On the commute today

[Ray 6701]

Back on the commute this morning after 2weeks off the bike with knackered knees

[Feline]

Back on the commute this morning after 2weeks off the bike with knackered knees

How are the knees today?

[Ham]

For the first time today, I did the Grand Union outwards. Made for an interesting ride, a little salmon-like, but the lack of traffic lights more than compensates for the extra distance and lower speed. Euston/Marlybone Road is probably one to avoid next time, even at 07:00, at that time of day you don't need lungfulls of pollution. Quite a fast road, though.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of speed, a little message to the fuckheads using the canal path as a TT, don't, just don't, it's not pretty and it's not clever. And a special message to the numbnut who actually did ring his bell before entering the blind bridge tunnel. You heard my bell first, you could just about predict that I would be in the middle of the path, it would have been much cleverer to slow down as well. That I had and could mange to stop with my barend touching the wall was why you were able to go past without knocking me, or diving into the canal. Saying "sorry" as you passed demonstrates that you knew you were doing a RONG, but can we have any confidence you will do better next time?

[TimO]

I noticed earlier this week, that there's a Ghost Bike here now (on Poynders Road).  I think it must have appeared either early this week, or at the weekend, although I can't be certain, because I tend to keep my eyes focused on the road and vehicles, especially given the reason for that Ghost Bike, which was about twelve months ago.

There used to be one on these railings, which I still go past occasionally, and which was the result of an incident that occurred when I lived a couple of hundred feet from that junction.  The new one on Poynders Road is the first one on my commute, although I know of another location (Mitcham Lane / Ambleside Avenue) which could have one, and where the incident was a few weeks before I started using that route regularly on my commute.

I don't need the Ghost Bikes there to remind me of their basis, but it does give me a shiver if I think too much about them.

[Ham]

I don't need the Ghost Bikes there to remind me of their basis, but it does give me a shiver if I think too much about them.

Would that was the case for so many others: I pass all too many ghost bikes (6?) on my route, only yesterday my toes curled as another rider tried their best to join Ceilidh Cairn right next to hers. (There's some roadworks in vicinity that provide a chicane and narrowing, there is no reason at all to try to fit through at the same time as an HGV)

[citoyen]

Lots of fairweather cyclists out this morning with not an ounce of road sense between them. The most spectacular was the idiot who filtered through the tiniest of gaps between a bus going one way and a lorry coming the other on Lambeth Road, then jumped the red lights at E&C and proceeded to weave his way through three lanes of fast moving traffic...

Congratulations, mate, on getting through that alive, though I'd say it was more through luck than judgment. Carry on doing that regularly and your luck will run out one day.

d.

[Kim]

I don't need the Ghost Bikes there to remind me of their basis, but it does give me a shiver if I think too much about them.

There's one up in King[']s Heath which, being colorimetrically challenged, I initially mistook for a PINK child's bike locked to a lamp post.

On closer examination, it turned out to be a white-painted BMXish bike, with some flowers zip-tied to the post.  A local news article says it is for a little girl who was hit by a lorry while riding her bike across a pedestrian crossing.   

[citoyen]

Shitty post-work ride to Bromley tonight. Should have been lovely in the glorious sunshine but wasn't due to heavy traffic and a bastard headwind.

Then on Lordship Lane I arrived on the scene of an accident that must have only just happened. Classic SmidsySmidgaf driver turning left out of side road hadn't seen the cyclist until he'd rammed into the back of her.

I stopped to offer assistance but there were already two other cyclists on the scene. One had got as far as dialling 999 but before he'd even got through, an ambulance arrived - that's what I call service! And then a police car arrived a couple of minutes later.

Luckily, the cyclist seemed more shaken than injured. Her rear wheel was a write-off though.

I didn't want to get involved but the driver seemed very keen to get his excuses in for the benefit of anyone who'd listen so I tried to put him right on a few points of fact. Eg, the cyclist didn't just "appear from nowhere", she was in the main road, ffs.

I very quickly started to lose my temper with him. I don't know if he was just dissembling or if he genuinely couldn't understand how it could possibly have been his fault. And frankly I don't know which of those would be worse.

I suggested, quite forcibly, that perhaps he might do better to show some sympathy for his victim rather than make excuses, to which he started going on about his daughter being in the car and being upset. Well, maybe you should drive a bit more carefully then, you muppet.

Un-flipping-believable.

When the police showed up, I pointed out to the officer who were the main protagonists in the piece then continued on my way. I didn't see the accident so assumed I wasn't required to give any statements or anything like that, and I was only likely to start a fight if I stuck around, so I thought I'd be better off leaving it to the professionals to deal with.   

And then to cap it all, the climb of Sydenham Hill seems to have done something bad to my knee.

If the cyclist is a yacfer, sorry I didn't help matters by losing my temper, hope you're ok, and please pm me if you do need any witness statements or whatever.

d.

[clarion]

It happens.  Incidents are always places of frayed tempers, and idiocy of that standard is very annoying.

My commute was just slow because of headwind, so I surrendered to it and rode a meandering, partially off-road, route.

[jane]

Sorry you had such an unpleasant experience, citoyen. I have been involved in two collisions over 40 years where I needed hospital treatment and one where I was a witness cycling by, and, if, I'm honest, in those moments immediately after the collision, the one where I was the witness was the most confusing and distressing.  Being the victim, provided, you  are not so badly injured you are incapacitated, the adrenalin powering through simplifies everything.  I just wanted to go home, I don't remember getting upset or feeling pain ( not at the time, anyway, later tons of it!).  But the accident I witnessed did distress me, I wasn't sure what to do for the best, felt confused, worried,  felt I should have remembered the car number, but couldn't ( it wad a hit and run) and very, very, angry with the car driver.  Just sat and talked about rubbish to the guy till the ambulance  came.  Horrible and still feel bad about it for some reason, when I think of it.  But my own collisions, once I was healed up, ( and that was a pain, if I'm honest) just felt a great sense of relief ( as both could have ended worse) and happy to be back on the road.  I can quite understand why you got arsey with the driver, I would probably have done the same if he had bothered to
hang around. 
You stopped. You showed you cared about another person in trouble.  And if it was necessary, you would have done anything you were asked, I am certain. 

[ian]

When I got knocked off by a car a year or so back (he pulled out from between parked traffic right into me) all he could keep telling the police officer was "I was indicating." Like that made it all fine to simply drive into me and send me sprawling over his bonnet and into the road.

Ironically, as I lay on the ground (fortunately more shaken than injured) I had the opportunity to watch him turn on his indicators and then get out to check that he hadn't killed me. Getting your excuse in place is evidently more important than checking someone is OK.

I don't blame you for getting angry, Citoyen, it's a bit shitty.

[Ham]

Headwind? Can't say I noticed that

(actually I did, as I've taken to doing a bit of a loop at the end of the journey....)

Oh, and Spindrift, if you are reading this, here's a difference that has taken place over the last few years. You know that bit of wiggly bike lane in Leytonstone High Road coming  up to the Green Man? Cars mostly stay out of it now. (They used to drive a straight line most of the time)

[Ashaman42]

Nothing like a screaming row with a van driver in the middle of the street to set you up for the day  He was a pissweasel of the highest order but still not proud to have sunk to his level.

And a rather stiff headwind home but didn't take much longer than usual. It made my knee hurt though. Are there ligaments across the front of the kneecap or just behind it?

[spindrift]

Headwind? Can't say I noticed that

(actually I did, as I've taken to doing a bit of a loop at the end of the journey....)

Oh, and Spindrift, if you are reading this, here's a difference that has taken place over the last few years. You know that bit of wiggly bike lane in Leytonstone High Road coming  up to the Green Man? Cars mostly stay out of it now. (They used to drive a straight line most of the time)

Going down you mean? So you're cycling south? That lane gave me Teh Feer , you'd either cycle in the door zone and risk losing a testicle or further out and get angrily bibbed.

They do say The Red Lion is a catalyst for gentrification..


Funnily enough a man was killed near there when someone in a passing car threw a cabbage at him.
 

[citoyen]

I'm pleased to report that my evening ended on a much more positive note...

I checked mycyclinglogs while on the train and discovered I was on 973km for the month. Now, it just so happens that Sittingbourne to home is 27km along quiet country lanes - the perfect antidote to the mean streets of London - so I decided to get off there and ride the rest of the way. Took the inland detour which goes via the highest point locally and gives great views but unfortunately was just a couple of minutes too late to watch the sun disappearing over the horizon. Lovely ride though, great way to clear the head after the earlier business.

And I'm now on 1001km for the month.

d.

[simonp]

Saw a near 3-way collision between cyclists because a cyclist rode through the red light I was stopped at and veered left onto the pavement, just as two cyclists were approaching each other in opposite directions on the same (shared use) pavement.

[citoyen]

Getting your excuse in place is evidently more important than checking someone is OK.

It's insane, isn't it.

He made a mistake - it happens. We're all only human.

But I wish he could have just MTFU and accepted that it was his mistake.

It was the mealy-mouthed self justification that really pissed me off.

d.

[clarion]

I made a mistake near Clapham Common.  I was moving from the cycle path onto a pelican crossing where I was turning right along the road.  The drop from the pavement was ridiculously steep, and the traffic there is stupidly fast.  However, it was clear.  A woman was pushing a buggy onto the middle of the crossing, and so I, having observed it was clear left, committed to go right.

Unfortunately, the woman had dropped a cloth on the road, and turned suddenly to her right to pick it up.  My attention rapidly moved from the distant to what was right in front of my wheel, and I managed an emergency stop.  Just.

We both got off the road and pressed the button to wait for the traffic to stop.  We'd both learned something.

[Ham]

Headwind? Can't say I noticed that

(actually I did, as I've taken to doing a bit of a loop at the end of the journey....)

Oh, and Spindrift, if you are reading this, here's a difference that has taken place over the last few years. You know that bit of wiggly bike lane in Leytonstone High Road coming  up to the Green Man? Cars mostly stay out of it now. (They used to drive a straight line most of the time)

Going down you mean? So you're cycling south? That lane gave me Teh Feer , you'd either cycle in the door zone and risk losing a testicle or further out and get angrily bibbed.

They do say The Red Lion is a catalyst for gentrification..


Funnily enough a man was killed near there when someone in a passing car threw a cabbage at him.

Well, actually I was going up most of the time. Although I'm down by the Wanstead Flats I've taken to swinging across that way on the way home, not entirely sure why. But, where the cars used to ignore the lane (you know what I mean, I'm sure) they now seem to follow the path of the road, leaving the lanes on both sides clear.

[TimO]

I noticed that another selection of caravans and campervans have appeared on Tooting Bec Common, so presumably the council's legal bods will be shooting off to court again.

To be fair, from the tyre tracks, it looks like they drove over the kerb and straight onto the Common from the road, and didn't get there via the cycle path and virtually never locked gate, that would stop them going that way.

The last lot went within a couple of days, presumably after some action by the council.  I wonder how long this lot will last?

I can't say I'm a great fan of such groups, since in my admittedly limited experience of such, the amount of debris that is left behind, when they eventually move on, can be phenomenal.  Where they are currently, they're unlikely to have much effect on the cycle path, since they are quite a distance from it, but on other occasions I've seen travelers parked up a few feet from cycle paths, and have had to cycle around the debris produced by them.

[Basil]

I received a tweet (re-tweet? - I don't understand how these things work) at lunch time re my regular commute route


Thanks Kim.
Route duly amended. 

[citoyen]

I just saw on the news that people elsewhere in Britain have been having Weather today. Blimey.

Completely oblivious down here in the sun-drenched Soft South^tm.

d.

[TimO]

So Basil, you didn't fancy having a go anyway, and seeing how deep it was?

Does that slope down?  Without knowing the road, it's hard to say whether that's just a long shallow puddle, or worse.

[Kim]

Looks about bottom bracket height to me.  Maybe a bit more.

Of course, it's more serious than that, as it's Basil's route home from the pub.  I'm sure Nothing would happen.

[Basil]

Bugger.  My back garden looks similar. 
That's the shed buggered, then.