Last nights commute

Harry B

Bit blustery wasn't it :shock: The roads seemed very greasy, I nearly lost the front wheel on the roadabout at the southern end of Westminster Bridge. I saw a motor bike crash on a roadabout near Chiswick. I was dodging barriers that had blown over in the wind through Greenford and Northolt.

In all most of my effort was spent trying to survive rather than getting the heart rate up. In all an eventful but not particulalry enjoyable trip

Meetings today out of the office have forced me to take to the tube and I can't say that I am particulalry sad about that. Hopefully the weather will improve over the next few days!

graeme_s-2

Yep, last night was pretty wild in the Midlands as well.

Been a while since I've ridden in such wet and windy conditions, was a bit of a shock to the system.

brixtonbiker66

That wind was bloody strong..Felt like i was doing about 5 mph all the way home last night. (going SW london) Couldnt get up to speed at all..Would have been fun and fast going the other direction though..

bigmat

Glad it wasn't just me then! Was in single figure speeds at one point on way from Clapham North to Balham (bit after Bedford Road, forget the road name), pretty demoralising but ultimately a pretty good work out.

lost_in_thought

Was entertaining to say the least!

Maybe it was the red wine but I was chuckling at myself all the way home.

gtvlusso

Sounds like everyone had a tought time - must admit that it near killed me. Especially across Filton airfiled - went sideways over there, very exposed journey for me on most of my commute.

FyPunK

Enjoyed it last night, the strong winds were blowing from the south in a northerly direction, just the direction I was heading so managed a avg speed 18.2 mph without breaking into a sweat, this morning was a different story with major hail showers that caused havoc on the roads and a much slower pace for myself.

bigease

Yep Cambridge was pretty horrendous in the wind last night, especially as this week I have upped the gearing on my fixie. Definately tested the leg strength on the open country roads.

the_hundredth_idiot

In the end, I changed into the smaller chain ring and left it there. At one point I go past one of those smiley face speed cameras - usually at about 15-20 mph - last night was under 10mph. I was exhausted when I got home.

AndyOgy

Bigease.

I've been looking at your picture of the tricross for some time now and I cannot work out how it's standing up. Have you got the seatpack and front light filled with Helium?

bigease

The Pedal was leaning against a house brick, but it looked a bit ugly so I photoshopped it out!

So there was no magic or extra light gas involved, just some cheating technology.

nation

Rode home into the mother of all headwinds and driving rain, thoroughly unpleasant.

The headwind was so bad I basically just dropped a chainring and ground along, feeling like I was barely moving. The strange thing was that it only seemed to add about ten minutes to my journey time.

My (non waterproof) shoes seem to have absorbed their own weight in water and still weren't dry this morning, despite being sat on a radiator all night.

simple_salmon

A hInt I was given for wet shoes is to stuff them with newspaper and leave them to dry. The paper helps to absorb some of the water and also prevents too much shrinkage.

ride_whenever

i just think of these horrible headwinds (which were causing a 1' swell on the river :shock: ) as resistance training and MTFU

MrChuck

Pretty sucky ride home in Birmingham, then a pretty excellent wind-assisted ride over to the climbing wall a bit later

OrbitRider

Glorious tail wind all the way home last night. Unfortunately, a couple of mile-long tailbacks of tin cans on wheels (where did they all come from?!) meant my average speed was diabolical.

Sirius631

I got rained on slightly on the way in from Walsall to Telford in the morning, but it wasn't enough to force me to stop and put my waterproof on. The kit was practically dry by the time I reached work.

The weather deteriorated across the day. Starting out into a headwind, I thought I was going to bonk on the way home. Fortunately for me, my route turns east so I ended up with a good tailwind for most of the way. I still ended up like a drowned rat though. Boy, was it wet!

Had a couple of dodgy moments when a gust of wind caught me by surprise. Stray plastic bottles and coke cans are well scarey when you run over them in those conditions.

Still, a nice warm shower washes away the bad memories.

The complaining tadpole

Had a lovely tailwind most of the way home last night ( I did'nt think they actually existed! )
until I turned for home with about 2 miles to go, open farmland all around me & the sidewind had me leaning into it at what seemed to be 45 degrees just to keep myself from being blown into the verge. When I arrived home about 6.30 all I got from Mrs.Tadpole was " I did'nt expect you home so soon, teas not ready yet! "
Wind had all but gone at 5.30 this morning - only to be replaced by driving rain :x

commuterconvert

in London now but last night reminded me of the years I spent cycling in Edinburgh when I commuted there just after school. There was one particular stretch coming back up along holyrood road from holyrood palace that I had to go along every day that seemed to be a wall of wind.
The years of wind, hills and the odd jaunt round arthurs seat seem to make the commute in London seem easier than it perhaps should be despite 10 or so years off bikes in between..

El Gordo

Yeah, fantastic tailwind for me all the way. It was one of those rides where you're travelling along at 20mph and there is no wind noise at all.

The guy going the other way wearing a full cape didn't look so happy though!

squired

I made the decision to take the train as I'd seen the weather predictions that morning. The walk home from the train station was awful, so I was glad not to be on the bike for an hour in that.

kevinharley

Rain helps you cycle faster ... FACT! Something to do with the electrolytes in the air interacting with the hairs on your legs

The proof? My commute home last night (just over 11 miles from Wakefield to Leeds) took 38 minutes, when I'd never been able to best 40 minutes before!!

Obviously that's the explanation ... there's no such thing as a tailwind right?? :shock:

prawny

I had a great ride home yesterday, got soaked after about 10 mins spent the next hour just enjoying being on my bike. The wind was horrendous though I nearly got blown off(!) coming down Barr Beacon.

I love the rain, I'm a canoeist too though so I s'pose that makes sense.

I couldn't ride in today my shoes are still dripping

A - W

I live for rides like that last night, happens about once a year.
What a tail wind, cars had problems passing due to me giving it all my legs could with my new found friend.

Only let down was there wasn't any racing to be had.

jimmypippa

I was going into the wind (20 minutes longer than normal)

whyamihere

As I would have had a side wind virtually the whole way home on busy A-roads, I opted against riding home yesterday. Wasn't worth the risk frankly.

Sirius631

prawny wrote:

I couldn't ride in today my shoes are still dripping

I dug out an older pair of shoes and put Keo cleats on just for this reason. I can get them wet, stuff them with newspaper and leave them to dry, and still go out the next day with my better shoes on.

prawny

Yeah I need to buy another pair of shoes, I dont commute all that often at the mo but the mrs might be being made redundant, so i'll ride every day then to save cash