How was your cycle commute?

[Dogsauce]

Blue paint would be a luxury, the ones they're building in Leeds have no visual separation from side roads or the main carriageway, and the bits that are almost complete seem to be mostly used for parking in. I'm beginning to believe it's being built crappily on purpose, so when cyclists don't use it they can point and say that it's a waste of money building segregated infrastructure and not do any more.

 

[a_chap]

I really should have worn long fingered gloves today.

 

[The Boy]

I've discovered Strava. Unfortunately my only riding is on my commute which is almost entirely on segregated paths. The only way I'm gonna get a KoM is by riding like the handful of inconsiderate turnips who hoon about like they're on a busy A-road.

Was browsing the segments on my ride last night and noticed that I was 15th for the day on one of them, so checked another and I was 18th , then another where I was 15th again. You can guess how many strva users had ridden those segments that day, can't you?

 

[Pgd]

Yeah, Strava's great, but the inherent focus on overall KOMs does it a disservice IMO (as well as giving fuel to the "lycra-clad terrorists" cliche). Ideally it'd be more configurable, e.g. to focus on personal records, or records among a group of friends that you set up. You can tag rides as "commutes", but it seems designed to just be a way of separating them from your "proper" rides. There are add-ons like Stravistix for Chrome that personalise the data a little more, but it could be a lot better. Still a great site/app though!
(disclaimer: just bitter at being too slow to realistically ever get a KOM ;-) )

 

[Dogsauce]

(disclaimer: just bitter at being too slow to realistically ever get a KOM ;-) )

You just need to make your own segments and then glory in your triumph! I made one on a closed down airbase in Lincolnshire that I rode around on a shitty mountain bike - sooner or later they'll build housing on it on a different grid to the site roads so it'll be impossible to do it. Nobody's taking that one off me

(I might have a few others... )

 

[The Boy]

Nearly killed on way in this morning. There's a three lane road I cross which has two right tunr lane and one for traffic carrying straight ahead. The latter is closed, but they haven't put in a diversion or updated the signals or put in temp lights, so traffic from the right turn lane was heading straight when I crossed on a green.

And then I got to college to discover the thing that was missing from my bag to make it so light. It isn't possible to dry one's hair under a hand dryer.

 

[Crispy]

Shunted from behind at a give way line Got a nice wonky rim now. Will see if the lbs here can straighten it out. At least the driver promised to pick up the bill and I have his contact details.

Yay, no new wheel needed and it was just a tenner to get it straightened

 

[plurker]

Yay, no new wheel needed and it was just a tenner to get it straightened

You'll be telling the driver that the new hand-built rim was £100 odd though, right?

 

[Crispy]

Hah. Nah £10 seems like a fair price to pay for not having to deal with the hassle of getting it back.

 

[Dogsauce]

Snow. Bottled it and drove instead for the second time ever, probably would have been OK on the big bike as there wasn't much about once I'd got part way down the hill from home. Probably kinder to my bike which is showing the odd spot of rust on components after riding through winter.

 

[Winot]

Anyone else been using the Cycle Superhighway from Kennington > Elephant > Blackfriars? The Blackfriars section is now open and quite lovely.

A few comments:

(1) The interface between CS6 (the NS route) and CS7 (Kennington > Elephant > Southwark Bridge) is a bit confusing. Going north it seems to work OK if you leave CS7, go to the E&C roundabout and then pick up CS6 going west along St George's Rd. Coming south I haven't quite worked it out yet.

(2) The point at which the segregated bit of CS7 at Kennington rejoins the road north of the Kennington Rd post office junction is a nightmare - the bus stop is too close to the junction so buses try to pull in across cyclists on the left. Saw a cyclist almost squashed by a bus on Friday - my first complain to TFL for a while.

(3) Gosh Blackfriars bridge is a bit of a climb compared to Waterloo (my favoured bridge till now). It's great missing out on the jams along Baylis Rd though.

 

[a_chap]

Bugger. Riding into work this morning and, with a bang, something went wrong with the bike. The rear wheel's come out of alignment but I can't work out why

 

[Virtual Blue]

Bugger. Riding into work this morning and, with a bang, something went wrong with the bike. The rear wheel's come out of alignment but I can't work out why

rear wheel hub?

 

[a_chap]

Bizarrely the nice chap at the bike place said the wheel nuts (no QR skewer on this baby) were loose, hence wheel pulled out of alignment. FInd that a bit hard to believe as that wheel's been in place since it last had a new tyre about five years ago.

And, implausible-but-true, I did a 125 mile ride on it on Saturday (usual Audax bike is in bike hospital still) with no problems.

Anyway, I'll be commuting on it again tomorrow with fingers crossed.

 

[Orang Utan]

Had a puncture last weekend that the bike shop told me was due to the front wheel not being pumped up enough. My gauge must be faulty as I always pump it way more than is advised.

 

[Virtual Blue]

You can never determine punctures - they're in a pain in the arse like wasps and smelly mad people on buses.

I been riding excellently for the last 2 days. Just fast, zooming in and out (saying that, I'll probably crash tomorrow).

 

[Crispy]

Anyone else been using the Cycle Superhighway from Kennington > Elephant > Blackfriars? The Blackfriars section is now open and quite lovely.

A few comments:

(1) The interface between CS6 (the NS route) and CS7 (Kennington > Elephant > Southwark Bridge) is a bit confusing. Going north it seems to work OK if you leave CS7, go to the E&C roundabout and then pick up CS6 going west along St George's Rd. Coming south I haven't quite worked it out yet.

I gave it a go this morning. Really nice. Hundreds of cyclists out, and it's so so refreshing to cycle that far without worrying about cars and buses.

The best way to get from CS7 to the NS route is like this:



They've made the main junction better, but it's still hairy coming past all the buses outside the shopping centre. Avoid it if you can.

 

[Dogsauce]

Back in the shorts this morning. Hoping that's it for winter. Still carrying a bit of a heavy cold but that didn't stop me having a good crack at the final sprint on my commute, then getting in and coughing a whole lung up onto my desk.

 

[Winot]

I gave it a go this morning. Really nice. Hundreds of cyclists out, and it's so so refreshing to cycle that far without worrying about cars and buses.

The best way to get from CS7 to the NS route is like this:

View attachment 86513

They've made the main junction better, but it's still hairy coming past all the buses outside the shopping centre. Avoid it if you can.

Yeah I eventually managed to work that out

However this morning I tried this, which also worked well:

 

[Crispy]

Hmm. More junctions on Kennington Road I think. Traffic probably lighter though. They could easily fit a segregated lane down Kennington Road - it's really wide.

 

[Winot]

Yeah lighter traffic was the draw.

 

[a_chap]

Anyway, I'll be commuting on it again tomorrow with fingers crossed.

No, I won't.

Hardly turned the pedals over before having to stop due to dreadful grinding sound from... somewhere

Can't figure out what the heck's causing it but will have a look tonight. Cheesed off as it's lovely weather out there today

 

[plurker]

I gave it a go this morning. Really nice. Hundreds of cyclists out, and it's so so refreshing to cycle that far without worrying about cars and buses.

Hmm.
I've had more near-accidents in the two days this week using the new CS6 section from Blackfrias to Farringdon, than I have had in months previously.

I guess as it's so new it's inevitable, but seems some cyclists don't know where they're supposed to be going, so suddenly stop without warning. Others are attempting u-turns on the CS. Others are overtaking but without realising it's a 2-way superhighway, so nearly ploughing into other riders head-on. and pedestrians are walking into it as it's not marked or separated from the pavement at all

I also find the 'entrance' to the southbound CS quite odd -I have to cross the lanes of traffic and enter the CS through a tiny section of non-raised kerb. Works for one or two riders, but if there are several then they'd have to wait with their rear wheels into the flow of northbound traffic. I suepct there's a propert entracne somewhere that I haven't yet found - signage is lacking!

Hopefully it'll improve!

Winot I use Kennington Road, it's great. Then I head along Baylis Road, The Cut and left onto Blackfriars approach. The junction around Lambeth North is really bad this week, but usually ok.

 

[Crispy]

Yeah I saw a few close shaves with overtakers. Should shake itself out I reckon.

Yet to try Southbound!

 

[Winot]

plurker the Lambeth North junction seems to have been bad for ages - they really need a yellow box and a camera. Avoiding it is a big plus for me!

 

[plurker]

plurker the Lambeth North junction seems to have been bad for ages - they really need a yellow box and a camera. Avoiding it is a big plus for me!

Fair. I hit it around 945 so guess it's worse earlier, I might try your route!

 

[Pgd]

Yep, another Lambeth North long-sufferer here. Tried CS6 for the first time this morning (all the way from Elephant, including St George's Rd) and it was super-quick -- no particular problems with other cyclists etc. The new NB lane at Elephant starts before the traffic lights at Walworth Rd so you don't need to stop until the St. George's Rd exit... albeit the traffic lights there do make you wait a bit, hopefully they'll be re-phased at some point. Can't see there'd be much in it for time between Kennington Park Rd/SGR and Kennington Rd/Lambeth Rd, but looking forward to having a play

 

[Dogsauce]

Fingerless gloves appropriately deployed this morning, an annual milestone (the attempt about a month ago was premature as I hadn't factored in wind chill)

 

[tommers]

Lovely this morning. No stress, Thames Path was very relaxing, love it.

 

[Virtual Blue]

I wish I was cycled today.
This commute into Essex is annoying. Jammed and baking in the sun.