This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Glad it doesn't sound as if you're badly injured. Here's to a perfect year's riding from now!

Everyone is back at work/school & the roads are crap again/10.

c*ntseverywhere.jpg

Everyone is back at work/school & the roads are crap again/10.

This. Luckily, everyone is still in shock from having to actually get up in the morning and not yet in full cunt mode however. It helps soften the blow.

the schools local to me must have a teacher training day today, distinct lack of cars / bad drivers. twat of a headwind though!
also, distinct lack of bothering to look at my commute bike for a couple of weeks since riding through a flood has presented itself in a very graunchy sounding drivetrain.
have to whip the BB out tonight i think!

Left the house pre 7am and skated to Herne Hill to catch the Thameslink, swerving on all the anticipated twattery.

Smug/10

Seem to be unable to find anything via search but looking for some route advice. Currently doing Beckenham to the City via Palace>Herne Hill>E&C>Southwark etc. Moving every so slightly further East which will make braving Penge not really worth it, plus more bumps than I have energy for these days, being lazy and all.

Basically looking for a route from the bottom of Bromley Hill (A21) into the city. Can easily divert through Beckenham Place Park which I probably will do anyway.

Any suggestions - something simple preferably?

I've got basically the same start and end point and have been honing my route for the last year or so to avoid busy roads and traffic lights. It's a bit longer but so, so much more pleasant and same time/quicker due to the lack of traffic and lights:
https://goo.gl/maps/qdsoTYxqktxiSRVv7

You can get from Beckenham to Bricklayers Arms before you hit a traffic light, and Waterlink Way / Q1 is pretty relaxing to cycle on.

Awesome, thank you.

Looks like that will take a bit of learning first time! How is it from a sketchiness point of view? Is the Waterlink Way ok after dark etc?

It's all fine, pretty quiet.
The Q1 path past Millwall FC is quite isolated but there's always people about at commuting times.
Waterlink Way I don't take after dark... doesn't feel sketchy at all during daylight, but I assume it's very quiet at night, so seems a bit unwise. You can just go up and down Perry Hill instead.

Interesting, I live next to the Horniman and just bosh it through Dulwich, Camberwell, E&C, Blackfriars, Farringdon. But I usually either leave later or earlier, never, NEVER at peak commute.
Also I quite enjoy motor traffic, cycle traffic not so much.

The Waterlink Way is lit with streetlights, so isn’t that bad after dark. I’ve never had any issues but haven’t used it much in the past 2.5 years so it might have deteriorated.

First accident of the year here. No damage for me, small dent in the car. Filled out papers, will just let the insurance work it out.

Good lesson for me.

Probably best not to comment about an outstanding incident on a public forum, not even on here. There is form for comments being lifted, quoted and used.

Glad you’re ok though, dude.

If you can find a different way around Penge, this is the quiet route I take to get from E&C to Forest Hill area (I added in up to Penge): http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=7435308

@mtsdw Glad to hear you're ok!

Edited my comment a bit, although I'm not from the UK so would be surprised if the found this comment :p

Thanks! Have a quota of 1 accident per year so hopefully this was it for 2020!

Bought a new bike for my commute, was clocking 45-50min on a 13kg+, fixed, 29er tank. On the new full carbon sub-10kg bike, 52min, twice! Wtf? Am I doing this wrong?

Fixed is faster. Simple.

If you don't have big hills on your commute, don't expect to really go faster on a geared bike - I thought I would, and well, I didn't either. Btw, how are the roads you're riding on? Depending on the surface condition, a heavy bike with wide tyres works out as being faster than a light bike with narrower tyres.

Both are fat, carbon bike is a gravel thing, 43mm tires. MTB is 2.2in.

Also, the gravel bike beats me up a bit. Also, the MTB is waaaaaaaay more fun.

Here they are

2 Attachments

I used to do that journey from time to time when I was in Beckenham. I used to go through New Cross, Deptford, then Bermondsey/Surrey Quays, Tower Bridge (?) and I seem to remember it was a fairly straight line but I'm struggling to join the dots because it's been too long. I guess at the Beckenham end it was through Lower Sydenham then Forest Hill and Brockley or something. I think I only used to use the Crystal Palace, Herne Hill direction for the West End.

Someone bought a free ranger! how is it?

Thanks all for the tips. Like the idea of the Waterlink Way but will have to try it out. Off main route appeals if it isn't too fiddly. Will definitely miss my morning detour through Crystal Palace Park.

Found some gloves on my lunchtime walk.