A little worried about commuting to work tomorrow

[flake99please]

I would expect any 5am commute to be fairly light with traffic. Good luck.

 

[johnnyb47]

Hi,
Well i arrived safe and sound. The traffic was surprisingly quiet going. I,m putting this down to setting off early and choosing a less busy route. It turned out to be just shy of 20 miles and took around an hour. I know i could of done it slightly quicker if the wind was more favourable and if my back pack wasn't rammed full of work gear and safety shoes. Now i know its doable i think i may do it on a regular basis, as it was quite enjoyable to blow the cobwebs away first thing in the morning 👍👍

 

[IaninSheffield]

Great to hear. Wind at your back on the way home then?

 

[vickster]

Hi,
Well i arrived safe and sound. The traffic was surprisingly quiet going. I,m putting this down to setting off early and choosing a less busy route. It turned out to be just shy of 20 miles and took around an hour. I know i could of done it slightly quicker if the wind was more favourable and if my back pack wasn't rammed full of work gear and safety shoes. Now i know its doable i think i may do it on a regular basis, as it was quite enjoyable to blow the cobwebs away first thing in the morning 👍👍

Leave your work gear at work when you know you’ll be cycling

 

[Oldhippy]

Get panniers, go you.

 

[ianrauk]

Good stuff. 20 miles in an hour on a commute is great going

 

[si_c]

Morning commutes were always my favourite, especially starting in the dark and riding through sunrise in winter. I prefer the A-road routes myself, I feel safer overall as although the speed differential is greater there is much better visibility usually and the wider roads mean you get better passes.

 

[RichardB]

Morning commutes were always my favourite, especially starting in the dark and riding through sunrise in winter. I prefer the A-road routes myself, I feel safer overall as although the speed differential is greater there is much better visibility usually and the wider roads mean you get better passes.

I think you're right here. However, to balance that, the greater speed differential means that any incident will have much more serious consequences. I will never forget the 20-30 seconds of a ride I did at 3 am home from a split night shift. I took the shorter A40 route as I thought that the road would be virtually empty at that time of night. It was, but I didn't enjoy hearing a car coming up behind me at what sounded like 150 mph. His headlights lit up the landscape ahead of me, and I just had to trust that my rear light, rear flasher, hi-viz Altura jacket with Scotchbrite , wrist and ankle bands had done their job and he had seen me. I didn't even dare to look behind for fear of a wobble into his path. In the event, he passed me at well over the ton with a whole lane to spare (3-lane road) and all was well. But it was a 5p/50p moment, that's for sure.

An incident on a minor road would likely be painful but not fatal, I would hope. You pays your money, I guess.

 

[Chris S]

It turned out to be just shy of 20 miles and took around an hour.

Just out of interest, what sort of gearing and cadence do you use to get a 20mph average speed?

 

[livpoksoc]

For commuting...and hell for goat paths and wherever vehicles approaching from behind you is a concern, I thoroughly recommend one of these. My parents picked it up in Canada, and can only find them on ebay.

Stick it to your helmet or glasses and add a bif of bamdage tape to secure it, and can help give a reassuring glance behind you without twitching and moving off your own pedalling line.

I used to commute over a single carriageway toll bridge into Southampton and this was essential to allowing me to ride with confidence in offen heavy winds.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303265211985

 

[Ajax Bay]

it was a 5p/50p moment, that's for sure.

Only in your mind, Richard. Anyway, what's a 5p/50p moment? How much do public loos cost in Wales?
Trust you've done your best to make yourself as conspicuous as possible and trust/have confidence that the passing drivers do so with due care and space to spare. Control what you can control (includes choice of route: btw I too think, on balance, wider main roads with good lines of sight are 'safer' than minor roads).
PS Had some stretches on the A40 ( a percentage of Abergavenny/Brecon/Gloucester) last week in the dark. Was fine. Lit up well and ankle straps.

 

[RichardB]

Anyway, what's a 5p/50p moment?

The, er, size of the aperture in your bottom when suitably alarmed by unexpected circumstances.

"When I heard the plane's engine stop momentarily, it was a proper 5p/50p moment!"

 

[Dayvo]

what's a 5p/50p moment?

The, er, size of the aperture in your bottom when suitably alarmed by unexpected circumstances.

First time I've heard it called that!

I prefer the pre-decimalisation
term 6d/2 bob. Same same but different. 😀

 

[Ajax Bay]

For those who appreciate quantative analysis, the relevant diameters are 18mm and 27.5mm.
Interestingly (or not, but this IS Cycle Chat) bitd a farthing/halfpenny is/was 20mm and 25mm.
Still 'all in the mind'.

 

[ColinJ]

Since this IS Cycle Chat, and we have diverted onto the subject...

I used to really like the late night OU broadcasts. Some of the lecturers were funny in a dry, British kind of way. I remember one experiment that involved researchers stressing rats with flashing bright lights and sudden loud noises (nice!) and a nerd saying that they worked out how scared the rats were "... by measuring the rate of faecal boli deposition. In other words - how often they sh*t!"