Tales from today's commute....

[Hacienda71]

Nice late commute in this morning. Had been in Warrington first thing so didn't leave until 10:30. Sunny, not a lot of traffic and almost a tailwind. Crossed with about 15 of the GB development squad who were heading out across the plain. All good.
Slightly annoyed though when I uploaded my ride on Strava and Endomondo when I got in Garmin average 19mph Endo 19mph, quite reasonable for my uphill leg. Strava average 17.7mph Where did I lose 8%?

 

[captain nemo1701]

Pootling down the Bristol Railway Path this morning, came across a chap who'd had a spill and badly hurt his leg. My first aid kit and skills were put to good use and the ambulance arrived swiftly. Will, if you read this, hope you make a speedy recovery. Further down the path under the Devon Road bridge, noted the local 'yoof' had opened a large tin of orange paint. Bet it'll be all over the path when I go home tonight...... While sitting in the ASL waiting for the lights to change, was almost undercut by daffy scooter rider who used the left turn only lane to illicitly filter into the ASL on red. Questionable filtering skills too. And while pushing my bike towards the entrance at Asda, was passed by an equally daffy motorcyclist who was riding his full-sized machine on the pavement!. Probably too lazy to walk 50 yards to the road with it.

Well, that was the commute this morning. At least I missed the rain.

 

[Ciar]

The usual ride in bit of rain bit of wind, bit of the poxy mile end road cycle lane still not finished, but all in all nothing overly exciting to report.

 

[Karlt]

Going great guns, heading for a >17mph average, then I hit the bloody traffic. Why are people allowed to drive around in cars with only one person in them blocking the road and getting in the way of more efficient forms of transport ?

 

[MickeyBlueEyes]

Take it easy bud. Make sure you fully recover before stretching yourself other wise it will just take longer to clear completely.

Good advice, so true. I'm sure we've all learnt that the hard way at some point...

 

[summerdays]

No commuting for 2 weeks as I'm getting married on Saturday and then off on honeymoon. Undoubtedly, we will have a two week Indian Summer in my absence..

Congratulations ... and by the sound of it the Indian Summer starts in time for your wedding!

 

[summerdays]

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of cyclists that don't understand the principle of this and would rather just have a MGIF mindset. I have lost count at how many other cyclists on my commute I have overtaken as the car behind accelerates to overtake with me drafting the car. Cyclists that you would think know better too.

Depends on the junction - I have one where if I'm first I get across before the first car tries to turn right across me, whereas if I'm two cars back they just see a space and try to beat me.... at that particular junction I'm always pleased if I am at the front, if not, incredibly cautious.

 

[Effyb4]

It was a bit wet on the way in this morning. My new front light was considerably better than my old one. A car beeped me for taking primary through a pinch point, which made me quite proud of myself (I'm still quite new to road positioning) and finally my boss told me I was looking good.

 

[DrLex]

Level: Friday morning - Completed!

No lives lost
Mileage added: 16
Cyclists seen: 4
You found: Dead snake
New hazard: Horse chestnuts​

Do you want to continue? Y/N

 

[martint235]

Nice commute in. Bit of pain in my arm (see other thread in Health) but other than that an enjoyable ride in. Looking forward to similar on the way home. Then I'm buying some proper mudguards in the hope I can get them fitted before the next lot of rain arrives.

 

[HarryTheDog]

Now I am quite proud of the fact that in nearly 10 years of comuting I have had only one war of words/incident with a taxi driver, well now I have to add another.
It was a perfect commute up to the Canning town flyover. A private minicab ( Silver Galaxy) tried following me up the bus lane of the Canning Town hill, which he is not allowed to do, he beeped his horn repeatedly then tried to bully past. He found a gap in the normal traffic lane, matched my speed,( around 24 mph I wasnt hanging about, I like to sprint that small hill) then pulled in on me, wound the window down and tried to give me a lecture on how I should be on the cycle path. He followed it up by closing the door on me aggressively and nearly pushing me into the curb. I managed to give the rear of his car a bloody good slap.
He then floored it with an angry cyclist after him. I dam near caught him on the next roundabout but he took a risk and pulled straight into traffic. I realized it was time to let it go before me chasing him caused an accident. Then I inadvertently caught him up in traffic as he was taking the fork to go towards Canary wharf, traffic was solid, he saw me coming, seemingly shat himself and turned off to go the limehouse link tunnel instead which was clear traffic.
Hopefully he now realizes not all cyclists are victims he can bully and next time behaves himself.
Arrived at work coughing with pain in the lungs from the exertion of my initial chase. Feel ok now though and realise I should maybe have ignored it.

 

[ianrauk]

@HarryTheDog
Good on you. Sometimes car drivers need to be told what is what and that their bullying is not acceptable. If that includes them shyting their pants in the process by a cyclist turning on them then so be it. Some car drivers seem to think cyclists are easy targets. Hopefully he'll use that tiny thing for a brain next time he thinks of trying to bully someone else.

 

[HarryTheDog]

@ianrauk , thanks for the suppport I actually had second thoughts about posting the incident at all, I was half expecting the first comment to be I was completely wrong to react. I am a small greying cyclist and this seems to make gangs of bloody teenagers want to have a pop as well. Thats where a lot of my trouble on commutes seems to come from.

 

[ianrauk]

I am a firm believer of fight fire with fire in these situations. The majority of the time I let these things go. But if there has been a really shyty incident then I'm not going to go all softly softly.

Of course there are situation's that may call for a softer approach. Where a driver has genuinely made a mistake. But if it's deliberate then they get both barrels.

 

[Ciar]

Very easy commute in took it easy as i decided to do the five days this week, where as i normally only do four must admit the legs feel pretty good, looking forward to seeing how the return journey is ;-)