This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Lovely evening to be cycling, picked up some cracking coffee, left shoe fell to bits.

5/10

Everyone on the road seems fucking hammered tonight. That's the only explanation for the shit driving.

Working today and the commute was quiet-er than christmas morning! So SO good.

Headwind this morning. Ugh.

Early job today, so experienced the gridlock of 7.30-8am traffic. Bleurgh. Such overtaking.

Dear CitySprint courier I see most mornings coming down college road and thru to camberwell.
It's nice to stop at zebra crossings when someone <10 is about to step on to them.

DICK.

Yup, saw this twice today. But not from couriers, 30-40 yro men with high-viz & helmets, busting through red lights when people crossing. Fools.

Was one of them riding a trek hybrid with a single red pannier, single speed, patent black sidis?

(asking for a friend)

Your 'friend' is outside that age range.

Rapid commute in...still late.

Yes, but he can easily pass for a couple of years younger.

Struggled this morning for some reason, rolled eyes as a driver decided to blast through the roundabout I was just as I was about to turning right. Over use of the horn my a crazy phone using Passat driver who couldn't wait 5 seconds as myself and another cyclist when through a pinch point, only for them to have top driver on the wrong side of the road so that they could catch up with the traffic ahead. Give them the thumbs up as I cycled past.

6/10

ever since that road got fixed, it became pretty fun to ride tho.
super smooth.

Headwind... Treacle legs... Brain fog...

Strava says I managed a 25km/h average... EH?!?!

Does anyone commute to North Greenwich?

Our office has just moved and I'll be riding in from Winchmore Hill. I used to commute to Blackfriars Road and trying to work out whether it's better to do the same route in as before and then turn left towards London Bridge - Tooley street - Lower Road - Greenwich -N. Greenwich, or try staying north of the river longer and then either do Tower Bridge or Greenwich foot tunnel.

I used to live round there (ish)...
I would blast all the way down GreenLanes and over Tower Bridge.
The Jamaica Road/Lower run down to the Greenwich is remarkably quick and clear. It is bus lane all the way, with relatively low frequency of actual busses.

It probably isn't the quickest, but it would be the best chance of turning the pedals uninterrupted.

I've commuted from Finsbury Park to North Greenwich (and beyond) a few times. By preference I'd choose to stay North and use the foot tunnel, roads seem a bit more mellow, and the route out from the City via CS3 is OK.

Thanks, mate. I'll give that a go. Stopping as little as possible is definitely a priority and you make it sound a lot less hassle than I'd anticipated. I'm imagining I'll get lost when I get around North Greenwich as the view from my office makes it look like a maze of industrial estate roads.

Cheers, Mike. I'll try the two and see what works out best. I take it you have to dismount in the foot tunnel so that will add on a bit of time.

Yeah...
Getting to North Greenwich shouldn't be too much of a faff.
Once you get there on the other hand...

Yes you do, although plenty of people don't. It's a bit antisocial doing that if the tunnel is busy, IMO.

And North Greenwich is a bit of a maze, depends which bit you're in. The cycle route around the O2 is a right PITA.

I'm basically right next to the o2. It's better than I thought it would be around here tbh. Gonna miss the South Bank but I thought it would be much more barren than it appears to be on first sight.

If I end up doing the foot tunnel then I'll def walk it. The one annoying thing about fixed is you can't do that "scoot along on one pedal" gesture of dismounting.

First commute in for about two weeks, getting over chest infection, and been training, with meetings in town making it difficult to commute to work (feltham) and then back into town (Strand/Soho) for meetings. Plus road bike had 3 punctures in a week (pesky kids on the park cut throw breaking empty bottles on the path), and I'd got fucked off with replacing innertubes. Finally got round to it last night, rode in today, ten minutes out, and get the hiss of doom.
FML.
Swapped it out, realise my tyre may need replacing, though every time I look at it, when I haven't had a puncture, feel like I can get another couple of months out of it.
Rest of the commute, good, strong legs after the enforced rest made me want to ride past work and put a little extra on top...

You can, it just gets a bit 'circus'.

How are you set of Thursdays these days...?

http://www.lfgss.com/events/1555/