This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Higher gears produce more wheel revolutions for each turn of the crank. Lower ones are more spinny.

Nowt to do with the physical size of the gears, especially since the ones at the front have the opposite effect.

True, the mountain analogy falls apart/confuses with a double or triple chainset

Forgot to mention yesterday the nice policeman doing radar gun checks in RP who kindly told me (and presumably other cyclists) our speed.

What kind of animal doesn't have mudguards?
Or has half mudguards?
Or has those ass saver things?

Or has no mudguards AND does the dismount,run through the lights at Dulwich Village and then wastes time getting back on? Just fucking jump it like the guy next to you was doing. You're both bellends.

Were they giving riders tickets?
Can they give riders tickets?

[should they give riders tickets?]

Good to see that while hate crime is not a worthy focus for the police, telling people not subject to speed limits their speed apparently is.

Maybe you should have responded with a bit of equally irrelevant trivia.

Ohh helpful. If you weren't happy with the speed, were you allowed to go back and try again?

If RP is Richmond Park, I believe they do have speed limits which apply to cyclists, don't all royal parks have a cyclist speed limit ?

Isn’t it just a ‘recommended’ limit? I didn’t think you could apply a speed limit to a vehicle that doesn’t legally have to have a functioning speedometer.

Edit: I guess in either case, perhaps it was helpful of the officer to let him know his speed, on reflection.

vehicle that doesn’t legally have to have a functioning speedometer.

Its more to do with whether the vehicle is mechanically propelled or not.

I guess i was just thinking it's pretty hard to accurately determine your speed by how much your poncho is flapping in the breeze.

Is it something like vehicles that need a license are subject to the speed limit?

If RP is Richmond Park, I believe they do have speed limits which apply to cyclists, don't all royal parks have a cyclist speed limit ?

It's not clear as the law was amended several times and the definitions of 'vehicle' were mixed up:
https://road.cc/content/news/95155-are-police-fining-speeding-cyclists-richmond-park-exceeding-their-authority

Before anyone starts the "but cyclists aren't required to have a speedometer so how can they be prosecuted for speeding" consider drink driving laws, there's no requirement for cars to have blood/breath alcohol meters fitted, but you've still got to keep under a defined limit. Most cyclists who will be pushing 30mph+ know they are doing so (and probably have a GPS to tell them how fast they are going).

The cyclists the Police will generally go after (if they do go after them, it depends on the coppers in question) are the ones pushing hard down Sawyer's Hill or Broomfield Hill, especially if they're overtaking cars on the way down. They tend to ignore people freewheeling and not overtaking the cars that are also going their way.

I haven't read the details in a while so don't remember exactly but my understanding was just that vehicles must adhere to the speed limits and vehicles are defined elsewhere in the Highway code as mechanically propelled

Did you get all uppity and say that radar guns aren't rated for use on non-motorised traffic...

I'm disappointed that the radar gun didn't explode when spotter went past.

Should have asked if they wanted a piece of cake and a balloon with their juvenile 'policing'.

‘Police THIS!’

Massively overdressed today. I even knew it was going to be warm, probably marginally better than getting cold and ill again. Sweat/10

I knew I'd get rained upon during the commute, so it's always a bit of a struggle for me to convince my instincts that yes, it's going to be wet, but also no, it's not going to be that cold because it's still 10 degrees. Managed to convince myself to go out in normal short-sleeved stuff, definitely made the right decision there.

Were they on a CX bike?

.
No.

I think wearing normal clothes commuting a few miles daily on a bicycle is damn cool and the plastic hat dayglo warriors look bloody awful.

7 days late but yeah bang on.

One thing about that though is that your normal trousers will experience more wear. My jeans started to develop saddle marks, and also the odd chain mark. Since my commute went up in length and I switched to commuting in full gear, my normal clothes are being treated so much better.

I only commute in the finest Rapha city wear, of which I have a lot, so the damage is limited. You pleb.

And a chain guard / case.

(the pleb bit is tongue in cheek obvs and I don't have a chain guard or case, but mostly remain cat 4 tattoo free due to running my chains pretty much bone dry)

Was it a Brompton? I seem to see them doing this more often than any other cyclist, as they are essentially a step through.

On a similar note, I once witnessed someone do this on a Superbike with a full CX mount. I have to admit, I was probably more impressed than I was dismayed at their disregard for traffic.