How was your cycle commute?

[gentlegreen]

Unpleasant road rage incident this morning

My incidents are almost always very minor, but I had one last night that upset me a lot more than usual.
Little man safely sealed-up in a small car - near the end of a narrow lane - who was clearly in no mood for simple good manners. I finally made him stop with a combination of simultaneous light flashing and horn.



Just where the hell was I expected to go ?

And how fast would he have driven past me with me jammed in the hedge ?
As it was he started moving before I was fully past across the ruts.
I regret not slapping his stupid car - that usually gets their attention.

I slapped the next one who just scraped past - and then there was a third who seemed hesitant about stopping and who copped more of an earful than they probably deserved - though they were waving their hands around at me ...

If I was driving my metaphorical "battered old Transit" they wouldn't have hesitated.

Thankfully I was doing one of my 20 mile extended rides so it was fairly well exorcised two hours later thanks to my homeward 10 miles with the mood set by "La Revancha Del Tango" - which also made it a ride more about "horsemanship" than "high intensity workout".

My commutes would be perfect but for a handful of interactions like this.

 

[Winot]

I just bought some long fingered gloves...Endura "Full Monty Glove"

underneath it says Summer Glove....well, it's hardly the full monty then is it?

Perhaps it's to wear before doing a male striptease.

 

[pseudonarcissus]

Perhaps it's to wear before doing a male striptease.

I'm not sure there is enough velcro....but I guess it depends where you wear it.
For me, summer gloves are white, and come up to the elbow

 

[gentlegreen]

I'm not sure there is enough velcro....but I guess it depends where you wear it.
For me, summer gloves are white, and come up to the elbow

The first pair of Aldi gloves I bought had a large area of white on them and I was peeved later on when I wanted to buy more and the white ones seemed coincidentally to be a tighter fit.

After the event I decided I preferred not to wear those as I felt self-conscious.

The first thing that came to my mind was "directing traffic".

On the other hand it means I feel obliged to wear a high-viz wrist band....

 

[Orang Utan]

There needs to a soft, absorbent part of a cycling glove to wipe your snot on

 

[gentlegreen]

My Aldi ones have such a thing on the thumbs - but in practice it's only used to transfer it to my right armpit.
I find it's always best to use the left hand one so critical gear-changes aren't messed-up by slippage.

 

[steeeve]

Got wet this morning, think my hi vis has lost it's waterproofness

 

[gentlegreen]

Too mild in Bristol for my flappy hivis this morning - hopefully it'll clear up a bit by this evening's extended ride home - but iffy-looking weather is always welcome for thinning-out the other cyclists.

 

[Crispy]

There needs to a soft, absorbent part of a cycling glove to wipe your snot on

Mine do. Many do.

Collided with another cyclist who turned right coming the other way at a junction. SMIDSY, but he admitted all blame, promised to take greater care in the future and nobody/bike was injured.

 

[gentlegreen]

Another quarter mile / 4 minute portage down my morning downhill rather than taking my chances filtering and I easily beat the cars I was behind.
It keeps my legs working, and it's good to use different muscles, but I twanged my right trapezoid slightly doing it on Tuesday..

 

[plurker]

I had to get the train today. I miss my bike. Trains are RUBBISH.

 

[girasol]

Like that no one is injured, Crispy, not that you had a collision!

Was raining quite a lot when on my journey this morning, and with that comes steamy glasses whenever I stop. It looks ridiculous

Also, first day of using lights.

edit: ah no, there was foggy day last week too. Used lights that day... Ok, first day of using lights because it was still dark(ish)

 

[plurker]

Also, first day of using lights.

And I remembered last night why I took my Smart rear light off. It's not waterproof (even when taped ffs!), and turns itself off half-way through the ride. £20 down the drain.

Luckily I have a second rear light, from the 99p store, which seems to work in all weathers.

 

[doddles]

Now in Berlin, my cycle commute is a breeze. Starting off at Luftbrucke Platz, I go down the dedicated cycle path on Mehringdamm all the way past the old Berlin wall at Niederkirchner Straße, past the UK embassy and the Brandenburg Gate on my left, over the Spree river and arrive at Charité. Takes about 20 minutes, unless I get held up by a battery of slow cycling women doing their shopping . It's a fun ride on my new Diamant Elan Elite bicycle

 

[gentlegreen]

It must make a change being somewhere that cycling isn't seen as an aeration or poor person's option.

 

[doddles]

It's fantastic I have to say, though unsettling to start with at intersections where cyclists in the cycle lane have right of way over cars turning across the cycle lane into side streets. I'm so used to having to yield to cars/trucks in that situation that I found myself doing likewise the first day or two, to the annoyance of cyclists behind me.

 

[Orang Utan]

I loved cycling in Berlin, but i didn't see many road bikes.
There are tram ruts all over the streets that can trap wheels (I fell off by thick wheeled oldlady hire bike when I rode into one)
And everyone goes at a genteel and sedate pace.
I think it might test my patience a little if I lived there.

 

[gentlegreen]

Had a mostly enjoyable 20 miles home - just a few annoyances - mostly 2 wheeled.
Started drizzling a few miles from home, but I was making at least as much sweat so I didn't stop to put any kind of a jacket on.

Musical accompaniment was "Nuyorican Soul".

I've taken tomorrow and Monday off, so I should get out a couple more times over the extended weekend.
Monday may even have a little sunshine, but 30MPH gusting winds !

-------------------------------------

Encountered the green trail bike on the railway path that shot past me a week or two ago when my camera wasn't running.
Put the video on Youtube with two clear face shots of the associated yoofs but I doubt the police would do anything about it because on this occasion it was being pushed.

 

[8115]

This lady came up behind me yesterday on a narrow bridge. There is a cycle path on the other side, but it's shit and involves crossing the road twice, so no, and a footpath which I don't like going on because it's also narrow, so I use the road. Lots of cars think you shouldn't. Anyway she came up behind me really fast beeping her horn and I had to go on the pavement. I gave her two fingers and shouted "fuck you". Stupid cow.

A van made up for it later that day when he beeped, and I got a bit shirty, looking back, anyway when he got alongside me he had his window down and was all like, "I'm really sorry, I wasn't beeping at you, I saw someone I knew" Nice people do drive sometimes.

 

[pissflaps]

shoulda punched him anyway. to make up for the bridge lady who got away.

 

[gentlegreen]

I went out for my 20 miles even though it was almost on the edge of raining.
I thought at least the railway path would be quiet, but there was one of those "ride your bike for charity" things going on - makes a change from the Lycra crowd I suppose ...
I stopped a couple of times on the way back when actual (hazy) sunshine made an appearance.

--------------------

I called into the garden centre where they happened to have birdseed on special offer, but I couldn't face adding even more weight to the bike 7 miles from home.

Then a few miles on I helped this poor injured pigeon off the path - I don't know if a bike had hit it - I didn't hold out much hope.

Ironic - I could have left it a pile of food ... and when I got back home I found the local shop was out of the food my pair of wood pigeon like ... though I got them something else that should be OK.

 

[stavros]

I did a bit of an experiment yesterday, resolving to not get out of the saddle at all. I deliberately did a ride of only about 8 miles, and it had inclines rather than actual hills, but ordinarily I'd have probably stood up and pushed a bigger gear for a bit. My thighs felt harder worked than normal.

This morning was just a fairly ordinary 15 miler.

 

[gentlegreen]

If I ever shift the three carbon bikes around my waist, I may get to try standing up to get up hills.
At the moment, through I can deliver 2 or 3 hundred watts, a lot off that is needed to offset the weight of three carbon bikes I'm carrying around my waist.

I've been having a long weekend - which is just as well as the weather was terrible yesterday - but every other day works out well for me.

I got in my 20 miles chasing what little sunshine there was - and on the way back was carrying 4KG of birdseed and had a fairly hefty wind blowing against me. Even got properly rained on for a bit near home - but nothing warranting more than putting on my bush hat.

I'm not up for pushing it at the moment and in any case am trying to learn to use my core muscles to do steady miles .. I have a tendency to make everything a bit of a sprint.

 

[a_chap]

Chucked it down with rain yesterday so the new Carradice rain cape and spats got their first use in anger. Surprisingly effective! The biggest problem is that the cape's hood is designed to go over a bike helmet which I don't wear so it kept slipping over my eyes rendering me temporarily blind. Which is a fun way to commute.

 

[Orang Utan]

Wore my jacket and gloves for the first time since the spring this morning.
The gloves are too warm and restricive.

 

[Orang Utan]

Chucked it down with rain yesterday so the new Carradice rain cape and spats got their first use in anger. Surprisingly effective! The biggest problem is that the cape's hood is designed to go over a bike helmet which I don't wear so it kept slipping over my eyes rendering me temporarily blind. Which is a fun way to commute.

What's the point in having a cape? Isn't it best to just get soaked and dry off at your destination?

 

[8115]

Puncture on my good bike so I rode my weekend bike. I fell off it. Waaa. I think the little spikes on the thing the chain is on are worn, it slipped off and I went down heavily. My body hurts.

 

[Dogsauce]

I'm now midway through a three-week period of no cycle commutes (due to working on a site 70 miles away). I've been taking the edge of the withdrawl symptoms with weekend group rides (bit windy up on top of the moors on Sunday morning) and I've also been zipping about the site on my shit old mountain bike which I took down in the car with me. I'm working on a massive near-deserted closed-down military base, flat as a pancake with several loop roads and a massive empty car park. I might have to draw another cock on Strava at some point.

 

[gentlegreen]

Puncture on my good bike so I rode my weekend bike. I fell off it. Waaa. I think the little spikes on the thing the chain is on are worn, it slipped off and I went down heavily. My body hurts.

And I thought I was averse to things mechanical !

 

[gentlegreen]

I might have to draw another cock on Strava at some point.

Or some lady bits.