On the commute today

[welshwheels]

nice tail wind on the way home  spinning like mad on the single speed 

[clarion]

Headwind for me, but only slight, and less than the tailwind I had this morning.  Nonetheless, I was faster coming home.  I took particular joy in catching red light jumpers.

[PaulF]

Nearly taken out by a ped who leapt out from behind a van. I was so shocked the most profane I could manage was "Idiot"

On the plus side someone CRM Dr Bike on The Embankment admired my bike.

[Andrij]

Monday night was a bit wet.  Scratch that.  At times I thought I was cycling along a river! There were quite a few blocked drains in East London, with flooding up to people's gardens.  It also meant that when I had to put my foot down it was often covered by water.  I was soooo glad I was on the Hewitt with its disc brakes.  If I had been on my other bike I would probably have walked a fair bit.  In spite of the weather, no real problems with other road users.

The best bit about tonight's commute was getting out of the office.  As I came out of the lift from our basement storage room a cyclist heading down complimented me on my new steed.  So we got to chatting.  Turns out we were both on one of Paul Taylor's rides to the Golding Hop (the floods & muddy fields edition).  Then found out our respective areas of work have some cross-over, so a chat over a coffee has been arranged for later in the week. 

Dry weather tonight but lots of tail-backs.  This evening also re-affirmed some thing I've learned.
Rule of the Road #1: If a motorist in in any way delayed or inconvenienced the should MUST disregard the Highway Code along with Teh Law and operate their vehicles in the most selfish manner possible.  If people were more considerate junctions wouldn't get blocked and traffic would all flow much better. *sigh*

[citoyen]

Traffic seemed unusually heavy tonight. And when drivers are held up, their patience is soon worn thin.

Ho hum.

d.

[Andrij]

Some of the heavy traffic in E. London was due to West Ham playing at home.  As I've heard no cheering this evening one can only assume most of the drivers had a wasted journey.  Again.

[Basil]

Traffic has been strangely light for a couple weeks on my commute.
 
Odd.

[Chris S]

Mmm... Autumny goodness on this morning's pseudo commute. Not cold though.


IMAG0272 by Pelotonhound, on Flickr

[eeymsmo]

Gorgeous purplish hue to the sunrise once I got outside the Nottingham build up.

2nd morning commute in a row with an overall average >17.5mph. Looks like some half arsed training is starting to pay off 

Only downside was that I misread the time at the point where I need to decide on the short or long loop, took the short loop and ended up at work early.

[bloomers100]

Patchy fog across mid Essex. Pockets of warm air in amongst the trees mixed with chilly mist on the open plains.

 

[Oaky]

wow - love the picture!

[clarion]

Early commute.  Started in the dark with mists - love those pictures, folks.   First morning of this winter I had all four lights blazing.  And it wasn't only the lights which were blazing.  I set off really fast, taking advantage of the lack of traffic, gaining two minutes by my quarter hour point.  But I think I overdid it a bit, as it was hard to sustain, though I finished with an average of 26.7kph, which is very good for me.  I think I like early mornings

[vorsprung]

I should have taken a picture too this morning.  Sun blazing through the mist to make monochrome cut outs of the trees

[Riggers]

Patchy fog across mid Essex. Pockets of warm air in amongst the trees mixed with chilly mist on the open plains.

 

What are two ostriches doing in Essex? (on the left of the picture)

[CommuteTooFar]

Seems the weather gods have the equinoxes confused again.

Slow puncture this morning. I just topped the tube up and it was good enough to get me to work. I hope I remember to replace the tube lunchtime I hate remembering at the end of the day. Doh!

[Snakehips]

What are two ostriches doing in Essex? (on the left of the picture)

Smoking pipes I think.

[bloomers100]

What are two ostriches doing in Essex? (on the left of the picture)

Smoking pipes I think.

It's a mystery to me I'll check it out on way home.

 

One more for you.

[clarion]

Ostriches or not, it's much more picturesque than sarf Lahndan at dawn, I can tell you!

[Redlight]

...was barged by a roadie with the slogan Ride Free or Die on his shorts. 

Sir, it's really not polite to barge through between other riders as they move away from the lights. Please overtake on the right.  Oh, and the red lights mean stop.

Add to that the closest overtake I have ever experienced (and I mean ever) near Surrey Docks, the kamikaze pedestrian on London Bridge and the twit who decided to stop his Merc across the turning into Lombard Street and it could have been a grumpy ride in. 

But it's sunny 

[alexb]

I do hope it was no-one on here, but I saw the most hilarious clipless moment at the junction of King's Road last night. Hapless roadie who was already unclipped fell over onto his clipped in side. Then somehow, in trying to get up quickly, was so tangled up in his bike he seemed unable to remount. Somehow I think he'd either put his foot through the front triangle and then lifted the bike up, so he woulfd then have need to either hop out of the frame, or he'd got the top tube caught under his thigh. Aynway, it was top marks for ungainliness!
Then the lights turned green and I rode off. I was hoping he would catch me up so I could tease him, but he must have gone a different way from me.

[citoyen]

Such a glorious morning, perfect for a ride.

So of course I left the house too late. Missed my train by about 30 seconds. I could blame the cars that held me up at three places on the way to the station but really I should have set off sooner. 

d.

[Snakehips]

.....  who was already unclipped fell over onto his clipped in side.

I did that once.
It was in the early hours of the morning , a few years ago , somewhere in Suffolk.

[Ham]

Oxford Street this morning. Stopped at a red light, bloke on a boris sweeps through only to screech to an ungainly halt to avoid being mashed by the cross traffic. Me: "Yes, that'll be why it was red"

Annoyingly though, they seem to have switched off the "Your speed is" radar on the roadworks a bit further down, getting it to show 30+ was a daily personal goal (made a challenge by the lights, traffic etc although possible at the time I go through - 7am). They have put in instead a "20 mph" flashing sign that's just too easy.

[Si_Co]

The warm weather seemed to have brought the muppets of hibernation for the day, a ridiculous number of close passes by blue van men. Many thanks to the red fiesta driver who held his ground and didn't cut into me when blue van overtook him into oncoming traffic where the dual carriageway becomes a single lane 

[L CC]

Oxford Street this morning. Stopped at a red light, bloke on a boris sweeps through only to screech to an ungainly halt to avoid being mashed by the cross traffic. Me: "Yes, that'll be why it was red"

Annoyingly though, they seem to have switched off the "Your speed is" radar on the roadworks a bit further down, getting it to show 30+ was a daily personal goal (made a challenge by the lights, traffic etc although possible at the time I go through - 7am). They have put in instead a "20 mph" flashing sign that's just too easy.

So it's OK to break the law by speeding, but not by RLJ?