This morning's commute and other commuting stories

I think it's because they are subconsciously worried about getting wet cos it's raining, so try to get there ASAP.

I can totally understand the feeling as I experience it wen I’m driving - the desire to just get where I’m headed ASAP and get out of the shit conditions. What I can’t understand is how people don’t realise this is a stupid impulse that should be regulated, like any sane human should.

Got some of those Velotoze things which seem to do the trick.

....plus full length mudguards which dont hurt!

Two drops of rain and Belfast traffic is also congested.

Somebody cut me up turning into the bus lane I was in (broad daylight, hi-vis vest on) cos there was a queue for the right-turners and even though I had been there for a few hundred meters either they forgot about me or didn't look or cannot estimate speed at all. The music was so loud I could make out the song.

At the traffic lights further down I got a sheepish look in return for my look of death stare.

Fuckssake people, only so much I can do. I got the plate, dunno if I can be bothered reporting it as it was bad but not a "omg my brakes are on fire and I need clean kecks and I can make out all the scratches in your paintwork from up close" sort of situation.

I have those too, but there was just so much water on the road and splashing from all sides that I might as well not have... :/

With regards to the Velotozes, from what I can see their maximum size isn't big enough for my kayak-sized shoes. The ones I have now (Endura MTB covers) are already a real struggle to put on...

Ah right yeah I think I have the L ones and I am only a size 9! And they are SNUG, only been using them this week and I no longer have leg hair around 6 inches up from my ankle from taking them off!

Hey as long as they don't go as far as cutting off circulation, that's probably a good thing, means you get a good watertight seal :D

But my search for some overshoes that fit me continues...

To the two-wheeled brother, who got nailed last night on Streatham High Road by the prannet who ran out into road, I hope you got home ok.

Actually had a lovely commute in today in the wet. Rapha rain jacket FTW. Only a small number of cyclists and cars strangely enough. Only complaint was the lack of mudguards on show on the few occasions I found myself behind a cyclist!

@SwissChap I gave up overshoes last year (after 3-4 pairs of them falling apart during the season), and just picked up some winter SPD boots - they should last forever seeing as they only get used 4 months of the year. Warm af too.

Also, can you fit full-length mudguards on your Cerelololol?

Also, can you fit full-length mudguards on your Cerelololol?

Ha, no. I'm usually still commuting on my trusty old Dolan FXE (same I was using on the Hard Day ride). Which originally also didn't fit front mudguards that well, but thanks to a different fork that problem was solved.

winter SPD boots

I'd like to, but... same problem as usual, it's quite difficult to find some that would fit me. I need to look into it more though, because yes, it's a very good idea in principle.

Any suggestions for waterproof cycling overtrousers for someone with long legs (I wear a 34W x 34L)? The decathlon ones do the annoying thing of getting much wider, but only fractionally longer, as you go up through the sizes.

I have a pair that's a bit too long for me if you'd like them? Would probably suit your length pretty well.

winter SPD boots

That's my plan too. Water was just running down into my overshoes. At least my feet were kinda dry for the first ~6k...

Thanks! Sounds like a suitably random thing to be handing over at Wests. Are you in need of an obscure DIY tool or foraged foodstuff?

My feet were soaked (literally like mini paddling pools) within the first km

https://www.prendas.co.uk/products/prendas-ciclismo-winter-airtunnel-overshoes?_pos=5&_sid=00c336bf0&_ss=r - these are the only overshoes I've found that really stand up to proper rain and low temps. They're a bastard to get on and, like all of them, they do tend to fall apart after a year's use, but at least they work when they are being used... it's neoprene, so stretchy, and the XXL ones are VERY big. I'm a UK 11 and had to swap them for the XL, which are still pretty big...

altura 10,000 waterproof jacket decidedly not 10,000 waterproofs - another of boris's lies

i guess there's a waterproof jackets thread somewhere?

Thanks for the recommendation. Unfortunately, even then I think the XXL ones might be too tight. I'm UK 13.5ish usually, sooo..... :/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/StormProtector%C2%AE-Lockable-Standard-Motorcycle-Mobility/dp/B00EIHSOTA/ref=asc_df_B00EIHSOTA/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310632529194&hvpos=1o6&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15150019632472166139&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045997&hvtargid=pla-717500186075&psc=1

I'm closer to buying something like that for my feet than you'd think... luckily there are cheaper options! Pity my size is out of stock.

50M of 12" water greeted me riding to work this morning with the usual idiots driving the other way at speed.

The reason why that wasn't a good scheme was because it was implemented in isolation. You can't address a speeding problem like the one in Drayton Park, with its odd character mixture of cell boundary street and non-cell boundary street (as in, a street around a filtered area), by just plonking something into it in one place. It needs a review of the layout of the whole street, associated modal filtering in side streets, and in this particular case, I think, some ideas as to what to do with the area around the station in particular, as that's where the street changes character the most, to look as if it is somewhere much further out and much less built up, before you go round the corner and you're back in London. I think it's the look of that bend that causes the worst problems of driver behaviour. None of this is to excuse the drivers who drove like idiots there, but it still wasn't a good scheme.

Lovely commute from this morning balanced by a shocker on the way home. Nearly taken out by a car pulling out in front of me despite apparently looking right at me, then Addison Lee driver did a close pass going around a roundabout such that I was able to hit his side panel three times to let him know I was there, and now the fucking train is fucking delayed. On the plus side I saw Ian Hislop in the station.

my evening commute riding my duster home that my work mate gave me

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Did you feel a bit like a witch?