Them's The Vagaries

[D-Rider]

I've had two days of starkly contrasting commutes.

Yesterday was a joy - completely uneventful in both directions. I don't just mean no incidents of note; I don't think there were even any mild irritants.

Today it was a jungle out there! I lost count of the close passes, two cars swung into three point turns just as I approached, someone reversed out their drive forcing me to stop, twice cars tried to emerge from a traffic queue while I was passing in the bus lane, an oncoming car turned right into a junction just as I was turning left into it. Even another cyclist cut me up at a right turn on a busy junction.

And I got tooted.

The worst incident, however, was getting overtaken (two lane road section) by a bus just a few meters shy of a traffic queue in the outside lane. He hooked in and missed me by inches and only because I heard/saw him coming and backed off.

I've been mulling it over and wondering if my own attitude was a factor today.

Yesterday was a really beautiful morning whereas today it was wet and I was going into a fairly strong headwind. Struggling a bit, to be honest, and I definitely wasn't as calm as yesterday. Perhaps my slower speed contributed to some dodgy overtaking. Perhaps my mood made me more irritable about the sort of minor incident I ignored the day before.

Coming home was different - I was flying (by my standards) with a good tailwind but really got wound up by some of those other road users. I sortof invited the toot - it was from one of the close passers. I gave him a "death stare" as I passed him when he hit a traffic queue all of thirty seconds after he passed me. He caught up a few minutes later and tooted.

I don't take any blame for the bus incident though - that driver was just an impatient peanut.

Sorry - that's quite rambling. I think I'm saying the commute tends to be smoother if I "keep the heid" but there'll always be idiots out there....

Cheers to anyone who made it this far!

 

[HLaB]

I live in Granton so I caught that wind on the way home it was home and luckily the weather was still good when I left the flat this morning. I've found the traffic in general is OK recently unless you go through the west end.
I wouldn't be surprised if your bus was a First bus or Stagecoach, if was Lothian you were very unlucky.

 

[magnatom]

Sometimes rambling on here helps to ease any frustrations away.

It's just random how some days/weeks/months are a joy to cycle and some are a nightmare. I think trying to analyse it too much just leads to frustration. The only two things I've found that correlate with incidents are rush hour or lack of, i.e. things are worse at rush hour, especially on the way home, and holidays, i.e. the roads are much better when they are quieter.

 

[D-Rider]

Don't know what it was - one of those wee "cityhopper" type things, probably goes down to East Lothian. Yeah, I come through the west end - traffic was notably worse today than it's been recently. Could be the shape of things to come with Princes St closed.

 

[D-Rider]

Sometimes rambling on here helps to ease any frustrations away.

Yeah, I feel better getting that off my chest!