This morning's commute and other commuting stories

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  • beckoned me through then gave me a thumbs up which I returned, so it felt a bit balanced out.

    I do this to Cabbies on occasion in the hope that they feel the same effect and don’t think we’re all cunts

  • Was a queue of cyclists at the Wallingford bridge traffic lights this morning.
    Well, if you can call four a queue.
    Quite a novelty for me but London-wise, most likely a 3am event.
    Sorry for the late congestion news if you were heading west and needed to catch the 07.18 from Didcot to Paddington this morning.

  • Great self own from a lorry trying to park outside a house being renovated in my road; he clipped a tree whilst reversing neatly felling it into the parking space reserved for him. I rode past whilst he was on the phone to his boss.

  • Got shouted at by an old woman again yesterday, words along the lines of "what's wrong with the road, get on the road" whilst cycling through a car park, and dismounting at the pedestrianised area. This country is sickening me.

  • You could have retorted "But I don't pay road tax!" That'd tell her!

  • the "i'm going to get really close to you so i'll slow down but thats ok isnt it..." pass today by big effefoff rnage rover...... i could have taken off his flat cap i was that close

  • This country is sickening me.

    I blame shouty people.

  • Too torrential to cycle this morning (wellington boot weather in Essex) so train + tube, which I regret. Fell down the escalator and now my leg is [very mildly] fucked. :(

  • I didn't even make it out of Ealing before punching a van this morning that was trying to drive over me this morning. Driving on the continent a million times better than here, even on the stupid busy roads.

  • On my commute today in Shoreditch I saw someone riding a beautiful steel colango road bike with a rainbow chrome finish, (like those gaudy lambos), riser bars. Anyone know any details of this or was I just dreaming??

  • Returning home from Wests Beers last night, I crossed the A40 at the Polish War Memorial, and began the final approach to Ruislip. The West End Road soon thins down from 2 lanes to one, but then widens again to allow a right hand filter under the Central Line at South Ruislip. When congested the unwillingness/inability of drivers to zip in at the single lane section causes the traffic to tail back to the A40, but late last night the road was clear. Cycling along, I was alerted to an unusual engine note from vehicle(s) behind me. This road is the designated route for emergency vehicles, (Police patrols stationed at Ruislip police station, ambulances stationed who-know-where), so one often encounters flashing lights and revving engines. This engine note was more strained though. The sound caught up with me, and I witnessed a small black hatchback attempting to overtake a Transit tipper, both on the wrong side of the road. They also left a scent trail of potentially seized brake pad or burning out clutch. They passed me at speed and I proceeded past the traffic lights and up the slight incline to the ridge, where the traffic lights are purposefully missing to allow planes taking off from Ruislip International Airport, (erroneously named Northolt Aerodrome), freedom of the air. I caught up with the small black hatchback, a Honda Jazz, which was now stationary at 45 degrees to the the kerb, again in the wrong lane. The road leading up to it now had a random scatter of broken shards of plastic bumpers and side skirts. The (supposed) driver was out of the vehicle and making a phone call.
    No sign of the Transit tipper.

    I cycled a bit further along, down from the crest, and called it in.

    4 or 5 minutes later a police car went passed me towards the scene of the rta.

  • riding primary in the left hand lane around Aldwych heading to "the city" and had a lorry that was following me in the lane to the lane on my right just start merging across me to the point I had to slap his door. He looked down and just shrugged as if to say "oh well nothing came of it" sort of thing. Just can't believe he didn't see me cos the road was totally empty at 730am and I was well ahead of him.

  • Is it just me or this morning the bicycle box meant jack shit to all drivers this morning. Can't remember a single person stopping before it. WTF is going on?

    Weren't there supposed to be cameras and fines at one point. Crap.

  • was thinking this myself this morning, i went before the bike box (with his car in it) that took me beyond the red light line by a few meters - i felt the wrath of a close hig rev engine pass .......
    fk em!

  • Rode in with a pair of wide bar risers poking out of my bag, suddenly everyone wants to give me a lot more space...

  • I was thinking about a flexible whisker/antenna that's designed to put a scratch in anything passing inside a meter.

    Only barrier is having to remember to retract it while filtering. And the ethical, safety, legal issues. But it's nice to dream.

  • I did that once and accidentally took out a van mirror.

  • Apparently solder wire is great for this, and even creates sparks.

  • Tired legs and having to go home for my laptop wasn't great.

  • Spectacular over handlebars face plant this morning. Was slowing up as the car coming the other direction had decided giving the parked cars on his side 2 metres clearance was more important than giving me any space to comfortably pass through. Feathered the front brake and it felt like someone jammed a bar in my front wheels. My girlfriend riding behind said both me and the bike both left the ground it was so violent. BMW driver stops next to me and asks if he did something wrong? Can't really blame him for a mechanical but driving on the wrong side of the road has been known to be problematic.

    Will CSI my bike this lunch time, don't need that in my life.

  • I am petty, so I make sure to stop in front of them regardless, and don't move until well after the lights change. Nothing as satisfying as hearing a honk of impotent rage, then turning back to smile serenely at the driver.

  • OK so when did this happen??? two days in a row no one gives a fuckabout the bike box. Its either now filled with cars/motorcycles or lorries.

    Did I miss the announcement or something. I told a driver and he didn't seem to care.

    Also
    May go back to red light jumping as these idiots pushing ahead and dangerously overtaking cyclists only to get caught at the next red light. WTF. No consideration for the basket cyclists. My heart goes out to you as I was paying close attention you seem to command even less respect in the eyes of drivers than normal cyclists and Boris bikes. WTF.

  • Bonjour. Putting this here for some opinions.

    Have a GoPro, don't record everything all the time as don't like the mentality of thinking something will happen every ride. But i do turn it on every now and again, and a few times I've caught crap driving/close passes/rlj cars and reported it to the Met on their online tool, which is really easy to do.

    Usually a few weeks later a letter comes through saying "we've sent the driver on an awareness course" or something to that effect.

    Last month a taxi went bombing through a red light next to me, after stopping in the bike box at the previous lights. Had it on the gopro, checked the footage and showed the plates clearly. So sent it in.

    I was a bit surprised 2 weeks later to get a letter saying I was being prosecuted for jumping a red. There are 6 sets of reds in the video, at 5 of them I stop completely and wait, and one is changing where I cross the ASL and actually cross the junction once the lights change.

    The 20 seconds in question is shown in this gif, first up the junction where I'm being fined for RLJ. Technically I've gone across the ASL. Common sense shows I've slowed, and waited to for the lights before actually crossing the junction.

    The second lights are the ones the taxi goes through, miles after they went red.

    I'm happy to pay the £50 fine, technically I think I've broken the law, even if it's the kind of thing most of us do most days.

    I wrote to the police asking about the taxi driver and they came back with nothing, just more info on why I have been fined.

    What do the people of lfgss think?

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This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Posted by Avatar for RikiBanger @RikiBanger

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