This morning's commute and other commuting stories

I was lucky it was only the gloves (which had no business of really being there anyway), could have been the rest of my clothes... !

Tried to bunny hop one of those temporary plastic speed bump / cable covers today near some road works. Forgot my panniers we’re loaded with anvils and hippos and gym equipment and a small moon... is there anything more teeth shatteringly jarring than completely failing to bunny hop something at speed?

Maybe the teeth shatteringly jarring realisation that you should have got the hippos to carry the anvils, gym equipment and moon :)

The ride home yesterday was extra comfy with extra springiness. Wasnt obvious to start with as the saddle covering is still holding it all together.

Bit disappointing though - its maybe 5 years old but there's been no acute damage and I'm no heavyweight, so this is just through normal use.

You could always try warranty-ing
it?

No chance - if I was very lucky I'd get a 10-20% off a replacement.

I take it back, having just googled "cracked romin saddle" it looks like that its a thing

I'll contact spesh and see what I get

Fuck wind.

Noticed today how far along the Farringdon Crossrail station looks, on the outside at least. Though looks like the exit locations are going to prove to be a nightmare for my usual route so may have to change that at some point.

Also the roundal that they've now put up looks crap with it saying 'Elizabeth Line' in it.

on the outside at least

It is just on the outside according to a friend who is involved.

Lovely and quiet on the roads through central London early this morning. Somehow I got lit selection spot on and arrived at work a nice temperature for once. Brompton has developed an annoying squeak though, so 8/10 overall.

s’filthy.
But fireworks though.

Had a great one yesterday - came across a guy on a moped having a go at a couple of cyclists for riding 2 abreast on the approach to a roundabout. I asked him why he was having a go and it was absolutely allowed... "seriously mate, it actually is allowed" sort of thing.

Back and forth disagreement for 20 seconds as we rode along (him obviously hanging back for the wonderful opportunity to discuss), he told me to piss off then rode off. Only to show that his back light was smashed in.

Safety, eh?

Too many cookies

Rode past a car crash. Then another junction further along some woman not even 'chancing a red' it was fucking days past red (I'll probably forget to check the camera though) and in town there seemed to be lots of weird dumb shit going on. Didn't arrive sweaty though so happy days. #csb

I was very close to getting doored on the ride home tonight.
it's a notorious spot as its opposite a co-op so I always give a bit more door allowance, but this guy fully opened his door without even a cursory glance.
he jumped about a foot in the air as I shouted a very loud, "yo!" directly into his ear, and I think a bit of poo might have come out as well.

Well avoided and good to give 'em something to think about. Twats.

do i grass up an emergency car ambulance who jumped a red light quite recklessly (not on blue lights)

Was going to get a fat bike before the snow kicked in in Helsinki and everyone wants one. Too late :(

Tricky!
Depends how reckless I guess. I would probably at least contact the hospital/trust/ambulance service that they belong to.

I've added an extra six miles a day on bike now for my commute. It's amazing how much better I feel for it.

Edit: Mentally/Spiritually that is as the rest of my commute is mainly overground train.

Front tyre into a narrow tramline-like pothole sending me swinging in the side of a black cab and then onto the tarmac tonight.

Luckily no major damage - elbow scraped up, but the Kevlar stitching they put in the last time I came off seems to have done its job... Hole in 2-day old glove and small rip in my well used alpha jacket. My lid made a very loud cracking sound when it hit, so that needs replacing too. Bike seems fine.

Driver behind was very helpful and the taxi stopped to check I was ok.

Edit - dunno why it’s upside down, but here’s an action shot of the wheel in the hole the fraction of a second before I fall off

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Glad you're alright. I'm assuming that's a still from a video camera which flipped around on impact or something...? Or do you have insane reflexes and were able to take an action shot of your crash?

Nah - i lied. After picking myself up and trying to work out what happened, I found the culprit so stuck the wheel in and took the picture

Aw no, tramline tracks are utter bastards.

Hope you heal up ok, bummer about your stuff.