This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Dat E&C doe.....

BBC weather: Pissing down rain.
Outside: Tiny drizzle. Yeooo....!

It's chilly enough though, I didn't get roasting hot at all.
Usual lorries going through red. Sigh.

Temp >1C = Shorts are legit
Temp <=0C = Shorts OK short distance, below that get the winter bibs
Temp OK, but wind cold enough to fast freeze your leg hairs so they go brittle and snap off = ride MTB + lobsters + bibs

Got caught out on the left turn onto Kennington road this morning for 'RLJ'ing'. questionable stop as the lights were changing but when confronted by four police officers its best not to start an argument.

Any point in writing to addlee about the fucking cunt that didn't check his mirrors and tried to kill me this morning?

I doubt it but hopefully my excessive use of the words 'stupid fucking prick' got my message across

Got his license plate? Should report him to the police as well while you're at it.

e left turn onto Kennington road this morning for 'RLJ'ing'. questionable stop as the lights were changing but when confronted by four police officers its best not to start an argument.

did you tell them that the entire bus lane you were expected to occupy after making that turn was occupied by road grading equipment and didn't relish the idea of being sideswiped by vehicles making the same turn, because some genius decided co-ordinating the light change for cycle and motorised traffic was a tickety-boo idea?

My knees are locking up as I read this... ;)

It's not my leg muscles that get it, it's my joints that don't like it. Unless you wear a nice knee warmer? :p

I discussed a few things with him, none of which he was particularly interested in. He did note that my tyres were almost 'treadless' therefore no water would be displaced. Small victory as I told him there isn't any chance of aqua-planing on a bicycle, and they are in fact sold like that, more tyre on the road = more grip... sigh, doesn't balance out with the possibility of a pointless £50 fine though :-(. Someone's gotta pay for that clusterfuck of 'cycle improvement works'.. why not the cyclists?

fucking plod. i don't agree with theresa may on much, but shoeing a coupla thousand of these worthless hi-viz jobsworths into the dole queue can't happen soon enough.

I know Blackfriars/St Georges Circus is now confusing as fuck but last night someone in a MPV of some kind actually managed to turn into the bike lane exit heading north despite a load of drivers leaning on their horns in warning.

Temp below ten degrees, cover your knees.
Increase threshold to fifteen if you're skinny (the person or the body shape).

Doesn't need to be winter bibs, M&S do a 3/4 walking short that will keep the wind off.

There are signs up saying E&C north goes "2 way" in 12 days.

Bit chilly, but not cold enough yet for knee warmers.

Slower than normal thanks to 15kg of crap in the panniers (football stuff, lunch * 2, clothes * lots, old laptop/dock/power-brick, etc) plus the new dynohub front wheel with Marathon Plus on it (whole wheel just shy of 3kg, oof!).

Return leg should be significantly faster with 12kg less crap on the bike.

I CANNOT WAIT.
No left turn from Newington Causeway. Yeah right. I see you MPV. I SEE YOU.

WTF is that?

So there's that to look forward to. How do you get to London Road from NKR?

As a cyclist?
Those green paths will be the way.

As a car?
You can't.

Seems to be a traffic island and a cycle crossing affair. So going to be slower and packed with cyclists. Yay.

From Kennington Rd how do you get to Newington Causeway?

The usual Victoria Embankment bun fight.

Person on bike filtering on outside of queuing vehicles.

Kings Ferry coach coming the opposite direction clocks the cyclist, and aims his coach at them, with a blatantly obvious swerve.

Still - the person on the bike should have paid road tax.

Also - closing the Upper Thames St tunnel to bicycles? Do one, would you >>>>>>>>>>>>>

Tesco lorries unloading in bus lanes and on double yellows/reds during rush hour. They've clearly worked out that the cost of a parking ticket is minimal compared to being able to park when they want regardless of the trouble they cause.

Wait, what? Is this meant to be a good idea?

I'm sure I will fondly remember the days when I was able to mind my own business and traverse E&C roundabout in all of about 3 seconds.

Unfortunately I already fondly remember the days when St.Georges Rd was 4 lanes of happy and freely moving traffic.

Now it's standstill because of the segregated cycle lane that about two people use on the RIGHT hand side of the road so if you want to use it and turn left/go straight ahead you have to cut up two lanes of traffic on the exit. Have nearly died - wouldn't use again.

RIP E&C #nva4gt #tearz4eva