Tales from today's commute....

[Gritstone]

While checking my tyres over on my lunch break to make sure the bad pothole I hit hadn’t caused a pinch flat or tyre damage I discovered my rear wheel has 1-2mm side-to-side play. Hopefully, just a hub service/new bearings to fix and nothing more serious.

 

[fossyant]

Really sunny today. Going to take the long way home.

Snap. 20 miles home

 

[fossyant]

Fast ride in. Was delayed getting through the industrial estate as every van and HGV was leaving. Had to giggle at two van drivers road raging at each other.

 

[biking_fox]

Snap. 20 miles home

23 for me. Took a new long way home - N6 out by the Irwell through drinkwater park. Lovely riding really fun. Need to find a better loop home though.

 

[ianrauk]

Morning folks.
Another blinding day here in the SE. Though temps not as warm as yesterday.
A lovely fast ride in this morning. Better make the most of it as tomorrow is the last day of the half term holidays and next week will be wall to wall motor traffic. Oh well.

Yesterday evening in Rochester. So lucky to have this as a backdrop to my daily commute. It never ceases to amaze me.

 

[cyberknight]

Treated myself to new shorts after payday which i tried out last night and they are just too tight around the leg , when i put my legwarmers on last night I could barely get the leg grippers over them , i kept the labels so i have given them a quick wash and i am going to try and return them as i kept the packaging and labels . EDIT .. done the return and the next size up are £20 more for the same product !!! wtf !! maybe the size i correctly ordered come up really small and thats why they were one offer
Coming out last night i was greeted by a flat tyre as the cycle path near work is still covered in gravel , glass , rubbish etc so i had to muck about changing the tube so didnt set off till around 12.15 am getting home just after 1 am .

 

[Mazz]

23 for me. Took a new long way home - N6 out by the Irwell through drinkwater park. Lovely riding really fun. Need to find a better loop home though.

I was a student at Salford Uni many years ago and lived at Castle Irwell student village on Cromwell Rd. Just had a look on Google maps and it's completely gone!

 

[cyberknight]

Just reported the section of the cycle path to the highways agency as last time i did a report of the overgrown state of the bit further down someone actually came out and had a look so bit by bit they have been clearing it so its a lot easier to ride on . This section i reported today has always been a problem as it always covered in bits of gravel, glass etc from passing traffic and i have lost count of the flats i have had over the years just on this bit.

 

[fossyant]

23 for me. Took a new long way home - N6 out by the Irwell through drinkwater park. Lovely riding really fun. Need to find a better loop home though.

Not as picturesque for me - Hulme, Whalley Range, Chorlton, Northenden, Gatley, Heald Green, Bramhall, Hazel Grove then home - very urban

 

[HLaB]

Just reported the section of the cycle path to the highways agency as last time i did a report of the overgrown state of the bit further down someone actually came out and had a look so bit by bit they have been clearing it so its a lot easier to ride on . This section i reported today has always been a problem as it always covered in bits of gravel, glass etc from passing traffic and i have lost count of the flats i have had over the years just on this bit.

Sounds like the HA are better than my council. I reported a shared path along the side of the A15 between Peterborough and Yaxley needed sweeped, it was full of glass and grit. The next day I got an email saying it was done. But the day after that it was just as bad as before (it had never been done). Now it's down to a narrow 0.5m gap between the glass on what is a relatively wide path and well used by walkers and joggers. No wonder most cyclists don't use it. If it was closer to the house I'd buy a broom and sweep it myself.

 

[fossyant]

Brrr, who turned off the heater and turned on the fan....?

 

[ianrauk]

Yep. very different to yesterday and this morning even.

 

[cyberknight]

Sounds like the HA are better than my council. I reported a shared path along the side of the A15 between Peterborough and Yaxley needed sweeped, it was full of glass and grit. The next day I got an email saying it was done. But the day after that it was just as bad as before (it had never been done). Now it's down to a narrow 0.5m gap between the glass on what is a relatively wide path and well used by walkers and joggers. No wonder most cyclists don't use it. If it was closer to the house I'd buy a broom and sweep it myself.

I will not hold my breath getting them to sweep it, it took a lot of reports to get them to get the overgrown grass etc off the rest as it was down to about a foot wide in places .

 

[katiewlx]

getting sunnier this week, I finished last week in winter gear, if it keeps up like this Ill be full summer gear tomorrow

but the ride home was crazy, it went from 23 degrees sunny blue sky at lunchtime, to what felt like riding in storm force head winds and it was showering in spots too, cloudy overcast, but still quite warm, very confusing.

of course the forecast is now trending cold again so who knows, but might not even be able to ride my bike as I think Ive got a problem on it thats defying my attempts to fix it so far at least..

its hard to explain but the bike felt a bit odd on the way in, like Id got a bit of a slow rear puncture or something, or it just felt like the rear wheel was doing some odd things,wobbling abit maybe, but checked the pressures and everything and it seemed all ok

on the ride home it still felt a bit odd, but now Im dealing with this crazy head wind too, and it starts off ok but just the longer the ride, the worse the bike is getting,and the more it feels like Im riding through treacle, to the point near the end of the ride I was putting in so much effort to turn the pedals my knees were hurting with the strain, but I literally couldnt keep it moving much above 10mph and every strong gust of wind I was almost coming to a complete stop.

but just as I turn out of the wind and then suddenly the bikes way more responsive again, it still felt abit odd, but it was rideable again, and Im like that cant surely just have been that wind, there must be some mechanical thing going wrong here like the rear brake is kicking in, but Ive not solved it yet, it might be easier to just book into an LBS and get them to service it.