This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Ditto. I was just spinning easily and enjoying the weather. No soundgarden though which would have definitely improved things.

Agreed, it was a lovely morning to cycle commute into London although some riders seemed to be overdressed for the weather (yes, I appreciate many Londoners come from warmer climes than here).

The only shock was the level of traffic as its the first time since October 21 that I have cycle commuted on a day other than Friday which still has that eery pandemic feel.
Looking forward to this evening's commute home

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Big increase in motor traffic today due to the strikes. Bleak scenes of car dominance on the roads.

On the plus side, welcome sight of a few new riders clearly having dusted off their bikes from the shed.

Rode from Shoreditch to SE through Borough/Elephant and Castle etc. Is it always that chaotic at rush hour or were there just hundreds of clueless twats on dodgy Carreras because of the strikes?

increase in motor traffic today due to the strikes

This logic always cracked me up. As I sailed around grinning through gridlocked traffic on two wheels.

It was absolute chaos. First time in over 10 years of cycle commuting where I thought I would not make it home. I never had so many near misses with people on bikes with no common sense. I was rear ended by a bloke on a boris bike two minutes from work. It was the last one on the stand and it had no working brakes.

I was rear ended by a bloke on a boris bike two minutes from work. It was the last one on the stand and it had no working brakes.

Stressful but kind of funny (assuming you and your bike are unharmed!)

Why is there always some dickhead trying to squeeze their way in right at that narrowed kerb there.

When I used to commute that way it felt like every other day I'd have some idiot who can't work out how to ride in a straight line try and cut me up at that exact point (and then ride 5mph so I miss the green light at the far end and fuck up the light timings so i hit every red all the way up to E&C).

light timing is a very real science.

Rucksack and white soled trainers always indicates that they are a tosser.

Fierce busy on cs7 this morning.

Wild west out there today. Wish everyone would fuck off and stay at home

Yep, very shit the whole way in today, mega stressful. Might leave it until late to head home.

Is the whole city fucked? I rode from south east up through the city and it was absolute carnage. Obviously it's great to see so many people cycling but fucking hell, I can't believe I didn't see any accidents.

Spotted so many single occupant drivers clogging up the roads yesterday, its truly astonishing.

I'm astonished that they think that its a good idea to drive in and happy to sit in a car for what must be a great deal longer than their normal commute. Who are they, where are they coming from, going to? Where on earth are they parking?

Theres a whole other sector of society that I fundamentally don't get

Quite a few bikes that look not typically used for commuting out there, e.g. Full sus MTB with suspension unlocked, and low pressure knobblies.

This is why we're basically doomed

I'm astonished that they think that its a good idea to drive in and happy to sit in a car for what must be a great deal longer than their normal commute. Who are they, where are they coming from, going to? Where on earth are they parking? There's a whole other sector of society that I fundamentally don't get

I tend to think that driving in London (particularly in rush hour) is so shite that anyone that does have an alternative already mode-switched years ago. Logical inference is therefore that everyone still driving has some reason to be.

I think that's why some drivers seem to hate us so much. They know we are having a better journey and they wish they could do the same but can't because they have to drag heavy shit around / travel long distances / trip-chain / no secure bike parking / showers / etc etc.

True although the narrowing of the bike lane from the whole 'car' lane to less than two bikes width doesn't help.

I had to eff at somebody this morning who rode past that pinch point on the road and then joined the bike lane at the next ramp by simply diving onto it from the road without looking while I was coming up fast on the right hand side of the bike lane.

It was only my spidey senses and supreme handling skills that saved us from colliding.

Pretty sure I have it on GoPro. Will post it if I CBA to find it.

Edit: here we go, will see if pics post in the coorect order but I was on RHS of Lane and travelling slower than usual as it was busy up ahead.
You can see matey-boys front wheel beside me, then he goes past outside of the segregated cycle-lane only to dive in once he is past me

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I had a hilarious moment on Monday evening on the commute home with another cyclist.

Chap in a left turn only lane screamed 'f you' in my face when I (who was also turning left) started to turn in.

Turns out he was in the wrong lane and was heading straight on.

Nothing a 'cry baby' type gesture couldn't fix.

Logical inference

whoa whoa whoa - we're talking about vehicle usage in UK cities here. You keep your logic out of this!

Nah they're all just pricks

T-Boned a rent-a-bike cunt this morning while turning left onto a one way street. The genius was filtering the wrong way up the one way street near Blackfriars road, by the time I saw him I had nowhere to go.

Tried to go round the back of him, but ended up hitting his back end full pelt, went over the handlebars and the cunt just rode off leaving me and my totalled Basso TT frame lying in the middle of the road.

Front end of my frame is folded on both tubes, totally fucked.

While I'm unhurt, I'm pretty devastated at the loss of the frame, I loved that thing so much :( Fucking idiot cunt.

Had thought I might actually go into the office today just for the ride and the structure - glad I didn't. Instead I went out for an early morning ride out to the lanes. Cue very many close passes and one tosser who decided to stop and try to have it out. Skid Hill Lane never change...

I think I’d become a prick if I had to drive about London for any length of time.

if I had to drive about London

Staggeringly few people have to. They choose to because they're already pricks