Last night: Had to sit in the office for 15 minutes to let the biblical rains pass; but after that much like the morning I was lucky with the massive tract of rain passing to the south east this time.
Of course I couldn't just play it safe and go straight home; choosing instead to press north for a dangle on the bars and a very disappointing (thanks to previous exertions) attempt to push beyond an active hang towards a pullup.
Until this point it'd been a very nice ride with fresh but warm post-storm air and sunshine, however as I headed back into town it started to rain pretty hard and I got pretty damp, although it could have been worse.
Also I was compelled to have a go at some w*nker in front of me who decided to park his car to my cost. Evidently having found a space on our side of the road instead of indicating he simply stopped, banged on the hazards, smashed it into reverse and started heading straight towards me. I couldn't go around him due to opposing traffic so had to get off the bike and yank it out of the way - with all of about 4" between his back tyre and my pedal when he finally checked his mirrors, saw me and stopped.
As I glared at him through his window he put his hand up somewhat dismissively, this wasn't enough and he was more apologetic after being advised to use his f*cking indicators. I absolutely despise this current, seemingly growing trend of people just assuming that sticking the hazards on allows them to do absolutely anything selfish / dangerous / illegal with impunity; especially when using signals when pulling off the road would at least give others more of an idea what's going on rather than just a heads-up that they're likely to do something utterly moronic.
On to the shop to find four vehicles parked on both sides of the bend on double yellows; missed an opportunity to embarrass one of those responsible as she poked her head out from behind one of the illegally parked vans (evidently having trouble crossing the road as a result) only to get into one of the other problem-vehicles. Had I been quicker of thinking some overtly sympathetic harsh words about the parking might have made her consider her own behaviour.
This morning I miraculously missed the rain again, however it seems the schools might be back as the traffic was back to its bloody awful usual self. A mostly nice sunny, mild ride with a lot of standing water (which the Longboards coped with admirably as usual - still seething that SKS discontinued them
).
Of course it couldn't all be roses and this morning's irritation came in the form of an impatient taxi driver. A bus had stopped on my side of the road with about a car's width between it's rear and the parked cars on the opposite side of the road. A woman and child infront of me on an ebike had already given way to let one car through, and had started to move off to pass the bus when a taxi appeared from the opposite direction at speed and tried to force its way through, causing her to hit the brakes and skid to a stop. She moved out of the way, however I didn't so we all sat there until the bus moved, the taxi driver getting some stern eye contact and a much deserved finger as he passed.
The morning has picked up since getting to the office thanks to quality sausages and an early dose of caffeine; not sure how that's going to pan out for the rest of the day however as I'm knackered and have kickboxing later..
Of course I couldn't just play it safe and go straight home; choosing instead to press north for a dangle on the bars and a very disappointing (thanks to previous exertions) attempt to push beyond an active hang towards a pullup.
Until this point it'd been a very nice ride with fresh but warm post-storm air and sunshine, however as I headed back into town it started to rain pretty hard and I got pretty damp, although it could have been worse.
Also I was compelled to have a go at some w*nker in front of me who decided to park his car to my cost. Evidently having found a space on our side of the road instead of indicating he simply stopped, banged on the hazards, smashed it into reverse and started heading straight towards me. I couldn't go around him due to opposing traffic so had to get off the bike and yank it out of the way - with all of about 4" between his back tyre and my pedal when he finally checked his mirrors, saw me and stopped.
As I glared at him through his window he put his hand up somewhat dismissively, this wasn't enough and he was more apologetic after being advised to use his f*cking indicators. I absolutely despise this current, seemingly growing trend of people just assuming that sticking the hazards on allows them to do absolutely anything selfish / dangerous / illegal with impunity; especially when using signals when pulling off the road would at least give others more of an idea what's going on rather than just a heads-up that they're likely to do something utterly moronic.
On to the shop to find four vehicles parked on both sides of the bend on double yellows; missed an opportunity to embarrass one of those responsible as she poked her head out from behind one of the illegally parked vans (evidently having trouble crossing the road as a result) only to get into one of the other problem-vehicles. Had I been quicker of thinking some overtly sympathetic harsh words about the parking might have made her consider her own behaviour.
This morning I miraculously missed the rain again, however it seems the schools might be back as the traffic was back to its bloody awful usual self. A mostly nice sunny, mild ride with a lot of standing water (which the Longboards coped with admirably as usual - still seething that SKS discontinued them
).Of course it couldn't all be roses and this morning's irritation came in the form of an impatient taxi driver. A bus had stopped on my side of the road with about a car's width between it's rear and the parked cars on the opposite side of the road. A woman and child infront of me on an ebike had already given way to let one car through, and had started to move off to pass the bus when a taxi appeared from the opposite direction at speed and tried to force its way through, causing her to hit the brakes and skid to a stop. She moved out of the way, however I didn't so we all sat there until the bus moved, the taxi driver getting some stern eye contact and a much deserved finger as he passed.
The morning has picked up since getting to the office thanks to quality sausages and an early dose of caffeine; not sure how that's going to pan out for the rest of the day however as I'm knackered and have kickboxing later..
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