New Commuter

[san]

3 months waiting for the Cyclescheme vouchers to arrive, one discontinued model of the bike later, and an Extra £100 from my own pocket for the upgrade, endless sleepless night building up the courage to do it, I am now 2 weeks into commuting to work, and FREEKIN LOVING IT.
But GEES people can't drive for Sh...t

Hi all, I'm new to the board so i thought I'd just pop a message on here and say hi. Decided to start commuting cos I wasn't the fittest chap on the block, and don't have time for Gym. The journey in is 50 minutes at an average speed of 23 (km's-still building engines in my thighs).
On the tube, it used to take me 1hr10.
I'm saving almost £140 a month and the only smelly armpits I have to deal with are my own, which don't count anyway, cos I' used to them.

Only thing of concern to me so far is who the heck gives away free drivers licences in this place cons I am convinced half the drivers out there don't do any test.
Anyway, just introducing myself.
Laters
SAN

 

[wafflycat]

Welcome. And glad you are enjoying your new found cycling habit.

As for the armpits, may I suggest de-niffing them for the sake of others around at work

 

[Tynan]

confidence on the roads comes with experience, Cyclecraft book is genuinely a good read for technique and ethos

otherwise, convince yourself you have as much right as any other road user and then ride in an assertive and confident manner (with good and considerate technique)

otherweise, great isn;t it and it'll get better as you get fitter, better at it and upgrade to better bike(s)

 

[san]

Haha, fortunately there are shower facilities at work, but I feel for those who cross my path on my way to the showers.

 

[san]

thanks Tynan. Was looking at old posts, gees, that accident you had on 07 was NOT COOL. Another example of fine driving.

 

[Tynan]

certainly wasn't fun, it's the accident that worries me most (closely followed by people pulling out from the left, there's very little you can do about in my opinion

still, anything you walk away from, in almost five solid years of London rush hour commuting I think I've had that one serious accident and two or three where the bike took a nasty whack but I was ok, one was a carbon copy of this one although i was going slower and saw it coming

anyhow enough about me

 

[ianrauk]

Hi San,
welcome....
Where is your commute?

 

[BentMikey]

Another cyclecraft recommendation here, perhaps also some training from your local council? They are usually free or cheap, and will help a great deal with riding in traffic, since the average member of the public has some very incorrect ideas on how cyclists should ride on the roads.

 

[Jake]

One of the other cyclists in the office was telling me about a scheme that if you work in "the city", then there is a bike maintainence course you can do. think its like £50, but pretty good. I guess you could just pick up a book for a fiver thogh.

 

[Origamist]

One of the other cyclists in the office was telling me about a scheme that if you work in "the city", then there is a bike maintainence course you can do. think its like £50, but pretty good. I guess you could just pick up a book for a fiver thogh.

The LCC has a list of cycle maintenance courses on offer in London:

http://www.lcc.org.uk/documents/AprWorkshops27.pdf

 

[Jake]

ta

 

[san]

ianrauk vbmenu_register("postmenu_399972", true);
IanRauk, from Carshalton to Russel Square, about 11.5 miles.
Cheers to everyone for the tips so far. I think I'd prefer to maintain it myself in the long run since I had it in this weekend for a 6week new purchase FOC survice and they did diddly squat besides oil the front disc. I wrote down about 8 things at fault and only 2 were done, one being half done. I "lost a tooth" on the rear cassette and they replaced an 11-26 tooth with a 13-28 tooth. Downhill travel is very different. I called and complained and they are taking it back this Saturday to fix it properly. Don't wanna mention the name of the place since I've had no other issues with them, and wanna give them another chance, but only this one change before I go elsewhere. It's a Marin Novato 09 by the way, if anyone has advice on it.
Cheers
SAN

 

[ianrauk]

Hi San,
know Carshalton very well. Lived in Morden for a good while.
That's a fair old treck every day, what route do you take?

 

[san]

basically through mitcham, then up the northern line to elephant and castle and across waterloo bridge and up past holburn to russel sq. its an enjoyable ride since I've not see much of london. Been travelling like a mole for years

 

[PBancroft]

But GEES people can't drive for Sh...t

One less of them, one more of us!