summerdays
Cycling in the sun
- Location
- Bristol
Tales from today's commute....
- Thread starter martint235
- Start date
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Spartak
Powered by M&M's
- Location
- Bristolian
@summerdays I actually noticed 'your' lamp this evening whilst waiting for the lights to change !
Twas a very pleasant ride this evening with the added bonus of a tailwind 8-)
Exile
Senior Member
- Location
- Manchester
Nice commute home, traffic wasn't too bad, weather was mild enough for the fingerless gloves to reappear. Overall a good days riding.
Had one cyclist let me set off first from the lights as I'd been chasing a segment and he mistook that for general speediness and didn't want to be holding me up. Nice gesture, but did mean I had to hammer it for longer than I initially intended. Missed out on the PB I was after, but picked up two others further along so shouldn't complain too loudly, especially as I don't normally Strava-hunt on the commutes.
Then I had a BSO bandit play chicken with me along a fairly busy stretch of road. Not certain what he thought the outcome would have been if he'd collided with all 22+ stone of me and bike, but he ducked between me and the kerb so we didn't have to cross that bridge. There was a part of me that did want to just flick the elbow as he passed to teach him a lesson about not being a total nobber, but I decided I'd like to spend my evening at home with a cold beer rather than giving my version of events surrounding our coming together to the police, so uttered something which simultaneously questioned his intellect and parentage.
Finally, to end the ride on a good note, there was a bit of racing up the next-to-last road on my commute. It's a quiet backstreet, and normally I'm the only cyclist on it (aside from kids, but they don't provide much of a challenge). Today, however, there was someone else riding just ahead of me. I may have pushed a little harder than normal to chase them down and pass them, and then I may have eased off just enough to get them interested in trying to chase me down before slipping back on to the big ring and shooting off again. Credit to the guy, he was on a fairly rough looking MTB and didn't do too bad a job at keeping up, his rasping breath was never too far from my ears and I reckon by the end of the road I was only about two bus lengths ahead. Sometimes it's the spontaneous silly things that make a commute.
Done and done, lets see how long it takes to get either of the two roads fixed up.
Had one cyclist let me set off first from the lights as I'd been chasing a segment and he mistook that for general speediness and didn't want to be holding me up. Nice gesture, but did mean I had to hammer it for longer than I initially intended. Missed out on the PB I was after, but picked up two others further along so shouldn't complain too loudly, especially as I don't normally Strava-hunt on the commutes.
Then I had a BSO bandit play chicken with me along a fairly busy stretch of road. Not certain what he thought the outcome would have been if he'd collided with all 22+ stone of me and bike, but he ducked between me and the kerb so we didn't have to cross that bridge. There was a part of me that did want to just flick the elbow as he passed to teach him a lesson about not being a total nobber, but I decided I'd like to spend my evening at home with a cold beer rather than giving my version of events surrounding our coming together to the police, so uttered something which simultaneously questioned his intellect and parentage.
Finally, to end the ride on a good note, there was a bit of racing up the next-to-last road on my commute. It's a quiet backstreet, and normally I'm the only cyclist on it (aside from kids, but they don't provide much of a challenge). Today, however, there was someone else riding just ahead of me. I may have pushed a little harder than normal to chase them down and pass them, and then I may have eased off just enough to get them interested in trying to chase me down before slipping back on to the big ring and shooting off again. Credit to the guy, he was on a fairly rough looking MTB and didn't do too bad a job at keeping up, his rasping breath was never too far from my ears and I reckon by the end of the road I was only about two bus lengths ahead. Sometimes it's the spontaneous silly things that make a commute.
Done and done, lets see how long it takes to get either of the two roads fixed up.
Nocode
Senior Member
- Location
- Orpington, Kent
Train up to Manchester this morning for an all day meeting 
Good job I added the extra miles last night.
Good job I added the extra miles last night.
Bazzer
Setting the controls for the heart of the sun.
- Location
- On the edge of reality
I presume it's hormones, (not mine) but had three instances of pairs of male blackbirds low swooping over my front wheels on the journey home yesterday. Kept reminding me of an incident about three years ago when a blackbird flew out of hedge straight through my front wheel and was decapitated by spokes and front forks.
Cars covered in frost when I left this morning and it was a good 7 miles or so before my thumbs and finger tips finally (and painfully) warmed up. No ice on the roads though
Bizarrely the only salting on the roads I could see was on a tram route a couple of miles from Manchester city centre, where there was no sign of frost.
The birds didn't seem to like the cold either. Dawn chorus and pheasants quite muted.
Passed a cyclist on the B5212 who was travelling at a reasonable speed. Hoped he might have been tempted for a chase down, but wasn't to be.
Numpty count 0
Cars covered in frost when I left this morning and it was a good 7 miles or so before my thumbs and finger tips finally (and painfully) warmed up. No ice on the roads though
Bizarrely the only salting on the roads I could see was on a tram route a couple of miles from Manchester city centre, where there was no sign of frost.The birds didn't seem to like the cold either. Dawn chorus and pheasants quite muted.
Passed a cyclist on the B5212 who was travelling at a reasonable speed. Hoped he might have been tempted for a chase down, but wasn't to be.
Numpty count 0
MisterStan
Label Required
- Location
- Out there somewhere
Very foggy this morning, had a good chat with a lass named Bex who i've seen a few times.
kevin_cambs_uk
Guru
- Location
- Near Cambridge
Bloody cold and foggy
Exile
Senior Member
- Location
- Manchester
Misty but mild when I set off, lovely morning. Then I reached Trafford Bar and it was suddenly very cold and very foggy. Glad I still have the Moon Shield on the rackbag, switched it on low (so only mildly blinding) for the last mile of the ride in.
HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
The video naturaly doesn't do him justice but the yesterday's Bird of Prey is there :-)
View: https://youtu.be/UgGoX5kjEyo
View: https://youtu.be/UgGoX5kjEyo
Panter
Just call me Chris...
- Location
- Sittingbourne, Kent
Good one home last night, decided to extend it slightly and took a route down through the old dock and along the sea wall.
Only extends it slightly, but it was dark, still, cold and quiet and just nice to be out enjoying my bike. I need to do more of that this Year.
I was going to upload a bit of footage of the route along the sea wall, but even I got bored watching it so won't bother!
Only extends it slightly, but it was dark, still, cold and quiet and just nice to be out enjoying my bike. I need to do more of that this Year.
I was going to upload a bit of footage of the route along the sea wall, but even I got bored watching it so won't bother!
HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
As to this morning, I thought I'd seen the last of winter but my fingers said otherwise and the -2deg recorded on the Garmin confirmed it. Glad I wore my Gore Phantom softshell its a bit thicker. I had opted for that at the start of the week as it has removable sleeves, I guess I won't be removing them ;-)
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Lovely out. Got chatting to a lass on a light blue Wills Wheels fixed - similar to mine but the steel version. She had bumped into me a few months back whilst I was fixing a puncture. Despite the chatting pace I hit a decent 17.4 average this morning knocking a good 3 mins off.
My meds finally seem to be getting me back to being me. 9 month battle with docs.
My meds finally seem to be getting me back to being me. 9 month battle with docs.
Supersuperleeds
Legendary Member
- Location
- Leicester
Good weather coming my arse. 3 hours of freezing fog this morning, ice all over me and the bike, then a couple of miles from work it just disappeared and the sun came out, still beats using the car 
Origamist
Legendary Member
Good weather coming my arse. 3 hours of freezing fog this morning, ice all over me and the bike, then a couple of miles from work it just disappeared and the sun came out, still beats using the car
At least you had the sun. -1.5C and freezing fog all the way in. Visibility down to 50m in some places and some numpties without fog lights!
When I got to work I was cold and damp and the bike was covered in condensation. It was also heavy going with all the moisture in the air and no wind to speak of.
Hoping for a dryer and warmer commute home...
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