Riding home in the dark was scary

Even with 35w of Halogen goodness and a reflective jacket, I still had a few close calls..

Nice ride in this morning though, hot and sweaty but harmless in terms of traffic..

Dancing the light fantastic

Brought my lumicycles in with me today so I can ride home later than usual.. The sky is looking ominous though, storm's a brewin'...

Christmas bash

Led me to leave the car in St Mellons last night. Gave me a good extra kick to ride in today, well worth it. Lovely weather and no homocidal motorists.

Finally

Back on the bike today finally. Early meething got cancelled meaning I could wait til daylight broke through the murk before dodging BMWs on the A48.
Noticed I've got a broken spoke at the back when setting off this morning, didn;t have time to sort it so just zip tied it out of the way. I predict it will still be held together with zip ties til some time next year...oh well.

Being really slack

Didn't ride in at all last week. Must try harder... :-(

New targets

Back in the car today, have lots of work to do so really can't afford as short a day as I get when I cycle. I would ride home in the dark but the fog at the moment is intense. I nearly got wiped out 3 times last night on the way home (2 different builders vans and a big beemer), scary stuff.
My new target is to ride in at least once a week. Until the daylight picks up, that'll have to do sadly. I'm climbing two nights a week and riding off road one night a week (plus weekends) as well as running at least once a week. Hopefully that lot should keep me in shape til the days get longer..

Finally

Cycled in this morning. Absolutely freezing, but I was well wrapped up. The only real problem was my ankles getting really cold (I usually wear trainer liners instead of socks). I might have to get some wooly socks for the winter..

Blimey I'm rubbish

I blame the lack of cold weather gear, but really it's just a lack of motivation. We've had nearly a week and a half of the nicest cold crisp winter weather, and I haven't ridden to work once. Tomorrow is the day though, and this time I mean it..

Drove today too...

..and the weather is lovely and dry. Bugger.

A terrible record

Didn't bike in at all last week, and drove in this delightful monday morning too.. Hopefully work pressures will back off a bit now and I can get back to it. Rode off road sunday and went for a run on saturday (training for the Tough Guy in jan).

Bad week for cycling

I've not cycled in at all this week so far, and given committments for the next few days, can't cycle in until friday. Not happy about it, feeling fatter already.

On the bus today

This week has seen me do the least cycling of any week since I got back from Africa. One day's cycle commuting and no evening or weekend rides, shocking. Next week is looking pretty mental workwise too, hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in a few pedals though.

Commuter jacket works

Finally got back on the bike today, despite miserable weather. Luckily my new commuter jacket kept me lovely and warm/dry all the way to work. Result.

Drove every day this week so far

The weather has been terrible and I've been ill. Hoping to be back on two wheels tomorrow though.

Drove in today

Because we're off to the Registry office straight from work (only for a chat, not getting married til next May).

Overcoming lack of motivation

I very nearly didn't ride in today, just couldn't be arsed.. Then I remembered how dull the middle of winter is with cold wet grey days, and realised that I should really make the most of our current bearable weather. So, I forced myself to ride in, and it was fine.. I'm glad I did.

Mostly harmless

This morning's ride in was mostly harmless. Impressive really, I managed to find a window in the horrible weather and rode in with blue skies and zero wind...result.

Drove in today

Mainly because it was tipping it down. Might buy a waterproof jacket this week, I think it may come in handy..

Caught the bus this morning

Mainly because the better half is picking me up after work in order to head up to Derbyshire. £1.65 for a single, daylight robbery....and it took longer than it does to cycle!

Dedication has a new face

Last nights off road ride brought a few more singlespeeders out of the woodwork. So far, so so... one of them however was a little more dedicated than the rest. Rich has had his arm in plaster for 3 weeks and turned up riding a singler with only half a handlebar (and only a rear brake) I think his argument was that as he has to ride one handed at the moment, why bother with an entire cockpit..nutbag.

Argghhhhhhhhh

That was a close one. Riding in this morning I was just approaching the roundabout by the semiconductor plant (joining two sections of dual carriageway) when I heard an HGV coming up behind me. He hadn't quite caught me up by the time I hit the roundabout so I headed out onto it, claiming most of the left hand lane as my own. About halfway round the roundabout he decides it's a good time to overtake me, does so mostly in the left hand lane before clipping the apex of the exit I'm just about to take.. Literally a few inches from death under his wheels, I gave him the international hand signal for slight annoyance, I couldn't understand his response though, it could have been an apology....it might not. If I see him again I'll ask him.

Fuck.

Diesel day

The roads were wet when riding in today, not a problem in itself, but it made it easy to see how much diesel and other oil is dropped onto the road. I'm terrified of losing the bike while going round a roundabout at speed, especially as I'm often being followed a whole 2 feet back by a car driver in too much of a hurry to give me any space.
Scary stuff..

Car again today

I drove in partly because the forecast was for rain all day and partly because I need to do a long day at work (and don't like riding home in the dark and rain...one or the other I can cope with, but not both).
I pretty much missed a red light on my drive in though, reverting to being a careless car driver. I'll hopefully be back on the bike tomorrow..

Feeling awful today

So I drove in... I think it made me feel worse.

Baby on board

So this morning, riding along minding my own business when I nearly get knocked into the bushes by a complete idiot driving too fast and too close. As he sped off into the distance, still oblivious to my presence, I noticed he had one of those awful 'Baby on Board' stickers in the rear window..nice to know that he wants us to be careful of his kid, but is still quite happy to mow me down.

Talking of which, the amount of shockingly bad driving I see which seems to be directly caused by parents looking/talking to/disciplining their kids while driving. If I had my way being a lone adult in a car with young children would be illegal..

Last night

Start of the Ride
Originally uploaded by hairy_matt.

It was a bit wet out. Not as gloopy underwheel as expected though which was almost a shame. I was looking forward to a proper full on slither fest down the Wennalt..

Contrast

After a great off road ride in the muck and rain last night, I was all prepared to slog in through the wind and rain today, but the weather has turned out quite nice.. A very pleasant ride in, with views over the estuary to Devon. A small problem has arisen with my new super-duper cycle storage locker, but more on that later.

Second day running in the car

Mainly because I'm cycling off road tonight. Still, I hope this isn't the start of a trend...

Drove in today.

Have to do a long day and am trying to avoid riding home in the dark and the rain.. Feels wrong to not get my morning pedal though.

I've won the locker lottery

After a fairly uneventful ride in this morning I got a call from estates managment to tell me that they've allocated me one of the new weatherproof cycle storage lockers. I can now lock my bike in a box and forget about it for days...or at least until I need it to get home again..

Turning into an arrogant cyclist

Quick ride in this morning, mainly because I was keen to overtake and stay in front of a guy on a hybrid doing the same route. So far so good you might think. The problem is, the first time I overtook him, I said nothing.. Then after he overtook me by making what I thought was a dangerous manoeuvre, I caught up with him again and told him I thought it was dangerous.. It wasn't til I got to work that I realised that (a) it was none of my business and (b) I could have at least said 'hello', 'where are you off to?' etc to be a bit sociable before lecturing him on his riding technique.

I think I'm turning into a sterotyped grumpy road cyclist.. I wonder if it's battling with the traffic day in and day out that does this to you?

I cycle therefore I am...

...knackered.

Only two cars tried to kill me this morning, I guess that counts as a good ride in. A nice misty sort of morning, though not ideal from a visibility point of view.

The weekly wimp out

Came in the car today as I have some big heavy items to pick up from work. It's a shame really, it's a lovely crisp winters day, perfect for riding in.
I actually drove in via my cycle route today just out of interest, meaning I could get an accurate odometer reading. 10 miles-ish, so a few miles shorter than I thought, I'd better start doing it quicker. It was interesting to see it from a driver's perpective too, I think I have a better idea where the danger spots are now.

Looks like it was a hit and run

Yesterday's big police presence was probably in response to this incident.

I hope the kid's alright.

A pleasant ride in this morning

A bit cloudy, but otherwise pleasant. Got cut up by a BMW 650i, ugliest car ever... Remembered my helmet today too thankfully.

Police everywhere

Riding home yesterday there were police all over the place. Two patrol cars parked on the roundabout by St Mellons, two more just down the road at the petrol station and at least 4 or 5 haring about with lights flashing and sirens on as I rode home over Rumney hill.. They had some cones out on the roandabout so I wondered if there'd been a hit and run and they were chasing the driver down...who knows.

The large police presence came in handy actually as some little chavvy girl thought it'd be funny to leap out in front of me causing me to slam on the brakes and swerve into traffic. She ran off giggling so I hopped onto the pavement and chased her down (I have a new policy of confronting bad behaviour in kids, somebody has to). Anyhow, I was just catching up with her when a passing Police van pulled in, the passenger leaned out of the window and collared her. He was proper furious (they'd seen her jump out at me and cause me to almost go under a car) and gave her a good earfull. Sadly though it mostly seemed to bounce off, she was very mouthy to him in return (far cheekier than I would have dared to be to a policeman at that age..) and ended up running off anyhow. Still, I reckon she'll think twice before doing that again.

Hmm, it's a bit chilly today

I was about halfway to work this morning, enjoying the cool wind in my hair...hmm, wind in my hair. That doesn't sound right.. I'd forgotten my helmet, doh! It's amazing what a psychological difference it made to my riding as soon as I noticed, I became a lot more timid and frightened of being squished. It doesn't make a lot of sense as it's quite easy to get badly hurt or killed while wearing a helmet, so it's not really a guarantee of safety, but there you go. I'm not looking forward to the return journey with an uncovered head...

The hills don't hurt as much these days

I can definitely say I'm getting fitter. I was mulling various things over in my mind on the way to work today and before I knew it, I was pulling in to the office. My legs still felt like they'd been up a few hills, but the total effort expenditure didn't cause me any discomfort at all. Nice misty view over the estuary too..

Always the wrong days

It's a glorious day today, lovely blue skies and no winds.. I had to drive to work though (complicated reasons involving suits and paperwork). Harrumph.. I just hope tomorrow is as nice.

Getting colder

It was proper chilly when I left home this morning, luckily I warmed up pretty smartish as I hit the first hill.
It got me thinking though. I have some full finger gloves for winter use, but I need to have a think about what other bits of kit I might need as the weather turns colder.. Might be time to break out the bib tights again.

New mudguards working well.

It rained a lot overnight so the road was quite wet on the way in today. I was happy to find that my new mudguards give an amazing amount of protection from spray, even if they do look a bit naff.



(Mine are black though..)

I still haven't quite got the hang of how much grip you get with slick tyres, especially on wet roads. I had a few *ahem* interesting moments going round roundabouts when the tyres started to break away..

Good ride home

Beat the number 30 bus home.. Always a pleasure.

Nice ride in this morning

Only one driver tried to kill me, I paced the number 30 for half the trip and my new mudguards work a treat.
On the down side, I really must remember not to sneeze while in heavy traffic. Having your eyes shut for 3 or 4 seconds at 25mph is a little scary...

Rainy friday

No biking in for me today, I have a big pile of stuff I needed to bring in, plus new fork/wheel and brake to take home (I get my goodies delivered to work). Quite glad really cos the weather was proper nasty this morning. I really must sort out some mudguards and similar bits and bobs, back to the shops for me..

Last night riding home I saw a dead hare*.


* may have actually been a rabbit run over by an HGV...squished=stretched

The 'Praypex'

New word for the day.. There's a few blind summits/corners on my way in to work, and I'm always a bit wary of going over/round them, as it's then a race against time to see if I can get far enough away that a car coming round the corner at 20mph above the speedlimit with a driver using a mobile phone, will still have time to see and avoid me... Hence the new term, it's an apex, with added fervent prayer..

Otherwise a good ride in, nice day for it. National travel to work like a hippy day in fact.

It got better.

The weather perked up for my ride home yesterday, not bad at all. The ride in this morning was fine too, blue skies and a nice temperature. It's still got me thinking about winter though, shopping for mudguards at the moment...

Drizzle

Soo, that was pleasant. The kind of drizzling rain that doesn't seem too bad when you first get out into it, but very quickly builds up until it's running off your helmet visor in rivers. On the plus side, it did make me seek out the fabled heated lockers at work, and they're pretty good.. I can see them getting a lot of use over the winter. There's a spin dryer too..luxury.

Had a few scary moments on the way in today though, firstly when I lost my chain and had to stop to put it back on. Being stationary leaning over a bike at the side of the road made me realise quite how fast the traffic was coming past (and how close). It was actually quite hard to force myself to get back on and start pedalling (though it felt a lot better as soon as I did..).

The second scary moment was when, not far from work, I heard a sudden kttshhhhhhh noise behind me. I glanced round to see the radiator grill of an arctic looming up less than a foot from my back wheel. The noise appeared to be the airbrakes struggling to slow it down without skidding.. Whether he'd just not noticed me early enough, or had a last minute change of heart and decided not to mow me down, I don't know. It's a scary game being a cyclist in the world of heavy goods vehicles..

Monday car driving

Rode the Gap yesterday so went for a gentle start to the week with a drive in... If the weather holds though, I should be on the bike for the next four days (plus wednesday evening off road) so a funpacked week ahead.

Great ride home on friday, the fuel protest, as unimpressive as it was, led to a massive tailback on my route home. It's always nice to sail past car drivers with a smug grin.. In fact after hitting a jam on the motorway on hte way in today, I was wishing I was on the bike.

Typical.

The headwind that blew into my face all the way to work, has just reversed itself by 180 degrees.
Quite why it does this, and why exactly at lunch time, I'll never know.

Sodding wind.

Ice cold headwind...

...all the way to work. Oh well, it certainly blew my hangover away (beers and pool in the Tut & Shive last night).
It made me think actually about how isolated from the environment you are when driving a car. With even the most feeble of modern cars you'll never notice the effect of a headwind or tailwind on your speed. Seems kind of a shame to miss out on the natural russian roulette of the elements.

The weekly wimp out - part two

So I drove this morning too.. Not beacause of the rain, but after riding last night, I found it really hard to motivate my legs this morning.. I will be back on the bike tomorrow though, I promise.
I think in future I'll try and double up on wednesdays, riding in to work and back as well as riding in the evening, have thrursday as my rest/car day and that way I should be able to ride 4 out of the 5 work runs a week. Should still have clocked up nearly 200 miles this week though, so not too shabby.

The weekly wimp out

So, sat here in my suit having just driven to work. I have an important meeting today, plus a pub lunch some miles away and I'm riding this evening. I'd still prefer to have cycled today but it's minging weather, and I haven't quite sorted out mudguards yet.. Still, out tonight and on the bike tomorrow and friday. That'll be 150 odd miles this week (not counting the weekends..).

Filter this...

For some reason, as a car driver I find filtering motorbikes really annoying (in moving traffic, not traffic jams or queues). I don't go as far as to pull over a bit to make it harder for them to sneak through, but it does annoy me when traffic is moving at a fair pace. I don't undertake people in my car, so I don't expect to be undertaken by a motorbike... I'm suprised more of them don't cause accidents while filtering at 40 miles an hour. Anyhow, I got a little revenge while riding home last night. Two motorbikes filtering through the traffic queuing up at the roundabout, only they can't get through all the gaps. After a lung busting sprint I caught them and then 'filtered' between them. Nice to see they don't like traffic undertaking them from their blind spot either... Heh he.

Nice ride in this morning, uneventful and sunny... I'm definitely finding that (apart from last night) a more chilled approach is paying dividends in keeping me out of aggro confrontation with traffic.

Sunny Monday

Nice ride in this morning, after dubious weather over the weekend, it's all perked again now. Just ordered some new shorts specially for commuting, even thinking about getting some full mudguards for the winter season. Given that petrol prices are not likely to drop much ever, I think I'll be on the bike for the forseeable... You know what though? That really doesn't sound that bad.*


* Ask me again in the middle of a winter rain storm.

The gallon challenge..

What is so eccentric about your bottom bracket? Does it smoke a pipe?

Had a great ride yesterday.. None of that daft road riding nonsense. We did around a 40 mile loop offroad north of the city, taking in 7 pubs and 10 pints (over 12 hours). Lots of hilarity, some slight falling off action and lots of gangster style heckling...

Chilled ride in this morning

Due to having a fairly important meeting this morning and not wanting to be in too much of an aggro cycle warrior mood for it, I made a point of spinning in gently and enjoying the scenery... I got to work feeling relaxed and invigorated and only 5 minutes slower than usual. Result.

It is scary actually the extent to which a commute can affect my mood. I had a few near misses with idiotic cars a while back, after the first one I was left timid and shaken and carried that over to my conduct at work. The second time I felt righteous indignation and turned up at work ready to punch the lights out of anyone who disagreed with me... Neither ideal states of mind, but interesting nonetheless.

I'm going to have a chilled ride home now, the long way via the coast... It's usually windy, but much less stressful.

Feeble

After quite enjoying yesterday's commute and having a great ride out in the evening, I should have been raring to jump on the bike this morning. Sadly, I feel absolutely shattered...and it was raining. Excuses excuses, I know. Tomorrow I've promised the lass that she can have my car so it'll be back to two wheels.

Squirrel kamikaze

Passed 3 dead squirrels on the road this morning, poor little blighters. I wonder if Halfords has had a run on their faux-peanut valve caps again?

Fragrant..

The gentle wafting smell of drying cycling kit is filling the office. Nice.

Back with a vengeance

So, it's back to the daily rush of playing in traffic.
I've just had 5 weeks off work, a fun trip travelling round Africa with my girlfriend, but now it's back home, back to work and so back on the bike..

Before I went away I was riding to work 4 days out of five, riding off-road every Wednesday night and usually one day at the weekend. I think that probably means I was pretty fit...(past tense is important here). We went out for a short spin on the local trails last night and it hurt. It never ceases to amaze me how long it takes to build up fitness on the bike, and how quickly you can lose it. Oh well, as well as riding both ways today at 12 miles each way, I'm also off out this evening for a spin on the trails north of the city which will probably add up to around 50 miles in total for my second day back on the bike. There's nothing like dropping yourself back in at the deep end..

On the plus side, no one tried to kill me this morning. Even the number 30 bus drove round me instead of through me, I always take that as a good sign...