On the commute today

[Pingu]

Ruddy cold this morning, roofs and grass were white with frost.

[Andrij]

Paths, exits. There are pedestrian crossings through the centre (an' bike racks, an' track pump an' all). There are maps signing the routes, too.

Cheers.

[Ruthie]

Big moon looked amazing over the power lines above the nature reserve, but stopping on that road would be instant death (maybe) so no pictures.
Looking the other way I had a glorious pink sky above the refineries. Straight up, flocks of lapwings.
Shame about the bastard cars and lorries, it would have been a fantastic morning otherwise.

Recognise any of this Lindsay? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j2c_lqothQ&index=3&list=RDhHUr7KfD8WY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHUr7KfD8WY&list=PLUYNhKrprmmKQI0jGzEWORDHKc6D0jwwk

[L CC]

My office is on the first one,  but I can't tell with the second,  too many balloon shots.

[Ruthie]

It's up near Saltholme.

[Andrij]

A bit of a summary post.

Week 1: 4/5.  The one Tube journey was to avoid rain - which never came. 
Week 2: 5/5.

I'm doing just about 40km per day.  It's not far, and it's not hilly, but if I can keep this up all winter I should just about end up in a bit better shape, or at least less round.  In these two weeks I have learned that I am unfit, my road zen is pretty much lost, and I need to re-learn how to dress for cycling in this weather.  That, or I need to carry a change of clothes and have a wipe-down upon arrival. 


And last night, there were quite a few unmarked police cars zooming around Westminster just after 19:30.  Haven't spotted anything on the news, or maybe there were all in a rush to get home after their shift.

[Si S]

A tough start to the week with a nasty headwind, although if the forecast holds I might be able to get home without a pedal stroke.

[spindrift]

All the leaves came down last night, it's at that horrible stage where they gone all sludgy and skiddy. Got soaked but it's milder.

[Socks]

I'm lucky enough to have quite a nice route to / from work - some along the usual busy urban roads, and a couple of very badly designed junctions.  However about half of it along a nice coast road.  Still busy along the coast road, but lovely views out to sea.  Light headwind on the way to work, but dry and above freezing.   Then a very strong wind pushing me along on the way home.  Despite the rain, enjoyable trip back.  There's something quite exciting about a very windy day - when it's in the right direction.

[ian]

Attempted to cycle up the short and steep hill (25%) to my house. Now covered in damp leaf chutney. Spin, spin, spin the wheel. Even with my full weight on the back wheel that just wasn't happening. Second hill defeat of the year. The first was one when an overenthusiastic gear change dropped the chain and left me spinning furiously at the bottom of the hill thinking I'd discovered an entirely new gear (normally, because I'm coming downhill beforehand, I am used to changing through the entire range and that entails a few moments of frantic spinning at the bottom of the steep hill, especially as it's bad idea to use my downhill momentum on the basis I might meet a rapidly descending car head-on as it's rather narrow).

[mcshroom]

It was a crisp, clear, still and freezing cold morning. Using the studded tyres was a good move as I rode over a number of stretches of frozen field run off. However on the way home the headwind was vicious bordering on unsafe and it was lashing down. I think winter may have arrived!

[davelodwig]

Rode in, got soaked and frozen, got a lift home.

The worst bit was the queue of traffic I had to sit in because folk are too scared to get their wheels wet, I mean treating a puddle 2" deep as a problem with cars backed up in both lanes. The waiting and slow moving really chilled me to the bone and the road is far too narrow to be able to escape if I rode down the middle.

I was late into the office and spent the morning hugging the oil radiator we keep for such days.

D.

[Nethypete]

Approaching zero kelvin today in far north (minus 9 in reality) - thankfully dry with the cold. Back on the studs. Due the rain overnight so roads could be 'fun' tomorrow.

[Si S]

Getting really fed up of idiots in buses and wankpanzers trying to kill me on a daily basis.

[Andrij]

I've been enjoying using CS2 & 3, but getting rather annoyed at the large puddles (being addressed along Embankment, I think) and the plethora of leaves, quickly be ground into a pulp (being ignored).

[JonB]

Crossing the pedestrianised area in the centre of Bristol and heading up Park Street, lots of walkers and cyclists crossing the one way road before it starts going up to Park Street, I slowed and let another cyclist come in front of me and we get in the designated cycle path, he gives me a wave and I think nice thoughts then I hear him shout at pedestrian in path, 'get out the fucking way, this is the fucking cycle path for fucks sake' ... nice thoughts now dissipated, jeez the demarcation between cycle path and path is not that obvious and the guy looked genuinely confused when shouted at ... not nice

In other news, going under Temple Way underpass (now full of damp leaves), moved over for oncoming cyclist and front wheel went from under me. In my head I'm starting to think about the best approach for the ensuing fall but tyre found a bit of grip and I stayed up 

[Nethypete]

Approaching zero kelvin today in far north (minus 9 in reality) - thankfully dry with the cold. Back on the studs. Due the rain overnight so roads could be 'fun' tomorrow.

It did rain ....and it was 'fun' in a Type2 bordering on no fun at all kinda ride.

[Pingu]

Approaching zero kelvin today in far north (minus 9 in reality) - thankfully dry with the cold. Back on the studs. Due the rain overnight so roads could be 'fun' tomorrow.

It did rain ....and it was 'fun' in a Type2 bordering on no fun at all kinda ride.

Wet here too, but at least the temperature was well above freezing.

[mcshroom]

Rained here overnight which led to a bit of fording though deep puddles this morning, and a new stream down the road up to Thornhill. However the wind had dropped a lot and it was far more pleasant both ways. I'm a bit underpowered due to a cold though which makes some of the steeper bits a bit of a struggle on the singlespeed. 

[Tim Hall]

Rode in like  god this morning, nothing to do with the tailwind.  Close call this evening, as matey # 1 made an enthusiastic pull out onto the roundabout I was already on. Matey #2 then pulled out while I was going past the back of Matey #1. All I had was a sense of  a red car approaching my rear wheel at speed, so I got all Cavendish with my legs and at the same time shouted a bad swear.  I don't think Matey #2 looked at all, just followed Matey #1 blindly.

The rest of the ride aas uneventful, other than the heavens opening.

[TimO]

I almost managed to flip my bike, on the way into work today.

They're resurfacing Queenstown Road, next to Battersea Park, so have decided to use the cycle path as a convenient location to place a vast number of warning signs, in case no one noticed all the cones and where they'd ripped the top surface off of the road.

As the signs stopped, I tried to swap back onto the cycle path side, instead of the pedestrian side that I'd been forced onto, and manged to pick just the wrong spot, so the chutney and raised separator decided to conspire, to make sure I lost grip.

Luckily I wasn't going very fast, and even more luckily, there weren't any cars or bicycles in the bit of road that I ended up in.

Ouch, ouch, ouch.

The front left brake lever got shoved over, and lost some anodising (pushed back into place, straightaway), and the seat got slightly twisted (adjusted with my tools, when I got to work), but otherwise no obvious damage.

More annoyingly I've got several holes in my most useful and favourite Ground Effect fleece, and even a small hole in my YACF polka dot long-sleeved winter jersey. 

Oh well, it could have been a lot worse.

I need to go and wash the blood off, inspect the bruises, and put on my emergency, short sleeved, t-shirt, because the long sleeved one I brought in will annoy the elbow injury, and may end up with blood on it.

I'll assemble a video from the two cameras, and upload it to YouTube, it should look interesting.

I may even decode the accelerometer data from the Garmin Virb camera, I do wonder how fast I flipped around !

[sg37409]

Bad luck Timo, glad it wasn't worse.
Guy behind me on a single speed came down on the tram tracks this morning. Worryingly, plenty of buses around, but he was up real quick and the bus behind him stopped easily.

Cold morning, down to -2 at points, though I was easily warm enough. Pleasant ride in.

[jiberjaber]

Big moon looked amazing over the power lines above the nature reserve, but stopping on that road would be instant death (maybe) so no pictures.
Looking the other way I had a glorious pink sky above the refineries. Straight up, flocks of lapwings.
Shame about the bastard cars and lorries, it would have been a fantastic morning otherwise.

Recognise any of this Lindsay? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j2c_lqothQ&index=3&list=RDhHUr7KfD8WY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHUr7KfD8WY&list=PLUYNhKrprmmKQI0jGzEWORDHKc6D0jwwk

I think the first one has a lot of Newport area of Boro plus bonus North Gare action.

I don't think there second one is Teesside, scanning the YouTube comments implies it's perhaps Dungeness.

Sadly I don't recall any pretty mornings from when I used to cycle to Sealsands. It always seemed to be raining!

[Si S]

I go caught out by the resurfacing on Edge Lane last night and hit the dropped kerb which is now raised rather hard. Nice ride in this morning, warm enough to go back to three quarters.

[TimO]

How not to cycle across wet leaves! 


Click for YouTube video