This morning's commute and other commuting stories

I can lip read a little as my stepdaughter in deaf. So this morning i saw exactly what the woman behind me said when i was stuck at a roundabout for a few minutes in extremely heavy traffic.
I'm fairly confident the bike wont fit without considerable lube and she shouldn't shout stuff like that on a school run.

The Fat Franks are sloooow. More comfy than the Crazy Bobs though, which are going on the Kona A, once I find a new tube for it. Wore a gilet. Too warm. Forgot gloves.

Seem to be noticing an increase in incidents of poor decision making by all sorts of road users since the nights started drawing in and its been wetter. Oh joy. Winter survival mode activated.

Got honked at by a cabbie for riding no hands for a short period of time down Chelsea embankment, even though the road ahead was clearly clear.
Got to the next set of lights and he was fiddling with his phone....slowly getting closer to considering a camera for some of this shit.

Three different cabs did strange semi stops despite clear roads... three times I assumed it was a punishment brake to fuck with me. Three times my bias was proven wrong by rogue texting or whatever it is cabbies use smart phones for.

+1 for reading the camera thread once I've saved a few pennies.

I sometimes think they do this just to see if you fall off.

Told someone they shouldn’t be on their phone while driving.- quite nicely might I add- Response was ‘I’m not driving though am i’ (They’d just joined a queue of traffic)

Was a bit like, you for real? They then started screeching (literally) about how I wasn’t wearing a helmet 🤷‍♂️ While I rode off...

People realllly don’t like being called out on stuff haha!

^ Just found out that '🤷♂️' (woman shrugging + the male sign) just shows as a 'man shrugging' emoji on supported platform.

Had wondered for ages what the meaning behind people bothering to type the ♂️ was.

(Commute was uneventful, pleasant even, to get things back on track).

I suggested to the driver of a porsche once that he should get off his phone. He said "thanks for the advice", wound up his window and continued texting.
Could so easily have let myself obliterate his wing mirror (motorbike gloves, knuckle protectors)

Next time...

I’ve done that before, a nice pair of Kushitani armoured leather bike gloves make mincemeat of a door mirror. Very satisfying.

World's wettest ride home this evening. Gale force winds through the city made forward motion extremely difficult.

Ive given up doing this since this is the only response I ever get. The worst was:
Him: 'Its none of your business'
Me: 'it will be when you hit me with your car because youre not concentrating'
Him: 'well you can talk to me when I hit you'

Mixed bag, motorcyclist on cycleway revving his engine at me, shoulder barged by pedestrians when stopping to check phone, etc.

However, met this man on his route and stopped to talk to him for ten minutes.

https://www.thebrooke.org/news/plaistow-man-pulling-50kg-cart-300-miles-aid-brooke

Seemed like a nice guy, and a worthy cause for sure.

would there be any merit in taking their photo and a photo of the numberplate and threatening to report it to their insurance company? is it easy to find out people's insurance details?

Knocked off this week by a taxi who 'overtook' me going down a hill, practically touching my bars and then continued moving over to the left and completely closed me out into a line of parked cars...Second hit and run in a year. Saw a policeman about a mile later and he just said fill out a form on the met website... is this going to get me anywhere other than annoyance and time wasted?

Amen to that

There's another Plaistow?!

Urgh.

Note to self...check the tube/tyre is on properly before using co2 to pump it up

Quite pleasant ride until the p-fairy popped in. Luckily I found a shop awning to shelter under.

Fourth in four weeks! The first three I put down to very worn old gp4s. This was on a brand new durano by what looked like a baby shark tooth.

baby shark

doo doo doodoo doodoo

Had a guy on a scooter tell me I lost my building pass a few metres back, which was very nice and very useful as I would have been a bit fucked without it. I'm taking it as karma from when I told another cyclist that his pass was starting to slip out of this jersey pocket.

That explains it....I was being smug about no pinch punctures after changing a tube for ages to a mate the other day.

Karma didnt like that so punished me this morning on a cold rainy commute

Quiet commute but there is a really strange smell today in Belfast

Normal smells:
Animal food factory dusty smell
Drain (yum)
Lagan Silt/Weeds (when the water level is lowered)
Damp days lovecraftian decaying plant matter smell
Congested roads
Bins on bin day
Fresh sea air
Fresh seaweeds

Not normal: Cheese. Cheese???