Tales from today's commute....

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Jenkins

Legendary Member
Location
Felixstowe
Started work an hour later than normal this morning so I left home at 8am rather than 7am - is it always this bad? At least with the earlier start I only get the afternoon school run whereas with the later start I got the combination of the morning school run and the commuters. I don't think the dark & frosty starts are so bad after all.

Did a repeat of the later start today and what a difference the lack of the morning school run makes thanks to half term - just what I would consider 'normal' volumes of traffic.
 

Alex321

Veteran
Location
South Wales
First commuting day of the year where I was able to have the lights on flashing for the whole of both journeys - just.

A little parky on the way in - down to -3 through St Brides Super-Ely, and never got above zero even when well into Cardiff city. Roads pretty well completely dry though, so no real risk of ice.

Much warmer on the way home, but with wet roads as it had been raining a lot of the afternoon.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Much lighter this morning, no need for the 'big' light. Swapped the ice tyres over to some cheap Wiggle Lifeline Commuter 26 x 1.75 tyres at the weekend.

FIVE minutes quicker over 10 miles. Wasn't pushing it either as took time on first part of the commute (gravel) then a slippy descent and some mud. Plus the park and shared use path was full of dog walkers this morning (Tuesday's seem popular).
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
What time do you leave in the mornings @fossyant ?
I leave at 7.30am and certainly no need for lights at that time down 'ere in soft southernshire.

7am - bit darker - I'm not needing them, but leave them 'on' to alert the dopey drivers. The 'dipped' lamp is left on, just so peds can see me coming on the shared path, then the big light goes on pulse when on the road sections (runs on minimum, then pulses to a medium setting).

Just really start of commute and end, when I'm getting home at 5:45 (not dark but gloomy).

So much nicer to be riding in 'the light'.
 
Don't know why but I felt rather spinny on my commutes today. Maybeit was the mild weather and light winds.

That aside I find the easiest way to get out of town is on the dual carriageway through it before turning onto the quieter lanes. It was its typical chaos tonight. On approach to roundabout where I turn right off the DC the right lane is right turn only but that never stops drivers from using it to go straight and totally clogging up the roundabout much to the annoyance of other driver's if the horns are anything to go by.

With the two lanes clogged up driver's coming the other way don't feel the need to give way to their right. There's no way for them to go either, but you kinda expect it. Most folk wave an apology but some eejits are too proud for that and almost crash their car as they are determined not to make eye contact. Like the eejit tonight. It would have only been a 2-5mph crash, but unfortunately he missed the island just 😂
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Damp one this morning, slightly delayed by having to chase round the garden for two of the house cats that had escaped through my son's bedroom window at some point last night. The ninja was stuck on the conservatory roof, but our grey ragdoll had jumped down. She was soaking !

Much less cyclists today and, very few dog walkers - yay ! Steady Eddie though as I had a waterproof jacket on, and trying not to boil in the bag.
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
Damp here too. more drizzle then rain when I set off with mildly damp roads. Closer I got to work the wetter it got. I shouldn't complain though as I haven't had a rainy cycle commute since the 16th January.
 

Alex321

Veteran
Location
South Wales
Nice quiet roads for the commute this morning, due to half term. Today will be my only commute this week though, as I'm going up to Scotland on Friday to see my daughter and her family (also partly due to half term).

Though even with not very much traffic, I did have one idiot turn right straight across the front of me - outside the police station of all places! Close enough that I had to brake hard to avoid hitting them.

I caught it on my GoPro, and have submitted a report to Operation SNAP.
 
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Alex321

Veteran
Location
South Wales
Nice quiet roads for the commute this morning, due to half term. Today will be my only commute this week though, as I'm going up to Scotland on Friday to see my daughter and her family (also partly due to half term).

Though even with not very much traffic, I did have one idiot turn right straight across the front of me - outside the police station of all places! Close enough that I had to brake hard to avoid hitting them.

I caught it on my GoPro, and have submitted a report to Operation SNAP.

And the police have already responded, saying that they are satisfied from the evidence that positive action should be taken
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