Tales from today's commute....

[palinurus]

In between Aztec West roundabout and the M5 junction 16 there's a lovely wide shared pavement. It stops at the Motorway!

A lot of confident cyclists (including myself) stay on the road. It's a short stretch of 40mph dual carriageway with an additional lane to the left to join the southbound M5. However, predictably, certain drivers see it as their role to punish cyclists for not using the shared pavement - by dishing out close passes.

I have emailed the council about this & been given a load of waffle about recommended improvements (this layout was unfurled in 2017) but they cannot tell me how a cyclist is expected to safely & lawfully use the shared pavement and get back onto the A38 northbound.

Just been having a look at that on Google maps

 

[palinurus]

The bollards are really pretty tight- I'm dead curious to figure out how someone could drive around them.

The answer is by driving up a kerb, straight over the verge and through some undergrowth and going around the back of them (look at the right hand side of the image)

No way they could have got out at the other end though.

 

[palinurus]

No way they could have got out at the other end though.

Well they can now, the (cast iron) bollard at the other end was broken at some point between yesterday evening and this morning, plus the barriers are scattered all over the place.

 

[palinurus]

It does make the ride extra-interesting I suppose.

 

[C R]

View attachment 598066
It does make the ride extra-interesting I suppose.

But insurance and road tax innit.

 

[cyberknight]

piss wet through going to work in a deluge so it was soggy clothes for the return commute on late shift , cycle path strewn with debris washed onto it by the rain so i got 3 punctures in a few miles even though i checked the inside of the tyre each time .Ended up phoning home at 1 am for mrs ck to pick me up .
Checked the tyre in daylight just now and there was a sharp piece of stone chip right through the tyre and puncture strip that has totalled the tyre and had to bin 2 tubes that wouldnt repair due to the holes being to close to a seam.
Taking the ribble build till i can get a new tyre for the commuter as i dont have any 28s in stock and 25s dont fit properly due to rim width

new tyres arrived today , durano plus so todays job is to fit these as i am fed up of flats on the cycle path , i have reported it to the council repeatedly and they swept it once but every time it rains the crap gets washed back all over it and in one area ist so overgrown you cannot get through without bashing your bars on the branches even with road bars .

 

[Spartak]

☔

 

[Andy in Germany]

☔

I sympathise: I've been getting a lot of that last week too.

 

[Jenkins]

☔

Snap - and not even the warm variety this afternoon.

 

[Arjimlad]

Turning left half a mile from work when my back wheel wouldn't follow the line, my first thought was diesel but then I realised it was flat as a pancake.

I was thankful it was not far to walk, and also that the driver behind me was alert & not tailgating.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Oh poo, all the maize has grown up over the weekend and all my sight lines have gone.

I had an almost a near miss today (car was a safe distance from me but still a fair bit closer than I expected) because I thought that because I didn't see a car roof it meant there was no car on the road I was crossing. Will have to take that junction a bit slower in future.

Apart from that, all was well: I'm getting to know the regulars, including a lot of schoolkids coming the other way, who are generally very polite, it has to be said, and rather more aware of other cyclists than some of the adults.

 

[Arjimlad]

Turning left half a mile from work when my back wheel wouldn't follow the line, my first thought was diesel but then I realised it was flat as a pancake.

I was thankful it was not far to walk, and also that the driver behind me was alert & not tailgating.

Dangnabbit, the puncture I "fixed" at lunchtime after digging some glass out of my tyre renewed itself over the afternoon.

It turned out there was a tiny bit of wire, like a bristle from a wire brush, which I'd missed, in a different place in the tyre so I had to renew the inner tube before I could ride home. Lesson learned to double check the tyre & not to stop at the first issue.

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

Dangnabbit

 

[Andy in Germany]

Weather was filthy this morning:

I cycled a couple of K's and realised I was going to drown if I went any further, so I gave up and took the train.

On he way back the rain had stopped but the river was a bit high:

 

[Andy in Germany]

The main road alongside my cycleway is closed and a diversion is in place. However there's always one, and in this case there are several drivers who don't want to bother with diversions, oh, no, they think the traffic free Feldweg (think tarmacked bridleway) running behind the village is a much more convenient option so they're driving along it in cavalcades, pulling onto the verges and generally being a nuisance to all decent God-fearing folk on foot or bicycle.
Today it appears someone has had words. I'm trundling along when I round a corner and there's two police cars, a van, and more coppers I've seen in one place since the European Cup in Stuttgart in 2004.
Now of course I want a car to come but typically, there's nothing doing for a kilometre. Eventually one comes bombing past and disappears around the corner, I cackle evilly, knowing there are no side roads and the police are just out of sight and call "you're about to get nicked!"
Then I feel a bit guilty, but only a bit.