This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Monday. Signalling and hit pothole. I think I might actually try and get the lawyers involved on this one as I'm fucking sick and tired of spending my days avoiding (and clearly failing to avoid) potholes. Missed pub quiz so that's gotta be damages right there..

Oh, after 5hrs in one hospital they tell me I should be in another one getting a facial xray because they can't analyse xrays here. Cue: day spent in second hospital to be told fractured collarbone and "Usually on Warfarin if you hit your head they'd do a brain scan.. but it's been 18hrs and, well, you'd be dead"

My thoughts exactly.

Also on CS8 - a twonk on a single speed who mounts the pavement to dodge every light from Parsons Green to Vauxhall Bridge.

That car's a dick. Hope it goes to jail and that you + bike check out ok.

Also that pothole's a dick. Glad you're not dead. One silver lining is that having a fractured collarbone means you won't be riding a bike much, so you won't bleed to death from falling off it. So. There's that.

I think God was trying to send you a message by putting that crack in your bike, tbh, and now you've forced his hand :(

if both @Ramsaye and @hippy have hit the deck, expect more potholes.

Heal fast both of you, and I hope your lawyers gain swift retribution.

My last night on Warfarin was literally the night before I crashed. Whilst riding the bike I'd bought specifically to make crashing on harder. You couldn't make this shit up..

Heal TFU Hippy. Hope you are back on the bike soon.

The arm works - I could ride (I mean, I rode home on it) but I'm worried that riding now will slow the healing down and I'll just be in a worse state when I'm trying to do longer stuff. I could be a hero and ride the 200 on Sat but apart from being a bit grim, it'll probably put me back for the 300 at the end of the month. Argh, fucking collarbones!

Presumably the pub has a case for lost earnings?

Class action...

Was sprinting to get through a sequence of 3 traffic light and some lad in a black hoodie just stepped out into the road and started crossing. Must have been a second but it played out in slowmotion, I waited for him to see me and stop, he just didn't even look to his right in the slightest. I shouted at him while simultaneously taking my hand off the 'drops' on the pursuit bars to get to the brake, which I applied causing a massive front wheel wobble. He stopped, I managed to stay up and gave him a loud 'for fuck's sake' as I sped off.

Cycled from Bristol Parkway to the centre, lovely sun, still finding out my best route. Second almost a cropper moment came when I took a ninety degree turn at the bottom of a slope on a cyclepath, carried a lot of speed through, hit some mud on the outside of the exit, another major front wheel wobble as it slipped but stayed out.

So far so good, but the annoying thing is after being degreased and regreased at the weekend, and enjoying the super silence of the bike, suddenly today there's a MAJOR constant creak coming from the drivetrain. Not happy

Hope you both heal up quickly @Ramsaye and @hippy.

Hectic commute on CS8 this morning. Saw a car crash on Wandsworth Town roundabout and just seemed more stressful than usual. Lovely weather though.

Bugger! So fucking tired of threading my way through potholes, there are two massive ones on my commute that I have to go almost to the centre of the road to get around, have to signal and make sure I'm not getting overtaken. Hit one in the dark yesterday that made a metallic ting as it connected with the rim, spent the next minute waiting for the hiss of a puncture. Hope you're ok chap

fillthathole.org.uk or whatever but I can't report them as quick as the bastards appear.

Am sure you know this but if it has been reported before and they have done nothing about it you have a good case.

Yeah but I've also read 85% of pothole cases are thrown out because 'we're doing our best' or some shit is a valid excuse.

speak to @MultiGrooves, remember him having a long running back and forth about his pothole accident..

@Multi_Grooves did you get lawyers involved?

I'm not going to pursue it if I have to waste a tonne of my time doing so.

Where did this happen, Chris? Was it on Mare Street?

Good luck with getting it sorted.

Is that what you meant by 'smashing my face into the Uxbridge Road' last night, hippy? Or where did it happen?

Do you have photographs of the pothole? Send off your compensation claim asap.

These pages may be useful:

http://lcc.org.uk/articles/potholes-what-they-are-and-how-to-report-them

http://lcc.org.uk/articles/the-mayors-answers-to-cycling-questions

https://reportit.tfl.gov.uk/pub/servlet/ep.app?a=a&type=177748&ut=X&st=TFLROAD&hideId=Y&displayTitle=none&modifyElId1=TFLLinkStyle1&modifyElClass1=TFLhighlight&googleKey=ABQIAAAA6IrAdSolnFVEgeKIUXV6cxSpH5-UlYEIAENs8wUI3J07Ks5xDhRMMuRCg1KofgVoZMg7NMI6KMbtvQ&csrftoken=YIHGT8Vp3ejs5rdEGb2DnP6NBbDS827IKU87V4MEcd2mh3afoGAtgplBDQRB86xs55PNbn4RUaHBfEpSGWM%2BBEeG5RSY3yFm%2FQNkyXEkvXFYvCVwhjyMdLXmsUxOPavfBLHQSPw8b3Pz6vjE4BtvuAZrUhRAOZE5wv8A99Ba5VfqK2BhfS1n%2BYJrzNZtvivNVj7emjSuyAvD5fJOvkhC9qhebH3EmuaLMTpx5HYNVxt7QBkk%2Bv6blgme%2B8eG0VU6VusKUYjlJ6JxRZR76h4VLHZjKxlxNVaa8UKxS%2FHwXJPsZyfBaZc9e8D%2FKHOqt2QC%2FsorPwwrPHU%3D

Heal up soon.

I'd prefer someone else to handle it all. I just get frustrated with the legal bullshit and paperwork hence the lawyer talk. Can I claim lost income? Taxis to hospitals, etc? What about it fucking up my training? That big financial dent that is £7 audax fee? :) Hmm.. see already I see it going in the too hard basket.

Hm, this is a form attached to this complaint.

It's from 2011, so may be out of date. Also, sadly, Fix My Transport is no longer operating.

Yes, may not be worth doing if the damage isn't too extensive.

The last one probably contributed to the demise of the Kinesis but in this case the damage was mostly to me and not the bike. It will be at least two days lost earnings though.

@hippy give 'em hell, heal up fast