This morning's commute and other commuting stories

@rhowe @Backstop I saw a lorry being driven this morning taking an illegal left turn from Woburn Place on to Tavistock square (no entry painted across the road) it then did an illegal right turn at the next junction. What the actual fuck.

Guess the lorry ban doesn't included "professional" driven lorry.

I get tired by weds or Thursday night on my similar distance commute. I have started having a protein shake for recovery in the mornings and it seems to help me get through the week and ride or run at weekends.
Once you get in the swing it's pretty easy to manage though.

Get her!
I spelt it correctly the first time.

WTF is going on at Clapham Road today - the clusterfuck of Oval and E&C is heading South .........

Earily quiet out there this morning, only bit of action was yet again watching a bus nearly squash a few cyclist in Oval.

Taking of which I finally got a reply from TFL regarding my email about the bus stop and buses swing left into the path of cyclist which was dated 5th August.

Thank you for your email regarding the phasing of traffic lights along the segregated cycle track in Oval. Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in responding.

We recently opened a number of completed sections of the Oval Triangle scheme for use by cyclists. This included a newly designed junction at Kennington Park Road and Kennington Road which introduced an innovative ‘hold the left’ junction arrangement; separately signalling cyclists and left turning traffic.

Nice of them to response but to completely ignore the question....

I got a similar response to the same question. Their reply to me basically boiled down to "Well, we consulted people before we built it and nobody objected. We'll have another look next year."

I went down CS7 past Oval for the first time in about a month yesterday - those new lanes you wrote in about are mental! I can't understand how they thought it would be a good idea to force cyclists to swing right back onto the road two meters before the bus stop so just as you come out all the buses are swinging left in at you. Not being familiar with the new set-up I thought I'd somehow got it wrong, but coming back the other way it's exactly the same! Well done for writing in - glad they cleared the whole thing up with that response!!

I must admit, the CS7/Oval CF is better southbound. At least the cycle lane brings you out after the bus stop, rather than before.

Not that I experienced the E&C CF this morning; over-running roadworks meant a nice detour through the Vauxhall deathtrap #everyjourneyavictory

CS7/Oval CF is better southbound

This is true. The southbound one funnels you nice and gently into the ASL outside Oval station.

I'm fast going off my morning commute. Traffic is at a stand still all the way from Borough Market to Southwark bridge due to road works and filtering/negotiating blocked junctions is becoming pretty stressful. Has anyone given up and found a nicer route?

Isn't that about two hundred metres?

I go through Great Suffolk Street (which currently required about 10m of walking) and then to Blackfriars.. slight clusterfuck getting onto the bridge on the Southside but still preferable to getting through onto Southwark Bridge when it's busy...

I thought you might be talking about me for a min but I was knocked off in the morning at that section, not evening.

Riding along abreast 2 other riders, only doing about 5 mph because of the roadworks and heavy traffic. I was to the left and the other tw0 riders were half a bike's length ahead and to the right so we were spaced evenly across the whole lane.

Next thing a van's bumper nudges my rear wheel sideways and, coz I'm clipped in, I end up going over sideways towards the pavement. I jumped up and went around to the driver's side and said "You just fucking knocked me off". He didn't deny it but implied he hadn't hit me by saying "I'm always very careful around cyclists, mate. I used to do what you do and I'm always very careful". I just responded by saying "that's great, but you just did knock me off so it's kind of irrelevant and, in this case, untrue".

We argued a bit back-and-forth but I asked him to wait while I checked my bike was OK and everything seemed cool so I just let it go.

He must have been looking the other way or had been sat in that traffic jam for so long, riding the clutch that he just switched off and coasted into the back of me.

My left pedal developed an epic squeak this morning and a taxi bumped into my rear wheel when the left turning light went green (we were both in the shraight ahead lane).. I got suitably angry at him but he was very apologetic.
Got to work in one piece and wheel still straight.. 10/10 for eventfulness

I currently commute 14 to 17 miles each way daily (depending if I'm working in my West End or City office), and this week has been pretty tough. The relentless SW wind has really drained me on the way home.

Currently running fixed with a 42x15 ratio, and I have to negotiate Broomfield Hill (usually with a fully loaded Carradice on the back)

The question is - should I gear down for winter, MTFU, or just go back to using my geared bike? I've never run fixed through the winter before.....

I'd gear down. Spinning more keeps you warm.

Get a 16t or a 17t.

Gear down in winter and gear up in summer when the headwinds cease.
Also just in case, remember commuting isn't training or racing, ride at a pace you feel comfortable with, makes it easier on yourself when you get to the end of the week and haven't been chasing all the strava KOM pursuers.

gear up in summer when the headwinds cease.

Does it?

Yep, otherwise it's not summer!

road work right after Tate Britain. all traffic diverted to bike lane. cunts.

Tuesday's commute home, absolute 10/10, I'm still on a high from it.

Zero cunts. Two separate occasions where pedestrians checked for traffic before crossingthe road. I shit you not. They looked, saw me, and waited til there was no traffic before walking into the road. My spirits soared. One occasion where a busdriver that was going to pass another stationary bus let me move out to the right hand lane ahead of him to overtake the bus. My heart sang. And then a pedestrian thanked me for waiting at a zebra crossing - this would usually mildly annoy me but I was so pleased with mankind and London by this stage that it just heaped more joy on my joy.

Some people are alright some of the time :D

I was going to disagree and say it's worse south bound.

Are you coming e&c direction?

I seem to miss most of the busses going from oval to Kennington lane (towards Waterloo) and think being separated from the traffic going that way makes sense as it's rammed that bit of road.

Coming back I always end up in traffic as the bike lane is too small and windy and shoot you out into the road far too suddenly.

I feel so happy for you :')

Srs