This morning's commute and other commuting stories

http://www.lfgss.com/conversations/272224/newest/

Bodeans BBQ kitchen?

When ever I cycle down Crimscott Street on the London cycle Network no. 22 I get a whiff of bacon, fake bacon - like bacon bits, not sure why.

Yep, this has caused nausea with rumblings in my belly on my route home when working late. It's on my regular route from town. Recently another one on Surrey Canal Road is making smells on the bike path, using that fake smoke.

Great ride back from homebase until my freewheel became so free it just span and nothing happens, think the pawls snapped inside or something. Still a nice walk home after that tho.

On the train into York you could smell chocolate from the Cadbury's factory. Chocolate Orange was distinctive.

Used to live up the road from Seabrooks crisp factory in Bradford, you could tell what type they were making each day.

Hull used to stink, not of fish, but when coffee got roasted on an industrial scale. however I never knew who the manufacturer was.

A pedant writes....
It was Rowntrees, now Nestle, making the choccy orange in York

Sugar Puff smell in west London (Southall way). And bad chemical paint over by the Lea Crossing/ Canary Wharf

First off the lights at oval this morning and into the new junction at clapham road/Kennington road. On clapham road are two cars and then a bus waiting to turn left.

I'm on green all the way but realising this was exactly the situation mentioned on here over the last few days I begin to soft pedal.

Lights on clapham road change, car one and two through without issue. Sure enough the Bus barrels straight round and across what would have been my path (I'm still on green) with the driver completely oblivious.

Dangerous

yup - bus driver doing an utterly oblivious, and entirely lawful left at the spanking new kennington road / oval fannyparade. i give it a week and someone is going to be under one.

SMELLS OF LONDON:
http://researchswinger.org/smellymaps/

I'm sick and tired of the shitty behaviour on London's roads. Mainly motons but some cyclists too. I'm going to move to the country. Not sure which country, but somewhere with a lower density of everything.

The commute of the missing traffic lights. First on Kings Avenue on the way to Clapham North, then two sets on the approach to Southwark Bridge.

Were we just expected to take our chances with the East/West traffic on Southwark Street?

Still haven't used the Oval thingy yet. Sounds more trouble than it's worth.

7/10

Have had to stop going that way due to the bacon smell, makes me want a bacon bap everytime I pass it.

has anyone actually reported this oval stuff to anywhere useful? From this page (https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/oval-triangle) I reckon customerservicesroads@tfl.gov.uk is a good place to start.

I'd it myself but not 100% sure what the issue is - I haven't encountered anything bad, maybe i've just been lucky?

I follow A23 all the way, so in from Brixton road, join Kennington park road for 50 metres or so, then turn left onto Kennington Road heading towards Imperial War Museum

Issue is when you want to go straight on with the new cycle path, the lights are timed with the normal car phase, so if a bus is waiting it will just pull across left trapping the cyclist going straight on.

I can't believe the planners didn't see the issue. Why did they not build the bus stop on an island with the cycle path going behind it.

Will email TFL

Email sent

They probably suppose that we should all have billowing skirts and daisies in baskets and be going slow enough to deal with the bus issue, which they again maybe presume is better than how it was before when you were pitted against all motor vehicles.

Sadly the bulk of "cyclist" commuters are ugly people, dressed ugly on ugly bikes with ugly roadcraft.

Love my 6am commute in, the 5/6pm commute home depresses me, although it was better than the disaster I faced on the tube and trains last night

Re. the bus stop/cycle lane problem at the end of the segregation heading towards E&C fom Oval - a perfect illustration in this YouTube clip:

https://youtu.be/HkwDsJPFVmQ

From the plans that I've seen the upgrade finishes just before that bus stop so I don't know if there are plans to change the infrastructure there.

At least that driver had some awareness, the ones I've seen this week have cut straight across to the cycle lane once they have gone passed that island.

Finally got around to packing the splines of my 3t palladio seatpost with grease this morning. Blessed silence all the way in.

10/10 - would listen to my fat arse not making the seatpost creak again.

With the understanding of 'upgrade' when it refers to improving a junction for cyclists meaning decrease capacity, increase transit time, increase complexity and introduce dangers that were previously absent.

ah, very clear.
is the hazard that @Dantheman described in the same place? or is there also something else with buses actually turning left across bikes?

Must remind myself that standstill queueing traffic makes all red lights null and void. I didn't get the same memo that many of this morning's stryclists did.

the same thing happens if you turn left where the bike lane splits as well, bus immediately pulls in to a stop as soon as the lane is over.

The oval 'upgrade' was very localised to just the junction. There isn't quite the political will to extend the segregation further into town. Only CS2 along whitechapel has any considerable length of segregation.

Hopefully now the junction is improved it should be easier to convince tfl and the councils that extending the kerbs further North is a good idea.

Oooh this is what everyone is on about... I couldn't really work out what people where talking about because I kind of missed it.

I headed past on Tuesday for the first time in some months, after the first set of lights all of the cyclists I was with peeled off down the cycle lane I didn't know was coming up and disappeared out of view behind me to me left. I thought "bollocks, now what's ahead..."

I clocked the cycle lane as I was on the move, didn't really manage to get a good look but I realised further up the road that it cut across the left turning for the A23? That kind of put me off, A - Because I didn't want to potentially be held at another set of lights. B - Didn't want to potentially get broadsided by someone (possibly a cyclist) turning onto the A23. C - I didn't know to where this lane was going to take me/spit me out exactly. D - I wanted to go straight ahead so I just stayed in my lane (where the bus gets released from at the lights in the video ^^).

10/10 Would stay prime in road and be a visible member of traffic again (by accident).

Would stay prime in road and be a visible member of traffic again on purpose. Am sure I'll get shouted at by drivers but it feels safer.

This