Tales from today's commute....

[markharry66]

A lovely, bright sunny morning. Though you could feel a chill in the early morning air.
The sun is now quite low, it's that time of the year when one needs to be extra vigilant Of car drivers being blinded by the sun.
View attachment 821820

that and not bothering to look

 

[sevenfourate]

I couldn't commute 14-15 miles without a shower available in work, since even when it is cold I tend to get quite sweaty.

What I do miss since we changed office is the tumble dryer the old office had, which meant I could rinse and dry my kit. There is no real kit drying faciality in the new office, we have lockers but they aren't big enough for kit to dry in them, and we aren't allowed to hang kit ourtside the lockers.

You’re right. The prospect upon arrival isn’t great.

I don’t see many here doing what I’d have to mileage / time / remoteness wise. That in itself concerns me somewhat.

Maybe I’ll have to actively choose my days. Even a couple of times a week average would keep the mileage, fitness, enjoyment going…….

 

[ianrauk]

Started out dry when I left for the train station at 7am. Started raining as I was on the train and rained all the way into work. Not heavy rain, more heavy drizzle. But wet never the less. Should be dry for the return later.

A lot of other fellow cycle commuters on the route today. Seemed more then usual.

Rainy commute # 29 for the year
Same period last year 18 rainy commutes

 

[ianrauk]

that and not bothering to look

That's a given

 

[biking_fox]

Glare season - hard for the drivers, hard for the cyclists too. Low sun on wet roads disguises the lumps and bumps. Not sure I'll escape this afternoon's rain.

 

[wafter]

Glare season - hard for the drivers, hard for the cyclists too. Low sun on wet roads disguises the lumps and bumps. Not sure I'll escape this afternoon's rain.

I was reminded of this heading into the low sun on yesterday's commute.. regardless of what you're riding / driving it's very easy to suddenly find yourself travelling at speed with next to zero view of what's ahead of you..

 

[Jenkins]

Who commutes all through Winter ?

And what distances are we doing on that commute ?

I used to before I retired and did roughly the same mileage (25 miles round trip), but altered the route if conditions were looking to be a bit iffy in the mornings.

The problem you're going to be up against most is the possibility of ice as you seem to be out very early AM. Not knowing your exact route, but suspecting the Mutfordwood, Hulver & Benacre roads from Carlton Colville that run to the south of the A146, it's pretty open round there and I doubt not too high on the council's gritting list come winter. Just takes one cold night after a damp evening...

 

[HLaB]

A pretty quiet commute. I did have one bloke pull out from a minor road and turn right across me on the main. But it was a stiff headwind for me (easy to ease off) and he apologised so it was no biggie.

 

[ianrauk]

Very quiet morning weather wise compared to yesterdays wet one. But the sun is starting to peek through the clouds. It's looking like a very nice day ahead.

On the PX Ti tourer today for the long ride home this afternoon.

A Tempest on the Med

 

[sevenfourate]

I used to before I retired and did roughly the same mileage (25 miles round trip), but altered the route if conditions were looking to be a bit iffy in the mornings.

The problem you're going to be up against most is the possibility of ice as you seem to be out very early AM. Not knowing your exact route, but suspecting the Mutfordwood, Hulver & Benacre roads from Carlton Colville that run to the south of the A146, it's pretty open round there and I doubt not too high on the council's gritting list come winter. Just takes one cold night after a damp evening...

I Manage a very busy Company - who are mostly seemingly on permanent overtime trying to make up hours on rush jobs. So am usually at work at 6am to open up and prep for a 6.30am start for the Production Staff.

So…..I hear you on ‘Ice’ - last year that was a killer for me in the 50km/50mile Challenge. If I woke up to that - I wrote the riding day off.

BUT - I guess even more so than that is the chance of coming across a rogue patch….in the shade etc….on my rural route if I commuted during the colder parts of Winter. The other option is sticking to busy main roads that aren’t the widest (Lowestoft to Beccles / A146…and the Infamous Barnby S-Bends and the 13 deaths it’s contributed toward).

I’m not selling this commuting game am
I. As per you also 🤣🤣

 

[Mazz]

Weather-wise, not bad but a bit of a blustery headwind on the way in.

A transit van overtook me and the chap in the passenger seat shouted some abuse at me for no reason.
I caught up with them at the lights which were on red. Being directly behind them, I left them a slimy souvenir on the back door. Not proud of that, but I felt better for it and no damage done.

 

[HLaB]

A very random drop of large amounts of rain at some point and a every stubborn headwind that was almost throwing you backwards. That seemed to make the traffic right aggressive.

At the crest of one of the only hills here (over a railway line lol) a BMW driver decided to push through me to get to the red light queue at the bottom of the hill, procede to hold me up through a correctly designed narrow road and then wait at the red light to go right at the end of it. Only for me to immediately go through the green light for the left. Really worth nearly taking someone out for that 🙄

Closer to home I used a very long shared use that goes steeply downhill, then bottoms out at a junction to a residential mews and continues. You guessed it someone in a big 4x4 decides to cut across the shared cycleway. At least its well designed so they cant do it at speed and I'm not sure if he deliberately brake so the following driver couldn't do the same. That didn't stop the following driver throwing his dummy out of his pram, beeeeeeep, when I went through the large gap inbetween them. Given I was on the crossing first before the following car driver even slowly turned into the mews under the old highway code they have to give way, with the revised code them having to give way regardless and with them unable to go anywhere 🙄

I'll review the footage of either and may or may not submit it to Operation Snap, I am guilty of shouting Tw@t loudly at the last driver.

Oh well at the train was pretty peaceful and I managed to get two of the seats in front of the bike rack empty. The passenger occupying the third seat got off a couple of stops down the line but my bike was pretty secure so I left it.