This morning's commute and other commuting stories

I tended not to go through because I always get lost (and also for west Norwood up to the museums you'd go too far out of your way). IIRC the segregated cycle routes are now pretty good if you approach from the Oval.

Retro commute home last night; saw a Klein Attitude (green, white, pink) and a Ferrari Testarossa (red) in the space of about 100 metres. V.cool

It's fully segregated from The Oval to Pimlico and quite nice.

Next year they should start work on EW segregation from Nine Elms to Vauxhall.

first commute on tubeless tyres this am, was bit worried as I took a bit of a ghetto approach, but seem to hold air fine and felt a bit quicker?! - although this may just be the #newparts effect...

Gotta say, that does go through the better part of Hyde park and throws you out closer to the station. But personally, if I wasn't sure of my way, I'd stick to a direct route with less wiggling.

Yeah, that route was optimised from West Norwood to Imperial College over about 4 years of commuting, and it's definitely not the easiest to follow blind.

I would update that route slightly to make a nice approach to Battersea Park.

When you get to the bottom of Silverthorne Rd and turn onto the main Queenstown Road, you can take a left into Ravenet St and then under the railway line on a cycle cut through. Follow your nose to enter Battersea Park half way along its South edge and then go Clockwise round the big path to lead you to Albert Bridge.

This way you avoid all the horrible roundabout and backed up traffic crap at the North end of Queenstown Rd.

Then wiggle through Chelsea (YMMV) to Hyde Park.

I tried those variations a bit too. In my recollection one of the reasons I didn't was that, at rush hour, Albert bridge (and the back routes through Chelsea) tended to be more backed up than Chelsea bridge. Although I agree that getting from silverthorne to Chelsea bridge road when the roads are busy is pretty painful.

Hey, drafting Mr Langster. If I slow down for a pedestrian crossing and you're on my rear (Brompton) wheel, and you don't notice, there's only going to be one winner between my EZ wheels and your front spokes. Hope you didn't ride home with a broken wheel for too long.

I took a Trek e-bike home tonight. It was a TM2+, a fairly lumpy commuter model but I wanted to get an idea. I just turned 56 last week and doing 26 miles a day is getting a bit much 5 days a week, tbh. Plus I have to climb Knights Hill in west Norwood twice a day.

Anyway it was interesting. My usual cruising speed is about 19mph but the e-bike motor cuts out at 15.6mph (25kph) and it feels like putting the brakes on. Over 15.6mph you’re just pedalling a very heavy bike. So I just stuck to cruise speed,kept it in turbo mode and used the power to get up to speed. Overall it wasn’t any faster but getting up the hill was a breeze.

One interesting point was that by the time I reached Angel from Stoke Newington I was feeling cold and had to change my top to a Windstopper and to put long gloves on. When I got home I wasn’t knackered at all and wasn’t sweating - normally I’d be glowing like a rivet. I guess I wasn’t pedalling hard enough to work up a sweat. That in itself is worrying - my ride is my only exercise and without it I’d be a fat bastard within a month. Hmm.

I’ll be riding it back tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to caning it up Norbury Avenue, a 1/2 mile steady gradient climb about a mile into my trip that I’ve had to endure each day for over three years now. Payback.

Did my first propa fixie skid when an audi pulled in front of me on a t-junction. I looked really cool as I fishtailed my bike, but then spent the next ten minutes feeling a bit sick and looking like I was going to poop myself, whilst riding v-e-r-y slowly, thanks to the shock.

I had a ride on one briefly at a demo day. the turbo mode felt a bit much to me, I preferred it in the lowest setting as it gave a bit of help but still felt like you were contributing some effort. it is a weird feeling when you get about the max motor assist speed though...

Completely misread the weather and now I'm at my desk in wet jeans. Mmmm.

Not that it was anyone else's fault at all but its so hard to keep an eye on the road surface as much as you should when you have to watch the pavement for suicidal peds that could step out at literally any point.

Well at least that's the excuse i am sticking with for not seeing the manhole cover coming up to bank junction and sliding my silly self down the road

My thighs could do with shedding some more skin anyway

That's quite an effort to go to do that; you could have just bought some exfoliating shower gel haha.
ps hope that you aren't too badly knocked up!

Yeah all good the real fun comes later when peeling my boxer shorts off the road rash!

The curse of fresh bar tape, gonna have to stop changing it, every time i put a new one on i crash the very next day!

The forecast was bobbins this morning.

Got my wife's bike down off the rack so she could cycle in because the forecast was ok.

So now she hates me, and I need to give her bike a clean. Thanks BBC.

In Oz the covers are concrete or if they're metal they have tar over them so 99% is covered and just the edges remain free from tar. Why this country can't do something similar to manhole covers is beyond me. But then the Brexit vote won so I shouldn't really be surprised.

I am still not sure it was a manhole cover to be honest? Do they put them in the middle of the road? It may have just been a bit of oil of something else slippery in the road. Id like to think it wasnt just my bike handling as i normally am able to stay upright 99% of the time but its entirely possible im just not a very good cyclist. I have been watching a lot of bike racing on youtube gearing up to start doing some races next season, maybe subconsciously i wanted to be like the cool kids with their road rash.

Keep your Oz man hole covers. British Man holes for British people!

Shitish - Something British that's been done better elsewhere (ie, manhole covers, train travel, football).

You can keep your Shitish deadhole covers. Soon though I will have a tarmac truck and will be coating all of the ones I meet with sticky icky and the people will love me and I will be made King of this island and the Brexit will be stopped and the legend of hippy will forever pass through the eons... revered fat idiot that he was.

^ they've got you on the good stuff after your off I see

Stone cold sober.

But I am in my pants at home so I felt it deserved a creatively delusional flourish.

Left the house 07:15, skated to the station, train to Kings X, skated to the office.

Dry/10

Stone cold sober.

I assume this is like when Bender is sober kinda thing.

But I am in my pants

Go on...