This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Coming back from the nursery drop off, round the roundabout, oh look who’s not stopping - it’s taxi wanker. Fortunately it was pretty light touch and I managed to stay on the bike, but I am still shaking from the adrenaline.

Not sure he has done much or any damage - think he has actually hit the folded up follow me on the at the point where it pivots laterally. Bit of a shocker tho, as normally on the way back from nursery I would have my eldest daughter attached to the follow me, so it would have been her who had got hit.

Great start to the week.

Thought I'd try to beat the worst of traffic and heat by leaving at 6 today, it was no different to what it's usually like at 7:30. Maybe everyone had the same idea this morning? Who knows. Wasn't too bad though. Have to head back around 4pm to make a physio appointment, that'll be toasty!

The movies from the 70s may not be entirely realistic I suspect.

I find the worse place for this happening is where lanes merge and there aren't any road markings.

Normally you can extricate yourself some other way but sometimes (and it's a handful of times over years of riding) there's no other option. I've had someone pull in on me whilst stationary, braking wouldn't have helped there ..

shit! glad you managed to stay on / uninjured etc.
so you were on the roundabout and he drove into you?!
did he stop? get a number or anything?

double post

Yep, I was on the roundabout and he did the classic “merge without looking” manoeuvre that drivers love so much. Apparently he didn’t see me because the sun was in his eyes. Very original.

Real heart in mouth moment when I realised I was about to be hit by a car, couldn’t gauge whether he was slowing down at all, didn’t know how bad it was going to be. Fortunately he did a half decent job of slamming on the brakes.

He stopped, as did a very nice couple in the car in the next lane, got numbers for both. Bike appears unharmed, will have to give it a proper once over later.

i had a very similar experience (as i'm sure many others have) a while back - properly shit me up as well!
i managed to skid sideways into the front side of the car so no harm done, but if i'd not been on the ball i would have been under the wheels for sure.
driver used the same lame "the sun was in my eyes" excuse despite the sun being in the opposite direction. no, you didn't see me because you didn't look, idiot.

Did anyone lose their fixie skidder on Vauxhall Bridge this afternoon?

The sub-Saharan headwind was a nice touch, thanks weather
So
Tired

Felt like my eyeballs were going to catch fire.

The best part of a 35°+ commute is the piping hot water after about 10 minutes. Are any of those insulated water bottles actually any good? I'm glad I was in a nice air conditioned van rather than on a cargo bike for 8 hours today (even though if there were less vans and more cargo bikes there'd be less days like today).

We've been putting bottles 3/4 full of water in the freezer each night. Not that practical if you don't have a freezer at work.

During some long hot Audaxes I'd often stop at a pub to fill up the bidons with ice cubes and water. At least that gives you an extra chunk of time before you've got a bidon of tepid water.

Are any of those insulated water bottles actually any good?

I have a klean kanteen insulated flask that fits in a bottle cage and is super. Keeps water cold for hours, and I pop a few ice cubes in too.

Shafs making drops in a hoodie 💪

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The ride in this morning wasn't bad really, thank god the humidity is low. Only really felt it when I was stopped at lights. Roads did seem quieter in general but there was some shocking cycling on show.

Have posted this separately in MTB thread (don't ask) but I thought it was worth posting here too.

Mullet bike spotted on my commute yesterday between Oval and Toulouse Lautrec section of CS7

https://youtu.be/bsXuTcKpk4Q

This is a guy called David, the bike is something built by Petor/Dear Susan. David also rides a Pedersen (that's been painted different colours on each of the zillion tubes) and another weirdy bike:

Sorry about that, I have brklss installed.

nice one, thanks for the info. Have updated the YT info

Wet cloth around the bottle might help?

My husband used that trick cycling in Australia.

I didn't realise they did a sports lid thing, might be a good bet although I already own too many water bottles.
Wet cloth is a good call too!

First commute by bike in nearly a month due to various illnesses, fatigue etc. Perfect weather. Despite losing loads of weight and strength, the ride was nowhere near as bad as I was anticipating.

A bit late but I have one of these (picked up cheaper in a sale) https://uk.24bottles.com/collections/clima-bottle/products/clima-bottle-brushed-steel-500-ml which fits in a water bottle holder. You can get sports caps for them on the website.

Work really well for keeping water cold although are a bit heavy compared to a non-insulated bottle.

Much nicer temp this morning. Nice to hop on/off wheels with a chap on a lush white Giant gravel/adventure type bike. On here maybe?

Saw what looked to be a dead ferret (polecat, possibly?) in the road whilst I was riding home the other day. RIP unidentified mustelid.

I had a lonely Billy no mates ride on my track tandem tonight, down to big yellow. Farewell my yellow friend, see you in a few weeks.
The canal path underpass in Bow, under the A12, has seen better days. Quite a few planks are broken and missing