist rear ending shit storm is what.

Not me rear ended (thank god). I was within the last 5 minutes of my ride. Unlit single carriageway road, one lane in each direction. It wasn't fully dark but as near as damn it full on dark. I could see a dim blinking light coming towards me in the other carriageway and just before we drew level, the thing resolved itself into an MTB being ridden by a mid to late teens lad. He was sat up, peddling along doing a running man impression with his arms. He was dressed in a dark blue smock type top and black shorts with long black socks. He was with a mate who was riding on the pavement. I rode on and a few seconds after, a car approached, 40 to 50 mph (NSL road so 60mph). I thought to myself- he hasn't seen the cyclist as I didn't hear a change in engine tone. I then heard a sound I never want to hear again, the impact of the car with the bike and a screaming.

I immediately turned round and made my way to the scene. The car had stopped and the driver was getting out. The lad was sitting in the road, screaming about his collar bone and asking why the driver was going so fast. He made to move to the pavement. I tried to get him to stay still but he wouldn't so we gently helped him and sat him on the pavement. I made the driver kneel behind him so the lad could relax back against him. Got my phone out but couldn't see the keypad (didn't have my glasses on) so got his mate to dial 999 and hand the phone to me. Once details were passed I split my time between keeping the casualty reassured and the traffic moving. Thankfully, a short while later an off duty paramedic drove by and stopped, so she took over the reassurance bit.

Ambulance and police turned up after about 15 minutes. Details passed then I buggered off home.

Probable broken collar bone, very deep gash in his knee. Bike absolutely fucked. The front blinker was still flashing in the heap. There was a bracket on the seat post but not sign of a rear light. Big dent in the bonnet leading edge and a body shaped breaking of the windscreen of the car.

My cup of tea on arrival home was most welcome.

[hatler]

Well done fuzzy. I too hope deeply that I never witness anything like that.

[clarion]

Well done, Fuzzy

[L CC]

The streets of Stretford seem to be paved with glass this morning 

Boro's like that every day.

Ice tyres today, again. I don't carry any repair kit on this bike on the basis I wouldn't be able to get the buggers off anyway.
One day the glass is going to get me.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Shit. Well done Fuzzy and hope the lad's ok. Well, as ok as can be.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Glass? Neat piles of car window glass on the pavements every other day in this part of Bristol. Not a tyre problem generally, just a sign of the times.

[Si S]

The streets of Stretford seem to be paved with glass this morning 

Boro's like that every day.

Ice tyres today, again. I don't carry any repair kit on this bike on the basis I wouldn't be able to get the buggers off anyway.
One day the glass is going to get me.

Can of that emergency sealant stuff? Never used it so can't comment, I rely on brute force, ignorance, anger and as a last resort the GBFO metal tyre lever I've had for 25 years that's guaranteed to mangle any rim not made of girders.

Crap one last night, no gloves on leaving so thought I'd left them hanging on the bike, not there, hunting round the shed and a fellow commuter said 'I saw a pair of gloves on the floor outside the door this morning....and left them there'   

Half a mile from home and I bust a gear cable, I'm still wondering why I spent 10 minutes bodging it at the roadside with blue hands, must grow a brain. 

[sg37409]

I thought to myself- he hasn't seen the cyclist as I didn't hear a change in engine tone. I then heard a sound I never want to hear again, the impact of the car with the bike and a screaming.

That's nightmare stuff. <shudders>
Good work taking charge. Having someone there to ensure it all went down properly may well turn out as valuable as calming the cyclist and getting an ambulance for him.

[matthew]

Well done Fuzzy. Having someone who can speak responder lingo to the call handlers will have been a substantial bonus for organising the correct response.

I had my first cycle commute of the week this morning. SGN still have 4 way lights in place on my route and the oncoming traffic was backed up from the LC and through the works today. Had to stop at four of the eight sets of lights / ped lights onthe way in which is unusually high. But did get to follow / be followed by an older gent on a ATB who was making very good progress and eventually dropped me.


I blame the laptop in a pannier and the barbag. Oh and the reduced mileage for the last three months which has killed my fitness.

[Kim]

Glass? Neat piles of car window glass on the pavements every other day in this part of Bristol. Not a tyre problem generally, just a sign of the times.

It's not the car glass that's the problem, it's the smashed bottle glass left by the drunken zombies.  In Silly Oak that tends to be (literally) on our front door step (where I and the dog-owning neighbours sweep it up when it gets particularly bad).  When we lived in London, it was mostly a hazard around bus stops.  And of course it's a shared-use-path staple.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I realize that was the type of glass being referred to, I was just digressing.

<ESL>Bristol has a long history of glass making. The distinctive conical furnaces are a feature of many 18th and 19th century paintings and early photographs of the city, particularly in the St Philips area. That's all gone now, apart from the iconic Bristol Blue glass still used for Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry bottles and certain items popular as gifts or with tourists. The kids today don't appreciate the connection and prefer their intoxicants in gaseous form, whose small metal cannisters litter the streets off Stokes Croft where the big clubs are, forming a skid hazard for the unwary cyclist.</ESL> 

[clarion]

I decided not to ride today, and give my legs a rest.

A crash on the A27 in Lancing meant we had standing traffic on the bus route, and I was an hour late for work (when I had anticipated being early).



O for fitter legs, and less baggage to carry!

[cycleman]

springs coming and it will get easier  clarion

[matthew]

Light drizzle this morning but it was enough to put all the school kids in cars and cause traffic problems on my route.

[fuzzy]

My first sighting of flowering snowdrops this morning.

[Pingu]

...My cup of tea on arrival home was most welcome.

And well earned 

[Pickled Onion]

What happens when you leave work 15 minutes late?

I was late on Thursday, due to forgetting my keys and adding an extra 15km to the home-station leg. Then in London I noticed one particular cyclist, on account of him being super-observant and careful but reasonably fast - he passed me a few times because of me being late and riding a little more riskily.

A little way further on there's a clear bus lane and he's well ahead, then I come over the bridge to find he's been hit by a car turning right across the bus lane. Badly bashed ankle, arm, wrist, no blood. Some pedestrians help him bum-shuffle to the pavement then disappear, I call the ambulance. The driver starts having a go at me when I take a photo of his car.

Txt later to say no bones broken, thankfully. Sometimes, no matter how observant you are, you can't account for things happening too quickly.