The daily "I cycled to work" thread
Discussion
AyBee said:
Nothing quite like a car almost wiping you out to wake you up in the morning. Was filtering down the middle where the biggest gap was and some twunt decided he was going to try and change lanes outside to inside without looking - no idea how I got through the gap but was shaking for a little while afterwards!
I had a similar thing happen to me a couple of days ago. Only i was in the middle of the road. one lane on each side of the road. I'm filtering past traffic on my left that's going nowhere because of a red light. a f
king idiot decides to pull out of the traffic and go into the lane of oncoming traffic so that he can go about 50metres down the road and take a right. He didn't signal or anything. I was right behind him and my braking alone was not enough to avoid him, I had to swerve. Shouted at the top of my voice and he legged it. Today. ugh. I've spent the last week and a half avoiding a piece of fox roadkill on a stretch of road on my commute home.... up until today when I forget. Yuck. squishy under my wheels.
Slightly different route in today, 52.5 mile round trip. Averaged 18.3mph going in and 16.2 coming home, so happy with that. Overall journey times were the same as the shorter route with a big climb way I normally use, which I think the summit of is at about 1000 feet (and work is pretty much at sea level), but not as fun.
Desk20 said:
I can finally join this thread.
This morning was my first ride in for over two years (14 miles - Snaresbrook to Hammersmith), I have hardly been on the bike at all in that time. A lovely morning to ride in and a lesson learned.
I knew it could be rather a struggle after all that time, (although I had been out for a few rides locally in the past couple of weeks to build up to it), I took it steady and didn’t try too hard, just a gentle ride and I found that I was only a couple of minutes slower than previously when I had been a regular commuter.
I can quite easily fall into the trap of always trying to better my times so I end up pushing too hard to soon, tiring before the half way point and then absolutely knackered by the time I get to work. The ride becomes a chore and not enjoyable so motivation slips away and the gap between rides grows until eventually I stop altogether. So I must forget times and just enjoy the ride.
Nice one This morning was my first ride in for over two years (14 miles - Snaresbrook to Hammersmith), I have hardly been on the bike at all in that time. A lovely morning to ride in and a lesson learned.
I knew it could be rather a struggle after all that time, (although I had been out for a few rides locally in the past couple of weeks to build up to it), I took it steady and didn’t try too hard, just a gentle ride and I found that I was only a couple of minutes slower than previously when I had been a regular commuter.
I can quite easily fall into the trap of always trying to better my times so I end up pushing too hard to soon, tiring before the half way point and then absolutely knackered by the time I get to work. The ride becomes a chore and not enjoyable so motivation slips away and the gap between rides grows until eventually I stop altogether. So I must forget times and just enjoy the ride.
Jayfish said:
Desk20 said:
I can finally join this thread.
This morning was my first ride in for over two years (14 miles - Snaresbrook to Hammersmith), I have hardly been on the bike at all in that time. A lovely morning to ride in and a lesson learned.
I knew it could be rather a struggle after all that time, (although I had been out for a few rides locally in the past couple of weeks to build up to it), I took it steady and didn’t try too hard, just a gentle ride and I found that I was only a couple of minutes slower than previously when I had been a regular commuter.
I can quite easily fall into the trap of always trying to better my times so I end up pushing too hard to soon, tiring before the half way point and then absolutely knackered by the time I get to work. The ride becomes a chore and not enjoyable so motivation slips away and the gap between rides grows until eventually I stop altogether. So I must forget times and just enjoy the ride.
Nice one This morning was my first ride in for over two years (14 miles - Snaresbrook to Hammersmith), I have hardly been on the bike at all in that time. A lovely morning to ride in and a lesson learned.
I knew it could be rather a struggle after all that time, (although I had been out for a few rides locally in the past couple of weeks to build up to it), I took it steady and didn’t try too hard, just a gentle ride and I found that I was only a couple of minutes slower than previously when I had been a regular commuter.
I can quite easily fall into the trap of always trying to better my times so I end up pushing too hard to soon, tiring before the half way point and then absolutely knackered by the time I get to work. The ride becomes a chore and not enjoyable so motivation slips away and the gap between rides grows until eventually I stop altogether. So I must forget times and just enjoy the ride.
Lea Bridge Road or Olympic Park route?
I've never commuted by train/bike before but I did this morning as I'm looking to do it going forward. Picked up a folding Btwin tilt which is actually pretty good as folding bikes go, some interesting tech. Sparked quite a bit of interest with the other bikers on the train as I wheeled it on then sat on it. They didn't even take the piss - much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkdcX9OW4j0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H76bGnKS38
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkdcX9OW4j0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H76bGnKS38
Not going to be able to ride in for a few weeks now as my winter / commuter has been stipped down and taken to the powder coaters, only he's on holiday for 2 weeks!
It's an old italian steel frame and was starting to show some rust around the dropouts and bb shell so thought I'd get it done before another winter takes its toll. Looking forward to getting it back in its new colour though, have a few new bits for it aswel, 5600 shifter and brakes, bars, stem, headset, bb and chain.
Should've done it earlier but the Master build took priority!
It's an old italian steel frame and was starting to show some rust around the dropouts and bb shell so thought I'd get it done before another winter takes its toll. Looking forward to getting it back in its new colour though, have a few new bits for it aswel, 5600 shifter and brakes, bars, stem, headset, bb and chain.
Should've done it earlier but the Master build took priority!
Flying this morning. PR up a 1.3mile, 2% 'hill' http://www.strava.com/activities/193346271/segment... , smashing my previous average speed up it (18.9 Vs 17.9)! If that was in a UCI race I'd be getting tested!
And then let off of course
Steve
And then let off of course
Steve
Matt_N said:
Not going to be able to ride in for a few weeks now as my winter / commuter has been stipped down and taken to the powder coaters, only he's on holiday for 2 weeks!
It's an old italian steel frame and was starting to show some rust around the dropouts and bb shell so thought I'd get it done before another winter takes its toll. Looking forward to getting it back in its new colour though, have a few new bits for it aswel, 5600 shifter and brakes, bars, stem, headset, bb and chain.
Should've done it earlier but the Master build took priority!
How much are you paying for this? Have you sourced all the replacment transfers ? It's an old italian steel frame and was starting to show some rust around the dropouts and bb shell so thought I'd get it done before another winter takes its toll. Looking forward to getting it back in its new colour though, have a few new bits for it aswel, 5600 shifter and brakes, bars, stem, headset, bb and chain.
Should've done it earlier but the Master build took priority!
Media blast and powder coat in metallic for the f & f is about £60.
It's decalless at present so wasn't going to re-apply any and I'm not entirely sure what frame it is - it was sold by my LBS years ago and came back to them, think it's made from Oria tubing, but this is a good place to source decals http://www.hlloydcycles.com/page4.htm
They'll even make them up for you, I got some Tange Superlight ones for my Master made up by them
It's decalless at present so wasn't going to re-apply any and I'm not entirely sure what frame it is - it was sold by my LBS years ago and came back to them, think it's made from Oria tubing, but this is a good place to source decals http://www.hlloydcycles.com/page4.htm
They'll even make them up for you, I got some Tange Superlight ones for my Master made up by them
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