Tales from today's commute....

[Gwylan]

Weather indifferent, took the car - squandered about 20 mins in a queue. More annoying I would have taken the cycle path and completely missed the queue.

Missed appointment and now it's stopped raining.

Anyone know what had happened on the LB of the Thanet Expressway? oxymoron certainly.

 

[Jenkins]

Absolutely miserable conditions for the ride in - cold with heavy rain all the way. Just dug the spare bottle of chain lube out of my locker in case it's needed prior to the return trip.

 

[Arjimlad]

Car servicing today meant a 5-miler into work on a new-ish route, and a shorter blat over to the garage at lunchtime to pick it up again.

 

[HLaB]

Well I wasn't expecting that, or At least the majority of it this morning. The forecast was for a bit of heavy rain that would have been off by the time I got off the train. As expected I got a bit of moisture going to the station but not enough for it to soak through or not dry on the train.

I got off at the other end to heavy fluffy snow. Given last night's forecast I only expected about 20mins of it before the sun came out. Well I did probably only get 20mins of the fluffy stuff before it gradually transitioned to heavy sleet for the whole hour. It was definitely the wrong choice of gloves. I was wearing my preferred soft shell commuter gloves which are easier to take off/on for the phone ticket etc. They would have been fine for 30-40 mins but after an hour they were soaked through. The chemo I had a few years back wrecked the circulation in my fingers too (killed the nerves). So I had unfeeling hands and interesting colour patterns in my fingers after a hot shower to recover.

Given the bad weather traffic was more chaotic again and it was a good day to be on the bike carefully go by it and through the model filters they couldn't 😂

A couple of hours after I was in the office the skies eventually turned blue (about 2-3hours after forecasted).

The day was lovely and warm after that but it is forecasted -4/5deg C tonight and I meant to leave on time to be home well before that. 'Sod's Law' I got caught discussing work with a colleague so the commute was a bit faster/harder than I would have liked to beat the freeze on wet roads. I don't think it fell much below +5deg. The train was rammed but it gradually emptied out and by the penultimate stop I actually got to the bike spaces.

Getting off at the other end I could feel the temperature had dropped like the proverbial stone and I had a bit of a sprint to stop my body temperature also dropping like a stone. But I was home well before freezing 👍 According to the laptop/net its -3deg C out there now 🥶

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Back to work, after 11 days a/l
It might be an interesting ride in, with the frost, & the frozen remains of yesterday evenings snow flurries
Like everyone, l want to stay upright

It’d be far too embarrassing arriving at work in the back of a yellow ‘Maternataxi’/drunk-mobile, being attended by a Paramedic l’d probably know
(then the additional trauma of ED staff, that l also know…)

 

[Andy in Germany]

I probably should have worn my gloves this morning; fortunately it's only 1km to work so it only took a couple of minutes before I could warm up again.

Currently being warmed by insanely bright sunshine coming through the window.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Well I wasn't expecting that, or At least the majority of it this morning. The forecast was for a bit of heavy rain that would have been off by the time I got off the train. As expected I got a bit of moisture going to the station but not enough for it to soak through or not dry on the train.
View attachment 681725

View attachment 681726
I got off at the other end to heavy fluffy snow. Given last night's forecast I only expected about 20mins of it before the sun came out. Well I did probably only get 20mins of the fluffy stuff before it gradually transitioned to heavy sleet for the whole hour. It was definitely the wrong choice of gloves. I was wearing my preferred soft shell commuter gloves which are easier to take off/on for the phone ticket etc. They would have been fine for 30-40 mins but after an hour they were soaked through. The chemo I had a few years back wrecked the circulation in my fingers too (killed the nerves). So I had unfeeling hands and interesting colour patterns in my fingers after a hot shower to recover.

Given the bad weather traffic was more chaotic again and it was a good day to be on the bike carefully go by it and through the model filters they couldn't 😂

A couple of hours after I was in the office the skies eventually turned blue (about 2-3hours after forecasted).

The day was lovely and warm after that but it is forecasted -4/5deg C tonight and I meant to leave on time to be home well before that. 'Sod's Law' I got caught discussing work with a colleague so the commute was a bit faster/harder than I would have liked to beat the freeze on wet roads. I don't think it fell much below +5deg. The train was rammed but it gradually emptied out and by the penultimate stop I actually got to the bike spaces.
View attachment 681727
Getting off at the other end I could feel the temperature had dropped like the proverbial stone and I had a bit of a sprint to stop my body temperature also dropping like a stone. But I was home well before freezing 👍 According to the laptop/net its -3deg C out there now 🥶

Astonishingly clean for a commuter!

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Perishing cold this morning and possibly the iciest day of the whole winter on the back roads, didn't take the MTB with ice tyres, so crawled in very tenatively.

 

[Arjimlad]

What a difference a quick police report can make to someone's driving!

 

[Alex321]

What a difference a quick police report can make to someone's driving!

View attachment 681773

You and they obviously have similar commute times

I wonder if they realised they were overtaking the same person who reported them?

 

[ianrauk]

Back to frosty mornings. yesterday I cycled home in shorts. Today, back in longs. Was a nice sunny day though at least that's something.
March is looking like a complete crappy month. Last year it couldn't have been more different. It was a warm one.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Back to work, after 11 days a/l
It might be an interesting ride in, with the frost, & the frozen remains of yesterday evenings snow flurries
Like everyone, l want to stay upright

It’d be far too embarrassing arriving at work in the back of a yellow ‘Maternataxi’/drunk-mobile, being attended by a Paramedic l’d probably know
(then the additional trauma of ED staff, that l also know…)

My Lane wasn’t too bad, but the next street is fairly cambered, & was white over
I walked that, for the 200yards l’d be using it for

Other than that, it was safe, barring the usual ‘cock-wombles’ attempting an overtake on a blind crest (as happens when l go that way between 06:30 & 09:00)

 

[tinywheels]

saw these old timers on the way home
no sign of the owners
see you don't need a brompton to travel on commuter trains

 

[HLaB]

Astonishingly clean for a commuter!

Just totted up the bike log with WfH its only done 180 miles this year (I ve took the gravel bike on snow days and would have yesterday if I'd known). It has done 9000miles since 2015 but it spent 3 or 4years in storage when I was commuting to central Cambridge on a Triban.

 

[GeekDadZoid]

What a stunning day. Extended my ride in this morning and took a longer route in. Took the a6 direct route home as I sneaked out early and the roads where quiet.