This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Narrowly avoided a fixed penalty this morning getting caught up in Operation Safeway :)
My fault for going wrong way down a quiet one way st, been doing it for years as a short cut.
Was super polite and explained it was a safe route to avoid busy Kennington junction....

Smooth talking win +10

Thanks Oliver, yeah I've been spoilt for the last 18 months since I started riding (properly!). This winter feel's like its been the 1st proper one in ages. I can still only manage the commute by cycle maybe twice a week max at the mo. It does take its toll on my nearly 50 y/o legs but its a lorra fun :-)

My place of employ changes from Holborn to St Pancras in January next year so I'll need to figure out if its still do-able. Any recommended flat and safe routes from (say) Silvertown to St Pancras anyone?

Thanks man. Reported at the police station so we will see what happens with it, number plate and witness seems pretty foolproof but I wonder how much effort is actually put into this kind of thing.

Never understand how people can just drive off, if I had gone over (was a miricale I stayed up tbh) it would have been a much worse crash.

#heyasshole!

I don't understand why they insisted on painting a segregated cycle lane across that bridge. It's very slippery and full of nasties to puncture your tyres in winter, especially when wet.

I generally take the road across there as well.

Red Fondriest, RLJing all the way up CS7 this morning. You had your earphones in so couldn't hear me calling you out.

I'm two days late but Wednesday afternoons homeward commute was an interesting one. My front brake had seized up (predictably, after having used wd40 to loosen it) and would stay applied after braking so I was relying on my legs for slowing powah. As I'm nearing a roundabout on the approach to High Wycombe, my worn myfirstclipless shoes eventually gave up on me as the sole ripped from the upper. I stayed upright, got off the road and had a good long chuckle at the situation.

Further along, I was behind a car who had just dropped off some people who appeared to be allowing the oncoming traffic to pass. After the traffic is gone I notice his reversing lights come on and he starts to roll backwards! I shouted and he gave me a little grin and a 'sorry'. Twat.
Little bit further along (nearly home) a guy got out of his car in front of me, thought he'd nearly hit me (I was metres away) and grinned and said 'I nearly knocked you off your bike mate'. No, you didn't, but thanks for your concern.

Wednesday night was full of struggling with pedal swaps and some real brake maintenance, and Thursday/Friday commutes have been a horrible reintroduction to toeclips and straps. Bring on new shoe day.

tl/dr; broken shoe, idiot drivers, all a bit funny really, must take better care of kit

Fog in the morning isn't good when you wear glasses. My DeFeet gloves had to double up as windscreen wipers. although it didn't make much difference to my visibility

Wanting to start bike commuting now I'm not working in my pants at home. Did a trial run of the journey today and got pranged by a car with hung up shirts covering the windows as he sped up and turned left right in front of me. Kept the bike upright but right ankle and wrist feel a bit iffy.

Thinking I might go on a bikeability refresher just to get confidence back, shook me up on my first trip out!

Slept in this morning so didn't get to fully appreciate the Sunday morning traffic free recovery (from mtbing) ride I'd been looking forward to but at least it was an uneventful commute.

My shift at work was 10 mind numbing hours of having very little to do and I was in the company of the worst mouth breathers the company has to offer so I found the strong headwind and lashing rain on the commute home to be welcome relief from the tedium even though I had nothing waterproof to wear.

7/10, would wake up at the end of my shift again.

Foot deep snow.
Rock hard, lumpy, refrozen tractor tracks.
Mirror like, black ice.
Random piles of ploughed snow/ice.

10/10

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Clipless Snowshoes?

MTB shoes With hiking socks under, and neoprene overshoes. Crap solution. Both cold and bulky.

Fat bikes have hit all the local sports stores up here. But snow bikeing hasnt really taken off. So there are loads of Winter MTB boots on clearance. But I blew all my funds on a fancey aero road frame. So I'll just have to HTFU.

.....actually. Those pedals work fine With normal shoes on. The studs are set to max sticky-outy-ness. Definitely happy With them for this bike. If I dip my foot in some thick slush. I can still ride fine unclipped untill I get a chance to Clear them.

Operation Safeway in full force this morning. Had a friendly officer in Fulham compliment my bike and ask me about my 'sat nav'.

Not enjoying the Bridge St (Parliament Square) road closure at all. There isn't enough room to squeeze past the traffic and it makes the Abingdon St approach even nastier than normal.

Almost blew a gasket leading the charge over the epic col that is Vauxhall bridge northbound this morning. #nosurrender #bromptonsyndrome

Priceless. You're gonna love this...after being T-boned by a Merc on Thursday am.....at 2pm Friday....I step into Whittington AnE triage for sore ribs chat. The nurse takes my pulse - and says 'whoa that's scary walk this way to Emergencies'. He explains low heart rate (38) to the emergencies staff. They gown me up and give me an ECG then put me on a heart monitor. I'm sitting there for quite some time (hours). They keep checking on my pulse. Then x-rays of chest - then CT scan of thoracic cavity with dye in my blood. Later a specialist comes by to take a look. At 8pm he comes to talk to me - closes the curtains. Good news and weird news. Good news is just several cracked ribs (that's the good news????!!)). Weird news is that I am displaying a syndrome called Complete Heart Block. My heart's own pacemaker is not working. It fires but the signal does not get to my ventricular heart chambers - instead they beat independently and hence slowly. It can be benign - or deadly. I've to see a cardiologist asap. I was discharged on the basis that I have had low heart rate for several years - and that I'm fit - and that I don't show symptoms such as feinting, chest pain, nausea, loss of libido. The plan is to decide is it benign or not. If not benign, treatment is a pacemaker. Bloody marvellous. I must find and thank the Turk in the Merc.

Lol at Turk in the Merc. But wow. Everything happens for a reason I guess.

Crikey. Reminds me of a family friend whose brakes failed on a hill in Rochdale, so she flung herself off, went to hospital where they diagnosed cancer, caught it early, got treatment and was cured.

Wow, that's a lucky catch! But does that mean I'll have to be nicer to the next cunt that runs over me, in case they find a dodgy ticker or something? Shit, that'll spoil the fun a bit.

Crikey. Reminds me of a family friend whose brakes failed on a hill in Rochdale, so she flung herself off, went to hospital where they diagnosed cancer, caught it early, got treatment and was cured.

Was she wearing a helmet though?

Flipping glad I was I can tell you.

A cancer helmet.

Good luck, Mel. Shame it isn't just your general awesome bike fitness. I once went in and they found a resting heart rate of 40, but there was nothing untoward about it. Hope you get it sorted/get a good way of living with it.