This morning's commute and other commuting stories

I got properly spat by a bloke on an electric scooter in Regents today. Must've been doing 45kph+

I'm conflicted - it somehow feels safer for them to be riding at the same speed as traffic and also more dangerous. Tbf the guy did have on a helmet.

Full RCC kit on Fat Bike over Vauxhall bridge... properly made me smile, thank you.

Do police never pull these guys over? I see them everywhere these days

I saw that yesterday evening too, he was going southbound from Vauxhall bridge.

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Saw him doing a stoppie in brixton this am...

Just got my bike kit on and looked out the window. Dear me, I though Dennis had gone. This is gonna be fun :-/

Windy in Bristol mind

Wind and rain eased off after 5-10 minutes. Wasn’t too bad.

Yup wished I hadn't put the wind jacket on...

Got fucking drenched through at 8:40. Pretty hilarious watching everyone panic in the sideways rain, was grinning pretty hard the entire way home though.

I think Millbank just got the '20' speed limit signs painted on the road, as by this TfL plan. A short stretch of my commute, but I'm not complaining. (Pdf of the plan here, map on page 11)

Will they be as effective as the 20 signs all along Priory Lane to/from Richmond Park, do we think?

Haha yeah those really do the job, don't they...

Rainy and cold here this morning, but goretex winter boots and overshoes have made a huge difference.

I love them so much I may sleep in them.

Patron Cunt of Left Hooks today is it? FOUR.

What is "Patron Cunt of Left Hooks"? What happened?

A fair question. I wrote ^^ that in a rush, with cold hands and in a state of rage.
Four people decided to separately slam their brakes on and turn left in front of me this morning with the shortest of signals or none at all. Good times.
Readying myself for
'Get cycle training'
'Just ride in primary'
'Get the train snowflake'
...etc.

Don't lean.

I feel half bad. Separated cycling lane with a car "parked" on it. Next to it is a road where there's a 70km/h speed limit so not to keen on moving over and there was no space to pass on the cycling lane. So I do a full stop and move along the gutter. Couldn't help myself and pointed to the car and then the road as in "car's go there". Meanwhile I shout the same sentence at her. Lady in the car points to the cycling lane which I didn't understand. I looked at her car and she had a flat tyre. Fair enough, I offer to help change it / call someone but that wasn't necessary as someone was on their way to help. Feel a bit bad for shouting as it's not like she was parking there voluntarily but it still creates a dangerous situation. In the end it was all good but feel a bit bad for jumping to conclusions and shouting.

In the end it was all good but feel a bit bad for jumping to conclusions and shouting.

I understand where you're coming from but in a vast, vast majority of cases your conclusion would have been correct.

This happened again today at 2 out of 3 give way points on Vauxhall Walk so I drew it.

Fucking sick of being bullied out of the way on this road.

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It’s a very badly designed road, the cycle path / RoW is not as obvious as it could be and it seems to be a cut through for tosser motorists - I seem to get idiots not looking at the crossroads by the black dog ph and pulling out

It's not even particularly dangerous - in the vast majority of cases it just results in quite a slow game of chicken.

It's just a prime opportunity for motorists to display the fact that they think cyclists should get out of their way wherever possible regardless of who has right of way.

"Ah, I see a big give way box, a narrow road, oncoming cyclists, shall I give way...? Nah, I think I'll drive at them and assume they'll scatter."

These situations frustrate me too. Also happens often on streets which are one-way to motorised traffic but two-way for cycling, and on already narrow streets where parked cars further narrow the roads.

For me it's the major downside to finding otherwise nice side street based routes which avoid the different set of stresses (noise, fumes, close passes, left-hooks, etc...) you tend to get on main/faster roads.

Inspired by @skidlidsid, I'm getting really fucked off with this shit every morning in Ilford.

Edit: available for design work, if you're impressed by by MS Paint skillz

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