This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Everyone on two wheels is a friend.

ASL work fantastically with an eBike or on most London roads where the vehicle traffic is just going to sit in a traffic ahead or if you have a polo bike/brompton or if you are just quick

First commute of 2021 this morning- miserable as fuck. Thought I had rubbing brake pads at one point I was so laboured but it was just me being fat and old.

you might well be a lardy wheezing senior*, BUT also remember the usual south-westerly is currently a north-easterly and that feels a lot like someone let air out of your tyres and gummed up your drive train. Be kinder to yourself (but yeah lay off the pies for a bit too).

*am poster child for...

The first snow came this night.
Quite sketchy at times with Conti 4 seasons, but I smiled the whole ride.

2 Attachments

On my way to work this morning and a car pulled out on me.. hit the car and slid over the bonnet. Luckily I’m unhurt but my bike is bent. I did have plans to change it over to a 54 frame, so I guess its time to head to the wanted section... Any ratty 54 frames going.

2 Attachments

Ouch, glad you're ok! Hope the insurers aren't too much hassle.

Thanks, so am I, No insurance involved...Hahaha R.I.P to my favourite bike loool

Special mention to the dopey twat who came up from behind while I was waiting at a pedestrian crossing on Essex Rd this afternoon and sped between me and the kerb just as the lights were about to change and I was preparing to pull away, nearly taking me clean out. Hooning through a red is a dick move at the best of times, ok? I caught her up and pointed out that it wasn’t too sensible, but she just stared ahead and said nothing. Twat.

clipped

Interesting definition of 'clipped'. :P

That'll probably not buff out.

2021 hippy... what's a commute?

It's when you go to the pub.

Oh. Wait...

Argh! You had to remind me! :S

I miss bike commuting. For all the shitty driving and aggression and terrible infrastructure, I used to enjoy starting and ending my day by razzing through town on my bike... Good book-ends to any day, imo.
I might go and ride to somewhere in central London and back this evening just to make it feel like the good ol' days...

my waistline misses my 25 mile daily round trip.

That too. Too many of these:

1 Attachment

I feel you. When I was working in an office, it was without a doubt the highlight of my day every day and I used to look forward to it.

When I broke my arm, it was so much harder to get out of bed in the morning (not because my arm was broken) knowing that I had to get the tube.

Amen to that!
I now ride cargo bikes for a living/to make ends meet (brought about by COVID redundancy, yay) but still kinda miss that part of office working in the city.

Me too! Crazy, huh.

Don't always look forward to the commute back home as much as I used to, after riding the cargo bike for 6 hours. Who are you working for?

No, quite! Thankfully it’s only short for me.
Eco fleet, you?

Since Covid I've swapped my top and tail shitty London rides with lunchtime rides - either turbo or outside loops of varying lengths 1-2hrs normally. I like that taking a longer lunch because I'm at home means I tend to get better sessions in when the weather is better and I'm warmed up already.

We've been doing short morning yoga as an alternative to a morning commute. That and a fuckload of coffee :)

me too, I rode up to Borough market with my mate just before xmas via CS7 and all I could think was I really miss this shit for all of the reasons listed above. Plus it's fun.

Strangely enough the guy I was riding with I met riding along CS7 about 8 years ago. We just got chatting over the course of a few weeks and are now firm friends.

That and a fuckload of coffee

Haha well if you don’t have dicing with London traffic, you need something else to get the heart rate up!

But agreed, was doing the same - lunch rides are a good way to break up the day. Was finding though that the end of the work day would then sort of blur into the evening and not really “end”.
The cycle home was always a definitive “right, no more work today” (even if it was still at 9pm or such).

Strangely enough the guy I was riding with I met riding along CS7 about 8 years ago. We just got chatting over the course of a few weeks and are now firm friends.

This is great haha! I think my timings were off either way by a few minutes every day so I didn’t used to see the same people on my commutes...
And I was always a few hours ahead of the morning rush anyway so much quieter.

It must have been 2011 cos we were both heading to France to follow the TDF. It was my first experience of this and he was an old hand and I remember chatting to him about it seeking tips etc.

I remember finishing one commute with "Oh well, probably see you out there" and thinking yeah right, like that's going to happen.

Fast forward to the next week and just off the summit of one climb me and my two sons were sitting there when who the hell cycles past and he stops for a chat with me and my boys. If you have ever been on a mountain stage you will know how busy they are and how remotely small the chances of spotting him are. It was so weird.