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I just got a call from my sister who's just been told that an old friend of hers was killed yesterday on his bike. She's asked me to try to find out what happened and thought the forum might know. She thinks it might have happened near Hadley Wood; could that be this accident? The guy's name was Richard Haigh. Sorry I don't have more to go on.

According to the receipt I've somehow managed to find in the pile of rubbish on my desk:
VAT Regn no: 972212139

I stopped and asked a policeman at the scene. He was unable to confirm a fatality, but implied that it was.

Another policeman (at an HGV v ped accident on Portman Sq) told me the cyclist (on Park Lane) had jumped the lights, but the first policeman didn't give me a light jumping lecture, so not sure if that's true. Anything near Marble Arch is chaos tonight.

RIP cyclist - I hope we're all wrong and you're fine.

RAC says : Park Lane both ways closed, stationary traffic due to serious accident, a lorry and a car involved between A40 (Marble Arch) and A4 Piccadilly (Hyde Park Corner)

Now, any tips on how the hell I can get a freewheel sproket off with a (remover tool and) and fairly long wrench?
It's just not budging and keeps slipping out.
Sick of going to the lbs and asking if they can just loosen things for me.

Stick the freewheel remover in a vice and turn the wheel not the tool. The diameter of the wheel is a longer lever than a wrench => much easier. The only downside is you need a vice.

I can't remember the lights sequence/if there's a separate bicycle light, but I've seen plenty of bikes continuing across there whilst vehicles are turning.

The cycle lane light is red when the road light is green. It's a long annoying wait, so pretty much everyone jumps there.

If you're released from the previous traffic light, by Regents Sq, you can't make it to that one (in the cycle lane) while it's still green, so it's always wait or jump. Someone really needs to sort the timings there.

The sequence is so annoying at this very spot that I usually take the road and accept the abuse hurled at me from drivers for not being in the cycle lane.

I went through there in the opposite direction about 15 mins later. Saw the ambulance with its back doors open (facing away from me so I couldn't see inside) and a police car; there was one ambulance person and 1 (w)pc standing between the two, but they didn't look too busy. Didn't see a bike or any other vehicle. No crowd of onlookers either. Didn't get a great look as a bus decided to race me to the gap around the ambulance, but it didn't look like it was anything serious. Hopefully.

One that might work is to keep your bike in your room but always keep it upside down, on its saddle / handlebars, and leave a spanner on the floor next to it. That way you can claim that it's inside because you're working on it. It also means it won't be leaning up against the wall leaving tell-tale marks. Invest in a cheapo rug or table runner to put it on to protect the floor.

When I first went fixed I kept the same ratio I had been using SS (77GI) but it nearly killed me so I stuck another couple of teeth on the back and took it down to 69GI, which was perfect for me. Most of my male fixie friends seem to prefer the mid 70s though. *