How was your cycle commute?

[not-bono-ever]

my coccyx is fucking killing me and I have a dull ache in my vestibules.

 

[Dogsauce]

There are still a lot of cyclists. But only during rush hour, and everyone is a bit more serious.

I was out for a couple of hours sprinting round bits of north London at 12:30 am this morning and saw around half a dozen other cyclists still out at that time, all looking pretty purposeful.

 

[Winot]

I was out for a couple of hours sprinting round bits of north London at 12:30 am this morning and saw around half a dozen other cyclists still out at that time, all looking pretty purposeful.

I went through a stage (when I was younger so with more energy and no money for cabs) of going clubbing then cycling home at 2/3am. Was great - home in 30-45 mins on nice empty roads.

 

[BigTom]

Early data shows the segregated London cycle superhighways are being heavily used: Huge growth in use of London's protected Cycle Superhighways, says TfL

at peak times:
70% of traffic on Blackfriars bridge (does not count pedestrians) - 4.6k cyclists in the morning, 3.7k in the evening (anyone in London want to venture why this would be different?)
52% of traffic on Victoria embankment (you need to got to the linked TfL document for this stat), 3.6k am and 3.3k pm.

50% increase in cycling on the superhighways since segregation.

useful stats when someone says they aren't being used or that they are taking up too much space:

6.32 In terms of total people movement, rather than the quantity of vehicles, initial findings into the road space efficiency of CSEW and CSNS suggest that at peak times, the new cycling infrastructure moves an average of 46 per cent of people along the route at key congested locations, despite occupying only 30 per cent of the road space. Two weeks after opening, the CSEW and CSNS corridors are moving five per cent more people per hour than they could without cycle lanes, a number that will increase as they attract more cyclists.

http://content.tfl.gov.uk/pic-161130-07-cycle-quietways.pdf

 

[iamwithnail]

That's cool. For me it's not that they save much time (if any) - they don't. It just takes cycling to work from being a fairly 'on-edge', hyper aware activity to being something that's quite pleasant and significantly less stressful. The worst bit of my commute now is along Camberwell New Road between Camberwell Green and Oval - where there's just painted lanes and lots of traffic, I can avoid that by going the back roads though.

tl;dr - MOAR LANES PLZ

 

[Winot]

70% of traffic on Blackfriars bridge (does not count pedestrians) - 4.6k cyclists in the morning, 3.7k in the evening (anyone in London want to venture why this would be different?)

900 cyclists regularly out on the piss

 

[Crispy]

Evening peak is always more spread out than morning. Everyone's in for 9, but lots of people go home early or late.

 

[BigTom]

Evening peak is always more spread out than morning. Everyone's in for 9, but lots of people go home early or late.

cheers - obvious answer that never occurred to me

 

[joustmaster]

Its great to see how well used and busy the proper cycle lanes are.

The crowds and the lanes being more narrow than the roads is really slowing me down, though.

 

[joustmaster]

Any one else hate the green laser bike projection on the front of the Boris bikes/Sadiq cycles?

 

[gentlegreen]

Any one else hate the green laser bike projection on the front of the Boris bikes/Sadiq cycles?

So they finally managed to offload those crappy crowdfunded things ?

 

[Crispy]

So they finally managed to offload those crappy crowdfunded things ?

Only the red ones must have been selling

 

[joustmaster]

They're so distracting.

They dance all over the place and make people take their eyes of the road

 

[Crispy]

They should be mounted to the head tube rather than the handlebars, at the very least. (if there is such a part on the Boris Tank)

 

[gentlegreen]

Coincidentally, I ordered another set of cheapo rubber lights for dire emergencies - (approx £1 delivered from China) and couldn't resist some novelty spoke lights - I can't think when I'll use them as I don't cycle in the dark unless I have to and the 32 LED one that makes actual patterns has three AAA batteries so will probably add noticeable vibration at any speed ... but it was cheap.



Crispy how robust did your electroluminescent wiring prove to be ?

 

[Crispy]

Crispy how robust did your electroluminescent wiring prove to be ?

It degrades in UV light, so it's no good for the long term (unless you ride your bike at night only and store it indoors!)

 

[Virtual Blue]

Thameslink Station (St Paul's exit), fire engines and shit. Very distractive and nearly crashed into a stationary cyclist.

Great ride in and out. Weather is lush.

 

[iamwithnail]

Whaaaaaat? It was -3 when I left this morning! I looked at the frost on the road and took the train.

 

[weepiper]

Just on the topic of lights, if you are a filthy rich posh sounding banking type, don't come into one branch of a chain at 5 to closing time, buy a £180 front light and a £25 helmet without leaving your customer details then try to return the light for a refund at another branch the next day, covered in mud, because it has a feature that you 'don't like'. They will know you thought you could just borrow it to go nightriding with your pal that does mountain biking more than you and they will tell you politely to GTF.

 

[Virtual Blue]

Whaaaaaat? It was -3 when I left this morning! I looked at the frost on the road and took the train.

At 9am? It was sunny with a tiny bit of frost in Streatham.

 

[a_chap]

-7 here this morning.

I too opted for four wheels. And a heater.

 

[BigTom]

-2 here and I rode as always but then it's only 20minutes.

 

[dylanredefined]

Cold though an suv actually moved over to let me through which was nice. Broke a bike light which was annoying.

 

[gentlegreen]

Ski mitts going and returning but no sign of ice.
If I hadn't ruined my right thumb with my house renovations, I would have had no problem changing gear.

 

[iamwithnail]

At 9am? It was sunny with a tiny bit of frost in Streatham.

Half eight, -3 it reckoned, -5 with wind-chill.

 

[Virtual Blue]

Half eight, -3 it reckoned, -5 with wind-chill.

Nah, no way man.
It was maybe -1 at most. Was cold but very sunny.

Then if it does drop more, I have my balaclava ready.

 

[Biddlybee]

The sun was too low to do anything when we left home, was freezing. Still nice though.

 

[The Fornicator]

06:40 start from Loughborough Junction; in shorts, very hard on the nuts. Didn't give ice a thought, perhaps should have. Bought a buff tonight:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Buff-Original-Multi-Function-Headwear/dp/B004GUSWXM

 

[Pgd]

Hi, putting this here as it's cycle-commuting related.

Until this summer I lived in Croydon/T. Heath and cycle-commuted, hence not really giving a shit about train strikes. Now I've been dragged out to Sussex (E Grinstead) to be nearer other half's family, which is all well & good, and actually the Southern strikes so far have been relatively kind. BUT it now appears that there's gonna be some complete close-downs of the network over the next couple of months. So I'm thinking about alternatives.

I was thinking maybe of driving into S London to somewhere roughly 10-12 miles out (i.e. my old Croydon commuting distance), with the bike in the boot, and then cycling in from there. A quick look at Google Maps this morning suggests that the traffic isn't *too* bad if I sneak in Oxted/New Addington/Keston way, so that on a good day I might be able to drive for ~1 hour and cycle for ~1 hour and not be down too much time on my usual bike + train + Boris bike arrangement. But can anyone suggest a good place to leave the car? Somewhere with a fairly clear run in from E Grinstead, with a fair amount of unrestricted parking nearby, and 10-12 miles from Holborn? CP park? Elmers End? Beckenham/Lower Syd? Or is this all just madness?

Cheers all! Be good to hear from any others in the same boat, too

 

[braindancer]

06:40 start from Loughborough Junction; in shorts, very hard on the nuts. Didn't give ice a thought, perhaps should have. Bought a buff tonight:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Buff-Original-Multi-Function-Headwear/dp/B004GUSWXM

Stop wearing shorts? Just a thought....

Wee bit milder today but still took me 10 minutes to fully regain feeling in my fingers after arriving at work.