First visit to the commute section

[Supersuperleeds]

I love cycle commuting, I have been forced onto the bus the past couple of days as the bike was in Evans with BB problems and a service, my whole body started to miss cycling, its like a natural instinct now to ride a bike everyday. I started to feel a little depressed not been on the bike, the sad realisation that I had to waste an hour of my life stuck on a bus tipped me over the edge BUT I am back on the bike and cannot wait to cycle home on our dangerous, over crowed roads full of nobbers of all sorts and transport modes. Give me an emotional ride over a dull cycle lane ride with boring mindless 5mph bikes.. Yawn...

You need a spare commuter bike, N+1 and all that.

 

[PBB]

If this section didn't exist, I probably would not have actually started commuting to work.

The sheer amount of great advice on here is better than any magazine/book. I know only one other cycle commuter personally, so the advice I've read here has been invaluable.

Sure there are a few problems with cycle commuting, but sometimes it's good just to express anger/frustration to other like-minded folk on here, far better than bottling up anger I think.

Oh, and its always better than stuck in a car in solid traffic

 

[Matthew_T]

Commuting is fun and enjoyable. When people say that I have LOTS of incidents with drivers, I dont really. But I do comment on things that others would just let lie. Yesterday, I had two people tailgate me (I had to tell one of them to give me room) but did I start a whole new thread about it? No. Because I realise that it would just cause another heated discussion on here which wouldnt have really helped anyone.

I enjoy cycling, and the Autism in me causes me to pick up on things other wouldnt. I have even gone to the length of building a database of numberplates and numpties that I encounter so that if I have another incident with the person, I could easily find out if I have seen them before.

When I upload my Close Pass compilations at the end of every month, that is a whole MONTHS worth of close passes. I actually only get 1 every three days (now I am being more critical).

Posting threads about incidents in the commuting section has raised my awareness that I need to let things go more. However, there is that many mixed responses, I dont know who to listen to.

In terms of commuting: Its fun. It is a bit of a pain cycling in some of the worst weather that the UK gets throughout winter, but thats part of the job. This winter, the snow gets pretty bad where I work, so I have that to look forward to (gunna be fun!). Last winter I didnt fall off at all on the ice until I arrived at college (after 16 miles of cautious riding) and went around a bend and came right off.

Commuting is fun. Dont let the 'incident' threads put you off.

 

[Frood42]

Do any of you enjoy your commute to work? Because it does not sound like it. It is full of head cam wanna be policemen and reports of bad driving.

There are two things you can be certain of and that are not news worthy or interesting. The police are not interested and there are bad drivers everywhere. So why does everyone keep reporting these things on here?

I enjoy my commute to work, I would not have cycled 5,800 miles in my first full year on the bike if I didn't.

I find that this can be a good place to blow a bit of steam off, better to blow the steam off here than to get into an altercation.

I have seen videos from people like @gaz and @BentMikey which have helped to highlight and improve cycling (thinking of Silly Cyclists and Road Safe for one).

I think as with everything there are good and bad when it comes to "cammers", but there are those that are just trying to make things safer for others, and I appreciate that these people are at least making an effort, rather than just shrugging their shoulders and going "The police are not interested and there are bad drivers everywhere."

I do not see a forum full of wannabee police persons, but bad driving can have more of an impact on those who are in a more vunerable situation, and a place to grumble and get different views can be a good thing.

One of the sticky threads is "today a good driver did this", I wonder how many car forums have a "today a good cyclist did this" thread..?

http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/today-a-good-driver-did-this.131310/

 

[lesley_x]

To be honest I've been cycling for 3 years and have never experienced anything like what's posted in this section. Yes I get the odd close pass but nothing serious.

I have to say, I live too far away to commute the full way to work but about once a week at the moment I get dropped with my bike by my husband for a 10 mile commute and when I arrive I am happier, have more energy and am much more productive. I just wish I could do it more often.

 

[MarkF]

Must admit, I look at some of the vids and can't tell where the "bad" things are, yet the poster seems to be outraged. I commute through the Leeds/Bradford conurbation, if you can cope with BD3 you can cope with anything.

 

[Frood42]

Must admit, I look at some of the vids and can't tell where the "bad" things are, yet the poster seems to be outraged. I commute through the Leeds/Bradford conurbation, if you can cope with BD3 you can cope with anything.

Which would suggest that you are used to close passes, and that you are happy to just "cope" with it, there are those that a have a (irritational?) fear of traffic and just putting up with bad driving is not the answer to get more people cycling.

Why should you have to "cope" with someone who's fiddling on their mobile and not paying attention to the road or close passing you with a cup of coffee/tea in their hand (and who are more worried about spilling their drink than your safety).

One small mistake from these motons could you see off the bike for a while, and that sort of behaviour is not exactly going to help get more people onto cycling.

Thankfully I have not come off my bike yet, but I am always on the look out as you will always get one muppet on the road who is more invested in putting up pictures on twitter or facebook of them doing 100mph in their car than they are of the safety of others around them.

Young girls on mobiles are starting to become a real problem, they are paying more attention to facebook updates than they are to the road.

 

[MarkF]

Which would suggest that you are used to close passes, and that you are happy to just "cope" with it, there are those that a have a (irritational?) fear of traffic and just putting up with bad driving is not the answer to get more people cycling.

Why should you have to "cope" with someone who's fiddling on their mobile and not paying attention to the road or close passing you with a cup of coffee/tea in their hand (and who are more worried about spilling their drink than your safety).

Yes, I suppose I am used to close passes, daily, the similar sort of close passes that send some posters on here into a frenzy. I take your point, but I don't see it as something I have to "cope" with, that was the wrong phrase, it just is. For others, well, they'll have to learn to cope, I agree they shouldn't have to, but they will have to, if they want to cycle in a UK city..

Agree about young girls on mobiles, they are easily the worst drivers where I commute.

 

[Jezston]

For others, well, they'll have to learn to cope, I agree they shouldn't have to, but they will have to, if they want to cycle in a UK city..

Or, y'know, we could attempt to take action against it.

 

[MarkF]

Or, y'know, we could attempt to take action against it.

Good luck.

 

[swansonj]

Yes, I suppose I am used to close passes, daily, the similar sort of close passes that send some posters on here into a frenzy. I take your point, but I don't see it as something I have to "cope" with, that was the wrong phrase, it just is. For others, well, they'll have to learn to cope, I agree they shouldn't have to, but they will have to, if they want to cycle in a UK city..

Agree about young girls on mobiles, they are easily the worst drivers where I commute.

I was riding with a stranger who happened to be going the same way. A Range Rover overtook me and turned left in front of me. I had been aware of them coming up behind from my mirror, I had been riding in primary so had space to ease over to the left and make the pass less close than it would have been; then, on the assumption that motorists do such things, I was covering my brakes and just eased the speed sufficiently to avoid any great drama when they cut across me to turn. To me, just everyday cycling; but the cyclist next to me was horrified, and said something about how if only we'd got the number we should have reported it to the police. There are lots of things that motorists do that cyclists shouldn't have to put up with, but how serious you regard them, or where you draw the line, clearly varies quite a bit from cyclist to cyclist.

 

[Jdratcliffe]

Tbh and i think most people here will agree incidents few and far between but due to some of our other halves ( mine v much so) worried about me riding in we use this as a vent to rant talk about and try to improve our commutes but this then ends being a section that looks like cycling is massively dangerous yet in reality its not this is just the total of x number of cyclists daily trips that 1 in 10 may have a slight or minor issue that gets discussed here as at home we'd get told not ride its too dangerous if mentioned at home.

 

[MickL]

im fairly new to commuting to work and back,,i ride from dudley to birmingham its a 20 mile round trip im into my 7th week now! and yes its a bit stressfull with some idiots on the road but i must admit im loving it cus it beats been stuck in traffic in the car and im getting alot fitter now cus its getting easier!!,,cheers,,dean,,,,,

I cycle Dudley to Brum via the cut, no traffic down there