Tales from today's commute....

[biking_fox]

Overcast and sweaty commute this morning.

Going to be worse this evening!

 

[fossyant]

Going to be worse this evening!

Yup. Not looking forward to it.

 

[captain nemo1701]

Currently 30 degrees in our office...gonna be a sweaty ride up the Railway Path this evening...phew!

 

[HLaB]

Got to Malton before all the proverbial hit the fan as they say. Not disappointed. 233 miles in one day is still not to be sniffed at.
Day was one was glorious? Apart from the headwind of course. Fabulous riding.

Good effort 💪👏

 

[spen666]

Working at home today - had a 15 mile ride before work. Was going to have another this evening. Decided it too hot to spend more time outside

 

[markharry66]

Lovely ride into work watched sun come up, bloody hot already. I didnt cycle in yesterday as had to drive 140 odd miles for half hour meeting.
Got to the hill usually cycle up and Thames water were camped up there (probably for month) with tenporary traffic lights. Will have to go yet another route into work to avoid this going forward starting to run out of options. Hardly any traffic on roads, no numpties or close over takes. Nice when everything is quiet. Looking forward to the swetfest on the way home.

 

[ianrauk]

A very nice, slight chill in the air when I left home, a fine mist overlying high ground and the River Medway. But its warming up very quickly. Already at 18° and temperatures predicted to rise up to 29° for the commute home later.
It also looks like this weather will continue on the same path in to the weekend.

The misty Med this morning.

The Russian Sub Black Widow

 

[markharry66]

This is yet another factor that's contributed to my head-in-a-vice anxiety this week... a desire to avoid confrontation with drivers having forced me to reconsider my relationship with cycle lanes; my resultant abysmal experience with the pitiful "infrastructure" in the city having hardened my resolve to avoid them by default having nearly been knocked off once by a left-turning driver amongst other unpleasant experiences.

If I could muster any semblence of productivity I'd start a website to allow photos / complaints about the city's infrastructure to be aired for the public attention of the council - IMO what we have currently is tangibly worse than nothing at all since a lot of it is detrimental to the cyclist (in terms of safety and convenience) while also giving dickhead drivers a convenient, if irrelevant stick to beat us with.

It all smacks of yet another aspect of British society engineered to pit citizens against each other to keep us distracted from questioning the bigger picture..


All that being said I had a nice ride in this morning - groggy after a decent kip for once (only ever happens when I'm completely exhausted) so a bit late leaving, but made it up on the way in thanks to an uncharacteristically fast run. Nice and sunny with (IIRC) no unpleasant interactions with other road users and three marginally-cooked sausages.

Sorry wafter only just seen this comment, it feels to me like we are a statistic waiting to happen, easy to report on cyclists jumping through lights or lumping in e-bike riders with all cyclists whenever there is a report on e-bikes on the news it seems the media only really want to focus on the negative. Like in the office no one wants to hear about the harsh reality of having to share the roads with angry, hog headed drivers whose only are in the world is getting to their destination as quickly as possible and dont care about other road users.

 

[fossyant]

Sweaty paced ride in this morning. Two minutes slower than yesterday's quick ride. Worn out, not slept too well with the heat. At least, despite my knackered hip, I can walk faster than most in our building today - we seem to have a load of old crusties from 'The University of the Third Age' in at the moment ! (PS I'm in a Uni academic building). They seem to be doing exciting things like 'folk music'.

 

[biking_fox]

Already very warm. Tempo riding just enough for a breeze not too much effort.

 

[wafter]

Sorry wafter only just seen this comment, it feels to me like we are a statistic waiting to happen, easy to report on cyclists jumping through lights or lumping in e-bike riders with all cyclists whenever there is a report on e-bikes on the news it seems the media only really want to focus on the negative. Like in the office no one wants to hear about the harsh reality of having to share the roads with angry, hog headed drivers whose only are in the world is getting to their destination as quickly as possible and dont care about other road users.

No worries and indeed; we're an unfashionable minority that's a convenient scapegoat for the gutter press to enrage the arrogant, selfish and hard of thinking

Tbh I've just given up trying to argue my case and accept that the majority of people are thick, bigoted and self-entitled. I narrowly avoided an argument with a woman at a party a while ago who reacted to my chosen mode of transport with "so you're one of those" before going off on a rant about the various negative experiences she'd had of cyclists before concluding with an anecdote about how she'd reversed into a static motorcyclist and how it was clearly his fault... which tells all you might need to know about her attitude.

I have another acquantance who's a genuinely sound bloke, but again whenever I mention cycling begins whinging about cyclists he's encountered on the roads. I've so far bitten my tongue but he's an old boy and the next time it happens I'm going to tell him about some of the outright dangerous coffin dodgers I've suffered whilst out..



On a more positive note this morning has been an interesting one. Out unprecedentedly later due to too little sleep again; however the old model of waking early and failing to get back to sleep has been usurped by getting to bed too late (usually because I'm out until late-ish on the bike or doing other stuff) but managing at least to get back to sleep after waking early because I'm so damned knackered.

Oddly I've been doing less distance on the bike recently, although have been doing other things and perhaps going at it harder than usual when in the saddle. I'm hoping the tiredness is because of energy expenditure rather than some more sinister reason...

Anyway, out with only half an hour to spare, smashing it into town in the mercifully light traffic and feeling pretty strong despite the tiredness and decent amount of distance covered yesterday. Today's honorary mention goes to the driver who stayed patiently behind me for a good mile or two; giving me plenty of room despite having arguable opportinities to overtake.. which made a very welcome change.

Once up to speed I was hovering around the 18mph mark on the flat which meant that the bus behind me didn't bother to try and overtake and it felt great to be keeping up with the light traffic flow into the city.

Furtune was on my side today; having plenty of room to cut a wide arc around the outside of an inattentive driver having a snooze at a pedestrain crossing long after the lights had turned green; much to the irritation of the bus that was following me if the distant horn was anything to go by..

I'd carried speed well to the next set of lights which changed with perfect timing to allow me to maintain my pace through them and up St. Aldates; gunning for a Strava PR however this was torpedoed by the sight of a smart phone in the road so I was on the brakes and circled around to collect it. Still in a rush I made it to the butchers for the usual before setting out on the shortest leg to work; the phone now ringing repeatedly in my rucksack but the decision made to deal with it when I got to work since time was tight.

Arrived just on time; typically just as the phone had stopped ringing. Thankfully a bit later its owner had another go, I took the number down and sent them a text from my own phone - since they were evidently foreign and I didn't want the hassle of a conversation / having to explain why I had to go if a customer called.

Arrangements were made and the phone's owner was soon over on his scooter to collect his lost device - his relief palpable. He offered me something that I couldn't quite make out (maybe some form of electronic payment) but I declined and we parted company with a handshake

Presuming I can stay awake and the heat's not too oppressive later I hope to finally get a session in on the rings (it's been a week since the last one) although I think I'll have to forsake the shops as my freezer decided to try and self-defrost last night, so it's probably not wise to stuff owt else up it until it's been properly defrosted..

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Lovely warm morning, little traffic and actually enjoyed keeping up with my near neighbour when he caught me - does the same route but rather more energetically that I typically do, I normally just let him go.

 

[spen666]

Nice 20 mile ready from my home to my place of work today (co-incidentally also my home!). School Holidays are great as the traffic is so much lighter

 

[fossyant]

No worries and indeed; we're an unfashionable minority that's a convenient scapegoat for the gutter press to enrage the arrogant, selfish and hard of thinking

Tbh I've just given up trying to argue my case and accept that the majority of people are thick, bigoted and self-entitled. I narrowly avoided an argument with a woman at a party a while ago who reacted to my chosen mode of transport with "so you're one of those" before going off on a rant about the various negative experiences she'd had of cyclists before concluding with an anecdote about how she'd reversed into a static motorcyclist and how it was clearly his fault... which tells all you might need to know about her attitude.

I have another acquantance who's a genuinely sound bloke, but again whenever I mention cycling begins whinging about cyclists he's encountered on the roads. I've so far bitten my tongue but he's an old boy and the next time it happens I'm going to tell him about some of the outright dangerous coffin dodgers I've suffered whilst out..

I have colleagues like this. I just ignore them. It's not helped by idiots on bikes with cameras !

 

[captain nemo1701]

Spoke too soon....last night up Railway Path, escooter rider shot past going at speed, guess over 30 mph. Minutes later, came across group of cyclists huddled near a bench...saw bloke on floor laid partly on path. Didn't seem hurt too much, was conscious & talking. But...private ecooter by his side so likely had a spill. Got home, mused I maybe should have offered help but several people there, someone would have called paramedics. But as an afterthought, IMHO they should have also called the police?. Legally, it seemed to me to be an RTA involving prohibited motor transport on a cyclepath?.