Your rants here.
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Got absorbed in a report and left a bit late (but with margin) to pick Haggis Jr. from childcare. What could possibly go wrong? Well, P?ncture Fairy, of course. Call childminder telling her I might be late. Go to hell to remove that bloody michelin (never had any issues with that before). Nothing obviously wrong, and tyres were on low 5 psi rather than my more usual 6.5 so I assumed it was my negligence. Fit new inner quickly, inflate with minipump to an acceptable level to get to Evans/Cycle republic and, 50 meters after mounting back, yes, you guessed it. The visit hadn't left, and wanted to have more fun. FFS. Call childminder I'll definitely be late now and, for the final humiliation, because I didn't have another inner tube, call a cab.
AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGH.
Not been the best of weeks, and there are still three days left.0 -
But were't you only 50m from Evans/Cycle Republic?DrHaggis wrote:Got absorbed in a report and left a bit late (but with margin) to pick Haggis Jr. from childcare. What could possibly go wrong? Well, P?ncture Fairy, of course. Call childminder telling her I might be late. Go to hell to remove that bloody michelin (never had any issues with that before). Nothing obviously wrong, and tyres were on low 5 psi rather than my more usual 6.5 so I assumed it was my negligence. Fit new inner quickly, inflate with minipump to an acceptable level to get to Evans/Cycle republic and, 50 meters after mounting back, yes, you guessed it. The visit hadn't left, and wanted to have more fun. FFS. Call childminder I'll definitely be late now and, for the final humiliation, because I didn't have another inner tube, call a cab.
AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGH.
Not been the best of weeks, and there are still three days left.0 -
So, got a very close pass from a crappy, mauve coloured Lupo this morning, pretty much brushing my hand as it went past. Look over and the idiot is eating a packet of crisps, holding the packet with one hand (whilst lightly resting on the wheel), shovelling the crisps in to his mouth with the other. My life is worth less than a mouthful of Walkers* it seems.
*it may have been another brand, I couldn't see.0 -
Why do kids get paper rounds, for their parents to drive them house to house?
If it was a one off, in a hurricane, while it was hailing then maybe that's OK but every day even when it's warm and sunny?
The parent drives like a c*nt too. Apparently the footway is an acceleration/deceleration lane, not for pedestrians to walk on.0 -
Report him.0
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elbowloh wrote:
But were't you only 50m from Evans/Cycle Republic?DrHaggis wrote:Got absorbed in a report and left a bit late (but with margin) to pick Haggis Jr. from childcare. What could possibly go wrong? Well, P?ncture Fairy, of course. Call childminder telling her I might be late. Go to hell to remove that bloody michelin (never had any issues with that before). Nothing obviously wrong, and tyres were on low 5 psi rather than my more usual 6.5 so I assumed it was my negligence. Fit new inner quickly, inflate with minipump to an acceptable level to get to Evans/Cycle republic and, 50 meters after mounting back, yes, you guessed it. The visit hadn't left, and wanted to have more fun. FFS. Call childminder I'll definitely be late now and, for the final humiliation, because I didn't have another inner tube, call a cab.
AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGH.
Not been the best of weeks, and there are still three days left.
Unfortunately not, as my phrasing was poor. "pump enough to get to Evans" was actually my plan, but I punctured 50 m after leaving. The actual distance from where I was to Evans was [googles...] 0.8 miles (0.6 to Cycle republic). Again, close enough on a normal day, but not when you're late to pick up your son.0 -
Large number of RTI locally this morning, meant that any opportunity for drivers to release the pent up anger in a deep rev to go 20 meters of clear road ( because they've been staring at their phone for that long they've missed the fact the traffic's moved)...
One driver decided that they would try and squeeze past at a silly point - I'd put my hand out about 10cm to the right and 10 cm back from the end of the handlebars such that if they were that close, they'd hit my hand first, rather than the bars; which of course they did, and the wing mirror got folded back without me moving my hand at all.
Off they drove, as I called out their reg - they gunned it, to the back of the queue 20 meters ahead of them, where I plopped the bike down in front of their car.
Their excuse? "Sorry, I'm late for a train, I'm trying to get there".
The response of "I'm sorry, I'm trying to get to work, not a hospital, and I'd got kids and friends I'd like to see again, not the underside of your vehicle" just seemed like a red rag to a bull.
Apparently the driver didn't notice that their wing mirror was folded, but their passenger was aware that I'd put my hand out.... When pointing out my arm isn't 1.5m long, they didn't seem to get the message.
Stuff em .Intent on Cycling Commuting on a budget, but keep on breaking/crashing/finding nice stuff to buy.
Bike 1 (Broken) - Bike 2(Borked) - Bike 3(broken spokes) - Bike 4( Needs Work) - Bike 5 (in bits) - Bike 6* ...0 -
So, my wife is pregnant with our first and we're in London for the day.
She really didn't want a "baby on board badge", as she always felt it kind of felt like it was showing off, but I got her one anyway. Yesterday she was feeling pretty ill and she had to keep sitting down every few mins when we were out and about. We had to get on the tube 5 times during the day. She managed to get a seat once, when a girl gave up their seat. Everyone else was blind to it and she was even pushed out of the way trying to get onto one tube by people who thought their need to get on was greater than hers. Trainw@nkers0 -
elbowloh wrote:So, my wife is pregnant with our first and we're in London for the day.
She really didn't want a "baby on board badge", as she always felt it kind of felt like it was showing off, but I got her one anyway. Yesterday she was feeling pretty ill and she had to keep sitting down every few mins when we were out and about. We had to get on the tube 5 times during the day. She managed to get a seat once, when a girl gave up their seat. Everyone else was blind to it and she was even pushed out of the way trying to get onto one tube by people who thought their need to get on was greater than hers. Trainw@nkers
From recent experience: the badge won’t help. In many instances, asking point blank also won’t help.
Though the tube is much better then proper trains - forget that.
Aim for young people. They are much more likely to give up a seat. Or builders. Forget the rest, especially suits.0 -
Rick Chasey wrote:elbowloh wrote:So, my wife is pregnant with our first and we're in London for the day.
She really didn't want a "baby on board badge", as she always felt it kind of felt like it was showing off, but I got her one anyway. Yesterday she was feeling pretty ill and she had to keep sitting down every few mins when we were out and about. We had to get on the tube 5 times during the day. She managed to get a seat once, when a girl gave up their seat. Everyone else was blind to it and she was even pushed out of the way trying to get onto one tube by people who thought their need to get on was greater than hers. Trainw@nkers
From recent experience: the badge won’t help. In many instances, asking point blank also won’t help.
Though the tube is much better then proper trains - forget that.
Aim for young people. They are much more likely to give up a seat. Or builders. Forget the rest, especially suits.
Our first trip into London with Little Slowbike (age 3) was a couple of months ago - traveling during the working day - missing the traditional commute times - we took a foldup pushchair (should've taken our big one) and little sb used it on the way back - fast asleep on me as soon as we got on the first tube. Transferred him to the pushchair for the rest of the journey (1 more tube, then overline to the outskirts of London) - it was busy at Bank - but one pinstripe suited gentleman stood back so we could get sleeping beauty on - only for a young lady to push through first. We did thank the gentleman for being helpful and everyone got on anyway.0 -
Wolfsbane2k wrote:Well, there goes that frame...
Still, saves me from having to clean It and address the ghost shifting/slippage, I suppose.
Confirmed covered under warranty.
Over the phone the in store mechanic (who I'd not originally spoken to when I dropped it off) couldn't understand how I'd managed to break it, and wanted to meet me.
I walked in, asked the mechanic, and the moment he turned up, he took one look at me, and let out a little sigh, followed by a "Yep, ok, it's covered". I didn't even have to bring out the print out of emails I'd brought with me when I first got the bike.Intent on Cycling Commuting on a budget, but keep on breaking/crashing/finding nice stuff to buy.
Bike 1 (Broken) - Bike 2(Borked) - Bike 3(broken spokes) - Bike 4( Needs Work) - Bike 5 (in bits) - Bike 6* ...0 -
She did wear the badge, but it seems to be invisible.Mattsaw wrote:Ask her to wear the badge. It avoids having to play pregnant or paunch roulette.
I've lost several times :oops:0 -
Last time I got the tube to work (shudder), I stood up for a woman with the badge. I was about 4 seats down from where she was standing, so 8 people closer to her than me. I took pleasure in standing on the feet of 3 of those people as I made my way to somewhere I could stand up. "Ooops, so sorry, it's so crowded in here". I'm not a flyweight by any means, and I had proper shoes on, but they didn't raise a word in complaint. So much for the sisterhood, at least 3 of the non-standers were youngish women. Tw@ts. I'll get up for anyone who looks like they need a seat, even the acutely hungover ones, getting steadily paler and sweatier. I don't like the idea of being puked on!0
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elbowloh wrote:
She did wear the badge, but it seems to be invisible.Mattsaw wrote:Ask her to wear the badge. It avoids having to play pregnant or paunch roulette.
I've lost several times :oops:
She will inevitably get the “ shouldn’t have got knocked up” response at some point too, a surprisingly popular refrain.
In the heat wave on a train home, everyone carried on as my wife had to sit on the floor of the carriage as no one would get up - this was around 6 months in. FWIW, being the angry husband doesn’t help in this situation.
Suffice to say the carriage had a fairly colourful understanding of what I thought of them all.0 -
Rick Chasey wrote:elbowloh wrote:
She did wear the badge, but it seems to be invisible.Mattsaw wrote:Ask her to wear the badge. It avoids having to play pregnant or paunch roulette.
I've lost several times :oops:
She will inevitably get the “ shouldn’t have got knocked up” response at some point too, a surprisingly popular refrain.
In the heat wave on a train home, everyone carried on as my wife had to sit on the floor of the carriage as no one would get up - this was around 6 months in. FWIW, being the angry husband doesn’t help in this situation.
Suffice to say the carriage had a fairly colourful understanding of what I thought of them all.
I think does depend on where you use them, I have one of these https://tfl.gov.uk/campaign/please-offer-me-a-seat?intcmp=41947 which I don’t use much now, combination of due to time and physio I’m much improved, with being on public transport. This said I found that on the tube it was just ignored, trains where okay, even busy ones I’ve had seats offered, and same goes for buses.0 -
Parliament Square/ Westminster Bridge Roadworks. What a fustercluck! You know things are bad when they've employed three guys in high viz to marshall the pedestrians across the crossing.
Lifted my bike over the barrier, and wheeled it across the road to the Embankment cycle lane this morning. There's no way I'm waiting for two phases of the lights to get through, when there's nothing on the road.....1938 Hobbs Tandem
1956 Carlton Flyer Path/Track
1960 Mercian Superlight Track
1974 Pete Luxton Path/Track*
1980 Harry Hall
1986 Dawes Galaxy
1988 Jack Taylor Tourer
1988 Pearson
1989 Condor
1993 Dawes Hybrid
2016 Ridley Helium SL
*Currently on this0 -
I saw what was going on and took the Whitehall/Horse Guards option this morning, and will be for the foreseeable...Rhodrich wrote:There's no way I'm waiting for two phases of the lights to get through, when there's nothing on the road.....Dolan Titanium ADX 2016
Ridley Noah FAST 2013
Bottecchia/Campagnolo 1990
Carrera Parva Hybrid 2016
Hoy Sa Calobra 002 2014 [off duty]
Storck Absolutist 2011 [off duty]
http://www.slidingseat.net/cycling/cycling.html0 -
That's surprising, seeing as it always seemed to work so well for you when confronting London drivers and other cyclistsRick Chasey wrote:FWIW, being the angry husband doesn’t help in this situation. ....
Dolan Titanium ADX 2016
Ridley Noah FAST 2013
Bottecchia/Campagnolo 1990
Carrera Parva Hybrid 2016
Hoy Sa Calobra 002 2014 [off duty]
Storck Absolutist 2011 [off duty]
http://www.slidingseat.net/cycling/cycling.html0 -
rower63 wrote:
That's surprising, seeing as it always seemed to work so well for you when confronting London drivers and other cyclistsRick Chasey wrote:FWIW, being the angry husband doesn’t help in this situation. ....
8) fair. Though at least the train people can’t really get away from me...0 -
The Fall Festival of Poor Driving seems to go on, and on, and on. At least today the affected wasn't me.
Riding to work, on a road frequented by students on their way to KB, I caught up with a young lad right before a red light. We were on a bike lane and 5 meters ahead of the cyclist ahead a black WV Golf. As we were approaching the red light, the VW decided it couldn't be arsed to do the light and cut across ahead of us without looking, without using the indicators before turning. He was inches away from right hooking the lad ahead. FFS. I actually went after that car to berate him and gosh, I was so close to opening the door and punching that idiot. A third party complaining about his driving might see him realise how wrong he was. Or maybe not.
I caught up with the cyclist at KB, young student, and he seemed completely unfazed by this event. Couldn't be bothered to put a complaint to the police. He's got colder blood than I do.0 -
To add to the above, I've been fined because my permit holding car was parked between a permit holders' bay, and a permit holders' and pay&display bay. Never mind the cockwombles that cannot park, or the d!ckheads that leave two meters ahead, 3 in the back so that no other car fits, or the car just in front of mine that was halfway out of the bay and wasn't fined.0
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-h ... e-46173642
Just saw this article on the main BBC page, not expecting it to be very close to home (less than 1.5 miles away)... I frequently use the next mini roundabout ~0.2 miles EAST (having descended Telegraph Rd) to do a right-left stagger on consecutive mini roundabouts to then head out beyond Horton Heath and go up into the South Downs hills!
What i don't understand is the cyclist in this clip says he doesn't blame the drivers!?!? Of course it's the drivers, they are not slowing enough on the approach to the roundabout to carefully look for cyclists to their right, or they simply don't give two hoots because it's the cyclist that will come off far worse in a collision.
I'm sure it's not unique to Southampton, but drivers have chosen to often ignore giving way to any traffic to their right when wanting to join roundabouts.
Once I join Burnetts Lane off Moorgreen Rd, ~1 mile away, the traffic levels and my sense of danger drops dramatically. But under normal circumstances, I won't choose to be near these mini roundabouts in West End in the rush hours... Heading out or returning home.
Edit: getting my easts and wests mixed up, oh dear!================
2020 Voodoo Marasa
2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
2016 Voodoo Wazoo0 -
Looks like a combination of sun in drivers eyes and car frame to right of windscreen obscuring visibility of the cyclist.
None of the cars were moving particularly fast, death from such a collision at least seems fairly unlikely.
Would probably avoid it or try a different tack (eg cutting across it) to make it that bit safer.0 -
Drivers are refusing to Give Way because the geometric design of the roundabout allows it. There is no entry deflection, as far as I can see, and so you can continue along the main route without needing to reduce speed.Ben
Bikes: Donhou DSS4 Custom | Condor Italia RC | Gios Megalite | Dolan Preffisio | Giant Bowery '76
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ben_h_ppcc/
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i cant remember the last time i had an actual rant but this is rant worthy
I bought a plasma TV 15 years ago so early pre HDTV days, anyway i used to have it connected with composite and or component cabling until we replaced it a few years ago with a fancy smart tv, its now in the spare room connected to an Xbox.
Well long story short today I connected the Xbox using a HDMI to VGA converter and the bloody thing is razor sharp 1080p FFS I had that thing in low res or 720 at best for over 10 years grrrrrr and I spent a fortune on high quality cables and converters grrrrrrrrr
The converter i'm using now cost £8 GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.0 -
TimothyW wrote:Looks like a combination of sun in drivers eyes and car frame to right of windscreen obscuring visibility of the cyclist.
None of the cars were moving particularly fast, death from such a collision at least seems fairly unlikely.
Would probably avoid it or try a different tack (eg cutting across it) to make it that bit safer.
I think you are being generous on the drivers there,my experience of those roundabouts is if the car can treat it like a straight bit of road then they dont even think to consider stopping for anything, theres one like that on the A120 towards Stansted airport, you wouldnt even know it was a mini roundabout (it was just paint which has worn away) until something arrives at the 90 degree entry to the "main" road part, is the cause of a fair few accidents I believe there0 -
awavey wrote:TimothyW wrote:Looks like a combination of sun in drivers eyes and car frame to right of windscreen obscuring visibility of the cyclist.
None of the cars were moving particularly fast, death from such a collision at least seems fairly unlikely.
Would probably avoid it or try a different tack (eg cutting across it) to make it that bit safer.
I think you are being generous on the drivers there,my experience of those roundabouts is if the car can treat it like a straight bit of road then they dont even think to consider stopping for anything, theres one like that on the A120 towards Stansted airport, you wouldnt even know it was a mini roundabout (it was just paint which has worn away) until something arrives at the 90 degree entry to the "main" road part, is the cause of a fair few accidents I believe there
It's a mess that roundabout.
The London Cycle Design Standards expliclty recommends against using mini roundabouts on cycle routes for that exact reason.Intent on Cycling Commuting on a budget, but keep on breaking/crashing/finding nice stuff to buy.
Bike 1 (Broken) - Bike 2(Borked) - Bike 3(broken spokes) - Bike 4( Needs Work) - Bike 5 (in bits) - Bike 6* ...0 -
itboffin wrote:i cant remember the last time i had an actual rant but this is rant worthy
I bought a plasma TV 15 years ago so early pre HDTV days, anyway i used to have it connected with composite and or component cabling until we replaced it a few years ago with a fancy smart tv, its now in the spare room connected to an Xbox.
Well long story short today I connected the Xbox using a HDMI to VGA converter and the bloody thing is razor sharp 1080p FFS I had that thing in low res or 720 at best for over 10 years grrrrrr and I spent a fortune on high quality cables and converters grrrrrrrrr
The converter i'm using now cost £8 GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!
This made me LOL.0 -
Late leaving for the school run - so the planned Little Slowbike Solo ride turned into a 2up TT with me on the front - he did say he was pedaling - but if he was, he must've been doing >150rpm!
I had to lay off the power on the return journey - although, being 20kg lighter - it was a bit quicker!0
