How was your cycle commute?

[Dogsauce]

Ouch. Hope you're OK braindancer, sounds like a hard landing but also a bit of a lucky escape. I thought fixies were a bit more reliable for not losing the chain as there's less give in it than a dérailleur and you in theory have a nice straight line. Stuff like that is frightening because it undermines your belief in your bike, I had a lucky escape years ago when a brake cable snapped on a descent towards a T-junction (luckily no cars coming) and still have the fear of it happening again.

The bike I'm using for commuting at the moment is a bit unreliable on the gears - occasionally the chain slips over the cogs in the mid range, usually when under load, and that can throw me a bit as you suddenly spin on the pedals - one of the reasons I'm not in a hurry to sort out the SPDs on it just yet.

 

[braindancer]

I suspect my chain has become over-stretched - it's done a good few thousand miles since last being replaced... goes without saying it will be replaced immediately!

 

[a_chap]

Near miss Brains, glad to hear you're ok.

 

[Orang Utan]

Ouch braindancer glad you're not splattered

 

[tommers]

Yes. I'm reminded of the drunk Irish woman who tottered over to me when I'd come off once shouting "you lucky bastard!" but yeah, that. Glad you're OK.

 

[Private Storm]

WET

/grrrrr

 

[The Boy]

windy. every way i've gone today or has made no difference.

i also managed to go the wrong way up a one way street due to being a fud. it's only been a year since the trams have been running @ self

 

[braindancer]

Cycled home very slowly tonight - and got soaked soaked soaked. All in all - very unenjoyable.

 

[The Boy]

No tailwind home. I swear the gods have cursed me for something done in a previous life.

 

[Dogsauce]

Bit of a tailwind, pretty speedy overall last night. Having a road bike (albeit an ageing steel one without a fully accessible set of gears) definitely makes a difference on the hills, although I can't match the flat-out sprinting speed of the tourer.

Cool with a light wind not going any particular way this morning, nice conditions for riding in although I had a heavy rucksack which slowed me on the climbs.

No rain anywhere up here yesterday or today.

I'm down at the girlfriend's this weekend but getting a lift down rather than the train, which means being in London without a bike for the first time in as long as I can remember (the London bike found its way back up here somehow). This might drive me a bit crazy.

 

[Dogsauce]

After last night's hailstones and punishing headwind I've reverted to leggings this morning for the first time since February. Probably didn't need to. I had just about every traffic light change on me just before I got to it this morning too, just at that point where you have to slam on because you won't quite make it. I think a few nearby pedestrians heard the blue language after about the sixth time of this happening.

 

[sleaterkinney]

The Northern line is only marginally more annoying than cycling up to Kennington at the moment.

 

[Crispy]

New gear cable bedding in means the shifting is out of register (or whatever the terminology is) so I kept skipping gears and stopping all the time to fiddle with the adjustment knob. It's voodoo, I swear. Is there an idiots guide to getting the derailleur and shifter and gears aligned without going left a bit right a bit pedal for a bit turn the knob a bit run out of slack in the cable, undo the actual cable fastener, get cable splinters, curse all the gods of bike transmissions etc?

 

[Dogsauce]

If you get downtube shifters and non-indexed gears that'll solve your problem

 

[ChrisFilter]

New gear cable bedding in means the shifting is out of register (or whatever the terminology is) so I kept skipping gears and stopping all the time to fiddle with the adjustment knob. It's voodoo, I swear. Is there an idiots guide to getting the derailleur and shifter and gears aligned without going left a bit right a bit pedal for a bit turn the knob a bit run out of slack in the cable, undo the actual cable fastener, get cable splinters, curse all the gods of bike transmissions etc?

It's taken me years to get to a place where I mostly get it right. But completely through guess work. It shouldn't be as hard as it is!

 

[youbeauty]

Is there an idiots guide to getting the derailleur and shifter and gears aligned without going left a bit right a bit pedal for a bit turn the knob a bit run out of slack in the cable, undo the actual cable fastener, get cable splinters, curse all the gods of bike transmissions etc?

Not exactly idiots guides but read this from Park Tools and/or this from dear old Sheldon Brown (rip) and you won't go far wrong.

 

[sleaterkinney]

New gear cable bedding in means the shifting is out of register (or whatever the terminology is) so I kept skipping gears and stopping all the time to fiddle with the adjustment knob. It's voodoo, I swear. Is there an idiots guide to getting the derailleur and shifter and gears aligned without going left a bit right a bit pedal for a bit turn the knob a bit run out of slack in the cable, undo the actual cable fastener, get cable splinters, curse all the gods of bike transmissions etc?

This was my weekend, my other bike isn't going up on the big ring. I'm not that mechanically stupid, I watched videos on the net and everything and still can't get it to work.

 

[Dogsauce]

Speedy this morning, I oiled the chain and pedals before setting off, had a bit of a tailwind and good luck with the lights (although constrained by queuing traffic in a couple of spots). Recorded as my fastest 'moving time' at 27.45 but the overall time says second, although I think I slightly cropped the previous attempt due to dithering in my back lane before setting off, so probably still fastest overall. 29.1km average over 13.4km across town with 109m climbing. I'd like to do the whole thing at 30km/hr one day, but that'll need me to be under 27 minutes, which is a long way off.

Riding a road bike is making a difference, I'm not cracking any records on the sprints (highest gear is fucked which I need to look at) but improving my time on the long climbs and overall. I also gained about 4kg while recovering from my crash for three months, so once I shift that I should be flying up those A64 climbs. Bring on half term!

 

[stavros]

The initial commute to work was a bit shit, as I only realised I'd forgotten my wallet as I pulled into the car park. It's only about a mile between there and my house so I suppose it wasn't too onerous.

However, I had an excellent ride to get to a meeting for work. It was right out in the middle of nowhere, about ten miles from the nearest station, but I was dead early so I took it very leisurely and really quite enjoyed it.

 

[Dogsauce]

Cursed by the lights today, every pedestrian crossing seemed to have it in for me. Overall time 30:42 compared to 28:36 in similar conditions yesterday. The graphs tell the story of the stop-start nature this morning, compared to yesterday's smooth run on mostly greens:




Still, lovely clear and cool morning, a nice ride despite the frequent loss of momentum.

 

[Diamond]

Lovely ride in today. Sunshine, lights exceptionally accommodating and managed to draft in behind a series of unsuspecting folk. Super quick and very pleasant.

 

[plurker]

Caught another one on my way in and all

BOOM.
Tucked in behind an X68 right by Balfe's as the lights changed; quickly delivered to the IWM.
4 x Strava best times along Kennington road as a result. Lovely job.

The Cut is well buggered with roadworks atm, no? All kinds of near-misses as peds and bikes have no clear signage.

 

[Crispy]

BOOM.
Tucked in behind an X68 right by Balfe's as the lights changed; quickly delivered to the IWM.
4 x Strava best times along Kennington road as a result. Lovely job.

The Cut is well buggered with roadworks atm, no? All kinds of near-misses as peds and bikes have no clear signage.

I only get to enjoy the x68 oval-brixton, so wouldn't know. Brixton road is miserable with the queues caused by one-lane operation through the Oval junction at the moment though.

 

[Dogsauce]

I drafted a bin lorry for about half a mile last night. Fucking stank.

 

[Crispy]

I drafted a bin lorry for about half a mile last night. Fucking stank.

Still worth it though yeah

 

[Orang Utan]

How far back do you do it? Don't you have to watch out for potholes more? It doesn't seem worth the stress/danger to me

 

[plurker]

Still worth it though yeah

Tough call.
In winter I would in hot summer sun I'd probably pass up the opportunity.

 

[plurker]

How far back do you do it? Don't you have to watch out for potholes more? It doesn't seem worth the stress/danger to me

On a bus I'd go about 5-10m back, on a solid-back van about the same, but on minibus/black cab/4x4 where you can see right through you can get closer as you can see any potential braking scenarios in advance.

 

[joustmaster]

How far back do you do it? Don't you have to watch out for potholes more? It doesn't seem worth the stress/danger to me

You can be a few meters behind a bus and still get the effect.

 

[Dogsauce]

Doing my London commute today on the shitty mountain bike, 3.1km on very crowded roads. I notice they've made a little bit more space for bikes around Kings Cross, just so you get about 15 seconds out from squeezing your elbows between taxis. Oh, and motorcyclists in Central London are still dicks.

I actually got out of work on time down here for once, went to meet the gf from her work but she was delayed so I did laps of Smithfields while I was waiting, got myself up to a more respectable 12.1km.

T-shirt weather today too, fucking lush. Going out for a ride this evening since it's so good.