This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Impressive , mature , well reasoned response ….. are you sure you belong on here ? !

hah! well played.
do CSO's have badge numbers?

Thanks all, I was quite proud of the way I handled myself. I don’t normally have much time for twats, but it was close to work and the students were leaving at about that time.
Anyway todays commute was a little but stretched out, if I go straight to work by the shortest possible distance it’s 5 1/2 miles each way, I’ve only done that once in the 4 years we’ve lived here. But today I managed to bring it up to a round trip of 60 miles of mostly gravel tracks, quiet roads and leafy lanes. Oh I got smashed in the face by a branch. So maybe the CSO was right about helmets? Then again it hit my forehead so, no fuck him.

*Gawd I need a shave

5 Attachments

He did. I met him in Union Square to collect a couple of Miche Supertype seatposts that @cornelius_blackfoot got posted to him, in April 2009.

I met @chris_crash in New York, in 2010, he works in film now and has a dog, from his posts on instagram think he moved to LA and is working out there

First time on a bike after three months off - what a miserable morning to start with. Cold, blowing a fucking hooley, just shite all in all. At least cs7 was quiet.

Roads very quiet this morning due to it being half term.

Who are all these people attempting to drive their kids to school in South London every day, and WHY?

The bus is too unsafe for poor little Tarquin. And anyway it's on the way to work which needs driving to anyway.

First time on a bike after three months off - what a miserable morning to start with. Cold, blowing a fucking hooley, just shite all in all.

I don't get to ride to work as often as I used to. Hard-ass headwind all the way in but I enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine - plus the roads were dead quiet due to half term.

And anyway it's on the way to work which needs driving to anyway.

Yep. I used to help out on the "school street" outside my daughter's old primary school. Of the 20 or so parents that dropped their kids off by car all but two of them were then driving on to work.

Not all children go to their local primary school. The private schools around SW London have a huge catchment area and Jemima can't possibly get the bus or tube with the common children.

Hard-ass headwind all the way in

Think I had a tailwind. Only real explanation for getting a Strava PB on a segment I've ridden many times. Although I did get quite lucky with the lights.

11/10, will read again.

Jemima can't possibly get the bus or tube with the common children.

Living opposite a school and riding past 2 on my way to work i can confirm it is not only posho's with this mentality.

Also, cannot remember the last commute i had when the wind was on my side but my experiment with 48X19 this morning was ace.

Well done colour matching the rapha hat to the injury for the pic.

It's also loads of people with kids go on holiday during the school holidays, so not just the driving kids to school crowd.*

* Although still the similarly insane driving to work crowd.

The private schools around SW London have a huge catchment area and Jemima can't possibly get the bus or tube with the common children.

The private schools around my SW London commute all seem to lay on big coaches to pick up their entitled pupils and generally block the roads with.

Yeah, I wouldn't fall into the private school thing it's definitely not the common denominator. My local SE very much ordinary state primary school is overrun in the morning with SUVs and the catchment area is literally half a square mile - no-one needs to drive there.

Pure insanity IMO

the catchment area is literally half a square mile - no-one needs to drive there.

That's when they got their first into that school. Many people then have to move for work/house/family reasons and choose to keep their kids in the same school, now they live more than half a mile away and therefore they simply must drive.

For example, when my daughter got into her primary school she was the second furthest away in her class (as the crow flies) at just under 1km. By the time she left to go to secondary a good number (5/30) of the children in her class lived a good 3+ miles away, some even further.

Some parents at the school have had 15+ consecutive years of at least one of their children being at the school. A lot can happen in that time.

There's a whole load of things in play, not wishing to split up friend groups by moving children to a different school, aspirational parenting (got to keep them in the "Outstanding" school no matter what), and huge perceived chasms in school quality, complete lack of rationality, etc, etc.

What's noticeable (and entirely finger in the air estimation) around me is that when the private schools are off but not the state schools then 75% of the traffic that fucks off fucks off. It's only when both private and state schools are on holidays that it seems really quiet.

local SE very much ordinary state primary school

Perfect description for the school i live opposite. It's a school street so i have cones closing the road right outside my house. On one side kids can run and around and play, on the other side there is a cluster of X5's and MPV's stopped in the middle of the road all with there engines running.

stopped in the middle of the road all with there engines running

Sounds like bliss. Outside my daughters secondary school lots of people drive on the wrong side of a traffic island to jump the queue for the traffic lights and then pull up on the pavement blocking it completely.

The total text of me having the same interaction would be:

"Huh? What?! Fuck off" as I rode straight past them.

Punctured about 2 miles from home. Once I realised what had happened I tried to lay the smack down and TT as far as I could get before the tyre went flat and managed about 1.25 miles before the rim was boinking the road. 20 minute walk for the last bit.

About half a dozen anti-ULEZ conspiracy nuts at the junction of Tower Bridge and East Smithfield this evening, holding up placards proclaiming the end of free movement and warning of the 15-minute city. I gave them a 👎 because I'm in hock to the global elite.

By the time she left to go to secondary a good number (5/30) of the children in her class lived a good 3+ miles away, some even further.

Both of my boys rode their bikes just under 3 miles to their secondary school (this was 4 yrs ago, not decades). It Is not a massive distance but it is a shame that mainly modern attitudes (but sometimes infrastructure) make this an anomaly.