And today's commuting highlight is...

[CAPP0]

CAPP0 said:

I think they're probably the Rail Strike Wobblers I mentioned some weeks back, same happened the last time Southern took unpaid leave

I too got stuck behind an extremely slow filterer yesterday whose mirrors were clearly set so that he could look at himself, not behind, and thus had no idea that there was a queue of about a dozen frustrated bikes behind him.

Edited by CAPP0 on Wednesday 7th December 22:00

Same again this morning, took me the same time to do the last 25% of the A102 as it did the other 75% due to someone tiptoeing their way through. Other bikes were actually trying to pass him whenever there was a gap but he still didn't get the hint.

[CAPP0]

There's a team curry on tonight, and whilst the lure of alcohol was not great enough for me to attempt public transport, I decided that if I used the car instead of the bike, I could have a couple of small bottles of beer, and then, at 10pm this evening, it will take just as long to go back to the office and get togged up for the bike as it will to just jump in the car and drive home. I very very nearly convinced myself that the bike was still the better option, but oh no, I brought the car.

I left home, 30 miles from the office, just after 8am this morning. I've just got in....

Honestly, I use the car for work about once or twice a year, seriously. Every time I do, there's a massive cluster-fk on the roads. Today's is apparently something to do with the Canning Town flyover, so everyone's coming in south of the river, but just for sts and giggles, they've closed the slip coming out of the tunnel which goes towards the A13/Isle of Dogs. Hilarious.

I've now told MrsC that if I ever so much as glance at the car key on a work day again, she has to smack me round the head and flush the key down the toilet.

[CAPP0]

308mate said:

Tall_Paul said:

Naked bikes in winter suck. I've decided I want a new commuter with a big ass screen next winter.

Behold the rise of the screen of the RT!

Cleaned my visor twice last week, in 320 miles.

I had a day working from home last week and read some of this, then I set off the next day with some trepidation and a bit of wet kitchen towel.

Needn't have bothered

(PS: Pete, you were saying something recently about sliding around a bit? Mine's on PR4s, bit squared off now but has definitely not slid at all in the past few weeks).

[CAPP0]

OMNIO said:

Getting knocked off hurts.

Ouch Will probably feel a bit knocked about in the morning.

There's a guy at my place who puts waterproofs over his office trousers, I do wonder, I wouldn't want to take a tumble like that.

[CAPP0]

black-k1 said:

OMNIO said:

Getting knocked off hurts.

I hope things get sorted pretty quickly.

CAPP0 said:

Ouch Will probably feel a bit knocked about in the morning.

There's a guy at my place who puts waterproofs over his office trousers, I do wonder, I wouldn't want to take a tumble like that.

I wouldn't want to take a tumble ... full stop!!!

Well there is that too!

[CAPP0]

Tonight's highlight really was a highlight. You know those rides when everything just clicks into place, you feel like the bike is just an extension of you, you scythe through wherever you want to go and it's all completely smooth and instinctive? Me tonight

[CAPP0]

Extra 2 mins of daylight per day from next week. Don't knock it - that's an hour a month!

[CAPP0]

This morning was, er, interesting.

Got all togged up, got on the bike, moved it to turn round on the drive and thought, hmm, this doesn't feel right. Rode 100 yards, TPMS going mental on the dash, and sure enough there's a sodding great metal item through the shoulder of the rear tyre. Back home again and I'm thinking, right, that's me at the mercy of the trains til after Xmas, no chance whatsoever of getting it sorted this week.

Then I suddenly remembered that there was a TDM in the shed Haven't used it for 4 months, dragged it out, started first time, so I zipped in on that.

Bonus ball #1 - roads were deserted.

Bonus ball #2 - the maintenance man here saw me come in on it, ooohed and aaahed and said he'd always wanted one. Well, er, it is for sale.

Or is it? Now I think I need to keep it as a standby!

Fortunately the destroyed rear tyre isn't the end of the world as they were starting to get near to needing changing anyway.

[CAPP0]

SteelerSE said:

Nice easy ride in this morning - all layered up, dry roads, the worst of the greasy sludge seems to have gone and cold enough to keep most of the cycle locusts off the roads.

I can only assume that the ride home will be a clusterfk - it's not often that it's this straightforward!

Edited by SteelerSE on Tuesday 20th December 14:31

That was the pattern for yesterday, and today matches the morning part, so.......

[CAPP0]

Oh I wish it could be Christmas(Eve) every daaaaaaay
45 mins door to door in the car, waheeeeeeeeey
Oh I wish it could be Christmas(Eve) every daaaaaaay
And now the bike's.....tucked up.....for Christmaaaaaas

Sing it, chaps

Have a good one everybody!

[CAPP0]

sjtscott said:

Shoei GT Air problems

I bought one and ended up returning it after about a month, for similar issues to yours - lovely plush comfortable lid but useless in the wet. The dealer said I wasn't the only one to return it.

[CAPP0]

Bloody nice ride in this morning. Not cold, dry, clear, bit of sun poking through. What's not to like. The traffic was all displaced due to an A2 accident but that just meant I did my filtering early and got through the tunnel quicker. Only minor downside was a filterer going at about +1mph to the traffic who wouldn't move over for the queue of bikes behind him for about 2 miles, until just before a set of lights anyway.

So, tomorrow. Even the fragrant Carole says it's going to snow. My day would normally be, ride to CW, park up, head into the West End for appointments. I think I'm going to have to take a deep breath and get the train into Victoria. Really don't want to, but I don't want to have to risk 260kg of Ark Royal in the slush, or worse, have to abandon it somewhere.

[CAPP0]

sjtscott said:

Journey was relatively smooth in today save for Mr met Green ZZR14 who I got stuck behind in the limehouse link tunnel who was clearly not a confident bike commuter

The traffic southbound out of the tunnel was really heavy last night, unusually so, and apparently over on drivershatebikers.com, they had all hatched a plan to sit as close as possible to the white line so that no bikes could pass. It worked really well

Anyway, further up the road, once they got bored, all the cars were doing about 20moh, with enough space down the middle for a third car if required. But I got stuck behind Mr ZZR's mate. He was making progress past them.....at about 21mph. Would he move over for the rest of us? Would he fk.

And I've just got off a train

[CAPP0]

I've just travelled home on the train and by car and this is perhaps the only time I've ever been glad I did. OK, it's no snowpocalypse, but it's definitely not a bike night either. Settling quickly in Kent, maybe only 1" but that includes main roads and when you consider that half my commute is the line from top right to bottom left below and that road NEVER gets any traffic holdups, I definitely did the right thing:



Here's a traffic camera on the M20. Remember this only started about half an hour ago:




Looks like just one lane being kept clear through the middle.

[CAPP0]

Ian Geary said:

My lowlight

Falling off in the snow, south bound on a23,just after m23 turnoff

Highlight

Couple in car behind helping me pick it up, then giving me a lift home (well, still stuck in traffic at the moment).

Let's hope the bike is still there tomorrow

Oh bugger Hope you're OK?

Worth going back out and chaining it to something?

[CAPP0]

Was talking to a guy at work yesterday who comes in on a scooter. I said I thought I was going to use the train today. he said "You take the train, I'll take the p155.

Au contraire now, methinks.

[CAPP0]

Mr_Tickle said:

I live on a cul-de-sac and the street was completely iced up, i wasn't sure I could even get of the drive without dropping the bike,

Exactly the same for me, so I had to drive then train.

Equally glad that I wasn't on the bike when I encountered (Vauxhall) Mokka Man on the M20 who, despite the outside lane being covered in a thick layer of frozen-solid slush, decided that since his imitation-SUV sadmobile looked a bit like a 4x4, it must be 'ard enough to cope, and kept swerving out and overtaking stuff. I ended up dropping back just to make sure he didn't collect me during one of his antics.

[CAPP0]

I was going to comment on the weather too. Carole Kirkwood, who, last time I checked, works for the BBC, said it would be "damp". The BBC Weather website said it would be dry (all week). Right hand vs left hand? In fact it was bloody wet.

Lowlights today. One was the really high level of (very dozy) traffic, filtering was hard work today. And the other one was, on the M20, everything slowed down on hazards, and when we got to the incident, on the hard shoulder there was an R6 which had clearly been over, and a van. How do you dump a bike on a motorway? My guess is that he's one of the slalom kings, the van moved out on him and he grabbed a big handful of front brake, but I could be wrong. Bike and Rukka'd rider were at least upright.

[CAPP0]

Today's highlight must have been a lowlight for someone else.

Went to join the M20 at J4, traffic virtually at a standstill and queuing to get down the slip road, (which isn't usual). Do I filter through, or, if there's been an accident, should I turn round and go another way because they might stop everyone while they clear it up?

Turned round and went another way. Wasn't sure I had done the right thing until I joined the M20 at the next junction up. Nothing at all coming up from the direction of the hold-up. Total motorway traffic = me and three cars. Safe in the knowledge that all the upholders of the leur were busy elsewhere, I was able to make, ahem, rather decent progress all the way up the motorway.

My last commute into CW today. I'm elsewhere the rest of this week, and we move into new offices at St Kath Dock next week, so I'll be trying new routes.

[CAPP0]

Sea Demon said:

CAPP0 said:

Today's highlight must have been a lowlight for someone else.

Went to join the M20 at J4, traffic virtually at a standstill and queuing to get down the slip road, (which isn't usual). Do I filter through, or, if there's been an accident, should I turn round and go another way because they might stop everyone while they clear it up?

Turned round and went another way. Wasn't sure I had done the right thing until I joined the M20 at the next junction up. Nothing at all coming up from the direction of the hold-up. Total motorway traffic = me and three cars. Safe in the knowledge that all the upholders of the leur were busy elsewhere, I was able to make, ahem, rather decent progress all the way up the motorway.

My last commute into CW today. I'm elsewhere the rest of this week, and we move into new offices at St Kath Dock next week, so I'll be trying new routes.

There was a smashed up Astra sat in the middle lane just before the M26 turn off - was nice and clear after that

Ah, makes sense. I went up the A20 and back on at Wrotham and had the road almost to myself!