The daily "I cycled to work" thread

[MC Bodge]

It was -1, with a cold slight headwind this morning.

Not a record breaking ride.

[loudlashadjuster]

pablo said:

Held a cracking slide on the ice this morning, pretty sure I looked like Valentino Rossi to all who saw it....

I imagine mine looked quite dashing too. Until the moment I got embedded in the hedge, that is.

[MC Bodge]

Black can man said:

I prefer Legs, heels & cleavage to sea gulls


first ray of the sun for the year & Tower hill becomes one of the most beautiful places

Personally, I find riding into a city at rush hour horrendous.

Riding away from a city on quiet lanes and tracks at "rush hour" at the pace of my choice is infinitely preferable

[anonymous-user]

Black can man said:

I prefer Legs, heels & cleavage to sea gulls


first ray of the sun for the year & Tower hill becomes one of the most beautiful places

There's plenty of totty running along the beach I can assure you

[AC43]

CoinSl0t said:

I do pity you poor buggers riding in the cities, you have some real commitment

It wouldn't be fair to show you my scenery on my ride in.

Plenty of scenery here in London, thanks. Two legged, two wheeled, four wheeled, bricks and mortar.

My previous commute used to bring me over Waterloo Bridge at the end which gives some of the most beautiful views I know. These days I cycle towards the city and see the sun coming up over the steel and glass. It can be spectacular.

Horses for courses :-)

[Nikolai]

Lovely evening for an extended ride home in Bristol yesterday.

[anonymous-user]

Nice pics Nikolai, I didn't ride this morning, but I'll take a couple tomorrow morning.

[S10GTA]

Bottled it this morning as everything was white, but I've done 90 miles over the last 3 days so don't feel "that" guilty.

[Vocal Minority]

nicest of the year so far in the sunny midlands

ETA: Porridge with water, not milk.

Edited by Vocal Minority on Wednesday 18th February 10:59

[GarryDK]

The knob in the red Corsa this morning jumping a red light at a toucan crossing this morning, missed my front wheel by inches. Pissed me right off, especially as it was less than a mile from my home. Had to ride the next 12 miles pissed off. I don’t usually let these things bother me but it was so close and he didn’t even slow down.

[Steve vRS]

First ride for ages and was annoyed by a rattle.

I eventually tracked it down to my bottle cage!

Also, my Garmin is away for replacement and so I have no metrics to watch (speed, cadence, HR etc.). I do miss my data!

Granola and yogurt in the office to resurrect an old theme!

Steve

[MC Bodge]

GarryDK said:

The knob in the red Corsa this morning jumping a red light at a toucan crossing this morning, missed my front wheel by inches. Pissed me right off, especially as it was less than a mile from my home. Had to ride the next 12 miles pissed off. I donâ??t usually let these things bother me but it was so close and he didnâ??t even slow down.

A nob in a red A3 annoyed
Me yesterday when he squeezed between me (at what sounded like full throttle) and an oncoming car at the only narrow part of the road, cutting in very tightly towards me as he just about made it past me. Why didn't he ease off an wait for the very wide section of straight road that we were entering?

...he was still at the traffic lights at the ed of the road when I reached him....

I was not abusive, but stared at the chap with dead eyes and repeatedly asked him "you know why I am lookking at you, don't you?"
-The driver didn't say no, but appeared to be quite scared, was muttering himself and trying to avoid my gaze. He shot off when the lights changed.

I'm not interested in retribution, just that he might think twice before cutting-up or unnecessarily squeezing past a cyclist in future.

Edited by MC Bodge on Wednesday 18th February 13:19

[Steve vRS]

Bloody flew home

That is all!

[nagsheadwarrior]

Sunny ride in and a nice tail wind for a quick ride home.
Shame it's gonna chuck it down in the mirning so taking the car.

[AC43]

MC Bodge said:

GarryDK said:

The knob in the red Corsa this morning jumping a red light at a toucan crossing this morning, missed my front wheel by inches. Pissed me right off, especially as it was less than a mile from my home. Had to ride the next 12 miles pissed off. I donâ??t usually let these things bother me but it was so close and he didnâ??t even slow down.

A nob in a red A3 annoyed
Me yesterday when he squeezed between me (at what sounded like full throttle) and an oncoming car at the only narrow part of the road, cutting in very tightly towards me as he just about made it past me. Why didn't he ease off an wait for the very wide section of straight road that we were entering?

...he was still at the traffic lights at the ed of the road when I reached him....

I was not abusive, but stared at the chap with dead eyes and repeatedly asked him "you know why I am lookking at you, don't you?"
-The driver didn't say no, but appeared to be quite scared, was muttering himself and trying to avoid my gaze. He shot off when the lights changed.

I'm not interested in retribution, just that he might think twice before cutting-up or unnecessarily squeezing past a cyclist in future.

Edited by MC Bodge on Wednesday 18th February 13:19

Had one of those with some bloke in a Merc E Class estate this morning. He tried three times to squeeze/barge past with milimetres to spare in 300 yards. The third time I was indicating right and pulled into the middle of the road so he decided to give it the beans and sit right off my rear wheel. I objected and stopped, asking him why he appeared to be intent on killing me. A full-on Shoreditch type (20's, tweeds, elaborate beard) who was crossing the road at the time was so preoccupied with looking over his shoulder trying to hear what the Merc driver was shouting at me that he walked straight into the side of my bike and fell over it. Mr Shoreditch then got REALLY angry and started shouting at both of us. At which point I began to think it was quite funny.

Anyway, where's that poster with the sea views? That's twice in a week I've had some psychotic 60-something East Londoner trying to drive his vehicle through my bike.

Used to get this all the time when I first cycled through town 20+ years ago. I though they'd all died out a long time ago.

[ecsrobin]

So I started cycling to work on a regular basis as of last Monday, its only a 4.5 mile commute but for someone who used to drive to work its a big step and I'm still on my FS mountain bike but locked out, I will at some point have enough money for a road bike or cx bike but that's for another day.

So I did my 45 mile week commute, was on call Saturday and then Sunday morning i was up early so decided to cycle the 16 miles to Sherwood Pines, did an 8 mile lap on 65psi tyres (to slow me down in the mud so I didn't tire myself out) then cycled back home all in 40 miles in a morning. Really happy with that as the furthest I've gone before is 20 miles but all off road. I wasn't out to set race winning times but happy with the effort none the less.

This week I'm up to 22 miles covered during the week but had a day off Tuesday and wanted a day off the bike, I'm doing the strava challenge of 250km in the month and I'm currently at 250km and my plan is whatever i have left to complete by Friday evening I'll do it in one big ride at the weekend but it will be about 16/17 miles I think.

Anyway back to todays commute and it was an early 0430 start through open countryside, whatever way I turned it was a headwind (Isn't it always!) and i hate riding in the wind!

[MC Bodge]

AC43 said:

Had one of those with some bloke in a Merc E Class estate this morning. He tried three times to squeeze/barge past with milimetres to spare in 300 yards. The third time I was indicating right and pulled into the middle of the road so he decided to give it the beans and sit right off my rear wheel. I objected and stopped, asking him why he appeared to be intent on killing me. A full-on Shoreditch type (20's, tweeds, elaborate beard) who was crossing the road at the time was so preoccupied with looking over his shoulder trying to hear what the Merc driver was shouting at me that he walked straight into the side of my bike and fell over it. Mr Shoreditch then got REALLY angry and started shouting at both of us. At which point I began to think it was quite funny.

Anyway, where's that poster with the sea views? That's twice in a week I've had some psychotic 60-something East Londoner trying to drive his vehicle through my bike.

Used to get this all the time when I first cycled through town 20+ years ago. I though they'd all died out a long time ago.

Interestingly, the chap in the A3 who I had a scare from was probably in his late 50s, not the 20s-30s bloke I'd expected him to be.

The typical problem drivers are often:

20 something girls in small cars, who appear clueless, on Facebook and aggressively erratic. Someone on a bike probably hardly registers in their mind.

20-40 Something aggressive men, who probably do notice the bike, but are desperate to force their way past, even with only mm to spare.

Old people (and some middle-aged
Women) who seem bewildered and over-awed by driving.

[Black can man]

Much better weather in South London this morning,Signs of spring appearing.

I was flying this morning.

[AC43]

MC Bodge said:

Old people

or older men, anyway

I think some of them are just old school and hanker back to the days of Page 3, casual racisim, groping, drink driving and knocking people off their bikes in their Ford Cortinas.

Ah those were the days, eh...?

[AyBee]

Never heard someone whine so much having been overtaken as I did this morning - in retrospect, he'd obviously been hanging back from the guy in front (traffic queuing to the right of us) but I didn't realise so overtook him into the space infront whereby he then got all stroppy and tried to squeeze back up my inside prior to calling me a count without the o. I sometimes wonder how people get so angry so early in the morning