This morning's commute and other commuting stories

^^Thought the evil meedja killed her

Exactly, the number of times I have heard drivers justify a close pass with 'you lot all [insert RLJ, don't pay road tax, ride on the pavement]' is, admittedly anecdotal, proof. As much as I don't like being lumped in with the idiots on bikes, I am. If I don't/say do anything to at least point out their errors then they will just continue to allow themselves to be evidence to those who want to see us all in one way.

nothing you or i say or do is going to disabuse a cunt behind the wheel of a vehicle of their irrational prejudice. i suspect the impotent rage some people unleash is symptomatic of so much more than merely people on bikes doing things they don't approve of.

Don't ride like a cunt because it feels good to not be a cunt.

Very true, you also have the moral high ground to shout (more likely just judge then post on here) those who do.

then again, i do enjoy a bit of road-going argy bargy if i know i'm in the right.

love it when we talk about shared responsibility as if it doesn't exist, then complain on this very same thread about taxi drivers and addison lee drivers as if they're one big homogenous group.

Errr

Black cab drivers and Addison Lee drivers ARE homogenous groups, and they DO have collective responsibility because they are formally employed as part of an organisation who have the ability to deal with members who break the rules.

The problem is the Public Carriage Office and Addison Lee don't give a flying fuck about their drivers acting dangerously, so fuck them.

GUISE, guise... check ur privilge, yeah?

What's the best way from the embankment separate cycle lane up to Chancery Lane tube?

I read this page now and again, thinking how great it is not to have to cycle commute in London any more.

Or live in London.

Or pay £700 a month for the privilege of a room in a shared house in a shit hole street.

Fuck you London; fuck you.

I'm so close to ^this^ right now.

Thing is, I fucking love the commutes.

What kind of place are you in now, then?

I lived out in the burbs quite a bit as a teenager, I have to say I felt back then I'd rather be in London than too far out to be involved but not far enough to escape its gravity. I'm curious what people feel when they consciously move away from it.

Not being born in London and moving there only for work it was never a good fit for me. I moved back to Wales, where I'm from, and now have access to the resources I always wanted, whilst in London, on my doorstep: top mountain biking, a beach 200 metres from my house, family being within a ten mile radius, friendly people, far less pollution of all kinds, etc.
I ride 10-15 minutes out of my back door in two directions and am able to ride quality technical or flowy trails as I want, and not have to make a one and half hour train commute either way to ride in the Surrey Hills or Swinley, or, if I wanted proper downhill, two and half hours each way to go to Aston Hill.
And my local trails are crowded when ten people are out on a weekend. Pitch Hill sees hundreds of eager beaver MAMIBS on a Saturday and Sunday.

London was an interesting experience but I have no desire to repeat it.

Fair enough, that makes a lot of sense. Glad you've got a balance you like.

I guess for me, I need to have lots of people crammed into a small space to do what I do (although the Internet has changed that a lot and will continue to do so). Having to navigate it physically is the corollary of being very plugged in to certain things.

now have access to the resources I always wanted whilst in London on my doorstep: top mountain biking, a beach 200 metres from my house, family being within a ten mile radius, friendly people, far less pollution of all kinds, etc.

Well, why didn't you say so? We could have sorted something out. :)

Very gracious of you, though I'd believe a beach 200 metres from Crystal Palace before friendly Londoners. :-D

Look like the driver of a red bus hit someone north of Ludgate Circus on Farringdon Road, traffic completely fucked, hope the victim make it.

Meant to be insane rainfall today.

I glance out of the window and its pea soup outside. Looks to be a horrendous rain storm.

I put on my rain coat, start riding and notice the road is bone dry.

WTF

Mid 20s and more humid than I've ever experianced.

Lost 3kg on the short commute to work and now smell like an old trainer.

2/10

Dear weather - please start raining and get cold again. I can't take any more of this bullshit on my commute.

Saw that. Awful.

Ludgate Circus

Shit, that's awful. Nearly came that way today too.

Apparently #CycleToWorkDay or something today

So I started commuting into work this spring having moved to South London, making the ride into the City more viable. Around the time I was going to start riding I asked my employer (medium sized financial institution) about getting access to our cycle parking but was told that all of the bike parking spots we hold in the building are currently allocated and that they will actually need to decrease the number allocated at some point as we are looking to sublet some of our existing floor space.

At the time I accepted this and have just been locking my bike at street level and right next to a busy tube station. Curently ride in nearly every day, lock it up, wander into the bike parking/showers and then on my way back up I put on an extra, heavier lock that I bought.

I have since enquired again as the crappier months of weather approach (hoping to keep my bike out of the elements) and was again told that we have no available spots. I have argued with our facilities people that the bike parking is never even close to being full and that there are also dozens of spaces allocated to motorcycle parking when there are never more than 2-4 motorcycles. I think our building allocated spots based on the number of stands available (this type) which they could reasonably park two bikes on. The facilities people claim that they have asked the building about providing more spots but that the building management say our company doesn't even use all of the spots allocated so they won't add any which is true because many people don't ride in regularly if at all.

I am going to raies it again and push the angle of being a good employer but my question is if my employer has some legal obligation to provide these facilities or to make them available to me since they are avalable to others?

TLDR; Employer has no more bike parking slots to allocate and claim building management wont give them more despite bike parking never being close to full and easy changes to add more. Looking for advice.

Any advice appreciated.

This is utter BS.

I have tried to lessen the anger I normally feel against fellow riders by striking up conversation where possible. Let's call it frustration offsetting. Complemented someone on their Holdsworth and someone else on something with sick fadez. Also tried to point out to the guy riding with a single break and no foot retention that he was fucked if the cable snapped, but he kept insisting "it's a fixie, bro!"

I am going to raies it again and push the angle of being a good employer but my question is if my employer has some legal obligation to provide these facilities or to make them available to me since they are avalable to others?

No, there is no legal obligation. You need to find out more--i.e., who are these people who allegedly have spaces allocated to them who don't seem to ride a bike in? Are they bigwigs who think it's OK to occupy a space while only commuting by bike occasionally? Etc. It might be employees who left a long time ago and never bothered to notify the building management.

It's usually a good idea to go through the most senior people first if you can.

Other than that, all the usual applies--people who commute by bike are fitter and work better, the company should actively promote cycling more, they could get a consultant in to advise them about installing better bike parking (shameless plug, a friend of mine does that sort of thing), e.g. more space-efficient, managed better (to avoid the problem of vacant stands) etc.

Importantly, try not to come across as a complainer but be positive in your interactions. Bike parking often appears to people as an annoying chore that they'd rather not have to deal with.