This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Gah, broke my rule of ignoring twatty behaviour after a bus driver said 'more cyclists need to die to make them cycle more safely'.

Fastest new commute into work on a 38x15 SS with cheap CX tyres tho... #gearsrded

damn... missed a "netbooting Palm Pilot V" thread.

From the And-I-Thought-I-Was-Having-A-Bad-Time dept:

Clapham South (northbound): Rider sitting down and holding what might be a fractured arm, looking a bit sick, while his mate called for help on the phone. Heal well, sir.

Oval (northbound): A Cannondale with a decapitated steerer in the road. Presumably the rider was in the back of the ambulance next to it. It looked like a dash from the lights > tried to filter into the bike lane > possibly hit (and took out) the post that separates the road from the bike lane. Ouch.

Things could have got well 31337!

'more cyclists need to die to make them cycle more safely'.

I had somebody say words to this effect to me recently too. I pointed out that the majority of people that die on the roads are in motor vehicle and it doesn't make them behave any better.

Saw a #CrossIsBoss funny guy hopping off his bike at the red lights to run through them, then hoping back on the other side. Made me nose-laugh a tad more than it probably should.

Was this on the CS7? Saw same thing this morning.

Nah, this was cs2 before he skipped into the distance. Would be southbound if he carried on through town.

I think it was on here but I'm quite fond of the "I hope your children are killed by a driver just like you" retort.

^

Needed to take my CX bike to the bike shop this morning, but also needed to get to work in a reasonable time. Solution - take another bike to ride the rest of the way into work with! Drivers gave me much more space & were generally far more courteous to me today, hmm.

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also 2 x biek = 2wice as fast!!!

Air thick with diesel fumes this morning. Ugh.

That's the smell (stench) of Brexit in the morning...

Was taking it slow due to the reason I was heading to the bike shop - hydros on my CX bike aren't feeling up to scratch right now - & the fact I was at least three times wider than usual!

Had cyclist get shitty at me for holding him up as i wouldn't let him squeeze through a tiny gap infront of me. I was waiting at a red light..

Then watched him jump red lights down Bethnal Green Road and through the main Shoreditch intersection.

News-from-the-jinx -dept:
Totally forgot I saw another cyclist down this morning. In front of the Betsey Trotwood in Farringdon Road. He was conscious, chatting to a couple of PCs, in the distance, an ambulance wailed. Heal up brave bicyclist.
/FIN

So I had an extra special one this morning.
Going down a one way that allows bicycles to go against traffic. Get to the bottom where it's a T, the right turn is a dead end, I want to take the left turn. Just as I approach the road markings a milk float swings in completely across the markings and almost in to me. I stop and basically say wtf. The bloke came out with some great excuses - it's a one way, I don't look at the road; I look at the signs, I don't have power steering.

I obviously explained to him some things, mainly that if he can't drive his vehicle and is not looking at the road then perhaps he shouldn't be driving for a living.

Did brighten my morning and wake me up somewhat.

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was having a lovely time seeing my first frost of the season until I was rudely reminded of what it actually does under your tyres
#dontlean

Leaving the underground car park at work last night in a sweaty rush, I foolishly tried to follow a motorbike through the barrier. Thwhack! The barrier promptly comes down and gives me a massive whack on the noggin! I had no idea what had happened at first - thank fuck I was wearing a helmet. I was a bit dazed for a minute but aside from a stiff neck I'm ok. Without the helmet it could've been an embarrassing thing to explain in A&E.

The shame!

I await cctv footage.

Bloody ell! Was your neck ok??

I'm sure Harry Hill's voice over will be very sympathetic...

@MCamb

Yep, it's just a bit stiff today, thanks.

I think I was kinda lucky in that my head was angled slightly downwards and it hit me towards the front of my helmet which may have dissipated some of the force. If I'd been more upright there may have been more direct force. ...the flipside of that is if I'd been looking upwards I might have spotted the barrier coming down!

You can request a copy of the CCTV footage. Probably earn a few quid out of it if it's funny