On the commute today

[L CC]

Last night : loose goats.

[mcshroom]

Late for work today......

Tanking it in on the kingfisher, which has a low bottom bracket and wide mks touring pedals.....Whoopsie, I really should learn to stop pedalling around corners on this bike....Massive pedal strike, rear wheel in the air.....just about rode it out, and the adrenaline boost helped speed the rest of the journey up

That just made me shudder. Glad you stayed upright.

Pretty uneventful return to my normal commute today. Nice to have missed the rain while eating breakfast

[sg37409]

Bit rainy, not heavy though it had been overnight, country roads had surface water. Once in town it was drier.
Met an occasional acquaintance as he squeezed in beside me at a junction rather than filtering dodgily to front.

[Si S]

Was not looking forward to this one since it was absolutely bucketing it down when I was emptying the dog, got the bike out and someone switched the rain off then got to take advantage of the tailwind to be lazy

[matthew]

drizzly, with a breeze blowing it in my face...

However little traffic, lots of cyclists (including some going my way) and I didn't have to put a foot down in the entire 6.5 miles. No red lights, clear out of every side turning, clear for every right turn. 

Only the precipitation and the cold fingers to tell me I wasn't dreaming the 23:08 for the door to door where 6 weeks ago I expected 28-32 minutes.

[mcshroom]

Dodged the showers., but the wind is back. Looks and feels more like late autumn than spring.

Much nicer ride with oil on my chain than the squeaky embarrassing ride home yesterday after the rain had cleaned the factory lube off

[TigaSefi]

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/cycle-superhighway-on-victoria-embankment-being-overrun-with-joggers-a3218831.html

Fuckin' cyclists....

If joggers wanna be in it when I am doing 20mph then so be it. I will NOT be swervin' much....

Whatup's comments in the comments section is troll-level funny!......

[QuentinX]

Took a new route with a new chain. Surprisingly few fellow cyclists.

[Kim]

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/cycle-superhighway-on-victoria-embankment-being-overrun-with-joggers-a3218831.html

Fuckin' cyclists....

I don't really see a problem with sharing a path with runners, skaters, wheelchair users, hoverboardists or whatever as long as they keep left and behave predictably.  They're no different from slower cyclists in that respect.

What it comes down to is how busy the path is, and we won't know about that until the whole route is open.

[TigaSefi]

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/cycle-superhighway-on-victoria-embankment-being-overrun-with-joggers-a3218831.html

Fuckin' cyclists....

I don't really see a problem with sharing a path with runners, skaters, wheelchair users, hoverboardists or whatever as long as they keep left and behave predictably.  They're no different from slower cyclists in that respect.

What it comes down to is how busy the path is, and we won't know about that until the whole route is open.

Agreed. Actually I did a bit of digging and it seems that the Black Cab union is saying what a waste of money it is etc blah blah blah... So they need to pipe down. And it also occurred to me that lunch times will be quiet as most cyclists do have a regular 9 to 5 job and 5pm is always rather busy. To a point that pedestrians are having to look both ways! Shock horror!

[Cudzoziemiec]

One tweeted: “Just driven along Victoria Embankment. CSH 50 odd joggers, zero bikes the whole length. Money well spent?”

The implication being that joggers are not worth spending money on?

[Si S]

One of those days when you're trying to take it easy but every light you approach is on green when you get in sprinting range....made all but one too.

[mcshroom]

Early commute today. It's getting colder again I think. Also far more cars on the road for a 7:30am start than a 9am one.

Slowly raising my saddle on the tourer which is improving things as it was feeling a bit low. I'm sure I haven't moved it down before and it doesn't slip so I'm a bit confused. Have my legs got longer?

[fuzzy]

Sarted badly- bike had a flat rear when I got it out of the bunker.

Swapped it out for the summer commute which just needed the tyres topping up. Headed out 20 minutes late.

10 minutes into the rided and I thought "Hmmmm, the rear seems a bit forgiving." Sure enough, another visitation.

Slow puncture so put some air in it and rode home. Got changed and drove.

Bugger.

[alexb]

I had a car jink between lanes unexpectedly on me this morning. She saw me at the last minute as I was about to sprawl across her wing with both brakes locked solid. We both came to an awkward stop with the driver behind her leaning on his horn.

As all this happened at all of 5mph it was not exactly life threatening, but when you only have one mirror to check...

[sg37409]

Strong headwind last night. Some guy in front working hard up this wee drag, and he spits to the right just as I passed. The wind was so strong and luckly I'd left a decent gap so it was whipped away and missed me by a fraction.  Least he was apologetic.

[TimO]

Mostly sunny, but a little bit brisk at around 6 to 7°C, about half what it has been recently.  I also managed to time it almost exactly perfectly badly, to hit the maximum number of other commuter cyclists on Queenstown Road.

Unusually, along Cedars Road and Queenstown Road, there was a chap on a Pedersen.  I haven't seen one of those for a while, and I don't think I've ever seen one in London.

   

[TheLurker]

Nagging headwind this morning but, on the plus side, first cowslips and bluebells of the year, a barn owl, 2 or 3 buzzards (including one bouncing around in a field full of sheep) a couple of red kites and any number of cute lambs. And, even better, it didn't rain until after I got to work.

Slightly OT. What I think of as the Chiltern population of red kites has moved a bit further westward.  Saw one over Ampney Crucis last week on the home-bound journey.  My obs. suggest that they're spreading westward at about 1 to 2 miles a year.

[matthew]

slower ride in due to a nagging head wind, after work I had to attend a colleagues retirement do so 4 miles from the office to the appointed pub. I managed to dodge the worst of the heavy rain showers but there were a number of locations where there was water from kerb to kerb. Later there was a 10 mile ride home along very pleasant country roads for a total of 20 miles in the day.

[Andrew Br]

I got soaked on the way in by an un-forecast (as far as I could tell) downpour. Since it's the first time I've been rained on on this commute, I suppose I shouldn't complain too much albeit I use the car if it looks like it's going to rain.
The trip home was in still soggy cycling gear. Not nice and I felt really lacking in energy. It appears that I was dehydrated ...........

So far, I've not enjoyed riding in and I prefer to drive. Whether that's the route, the times that I'm riding or, simply, that I've not done many miles this year, I don't know.
I intend to apply Rule #5.

[Si S]

I don't know what I rode through last night but it's left me with burns on my left leg, melted my boot and stripped all the paint off the inside of my full metal fender  Thank deity for mudguards

[Paul]

Blimey. Could it be something as obvious as fuel, or do you suspect something even nastier?

[alexb]

Mostly sunny, but a little bit brisk at around 6 to 7°C, about half what it has been recently.  I also managed to time it almost exactly perfectly badly, to hit the maximum number of other commuter cyclists on Queenstown Road.

Unusually, along Cedars Road and Queenstown Road, there was a chap on a Pedersen.  I haven't seen one of those for a while, and I don't think I've ever seen one in London.

   

I've seen him a few times, usually in Battersea park or nearby.

[Si S]

Blimey. Could it be something as obvious as fuel, or do you suspect something even nastier?

I suspect it's something that's run out of the back of the tippers that have been clearing contaminated land nearby to build the power station    I'd be surprised if fuel would strip the paint

[Moultonaught]

I see a pederson in Hyde Park quite regularly.
This morning was a fun commute. My first on fixed in London, as the buyer of my 'winter fix' bike picked it up from my office.

I really enjoyed it. I was given  (another) Dahon last night.  I'm yet to collect it but it's a single speed so maybe it might end up with a fixed wheel...