This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Great commute for the first of the year. Bit of a tailwind, lots of riders all behaving themselves, a few forumenger spots, not hot, not cold.

9.5/10 will ride again.

Took the wet weather bike in today. Seemed incredibly heavy. Not sure if it's my cold infested lungs, my Christmas poundage/laziness catching up with me or actually the weight of the bike.

Either way, I left late so missed the morning rush. 8/10

i too rode the tarcktor in today. and there i was thinking of selling it. what a fucking idiot!

Mudguards + swept back bars = weighty, dry comfort.

Politely informed a gentleman on Blackfriars Bridge last night that his lights were on the wrong way round.

BB: What you want is red at the back, white at the front.
Gentleman: I'VE GOT LIGHTS
BB: Yes I can see that. But they're the wrong way round.
G: Wot, srsly?
BB: Yes. See all these cars and other bikes with red at the back and white at the front?
G: (Slightly sheepish) Um OK, thanks mate.

I suggested to a motorist at around 6:30 am as he tried to do an awkward manoeuvre in a side street without looking for on coming traffic, that he might care to turn his lights on. He was, as one may understand, rather miffed at the suggestion.

Had a similar conversation with some bloke near Finsbury Park, his closing statement was "yeah, but I want to be a bit different"; I still haven't come up with a reasonable response to that.

"You are a moron."

Perhaps it was because I left later than some of you lot up there ^^^, but the day-glo hordes were still resolutely peddling off the Christmas pud this morning. To be fair they were all pretty well behaved. I was not.

I bought some new commuting bibtights so I could start riding to work again after 3 months off. But now I'm worried that people will think I'm a new years resolutioner and judge me for being fat and slow and wearing new clothes :(

Eating a portion of chips as you ride should avoid that risk.

You could give it a week or two so you're not tarred by the same brush as the newly resolute, but you know we'll just find some other reason to judge you.

#itswhatwedo

First commute of the new year and I felt very dapper in my new Rapha hardshell that I was bought for Christmas, plus I cleaned my shoes and they were gleaming. Such proud. No issues with drivers today but plenty of bad cycling - lots of undertaking, lemming-like nodders wedging themselves in-between the curb and HGVs (always makes me wince), and some city boys on Boris bikes seeing no boundary between pavement and road.

Can we arbitrarily accuse anyone riding in new kit as a resolutionist or do we need more evidence before we act in such a judgemental way?

if you give a fuck about what the next person is riding / wearing or why their doing it, you should probably take a bus.

But there are some serious on-bike sartorial offenders out there.

I still can't get over pulled-up university rugby socks with running trainers.

Oh they're not doing any harm, but I need to find something to make me feel superior to others.

But there are some serious on-bike sartorial offenders on here.

Fixed.

There are some serious judgelords on here.

Weather's taken a turn should be a fun commute this evening.

It's going to stop by 4.

Going to be in the pub by 5.

Got a metre outside of the door before realising both brake callipers on the bike are now sticking after I washed it on Sunday afternoon. Had to get dressed and jump on a train.

Now I'm guessing I'll have to spend my only free evening this week cleaning cables. Balls.

-1/10

WFH ftw

Someone knicked my helmet. (my own fault, I forgot to attach the loop to the lock on one side- its two years old, so meh).
But overall a return trip at 23mph average is a winner. As is a half-day.
Stopping at the bike shop on the way home was a downside, but they're such a nice bunch and I got to play on the new CAADX hydraulic.

Once you go full hydraulic, you can't go back.