On the commute today

[clarion]

Friday legs on a Monday?

Checked the wind direction?  It was a bit blowy today.  I had a very easy run in.  I shall pay for it this evening tho'.

Ah.  10mph, and I'm directly into it.  That might be a factor.

Going home should be better.

[TimO]

Ah.  10mph, and I'm directly into it.  That might be a factor.

Going home should be better.

Likewise. I'm hoping it'll be rather easier on the way home.

[little miss mac]

Inside the office after my commute there was a guy in a wheelchair waiting for a lift. His chair had a whizzy-looking handcycle attachment and I had a quick chat with him about it (how could I resist?).
It has a 9 speed hub gear and clips on and off the chair frame really quickly. He rolls at about 10 mph - "and it's better than the tube", he said. He was fully equipped with lights, helmet, hi-viz etc.

How cool is that.

[clarion]

Handcycling is officially cool.  The teenagers at the Cycle Show were clamouring to try out the one on the test track.

[alexb]

Ah.  10mph, and I'm directly into it.  That might be a factor.

Going home should be better.

Likewise. I'm hoping it'll be rather easier on the way home.

Weird because I was quite quick across Tooting Bec this morning, felt slow elsewhere, but there was a lot of school mum type traffic to deal with though.

[TimO]

Inside the office after my commute there was a guy in a wheelchair waiting for a lift. His chair had a whizzy-looking handcycle attachment and I had a quick chat with him about it (how could I resist?). ...

I've seen a chap on a hand cycle a few times around the Battersea Park Road / Queenstown Road junction, but never close enough to talk to him, or see any details of his cycle.

[itsbruce]

Lovely ride home.  Although that could just be because I'm back on the fixie again.  Along the way, passed a girl who had a flashing red front light on her bike; that's going to end badly, or oddly.  Waiting at the lights to cross the Kings Road towards Battersea Bridge, was unimpressed by a teenager on a red Langster failing desperately to trackstand.  When the lights did change, I realised he was on SS, not fixed.  Dork

[clarion]

Zoomy ride home.  I might have made even more of it if I'd had the requisite number of spokes.

[perpetual dan]

A new bottom bracket from the LBS and a much smoother ride home than last week.

[Andyf]

To the female cyclist(Dark Red hair, pony-tail) I was following after Bloomsbury way just after 4pm(west-end London) Do you know that your lycra leggings are totally see-thought around the whole of your bottom, and could see that the very small thong you had on only just covered your......errrhh modesty.
When we pulled away from the lights, the taxi driver in the pink cab looked at me as to say wayhay
Thank you for making my commute home so much more enjoyable
Just need to get Mrs Andyf on a bike with see thought leggings and a thong a life know!!!!!!!!

Yet again 2 more female lycra legging malfunctions on the way home, it's really distracting

[citoyen]

No see-through lycra spotted today. Just a dead cat. 

I'm no animal lover, but I'm dismayed by the amount of dead wildlife I see on the roads. And it's somehow worse when it's someone's pet.

People, just drive a bit slower, will you? Please. Give the poor feckers a chance. FFS.

d.

[gordon taylor]

Yay! I commuted by bike today, both ways!!

Due to lethargy and a pile of excuses including: late finish, too busy, hedgecuttings, dirty bike, soft tyre, stuff to carry, things to do, and an extra half-hour in bed... I've been taking the car most days for the past three weeks.

Driving sucks, I've decided. It drains your life away.

Cycle commuting is my recreational drug of choice.  

[Andyf]

Cycle commuting is my recreational drug of choice.

great quote!!!!!!!!!!!

[welshwheels]

christ it 's cold this morning !!  +1on the temp gauge in the cab  rode in from my partners house in llanelli to work in carmarthen 20miles in to work instead of the usuall 11 only problem now it will probably be like an indian summer on the way home . Boil in the bag cyclist again

[darkpoint]

Second time through the current new version of the Elephant and Castle Roundabout that is now traffic lights.
I really hope that is not how they are going to leave it, as that would be really dreadful for cyclists.

[vorsprung]

Driving sucks, I've decided. It drains your life away.

+1

[clarion]

There's still no ASL at Walworth Rd.

Yesterday, I went through with the flow of traffic, which was OK.  I have to get across to the right hand lane.  Today, I was stopped by the lights, which was a problem.  I was kinda hoping they would leave the bus lane still free-flowing as it was before, allowing us to speed match before merging.  But it's governed by the lights, too.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Setting off from work last night, coming up to the first set of traffic lights I meet an obstruction. A cyclist. Riding the wrong direction, down between 2 lanes of traffic.  That's 2 lanes going the same way.
He pretended I didn't exist and I had to jink right in between cars or ride straight into him. wtf?

Not a chav on a bso, either. A middle-aged bloke on a decent road bike.

[itsbruce]

Nice day for it.  A long-sleeved top is the most concession I'll make to the weather at this point.

Encountered a couple of pedestrians whose reaction to a cyclist on the road is to freeze right in your path and then edge backwards directly away from you, uselessly, despite the fact that there's plenty of time if they'd just move.  The first one actually leapt backwards into my path and then gripped my handlebars like a lifeline.

[alexb]

Two ladies walking through Battersea Park, both with flat tyres.
I didn't have compatible inner tubes.

Please, a spare innner tube and a pump is the bare minimum kit you need for regular commuting.

[simonp]

I've noticed a lot of impatient driving recently.  I'm approaching a roundabout at about 18-19mph, a car behind wants to turn left and they appear on my right just as I'm arriving at the roundabout, and at the last moment they're on the brakes, and already starting to turn left - getting quite close - but realising they'd have to go through me, and stop.  Learn to read the @%$$% road!

[TimO]

Cycling across Clapham Common, and for the umpteenth time found that the "Keep Clear" area where the lowered kerb allows you on and off the cycle path, had a vehicle parked in it.  An entire coach blocking it is however exceptional even for that space.

 

The driver saw me taking photographs and came out to claim that he had nowhere else to park in London, and had legally had to have a rest, which I've got some sympathy with, however ultimately it's his companies and his responsibility to make sure that this is dealt with in an appropriate manner, rather than just parking wherever it can be got away with.

I'm fairly sick of people parking in that spot.  Generally it's commercial vans of one sort or another, and a bus was exceptional, but I probably find that I have to get off of my bike to get past several times a week.  Admittedly it's not that onerous, but it pretty much defeats the purpose of the Keep Clear area, and the lowered kerb, if it can't be used because of vehicles parked there.  I don't imagine anyway would try to park across a junction of a road and claim that they had to park there.

[clarion]

That's ridiculous.

Are you going to chase up the company and Road Safe London?

[Greenbank]

The driver saw me taking photographs and came out to claim that he had nowhere else to park in London, and had legally had to have a rest, which I've got some sympathy with, however ultimately it's his companies and his responsibility to make sure that this is dealt with in an appropriate manner, rather than just parking wherever it can be got away with.

Exactly, I have no sympathy. He's just taking the easy option.

The dropped kerbs along Putney Embankment regularly get cars parked in front of them. I saw someone having their car towed away and was shouting at parking enforcement officers for doing it; "it's not hurting anyone". He stopped shouting when the person in the electric wheelchair came along and thanked the parking people for getting the car out of the way so he could get off the pavement. I wonder if he had a number he could call to get the tow people there quickly.

Mind you, it's less of a problem than the recent particularly high tides:-

Putney's Local Web site

I've seen a Ferrari floating in the water after it was parked on the slipway on the left in the first photo. The banked slipway opposite Chas Newens is another good place to see floating cars.

(The pier in the first photo is about where the University Boat Race starts.)

[tiermat]

I wonder if he had a number he could call to get the tow people there quickly.

Most probably, and most probably someone at the council, as it is illegal to park across a dropped kerb, which can lead to your vehicle being towed (this I know from our previous house, where we had a dropped kerb in front of the garage, that people kept parking across so that they could go and pick their kids up from school....)