This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Surprised they can’t reopen Hammersmith bridge for buses only or something

The issue is the structural integrity of the bridge. As much as I'm in favour of bus-only lanes / roads, I don't think it's the type of vehicle that should get exclusive access to that bridge in particular.

@Scrabble

Praise the lord for cycle paths and shared use pavements.

Not through Putney High Street unfortunately, at least after the hill... do you veer off to the right towards Wandsworth at some point then? I've been thinking about doing that as an alternative to going over Putney Bridge and going through Fulham, but the roads to Wandsworth have never struck me as insanely cycle-friendly either. :(

but the roads to Wandsworth have never struck me as insanely cycle-friendly either. :(

You can turn onto Deodar Rd and then through the park and along the riverside

Hmm thanks, I'll look into / try that option!

Lots of nice bikes out on the road this week but apparently saying "cool bike" to people with cool bikes is not cool.

last time I said that to someone, they kind of held their bike closer to them as if I was going to steal it. I was pushing a baby in a pushchair at the time, so not sure how they thought I was going to make that work.

I like it when people compliment me on my bike. I think my cheapass Inbred gets the most love but that's possibly because it's silly low geared so all the plebs can actually keep up ;)

Full Rapha model guy this morning. Swear the dude's clothing cost more than my whole ride and that's including the powermeter, lights and cameras.

I was overjoyed when someone said it to me as I was cycling my sequoia home from the shop. Also discussed rack vs backpack. I felt I'd made good choices

What @PhilDAS said. Used to do that and then go over Chelsea Bridge. Was a zen start / finish to the commute along the river path.

This. I complimented a MAMIL on his Venge Vias chariot yesterday evening. Didn't register when I initially flew past and was slightly startled when I mentioned again at the lights (he was wearing earphones). CSB

I take it you then dropped him brutally on a false flat?

Ok, so off Putney High Street to the right, Deodar Rd, through Wandsworth Park and then... ? It all looks a bit piecemeal after that, do you happen to have a track or a map with the route drawn in please? I've tried to go along there before, but I mostly ended up lost and unsure as to what the best option was.

With no showers I've gotta keep the 200rpm tuck in check, so I just used my madskillz (and some conveniently timed red lights) to smash past him through traffic. Never saw him again..

Was it a woman? My missus has a Sequioa and unlike me loves it (it's fun to ride but it has wider handlebars than all my bikes!). She was overjoyed when she spotted someone in Richmond Park with one.

Where you starting from? Wimbledon isnt it?

Today, I was coming from the top of Putney Hill. Take the main exit of the roundabout to go down the A3. You can quickly merge onto a cycle path on the pavement, before it switches again to a cycle path on the road.

At the bottom, the really chill way is to go through the lights round to the right, then left onto Cromford road, wiggle down to the Queen Adelaide pub and then cross over to Osiers Road, and follow the thames path all the way along to Chelsea Bridge if you want. This means you're mainly traffic free to the otherside of Battersea Park.

Alternatively, you can head down the A3, all the way down to the Wandworth gyratory, straight over along York road, turn left after the VW garage down Lombard Road, all the way along and through Battersea park that way.

You can do a combo of those two routes depending on how much you want to potter and how much to smash about with the traffic. It's never as fast as fulham/emabankment on a good day, but I'd hate to be filtering down putney hill and over putney bridge with the traffic like it is at the moment.

The only thing to be aware of is the first part of the A3, with the cycle path, while filtering progress is easy, you do need to watch out for people turning across you. There are a fair few junctions / a petrol station so I always keep my wits about me. Easy to switch off and come a cropper.

Edit: Its not quite a gpx - but here is a graphic visulisation. I've also put on a bonus route in green, which cuts out york road, which isn't very nice.

I use all of these, along with the north of river route, if only to keep the commute fresh. I also get to pick three different ways through Richmond Park (plus off road alternatives including ducking through Wimbledon Common) / CSB/Boast Post.

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Unfortunately not, was a chap on a black specialized up in Kentish town. I had picked it up from road cycle exchange in richmond though...

Oh man, that's great!! I'll definitely give this a try to see how it feels, thanks a lot!

Yeah having Richmond Park as part of the commute sounds great, a nice bit where you can pretend you're just out in the countryside if you're cutting through it.

Kind of like what @Scrabble said. Osiers, wobble across the little bridge, smugglers way, marls road, jews row, pier terrace, under wandsworth bridge, by the Thames to the heliport, Bridges Court Rd, Lombard Rd, Vicarage Crescent - then I used to go through the park and across the bridge

Cheers, I'll look at some google maps streetview stuff to familiarise myself with how the roads looks and give that a try too. :)

First commute to new job today. Seven Sisters all the way to Lower Clapton/Hackney Downs. Ridiculously quick 15-20mins door to door. Fanfookintastic.

8/10 because pollen/pollution and I forgot my sunglasses.

I went for a cycle at lunch time, so much stuff in the air

Some brakeless wazzock coming off Waterloo Bridge into the Imax roundabout completely out of control and smashing into the back of a roadie on a Cannondale waiting for a gap in the traffic knocking him into the floor. Picked himself up and did a runner. Nice.

Roadie was grazed a bit but could have been absolutely horrific.

Exactly the type of scenario I'm afraid of. With all the things cyclists have to deal with on the roads, what I need least on top of that is some fuckhead who thinks he's too cool for absolutely basic safety. I just don't get it.

However, for all the people defending riding brakeless on roads online, I have not yet actually spotted a brakeless bike in London traffic - and I do see a fair share of fixed gears out there.

Yep. Gross. Whole summer yet to arrive too!

Still, beats being a train/tube bus wanker.

2 back to back days of getting the tube. So grim. Feel ill, tired and irritated - no idea how people do this every day.