This morning's commute and other commuting stories

cant sleep or go to sleep real late, i find myself sleeping late till 1 if not 2 at time - even baby no 2 fast asleep..

normalz

Not saying that difficulty sleeping is necessarily related to your heart, but times where I've struggled to sleep due to a hard ride, I've noticed my pulse has been elevated.

Ride 50 miles, should be easier to sleep. If that doesn't work try 100.

anthonyj if you have serious doubts on health talk to a GP.
Could just be naturally wired from endorphins from the hard ride home, could be a marker for something else. Talk to a Doctor.

I get wired when i work into the night and can't sleep, can't switch off, but thats me.

I have a 20 mile commute each way and usually do it 3 / 4 times a week. However, if I have been of the bike for a week or more and then go back to it the first two nights are the same for me.

Though as upsidedown suggests a tough 100 miler on a Sunday morning results in a lovely afternoon snooze.

I find my body kind of feels twitchy/restless if I exercise hard in the evening. I can fall asleep easily but it wakes me up in the early morning and I can find it hard to fall back to sleep. I've always put it down to endorphins but I'd echo other's comments about seeking professional help if you're worried.

I woke up feeling like crap today, so took the tube. It was remarkably straightforward, warm and painless and I managed to avoid sneezing and coughing on commuters. Boring though.

^^ this is certainly how it feels -
thanks for all the comments - googlez gives advice about electrolytes / magnesium and getting enough protein as well - i generally drink just water on the way home, and also fill up on junk in the evening - so i'll start with some high protein milk drink as recovery, and electrolytes in the drinks bottle on the bike...

For a 25 mile commute water is all you need and a glass of whole milk when you get in - it has plenty of protein so no need to make a specific recovery drink after a commute. Just avoid junk food cycling or not.

Yesterday's ride in was punctuated with sightings of a woodpecker (greater spoted), a deer on the tow path (muntjac), and an otter. My first proper otter sighting in the wild! I've only seen one in the water in the dark before. Made my day.

Stacked the cargobike on a sweeping downhill turn - front wheel just went, not sure if diesel or other crap from the industrial estate. Thankfully was on way to pick up kids rather than heading home. Have taken paint down to the metal all down the side of the bike; road rash/10, would not recommend.

light head winds, 2 / 3 degrees, moon, sunrise - lovely, tired legs though - 9/10

@anthonyj I'm no expert but i'm a crap sleeper so feel your pain!

It does sound normal to me, as others have mentioned the volume of chemicals being released to keep you going in intense exercise can have significant impact on sleep. I used to Thai box competitively and some of the evening sessions were monstrous, it would take me a good 3 hours after before i could even think about going to bed and sleep was often crap thus wrecking recovery. Something i learned later in life was to carb load after training (something i always avoided as i was regularly cutting weight) which helped my sleeping a lot and had no impact on weight gain. I still box on ocasion just for fitness and i find a slow ride home after helps along with immediately rehydrating then eating a big plate of carbs. Definately try electrolytes and protein drinks as everyone needs to find what works for them but personally this would cause problems for my sleep because of the sugars/chemicals. I sweat on average 2-3 kilos a session (i'm 70kg) and find two teaspoons of salt with a splash of squash to make it bearable does the job. Milk is awesome too for recovery.

Thanks for the great reply @jono84 - i've already taken the advice above and yours on board - i have electrolyte tabs and protein drinks ready now, see how i go tonight after the ride home ;-)

Still mild, credit to the guys at Brixton Cycle who managed to sort out my sheered bolt in my seat clamp this morning. legs still feel good despite going bed at 3am (washing the bike)

nice/10

Pidgeon dropped monumental deuce on my shoulder about 30 seconds after leaving the house. Splattered everywhere. Late for train so rode with it all over me for 20 minutes through central. Hope I brightened up a few people's mornings.

Rider down at junction of Borough High Street and Southwark Street. 2 police cars and ambo, rider was on stretcher when I went past at 8am, looked like it had just happened. Hope nothing too serious.

Potential rider down or some sort of incident at the Fiveways junction of Loughborough/Lilford Rd around 08:10 this morning.

Group of riders standing around, a couple looking a little distressed. Potential collision amongst themselves or hit and run? Were enough of them and all standing talking so didn't stop.

I was behind a slow moving car coming onto Holloway Road last night considering whether or not to overtake since the driver was dithering, and luckily held back since this chump comes flying towards us the wrong way down the road. How people like this survive to adulthood I don’t know.

WrongwayHollowayRoad
from N VF on Vimeo.

first time in a while i drove into work today, dam i hate driving into work.

I thought so but wanted to check in case I'd committed some atrocity!

Late input on morning commute. I'm loving the daylight. Loved the dryer, brighter, milder morning. Temporary lights at Gloucester Gate out of Regents Park testing patience. But that leaves time for a chat with others in the box. Nice. Relaxed. Then a few laps of the park. 10/10

Yep. Springs' coming. Beautiful sunset last night as I pottered through Richmond park. Not looking forward to having to share the park with cars in the evening again soon. It's so peaceful in the twilight at this time of the year on my return leg.

Looking for a new commute route. Any advice and suggestions welcome!

This is my old spice route commute, however its slow as fuck, full of idiots and the western half is generally an enormous clusterfuck. Also I didn't feel like I was really getting any exercise doing this.

So I revised it to this:

Which is an improvement - gives me a hill to work up, and allows me to go quite fast. Despite the longer route, its generally quicker. HOWEVER, on the west heading way in, Gt Portland Street can be pretty hairy with some real douche moves regularly, and Euston Road on the way back is ABSOLUTE HELL.

So I'm looking at better routes.

Preference is keeping it fairly simple and letting me go fast.

Also trying to get into a habit of doing it early to avoid rush hour, but this isn't always possible.

What about heading from Angel up towards Holloway Road and across to regent's park somehow? If you don't mind going a bit further, it'd cut out kings cross and the dogshit stretch west of it.

Cycling to work today and the descent for Blackfriars bridge seems to be closed, anyone know what's going on?

Aside from the surprised detour and my initial thought of a short cut through Lombard street was 'good idea' it was a nice commute in, and rather warm as well!

Bring on the sun!

8/10