Bloody new years resolutions (other people's)

EricaR

Normally I'm the only one that bikes to work. I get a nice lockable derelict building to keep my bike in and the sole use of a disabled toilet to change in. I also baggsy the big heater round the corner from reception that the public can't see for drying my things.

What happened on monday? There was about 5-6 new bikes in the "bike shed" :roll: I had to move them around to fit mine in. Then I had to wait to use the disabled toilet. And they left their smelly trainers there :shock: . I like seeing cycling more popular but not at my expense!

Only three bikes this morning. Wimps. Pah!

Am I the only one with this sort of rage? I dont think commuting by bike is as popular up here think I may be a bit spoilt

woodyonthebeach

I get that. Im glad im not the only one out there, what make matters worse is when the nick your place on the rack.

I have since moved offices and My bike has a nice new underground car park to live in and some nice railings to be locked to.

girv73

I get the same way when our bike sheds fill up or I have to wait for a shower - it's inconvenient and disrupts my established routine. I dunno if complaining about it makes me/us spoiled brats, or just whiny brats

Don't worry though, I expect most of the newbies will quit soon enough and your normal, exclusive service will be restored.

Clever Pun

you should try using a gym at the moment

lost_in_thought

I struggle with this - I'm always encouraging people to cycle, but get really grumpy when people steal my lamppost!

:x

woodyonthebeach

LiT. not sure how I would take that one. Will make me think twice about my next lamp post

Matt-B

I have the same issue - we share our car park with an apartment block here in W2. The bike rack is in the car park, but is normally empty, maybe 3 out of the 20 bays taken max. When I cycled back into work after the holidays on the 5th, it was full, and I had to lock my bike up to a pipe on the wall... I'm all for more people cycling, but I do wish they weren't the people who live above my office!

One of the bikes was a knackered old flat bar Dawes tourer which had Spinergy carbon wheels. Weird! Suppose it makes me feel better about my purchases over the past months, at least I can justify mine to some extent!

Hey Jax

Matt-B wrote:

I have the same issue - we share our car park with an apartment block here in W2. The bike rack is in the car park, but is normally empty, maybe 3 out of the 20 bays taken max. When I cycled back into work after the holidays on the 5th, it was full, and I had to lock my bike up to a pipe on the wall... I'm all for more people cycling, but I do wish they weren't the people who live above my office


give it a few more weeks and im sure your bike rack will be almost back to normal!

girv73

We're in a new office block and the only company in residence right now so we get exclusive use of the bike racks. But now I see builders in fitting out one of the other floors, so there will soon be extra competition...

rhext

Ha, you wait until the weather warms up a bit! For every shiny new halfrauds double-bouncer with an owner hardy enough to take their new year resolution to the roads now, there's another ten telling themselves 'I'll just wait until the temperature gets above freezing for a couple of days'. At least a couple of those will still remember their resolution come spring and then the sheds/showers really fill up. The resolutions last no longer when there's a delay trigger than they do in January, but it can make life awkward for a bit.

Mind you, I shouldn't be carping as I'd much rather people were on their bikes than in their cars.....makes spring a good time to lobby real estate managers for better provisions for bikes.

ris

our office bike store fills up once the weather warms up, usually in may. you can barely get your bike in there for fairweather cyclists so at this time of year i am enjoying the extra space!

gb155

Clever Pun wrote:

you should try using a gym at the moment

My boss text me and asked me to take her to the gym to help her out, Now I don't mind this at all however I dread to think how rammed it will be, arghhhhhhhh

linsen

GIve them all a couple of weeks. They'll get over it

I remain the only person mad enough to cycle to work here. Actually that's not true, there is a lady who comes about a mile on an electric bike, but she doesn't have a key to my cupboard, or know where "my" shower is!

gb155

linsen wrote:

GIve them all a couple of weeks. They'll get over it

I remain the only person mad enough to cycle to work here. Actually that's not true, there is a lady who comes about a mile on an electric bike, but she doesn't have a key to my cupboard, or know where "my" shower is!

Shes a lady, You should be a gentleman and show her

itboffin

lost_in_thought wrote:

I struggle with this - I'm always encouraging people to cycle, but get really grumpy when people steal my lamppost!

:x

Have you tried putting your name on it :P

linsen

gb155 wrote:

linsen wrote:

GIve them all a couple of weeks. They'll get over it

I remain the only person mad enough to cycle to work here. Actually that's not true, there is a lady who comes about a mile on an electric bike, but she doesn't have a key to my cupboard, or know where "my" shower is!

Shes a lady, You should be a gentleman and show her

Well I could be a gentleman but that might be tricky

woodyonthebeach

In some cases your boss asking to take her to gym and help her out can be seen as a good thing. (pay rise,promotion?)

It happened to me. Best thing I could ask for really, great for parties as well.

gb155 wrote:

Clever Pun wrote:

you should try using a gym at the moment

My boss text me and asked me to take her to the gym to help her out, Now I don't mind this at all however I dread to think how rammed it will be, arghhhhhhhh

MrsT

I was hoping the extra cyclists this week would persuade the boss that we need a bike shed, but apparently there's no call for one! There are 2 regular cyclists, and another 3 started this week. I suppose once it rains we'll be back to just the 2!

redvee

itboffin wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

I struggle with this - I'm always encouraging people to cycle, but get really grumpy when people steal my lamppost!

:x

Have you tried putting your name on it :P

I've seen business cards left in phoneboxes in London with girls names and numbers on them, would this work for LiT and her lampost ?

girv73

Now that I check, our bike sheds are empty save for one bike, from the guy who just started "cycling" the 1.5 miles downhill from where his wife drops him off in the car (she picks him+bike up at the office door in the evening). Must be the cold weather! My excuse is recovering from 'flu ... I hope to add to the bike shed population next week.

EricaR

Unfortunately it's actually quite warm up here, all the cold weather is down south for a change

-3 is the coldest it's got!!

Mind you i do feel a bit guilty and a lot of my problems wouldn't be there if I got to work a bit earlier - rather than arrive 5 mins before i need to start lol

I dont get gb155 how would you help your boss out at the gym? am I being dippy?

The Chingford Skinhead

Blimey stop whining and turn it to your advantage. You can do this in one of two ways.

1 - if you think this will be more than a passing fad for most of them then suggest they set up a bike user group to encourage management to provide better facilities for the cyclists - (tricky given current economic climate granted but) green travel plans are all the rage so you might suggest your employer could enhance its corporate social responsibility role by providing more secure parking, showers and maybe even introduce the cycle to work scheme. Point to the busy bike shed as proof of potential demand Do it quick in case the fad goes. You might then find you've got an even bigger shed and a shower for you and you alone to use 8)

2 - (I confess the ice has put me off so far but I'll be back on the bike Monday) take a look at the new bikes. If any of them are really nice but you think it may be a passing fad, find out who owns it. When you don't see it for a couple of weeks casually mention it to the owner. When they confess they've gone off cycling...offer them a knock down price for the bike :twisted:

Everyone's a winner

lost_in_thought

itboffin wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

I struggle with this - I'm always encouraging people to cycle, but get really grumpy when people steal my lamppost!

:x

Have you tried putting your name on it :P

The security guys at work usually do a good job of keeping it clear for me.

However, I have left a rude note for one guy who chained up his bike to the lamppost outside mine, so it went lamppost-my bike-his bike.

How rude.

redvee

lost_in_thought wrote:

However, I have left a rude note for one guy who chained up his bike to the lamppost outside mine, so it went lamppost-my bike-his bike.

How rude.

You could do the decent thing and secure his bike with another lock so that it doesn't get nicked then forget about it when you go home :oops:

soy_sauce

i normally just try to get to work earlier so i can have one of the better place in the bike rack. this also mean that i can finish work earlier and miss the rush hours on the way home.

Citizen Smith

lost_in_thought wrote:

I struggle with this - I'm always encouraging people to cycle, but get really grumpy when people steal my lamppost!

:x

This happened to me literally the year before last. Well, it was a sign displaying the parking conditions but you get the picture.

I had chained my bike to it for months without any issues. Then came out of my house one morning, bike was gone, so was the sign and half the pavement was up! :shock:

One determined set of thieves. Still, gave me an excuse to get a new bike.

The sign is no longer there so I now have to share another parking sign with a scooter, however the git keeps on taking up most of the space so it's hard for me to lock up as well (I arrive back later than him). Curses!

rhext

What you lot need is a 50-meter long, brick-built bike shed, with a watertight roof, inside the security fence, with secure bike standing concreted in to the ground, which never ever gets more than about 1/3 full.

Like the one at my work 8)

Shame there's only one crappy shower, but you can't have everything.

eyes like marbles

EricaR wrote:

Am I the only one with this sort of rage? I dont think commuting by bike is as popular up here think I may be a bit spoilt

there's a bit of me says if its anything like the usual drop off rate it won't be much of a problem, all i can suggest is get up earlier... and then earlier BUT as bikes sales and commuting continue ( thankfully) to increase it will take longer for facilities to catch up with need if they ever do
.......get in first and have a decent breakfast afterwards?
i feel your rage but i am trying to count my more cyclists blessings amidst the lack of space /washing/storage irritant at my place.

always_tyred

lost_in_thought wrote:

itboffin wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

I struggle with this - I'm always encouraging people to cycle, but get really grumpy when people steal my lamppost!

:x

Have you tried putting your name on it :P

The security guys at work usually do a good job of keeping it clear for me.

However, I have left a rude note for one guy who chained up his bike to the lamppost outside mine, so it went lamppost-my bike-his bike.

How rude.

I had someone manage to string their lock through my bike to a rack once. Since I couldn't release my bike, I chained my bike to his and went for a coffee.

It took the guy a surprisingly long time to figure out why I might have done this (and I didn't think I was gone THAT long).

lost_in_thought

Always Tyred wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

itboffin wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

I struggle with this - I'm always encouraging people to cycle, but get really grumpy when people steal my lamppost!

:x

Have you tried putting your name on it :P

The security guys at work usually do a good job of keeping it clear for me.

However, I have left a rude note for one guy who chained up his bike to the lamppost outside mine, so it went lamppost-my bike-his bike.

How rude.

I had someone manage to string their lock through my bike to a rack once. Since I couldn't release my bike, I chained my bike to his and went for a coffee.

It took the guy a surprisingly long time to figure out why I might have done this (and I didn't think I was gone THAT long).

Brilliant! Next time I'll do that. :twisted:

EricaR

The Chingford Skinhead wrote:

Blimey stop whining and turn it to your advantage. You can do this in one of two ways.

I'm a woman I can't help but whinge lol!!!!

No you're right. i also work for the council (who are making efforts to be green) so hey I'm hoping people from facilities or even town planners might start biking in that would be pretty good

Apologies for ranting, I would love to see more people cycle for plenty of reasons it would at least make it cheaper and i might be able to talk to some other girls about cycling and chill my work colleagues.

I think i will need a few earlier nights then to get to work and get the best spaces!!

Always Tyred: so what happened when you met guy to release both your bikes? what was his excuse?!!!