Tales from today's commute....

[Spartak]

Avonmouth Bridge taken from Lamplighters Marsh in Bristol on Monday evenings commute.

 

[Alex321]

Very wet commute in this morning, but pretty uneventful. A little slower than usual, mainly because of water on the road increasing rolling resistance, but also traffic pretty heavy once I hit the city, and while you can get past OK on a bike, you still can't really go quite as fast as you would with a clear road.

 

[rivers]

A drizzly commute that got off to a bad start, C2c smartcard did not work on the train had to argue with the gate guy and ticket office lady to get let through at Basildon, same excercise at West Ham though no ticket office lady as no ticket office open, got it to look forward to on the way home as well.
When I got on the the West Ham Greenway which is pretty dam wide a prat on a escooter decided instead of overtaking on the right properly where there was acres of space, no he was going to "buzz" me by overtaking in the foot gap on my left. Gave me a bit of a startle, lucky for him I did not shove him into the verge. He made his escape at nearly 30mph.
Then I came across my friendly Rastafarion in full foul weather gear complete with a blue plastic bag over his head.
A the ten mile point, oh dam soft rear tyre. I run tubeless could find no hissing or evidence of a object. Blew it back up. 2 miles later soft again. Again no evidence of a puncture. Blew it back up and it lasted the last 8 miles. Pleased that I had 2 offers of help from other cyclists though. Hopefully it was just sealant doing its job. Will fully inspect at dinner time.

I have the same issue with my GWR smartcard. The station staff can see that I have season ticket on the smartcard, but for whatever reason, it will not open the gates for me. They've gotten to know me at the railway station in Bath and just let me through (no gates at my destination). But the lovely people at the ticket office have written me a note (stamped by the ticket office) detailing my smartcard info, so I just show that if there is a new person on the gate.

 

[Arjimlad]

This morning's 10 mile ride to WFH was memorable because

1. It was grey, misty and threatening to rain hard but I got up & got out anyway and enjoyed it;
2. A driver overtook me too fast & too close on a supposed "quietway" - and when putting the report in I noted that their MOT expired last October so that's a good one to get reported.

Bon courage!

 

[HarryTheDog]

I have the same issue with my GWR smartcard. The station staff can see that I have season ticket on the smartcard, but for whatever reason, it will not open the gates for me. They've gotten to know me at the railway station in Bath and just let me through (no gates at my destination). But the lovely people at the ticket office have written me a note (stamped by the ticket office) detailing my smartcard info, so I just show that if there is a new person on the gate.

It happened to me yesterday as well, also just happened that the lady sat across from me last night also had the same problem. ( I know cos she rang her husband and had a right good moan) . For her and me same as you, the booking office lady could read our tickets were on the dam card but didnt work on the gate. I have ordered a new card.( as ticket office lady said mine was a real old type card) Its a real pain in the butt for me as I catch a very early train and I always cut it fine , on the way home if I finish work at 5 it takes me 10 mins to change and if there are no hiccups I can make the fast train ( only 1 stop before mine all others have 4) with 10 minutes to spare any chaindrops, punctures or hold up at the barriers could mean I miss it . Less hassle just to buy a real ticket at this rate. I rang C2C oh no problems like this reported sir, complete twaddle.

 

[HarryTheDog]

Sorry I seem to be hogging this thread today. Left work late due to urgent customer request and made the fast train just before it left the station.
I also have to report e-scooters are now top of my s**t list. Saw 2 lights coming towards me on the canal path, just as we were about to meet the one behind went to overtake, it was a e-scooter. So we met 3 abreast in a 5ft space and I had the shitty end of the stick as I was canal side. No way was I ending up in the canal so I slowed and leant inwards fully expecting to smack him hard with my shoulder, instead we just brushed and he shouted something. A bit rich since the whole situation was brought about by him being a twat.

 

[Alex321]

My trip home, while drier, didn't go quite as well as my trip to work.

All was good, even a bit of a tailwind, until about 1.5 miles or so from home when the dreaded p* fairy paid another visit. And this time my old multitool decided that a stiff through-axle was too much for it, so I finished up walking that last bit.

 

[Jenkins]

I nearly got taken out by some form of wildlife on the way home on Wednesday night - given that it was gone 22:30 and it was on the unlit country lane part of my commute I suspect a badger. All I know is that out of nowhere the front wheel was suddenly knocked off course and the rear bumped over something fairly large & solid where my headlight hadn't picked up anything in the road. There was no way I was going to go back and see if whatever I'd hit was still there as I was just glad not to have come off or hit the verge having regained control.

 

[fossyant]

What a difference a set of tyres make - changed from the studs as I've not seen any ice on the canal (awaits next week's snow bomb) and swapped to a closer ratio set of sprockets, and I'm 5 minutes quicker.

Decent morning, no rain !

 

[Andy in Germany]

What a difference a set of tyres make - changed from the studs as I've not seen any ice on the canal (awaits next week's snow bomb) and swapped to a closer ratio set of sprockets, and I'm 5 minutes quicker.

Decent morning, no rain !

The first day riding with normal tyres is almost worth using spikes for.

Of course it generally causes a localised winter apocalypse within a week...

 

[Arjimlad]

"Hmm, don't expect too much by way of speed today" I thought as I donned a heavy rucksack with laptop, charger, shirts, cable ties & cutter for a rainy ride to work.

The commute was all of 14 seconds longer than last time's ride in the dry, unencumbered by aforementioned rucksack!

 

[GeekDadZoid]

Bit of an incident on yesterdays commute into the city centre. I was with my mate, my on my Houldsworth him on his electric Brompton. We were heading down the Wilmslow Road cycle path just before Rusholme and there is a turning for a private school which is particularly bad for left hooks in my experience, just before we got there an escooter wizzed past me and a left turning car had to break to avoid him, the car started to move, albeit slowly as I approached at about 20km/h, unsure of his intentions I put on the anchors, not too harshly but with enough time to stop before the turn. I came to a stop, as did the car after what seemed like 5 seconds I head a shrek and my mates comes bundling into the back of me. Fortunately no-one was hurt nor was anything damaged, but it made me think.

The driver had not encroached on the cyclelane, so he legally had done nothing wrong.

I was unsure of his intentions so I was not comfortable proceeding.

Would you have done different?

99% of the time when we ride together I take the lead, I normally have the route planned in my head and he likes to follow. I constantly check over my shoulder to see where he is so I don't lose him and he generally does not ride on my back wheel, and from memory my last glance possibly 20m back, he was 20m behind me, he also confirmed he had seen the car, but not noticed I had stopped.

For future rides what kind of planning would you put in place for this kind of incident? Shouting can work but not so easy on a busy road, adaptive brake lights might be an option, I have a see.sense, but find it naff.

Anyway, turned out we had a great coffee at Takk and a fab ride home.

 

[HarryTheDog]

Over the weekend I found 2 thorns in my rear tyre which was probably the cause of my rear tyre continually going soft. I got them out and let the sealant do its job. Last night checked the tyres were still hard.
This morning dam, rear tyre flat. Blew it back up and hoped it would be fine. I was also looking forward to being able to go through the train station gates straight away with my new C2C smartcard, I had tested it yesterday and it worked.
Got to the station, tapped in, nope didnt work, or the 2nd time. Then a very fat middle aged behind me started shouting hysterically that she was going to miss her train cos of the bloody stupid cyclist. I was not best chuffed but on the 3rd time the gate opened. I was thinking of saying if she wasnt so fat she could go through the normal gates but I kept my gob shut.
Train was quite full so I had to stand with my bike. when I went to get off I suddenly realised that a bloke probably mid 50's stood behind me was taking the piss out of my bike ( its very pink) and my shoes and my cycling tights , to his mate in a loud enough voice to ensure I heard . Well this time I was not going to keep my gob shut so informed him it was best for his health if he kept his gob shut. He smirked but it was a shot across his bows and no more piss taking.
All this put me in a foul mood but I decided to take a chill pill and saunter into work and enjoy the ride , recorded my slowest ever commute ( 12.7 mph avg) but took my time to look at the many boats on my route, arrived at work feeling much better. I really do miss my old commute where I did not have to use the dam train, its by far the worst part of my commute.

 

[Arjimlad]

Bit of an incident on yesterdays commute into the city centre. I was with my mate, my on my Houldsworth him on his electric Brompton. We were heading down the Wilmslow Road cycle path just before Rusholme and there is a turning for a private school which is particularly bad for left hooks in my experience, just before we got there an escooter wizzed past me and a left turning car had to break to avoid him, the car started to move, albeit slowly as I approached at about 20km/h, unsure of his intentions I put on the anchors, not too harshly but with enough time to stop before the turn. I came to a stop, as did the car after what seemed like 5 seconds I head a shrek and my mates comes bundling into the back of me. Fortunately no-one was hurt nor was anything damaged, but it made me think.

The driver had not encroached on the cyclelane, so he legally had done nothing wrong.

I was unsure of his intentions so I was not comfortable proceeding.

Would you have done different?

99% of the time when we ride together I take the lead, I normally have the route planned in my head and he likes to follow. I constantly check over my shoulder to see where he is so I don't lose him and he generally does not ride on my back wheel, and from memory my last glance possibly 20m back, he was 20m behind me, he also confirmed he had seen the car, but not noticed I had stopped.

For future rides what kind of planning would you put in place for this kind of incident? Shouting can work but not so easy on a busy road, adaptive brake lights might be an option, I have a see.sense, but find it naff.

Anyway, turned out we had a great coffee at Takk and a fab ride home.

I don't see what you could have done differently, maybe shout out to your pal that you're slowing/stopping in case he's in a daydream.. had this a couple of times on family rides when my daughter was younger, so we shout out now. If your companion doesn't notice you slowing down he's not going to notice the SeeSense brake light either. I can understand how he'd be focussing on the car ahead & not you, though.

 

[Scotchlovingcylist]

Slightly extended commute for tonight's shift to take in a Hull marina sunset. Surprisingly warm, need to tell myself I can wear shorts