This morning's commute and other commuting stories

I'm the Vitiligo Kid out of Transparent skin City! Think yerself lucky matey, I have to wear gloves all year round.

Hell is other people

Jean-Paul Satre

Some days it seems that there is something in the water.

Conspiracy thread>>>>

Heeeeelp! If anyone's passing with a pump before 5, I'm at e15 2qs just by bow flyover and need to sort a tyre to make date night! Been caught short with no co2 :/ Beer delivery within the week as repayment!

Out of all of the years I have spent battering around town on a bike, I have never had, or envisioned I would ever have the what I always perceived to be a stereotypical encounter with a motorist along the lines of "What are you doing in the middle of the road!?"
Unfortunately just now on the OKR some prick overtook me nice and close, nearly coming into contact with a motorist in the lane to his right.
I just shrugged it off but the lights ahead turned red, he stopped and I shortly followed and sat in the ASL only to hear that famous line shouted at me from his window.
At that point the lights immediately changed to green so I started to go, as I moved off I turned around to meet eyes with this moron and he pulled up next to me as we were both rolling to ask the same question again.
I just replied "I'm legally allowed to be here." He obviously didn't understand that and dropped in "this is why you all get killed".
As expected I immediately offered him out over a very heated 10 second back and forward deafening exchange of bad sentences and he just drove off.
I am aghast, I cant believe I've actually met one of these wankers but I wont let it tarnish my veiw of motorists and I'm not going to generalise.
I must pass hundreds of motorists during the rush hour commute every week and 99.9% of them are super cool and polite as far as I'm personally concerned, if anything they are too busy mugging each other off to notice me but I'm just really disappointed tonight. sadface

Just sent Camden Council some feedback on the experimental Torrington Place scheme:

As a daily cycle commuter who uses routes of all types from the 40mph dual carriageway portions of the A10 through to the Lea Valley towpath, I think the new layout is a vast improvement over what went before.

However, it seems to confuse everyone!

Observed in the last 7-10 days during my commute (westbound in the morning, eastbound in the evening).

1) Whilst heading eastbound along the Tavistock Place cycle path approaching the Hunter Street junction, I encountered a cyclist heading directly towards me, presumably unaware that the layout had changed. He nipped through one of the gaps in the divider into the street (fortunately there was no traffic) but I'm not sure who he thought was going the wrong way.

2) Twice now I've observed cars turning from Gordon Square into Bedford way as soon as the lights change and cutting across oncoming cycle traffic. I think this is because the stop line for westbound cyclists is so far back and the junction is very open, allowing drivers to just about get away with nipping through, although one time I had to stop because they would have driven into me as I set off from the lights.

3) At the same junction I witnessed a minicab in the right hand lane signalling right reverse and position themselves (still signalling right) on a diagonal with the rear of the car in the right hand lane and the front of the car in the left hand lane behind other queuing traffic. When the lights changed, the minicab turned right down Bedford Way. I assume the driver was unsure as to whether or not the road was one-way or he was in a lane for oncoming traffic.

4) A scooter driving westbound from Byng Place to the junction with Gower Street and then on to Tottenham Court Road. I couldn't tell if they knew they were travelling the wrong way down a one way street but they were sticking very close to the armadillos as if they knew there could be oncoming traffic squeezing them into the cycle lane.

5) A driver heading Westbound across the Hunter Street junction, pausing with confusion on top of the "NO ENTRY" road marking. There was no oncoming traffic and I didn't see what happened next, but I don't think he continued along Tavistock Place, so presumably chose to reverse out into the Hunter Street junction.

6) A minicab heading north along Woburn Place turning left into Tavistock Square, driving along the westbound cycle path over the armadillos and parking in the parking space in front of Hotel Tavistock facing Westbound. After leaving the vehicle and returning with a passenger the driver then performed a 3 point turn almost reversing into several cyclists waiting for the westbound lights to change before heading off eastbound along Tavistock Square.

I don't know why everyone is so confused - if I were to guess, I'd say it's a mixture of ingrained past behaviour, insufficient road markings and signage and in some cases what appears to be a blatent disregard for the new traffic controls.

Finally, as a cyclist the bollards which are positioned slightly inwards from the curb and from the armadillos on the westbound route are perfectly positioned for a collision. I can understand why they are there, but they do act as a pinch point and are quite easily obscured by the rider in front of you who may swerve around them at the last moment leaving you potentially with the option of an emergency stop or a swerve into someone passing you in the middle of the lane.

So, overall I like the scheme and support the change however it could definitely be improved. With so many confused motorists around who are having to think about the road layout at the same time as performing quite dodgy manoeuvres surrounded by dozens of cyclists and pedestrians I fear an accident is in the making.

Are you Studio 54? ;)

This is my cycling outfit.

You have a pleasant commute compared to the majority.

99.9% of people on my commute are a cunt or potential cunts.

On CS7 everyone is a cunt waiting to happen.

Tube again.

Have found the tube equivalent of shoaling: jumping a queue of people on the platform by standing beyond the yellow line. Much tutting.

Got the train.
#fistpump

Tube again.

Have found the tube equivalent of shoaling: jumping a queue of people on the platform by standing beyond the yellow line. Much tutting.

Surely tube-shoaling is jumping the queue to get on the train and then not moving down so that it slows people behind from getting on?

Anyway.

Tube >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I've had a few drivers in London tell me I was in the middle of their lane, some very rationally and calmly, some less so.

You get this far worse out of London though I find. A combination of the amount of traffic and its slow speed and the number of cyclists means that most accept it. Get out of London to where there aren't many cyclists and traffic is much more free flowing and you're expected to hug the kerb and cycle in the door zone.

SMIDSY rendered impossible :P

Sure, but Satre didn't have a boiler suit and a kick-ass mask!

Very much enjoyed the 343 bus jumping 3 sets of red lights last night, not even the just turned to red the fully red ones. Loads of angry motorist, didn't enjoy the Addy Lee people carrier who turn out of a side road with no lights on and continued without lights until they turned off onto Camberwell rd.

Also am hopping that there are going to move the traffic lights at the junction of Brixton Rd going south from Oval as the new ASL box is in advance of the current traffic lights so you now have to look behind you to see them.

3 more days until two way E&C...

Was waiting for oncoming traffic to pass before overtaking a queue of traffic the other morning when I spy a front bumper in the corner of my left eye. Obviously incensed that I was prohibiting him from smashing into the van in front of him, some chap has got nice and close to ask me why I'm in the middle of the road. I give a puzzled look at him and his passenger before noticing driving instructor decals on the side of his car. sigh

Got a puncture yesterday, fixed it, cycled home, cycled for a night out, cycled back. Get the bike out this morning and it's flat again. Drove in at a snails pace in pointless traffic.

Facebook status update of mate of mine: She started cycling with her heavy chain lock in her right hand...and voila suddenly she does get more than an inch of room.

Strangely enough my side of town (Belfast) is more civil. Weird how it can vary so much in such a small place...

Yeah, but Satre was no oil painting either:
https://gustavus.edu/philosophy/image/sat2.gif

Sartre you fucking philistines!

I raise you:

http://www.lfgss.com/comments/12652783/ God knows how he got in there...

And it's less than a week old, time will tell how 'wrong' the layout is.

Wow. Just wow.

That's amazing! I hope you emailed it to the consultation address

Was approaching Blackfriars southbound tonight when a van driver smacked the back of a cyclist hard with his mirror.

They then attempted to speed off over the bridge without stopping.

Given the clusterfuck of roadworks even my ageing legs had enough to catch up and force them to pull over.

Passenger insisted they "didn't even realise" despite his window being fully down at the time.

The look of absolute guilt on the drivers face told another story.