Tales from today's commute....

[blackrat]

Took the long way home as it was mild, dry and I want to try and keep the mileage up.

An unprecedented amount of dickheads were encountered; the crown going to some vile, vacuous old woman who literally drove into me as I was attempting to cross the slip road onto the A34.

I stood at the crossing with none of the stop-start traffic pausing to let me across / leave the crossing clear. Woman crawls across it and stops blocking it. I cross in front, pause to assess what's going on in the other lane to be crossed and feel something pushing against my leg. I see it's her bumper. I look straight at her and she keeps crawling. I have to pick the bike up and move it out of the way to stop her pushing me and it over as I had nowhere to go; trapped between it and her. I scream at her to pay some f*cking attention - she just stares blankly through me as if I couldn't matter any less.

Had my movements not been hampered by the bike her car would have got an exterior remodel.. as it stood all I could do was cross and get on with my journey. Lesson learned - head torch on all the time from now on and anyone who does similar will cop it straight to the face to leave them in no doubt as to my presence.

"..and anyone who does similar will cop it straight to the face to leave them in no doubt as to my presence."
However, would I be correct, based entirely on reports from various news outlets, should, you have administered a good slap across the face of the cretinous hag, wouldn't she then be in her rights to have you arrested for GBH? If so, a way must be found to administer the said corrective action away from public scrutiny.

 

[markharry66]

Nice curry last night left some nice vapour trails not nice to be near this morning

 

[wiggydiggy]

Time for my Autumn forray into the office

Travel time comparision its Bed to Desk in 2.25 hours coming in, compared to 0.25 hours if I work from home. I'd say the cycling part is still the only good thing about going into the office.

Cold but calm ride, damp in the air meant I wished I put my contacts in as I got a lot of air mist on the glasses but not enough to blind me. I also forgot its half term so pretty quiet. The resurfacing and lighting improvements have finished I think on the Spen Valley Greenway which makes it a very nice ride, sadly thats only a 10 min part of my journey. Whitehall Road segrgated path is also nearly done and is running the length of the road, looking forward to that even if the entry to it when travelling out the city centr is looking a bit poor. In between those bits the rest of the trip is ok but the road surface is still appalling in places and have spotted a couple of new rough spots to avoid since my last trip in.

I was hoping the MS outage would still be ongoing but sadly they have fixed it. Also I've brought the wrong headphones, they are USB-C rather than 3.5mm and I don't have enough ports left to plug them in, I do get to now listen to people moaning about the traffic on the M62 now though haha.

 

[biking_fox]

Lovely autumnal morning ride - still air, a bit fresh but not too bad, light half term traffic, and even some sunshine on the coloured leaves (those left on the trees anyway, the mush on the ground is dark brown).

 

[ianrauk]

Another cyclist was in my train spot today. Not happy about that.
In fact, we had a great chat, she missed her normal, earlier train so had to get mine. She had a really nice Spesh Roubaix which reminded me of the time I had one and of which I still miss.
Bit colder this morning 7° when I left home. But dry, no wind and sunny blue skies. Half term so the traffic was extremely light and free flowing making for a rather nice, fun ride along the A21.

 

[cyberknight]

Lots of road works around my area atm which makes commuting a drag as every way i go to work has traffic queues and diversions , i have taken to riding maybe quarter of a mile on the pavement or sit in traffic for ages as its literally slower than walking pace to a bottle neck i can get through easily . I dont like doing it but this is the best option as other traffic tends to just get by and squeeze me into the kerb if i try to sit in the queue.
Cold last night but as @ianrauk mentioned it was dry which was certainly better than the night before as i got nicely drenched .
Not riding friday as i have an appointment with the consultant to review my mri results as the knee isnt getting any better and im back on the naproxen , its getting me down as cycling is such a part of who i am im not happy i may have to curtail riding as even the commute over a week can aggravate it .

 

[fossyant]

She had a really nice Spesh Roubaix

Bloody cyclist... looks at the bike !

 

[Arjimlad]

Been away this week but only this morning, and managed a 10-miler on my usual route to get in for the afternoon shift. It was nice to ride it at a different time of day with fewer idiots driving.

 

[cyberknight]

Bloody horrible last night, right into the teeth of the wind all the way home along with rain that overcame my coat within a couple of miles so i had to plod on getting damper and blown about all the way home , got home about 1 am and reached for a tipple as i think i earned it !.Got up this morning and everything aches .

 

[biking_fox]

It's quite nice 'oop north' Manchester really quiet easy riding warmer than yesterday. Last friday of half term, nobody about.

 

[ianrauk]

It's quite nice 'oop north' Manchester really quiet easy riding warmer than yesterday. Last friday of half term, nobody about.

Same here. Very mild this morning 14° and dry. Also last Friday of the two week half term.
I was planning on riding the full route home this afternoon (27 miles) but looking like it's going to be very wet so may jump on the train.

 

[markharry66]

Cant believe how mild it is for november, had winter gear on this morning was covered in sweat. Packed up road bike over the weekend so now on Flat bar road bike I paid sixty quid for two years ago. Can anyone recomend a cheap bike cam that records okay in the dark. Tailed gated by a rubbish van this morning in twenty zone I was pushing twenty filtered past the pointless prick at the traffic lights dont think he was to please with the two findered salute he got. Usual winter close over takes and passses good to be back on the road and enoyed the flat bar road bike not as fast time of year who cares. Managed to avoid the rain for once got to work and just started raining ,.

 

[ianrauk]

Yep, ditched the leg warmers and long sleeve jersey this morning. Nice and mild out there.

All hail the 2 finger salute @markharry66 dont let the bastards grind ya down.

Looks like I now have a cycling companion sharing the bike space on my train. Friday and now today the same person. Nice to have a little chat about bikes and cycling whilst on the journey.

Schools are back so expecting the return of the more rubbish driver out there on the roads.

 

[biking_fox]

Also mild and over-dressed for the expected wet ride in. However the starting drizzle dried up to almost sunshine. Hope it stays like that for the evening ride (sunshine not likely!)