The daily "I cycled to work" thread

[Huntsman]

Lovely and warm yesterday, chillier this morning.

Maunday Thursday ride home turned into a bit of a drama when I had to stop and attend to a lady trying (and thankfully failing) to jump off a bridge.

[BadgerBenji]

Nice ride there, slight tail wind, then it was smack on my nose the whole way home the first half of my commute is on the fens so flat and open, no where to hide, then just to spice it up chased by a Jack Russell from a local farmyard.

[Steve vRS]

I often get chased by a pug. I'd never be able to show my face in public if one day it succeeded in catching me!

[GarryDK]

I've seen it all now. commuting this morning and a pass a guy on a folding bike with TRIBARS!

[Huntsman]

I came to work early and missed the rain, all the later folks in the office got soaked! Result.

[crxdave]

Good ride in this morning, average speed up to 19.8mph. Aiming for a sub-30 min commute, so need to bump the pace up to 22/23mph.

[E65Ross]

Lovely ride this morning. Clear, but a bit chilly.... Somewhere around 3 degrees. Nice to ride in with very little wind as well!

[BadgerBenji]

Nice run in this morning, and somehow managed to see plenty of black clouds with rain falling from them without being under them, so a proper dodge the drops ride.

[idiotgap]

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.

[Craikeybaby]

BadgerBenji said:

Nice run in this morning, and somehow managed to see plenty of black clouds with rain falling from them without being under them, so a proper dodge the drops ride.

Same here this morning, by the time I'd got changed and to my desk it was raining. Hoping I can find a similar window take an extended ride home in.

[BadgerBenji]

Foggy/misty ride in this morning, saw four egrets which looked great in their pure white against the dark sky. Home was almost interesting lots of mud on the roads, sharp corner with a hump back bridge and the front left go, caught it thankfully, the seasons of cyclocross paid off.

[Craikeybaby]

Craikeybaby said:

BadgerBenji said:

Nice run in this morning, and somehow managed to see plenty of black clouds with rain falling from them without being under them, so a proper dodge the drops ride.

Same here this morning, by the time I'd got changed and to my desk it was raining. Hoping I can find a similar window take an extended ride home in.

On;y a few spots of rain on the way home, but for some reason I felt like I was struggling on the bike for the first half of the ride.

[ambuletz]

ewenm said:

Devil2575 said:

aclivity said:

Ian Geary said:

I cycled to/from the station for the first time today - about a mile, no big deal.

But question: how do you stop yourself getting irritated by shonky drivers?

I'm a pretty mild mannered chap, but at one point I wanted to catch up with a car and smash their door mirror off for a particularly poor overtake into oncoming traffic around a blind left hand bend...

I imagine over the course of a year, this would be exponential..?

Ian

I found that at first, over time you get used to it, and only get angry at the really dangerous ones!

I just got used to it.

Exactly. It ends up being the commutes where you DON'T encounter a crazy driver that are noteworthy.

it can really boil my piss sometimes and ruin a very happy pleasant, casual cycle. Sometimes fight and flight makes me cycle harder and catch up to them so I can see if it's someone I can yell at. sometimes i might not catch up depending on the location or road. But when I get home I get a really nice pump in my legs that feels beautiful.

imo the best way to enjoy your commute is to not cycle too hard and take your time a little. perhaps go at a pace that you can keep a conversation to/wont break much of a sweat. i'm always in the habit of trying to maintain as much speed as I can without trying to get too out of breath.

[Huntsman]

Got lucky this morning, little bot of drizzle but mostly ok. Raining cats and dogs just after I got to the office.

going for it everyday this week. Am getting fitter and starting to get the extra munching under control.

[idiotgap]

2nd try at the 50km commute in and very enjoyable it was too. I could feel yesterday's hills still in my legs but only as a little reminder.
https://www.strava.com/activities/542014446

[E65Ross]

Got a bit wet riding home yesterday, but not as bad as it could have been.

This morning was quite nice.... Not too cold, not too windy. Pretty pleasant overall.

[GarryDK]

Very foggy.

[Huntsman]

Very very foggy.

Rode along the shore as ususal, fog horns constant.

[S10GTA]

GarryDK said:

Very foggy.

I'd left my lights at work too. Oops.

[E65Ross]

Huntsman said:

Very very foggy.

Rode along the shore as ususal, fog horns constant.

Indeed. Today was one of the first times for a long time I ran my Exposure Blaze rear light on constant full brightness. That, plus my moon lx70 on its brightest flashing mode meant I wasn't going to be missed!

Can't be too careful.