Fair Weather Cyclist

[al78]

I was lucky today as firstly I managed to stay dry, secondly I had the wind behind nearly all the way to work and thirdly I stayed late at work so the wind had died down when it was time to leave. Lots of leaves and branches lying around, a few huge branches down, fortunately they fell parallel to the road and not across it.

I was also fortunate yesterday as the really foul weather occurred between commuting times, so stayed dry then as well.

 

[subaqua]

That's a shame. Lovely copper beech.

it actually a
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_cerasifera

the fruits of which i will miss. its been rotten for a long time looking at the rot that is present in the higher reaches.
the council tree feller has just cut it up.

 

[subaqua]

I was thinking it was lucky that the tree came down right between the cars, then noticed you said your car did get damaged.

No I wouldn't laugh at something like that, you should be covered if you have fully comp insurance.

insurance have been great so far. repairer is at the end of the road but now i can check it properly the a pillar junction with roof is damaged so likely written off as its 5 years old. so need a new car thats fairly green , can tow to the 3500kg limit and has a humungous boot for divekit/bikes/camping kit

 

[dawesome]

it actually a
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_cerasifera

the fruits of which i will miss. its been rotten for a long time looking at the rot that is present in the higher reaches.
the council tree feller has just cut it up.

A cherry! It didn't look as though there was anything wrong with it, maybe top heavy, a few years old, probably as old as me. Sorry about your motor, least nobody was hurt, I reckon if that tree had fallen on my head I'd have a speech defect.

 

[dawesome]

Also, watching the council tree shredder in action is awesome.

 

[subaqua]

A cherry! It didn't look as though there was anything wrong with it, maybe top heavy, a few years old, probably as old as me. Sorry about your motor, least nobody was hurt, I reckon if that tree had fallen on my head I'd have a speech defect.

shoot happens and as u say nobody got hurt. maybe i could get a better car and have money for another bike . silver linings and all that guff

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I was glad I carry a lot of flab-ballast in today's winds

 

[Andrew_P]

Tailwind home didn't mean much mega traffic, and then BANG goes my rear tyre right in amongst the standing traffic, my heart sank. Wet, windy, 8miles from home and lots of people gawping from their car windows feeling smug. For my shame the bike had not been cleaned or hosed down all week,, when I got home and looked in the mirror I looked like a coal miner from all the brake slime and me mopping my sweaty brow. Oh and from my puncture on Wednesday I had left my tyre levers at the roadside, luckily and it really was luck my multi tool had a tyre lever part which was <just> enough but my relief at finding it was massive!

Add to that it meant no commuting for me today as It was my last spare tube and no patches at home.

 

[Crankarm]

It's pretty irresponsible to riding a bike on the roads in such strong winds, not only do you put your own safey at risk but those around you. I know I'll get flamed for this but this is the practical reality. I went by bus 1 and a half days this week and the rest I drove which was much safer.

 

[BSRU]

Partially made up for missing my commute yesterday with a 42km ride this morning leaving the house at 5:20am, the longest ride since I started commuting by bike five years ago.
Foolishly tried to put the chain on a small rear cog whilst still on the small cog at the front, the chain did not like that and ended up with a stiffy. A little stop and some chain tool attention loosened the stiff link up.
First time using this route and managed to miss an important turn adding a 14km loop to my ride, so due to time limitations had to cut out part of the planned ride, which fortunately is a 2km climb with a couple of 16% parts into the headwind. Will review my video footage to see why I missed the turn.
Legs felt very good when I arrived home, plenty of life left in them just a shame I ran out of time.

 

[subaqua]

It's pretty irresponsible to riding a bike on the roads in such strong winds, not only do you put your own safey at risk but those around you. I know I'll get flamed for this but this is the practical reality. I went by bus 1 and a half days this week and the rest I drove which was much safer.

so by that measure all high sided lorries should be off the road at the same time then? surely one of them being blown about is more dangerous to more people .

 

[TonyEnjoyD]

TBH I didn't ride in all week as unfortunately I was in Mallorca in 30 degrees of blistering sun

Had I not been however, I would have had to cycle in. We only have one ar and the wife needs it to ferry the kids.
Added to that, it's a 5-mile commute and pubic transport requires a half mile walk, a Metro team and a separate bus each way.

Finally adding, us hardy proper northerners (North East) are used to lousy weather all year round.

 

[derrick]

We did 30 odd miles on monday on the LF1a in holland, gale force winds lashing down with rain, 8 hrs later we got to our destination soaked through freezing cold and hungry, i think our average speed was about 4 mph the hardest 30 miles i have ever done,

 

[downfader]

Tailwind home didn't mean much mega traffic, and then BANG goes my rear tyre right in amongst the standing traffic, my heart sank. Wet, windy, 8miles from home and lots of people gawping from their car windows feeling smug. For my shame the bike had not been cleaned or hosed down all week,, when I got home and looked in the mirror I looked like a coal miner from all the brake slime and me mopping my sweaty brow. Oh and from my puncture on Wednesday I had left my tyre levers at the roadside, luckily and it really was luck my multi tool had a tyre lever part which was <just> enough but my relief at finding it was massive!

Add to that it meant no commuting for me today as It was my last spare tube and no patches at home.

Slightly off topic but there is a technique for removing and reapplying tyres without levers...

kind of deflate, palm-pinch whilst balancing on shoes and thrust it down... Theres a video of this somewhere on youtube iirc.

 

[Ashaman42]

Cycled in on Friday, had a tailwind on the whole apart from a couple sections where I double back a bit. And a couple of random side gusts one of which nearly blew me off the pavement (it's a cyclepath too!) and one which had me leaning rather sharply right just to stay in a straight line.

Watched it get windier over the course of the day. Decided to get the train home and I don't regret it at all 2 miles in that headwind was enough let alone 16.