This morning's commute and other commuting stories

headwind this morning for me, and for once it didn't switch around during the day so I got a nice taily on the way home!
did get caught in the rain though so meh.

Beautiful Harris Hawk, called Bran, on Kings Cross concourse this morning, scaring the pigeons just by being there. Made me smile (the hawk itself, not the pigeon scaring).

Punishment pass and then deliberately hit this morning as punishment for riding 1.5m out from parked cars. Thanks for that, now off to buy some cameras.

Took in the nice weather bike for the first time today, and managed to cut 10 minutes off a 40 minute commute - might have something to do with not being able shift into the little ring.

Might have to look at that at some point...

You ok?

what the fuck? physically assaulted or hit by a vehicle? any witnesses?

No injuries thanks. Need to get my carbon forks checked for safety but I think they're ok.

A jogger stopped and helped but stupidly I didn't get her details or the numberplate, classic post-crash jitters.

I'm mostly just a bit disappointed because my experience in Herefordshire has been so good generally, very few bad drivers for the most part.
Fortunately my town is pretty small so it shouldn't be too hard to find both the witness and the car.
Just need to ask around for CCTV/doorbell cams now.

sorry to hear that. sounds like you need to go a bit SAS/undercover to find out whodunnit

Sorry to hear that. Aldi had some 'go pro' style knock offs reduced to £34.99 in my local store on monday night: https://www.aldi.co.uk/balco-action-camera/p/715981509338800?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3prjyr6T9wIVGertCh0nFQCNEAAYASAAEgJhH_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

First commute since Covid, can confirm some drivers are still pricks.

Was having a lovely ride in this morning - till I binned it thanks to some shit new infrastructure!

I was merrily cruising down river along Millbank, aiming for my normal left turn before the Tate on Atterbury Street. It's always been an interesting turning, particularly when busy with other cycle commuters. You come into it downhill, with most choppers smashing it to carry on towards Lambeth Bridge. On fixed it was always a nice one to indicate, throw a cheeky skid, then lay it in smoothly, hit the apex and cruise out. You have to be on the watch for peds crossing - particularly now the highway code says it's your job to give way - I used to give them a bit of a holler if they were about to phone zombie over the crossing - but don't think thats ok now.

This morning, it was really busy and I was more focused on just taking it nice and calm - mainly worried about being rear ended by a nodder. But as I turned in it became clear I needed to be more worried about myself! It rapidly became aparent, as my front wheel slid into it, that they'd built the curb out - I just hadn't clocked it. Down I went - moderatly hard. Fortunately it's only skin/pride I've lost. Bloody knee, road rash shin and elbow.

A second look at the new curb, and they've built it out using tarmac and new curbing - but you can still see the old curb and stone pavement. This means, with the sun in your eyes, and focused on looking for peds / getting out the way of nodders behind, it's super easy to mistake the new curb for a painted line. Will take photo's later and tempted to write to Westminster Council. It's a turning off a cycle superhighway - so not being cyclist friendly is pretty shit!

Oh well - first time I've binned it in a while. Could have been worse. Bike is fine. Worst part is small hole in my fav Swrve shorts.

Westminster council tho, every chance the fuckers built it intentionally to trap unwary cyclists. Hope you heal up fast.

very chance the fuckers built it intentionally to trap unwary cyclists

Normally I'd say this is a bit cynical. But Westminster...

Heal up @Scrabble!

Thanks both : here's the offending new curb. I'm biased, because it claimed the skin off my knee - but it looks like it is trying to hide. Second pic is from in line, first is at an angle to show the curb. It actually then blends out round the bend onto a new speed bump they've built.

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I can absolutely see why that confused you/seemed invisible

that's really bad, I imagine it would be a nightmare for someone with visual impairment.

Holy shit, I was joking about it being intentional but looking at it…damn…they did a great job of accidentally making something that looks intentional

Wow that definitely looks like a white line. Complaint time!

They are going to have so many people stacking it on that if it remains unchanged, even more so if it was even slightly low light when most people are going round it!

yeah thats ridiculous

Lovely white Cinelli Mash heading towards London Bridge this morning.

"oh my god its water, I AM high"

Who has right of way here?
Cycle lane routes directly across a road. Is next to a zebra crossing but not a zebra crossing.
I take this route every day and cars seem to stop for cyclists, but one day I'm sure someone won't.
Seems quite an odd design to me particularly with no signage covering right of way... normally from what i've seen when cycle lane cross roads there is a traffic light managing it.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4924319,-0.0933907,3a,75y,143.87h,75.28t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s-4kCji7QrXZhJcGOL_-uVw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

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Parallel crossing (sorry for Leicester link - was first one that came up):

https://leicestershirehighways.org.uk/traffic-schemes/parallel-crossing/

"Parallel crossings enable cyclists to cross a road safely and with the same level of priority as a zebra crossing gives a pedestrian. The crossing looks similar to a zebra crossing but also includes a cycling crossing area which is parallel to the zebra crossing area, this is marked by broken white lines."

But in practice, you're right, some cunt will have no idea about them and drive through.

Highway Code rule 195, if you're interested - "you MUST give way when a pedestrian or cyclist has moved onto a crossing". So peds and cyclists have priority, but with a massive pinch of salt in the real world.

hah, that's weird! the second smaller picture on that link is about 150 yards from my house!

I very rarely cycle across that crossing though, and when I do I make sure that any cars have seen me beforehand