On the commute today

[Andrij]

For years I've been trying to crack bi-location, but without success.  This evening a few drivers seemed to think they've manage co-location and tried to prove it to me.  Unfortunately they haven't caught on to the fact that *both* parties need to know the secret, otherwise the initiator is just a {edited for decency}.  Thankfully no contact was made, but my lungs and vocal chords got some good exercise.

[TimO]

Interestingly, after having previously only seen one other Decathlon B'Twin Vitamin "in the wild", locked up outside the bike store at work a couple to times much earlier this year, on the way to work today, I saw two, whilst cycling on mine.

I overtook a woman cycling one on Cavendish Road, and it looked largely unmodified, which had her pedaling quite a lot, since it's something like a 52" gear as supplied by Decathlon.  I failed to resist the temptation to cry out "Snap" as I overtook her.

The other one was a chap standing at the edge of the pavement on Queenstown Road, so I couldn't see whether his gearing was original or not.

I'm also wearing matching kit today, with an orange YACF top, which is close to the same colour as the bike.

[Dinamo]

Drizzle in Brizzle this morning !

Rode on cycle path alongside ring road this morning as Jn 19 - 20 of M4 closed so all traffic being directed onto ring road, amazingly high amount of HGV's !
Thankfully once at Filton they turned north on the A38 and I was able to carry on my peaceful way.

[arallsopp]

Yeah, that would have been Andy on his red Seiran, I think.

...except it was white - sorry, forgot to mention that. Who is Andy - is he on yacf?

d.

Yep. That was me. I was on 'Franken Furai' which is parts Furai, parts streetmachine, parts eBay, parts found down the back of the shed. She's the rebuilt version of my original Furai, with approximately 90% new (to me) bits. 24" wheels, under seat steering, white framed.

The Seiran remains on loan from David (Laid Back). With Franken rolling, I'm not using it, so its being kept safe and dry, ready for sale. Bigger and redder, with less zipties.

Good to meet you Dave.

Andy.

[Steph]

Left work via the town to grab some supplies for tomorrow's departure with the tent. I stopped at Waitrose, and as I came out there was a bike PC following a PCSO 'going my way', riding only about six inches from the kerb. I passed jovial comment about their need to ride a little further out, and mentioned the pinch point prat I had had at the exact same spot. Off they went, and I waited for the traffic to clear before following.

Lots of close overtakes, of course, as usual, but as I caught rapidly up with the dynamic duo the traffic was bunching. It is OK to squeeze past someone riding three to four feet from the kerb, in the face of oncoming traffic, but not to squeeze past someone riding almost against the kerb when they have that word on the back of their stab vest...

Oh, and I passed a norse rider with a 'Polite' tabard on.

[Andrij]

Had a bit of a headwind this morning.  But that's OK, by this evening the wind swung around 180 degrees. 

Still, better than the tube.

[perpetual dan]

Didn't go to the office, but somewhere more rural today, which was nice (although the same distance). That's my first five days in a row of commuting this year, at last.

[SteveC]

My only commute of the week.
I was a bit late to get out this morning (and I may have had just one, or two, or three, more wines last night than was sensible) so I only took the short route in, and I had a bag full of new books to bring home so only took the short route back.

But I did get a ride in at lunchtime as well, so all was not lost. 

S

[Wendy]

A Spitfire, I was on the end of the runway when it landed. Awesomes.

[vorsprung]

Rode 120km back from Bristol on Friday night.  Some nice photos on the blog "Take the Long Way Home"

[mrcharly-YHT]

Yesterday I fixed up the ribble, so it was actually rideable again.

This morn, with much anticipation of easy fast ride to work, I set off.

Just to make this clear;

Mercian - touring-bike geometry, raised handlebars, heavish 50mm tyres at 50psi.

Ribble - road bike, tri-bars, lightish 25mm tyres at 100psi

erm, it took just as long to get to work. I was flying down hills on the ribble, faster (by the gps) going up them (no surprise - there is over 500gm difference between tyres on Mercian and Ribble).

Make no sense whatsoever! 


Maybe comfort outruns fast 

[jogler]

It's Not About The Bike
 

[citoyen]

Catford was remarkably quiet this morning... Hurrah for half term!

Just been reminded that the roads might well be very quiet this Friday evening too - Eng-er-land are playing in the foopball and the kick-off is around going home time. Might have to take advantage of that and ride the long way home. 

d.

[clarion]

mrC, your findings tally with the chap featured in Cycle a while back.  And with me.  I do roughly the same time whichever bike I'm on.

[citoyen]

I'm noticeably faster on my soot bike than I am on the alu fixed, though on the urban routes, the traffic lights tend to even out the overall journey time a bit - because I get to the next set of lights sooner, I just end up waiting there longer... unless I'm very fast and get there before they've changed.

On the 26km rural route, I'm minutes quicker on the soot bike.

d.

[bloomers100]

First ride in on the new Brooks B17 narrow. No problems despite my current low bar set up. Sun and a blustery tail wind home.

[mrcharly-YHT]

mrC, your findings tally with the chap featured in Cycle a while back.  And with me.  I do roughly the same time whichever bike I'm on.

Yebbut that was a cobblers test; the guy bought a road bike, then put m+ tyres on it. 

I was quick home; 1hr 18min and eased up for last 8miles

[Notsototalnewbie]

I do love half term. You wouldn’t think it would make so much difference, esp in my central area on a tiny commute, but I had far fewer vehicles to contend with. I guess the roads are especially quiet because lots of people seem to have taken these three days off (at least judging by the out-of-office emails I keep getting).

[slohill]

I am off to the Alps next week, so yesterday I fitted new chain, block, brake pads, best wheels and overall major service to bike.
Today I went for a ride round Farndon and Malpas in apalling weather on dirty, wet roads.
So I have spent the afternoon re-servicing bike for the Alps.   
Riding Mike Hutchinson's audax from Caton next Sunday as final training run before the big hills. 

[simonp]

I do love half term. You wouldn’t think it would make so much difference, esp in my central area on a tiny commute, but I had far fewer vehicles to contend with. I guess the roads are especially quiet because lots of people seem to have taken these three days off (at least judging by the out-of-office emails I keep getting).

Conversely, central London around midday seems a lot worse at half term.

[Socks]

Had an interesting conversation with a driving instructor yesterday.  He'd overtaken then immediately turned left, so I had to brake and swerve to avoid the back end of his car.

Then he stopped in a side street to go to the corner shop.  I doubled back and took the opportunity to ask if he really was a driving instructor; point out how dangerous his overtake / turn had been.  His response ...

'You were cycling too fast'

If this is what the teachers are like no wonder there are so many drivers who can't drive safely.

Dave

[Ashaman42]

Well the ride home today answered my question about whether I'm finally getting a bit faster or if I've just been avoiding riding in bad weather.

A long grinding slog into a silly headwind showed me that I'm still slow  My knees hurt.

[clarion]

Socks, I often find that instructors drive very poorly.

Today, I saw a car (not a driving school) trundle through a red light, across a pedestrian crossing, then come to a stop across the gap in the central reservation where I was riding through on the cycle lane (which had a green light).  I mentioned to the chap that he'd driven through a red light, and he said, 'Oh.  That's OK, then.' 

[mrcharly-YHT]

Socks, its been my experience that driving instructors are worse than minicab drivers.

It were a bit wet on the ride in this morning.

[TimO]

With driving school vehicles, you need to see how many heads are in the car.  If it's two, then it'll be driving mostly according to the rules, and probably slower than normal (occasionally I've overtaken learner drivers, but I try not to unless they're ludicrously slow).  If there's only one head in the car, then more often that not, it's worth giving them a wide berth, depressingly.

Yesterday's commute home into the wind was a bit of a drag, although with the stupidly geared single speed, for once I wasn't spending my time twiddling like a nutter, or freewheeling for the entire journey.

To be fair, I had the wind behind on the way into work, so for once it was a fair changeover.