Your Anti-Rants here

davis

12 miles each way is definitely doable. Work out the weekly cost of the buses and send that into a savings account. Spend the money on a new bike instead.

Kieran_Burns

Only a Ginger wrote:

The current commute is only 6 miles, 12 should be ok. It's an absolute pain in the ass to get to otherwise (2 buses), or I buy a second car!

As you'll see from my profile below I do 12 each way but I am often looping out longer on the way home (up to 18 miles including several off-road sections). It takes me about 45 mins on a basically flat commute, with a PB of 36 on the road bike

It's honestly not even a consideration and most days it's quicker even for me on my countryside commute to cycle in. It takes me 6 miles to warm up!

Kieran_Burns

Our canteen knows that Cheese on Toast means more cheese than toast....

Only a Ginger

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Only a Ginger wrote:

The current commute is only 6 miles, 12 should be ok. It's an absolute pain in the ass to get to otherwise (2 buses), or I buy a second car!

As you'll see from my profile below I do 12 each way but I am often looping out longer on the way home (up to 18 miles including several off-road sections). It takes me about 45 mins on a basically flat commute, with a PB of 36 on the road bike

It's honestly not even a consideration and most days it's quicker even for me on my countryside commute to cycle in. It takes me 6 miles to warm up!

Good point, if I keep remembering that it'll take me much longer on the buses to get to work it'll keep me motivated!

I've started doing, slightly, longer routes on the way home this year so if I keep doing that it should be a breeze!

slowbike

4/5

ratio of bikes commuted to work on vs number of bikes ...

I grew my collection last autumn with a frame that was too cheap to refuse - it's a TT frame - so that allowed me to change my old road bike back into a road bike for the winter. The TT frame has been slowly built up over the winter - mostly using parts I already had - with the intention of being ready for the TT season.
I rode the 2up TT last week on my road bike as the guy I was riding with only has a road bike - plus it was his first TT and my first 2up, so it made sense to stay with known bikes.
The first solo TT is tomorrow - and whilst I've played with the TT bike on the turbo (I hate turbos) I'd not ridden it on the road - so today was a good opportunity to do so - and a chance to iron out any issues (yup - there is one*) ... Wow, the geometry is different .. much more twitchy and despite not putting in a lot of effort (30-40 watts down on TT effort for similar distance) the ride was quicker than on my normal commute bike and not too far off pushing it hard on my road bike ...

Suppose I should do some work now ...

(*the issue is a slipping seat post ... I'm sure I can sort that out)

fatsmoker

3 full length commutes this week (30 mile RT) and 2 half commutes. Not too knackered despite the headwinds home. Giving up my car seems slightly more plausible, as does eating chocolate hobnobs without guilt.

redvee

Mobile rang this morning with a 0161 prefix so answered thinking it was work as the head office is in Manchester but it was a PPI claims company asking me a load of questions about loans etc. After 5 minutes I started to ask a few questions, was the company calling me part of Lloyds Bank, No. How much commission will they get, we work on a no-win-no-fee basis, I didn't ask that, How much commission? 36%!!.
After I hung up I called Lloyds direct and I do have a claim for PPI but they have to investigate it and can take 8 weeks and figure unknown at present.

desweller

Perfect cloudless spring day, ideal for riding a new bike.

Which is handy, because I happen to have one!

rower63

Rootling around an old box of spares at the weekend, found a brand new still-sealed Campag Chorus 12-30 cassette. That'll do me great for any serious climbing.
Ah, just realizing, literally even as I type this, it's likely to be Campag 10-speed given its age. Damn! Perhaps this post is about to migrate to rants...

veronese68

Went for lunch with the Mrs as it's a nice day. Rode down to Twickenham, had lunch in the Italian deli then a pleasant pootle back through Crane Park with a full belly.

Blonde Cyclist

Online tracking says I have a new bike waiting for me at home! A lovely piece of shiny carbon to (hopefully) make me go in circles really quickly...

roger_merriman

Blonde Cyclist wrote:

Online tracking says I have a new bike waiting for me at home! A lovely piece of shiny carbon to (hopefully) make me go in circles really quickly...

Nice! I assume some fast road bike? I have a cheap CX coming tomorrow. Which would be less fast! Though faster than my two MTB. And will be my new road/light off road bike.

Blonde Cyclist

It's a 7vrn track bike - just in time for the Good Friday Meet at Lee Valley. So excited to get it set up and take it for a spin, hopefully super responsive and I can get it to fit and still be UCI-legal (I've checked all the geometry charts but being 5ft4 it's always a bit of a "fingers crossed" situation).

Which CX bike are you getting?

veronese68

roger merriman wrote:

Blonde Cyclist wrote:

Online tracking says I have a new bike waiting for me at home! A lovely piece of shiny carbon to (hopefully) make me go in circles really quickly...

Nice! I assume some fast road bike? I have a cheap CX coming tomorrow. Which would be less fast! Though faster than my two MTB. And will be my new road/light off road bike.

Excellent. Look forward to seeing it Roger. Also good for you BC although I am rather less likely to see you riding a track bike as I commute through Bushy Park.

roger_merriman

Veronese68 wrote:

roger merriman wrote:

Blonde Cyclist wrote:

Online tracking says I have a new bike waiting for me at home! A lovely piece of shiny carbon to (hopefully) make me go in circles really quickly...

Nice! I assume some fast road bike? I have a cheap CX coming tomorrow. Which would be less fast! Though faster than my two MTB. And will be my new road/light off road bike.

Excellent. Look forward to seeing it Roger. Also good for you BC although I am rather less likely to see you riding a track bike as I commute through Bushy Park.

I've hardly ridden it since, the track bike, changed the bars, new drive chain etc, just can't get comftable with it, nothing wrong with it, but I'm well changed. So need to find it a new home!

But looking forward to the cx for park/Surrey hills roads/tracks

dhope

Surprising and scary moment yesterday on Knightsbridge. About 8pm, empty road, minding my own business. Not going quickly and nobody nearby so I'm only lightly holding the bars. Caught a lump/pot hole/something that I managed to not see. Front wheel must've caught at just the wrong angle as suddenly I've swerved a lane and a half across the road and I'm all over the place with only my left hand on the bars still. Not sure how I didn't hit the deck and thankfully there was no traffic around otherwise it'd have been over someone's bonnet and entirely my fault.

Anti rant because I stayed upright, just...

dyrlac

In the spirit of dhope's anti-rant: I'm undertaking stationary traffic at the crest of the Col du Chutney Mary, a schoolboy in a traffic-becalmed car opens the front passenger-side door into the non-mandatory (dashed line) cycle "lane"; fist full of brakes means I get away with just a graze to the knuckles against the door rather than hitting the deck. Anti rant because it could have been much worse, and I frankly should have been paying more attention.

reformedfatty

First day back on a bike after a MTB crash at the beginning of August busted my arm and shoulder. Not sure diving straight back in to the 34 mile round trip to work was the way to do it though!

Enthusiasm tempered by bitter cold, shoulder pain and absent fitness..

fatsmoker

100 miles of commuting in 4 days and 2 tough karate sessions this week. I should be knackered but feel particularly perky. Happy days.

menthel

Completed half marathon- 2h 6min. Very happy but totally bonked in the last couple of km. Never done so before and it's a very unpleasant experience. Cold, shaking and nauseous and all because I didn't eat sensibly before. Still, half done and I am now retired from stupid long distance running. Yay!

gbsahne001

Saw a kingfisher this morning, it was flying about 20 feet in front of me and pulling away from me at 20mph, when it crossed the road and headed back above the opposite ditch.

Incredible sight and only the second KF I've ever seen in 40 something years

redvee

Fours hours of work tomorrow then that's me finished for the financial year.

il_principe

Bomb in Bermondsey means WFH yesterday and again today \o/

Kieran_Burns

Comedy moment cycling up the A60 this morning... overtaking the slow moving traffic as normal and I glance into a BMW as I go past. Driver is on the phone texting away (as said before it's generally 1 in 3 I see doing this) and I go past I do my 'disappointed' shake of the head.

There's this sudden blaring of a car horn behind me as the driver CLEARLY lost his rag at my reaction... you've got to love the guilty aggression when he's so powerless. Comical really.

cruff

Visit from the PF this morning. Not normally an excuse for an anti-rant, but had a lovely chat with the owner of the house I stopped outside to fix it at. Northerners really are lovely compared to people down South. I know that's a vast generalisation, but the level of general friendliness up here is worlds away from the "get-away-from-me-don't-talk-to-me-don't-look-at-me-get-your-bike-off-my-wall" mentality in London

menthel

Managed to lose the rubber attachment things for my cadence sensor (ultegra cranks are waaaaay bigger than veloce!) so emailed garmin to see if I could buy some new ones. Instead they are sending them out for free- I know they are only worth a few pence but still a decent gesture!

Kieran_Burns

Reply from the MD of the company featured in my earlier rant. Turns out he is a keen cyclist.

Need I say any more? Well, he is now fitting front facing cameras in all his lorries.

Only a Ginger

Spoke broke on the bike last week, took it to a local dude who repairs bikes, he did an absolutely phenomenal job on it, replacing the spoke, new brakes and a bit of a service.

It rides better than the day I got it! Amazing!

Notts/Derby folks its a guy in Bramcote whose business is called "Cycleserve". Absolutely bloody brilliant!

Also, went to Derby Velodrome today, the wife's got me an introduction to track cycling which I'm well looking forward to doing!

redvee

Uploaded the rides yesterday to Garmin and the ride home had no cadence so put the 80 back on the bike and spun the cranks and did a search for the GCS10 on the bike which it found but no recording of cadence. A closer look revealed the rare earth magnet missing. Pulled the spare off the side of the cooker and back to normal.
Get into work and locked my bike up and found the cadence magnet attached to the lock, I then had to find a steel bolt/part to stick it to.

Only a Ginger

Went out for an hour this morning, managed 16.9mph, for me, that's awesome.

Was an absolutely gorgeous ride too!

Now my coca-cola ham is cooking.

Happy Sunday!