Tales from today's commute....

[Thorn Sherpa]

Another wet commute there and back, temperatures good though so contemplating swimming shorts maybe 🤔. Some say the hand rail is there for health and safety purposes but I'm leaning more towards clothes drier.

 

[HLaB]

Cycled the 17.3miles upto Biggleswade rather than the 0.75 mile to get the train. I can't be bothered figure through the roundabout at the north side of Huntingdon so I'll stay on the train to Peterborough, I might loop down by Yaxley on the way home which avoids having to jump to the outside of the unbarriered dual carriageway past the Posh ground to turn right.

 

[cyberknight]

I think my front lights are past it , one was dropped a while ago and rattles and both are years old , moon meteor auto 600 lumen .
With both on full power i was just about able to ride unlit lanes but the battery life has declined a lot lately and even on low power i only get 3 days , i chanced it this week working 4 days and had to put both lights on low flash to get to work this morning .
I have seen cateye 500 on sale for £29.99 so wondering if 2 of those would be enough ?

 

[HLaB]

I think my front lights are past it , one was dropped a while ago and rattles and both are years old , moon meteor auto 600 lumen .
With both on full power i was just about able to ride unlit lanes but the battery life has declined a lot lately and even on low power i only get 3 days , i chanced it this week working 4 days and had to put both lights on low flash to get to work this morning .
I have seen cateye 500 on sale for £29.99 so wondering if 2 of those would be enough ?

How dark is your commute and how fast do you want to go ? My Urbanish commute used to be done with two Niterider Zwift 's a 450 and a 500. It wasn't quite enough for my rural commute and I replaced the 450 with an 800 (Garmin or Lezyne). I'll carry the Zwift 500 at this time of year for commute or leisure as its compact, light and it's integrated rubber strap let's me mount it almost anywhere quickly.

 

[cyberknight]

How dark is your commute and how fast do you want to go ? My Urbanish commute used to be done with two Niterider Zwift 's a 450 and a 500. It wasn't quite enough for my rural commute and I replaced the 450 with an 800 (Garmin or Lezyne). I'll carry the Zwift 500 at this time of year for commute or leisure as its compact, light and it's integrated rubber strap let's me mount it almost anywhere quickly.

on early shift in winter on unlit country lanes at 4.30 am , on lates i come home a different way after midnight that has street lights . try to roll along around 18- 20 mph on the flat

 

[HLaB]

on early shift in winter on unlit country lanes at 4.30 am , on lates i come home a different way after midnight that has street lights . try to roll along around 18- 20 mph on the flat

At a guess based on my lights, the street lit commute will be fine. Country lanes in winter could be a struggle but at this time of year it should be fine with two 500s. If you like the 500s you could probably go with that for now an augment with say a helmet light in winter if you feel you need to. It gives you plenty of redundancy if one fails.

 

[cyberknight]

At a guess based on my lights, the street lit commute will be fine. Country lanes in winter could be a struggle but at this time of year it should be fine with two 500s. If you like the 500s you could probably go with that for now an augment with say a helmet light in winter if you feel you need to. It gives you plenty of redundancy if one fails.

i always like to run 2 lights just in case one fails, on the back i have one on the seatpost and a small light on each pannier bag as well.

 

[cyberknight]

At a guess based on my lights, the street lit commute will be fine. Country lanes in winter could be a struggle but at this time of year it should be fine with two 500s. If you like the 500s you could probably go with that for now an augment with say a helmet light in winter if you feel you need to. It gives you plenty of redundancy if one fails.

got to take the kids to the cinema this morning so whilst im waiting i will wander down to halfords where i have seen them on offer and have a look , they are about the cheapest half decent light i have seen unless you look at the chinese no name stuff

 

[markharry66]

Monday, first day of 5 for commuting, put hi-viz on thinking it looked cold arrrived at work sweating, nice ride in sun out but heading behind the clouds as arrived at work. No traffic on the commute in as everyone is working from home today, how i miss the days when the world and his wife had to commute into the office. Did 30 miles yesterday and will be 20 miles today by the time cycle home tonight time to see if legs are up for a five day commute, old bones creak mine certainly do.

 

[cyberknight]

The light ended up being ordered from amazon turned up yesterday and they send the wrong one so i am relying on one light tonight till i have chance to sort it out .

 

[Mazz]

No traffic on the commute in as everyone is working from home today, how i miss the days when the world and his wife had to commute into the office.

Each to their own - I don't miss it at all, in fact I'm glad for the reduced traffic.

 

[markharry66]

Each to their own - I don't miss it at all, in fact I'm glad for the reduced traffic.

I work in sales Monday always quiet and trying to get hold of people hard going

 

[cyberknight]

Major crash on the a38 between burton and the toyota roundabout shut the the road both ways last night, i heard about it but decided to chance getting through on the cycle path but the crash involved 2 cars that were completely trashed and one was right across the path and into the bushes , there was a pile of clothes on the road so it looks like they had to cut them off someone at the scene.
The police told me i couldn’t go through and helped me get the bike onto the other side of the barriers so i rode towards burton on the dual carriageway and they must have reopened that side as cars started coming past !Luckily it was fairly light as it was after midnight so i did the 3-4 miles to the junction i needed and got off . The traffic heading towards the crash was nose to tail all along that section and stuck , just seen they didnt open the road till 7 am .

 

[cyberknight]

Just to add i rode the weigh cx build to work and although the gearing now is spot on the front is is very twitchy , its not the stem length as thats a 110 mm although it does have very compact drop bars and the stem is flipped .

 

[wafter]

Out on time into the windy, overcast and somewhat muggy morning. The ride started off well - pointing out to a fellow commuter that one of her bags was open - for which she was suitably greatful

It largely went downhill from there though; my heart sinking to witness that one of the green spaces en-route has now been taken over by caravans and vans bearing the names of various "garden landscapers" and "driveway pavers" - I don't think it was the British Caravan Club annual outing, and suspect when they're finally moved on they'll leave the usual disgusting mess in their wake

Further into town I was held up by various idiots - a few inconsiderate / inattentive cyclists and less forgivably some knobhead in a bus turning across me as if I wasn't there and a UPS bellend who decided to consume the entirity of the road with their massive van during a reverse park, on every other road user's time... although of course this was all entirely excusible as they had their hazards on throughout..

This has happened to me a lot recently; I always try to be considerate and respectful towards everyone else but have a short fuse and am getting utterly sick of being treated like I simply don't matter.

Once off the roads things improved somewhat; culminating in being overtaken by a bloke on a Genesis on the cycle path who I then drafted for a good distance before we came to a halt behind some unassertive woman who clearly wanted to turn right into an underpass but neither signalled nor positioned herself to allow anyone to pass on the inside; which was... helpful.

I have to remind myself that it's still infinitely better than being in the car, but as I sit here an exhausted, aching, sticky mess I can't say that this morning's ride was particularly pleasant.