This morning's commute and other commuting stories

First commute in months.

15 miles, sun on my back the whole way. Legs felt good. New tyres are good. Kept up with our resident TT rider.

9/10 long live the nice mornings.

It's on the list of go to complaints for motorists to make in an attempt to oppose cycle lanes being introduced, signed properly or anything that will just help them work well. Weirdly when adding metal barriers along country lanes or extra lanes onto places this isn't an issue.

E+C is going to have lots of money spent on it in the next few years as they build stuff and I guess rebuild the shopping center eventually, I'd guess the westfields people have an eye on it among others who build stuff like that but with limited parking in the area and being on the edge of the congestion charge making the parking free isn't a good idea so I can't see the shopping center ever getting proper investment. Even then I just think giving up on areas isn't good and most of the time an area being a dump can be turned around once you break that view of it, E+C biggest problem in that respect is the number of lives claimed by drivers in the area.

Near miss on Tooley St this morning, coming up to 9am. I was heading West, just before London Bridge station entrance, preoccupied left with whether peds were going to step out or not, when to my right a biggish saloon car runs into the back of one of those baby buggies you can pull behind your bike, wheel against wheel, the buggy wheel coming off a bit worse than the car's. The car stops, the woman on the bike that's pulling the buggy stops. The driver of the car (I'm thinking it's a Merc) gestures that the woman has pulled across him; the woman goes berserk. At this point I have passed the car and can see that the buggy contains two infants, side by side, possibly twins, who are bemused by the whole experience, oblivious to the danger they were just in. The woman carries on screaming. I think about stopping but I realise there's no further danger, just shouting, and I haven't seen who's done what so can't contribute anything as a witness. Scary stuff.

the only thing that spoils my morning commutes to work are the dam pedestrians that don't look both ways when crossing, cycling with no brakes means im having to shout allot :(

those damn pedestrians making you cycle with no brakes.

Does shouting "allot" work? Considered shouting "coming thru" or something instead?

Be fucking careful

Someone riding brake less was recently involved in a fatal collision with a pedestrian. It was not the cyclist who died.

Legally your bike needs two brakes.

They would never make parking free there is too much money to be made. Shepherds Bush parking is ridiculously expensive. And very little street parking around.

Perhaps riding slower would help alleviate you from shouting a lots?

A brake might help him slow too.

Link?

3 posts above I mean.

http://www.lfgss.com/conversations/281897/

#breakbores

No dad duties and the weather was good so I broke out the Mercian. Left before 6am - clear roads and only really encountered the occasional roadie on their way to RP. Like commuting BITD.

10/10 - would travel back in time again

Such pro-muters, many FKW, wow.

I quite like the new E&C cycle lane, a bit slower than taking the road but hardly at all. Makes the whole experience more pleasant. I never really minded using the road but this is definitely better than the other cycle lane that loops way around it. I didn't see any games makers or whatever those dudes in hiviz were this morning and there was a lack of PEDs stepping out, which was nice.

All of the Sunday club riders can fuck off though, undertaking, snot rocketing cunts.

Police car(!) LJ64 OTT in using the cycle filter lane into the ASL at the north end of Southwark Bridge this morning to turn left.

Wouldn't have been that bothered if there'd been a hand-wave of an apology, but she was completely unrepentant when I pointed out that she really wasn't meant to be where she was.

Her defence was that she's human and that that junction is confusing, but there was no apology, and I don't imagine she went away and issued herself with £50 on the spot fine.

My slightly cheeky 'Apology accepted', despite lack of apology probably didn't help. Am sympathising more and more with @Clockwise - keeping your head around plod who aren't doing their job properly is hard.

@dancing james I wasn't aware of that. Bleak.

@Jaineel Just get yourself some brakes. It's the law. And for good reason.

Some guy said "nice jersey" to me riding through Regents Park and then said nothing else but carried on riding next to me until he said "nice bike". Thanks m8.

"Nice ankles. Do you work out?"

Warm glorious sun 10/10 Working late tonight which I'm already regretting!

thankfully the lack of hi-viz pedestrian warning shouty people at E&C worked fine today - I breezed through.

I think I've worked out the lack of blue paint - technically the blue paint is for the Cycle Superhighways as opposed to mere cycle paths. and I think northbound CS7 turns left just before E&C along an alleyway. felt like sherlock when I got that.

On my way home last night, coming up to a T junction..........cunty rental van turns left on a turn right only. Thankfully I was on the corner of the van and not side by side, otherwise I'd be flattened. I mean ffs, it's painted on the road in big letters.

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Took the Wimbledon Common long cut for the first time this year. Was expecting a bit of a mud fest. Last time I ventured that way for a walk over the winter it was a quagmire in places. Was pleasantly surprised it was dry as a bone all the way through.
Such a treat on a sunny spring morning. Slightly annoyed I didn't try it a bit earlier.

Not all the CS are/will be blue though.