The daily "I cycled to work" thread
Discussion
I agree with the above, I wore fingerless gloves for the first time and it was bloody freezing, ok after a few miles though
Also dug out the Summer bike for the first time , thought it would be easier than my usual Steel beast, errr 3 degrees, 4 hours sleep and a hangover put a stop to that
Also dug out the Summer bike for the first time , thought it would be easier than my usual Steel beast, errr 3 degrees, 4 hours sleep and a hangover put a stop to that
At the mo I'm still wearing longs, long sleeve base, long sleeve jersey and a gillet, full finger glvoes and a cotton cap first thing, its been 0-3c when I'm setting off at 0630 the last week or so.
Ditch the gilet and base layer in the backpack for the return journey.
Drove to work yesterday, car showed -1c, countless people in shorts!
Ditch the gilet and base layer in the backpack for the return journey.
Drove to work yesterday, car showed -1c, countless people in shorts!
This mornings ride in well and truly put the s
ts up me. Sitting at a red traffic light in an ASL box in a turn right only lane. The inside lane is straight on or turn left. There are no cars directly behind me, but a long queue in the inside lane. I can hear a car approaching from behind and it's going quite fast, it doesn't appear to be slowing down, st it's definitely not slowing down, fk I'm about to be hit by a car, the taxi to my left is very helpfully stopped in the ASL box so I can't dive left. Turn round to look to the rear to find it's a police car with its lights on but no siren travelling on the wrong side of the road at speed and overtaking me through the red light. And breathe. The above took place over about 2 seconds, so little time to do anything, but for about a second of it I did think I was about to become airborne at speed.
ts up me. Sitting at a red traffic light in an ASL box in a turn right only lane. The inside lane is straight on or turn left. There are no cars directly behind me, but a long queue in the inside lane. I can hear a car approaching from behind and it's going quite fast, it doesn't appear to be slowing down, st it's definitely not slowing down, fk I'm about to be hit by a car, the taxi to my left is very helpfully stopped in the ASL box so I can't dive left. Turn round to look to the rear to find it's a police car with its lights on but no siren travelling on the wrong side of the road at speed and overtaking me through the red light. And breathe. The above took place over about 2 seconds, so little time to do anything, but for about a second of it I did think I was about to become airborne at speed.Saturday: knowing the chain has stretched, change it. Look closely at the cassette, seems fine, no obvious wear.
Today: Set of from home, everything OK to the end of the road. Apply a bit more pressure to get moving up a slight hill... huge amounts of chain slip.
Try different gears.
Only one that doesn't have chain slip is the one I set out in (God knows why).
Use that gear and choice of big or little chain ring to get to work. 10 miles on effectively a single speed. Great fun.
New cassette bought and fitted by LBS over lunch.
Place your bets on what the ride home is like - just hoping it was the cassette and not anything else.
Today: Set of from home, everything OK to the end of the road. Apply a bit more pressure to get moving up a slight hill... huge amounts of chain slip.
Try different gears.
Only one that doesn't have chain slip is the one I set out in (God knows why).
Use that gear and choice of big or little chain ring to get to work. 10 miles on effectively a single speed. Great fun.
New cassette bought and fitted by LBS over lunch.
Place your bets on what the ride home is like - just hoping it was the cassette and not anything else.
Abominable ride home this evening, my first try at commuting back ( first try at riding in was yesterday). I've been plucking up the courage to do the 30 mile each way once in a while for ages but finally got round to it. Key was waiting for the light to allow me to get in and home again in daylight or some semblance of it because the countryside bits either end wouldn't be fun in the dark I don't think, while starting out at least.
Anyway... This evening after leaving the city, I got lost trying to find Elephant & Castle which didn't set me up well for the puncture (shard of glass) I had in Dulwich. New tube in and my bloomin pump gives up on me, the metal screw in the cap holding the rubber washer etc, in place sheared through the plastic threads some how. Tried in vain to fix it for a while before giving up and begging a pump lend from a very nice gentleman on a reynolds 531 condor. Once all that was done I felt sure there was no way I'd get all the way back to my corner of Surrey in the light so I aborted and made my way to East Croydon and got the train back.
I'll try again next week.
Anyway... This evening after leaving the city, I got lost trying to find Elephant & Castle which didn't set me up well for the puncture (shard of glass) I had in Dulwich. New tube in and my bloomin pump gives up on me, the metal screw in the cap holding the rubber washer etc, in place sheared through the plastic threads some how. Tried in vain to fix it for a while before giving up and begging a pump lend from a very nice gentleman on a reynolds 531 condor. Once all that was done I felt sure there was no way I'd get all the way back to my corner of Surrey in the light so I aborted and made my way to East Croydon and got the train back.
I'll try again next week.
Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff