This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Ha, I got smoked (not a euph) by nearly every one this morning as I was cruising in and enjoying the views, lack of traffic and weather. Even @greenhell would have overtaken me

fuck that. i'll crawl naked over broken lightbulbs before i let one of you chancers go faster than me.

He moves fast - just seen the fucker making a Cup-A-Soup, grinning and talking to himself.

Thanks. I can see where I'm going wrong here. I sometimes eat vegetables and its f*cking with my energy balance thing. So - mushrooms OK then? Tomato paste on pizza. Garlic (what is garlic anyway?) Just nothing green. That right?

And don't hold back on the Guinness... ;)

burp

could just be the wrong Guinness. Forget the irish shandy water and find the overseas import brew :)

that nigerian hard-bastard stuff? it's fucking mintox.

Drink a whole 4-pack and your poo turns black, which can be a worrying experince.
Haven't found the Jamican version yet, but have been told it can be found in the UK and is on a par with the Nigerian and both make the Irish look like shandywater.

Fuck it..... best get some nigerian now. My shift is 2-till late today, so pizza and nigerian Guinness for mid night snack (be at home then) just got time to nip out and see if theres a 4 pack left :)

forgot my bastard iPad at home. 10.30am toilet break is going to be interesting.

You talk to people in the toilet?

Exactly what I was thinking....

i like to watch too...

Nice uneventful ride this morning. Was too warm in merino plus Milwaukee, but enjoyed having gears for a change and having the sun shining on the garish Mapei paint job on the bike. Nice quiet roads. But heard a truck smash into a little car on the OKR and suspect the truck driver was looking at his phone or something and completely failed to spot that the car had stopped.

Bit cold out innit.

Pre commute shopping trip as shops are shut when i finish.
Some 7.5abv import Guinness and pizza for tea now :)

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those bottles look like they'll be deposited on the floor at the first sharp turn you encounter.

but +1 for using the word tea, which is the correct word for tea.

Nice morning for it! Built up a clunker with a rack recently. It's become my do it all rat. It slows me down. I arrive less sweaty and adrenalinised. My only exercise these days is doddering to and from work though so I notice my legs are really weak. I have to get out of the saddle in the lightest of headwinds. Props to the concrete lorry driver who sat patiently behind me through two lights from Viccy Park to Mile End until it was less pointless to pass me. He sat right back, no hassle. Big thumbs up from me as he came past and a little pop of the horn. It could be so simple sharing the road if everyone were as chilled. 9/10

Things I learned on the commute this morning:

1. Big pebbly gravel fallen off a lorry can give 28c tyres a pinch flat.
   
2. Old dudes on Moultons are nice and offer tools (I only needed a pump though!)
   
3. There's a really good little public tool set and standing pump on the Goldsmiths campus, just out of sight from the Lewisham Way, up Dixon Road.
   
4. It was really cold, so it's lucky I had to ride fast to make up time.
   

Can't tell whether they've mucked about with Foreign X labels recently or just had to design another label for the supermarkets.

Pissing rain going back = OK (heys its the emerald isle...that's why the grass here is so green...) Use raincoat

Car going through red while me and man were about to cross = Not OK.

Can't trust greem lights only green grass ;)

Picture perfect sunshine, frost glistening, half term traffic, bike sounding sweet, some roads resurfaced, fucking dream. It's cheesy but actually thought about how lucky I was to be there right then, riding across London, to a job, on a bike.

It's cheesy but actually thought about how lucky I was to be there right then, riding across London, to a job, on a bike.

Yep, well said. Work is good. Cycling is good. Cycling to work: double good.

First ride in this morning for weeks. Found a nice new route that joins the cycle path along embankment. Glorious.

New bike is loving the amount of towpath riding I'm having to do at the moment. Such cold, long johns needed today.

Mudguards arrive tomorrow, just in time for the rain forcast for Thursday.

OK, blowing the cobwebs off having been off road for 3weeks, I take a nice refreshing ride don the canals and reservoirs over hackney marsh, taking it easy stopping off in walthamstow for a coffee. On my way home, I'm riding along a cycle path / pavement heading west on lea bridge rd, I can see the cyclists in front of me is way too close to rider in front of them, sometimes only inches apart, I had the chance to chat to them later, trying hard to be sensitive and not just telling them to ride better, so I asked how they found riding on the main road, 'who the hell are you' was the reply, I tried to express my concerns for both riders, 'well im in a hurry and that's my problem not yours, isn't it'... 'Live long and prosper' seemed a apt reply for some reason?...