This morning's commute and other commuting stories

the wrong way down Broadway Market

... which is a two-way street. Opportunities for cycling voodoo sadly limited. :)

(All the other details check out.)

This is going to sound like a joke now, but I genuinely did see Chris Boardman riding a Brompton in Mottingham once.

I shouted
'Hey Chris'

He said
'My name's not Chris'

But I know his name is Chris so I'm not sure why he said that.

I wasn't cycling but I got on the tube at Turnham Green and saw a lady I vaguely recognised so I assumed she worked in my office or something and said "OH HELLO IT'S A BIT WARMER ISN'T HA HA HA" to Celia Imrie.

Nice and quiet this morning, not too cold. Spotted a guy in a Vigorelli burying himself over Blackfriars on my cruise to work.

Anyone else noticed a light timing issue at E&C?

Anyone who amber gambles the lights coming from London Road to go to New Kent Road (or even goes through slowly on a late green) comes into conflict with any road users when they are released southbound from Newington Causeway - but particularly cyclists who are quick of the mark.

Got a couple of impatient bell rings from behind me in the seg lane the other day when I spotted a bus coming round the corner late and decided not to proceed into the junction. Go "if the way is clear", motherfuckers....

the light phases around e&c and the southbound cycle lane just before the bus stop are on wafer thin margins with timing. the one by oval if you hit the lights as it goes orange the second you go through you'll have motorbikes accellerating at you before you clear the junction. nearly got flattened when i had a dawdler pootling their way through ahead of me that preventing me from being able to even speed up to get out of the way. i hadn't even gambled it, i just saw it blink onto orange as I was level with the light.

Saw a Moulton with SRAM Red and deep carbon rims on Waterloo Bridge. Felt sick.

They make deep carbon rims for those things?

Yes, and you can even get deep section Brompton wheels

Scary experience this morning on black prince road.

No traffic, just me riding north. A mother with a small child in tow talking on her mobile started walking across the road, all the while looking north (her left) and never once checking in my direction (i.e. the carriageway she was waking into).

Luckily I had seen her in good time and we were all fine (I resisted the urge to yell given she had the child with her).

I just worry what happens when someone like that obliviously walks out in front of an electric car, as obviously she was relying on the lack of noise from approaching traffic to tell her it was safe.

yeah but did you have a front brake? that's the important thing.

I've had this happen a lot lately, especially on the Embankment cycle lane, on one and two way roads near my work in Victoria and elsewhere. Possibly explained by some of them being tourists and looking the wrong way...

I don't know if I'm just noticing it more because of this Alliston thing, but it's scary just how little attention pedestrians pay to their surroundings.

The main problem is phones. I had people stepping into the road 4 times on about a 5 mile journey this morning, all looking at or talking on phones. People are more distracted than ever - if you're bearing down on them in anything smaller than a large car they just don't see you.

And yes, electric cars will be carnage - hopefully mitigated a bit by collision detection systems.

In court, seemingly so. Maybe initiating a sick whipskid would have got her attention ;-)

That was what was missing from that police stopping distance test - PC Arthur Selby getting sideways

'DAS'.

Do-a-Selby.

Back on my ol' canyon roadlite frame today (now reborn as a single speed) for the first time since the hit and run. Fits me like a glove (thanks Scherrit). Lovely.

I just worry what happens when someone like that obliviously walks out in front of an electric car, as obviously she was relying on the lack of noise from approaching traffic to tell her it was safe.

Our Zoe makes a constant artificial buzzing noise at low speeds to warn pedestrians. It has a button to turn the noise off, presumably for situations where you don't like the look of the wandering ped and you want the best chance of squishing them.

Sitting in a random cafe in battersea, eating pastries and drinking coffee, waiting for a bike shop to open.

chainsnap/10

Y u no chain tool?

I did. Twice. Ended up with a much shorter chain, and no desire to have it snap on me a third time.

It could be as I've had the bike on a rack outside for the past two weeks, exposed to sea air...

This morning a taxi driver leaned out of his window and grabbed at me as I filtered past on the right. It was on Margery Street going downhill. I stopped and asked him what he was up to and he turned completely purple and started shouting about how I should have been in the cycle lane. I told him it was one way uphill, but he wasn't having it, and we had a brief exchange of opinions. What can you do* with people who are so ignorant that they can't see what way the roads go?

*shit on his bonnet, obviously

Registration number & Hackney Carriage license number to Roadsafe?

Hammer frozen prawns into his shit.

Done this, as well as I could remember it. Not sure I got it right though, and I didn't think to stop and take a photo unfortunately

Bad drivers thread