Tales from today's commute....

[fossyant]

WFH, so did a lunchtime blast. About 4 minutes quicker than last week ! Sunny, but rather chilly in the wind - winter weight top on and I needed it.

MrsF wanted to go to the garden centre at lunch, but I said I was going for a ride. Good job really, as there was a bad car/van crash which would have meant being stuck in traffic both ways.

Still cordoned off when I came back. A car had gone straight into the front of a van, the road was wide, and the van was on the correct side of the road. Not near enough a junction either. Beggars belief.

 

[blackrat]

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.

"No wonder most cyclists don't use it."
Yup! So much for shared paths.

 

[blackrat]

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

May I say the temperature was 86F yesterday? 🌞

 

[blackrat]

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.

"..it might be easier to just book into an LBS and get them to service it."
It's what I do. I used to lay on the concrete squirming under my car to replace the brakes and the disc rotors and the plugs and adjust the timing and the exhaust system, etc. etc. I don't do any of that now, not on my cars nor on my bikes. There are experts who have the tools and the knowledge and the time who need the work more than I need the the hassle.

 

[HLaB]

Nothing much happened on my commute tonight. I doubled it from 4 miles to 8 and a bit miles but that's because I wanted to go by a route that mainly avoided traffic so I could chill.

 

[katiewlx]

loose bearings in the hub causing play so the brakes are catching ?

yes, and it would certainly fit with the way the bike felt to ride, as I was beginning to feel like the rear hub was just lunching itself, not that I could hear much grinding, but the road was so noisy and the wind I couldnt hear that much anyway, but it was just like it was running in glue that was setting hard, I need to get it on a stand this weekend see if I can sort it.

 

[katiewlx]

"..it might be easier to just book into an LBS and get them to service it."
It's what I do. I used to lay on the concrete squirming under my car to replace the brakes and the disc rotors and the plugs and adjust the timing and the exhaust system, etc. etc. I don't do any of that now, not on my cars nor on my bikes. There are experts who have the tools and the knowledge and the time who need the work more than I need the the hassle.

they do, but its the cost and trust issues that I have with them, last time I had a bike serviced with them, it ended up costing twice as much as they told me it would, and not always been happy with their work, unfortunately theyre one of the only LBS left thesedays that do maintenance.

Ill try hitting it with a spanner at the weekend see if I can fix it first, cant make it worse can I

 

[katiewlx]

swapped to my road bike today,as the commute is off the road till I work out how to fix it, and it was much nicer to rider, alot quicker too. albeit not as quick as the eejit I encountered on a shared path on one of those fat tyre ebikes...and if that was a legal ebike, then Im a pro rider about to ride Paris Roubaix.

its one thing to ride one of those bikes in the first place, knowing full well its actually a moped , its another to then ride it like you are possessed by Marc Marquez, just because you can hit 25mph in a couple of seconds, doesnt mean you should, and certainly not on a shared path where there are pedestrians walking around who arent remotely prepared for you to blat past them at that speed.

I mean there was even a moment, and Im only doing 10-12mph on this shared path, I had to grab a handful of brakes to stop as a dog walker just wandered out from one of the connecting paths straight across in front of me, didnt even look to see if anything or anyone else is on the path first, if the ebiker had been going along at that moment, hes riding straight into them at 25-30mph.

hopefully my rides over the weekend will be less incident packed.

 

[blackrat]

they do, but its the cost and trust issues that I have with them, last time I had a bike serviced with them, it ended up costing twice as much as they told me it would, and not always been happy with their work, unfortunately theyre one of the only LBS left thesedays that do maintenance.

Ill try hitting it with a spanner at the weekend see if I can fix it first, cant make it worse can I

"..it ended up costing twice as much as they told me it would,"
I admit to having had the same experience. I was as mad as hell, rang them, emailed them, cursed them and in the end, just paid them. It's life, isn't it?

 

[cyberknight]

Bloke at work i spoke to yesterday to ask how he was as he was struggling before x mas said he is having to sell his car and start cycling to work so i am digging out some spare bike lights for him as by the sound of it the ones he bought have already broke.
Last night was had work going home as it was a pretty strong head wind most of the way home but at least it was dry , coming up an incline i saw 3 youth/ young men walking towards me and i rode in the middle of the road just in case but in reality if they had decided to do something i wouldn’t have much hope but thankfully it was just paranoia and i got home safe.

 

[blackrat]

Bloke at work i spoke to yesterday to ask how he was as he was struggling before x mas said he is having to sell his car and start cycling to work so i am digging out some spare bike lights for him as by the sound of it the ones he bought have already broke.
Last night was had work going home as it was a pretty strong head wind most of the way home but at least it was dry , coming up an incline i saw 3 youth/ young men walking towards me and i rode in the middle of the road just in case but in reality if they had decided to do something i wouldn’t have much hope but thankfully it was just paranoia and i got home safe.

It's a new world we live in when we feel the need to fret over possible harm from our fellows.

 

[cyberknight]

It's a new world we live in when we feel the need to fret over possible harm from our fellows.

well it was close to 1 am so i have an inbuilt distrust of groups of "lads " hanging about at that time of day .

 

[fwgx]

Had a derailleur hanger snap on my on my way home whilst riding through a field. Thankfully I didn't crash but I did have to call for a lift home. Utterly mangled the derailleur and took some effort to free everything from the spokes.

Never seen a chain get bent like this before:

New chain, hanger, derailleur and cable are now on their way so I can hopefully fix this.

 

[markharry66]

i have been cycling in London and kent since 2008 in that time I have been knocked off my bike been over th bonnet of a car, tail gated, sworn at, threats of pysical violence etc. Some of of its been my own fault some of it down to bad driving, I still maintain sone of the worst drivers on the roads are so called proffesional drivers. This morning after being tailed gated down a hill at 30 miles an hour by a red double decker bus this idiot decides to over take on a blind corner then because he decided after all he couldnt see what was comibg tried to push me into parked cars. Just another day in London lol

 

[ianrauk]

I still maintain sone of the worst drivers on the roads are so called proffesional drivers.

Agree 100%. Though bus drivers on a whole are usually very good and patient, there are a few who like to bully cyclists.
Now, talking about bullying, black cab drivers are on a whole different level. They really do believe they own the roads and anything in their way is lowlife scum.