The daily "I cycled to work" thread
Discussion
thepawbroon said:
Rocksteadyeddie said:
I suppose the question is how much of a problem punctures really are? I reckon on 2 or 3 a year in I don't know how many thousand miles. It's a pain in the arse of course, but not one that merits any serious consideration at a solution.
For sure - as the posts further up the thread highlighted, there are plenty cyclists going out without the means not ability to change a puncture. At the end of the day, you can always get the bike home one way or another. With cars and motorbikes it's a weird situation. On a very small sample size (i.e. me!) the mitigation is all wrong....
In my car, I've not had a puncture since 1995. Yet every single car I've had has had the means to change or "fix" a puncture. On my motorbike, I've had 3 punctures in 7 years, and still don't carry any repair kit.
I best stop talking about them "p" things now........
t on the road is?Rocksteadyeddie said:
thepawbroon said:
Rocksteadyeddie said:
p*******s
p******e.I best stop talking about them "p" things now........
t on the road is?In other news - beasted the commute today, on the Single speed - 55m36sec. That's my reward for getting up 10 mins earlier and getting down Garrett Lane with little traffic. Might nod off at the desk later......
ride home was hard work, then realised the tyre had deformed on the rim, the last mile was a bit lumpy
Ironically I missed the rain, but decided to refit the tyre in the garden and got soaked, after 3 times I finally got the cheap tyre properly on, having realised the last owner fitted a 20-23c inner tube with a 37 tyre!!! The gear indexing was then fked, so had to readjust the cable then test
I thought it would all fail this morning as soon as I hit the first hill, but the bike rode so much better
Nice ride in, bit windy but not too bad,
Ditched commuting on my nice bikes and nice decent gear, instead I have swapped to a s/h Kona Dew, sports Direct running top, Aldi shorts, old northwave shoes. Seems loads less hassle and less to worry about. Ironically I am doing the same pace over the 10 miles and getting some nice scalps in on the way home
Ironically I missed the rain, but decided to refit the tyre in the garden and got soaked, after 3 times I finally got the cheap tyre properly on, having realised the last owner fitted a 20-23c inner tube with a 37 tyre!!! The gear indexing was then f
ked, so had to readjust the cable then testI thought it would all fail this morning as soon as I hit the first hill, but the bike rode so much better
Nice ride in, bit windy but not too bad,
Ditched commuting on my nice bikes and nice decent gear, instead I have swapped to a s/h Kona Dew, sports Direct running top, Aldi shorts, old northwave shoes. Seems loads less hassle and less to worry about. Ironically I am doing the same pace over the 10 miles and getting some nice scalps in on the way home
I must have more early meetings! 
Left home half an hour earlier this morning, and was rewarded with 5 PRs on Strava, including the 5.6 mile segment on CS7, which I'm pretty chuffed with for a commute I've ridden over 100 times!
On the less chuffed side, I managed, for the first time ever - albeit only for the tiniest time before I had to start slowing for lights - to hit 30mph from a standing start on the flat, only to discover, having borrowed a USB cable from a colleague, that whilst it showed as 30mph on my Garmin, Strava only picked it up as 29.8mph.
I will now be forced to ride in for 3 days next week, so I can leave my laptop and everything else in the office to let me bring the carbon bike in on the second day to have another crack at it!
Left home half an hour earlier this morning, and was rewarded with 5 PRs on Strava, including the 5.6 mile segment on CS7, which I'm pretty chuffed with for a commute I've ridden over 100 times!
On the less chuffed side, I managed, for the first time ever - albeit only for the tiniest time before I had to start slowing for lights - to hit 30mph from a standing start on the flat, only to discover, having borrowed a USB cable from a colleague, that whilst it showed as 30mph on my Garmin, Strava only picked it up as 29.8mph.
I will now be forced to ride in for 3 days next week, so I can leave my laptop and everything else in the office to let me bring the carbon bike in on the second day to have another crack at it!
crxdave said:
Replaced the Axis classic wheelset for a set of Aksiums I bought from a colleague.. My average speed was up to 18.5mph, from a usual 16-17.5. Placebo? Or did the wheels really make me quicker? 
Bound to be the shiney things. Everyone knows the more you spend he better you become. Just trial ran what will be my new journey to work from September onwards - 28.5k.
1. It was bloody windy.
2. There isn't a flat bit in the route
3. I'm going to need a new bike - my old MTB even with semi slicks isn't going to encourage me to do what will be an hour long ride regularly.
1. It was bloody windy.
2. There isn't a flat bit in the route
3. I'm going to need a new bike - my old MTB even with semi slicks isn't going to encourage me to do what will be an hour long ride regularly.
GarryDK said:
very very wet this morning!
Very lucky girl on Clapham highstreet this morning, stepped out infront of the guy that was infront of me, he locked up, slid sideways but somehow managed to avoid her, I wish I'd got it on film. She was looking down at her phone with a coffee in the other hand, absolute madness!Close call with a minibus this morning passing me ridiculously closely. How his wing mirror missed me I don't know. Gave one of his passengers a fright when I slapped the window as hard as I could, didn't even have to stretch my arm out more than half way he was so close. Annoyingly he jumped the next traffic light 100m up the road as it turned red.
lufbramatt said:
Close call with a minibus this morning passing me ridiculously closely. How his wing mirror missed me I don't know. Gave one of his passengers a fright when I slapped the window as hard as I could, didn't even have to stretch my arm out more than half way he was so close. Annoyingly he jumped the next traffic light 100m up the road as it turned red.
Driver probably jumped that light because he was terrified of getting a damned good kicking. Are you 'powerfully built' by any chance 
AyBee said:
Very lucky girl on Clapham highstreet this morning, stepped out infront of the guy that was infront of me, he locked up, slid sideways but somehow managed to avoid her, I wish I'd got it on film. She was looking down at her phone with a coffee in the other hand, absolute madness!Yesterday, I was heading home along Chiswick High Road, following another cyclist - doing about 25-28 kmh I reckon. A woman stepped out on the road at a Pelican crossing (which had a "red man" for her and a "green light" for us) without looking. What's worse is that she was pushing a child in a buggy ahead of her. MENTAL! The cyclist ahead of me just swerved to miss them and I just stopped in time. Poor kid nearly got two bikes and two powerfully built riders in his lap.
Of course, she gave us the indignant look - I bl**dy hate middle-class, self-entitled, image-obsessed Tabitha-Samantha-Summer-Rose types. I bet she drives a black Touareg. F**wit (acutally what I shouted was "For F*ck Sake Get Off the F**king Road C*ntface").
OK, that's my quota of sweeping generalisations and swearing used for today....
AyBee said:
Very lucky girl on Clapham highstreet this morning, stepped out infront of the guy that was infront of me, he locked up, slid sideways but somehow managed to avoid her, I wish I'd got it on film. She was looking down at her phone with a coffee in the other hand, absolute madness!She’d walked out from behind a police car and wasn’t looking at what was coming but was concentrating on her phone. She was actually pretty apologetic about it and the police gave her a bit of a telling off as it was totally here fault. It wasn’t any fun at all though and around busy areas now at busy times and in this sort of weather I’ve dropped my speed right down. Ultimately it makes a couple of minutes difference and if I smash my bike up hitting or avoiding a pedestrian it’s going to be me that will end up paying for it.
yellowjack said:
Driver probably jumped that light because he was terrified of getting a damned good kicking. Are you 'powerfully built' by any chance
No, I'm 6'2" but not really "powerfully built" haha 
Just want to know what goes through peoples minds sometimes. It wasn't as if I was hard to miss in a bright yellow nitevision jacket!Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff