This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Not as direct, not perfect either but Q1 does help avoid this kind of aggro.

This is definitely true much of the time, but remember that there have been some horrific muggings along Q1, including at least one reported here:

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/13960427/

Generally, after dark the best advice is to use well-populated streets.

I'm sure Q1 is mostly very good from a personal safety perspective, but there have always been muggings, and sometimes mugging sprees, on this type of cycle route (and seemingly more the more a route became established and used), as offenders can basically count on people cycling along there regularly, and at sufficiently large intervals after dark that they are not likely to be disturbed while doing the mugging.

This part of Q1 is certainly nowhere near as bad as parts of Islington and De Beauvoir have been in the past, and Springfield currently, but it is still worth exercising discretion as to route choice at times when cyclists are more likely to become victims of crime.

Glad you're OK, jono84, as being pushed over like that while standing over the bike is definitely dangerous.

Do you know if there have been any cases of this recently? I've been using it daily for the last few weeks and love being away from the traffic. Do remember reading about the muggings a while back, wonder if it's a seasonal thing (ie when commuters are cycling back in the dark).

No, I don't know--I don't read the local press or cycle there very often. Most likely there won't have been any recently, but it has certainly been the case in the past that they went up when the weather improved.

All of these notorious locations have their established modus operandi, and I don't know if this one has developed it yet (or will develop one). The one I linked to was perpetrated by moped riders, and it seems to have gone a bit quiet about moped-related crime, fortunately, so perhaps the police crackdown has worked for the time being. Fingers crossed.

Crash on Lower Richmond road. Taxi driver passed out or had a fit whilst driving according to the police, took out a bus stop, lamppost and hit a car oncoming the other way. The lamppost also fell across the road and hit another car.
Driver was still unconscious for 10/15 minutes afterward. Looked alright by the time paramedics took him

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Strong leggings from your man with the red jacket

Colour matched gloves and tyre combo is bold too

Way too hot for that getup though.

People cycling on the wrong side of the road going the same way as me when I'm turning right at a junction is really pissing me off on my commute at the minute. I purposefully go as far right as I can to stop it too but idiots still think its a good idea to cycle straight out into the road on the wrong side and then have to squeeze back in next to me when a car is there.

Guy who wobbled through a red light on CS2 near brick lane, attempted a track stand and then stacked it completely - thank you for brightening up my evening.

My right foot unclipped itself while out of the saddle going up a hill (fixed). I was near the top so carried on one-footed with my other foot sort of waggling around in the air. Gave the guy coming in the other direction a chuckle, didn’t fall off, would waggle again.

just discovered the combo of incline/speed/weather conditions on Nightingale Lane that totally prevent me from stopping in time to avoid the back of a BMW X5. Whoops.

just discovered that my inability to ride to the conditions totally prevent me from stopping in time to avoid the back of a BMW X5. Whoops.

Have you considered cycle training?

tip of the ol’ beanie

This morning’s commute was the model of restraint and sensible/defensive bicycling. I did, however, manage to spit on my overshoe. Not cool.

If sitting in traffic makes you so angry why would you become a lorry driver?

“maybe driving in London just isn’t ‘you’?”

First actually wet commute in absolute ages. Had to remind myself my brake loses quite a bit of effectiveness in these conditions...

Also, still bumper to bumper traffic from Wimbledon Parkside to Putney Bridge. Haven't had a chance to explore other routes yet as I've been doing very long days at work and just don't have the energy to go exploring on my commute atm.

For someone who takes such offence at a cyclist filtering past them while they are completely stationary, I'm not sure there is a situation that is "for them"

grim grim grim grim grim

also forgot my phone so had to turn back to get it which added on about 20 minutes of wet misery. by the time i got going again the school / bin lorry run was in full swing. had a shouting match with a dude who tried to pull out in front of me down ivydale / cheltenham / peckham rye which was mucho fun.

Yeah. Traffic was jokes today. Backed up all the way along the Lower Richmond Road to Barnes Bridge.

Kingston Gate in Richmond part is also shut, and the whole world seems to be trying to do the backstreet rat run through North Kingston to get to Ham gate.

So much filtering today, but I like cycling in the rain when it's not too cold, so it wasn't all bad.

Also, found a teddy in the road outside a cafe. Stopped, picked it up, and returned the bedraggled thing to a grateful mother with sleeping child. My good deed done for the day.

Actually quite enjoyed the light misty drizzle on the empty Waterlink Way this morning, felt like being on holiday in the UK.

Also yeah, had forgotten how comparatively useless road calipers with old pads are in the rain. Good excuse to fixyskd instead.

Good excuse to disc brakes instead.

FTFY

Also, found a teddy in the road outside a cafe. Stopped, picked it up, and returned the bedraggled thing to a grateful mother with sleeping child. My good deed done for the day.

I lost a teddy when I was about 3.5 years old and I'm still sad about it :(

Agree about the cycling in the rain, as long as it's not cold enough that it forces me to wear gloves it's fine by me, no complaints really.

I left a teddy in a hotel in France when I was 5. They posted it back to me and basically steered me away from what would definitely have been a path that lead in and out of borstals and eventually seen me dead in a gutter at 23. And that’s what Europe has ever done for me.

I also left a teddy in a hotel in France when I was about 5. They posted it back to me.
Mine was Mickey Mouse. He's still at my parents house over 20 years later.
Another time I left him in a hotel in France only this time we had realised before getting home. We had drove and were heading back to the ferry and had to turn around and drive like 2 hours back to get him.
CSB

I’ve no idea what happened to my first teddy :(