Stupid New Years Resolution!
Discussion
A little bit wet this morning. Parts of the road were flooded and as I was up to the crank I needed to slow for a rat that was swimming across. Head wind blowing spay from my front tyre back to my chest and face. Typically the precipitation stopped thirty four seconds after I arrived at work.
Day eight of twelve so I'm two thirds of the way to fixing my bloody car.
Day eight of twelve so I'm two thirds of the way to fixing my bloody car.
Day nine of twelve and the weather's being a pest again. Yesterday the rain stopped at 06:31-ish and I basically got wet for nothing. This morning it was cacking it down again and I was fully prepared for it. My no longer (now I've washed it) waterproof jacket is on it's hanger as I decided to wear my lined one that is waterproof, waterproof troused over shorts and t'shirt. So; this morning it stopped raining half a mile into my commute at approximately 05:33.
Good news; bad news.
Good news, I've set another new record.
Bad news, for the amount of sweat I've perspired on the way to work.
Literally wringing my t'shirt out before I could hang it up in my little office (lucky I work alone).
I arrived at work with clear skies overhead and a nasty looking bank of cloud where I had come from and the night shift guy said "you're lucky that looks like a storm coming". I nearly said something rude.
Good news; bad news.
Good news, I've set another new record.
Bad news, for the amount of sweat I've perspired on the way to work.
Literally wringing my t'shirt out before I could hang it up in my little office (lucky I work alone).
I arrived at work with clear skies overhead and a nasty looking bank of cloud where I had come from and the night shift guy said "you're lucky that looks like a storm coming". I nearly said something rude.
Last night was eventful. The twilight hours are that weird time when you get nocturnal animals flying in your face. I counted twenty three bats on my way home. Some close enough to feel the draft from their wings. The disadvantage of quiet tyres I guess. This morning was just as eventful with two noisy owls near the Windmill and my friendly Barn Owl is back. 
The things you miss when you're sat in a car.
The things you miss when you're sat in a car.
As well as bats, bunnies and owls I noticed the bike start to wobble last night. I don't know what pot hole did it but my DT Swiss rear wheel is geoffed. There's a Camber Carbon on eBay running 29's and I'm wondering if it took any modifications to fit or if I can fit a pair of 29's to my bike. Two reasons for this. First; 29's would mean I have a longer ratio and therefore can go quicker. Second; there's a pair on eBay for less than half a replacement DT Swiss wheel.
A bit of a grumble. Whilst trying to straighten the wheel the soft anodised spoke ends chewed rather than moved. Making the whole process more problematic than necessary.
A bit of a grumble. Whilst trying to straighten the wheel the soft anodised spoke ends chewed rather than moved. Making the whole process more problematic than necessary.
Another two miles, run back and drive today. My DT Swiss rear wheel is officially f
ked! Annoyingly I'd spent an hour-ish straightening it out last night, now I've found a spoke key that doesn't shred the nipples and actually tightened and loosed the spokes instead. All was fine and I was making good time when I hit a bump in the road and it sounded like someone had strummed a harp. The stupid soft Aluminium spoke nipples had decided they don't need thread any more and the wheel is now more buckled than ever.
DT Swiss want £180 for a replacement wheel. fk that! I'll have a look on eBay for a pair of decent wheels instead.
ked! Annoyingly I'd spent an hour-ish straightening it out last night, now I've found a spoke key that doesn't shred the nipples and actually tightened and loosed the spokes instead. All was fine and I was making good time when I hit a bump in the road and it sounded like someone had strummed a harp. The stupid soft Aluminium spoke nipples had decided they don't need thread any more and the wheel is now more buckled than ever. DT Swiss want £180 for a replacement wheel. f
k that! I'll have a look on eBay for a pair of decent wheels instead. Day twelve of twelve and three were driven instead of cycled; not due to me wimping out due to weather but because various parts of my £1,695 bike broke.
Annoying doesn't cover it.
Got some work done on my Panda as I couldn't sleep and now I'm getting geared up for the first of three night shifts. I spent two hours getting the wheel straight-ish last night and it will be light enough to see the potholes this afternoon and tomorrow morning so I'll be back on the saddle.
Annoying doesn't cover it.
Got some work done on my Panda as I couldn't sleep and now I'm getting geared up for the first of three night shifts. I spent two hours getting the wheel straight-ish last night and it will be light enough to see the potholes this afternoon and tomorrow morning so I'll be back on the saddle.
So I made it okay. Forget turbo trainers and those miniature parachutes cycling with a buckled wheel the feels like you're towing a trailer with flat tyres. My legs are still smoldering. As is the temper of the black Volvo V70 driver who took a racing line round a corner, nearly hit me head on and objected to my opinion of his driving.
DN55 DNF - just checked with the DVLA and it's registered to a Vauxhall Corsa so false plates as well.
Bugger I'll have to wear my camera again for a while.
DN55 DNF - just checked with the DVLA and it's registered to a Vauxhall Corsa so false plates as well.
Bugger I'll have to wear my camera again for a while.
Edited by Liquid Knight on Thursday 11th October 08:11
Made it home without incident. I'm even getting used to the rear wheel. In the right gear and pace the wobble is in time with the pedal motion. Trouble is this is pootle pace and I'm easily bored. Bats as I set off and a Robin as I got close to home. If lovefilm.co.uk don't deliver my rental list today I may have to take my original Batman quadrilogy to work tonight.
How wet the forecast was had no bearing whatsoever on how wet it actually wasn't. Shorts, jacket, carbon knuckle gloves in case of Volvo drivers and Joker mask. The return of the Joker mask meant two things. I don't have a face covered in mud, seriously women pay thousands on beauty treatment when all they need to do is ride around the Fens for a bit without crud catchers. Second wearing all the high viz' in the word riding a bike that's lit up like a council estate in December is a complete waste of effort but wear a Joker mask and every driver, passenger, pedestrian, PoB, fellow cyclist and squirrel will see you coming and get out of the bloody way.
thiscocks said:
Liquid Knight said:
The things you miss when you're sat in a car.
SittingYep the wildlife is a highlight of many otherwise s
t rides for me.t ride" parts of the road are quarter of an inch deep in Norfolk clay and the bike looked like I had been through the Lake District this morning. This is part of rural life and it took me a good ten minutes to wash my bike before I went to bed, but slick tyres, tailwind, and varying degrees of zoning made the mud covered corners interesting to say the least. When I first put slicks on the bike someone suggested it was a pedal powered Supermoto. This morning I was riding it as such.
I'm going to write to Offcom about the weather forecasts as the 10mph headwind I'm supposed to have this evening is already bending trees. Lucky it's my last shift of fifteen and whatever the commute throws at me I'll be in a good mood later.
Still wearing my carbon fiber knuckle gloves in case my Volvo decides to try and kill me again.
I think it went from thread to blog to rant ages ago.
The new chain is starting to skip already. Normal people change gear for headwinds but I just try to push through it. Tonight is my last night and I get a weekend off to work on my Panda. Back to work Tuesday but that milestone from before will be half way home next Friday.
Provided I don't get killed, fall off due to mud or break anything else that is.
The new chain is starting to skip already. Normal people change gear for headwinds but I just try to push through it. Tonight is my last night and I get a weekend off to work on my Panda. Back to work Tuesday but that milestone from before will be half way home next Friday.
Provided I don't get killed, fall off due to mud or break anything else that is.
Liquid Knight said:
thiscocks said:
Liquid Knight said:
The things you miss when you're sat in a car.
SittingYep the wildlife is a highlight of many otherwise s
t rides for me.t ride" parts of the road are quarter of an inch deep in Norfolk clay and the bike looked like I had been through the Lake District this morning. To use "sat" lt would have been:
The things I missed when I sat in my car (nonsensicle)
This is better:
The things you miss when sitting in a car
Sorry to go on but I have a colleague at work who never uses "sat" correctly. Eg "I was sat over there". No you weren't, you were sitting over there. He could have said "I sat over there" however.
Well I finally lost my temper with someone today. I'm not happy about it or what I said but considering this particular driver has had three opportunities to get it right in the last three mornings and had progressively got it more and more wrong to the point that if there were more traffic today I'd certainly not be here to tell the tale.
On my night shifts I reach a busy junction at roughly the same time and this driver reached the same point within a hundred Yards or so every morning on his way to work. The only "A" road I have to cross is the A17 at a point called Market Lane. This is a staggered junction with a traffic island and light incline to the give way line.
Thursday morning this black 1996 Rover 400 passed me on the bend aproaching the junction at the "Give Way 142 Yards" sign and as there was a van coming the other way passed a bit close but I could see what was happening and braked in time for there to have been no incident. No signal, failed to stop at the Give Way line and carried on headed towards King's Lynn leaving a cloud of Diesel smoke in its wake.
Friday morning about two hundred and fifty Yards away from the junction the Rover driver decides to overtake without noticing a car was reversing out of a driveway ahead. Heavy braking, horn blasting and of course I have to avoiding action.
This morning. As I passed the "Give Way 142 Yards" sign I look over my shoulder to see the Rover about quarter of a mile away. About half way to the junction I get to the white lines (ba-ba ba-ba ba-ba dum d-dum) and start to filter right so I can turn right and then left as usual. Look over my shoulder again and the idiot driving the Rover is trying to overtake both drivers side wheels over the white lines and looking far right at the gap in the traffic. Whilst looking over my shoulder he notices me and has to brake hard to avoid hitting me into the flow of traffic on the A17. Luckily I can see the gap as well and carry on. If I had tried to stop I would have been ran over or punted on to the main road as the Rover came to rest a foot over the Give Way line.
I put the bike and my bag down in the centre island of the junction and made my way to the drivers window. Jokingly I say "that was fun are you in a hurry to get to an optometrist?"; the driver replied with "fk off you stupid ! You fking cyclists are all the fking same. You don't own the fking road. You might not be so fking lucky next time I see you! Now; fk off!"
This is where I lost my temper and said.
"You were lucky this time. I hope that when; not if: When! You hit someone you kill them, because it will take at least five years in prison for you to learn how to fkING DRIVE!"
The driver looked as if I had told him he had Cancer, put his seat belt on and drove away like he had Miss Daisy in the back.
So I'd like to apologise to the complete stranger who's life I threatened to make a point. As for the driver; I see no reason to apologise or take back what I said. If he'd have said "Sorry I wasn't paying attention" or something similar I wouldn't have lost it and like the previous two events they wouldn't have made it to the blog. I don't write up every bad driver I see as it would crash the forum server and as I've mentioned before I don't want to be a Magnatom or Cycling Mikey, but this guy and his attitude annoyed me enough to react.
Anyway I'm of until Tuesday and need to get some work done on my Panda.
On my night shifts I reach a busy junction at roughly the same time and this driver reached the same point within a hundred Yards or so every morning on his way to work. The only "A" road I have to cross is the A17 at a point called Market Lane. This is a staggered junction with a traffic island and light incline to the give way line.
Thursday morning this black 1996 Rover 400 passed me on the bend aproaching the junction at the "Give Way 142 Yards" sign and as there was a van coming the other way passed a bit close but I could see what was happening and braked in time for there to have been no incident. No signal, failed to stop at the Give Way line and carried on headed towards King's Lynn leaving a cloud of Diesel smoke in its wake.
Friday morning about two hundred and fifty Yards away from the junction the Rover driver decides to overtake without noticing a car was reversing out of a driveway ahead. Heavy braking, horn blasting and of course I have to avoiding action.
This morning. As I passed the "Give Way 142 Yards" sign I look over my shoulder to see the Rover about quarter of a mile away. About half way to the junction I get to the white lines (ba-ba ba-ba ba-ba dum d-dum) and start to filter right so I can turn right and then left as usual. Look over my shoulder again and the idiot driving the Rover is trying to overtake both drivers side wheels over the white lines and looking far right at the gap in the traffic. Whilst looking over my shoulder he notices me and has to brake hard to avoid hitting me into the flow of traffic on the A17. Luckily I can see the gap as well and carry on. If I had tried to stop I would have been ran over or punted on to the main road as the Rover came to rest a foot over the Give Way line.
I put the bike and my bag down in the centre island of the junction and made my way to the drivers window. Jokingly I say "that was fun are you in a hurry to get to an optometrist?"; the driver replied with "f
k off you stupid ! You fking cyclists are all the fking same. You don't own the fking road. You might not be so fking lucky next time I see you! Now; fk off!"This is where I lost my temper and said.
"You were lucky this time. I hope that when; not if: When! You hit someone you kill them, because it will take at least five years in prison for you to learn how to f
kING DRIVE!"The driver looked as if I had told him he had Cancer, put his seat belt on and drove away like he had Miss Daisy in the back.
So I'd like to apologise to the complete stranger who's life I threatened to make a point. As for the driver; I see no reason to apologise or take back what I said. If he'd have said "Sorry I wasn't paying attention" or something similar I wouldn't have lost it and like the previous two events they wouldn't have made it to the blog. I don't write up every bad driver I see as it would crash the forum server and as I've mentioned before I don't want to be a Magnatom or Cycling Mikey, but this guy and his attitude annoyed me enough to react.
Anyway I'm of until Tuesday and need to get some work done on my Panda.
Edited by Liquid Knight on Saturday 13th October 14:02
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