Silly commuting racing

hopkinb

Blowing out of my @rse chasing a long-haired, shaven-legged racing snake on a red steel-framed bike from southwark bridge to clapham south, where he thankfully turned off. Always good to be shown up as the fat biffer I am.

awavey

Kingstonian wrote:

This all points to why it is a good reason to pay the annual British Cycling membership, just so you get a solicitor on the case that actually has a clue what they are doing.

thats what I was thinking

awavey

rower63 wrote:

Kingstonian wrote:

This all points to why it is a good reason to pay the annual British Cycling membership, just so you get a solicitor on the case that actually has a clue what they are doing.

Better get in quickly before it gets 10x more expensive

but you say that yet Ride membership is now £41 a year, Commute is £37, both of those have to be close to a standalone cycling insurance policy, certainly i dont remember BC membership being £41 when I joined more than 10 years ago, something has gone up and its not the other benefits

cjcp

awavey wrote:

rower63 wrote:

Kingstonian wrote:

This all points to why it is a good reason to pay the annual British Cycling membership, just so you get a solicitor on the case that actually has a clue what they are doing.

Better get in quickly before it gets 10x more expensive

but you say that yet Ride membership is now £41 a year, Commute is £37, both of those have to be close to a standalone cycling insurance policy, certainly i dont remember BC membership being £41 when I joined more than 10 years ago, something has gone up and its not the other benefits

Another 10+years here. Been with BC since 2007 or so, I think; got it along with the racing licence, and now just renew every year.

Aside from pedestrians, it's also quite handy if you have any entanglements with cars, particularly expensive ones... and there are many on my route.

Like Aston Martins.

Bodywork touch-ups and what not are expensive on those things.

So if you ever go into the back of one in stop-start, gnarly traffic - and we have a lot of that at the moment - BC membership can come in very handy. You don't even have to pay the excess.

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

awavey wrote:

rower63 wrote:

Kingstonian wrote:

This all points to why it is a good reason to pay the annual British Cycling membership, just so you get a solicitor on the case that actually has a clue what they are doing.

Better get in quickly before it gets 10x more expensive

but you say that yet Ride membership is now £41 a year, Commute is £37, both of those have to be close to a standalone cycling insurance policy, certainly i dont remember BC membership being £41 when I joined more than 10 years ago, something has gone up and its not the other benefits

Another 10+years here. Been with BC since 2007 or so, I think; got it along with the racing licence, and now just renew every year.

Aside from pedestrians, it's also quite handy if you have any entanglements with cars, particularly expensive ones... and there are many on my route.

Like Aston Martins.

Bodywork touch-ups and what not are expensive on those things.

So if you ever go into the back of one in stop-start, gnarly traffic - and we have a lot of that at the moment - BC membership can come in very handy. You don't even have to pay the excess.

In translation: if you’re clumsy and inattentive, get BC membership

(I have it too!)

cjcp

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

awavey wrote:

rower63 wrote:

Kingstonian wrote:

This all points to why it is a good reason to pay the annual British Cycling membership, just so you get a solicitor on the case that actually has a clue what they are doing.

Better get in quickly before it gets 10x more expensive

but you say that yet Ride membership is now £41 a year, Commute is £37, both of those have to be close to a standalone cycling insurance policy, certainly i dont remember BC membership being £41 when I joined more than 10 years ago, something has gone up and its not the other benefits

Another 10+years here. Been with BC since 2007 or so, I think; got it along with the racing licence, and now just renew every year.

Aside from pedestrians, it's also quite handy if you have any entanglements with cars, particularly expensive ones... and there are many on my route.

Like Aston Martins.

Bodywork touch-ups and what not are expensive on those things.

So if you ever go into the back of one in stop-start, gnarly traffic - and we have a lot of that at the moment - BC membership can come in very handy. You don't even have to pay the excess.

In translation: if you’re clumsy and inattentive, get BC membership

(I have it too!)

smokey_bacon

Signs of impending noddergeddon this morning. From Balham it was one long conga line of bikes. Lovely to enjoy the sunshine but damn some people are stupid!

W1

awavey wrote:

rower63 wrote:

Kingstonian wrote:

This all points to why it is a good reason to pay the annual British Cycling membership, just so you get a solicitor on the case that actually has a clue what they are doing.

Better get in quickly before it gets 10x more expensive

but you say that yet Ride membership is now £41 a year, Commute is £37, both of those have to be close to a standalone cycling insurance policy, certainly i dont remember BC membership being £41 when I joined more than 10 years ago, something has gone up and its not the other benefits

Stand-alone policy is about half the cost.

rhodrich

I've had a look at my Family Legal Protection cover on my home insurance, and it explicitly covers 'Legal action directly arising from a motoring prosecution'. I'm also protected against being sued by anyone as a result of my use of a bicycle (the policy exclude motorised ones, except where they are not required to be licenced if used on a public road. A de-restricted E-bike would NOT be covered). Not sure why I'd need to buy extra cover?

anonymousblackfg

Also having gone through a boundary dispute with a cvnt of a neighbour which saw us have to sell a year later for significantly less. The only decent advice from my best mate who's a barrister is always tick the legal cover box.

Else, I still pay BC for a racing licence out of the dream I'll start again and get myself to elite but I am happy to support grass roots sport and have their insurance as a back up.

Else, I agree with Smokey, thank god I needed be in early!

smokey_bacon

Rhodrich wrote:

I've had a look at my Family Legal Protection cover on my home insurance, and it explicitly covers 'Legal action directly arising from a motoring prosecution'. I'm also protected against being sued by anyone as a result of my use of a bicycle (the policy exclude motorised ones, except where they are not required to be licenced if used on a public road. A de-restricted E-bike would NOT be covered). Not sure why I'd need to buy extra cover?[/quote]

It depends on the policy but in general I would say it falls in to two camps being wordings are better articulated towards the possible risk and policy cover limits are higher. Also I have found the support network of experts is much better than general insurer claims call centre.

kingstonian

Up to the individual as to whether they feel they need the cover, but my view is that the primary benefit as Smokey Bacon says is that BC are connected to solicitors that spend every waking hour working on cycling-related incidents, and are therefore typically far better able to represent your interests than the majority of solicitor firms out there.

At £40 or so I'm glad to pay it, in the hope that I'll never need it but if the worst were to happen and I needed representation the cost of under £1 a week gets a thumbs up.

W1

Rhodrich wrote:

I've had a look at my Family Legal Protection cover on my home insurance, and it explicitly covers 'Legal action directly arising from a motoring prosecution'. I'm also protected against being sued by anyone as a result of my use of a bicycle (the policy exclude motorised ones, except where they are not required to be licenced if used on a public road. A de-restricted E-bike would NOT be covered). Not sure why I'd need to buy extra cover?

What's your limit of indemnity?

For the sake of £20 I'm happy to have a stand-alone policy.

rhodrich

W1 wrote:

Rhodrich wrote:

I've had a look at my Family Legal Protection cover on my home insurance, and it explicitly covers 'Legal action directly arising from a motoring prosecution'. I'm also protected against being sued by anyone as a result of my use of a bicycle (the policy exclude motorised ones, except where they are not required to be licenced if used on a public road. A de-restricted E-bike would NOT be covered). Not sure why I'd need to buy extra cover?

What's your limit of indemnity?

For the sake of £20 I'm happy to have a stand-alone policy.

The 'Occupier's Liability', which is the one used if you're being sued has £2 million cover. The additional Family Legal Protection (used if you need to go after someone else) has £50,000 cover.

Gallywomack

Unexpected 4-way this morning kicking off around Homebase - a racing-snake type on a Cannondale something, guy with an Ironman tat on his calf on a Fuji, and another guy on a white Focus something. Plus an annoying fat bloke on his shopping bike 8)

Racing snake set a decent pace on the way into Catford but I hauled him in with the others on my tail. Was quite a big effort and was glad of a bit of respite to skin breathe at the Catford lights. Then the pace into Lewisham was a bit more subdued, I toyed with taking the lead but a series of reds neutralised things anyway. Racing snake and Ironman turned off for Deptford leaving Focus guy and me to slug it out on Loampit Hill. He was duly dispatched with what didn't feel a huge effort but turned out to be only a second off my Strava PB, so that is pleasing. Then spent the rest of the journey pushing on more than I really wanted in case he came back at me, which led to quite a fast time overall considering the large number of reds I caught.

Nice to ride in comparative warmth for a change, and noddergeddon doesn't seem particularly pronounced on my route.

itboffin

Smokey Bacon wrote:

Signs of impending noddergeddon this morning. From Balham it was one long conga line of bikes. Lovely to enjoy the sunshine but damn some people are stupid!

look at it this way some of them could be in cars instead

smokey_bacon

Well muggy out this morning. The noddergeddon of yesterday seems to have melted away with the weather. No competition but did get a puncture north of Southwark Bridge, and because i'm an idiot, I got covered in crap changing it because I forgot to put latex gloves in my saddlebag.

Gallywomack

Smokey Bacon wrote:

Well muggy out this morning. The noddergeddon of yesterday seems to have melted away with the weather. No competition but did get a puncture north of Southwark Bridge, and because i'm an idiot, I got covered in crap changing it because I forgot to put latex gloves in my saddlebag.

Must be the day for it (conditions are ideal, wet roads after a heavy downpour), I got a p*ncture actually on Waterloo Bridge, which is a singularly unpleasant place to have to come to a sudden stop. Thankfully I had a bit of sea room to safely make it over the barrier, but got a few odd looks from cyclists I'd just overtaken. Anyway, was close enough to work to just lock the bike up there and walk the rest of the way in with the wheel to fix in the office.

arsey

I've just seen that Laka offer free third party liability insurance if you opt into their email marketing.

https://www.laka.co.uk/perks/thirdpartyliability

j_mcd

Bloody hell, sweat much today! Came in on the heavy wet weather bike and the slight headwind combined with (what felt like) 100% humidity almost did for me.

smokey_bacon

Pootled in this morning. Bike sounded like a bag of spanners. Suspect BB but its only a few 100 miles old. A fettle session is in prospect for tonight!

I did however come across what must be the ultimate scr machine in my buildings bike racks when I got in. Apologies for the shameless Strava link but its the only way I can "upload" photos at work.....

https://www.strava.com/activities/2481331125

-Dash

Only followers can see photos.

cjcp

Smokey Bacon wrote:

Pootled in this morning. Bike sounded like a bag of spanners. Suspect BB but its only a few 100 miles old. A fettle session is in prospect for tonight!

I did however come across what must be the ultimate scr machine in my buildings bike racks when I got in. Apologies for the shameless Strava link but its the only way I can "upload" photos at work.....

https://www.strava.com/activities/2481331125

What the...?

Btw, it's ok to troll fairies in real time by reassuring them that everything's going to be all right for them on the way home because they'll have a tailwind? :twisted:

smokey_bacon

-Dash wrote:

Only followers can see photos.

Dammit! thought I was being clever! I'll try and post it later.

hopkinb

Smokey Bacon wrote:

Pootled in this morning. Bike sounded like a bag of spanners. Suspect BB but its only a few 100 miles old. A fettle session is in prospect for tonight!

I did however come across what must be the ultimate scr machine in my buildings bike racks when I got in. Apologies for the shameless Strava link but its the only way I can "upload" photos at work.....

https://www.strava.com/activities/2481331125

I clicked on the link and discovered Smokey follows me! I'd always wondered who that was, and now I know.

monkimark

-Dash wrote:

Only followers can see photos.

I can see the photo and I'm not following him.

I took a new route to work today, up to Hampton court and then along the river to hammersmith. Almost all off road.
It was very pleasant but a fair bit longer and more tiring than the road, might have to reroute for the way home as I suspect that the Thames path will be full of pedestrians at 6pm, especially through Richmond.

wolfsbane2k

monkimark wrote:

A couple of strange encounters on the commute home today.
First I turned into a road around surbiton behind a girl/woman who was cycling wearing knee, hip, elbow and shoulder pads and a full length back protector. Seemed a bit excessive for a reasonably sedate road ride.

https://twitter.com/handsblinx/status/1 ... 0325825537

?

monkimark

It wasn't him but the getup was very similar, minus the full face helmet.

cruff

Maybe wearing all his kit because he's doing a downhill race after work? Obviously not on that bike though...

elbowloh

Maybe they're one of these wannabee superhero types?