Tales from today's commute....

[Darren Jeffrey]

Ran home from work yesterday so 8 miles. Legs where a bit stiff this morning but off I went. Little more traffic today as I set of a little later so had a lot of filtering to do which is good as I need the practise. Had some fantastic & polite drivers moving over to let me past as I filtered. Had one very close pass by a stagecoach bus coming down on to the A90 beside the Cramond Brig. I could feel him right on my tail as I took primary to join the main road from the slip road but never thought for a second he would try and pass as we were about to join stationary traffic anyway (well he was :-)) but low and behold he squeezes past me. I shoot him the look but he wouldn't make eye contact with me, always a sign they know what they are doing is wrong. Apart from that had a great commute today :-)

 

[fossyant]

Wet yet again !!! Huge tailbacks this morning, total gridlock from just after Brinksway all the way to Cheadle. Cause, a car and a van trying to take the same right turn at the same time = sandwich (looked like the van was undercutting the car). Did slow me down lots !

 

[Melonfish]

took the new aldi gloves, socks and pants for a test drive after checking this morning and it was raining.
typically the rain had stopped by the time i'd cycled 10 feet from the house (tut) so i decided i would test the boil in the bag capabilities of the pants and gloves (along with my already boil in the bag rain coat)
overall i think my commute/sauna went well and i'm looking forward to expelling all that nasty water i keep retaining by drinking it.

on top of that i had two absolute pillocks, one overtaking me whilst overtaking another cyclist and then suddenly swerving in. he then took offence to me waving my arm and shouting "PILLOCK!" at the top of my lungs (touchy these drivers eh?)
ensue altercation at the lights ahead as they turned red and i told him straight that he was an idiot. undaunted and oddly in a good mood, within 200 yards i got another pillock overtake me just as i was about to turn right, good thing i get my hand in fast or he would have taken it off...
it occurs to me that there may be a sign installed that i keep missing at the bottom of liverpool road. it must read "Welcome to caddishead please drive like an A**Hole"
because for 6.75 miles of my journey i have no issues but as soon as i get onto liverpool road...

 

[MichaelO]

Back to shorts & s/s top today - thick socks though! Very pleasant

 

[fossyant]

Good one last night - you suddenly realise what's going through someone's head.

Climbing the long drag on the way home, decent pace. Get passed by a mum in a people carrier , just as soon as she passes, she indicates left. Here we go again I thinks, flip the bike right to pass on the right hand side, and she's stopped dead. She realised she'd given me no room, but hadn't banked on my spidey scenses and I'd come up the right hand side of her - I just said 'look where you are going' as she stared blankly back at me. Almost caught me out though, hadn't expected her to stop dead, very nearly rear ended her, just missed !

 

[GrasB]

So going out of town yesterday I saw someone almost run over on Madingley Road. There were a number of cars travelling in the direction of the photo, one of which was wanting to turn left. Due to a building site entrance further down the road the traffic was almost stationary, with a cyclist riding up the inside on the hatching on the left. The motorist actually follows the road markings & pulls into the left hand lane after the hatching just as the cyclist pulls up besides them. Thankfully the driver noticed in time & jammed the brakes on. This isn't the first time I've seen this happen & it does annoy me when I see cyclists riding in that area. Ride on the cycle path or in the road lane, don't be in the no-mans land!

 

[Stromtrooper]

Managed to avoid getting wet on the ride in but had to contend with the injuries from my off earlier this week making themselves felt in earnest. Decided to skip around an extended ride home and get the housework in - well it will get me some brownie points in when the wife gets in from work and that will help me when I want to borrow the car to go out on the MTB once my body stops telling me I don't bounce as well as I did.

 

[benb]

Broke a spoke on the way home yesterday, which was annoying.

I haven't learnt how to replace them myself yet, so had to come to work via the bike shop this morning.

 

[potsy]

Wet yet again !!! Huge tailbacks this morning, total gridlock from just after Brinksway all the way to Cheadle. Cause, a car and a van trying to take the same right turn at the same time = sandwich (looked like the van was undercutting the car). Did slow me down lots !

Where was that Foss?

Got soaked too on the way home, light-ish drizzle until 3 miles from home then the heavens opened

 

[fossyant]

Where was that Foss?

Got soaked too on the way home, light-ish drizzle until 3 miles from home then the heavens opened

The cars had headded out of Cheadle Village towards Edgeley, and both had tried to turn into the houses on the right opposite the filling station about halfway between Manchester Road and lights at National Tyres. Very odd

 

[trampyjoe]

Rain had stopped before I headed out but as I was trying out the Aldi gear I arrived at Uni soaked .. not quite the weather for winter gear yet methinks. Normal idiots on the roads there and back.
On the way back though coming through one of the parks (slowly) I had to stop dead as a group of peds with mutts wanted all of the path (shared use my arse) and the little bit of grass that I could've used. They didnt' look impressed that they had to go round me. Next time I think i'll just keep going.

 

[Pauluk]

Part of my commute is on a river tow path and there are two blind bends where I ping my bell a few times to warn other cyclists and peds of my approach. On going round one of these bends I was confronted by a very old looking, neatly dressed, gent who was right in the centre of the path.

I pulled the brakes and fortunately stopped with my right wheel just to the right of his legs and my handle bar 6 inches from his body. It really made him jump.

Being no more than 2 feet from his face and staring straight at him I said, "Are you deaf"

To which he replied "yes I am, sorry"

Well, I could have cried with the look of fear on the old mans face. I put my hand on his shoulder and said quite loudly "I'm really sorry mate I should have been more careful and been going a bit slower, I'll remember that in future"

He seemed to perk up and said with a smile "Well no harm done, no one got hurt"

I always try to be careful around peds on shared use and keep my speed down but just goes to show how careful you
have to be sometimes.

 

[benb]

Yesterday morning, some MGIF idiot nearly wiped out a motorcyclist in a head-on. Utter moron. Unfortunately the video is too shaky to get a reg, otherwise I'd be onto the police about it.

 

[400bhp]

Part of my commute is on a river tow path and there are two blind bends where I ping my bell a few times to warn other cyclists and peds of my approach. On going round one of these bends I was confronted by a very old looking, neatly dressed, gent who was right in the centre of the path.

I pulled the brakes and fortunately stopped with my right wheel just to the right of his legs and my handle bar 6 inches from his body. It really made him jump.

Being no more than 2 feet from his face and staring straight at him I said, "Are you deaf"

To which he replied "yes I am, sorry"

Well, I could have cried with the look of fear on the old mans face. I put my hand on his shoulder and said quite loudly "I'm really sorry mate I should have been more careful and been going a bit slower, I'll remember that in future"

He seemed to perk up and said with a smile "Well no harm done, no one got hurt"

I always try to be careful around peds on shared use and keep my speed down but just goes to show how careful you
have to be sometimes.

A little humility goes a long way

 

[Miquel In De Rain]

Bus overtook at Mile End on my 4am commute,only to cut straight back in,but why?
Not much on the road at that time and he had most of the road to himself,caught him up about two miles later.Will check it on the camera.On the return the chain came off just as I was coming off the Bow Flyover,leaving me in a tricky situation between a car passing on the left and one passing on the right at the same time.Just going to tighten chain up now I remember.