The daily "I cycled to work" thread (Vol 2)
Discussion
I did my usual ride into the City of London, but I do earlies so was in by 6:50. Dreading the ride back, especially in the traffic.
I've brought an extra (insulated) water bottle today, in the hope I don't collapse at the end of my 70 minute commute. 1.3 litres of salty water should be enough. Sorry, HAS to be enough.
I've brought an extra (insulated) water bottle today, in the hope I don't collapse at the end of my 70 minute commute. 1.3 litres of salty water should be enough. Sorry, HAS to be enough.
Figured I'd contribute to this thread after posting a new thread and receiving some good advice regarding bad weather commuting.
My iPhone alarm went off at 6am, it was dark and raining and motivation was low. I hit snooze and nearly rolled back over and thought "I'll get the train and start later." Then thought "no I need to stick with it and want to keep up my fitness goals/weight loss".
Dressed and out the door and 10 minutes into the ride I'm snug and slightly snug that I pushed myself to go. Was warm with my waterproof overshoes and wind jacket (maybe a bit warm).
Still a great start to the day and 90 minutes later I'm having a warm shower and feel ready for the day and having breakfast and logging in for work.
My iPhone alarm went off at 6am, it was dark and raining and motivation was low. I hit snooze and nearly rolled back over and thought "I'll get the train and start later." Then thought "no I need to stick with it and want to keep up my fitness goals/weight loss".
Dressed and out the door and 10 minutes into the ride I'm snug and slightly snug that I pushed myself to go. Was warm with my waterproof overshoes and wind jacket (maybe a bit warm).
Still a great start to the day and 90 minutes later I'm having a warm shower and feel ready for the day and having breakfast and logging in for work.
king balaclava 
Got proper soaked this morning in Glasgow. The heavens opened in perfect synchronisation with me leaving the house.
Got treated to a ‘punishment pass’ this morning too. Assuming the guy in the Jag XE took exemption for me filtering and using the cycle box. Tbh I might stop using the cycle box at this particular set of traffic lights where it happened as the lane goes to a bus lane after about 100m and folk use it to quickly ‘undertake’ traffic and get back into the second lane.
Got treated to a ‘punishment pass’ this morning too. Assuming the guy in the Jag XE took exemption for me filtering and using the cycle box. Tbh I might stop using the cycle box at this particular set of traffic lights where it happened as the lane goes to a bus lane after about 100m and folk use it to quickly ‘undertake’ traffic and get back into the second lane.
Still in shorts here, although am using my windproof lightweight jacket more. Didn't look like rain when I left, then had that really fine rain that still soaks you.
As an asside. Any of you cycling in cities wear a pollution mask? Currently I cycle on segregated cycle paths in a city with 10 trees to every person. Pollution really not a big deal here. Average is 1 out of 6 according to MappAir100 by EarthSense. Compared to 4 on the streets I shall be cycling down in London soon.
I did some googling. One study said cyclists were better off than people in cars because of air movement, other said yeah but that doesn't take into account breathing rate so cyclists fair worse. Either way the air will be more polluted. Do these masks work? Realise I will look a bit of a prick, but I do anyway and dont really care. But no point wearing them if they are no good.
As an asside. Any of you cycling in cities wear a pollution mask? Currently I cycle on segregated cycle paths in a city with 10 trees to every person. Pollution really not a big deal here. Average is 1 out of 6 according to MappAir100 by EarthSense. Compared to 4 on the streets I shall be cycling down in London soon.
I did some googling. One study said cyclists were better off than people in cars because of air movement, other said yeah but that doesn't take into account breathing rate so cyclists fair worse. Either way the air will be more polluted. Do these masks work? Realise I will look a bit of a prick, but I do anyway and dont really care. But no point wearing them if they are no good.
Gilhooligan said:
Got proper soaked this morning in Glasgow. The heavens opened in perfect synchronisation with me leaving the house.
Got treated to a ‘punishment pass’ this morning too. Assuming the guy in the Jag XE took exemption for me filtering and using the cycle box. Tbh I might stop using the cycle box at this particular set of traffic lights where it happened as the lane goes to a bus lane after about 100m and folk use it to quickly ‘undertake’ traffic and get back into the second lane.
I got lucky this morning in Glasgow, rain stopped just as I left and followed a JCB pretty much 90% of the way which meant I could easily sit at 25mph with little effort Got treated to a ‘punishment pass’ this morning too. Assuming the guy in the Jag XE took exemption for me filtering and using the cycle box. Tbh I might stop using the cycle box at this particular set of traffic lights where it happened as the lane goes to a bus lane after about 100m and folk use it to quickly ‘undertake’ traffic and get back into the second lane.
Scabutz said:
Still in shorts here, although am using my windproof lightweight jacket more. Didn't look like rain when I left, then had that really fine rain that still soaks you.
As an asside. Any of you cycling in cities wear a pollution mask? Currently I cycle on segregated cycle paths in a city with 10 trees to every person. Pollution really not a big deal here. Average is 1 out of 6 according to MappAir100 by EarthSense. Compared to 4 on the streets I shall be cycling down in London soon.
I did some googling. One study said cyclists were better off than people in cars because of air movement, other said yeah but that doesn't take into account breathing rate so cyclists fair worse. Either way the air will be more polluted. Do these masks work? Realise I will look a bit of a prick, but I do anyway and dont really care. But no point wearing them if they are no good.
Nah, and I have asthma. I can ride beside/on the ring road (Oxford) without problems (although you sure can smell it at times). What does for me is VO2 max intervals, those set it off.As an asside. Any of you cycling in cities wear a pollution mask? Currently I cycle on segregated cycle paths in a city with 10 trees to every person. Pollution really not a big deal here. Average is 1 out of 6 according to MappAir100 by EarthSense. Compared to 4 on the streets I shall be cycling down in London soon.
I did some googling. One study said cyclists were better off than people in cars because of air movement, other said yeah but that doesn't take into account breathing rate so cyclists fair worse. Either way the air will be more polluted. Do these masks work? Realise I will look a bit of a prick, but I do anyway and dont really care. But no point wearing them if they are no good.
Imo, pollution masks just look silly and restrict your breathing (plus, they only deal with particulates anyway). The health benefits of cycling are going to outweigh the pollution factor.
Phunk said:
I got lucky this morning in Glasgow, rain stopped just as I left and followed a JCB pretty much 90% of the way which meant I could easily sit at 25mph with little effort
Nice! I've never taken a particularly long pull from a motor, although I did once use a bus doing 30 to lead out a sprint, and, another time, I drafted a lorry on a dual carriageway...
Edited by Solocle on Wednesday 16th October 20:53
Gilhooligan said:
SamR380 said:
If it's only 100m I'd 'dominate' the lane.
I did a half arsed attempt at this. I think that’s why he ended up passing by me so close as I left just enough gap for him to squeeze by. Need to go all or nothing in future. 
Not so long ago I was on a car park exit road, you know, the block paved kind that has a low speed limit, and those raised brick "rumble strips" every so often.
There was a parked car on my right, and I wanted to pull up to the kerb beyond it to dismount and access a bike shop via a pedestrian precinct. So I'm positioned well to the right in the (single lane) of available space, but not in the "door zone" on the passenger side of the parked car. As I move toward the kerb on my right, a Range Rover pulls up alongside me to my left. The driver proceeds to lecture me about my "failure to signal", suggesting that he'd been "about to overtake you, you could have been squashed". Well no, actually, I told him. My road position was enough (or certainly should have been for a competent driver) and I couldn't signal while covering my brakes and retaining control of my steering. And besides which, he could only have realistically overtaken me on my nearside, which was EXACTLY what I'd intended when I positioned myself so as to manage the road space around me. Not a hint of irony in the fact that RR-man was dispensing driving/riding advice while holding a hot cup of Starbucks coffee in his left hand and not wearing a seatbelt...
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