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How was your cycle commute?

BigTom said:
The Priory is a brand of rehab centres, where the celebs often go.
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The first/main Priory is on priory lane, it's the one leading to Richmond Park, hence the large number of cyclists, I cycle down it often and never use the cycle lane. I'm amazed cars are still allowed to use Richmond park as a cut through. Hope they arrest him
 
Had a near SMIDSY about two miles into my commute this morning, at a spot where these occur frequently (there's some lights set back on a joining road, then about 20m past this a fairly worn give way line against the main road I'm on, but drivers assume green gives them the all clear and take no account of the off-road cycletrack that joins at a crossing immediately before this junction). Even after I had to swerve round them they completely ignored my existence as though nothing had happened, and I wasted seconds of my time with angry arm gestures.

Anger is an energy though, so with an injection of fury and a bit of a tailwind I hurtled up the last two-thirds of my route, a KOM, three top tens and four personal bests. Overall time wasn't too great as I got stuffed by lights and traffic on the first third, but I'm routinely riding it in under 30 minutes now, the difference it makes having a road bike. I'm getting used to the quirks of the gears, it's getting better as the newish chain is wearing in and stretching a bit more. I also raised the seat about 1cm last night, though the bolt is a bit worn and I couldn't tighten up the stem properly afterwards, so the seatpost can swivel a little, but it felt a bit more comfortable, I might up it a bit more.
 
As the Pashley is off the road this week I've been commuting on my cheap-as-chips 18 year old hybrid commuter. And it's been bloody good fun :)

Half the weight of the Pashley so I've been thrashing it to and from work :D
 
Piss poor this morning, first one that took over thirty minutes in ages. Lots of reds and ditherers.

I've been setting off about 20mins earlier than I used to for the last month or so, which generally means clearer roads and has sometimes helped my overall times, but at the same time the people that are on the road at that time are often inattentive berks who haven't woken up properly yet, the sort that sit at the lights for five seconds after they've gone green, or straddle both lanes of the road crawling along at 15mph while they decide what the fuck they're doing. None of them use their wing mirrors either. :mad:
 
Pumped up my tyres last night.
Must have done the front one a little too far, as about ten mins after I'd done it there was an almighty bang, which shook me and the missus up a littl! Tube had a 5 inch straight split in it. Changed it, pumped up gently, only to about 100psi.

I love hat first ride on hard tyres, three 2nd-best times on the commute and a beautiful ride! No numpties today....
 
plurker said:
Pumped up my tyres last night.
Must have done the front one a little too far, as about ten mins after I'd done it there was an almighty bang, which shook me and the missus up a littl! Tube had a 5 inch straight split in it. Changed it, pumped up gently, only to about 100psi.

I love hat first ride on hard tyres, three 2nd-best times on the commute and a beautiful ride! No numpties today....
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when you're pumping up a tyre, always stop at about 40psi and give the wheel a quick spin and watch the bead line just close to the rim to check it's seated properly. If there's a bulge or a hop let the tyre down a bit and push it back into place, then repeat until it's seated evenly. Then pump it up to full pressure.
 
plurker said:
Pumped up my tyres last night.
Must have done the front one a little too far, as about ten mins after I'd done it there was an almighty bang, which shook me and the missus up a littl! Tube had a 5 inch straight split in it. Changed it, pumped up gently, only to about 100psi.

I love hat first ride on hard tyres, three 2nd-best times on the commute and a beautiful ride! No numpties today....
Click to expand...

Better it happens at home! Last time that happened to me I was out in the sticks and had to walk five miles to a bike shop to get a new tube, couldn't exactly patch it! Which reminds me that I need to get a spare inner for the Raleigh before I go off on any more long social rides, it's a different size to my wounded tourer.
 
weepiper said:
when you're pumping up a tyre, always stop at about 40psi and give the wheel a quick spin and watch the bead line just close to the rim to check it's seated properly. If there's a bulge or a hop let the tyre down a bit and push it back into place, then repeat until it's seated evenly. Then pump it up to full pressure.
Click to expand...

Nice advice, thanks.
The pumping yesterday was the first time I'd taken this one up to a decent pressure; it was a new tyre & tube last week, so I'd only run it at lower pressure for the first 40-odd miles. A courier gave me that advice once...
 
Such a nice evening, I put an extra five miles on my commute by heading into the sticks a bit first (following part of a route I did on a social ride last night). Cracking route, nicely surfaced road with bugger all traffic. I also seem to have stretched my chain enough to ride in the highest gear again without it jumping, which pleased me immensely.

An extra bonus, a couple of miles from home I found an ass saver in the road. I was going to buy one of those the other day too.
 
2141cd76fc97e58e414ba4233c0ebf47.jpg


The summer commuter has arrived

First test ride tomorrow
 
There were four coppers protecting pedestrians from the evil cyclists at CS7 near elephant today. Good to see they have their priorities straight.
 
sleaterkinney said:
There were four coppers protecting pedestrians from the evil cyclists at CS7 near elephant today. Good to see they have their priorities straight.
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On a blind corner on a narrow pavement with wall on one side and construction site fencing on the other, and a big sign saying cyclists dismount. I bet some twat rode into someone and a complaint was made.
 
Had a puncture on the way in yesterday, probably because I always forget to check my tyre pressures before I leave for work.

Today will be a lovely ride, if the weather can decide what it wants to do. Cheddar here we come
 
I felt very good this afternoon. I tackled one of the few hills worth bothering with around here - this is Essex - and tapped out a good rhythm, maintaining an impressive pace. I then had two relatively short but very fast descents. I'm so glad I took two bottles with me though, because I was drinking like a fish.
 
Commute back was windy, a bit rainy and then a stupid woman misjudged a gap and actually hit me as she went through. I didn't come off, but she hit my keys in my pocket with the side of her car.

Which pissed me off a bit. It was noticeable that the next person to overtake took a very wide berth. :D
 
I've taken to cycling 20 miles to a station halfway between home (Tunbridge Wells) and work (Farringdon). Nice country lanes and no London traffic. I did, however, puncture this morning. And it does entail climbing Ide and Brasted Hills on the way out, and Cudham Lane + Brasted Chart on the way back.
 
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Anyway, I thought the sunshine was supposed to put everybody in a good mood? Went out to do my loop to my old work and back and was such a lovely day that I did it twice. All the car fuckers round the suburban side streets were a right bunch of miserable fucks though, and not once did anybody slow to let me go when turning right from main roads - I know they don't *have* to do this, but I ride the same roads a lot and it's rare that nobody lets me go through.

Nothing totally dickish though, apart from the twat in a Merc who was turning right onto the road I was travelling along and cut the corner into my lane just as I was approaching. Made no attempt whatsoever to correct it once he saw me either.
 
Leeds ring road was screwed on Tuesday morning, so lots of queueing impatient drivers. No fewer than three cyclists knocked off by outbound cars turning through inbound queues without looking at the cyclepath running up the inside over a short stretch of the A65, no serious injuries but some written-off bikes. On one of the cycling group facebook pages a rider suggested using front lights to help reduce this risk, but you could have had a fluoro-pink marching souzaphone band in the cyclelane there and they'd have still got hit because impatient rat-running arseholes simply don't look. There really needs to be some driver education about this, it's more or less the same situation that occurred when I was taken out in February. Think Bike and all that.

I rode in late because I had a hospital appointment that morning, and took the canal because I had time and could see it was bullshit.
 
I took it very easy on the approach to a short but steep hill earlier and then attacked it, and found it a lot better going than my previous climb of it. Not only that, the recovery on the next 200m or so to the next junction felt good in a semi-sprint, when normally my legs feel very heavy after climbs.
 
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