This morning's commute and other commuting stories

....excellent...

Yes.
Still short sleeves.
Light breeze, but not enough to tax the legs...

The only detractor from this glorious day was nearly getting cleaned out by a close pass white van at New Cross. Still, I'd forgotten about it by the time i got to work.

Almost immediately regretted my 2nd big commute in a row. Instant knee twinge but thought sod it and carried on. Twinge came and went until I got to Oxford Circus where it became full blown total pain, so cycled one-legged the rest of the way. I've done longer rides than this at higher intensity, not sure why there's such pain on outside of my knee, guess it's ITB.

Pathetic weak legs :(

I'd guess it was taking cars about 30mins to head north through the rotherhithe tunnel on sunday night. Southbound wasn't so bad once you'd got in.

My biggest gripe with tooley st now is fellow cyclists whom i've just basted past southbound on london bridge who then roll up on my right in the middle lane and cut me up to turn left into tooley st. You want to turn left stay on the left you full team sky kit wanker etc. Same to be said for slow assed RLJ idiots who then force me to pootle along behind them at their shit pace.

Shorts and t-shirt makes it feel like a cool summers morning in yorkshire all day right now. Bliss but not enough to cool my temper with the above.

Rep for the effort.

Cheers :)

More boring commute updates:

Did some pretty unsightly stretches in the office and pounded some ibuprofen, still didn't feel great so I just gently spun home after lowering the saddle ever so slightly (after thinking about what I'd changed recently and reading some of Steve Hogg's knee pain stuff). Felt ok but was definitely bimbling. Working up the courage to get on the foam roller before bed...

I'm gonna ride the train tomorrow and see how the knee feels after that. Might compromise on doing the full distance by chucking the bike in the car and driving part of the way in and riding the rest. Could be a way to try out eyebrows' route without adding distance to an already rather long route...

Also, thanks to @rhowe for the incomprehensible directions, think I got the gist of it, roughly :)

@Greenbank, the only thing about Hoddesdon that boils my piss is the speedbumps (on the sewage works bit and on through the back roads), may try avoiding it if your route is bump free...

Also, thanks to @rhowe for the incomprehensible directions, think I got the gist of it, roughly :)

A picture paints a thousand turns
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/16992006

Never trust @rhowe with directions.

https://www.strava.com/activities/346162488/shareable_images/map_based?hl=en-GB&v=1436910000

Did you see what happened when he gave @hippy @skinny and @frank9755 directions to get a kebab earlier this year?

Bonked hard and had to have an emergency gel on CS8 and have now become an anecdote for everyone who saw.

fekin Astra driver last night overtaking into oncoming traffic, other side had to put into the verge, i braked, he continued on with his boombeats n "sick zaust givin it large"

superb ride in this morning in the sun, 6 degrees at the start, 9 at the end !

Boshing gels on the commute = promuter. Be proud.

"promuter" i like that!

We

Are

Awesome

This strikes me seeing cyclists waiting patiently as motor traffic clogged the fuck up at Blackfriars just now, stupid drivers being selfish pushing across a big junction on amber and backing up up causing mayhem blocking the next light phase.

They

Are

Not

Awesome

Rode the train, it was boring and expensive but quicker than I remembered. ITB hurts so need to do lots of stretching before trying to ride in again. What a pathetic shame I am :( Think I need a new job closer to Herts. Anyone need an IT Service Manager?

Moped crunched on the Highway by Wapping Lane.

I didn't see any amberlamps, but plenty of polis and tailbacks to Tower Hill and Limehouse.

lookedlikeitcouldhavebeennasty/10

Passed this myself - Totally agree with your summary, looked nasty.

If you need to take it easier have you considered riding to a station on the edge of London so you get the rolling pretty riding but avoid the stop start as you get more central?

Chingford station has racks on the platform and regular trains into Liverpool Street. Barriers are oyster/contactless so no messing about with ticket machines.

:( I am also pretty exhausted, despite having a much shorter commute. Got to work today and consumed half a loaf of bread. Hmm.

Ack :(

Go to Spar, get brekkie, get enraged at Daily Hail headline, walk on kerb with cycle to eat brekkie and off to work.

Would walk/cycle again eating brekkie :)

Obvious confirmation bias means your subconscious is filtering out the people riding like dicks and driving patiently.

Obviously.

Go to Spar, get brekkie, get enraged at Daily Hail headline, walk on kerb with cycle to eat brekkie and off to work.

Would walk/cycle again eating brekkie :)

You're really talking about Brexit, right?

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/we-will-make-breakfast-a-success-top-tory-make-hilarious-brexit-gaffe-at-party-conference-a3361076.html

hmmmm just how long are you guys commuting!?

mines a 50/55min each way, no breakfast, just a cuppa tea in the water bottle.
so,
6.30am - ride in with cuppa
8:00 - 4 weetabix after the usual post-email-surf-catchup,
10.30 - bacon roll sometimes (ok often)
12:00 - some form of meat protein with spud related accompaniment
13:30 - 2 packets of crisps and snack size chocolate bar (double decker is my preference)
15:30 - ride home
16:45 - nosh through Dinner and usually a dessert
19:00 - toast and a cuppa
live die repeat

Oh dear, what a gaffe...

The anti cycling lane BS on the Dail Hail frontpage today didn't help either :)