This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Bel Paese?

^

Fast ride in. Yeah, I won my commute, so what? Do one, you chilled out hippies. :P

i used to live there...

I lived on Mildmay Rd in 1990. I remember when I was living there going to see The Shamen & Rebel MC at The Fridge the night they started bombing Baghdad - Gulf war one.

And Dalston was still rough as.

Took a day's holiday. Short walk to the doctor's surgery and back. Workmen digging up my least favourite road to walk down, thus blocking cars from using it. 11/10.

Nice estate, bought the place so I'd be fucked if I didn't like it.

My aunt had a basement flat on Mildmay in the 90s, sold it for sod all, just after selling her apartment in Spitalfields for sod all

propertyfail

So much snow (well a relatively large amount compared to zero).
Lots of fucking idiot drivers though.

Great tailwind fuelled ride home, sure quick, one of those rides that bring a smile to your face, at how fast you're going.
Got home and feel like I haven't ridded the commute at all..
Would do again..

Utterly unprepared for the snow on the way home. It got in my eyes and hit the back of my throat when I inhaled. 2/10, would wear goggles and a buff next time.

Had a car pull right out in front of me on Kennington Road this morning.

Was close enough to have me screaming.

She had the decency to stop and sincerely apologise afterwards and we went on out merry ways.

If I hadn't been primary I would have been in big trouble.

10/10 #very lucky

It's not luck that made you choose to ride primary, good work.

I had every man and his dog turning in Kennington Road this morning too. Cyclists bam along the bus lane too fast and undertake cars indicating to turn left across the bus lane way to often.

It's especially annoying when I've stopped/slowed to allow the car to turn and one zooms past.

Fast ride in this morning, but I swear a grit truck sprayed me on purpose. That was invigorating. 9/10

Dear People,
Riding on the right hand side of the road, your right and therefore my left and therefore you are on the wrong side, will probably make me want to shout "you're on the wrong side of the road, ride on the other side".
I know you're going past Birkbeck and are probably a student in massive debt and that's what's ticking through your mind, but please "ride on the other side of the road".
Thanks.

Damo

Wasn't prepared for it not being as cold as they had predicted. Although this seem to have had the effect of there not being to many other cyclist about. 8/10

*Think Boris should scrap the superhigh way and instead have a lane for people who are able to clip in first time, unfortunately I rode into the back of someone who couldn't quite manage to clip in. Sorry.

CS8 was great practice for Cat 4 racing tonight ..

7/10

if the cyclist is moving straight on in the bus lane and the car is only indicating to turn left across the lane then the cyclist has the priority.

It's especially annoying when I've stopped/slowed to allow the car to turn and one zooms past.

Absolutely. So much blinkered riding.

Traffic fail :(

if the cyclist is moving straight on in the bus lane and the car is only indicating to turn left across the lane then the cyclist has the priority.

Indeed but, as I'm sure you know, undertaking (or whatever you want to call it) a left indicating vehicle comes with a risk. The moral high ground ("I had priority") is useless when you're crushed under its wheels.

Of course undertaking at speed is not adviseable, though number of drivers who just indicate&turn across a lane without observing priority is shocking.

Too many people think that the act of turning on indicators grants them priority. We cyclists need to be wary, and having the moral high ground when in a hospital bed is pointless.

In that particular circumstance I get really fucked off. Buses will happily trundle along a bus lane at 20-30 mph with impunity, even when traffic in the regular lane is at a standstill or much lower speed. As a driver who is in the regular lane, you wouldn't just turn left in front of an approaching bus barreling along at a fair lick, so why does it become perfectly normal to do that to 1, 2, 3, 4, or however many cyclists. Same as people waiting in side roads who get let out by someone in the normal lane, that doesn't allow you free access over the bus lane, you wouldn't pull out in front of a bus so why pull out in front of a cycle?

CUNTS. The lot of them.

I see this as a matter of courtesy in many cases. If @doppelkorn has enough time to slow to allow an indicating, waiting driver to turn, then somebody on a bike who zooms up behind him and blithely continues on has either completely failed to read the road ahead or they're just a rude, selfish cunt. IMO. I doubt a courtesy stop when somebody else in front of you has already made a courtesy stop has ever killed anyone. I'm not reading anything in doppelkorn's post about those drivers who just slam over into the next lane without giving a fuck about who's there (tho they are utter dangerous pricks, obvs, and more so than the selfish/oblivious twats in circumstance #1 who only endanger themselves).