On the commute today

[clarion]

I forgot to mention that yesterday I was doored.

OK, I accept that I shouldn't have been trusting the magic blue paint, but I was tested hard when a door was flung open right in front of me, blocking the way completely.  I stopped, and my front wheel nudged the doortrim.

The passenger was very apologetic, and I advised her to be more careful in future.  I think she will be.

This evening, the cyclist in front of me almost got hit by a woman keen to leap out into the traffic on the A3.  He gave her a warning, but she gave him such a dirty look, I told her she was responsible for looking.

[Oaky]

*Does happy dance*

There was white paint all over the road between the top of Fowler's Hill in Quenington and the end of Hambidge Lane in Lechlade last night.

It's still there this morning.

Every single pothole, even the small ones, for about 5 miles is marked up for repair and, it gets better, this isn't just your circles of paint that indicate a dab of low grade toffee will be dolloped over the crater.  This white paint is your proper "road plane the surface off and reinstate it properly" white paint.

*Continues happy dance*

They've done that along my commute in Witham recently too  .  All of my "favourite" potholes and areas of broken tarmac are properly marked up with the rectangular bracketing and numbered.  They also all seem to have the number "40" in them as well as their unique number (depth to cut to/plane off?   

[rower40]

They also all seem to have the number "40" in them as well as their unique number

That's the first two digits of the year that they're going to repair them.

[SlowCoach]

I forgot to mention that yesterday I was doored.

Dooring seems to be flavour of the day. I had an odd deliberate attempted dooring yesterday morning. I was filtering down the outside of a lane of stationary traffic. Just as I was passing a car the driver's door was thrown open in my path. I was riding out too wide for it to be a problem though and just passed by. The last I saw when looking back was the driver standing in the middle of the road waving his fist at me and shouting something about he wouldn't miss next time. It was rather odd behaviour really, deliberately trying to get your door damaged. I can only think that it was caused by his frustration of having to sit 10 minutes in a queue whilst cycles filter past.

[clarion]

How odd.  I've not seen a deliberate attempt in a long while (and I don't think it's ever been done to me deliberately).

But I am definitely seeing more people leaping out of cars & vans in the middle of the road.

[vorsprung]

A bit wet coming in this morning

[her_welshness]

A bit wet coming in this morning

I was thinking that they had got the weather forecast wrong and then 2 miles into the commute it started raining, but it was quite light.

[Gattopardo]

Wet, very annoying and I got a visit from the fairy.  Whilst looking at the tyre, trying to figure out what was going on, got left hooked by a car/mpv thing and managed to wind myself and pass out.  Woke up after ambulance was called. It was only a few minutes, to be conscious again.

Managed to catch my danglies on the handle bar so they are a little bruised and tender.  So need to go back in a few days if the swelling hasn't gone down..interesting being fondled by two men was not the most enjoyable experience.

Still got to fettle the wheel but I don't feel like it at the mo.

[Simonb]

Taxi nearly wiped me out. Overtook me and took my turning as I was turning right into it. I know he saw me because I heard him rev to get past.

Wanker.

[clarion]

Really fast ride home. Must have been a tailwind.

*checks*

Oh.  Not really, no.  I must just be a fast rider today

And there was a beautiful pink & blue sky at about 1800-1815.  And a kestrel hovering over Mitcham Common.

[little miss mac]

And there was a beautiful pink & blue sky at about 1800-1815. 

Gorgeous, wasn't it. By the time I was on my way home the sun had set but the sky was clear and luminous, with that pink haze sinking over London on my right as I crossed Chelsea Bridge, and a full moon tracking the river on the other side. Heavenly.

[Wendy]

I can't wait for my ride tomorrow, it's supposed to be sunny, and warm later. Let's hope the giant moon doesn't bring out too much lunacy - at least I'm coming back before dark.

[spindrift]

6000 candle power front light and a pedestrian blithely RAN out in front of me as I'm doing 20mph. Praise Dawes brakes.

[simonp]

Driving school car dual controls FTW.

[TheLurker]

Sympathy to all you poor sods who have to deal with the urban nightmare.  I had black rabbits, skylarks and even a little bit of a tailwind today.

[Redlight]

Back on the bike for the first time since breaking my wrist at Christmas.  What a fantastic feeling and what a great day to be returning to proper commuting after three months of squeezing onto trains.  It took about half a mile for the legs to warm up and all the old techniques to kick back in, then it was back to sailing past slow moving cars, trying to time my arrival at the lights for just that moment when they change and accelerating past everyone in the ASL.  My karma was so calmed by the whole experieince that not even the mercedes that turned right, across my path, while indicating left raised my blood pressure.

Already looking forward eagerly to this evening and maybe stretching the route with a little diversion through Greenwich Park.  Wheeeee! 

[Wendy]

It seemed to be complete madness on Saturday, some crazy overtakes, one across double white lines and into a blind corner, the other into oncoming traffic.  A dial-a-ride driver ran a red light, and I had a close call on Lewisham roundabout with I think a rushing driver missing me in his A-frame pillar.

Yesterday was much nicer, not only a faster ride, but nothing of note apart from seeing one driver on his mobile phone.

[pumpkin]

Strange about the dooring as if you hit it, the door gets bent against the hinges and won't close and if going at speed you may get thrown into the car (experience!). Rode partway in with someone who I haven't seen for a couple of month and he is training for pbp. He is riding from Mcr to Kidderminster this weekend (and back) for the Elenith - top man!

[SteveC]

No jacket for the first time this year. Cool but pleasant.

[itsbruce]

Pleasant ride in on my speedily-repaird fixed.  Random things:

• The Japanese embassy is flying a flag at half mast.  Normally, embassies on that road don't fly flags, for security reasons.
• Paparazzi were hanging around opposite a posh school on Pembridge Square.  Shared a joke about it with a bearded chap on a navy blue Dahon.
• Some asshole approaching from the opposite direction on a small roundabout cut directly across the central circle, nearly blind-siding me, without signalling.  Presumably he didn't signal because he knew he was doing something naughty.  Wanker.

[Wendy]

Oh, and this aggressive little sod:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/IgsCRJTODKU&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/IgsCRJTODKU&rel=1</a>

[interzen]

I learnt several things on today's commute (the first for ages)

• Hydraulic disc brakes are really rather good
• The Alfine-11 shifter works barse-ackwards from the Alfine-8 shifter. Going up a hill and almost rupturing yourself after a gear change is not the ideal time to be reminded of this.
• Trochanteric bursitis is bloody painful.
• It was actually warm enough for shorts

[LittleWheelsandBig]

The Alfine-8 shifter is the backwards one. The 11 is the same as normal derailleur shifters. Of course you fixed wheel riders get confused by gears...

[interzen]

The Alfine-8 shifter is the backwards one. The 11 is the same as normal derailleur shifters. Of course you fixed wheel riders get confused by gears...

There's more than a grain of truth to that, actually.
In the past I've generally used bar-end shifters or old-skool thumbies, meaning that anything vaguely STI-ish has the potential to confuse the hell out of me

[Si_Co]

• Hydraulic disc brakes are really rather good

Yes but have a faff factor that is off the scale when it finally comes time to fettle and the cost of the bleed kit and new pads is more than an entire new unit, hence my return to cables.[/list]