Tales from today's commute....

[biking_fox]

Lovely long ride home last night, as the crow flies it's a 3mile, normally I do 6, but just kept going, enjoying the cycle breeze coolness. 3 canals : 1 aquaduct, a long tunnel (should've brought my lights!), numerous locks and wacky bridges, shady forest sections and pleasant people 28.6 miles by the time I to home. The Peak Forest Canal is absolute joy to ride along.

 

[fossyant]

Lovely long ride home last night, as the crow flies it's a 3mile, normally I do 6, but just kept going, enjoying the cycle breeze coolness. 3 canals : 1 aquaduct, a long tunnel (should've brought my lights!), numerous locks and wacky bridges, shady forest sections and pleasant people 28.6 miles by the time I to home. The Peak Forest Canal is absolute joy to ride along.

Ah the tunnel at Woodley and then onto Marple Aquaduct. I get on and off the Peak Forest Canal just before the tunnel on my commute ! I assume you had to negotiate the two twisty bridges after Hyde, one of which is stepped ! That's a pain with a heavy panniered bike.

 

[biking_fox]

Ah the tunnel at Woodley and then onto Marple Aquaduct. I get on and off the Peak Forest Canal just before the tunnel on my commute ! I assume you had to negotiate the two twisty bridges after Hyde, one of which is stepped ! That's a pain with a heavy panniered bike.

I had to dismount 3 times for bridge ascents, and one descent was holding onto the hand rail... they're very pretty and I'm sure were practical for canal horses, but somewhat inconvenient for cyclists, all part of the fun. Not sure I'd want to do that every day though.

 

[fossyant]

I had to dismount 3 times for bridge ascents, and one descent was holding onto the hand rail... they're very pretty and I'm sure were practical for canal horses, but somewhat inconvenient for cyclists, all part of the fun. Not sure I'd want to do that every day though.

The 'stepped' one is a bit inconvenient every day - it's really slippy with SPD MTB shoes on. A few weeks ago, there was a guy with road shoes struggling, me struggling with MTB shoes, then a guy in normal boots just strode past us with his bike ! The other sharp one near the tunnel by Aldi in Hyde is ridable, but I usually push up, as it's very slippy and easy to lose a wheel.

 

[BSRU]

Do not normally ride during rush hour but due to school holidays have been getting out for early rides, to avoid the heat later in the day.
I'm riding the same roads as normal but it seems the quality of driving seriously drops during rush hour, the same as it was when I used to commute to work during rush hour seven years ago.
So many drivers who just cannot be bothered to wait to make a safe overtake, putting me and other road users at risk.

 

[simongt]

Someone sat right on my back wheel for a good 4km this morning, which I don't really enjoy.

Happened to me on a Norwich 100 once, some lad drafting me. So at an appropriate moment, I did a brake check at speed.
He stayed well away from after that - !

 

[fossyant]

Dark one this morning, so lights went on for the first road section. Heavy cloud and very humid. Only got 3 miles down the canal and picked up a 3 inch piece of thick wire in the tyre, knock, knock, pssst.

Got the tube changed, then had one cyclist going too fast round a bridge without looking, then two girls walking a dog, that couldn't decide which way to go, complete chaos !

And to complete it all, my two nice Pink Lady Apples were mush by the time I got to work

 

[ianrauk]

What time did you set off Fossy?

 

[GeekDadZoid]

What time did you set off Fossy?

It's was quite dull at 0655 when I set off this morning. Going to have to sort my lights out.

 

[fossyant]

What time did you set off Fossy?

7am

 

[ianrauk]

7am

Wow, still very light here down in London at that time.

 

[fossyant]

Wow, still very light here down in London at that time.

It was the thick muggy cloud yesterday - much better today, even with rain clouds.

 

[GeekDadZoid]

Early start this morning to ride over to Altrincham to meet my mate so we could ride in together. The extra 18km was on main roads, but in the pre-7 am traffic it was nice and fast.

 

[HarryTheDog]

Bad start to the commute , got up 30 minute late, made up my bidon but managed to not screw the top on for some daft reason. Went to take a swig before I left and covered me and the kitchen in orange squash. Further delay to clean up and change my top. when I got to the parking lot of my drive/cycle commute , got the bike out and my heart sank as sealant dribbled out of a spoke hole. Tyre seemed to have only lost 5-10 psi. So pumped it up and rest of the comute was fine. On the canal path it seemed to be nice to other people day and joggers and dog walkers all got out of my way and said hello or smiled.

 

[GetFatty]

31,800 posts since I started this (under a different name) because I’d had a c**py commute 😂