This morning's commute and other commuting stories

@Khornight2 I ordered the new bits already so it doesn't much matter now.

The cable passes through a slit in the lever. Check that for rough edges.

Oh no doubt. I've had them seven years, and they were second hand when I got them. So they've had a good skidinnings.

Does any one cycle from North/E to Canary Wharf Cross Harbour via Bow? Can we please meet up so I can cycle beside you whilst blinded from crying tears of frustration?
Probably my worst morning journey ever. Also wishing my bike was like one of those duck tour machines: so many dead ends surrounded by water.
3/10 don't want to ride again but have to.

Oh no!!!

I ride from E4 to Canary Wharf but only follow the river Lea as far as the Lea Bridge road. After that I cut through Hackney and take to the roads as the river is too frustrating beyond there (joggers, dog walkers, other cyclists).

rough edges or a bend that's too sharp in the outer catching?

This is what I reckon, brake modulation should feel very smooth with no friction whatsoever.

Yeah, but I think I'm missing something when I get to Bow and Poplar, is there supposed to be a cycle path somewhere? I was chucked off the river path suddenly and I was beside the motorway on the pavement for ages, then had to walk across a ton of roads just to head into CWharf?

Sorry, no idea. I've left the river miles before then.

What's your starting postcode?

Felt like Friday on the roads today. One BMW did a close overtake on the Lower Lea bridge, cue 5 cars deciding to follow that example. SMH.

N4.

@bosberg I had lots of cars trying to overtake on a corner today

@Ramsaye don't blame you, going to follow suit I think. The river can naff off.

Weird comment from a cyclist this evening - I was slowly overtaking him at Camberwell Green - "You need to be careful overtaking in traffic" (duh), "Oh yeah, why's that?" Pause. "Because if you cut me off and we come off, I'll make sure it's you who ends up dead"

Completely boggled by this.

wow

Have you looked at bikehub.com for an alternative route, they have quite good routing algorithm's.

Sustrans has a pretty decent route of the river somewhere on it

http://www.sustrans.org.uk/ncn/map/route/londons-docklands-and-lea-valley

There is a PDF that's a lot better/simpler if your Google-fu is strong.

Thank you both. Here's for a better tomorrow

Ethel, you're so far west that there's no point going to the canal/river towpath first. That's just a detour. The best way of getting into the Isle of Dogs is via Narrow Street. There are lots and lots of possible routes you could take to get there, so this is just a suggestion:

Ride through Clissold Park--Clissold Road--Albion Grove--Shakspeare Walk--Allen Road--Wordsworth Road--Boleyn Road--A10 Kingsland High Street--Forest Road--Forest Grove--Celandine Road--Middleton Road--B108 Queensbridge Road--Haggerston Park--cross A1208 Hackney Road opposite Columbia Road--Ion Square Gardens--Durant Street--Old Bethnal Green Road--Pollard Row--across A1209 Bethnal Green Road into Hague Street--Derbyshire Street--Weaver's Fields--Dunbridge Street--Brady Street--cross A11 Whitechapel Road into Cavell Street--Ford Square--Clark Street--Jubilee Street--cross A13 Commercial Road into Sutton Street--B126 Cable Street--cross Butcher Row into St James Gardens--Horseferry Road (caution: daft contraflow on the wrong side of the street)--Narrow Street (acute danger of being leafleted by Tower Hamlets Wheelers :) )--A1206 Westferry Road (no point in following the Cycle 'Superhighway' here, as it doesn't lead you where you want to go)--Westferry Circus--Marsh Wall--Mastmaker Road--Lighterman's Road--Millharbour--Pepper Street.

Sounds convoluted, I know, but if you want to avoid main streets this is not a bad route. There are some short, busy stretches and crossings of main streets but they are, by and large, unavoidable. You can, of course, take main streets to get to Cable Street and the Butcher Row crossing if you're not confident of finding your way. Most of the north side of the Isle of Dogs is, unfortunately, cut off by the A1261 Aspen Way, which together with being stranded on the A102(M) was probably the main cause of your poor journey experience, so the crucial thing is to get to the IoD from the west.

Hope your next commute is more enjoyable!

Forgot: You can also get onto a short stretch of the Thames Path from Narrow Street and avoid Westferry Road and Westferry Circus. You can then get off the Thames Path at Sir John McDougall Gardens and take Tiller Road to Pepper Street.

Got honked at for not being in the (incredibly badly surfaced) gutter on Parkgate Road this morning. Forgot how much I enjoy the old "tosser" hand gesture as I cruised by 3 seconds later.

Have you got any suggestions for hackney wick to charlton? Ideally I'd use the A12 but my current route is this:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/80+Eastway,+London+E9+5JH,+UK/51.4892871,0.0302814/@51.5072585,-0.0127688,14z/data=!4m29!4m28!1m25!1m1!1s0x48761d0dfd68750b:0x6ccf421c64fd01d5!2m2!1d-0.0293215!2d51.5471197!3m4!1m2!1d-0.0354103!2d51.5404698!3s0x48761d19f168e6ff:0xc29dae0a0885cb3e!3m4!1m2!1d-0.0280073!2d51.5121652!3s0x487602cb993df69b:0xe0a41402dfff780e!3m4!1m2!1d-0.0272024!2d51.5068169!3s0x487602c8e4a50415:0x62a2c5424542c71c!3m4!1m2!1d-0.0270015!2d51.506332!3s0x487602c8f00a29b1:0x65d07cbd0d54bb7c!1m0!3e1

Which includes some hideous junctions (notably around westferry) and is clearly not very direct!
I'd prefer to avoid narrow/canal paths if possible...

Good run in this morning almost fixed the gearing issue which has been bugging me all week. Yet again I got shouted out at being in the right hand lane when trying to turn right along Bishopsgate. decided to take my time turn right stupid arse.

My commute has changed, now the company has moved into the centre of Bristol. No more riding down empty cycle paths and little lanes to Avonmouth, now I have to cycle from Bristol Parkway to pretty much dead centre. Due to a cold I have been lazy and doing the short hop from Temple Meads but I want moar miles. Anyone know of the best route from Parkway? there seems to be some decent bike paths, like the one running alongide the river Froome?

Apart from that urban cycling largely sucks, I was stopped by red lights three times around a roundabout. Three frickin' times. Also had to slap a bus and Range Rover for sketchy overtakes then cutting back across me to get behind the stationary queues of traffic immediately ahead of us. The Range Rover indeed overtook me as we both arrived behind the back-end of a stationary lorry, I punched his vehicle before cutting to the right slowly and out around the lorry. Bizarre actions, but I think a punichement for me filtering past and getting in front of him at the previous traffic lights. I wonder if drivers will ever realise in traffic in a built up area a bike will always beat you.

You've picked a pretty impermeable stretch of London to traverse. :)

I'd probably go from Hackney Wick to Fish Island, cross the A12 at Old Ford Road (cycling and walking bridge), do Parnell Road, Fairfield Road (both fairly busy), then Campbell Road, Violet Road (various dog-legs), Morris Road, Chrisp Street, cross the A13 into Newby Place, and go east along Poplar High Street.

Unfortunately, if you get to the island on that side, there's no way of avoiding the big roundabout (Aspen Way/Cotton Street/Trafalgar Road/Preston's Road) unless you want to do the Blackwall Tunnel. It has been done, but for a regular commute you might well be ever so slightly too predictable. :)

Anyway, then Preston's Road, Manchester Road, East Ferry Road from the small roundabout (filtered in the middle), through the tunnel, etc.

It's worth trying, although in Tower Hamlets most of these fairly minor streets tend to carry high-ish volumes of through motor traffic because there's basically no attention been paid to strategic traffic management. And unless you want to go out of your way, the big roundabout is a given, unfortunately.

There have to be more (non-motorway) river crossings in that stretch--obviously, TfL's hideous Silvertown Tunnel proposal is not the answer.

It's pretty grim compared to my old commute (lower clapton to London bridge) and there have been days when I don't see a single cyclist until the foot tunnel and then none after.

I'll give that route a try, as from what I remember the big roundabout isn't quite as bad as swinging across 2 or 3 lanes of traffic at westferry (worse in the evening heading north).

Are there any plans to sort out tower hamlets? Or the main roads around Charlton, which seem to all be horrible dual carriage ways with a universally ignored 30mph speed limit?