This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Was just thinking that I got it on camera (in front light, always forget it's there). Is it worth reporting to the po?

The lol here is that 20% of Belfast motorists admitted to RLJ in a survey conducted by a small online newspaper, but when one cyclist here RLJ social media is too small to hold all the complaining :)

Spotted a cyclist on the kerb talking to a driver with what looked to me may have been police, nobody looked hurt but they were still there an hour later. A Irish Hooded Crow got stuck between traffic lanes, hopefully somebody rescued it couldn't stop.

2 guys hit the deck over london bridge southbound. Somethings up on that stretch. My back wheel has gone under me a week or 2 back. Both ok. First hit hard.

Another cyclist said 4 people had already fallen. Shit or what

Following a guy home last night and he has his front light on the back flashing in my eyes 👀 weapon !

Oh shit I had the same thing.

Guy infont of me slipped out heading southbound last night. Hit the deck hard about a metre in front of me. I missed smacking into him by centimetres.

Be careful peeps!

You might need to reconsider your safe braking distance. How would you feel about someone else passing that close (in a car or on a bike) if you fell off?

I wasn't directly behind him. On his right overtaking him. But he fell into my path. Is true tho, conditions are slippy.

Been taking the bus all week but it is properly rubbish. Can't wait to get back on the bike next week and reduce commuting time by 40 minutes.

I had the same thing too. Rolling over the white line out of the bus lane at full speed, my back wheel caught it or something and I very nearly went down. Could have been really bad. Somehow managed to avoid binning it although I must have looked pretty silly with both feet unclipped flailing about like the wacky waving inflatable leg flailing tube man.

Wet but no rain means the roads are really dirty and nasty and slippy. Front wheel slipped out the past two evenings in row (last minor fall being in April). Last night I landed on exactly the same bruises/grazes from the evening before, including keys in pocket. Feel like I might have caught cancer from the black muck.

Somebody nearly barrelled into me head on while I was walking around some roadworks on Upper Ground. She had loads of room to get around me but was distracted by something (not a criticism - just an observation) and somehow lost control, braked too hard and nearly completely lost the front end on the super greasy tarmac. Her very polite "OH FUCK!!!, I'm so sorry", made my morning.

I nearly lost it on Q1 on the corner of Chaucer Drive yesterday, some tw*t who was washing something thought running a hosepipe across an already slippery road with hundreds of cyclists just as you need to turn was a good idea, noticed it just in time to lift front wheel, unclip and get my foot down as back wheel slipped out.

I get the feeling that some of that goo is left over residue from the salting/gritting of the roads in the cold snap. I wonder if they put in some sort of oil based anti-caking agent that gets left behind as the temperatures rise.

Wet but no rain means the roads are really dirty and nasty and slippy.

So much this. Took a corner into a side road yesterday and lost the back wheel, even at my slow speed. Frustrating as its over 10 degrees out there, so doesn't instinctively feel like it should be super slippy.

I can join the sliding gang, an epic tale of me Vs the white paint on a zebra crossing at one of the corners of Newington Green. I didn't stack it but needed a new pair of trousers!

@Ruserius i came a cropper on the same kind of shit this afternoon

see the minor incidents thread

Just found this "Of course, the downside to this is that many councils put a water dispersal agent down with the salt, and after a few days this too can be slippy."

I'm riding really carefully now on anything that isn't bone dry. Hopefully rain tomorrow should wash it all away

Well I just came off on a completely dry roundabout, back wheel decided it didn't want to cooperate.
Noweatherissafe/10

Has everyone considered cycle training?

I get wheelspins when I ride under lime trees, slippiest leaf, 100% troofact.

Glad it's not just me, have lost my front wheel and almost stacked it twice in the last couple of weeks (low speed cornering so was able to put foot down). Was on the verge of considering cycle training

i have never seen traffic is east london like today, what is going on? been gridlock and horns for hours now..

A13 canning town/east india dock closed for resurfacing works. Spillage. Took me near 3 hours to get into the office via car

Technically, it's not the leaves that are slippery, but aphid wee, which they are caked in, dissolving in wet. I know this as I nearly came a cropper in my front yard this morning, the stone is covered in this congealed sticky stuff.

I think what is happening is that the salt is drawing up all the shit that is embedded/soaked into the road surface like diesel, soot, oil etc and bringing it up to the surface where it get mixed together with the ice that didn't get a chance to form. A bit like greasy roads on a rainy day after a long dry spell. That's my two penn'orth.