This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Too...humid...

I miss the cold empty roads.

Also, got caught in the bus trap again - this time at E&C. There really needs to be a better way of doing that.

Totally agree. Oh for a crisp but sunny winters morning. Through Richmond Park the rain from above was equal in volume to the sweat from within.

Very slow ride in today. Paused to offer tools to p*ncture fixing commuter on a road bike. He needed help working out how to release a catch on his CO2 thingy. I said I'd just hang for a minute as I had a pump, in case the canister didn't work.

He proceeded to leak all the CO2 and get none into the tube.

Pumped it up instead.

csb/10

Bin day...

Lots of people walking bikes with flats including someone with a saddlebag and a backpack full of I don't know what but obvs not tubes or a repair kit.

Rode in with my housemate up the OKR/NKR and was having a fine time until just after getting on to the NKR. We were riding 2 abreast in an empty bus lane, with a completely empty right lane next to us.

A prick on a motorbike took exception to this, came up behind us, rev bombed us then decided to try to force his way between us whilst shouting 'Single file unless otherwise instructed' (WTF?). I seem to recall calling him a prick, amongst other things, he pushed his way between us and then caned it off up towards E&C at about 50. He had a helmet camera, so I'd love it if he uploaded the footage to Youtube.

If anyone cares, it was some kind of sports bike, a few years old, black, maybe a Ninja?

Need to get a fucking camera on my bars but the one I bought makes my Garmin go nuts. Do real Go-Pros fuck with Garmins?

Maybe its age - maybe its the list of knocks I've clocked up over the years of riding in London - but today - even though no one got close to knocking me off - I worried about it all the way in. Every junction, side road, slowing car, pedestrian.....was a source of anxiety. I even shouted NO!!! at someone who had no intention of stepping out because in my head I thought he just might. Is that anticipation? Or paranoia? 10/10 for arriving in 1 piece. 2/10 for enjoyment. Dammit this is not good.

Had a van man flash me to cross the road this morning even though there were obviously a fuckton of cyclists coming in the opposite direction. He got annoyed when I decided not to endanger my life or the lives of others others and wait patiently for the cyclists to pass.

Need to get a fucking camera on my bars but the one I bought makes my Garmin go nuts. Do real Go-Pros fuck with Garmins?

Is WiFi on?

Thats a mistake lots of 'new' gps enabled drone pilots make... attach GoPro with WiFi still on and watch your new toy fly off into the distance never to be seen again/smash itself into the ground.

I'm reinstating my GoPro after last nights incident - see couple of posts up - and it works nicely on one of those K-edge mounts which does Garmin and GoPro in one.

Nah, I'm using an SJCAM M10. I did have an SJCAM 4000+ and had the same issue, only with Garmin though. I previously had a Holux GPS thing which never had this issue, so Garmin 500 and now 510 seem particularly susceptible to this...

Wifi is definitely off, but there's interference as soon as it starts recording. As there's Garmin/Gopro mounts, presumably the genuine ones don't cause this issue?

I've never had an issue with my GoPro in combination with a Garmin 500 / 800 / 810, using one of those aforementioned K-Edge mounts.

Maybe its age - maybe its the list of knocks I've clocked up over the years of riding in London - but today - even though no one got close to knocking me off - I worried about it all the way in. Every junction, side road, slowing car, pedestrian.....was a source of anxiety. I even shouted NO!!! at someone who had no intention of stepping out because in my head I thought he just might. Is that anticipation? Or paranoia? 10/10 for arriving in 1 piece. 2/10 for enjoyment. Dammit this is not good.

You gots the fear.
The wibbles...
The ab dabs...

Rears it's head every now and again, and as quick as it came it's gone.

Thanks WjP. I'm glad it's a recognised syndrome and can be overcome.

Of course 100 years ago you'd have been shot for cowardice so try to get over it quickly or hard decisions might be called for.

I've stopped drinking too - off the beer for a week - maybe I see the world differently - it's a scary place!

"Single file unless otherwise instructed" is what instructors shout at L plate dickheads while they do a CBT.

Saw a fantastic (ally awful) example of universal shit-headery on Lots Road this morning.

A motorbike overtaking a taxi that was already overtaking a bicycle at a pinch point whilst another taxi approached from the other direction AND a lady pushed her baby in a pram right out in front of all four of them.

Four very hastily stopped vehicles and one lady and baby frozen in terror in the middle of the road.

I have never seen collective stupidity of the same magnitude.

Ah, I wonder if he'd just passed his test then? I couldn't believe it, the other lane was completely clear, we were riding two abreast, holding low 20s and chatting. Not wobbling about or riding like pricks and he literally tried to push his way between us, in a gap of about a foot, rather than just move into the completely clear and empty other lane.

I'd love to see his helmet cam footage, the fucking cheesedick.

So last night, I saw:

A bloke on a track bike with a full disc back wheel and deep v front and a Kask full face helmet - all in black - riding along on the drops like he was giving it full beans. However he was going at walking pace.

A bloke on a frame I didn't know, with smallish wheels - 600 road wheels? Anyway he was carrying a small dog in a baby bjorn carrier. Suprisingly the dog didn't seem too fussed by this.

Amazing.

When they do motorbike tests or CBTs they have them do the most basic and safest riding possible so center of the lane the entire time, not too fast, no filtering and so on. It's not always explained why they are riding like that but people leave the test with a mindset to take the lane and ride central which is good most of the time but then he doesn't seem to get that middle of the lane between 2 cyclists isn't good. They might also not have made the link that "overtaking" and "passing a cyclist" are both overtaking.

Some people think it's their job to tell you to ride in the gutter.

Lovely weather we're having.

rode into central at rush hour for first time in ages and taken aback by the sheer number of cyclists. Mostly ok, but the chaos of it all with everyone doing their own thing rather than the mature settlement of behaviours you get in places like Holland just makes it seem like we've got a long way to go.

What is happening that is making London Bridge so busy recently! Just came through and it is rammed. Normally I just breeze through????

Goes down to one lane at the northbound side, Tooley Street closed on the southbound side.