And today's commuting highlight is...

[creampuff]

^ Maybe, but that could be due to anything. It may be because he did not have waterproof gear, so was wet and cold. It may be because his tyres are nearing the end of their life so don't give you confidence any more. I don't think there are too many people who ride in London for any length of time who are clueless.

[308mate]

sjtscott said:

Well was expecting a good Friday morning commute but was greeted literally after stepping outside to unlock the bike with a heavy rain shower. No issues for me since I was in full gortex kit.

Highlight all the summer riders caught out without proper kit and those riders I've seen regularly that fall to piece with a bit of rain LOL

Mr billy big boll*x on the blue blackbird with the topbox for instance.. riding in normal probably nicely damp jeans this morning. In the hot dry weather he simply has to keep in front of me and cains it off the line and filters like me - fine mate if you want to ride faster do it, so when I see him I just let him go.. I had a blackbird they are much quick than a Speed Triple past a certain point. Today caught him up which was in itself strange but then I realised he's complete and utter sh*te in the rain/damp conditions LOL Wouldn't take clear gaps for filtering, him having blasted off the line as is usual from Tower bridge lights (and me letting him get on with it) we come to the nice empty open sweeping 2 lane road past tower hill to lower thames street he completely bottled it throttled off and sat the bike up when it was just damp on the ground so I carried on just passed him around the outside - zero need to alter riding from normal. No posing today then mate eh?

He might have just been hung over to ste.

[sjtscott]

308mate said:

He might have just been hung over to ste.

Well yes. LOL I might have had off days for that.

Noted on Mr creampuffs post - incorrect gear may have hampered his ability, but seriously I've encountered this guy many many mornings and I know my riding when I see it was sh*te today. Like night and day difference. He is seriously agressive in his dry riding, he's clearly shown me on multiple occasions he does know what he's doing.

Edited by sjtscott on Friday 14th July 12:22

[Cbull]

Spoke too soon. Finished at lunch for the day, just coming out of town I'd filtered around a que and stopped infront of a taxi. Strolled on maybe quarter of a mile to the next round about with him right up my arse. Went around the roundabout and he'd undertook and cut across infront in a mental kind of way at tye turn off, cm's from the front tyre. Could have easily killed me.

I strolled along knowing full well I'll see him at the next set. I'd gave him a right gob full and some. He had no answers, just half smirked. Big man in his car but a complete wimp otherwise. This idiot drives for a living!

So as I see it, he was mad because I can filter. What a sad life these people have.

[kiethton]

Cbull said:

Spoke too soon. Finished at lunch for the day, just coming out of town I'd filtered around a que and stopped infront of a taxi. Strolled on maybe quarter of a mile to the next round about with him right up my arse. Went around the roundabout and he'd undertook and cut across infront in a mental kind of way at tye turn off, cm's from the front tyre. Could have easily killed me.

I strolled along knowing full well I'll see him at the next set. I'd gave him a right gob full and some. He had no answers, just half smirked. Big man in his car but a complete wimp otherwise. This idiot drives for a living!

So as I see it, he was mad because I can filter. What a sad life these people have.

I hope his wing mirror was left hanging....

[sjtscott]

kiethton said:

I hope his wing mirror was left hanging....

Another reason why you wear bike boots to commute in.. paintwork isn't cheap to get a proper job done to repair. I know someone who wore full on motorcross boots on his commuter bike with the outside steel toecaps.. knife through butter springs to mind, apparently takes the term 'keying' to a whole new level.

[Fish]

Had a nice ride in on my new Tiger... managed to scrape my foot! rather than peg round a roundabout. Decided the new touring screen fitted is much better than the standard and also confirmed I have to put the DB killer back in the exhaust as far to boomy..maybe a few extra holes to add!

[CAPP0]

sjtscott said:

kiethton said:

I hope his wing mirror was left hanging....

Another reason why you wear bike boots to commute in.. paintwork isn't cheap to get a proper job done to repair. I know someone who wore full on motorcross boots on his commuter bike with the outside steel toecaps.. knife through butter springs to mind, apparently takes the term 'keying' to a whole new level.

Hmm, much as I'm sure we'd all like to reprimand people like this, do those who actually do it ride with no numberplate? Otherwise....

[supercommuter]

sjtscott said:

kiethton said:

I hope his wing mirror was left hanging....

Another reason why you wear bike boots to commute in.. paintwork isn't cheap to get a proper job done to repair. I know someone who wore full on motorcross boots on his commuter bike with the outside steel toecaps.. knife through butter springs to mind, apparently takes the term 'keying' to a whole new level.

Some years ago I used to ride my my R6 in full motocross gear down to my mates farm where my YZ was stored. I was sat to the left hand side of a lane about to turn left (although still fully 'owning the lane') as a woman in one of those Chrysler mini vans tried to squeeze up my right hand side. She caught my rear peg which was out at the time and it literally jolted a bit as it pierced the skin of the door and proceeded to knife through butter the whole way down. Where I had turned my foot out the steel cap on the boots had scraped an unbelievable amount of paint off.

Luckily i had my left foot down and brakes applied at the time and she stopped before it reached the end of the door - otherwise i would have been dragged along.

[CAPP0]

My ongoing highlight is the sense of wonder at how many people have (presumably) been able to muster up enough brain cells to pass a driving test, but don't understand the meaning of the word "average".

Every single day, on the A2/A102, which has a lengthy 50mph average section, I see multiple people blast past me only to slam the brakes on for 5 seconds at each camera. I'm trotting along at 55-ish on cruise, and the number of people who pass me is really surprising. How do they work that?

[supercommuter]

CAPP0 said:

My ongoing highlight is the sense of wonder at how many people have (presumably) been able to muster up enough brain cells to pass a driving test, but don't understand the meaning of the word "average".

Every single day, on the A2/A102, which has a lengthy 50mph average section, I see multiple people blast past me only to slam the brakes on for 5 seconds at each camera. I'm trotting along at 55-ish on cruise, and the number of people who pass me is really surprising. How do they work that?

I don't get this either. The new 60mph average speed section is full of people blasting along at 80mph

How are they not getting caught?

[sjtscott]

CAPP0 said:

Hmm, much as I'm sure we'd all like to reprimand people like this, do those who actually do it ride with no numberplate? Otherwise....

I'd never do it as I ride with a fully legit bike and plate - its illegal to do stuff like that without stopping to exchange details of the accident for insurance purposes.

[sjtscott]

CAPP0 said:

My ongoing highlight is the sense of wonder at how many people have (presumably) been able to muster up enough brain cells to pass a driving test, but don't understand the meaning of the word "average".

Every single day, on the A2/A102, which has a lengthy 50mph average section, I see multiple people blast past me only to slam the brakes on for 5 seconds at each camera. I'm trotting along at 55-ish on cruise, and the number of people who pass me is really surprising. How do they work that?

You don't need to pass a maths GCSE to get a driving license clearly! I do wonder exactly the same. I used the section south of the Blackwall with the 50limit average cameras the other weekend as I needed the M25 for a trip in the car and people really don't understand what average means agreed. I had my tom tom going so had my GPS speedo showing bang on real 50mph and people were passing me.

[Cbull]

Maybe they think (and they maybe correct as I'm not sure either) that the system only takes into account the speeds taken at the cameras and does does not take distance travelled as a consideration? This often baffles me also, as soon as I see average cameras I put the cruise control on.

Regarding the mirror issue. Yes I really would have liked to do that for sure. He was a taxi driver and had a camera on the window so he would have had my details. Unfortunatly he's not the first and won't be the last wallabe I come across.

[SBDJ]

Lovely run in this morning including a spirited little stretch with another biker for a change.

Considering getting a slightly more comfortable bike though as I'm presently doing around 800 miles a week!

Cbull said:

Maybe they think (and they maybe correct as I'm not sure either) that the system only takes into account the speeds taken at the cameras and does does not take distance travelled as a consideration?

By definition the average cameras don't care about the speed you are doing at the individual camera, simply the time taken to get from one to the next.

[sjtscott]

Cbull said:

Maybe they think (and they maybe correct as I'm not sure either) that the system only takes into account the speeds taken at the cameras and does does not take distance travelled as a consideration? This often baffles me also, as soon as I see average cameras I put the cruise control on.

Regarding the mirror issue. Yes I really would have liked to do that for sure. He was a taxi driver and had a camera on the window so he would have had my details. Unfortunatly he's not the first and won't be the last wallabe I come across.

Some educational reading. https://www.speedcamerasuk.com/specs.htm

[JulianHJ]

I've seen a surprisingly large proportion of riders in t-shirts, shorts and trackies today; they've been on bikes of all sizes, not just the usual ped mob.

[Pothole]

sjtscott said:

CAPP0 said:

My ongoing highlight is the sense of wonder at how many people have (presumably) been able to muster up enough brain cells to pass a driving test, but don't understand the meaning of the word "average".

Every single day, on the A2/A102, which has a lengthy 50mph average section, I see multiple people blast past me only to slam the brakes on for 5 seconds at each camera. I'm trotting along at 55-ish on cruise, and the number of people who pass me is really surprising. How do they work that?

You don't need to pass a maths GCSE to get a driving license clearly! I do wonder exactly the same. I used the section south of the Blackwall with the 50limit average cameras the other weekend as I needed the M25 for a trip in the car and people really don't understand what average means agreed. I had my tom tom going so had my GPS speedo showing bang on real 50mph and people were passing me.

Of course they were passing you, as would I have been. I set mine to at least 3mph above the posted limit as they have a margin of error built in which allows for it.

[GM182]

Highlight today was taking the GS rather than the MP3 knowing I had a lunchtime appointment close to home then seeing the weather set fair and deciding to ride to the seaside at Worthing for an ice cream. Benefits of being one's own boss


Not technically a commuting highlight, but what the hell.

[kiethton]

Just me or was the traffic almost non-existent today?