On the commute today

[sigod]

Suffered from wicked wind this morning. It was truly a cold and hard ride in but I was not alone in this misery as the crowded cycle path across Clapham Common was filled with cyclists exchanging knowing looks.

I was overtaken by a middle aged gent on a Specialized S-Works and decided to see if my right knee had healed sufficiently (after my tumble of a few weeks ago) to take the strain of a stroll around what has been mention here before as 'The Secret Garden That Lurks Above 25mph'. It turns out that my knee was fine but my legs were sadly for sh*t. I managed about 20 seconds or so but beyond that, my riding partner became a dot in the distance.  

I eased down on my trusty British Eagle, then wheezed and puffed the rest of the way into work.

[itsbruce]

Suffered from wicked wind this morning. It was truly a cold and hard ride

But warmer in your wake, presumably...

[Moultonaught]

First ride in this morning after about a week and a half off from the bike, as a result of half term and being away in Manchester and Edinburgh for work.

bbiiiiiiiiigggggggg headwind this morning so I pottered in (even more potter-y than usual),

then much to my surprise my legs felt pretty good on the way home this evening. 

I guess that means they'll be dire tomorrow 

[clarion]

Fast ride home with a tailwind.  Lots of idiot idiot idiot motorists pulling out without looking.  They should have their licences taken away.  Not their driving licences, no, their oxygen licences.

[perpetual dan]

Approaching cars parked in the cycle lane I indicated right. There was a car just behind me, but we're doing the same pace in traffic. His response - accelerate, so he's level with me at the point I need to pull out or brake. I indicated my feelings when I caught him at the lights and then proceeded to be faster than him, which was satisfying.

The rest of the ride was fine, if a bit chilly.

[Palinurus]

Eeeesh, some headwind. I was doing about 9 mph this morning.

[pdm]

Pleasant surprise this evening - on the way home over the Peaks I met up with another trans-Pennine cycle commuter called John.

He commutes between Sheffield and Buxton. (About 40km/25mi with 800m climbing each way!) Apparently he does not do it every day; once a week in the winter and 2 or 3 times a week in the summer. 

[Wendy]

By crikey, a lot of poor overtakes tonight, close ones, and attempted suicide by overtake into oncoming traffic.  And two drivers on the phone.

One I feel a bit conflicted about - he drove beautifully around me, top 20% style, but then as he came next to me I saw an iphone to his ear.  I feel I should report it via roadsafe, but that could be rather ungrateful for his excellent driving.  I dunno - what do you guys suggest?

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Are you interested in the intent of the law or the letter of it?  Driving while using the phone is illegal because drivers tend to pay less attention to their surroundings when using a mobile phone.  Was this driver showing signs of that behaviour?

[sigod]

Suffered from wicked wind this morning. It was truly a cold and hard ride

But warmer in your wake, presumably...

[MartinGT]

Fast ride home with a tailwind.  Lots of idiot idiot idiot motorists pulling out without looking.  They should have their licences taken away.  Not their driving licences, no, their oxygen licences.

*high fives* I hear you Clarion, spot on idea!

Great ride home last night, fast and incident free Well apart from some other cyclist who thought he was in a race and kept overtaking me on the flats where the traffic was busy as I slow down only for me to drop him on the hills    One long steep climb on the way home and he was nowhere near the middle and a tiny dot when I looked back at the top 

Ride in the morning, a tad nippy but the end of the week   Some dick in a van turned in front of me then decided it was fun to block the cycle lane, idiot.

[her_welshness]

Jeez that was bloody cold (with a stubborn wind) this morning, thank goodness for thermal long-johns  . To all the male cyclists that wore shorts - YOU ARE MAD! Apart from two cars trying to knock me off my bike this morning it was all relatively calm 

[clarion]

I guess a van driver can't look in her mirror if she hasn't got one.

Yes, I had a daft cow drive into my lane (and almost into me!) approaching Elephant & Castle RAB.  Actually, she didn't really need a mirror, as she was alongside, and I could see her, her stupid bobbly woolly hat, and her argument with the driver on her left as she moved to the right.

Another headwind, and another day of ridiculous traffic levels.  What kind of idiot, having spent four mornings and four evenings queueing almost static through Mitcham & Tooting because of roadworks decides on Friday morning to get in their car and do it all over again?  But there are a sod of a lot of them who do.

And my thigh was hurting a bit more this morning.  Actually, I got a twinge and my right leg buckled a bit as I was setting off from one junction.  Result: I ripped a hole in the arse of my longs when I caught it on the nose of my saddle.   Fortunately, I was wearing shorts underneath, but it's annoying.

[Steve GT]

It’s been a cold winter over here in Copenhagen.
The Danish authorities are very good at keeping the bike lanes gritted and free of ice.
To add a few extra miles to my commute I like to cycle through a Nature reserve that is close to the airport. The trouble is that they do not treat these cycle paths at all during the winter, so when it snows I avoid this part of my commute and stick to the paths along the main roads.
Although it had been extremely cold these last 3 weeks, it has not rained or snowed and the roads have been dry. Last night it started to get a little misty, but I had no problems with my normal commute through the Nature Reserve.
There is a stretch of lovely smooth new tarmac at the start of the path. As soon as I hit the new surface I felt a slight slip of the back wheel. I carried on for a few hundred meters when I slow down to see where my front tyre was catching the mudguard. I then realised the whole stretch was black ice and went down like a ton of bricks. Luckily I fell on my back and my haversack cushioned the fall.
I could not even walk on the surface as it was so slippery. I walked back along the grass verge until I got back to the main road for a 5 mile detour.   

[itsbruce]

Right at the start of my commute, this morning, some clown on a bike ran into the back of me.  He did look as if he was on his way to the circus, with his baggy clothing and Russian-style furry hat.  He seemed surprised that I slowed and stopped as I approached a junction with poor visibility (due to parked cars) and audible traffic, skidded to a stop and ran his front wheel into my left foot.  No harm done, or I'd have given him more than a quizzical look.

As I get back into lifting heavy weights in the gym, I'm noticing that I don't always have the legs for silly commuter racing.  I either need to settle down a bit or eat more.

[MartinGT]

Right at the start of my commute, this morning, some clown on a bike ran into the back of me.  He did look as if he was on his way to the circus, with his baggy clothing and Russian-style furry hat.  He seemed surprised that I slowed and stopped as I approached a junction with poor visibility (due to parked cars) and audible traffic, skidded to a stop and ran his front wheel into my left foot.  No harm done, or I'd have given him more than a quizzical look.

As I get back into lifting heavy weights in the gym, I'm noticing that I don't always have the legs for silly commuter racing.  I either need to settle down a bit or eat more.

When I was cycling to work the other day it was noticable that more people were out on their bikes.  Hmmm maybe because I set off 20mins later.  Anyways, I noticed that three had head phones in!

[alexb]

This is actually from Thursday and Friday.




TimO, have you seen this?

[Butterfly]

Aww! That's lovely .

[JonBuoy]

A tree jumper for those particularly nippy nights.

[Jurek]

Guerilla knitting.

I've heard of it happening in Whitstable and Herne Bay - but never in London.  

[TheLurker]

Heard. One skylark.

[clarion]

What a beautiful March day!  Frosty near home, and pretty cold, but the sun was shining and I was going well (and there may have been a bit of tailwind ).

The number of numpties was normal; the number of cyclists up.  But the number of silly cyclist RLJs was also up, which was a damn shame.

[MartinGT]

Really stuggled into work this morning.  Bit of a late night on Saturday after having friends round for a bite to eat  

Yesterday went out on the bike for a nice 3h into the Dales for a coffee and felt fine, today, its caught me up  

[itsbruce]

Frosty morning.  7:30 start not as uncrowded as a 6:30 start but still much better than 8am or later traffic.  I need to revert to getting up when my 6:30 alarm goes off, not lying in bed and listening to half an hour of radio.

[simonp]

I had an easy walk down the stairs.