Your Anti-Rants here

ariba

Big thanks to Evans, Fenchurch St

I took my bike in for a service (£55 one) & got a voice message at lunchtime to call back regarding parts (it's a new bike - wtf!!!) - but they were calling to say everything was good & if I wanted they'd do a safety check (£35) only as that was all that was required. Muchos appreciated, since now I've got an additional 20 notes to spend there.

& then when picking up the bike, overheard 1/2 phone conversation with someone looking to buy a wheel - assistant was giving all the details, but after some conversation (couldn't hear the other side obviously), he strongly recommended the cheaper of the two options as better suited to what the caller actually did on their bike, as opposed to the number of notes they were going to pony up.

In both cases they could have charged full & neither of us would have been the wiser - but both assistants actually spent the extra time making sure they sold what we needed.

I know (from reading these forums etc) that Evans sometimes gets a bad rap, so I think it is important to also recognise them when they go out of their way to ensure their customers are getting a good service.

This was at the Fenchurch St "metro" branch.

BTW - i do not work for Evans (or even in the bike trade - though my better half would argue that i'm single handedly trying to keep the industry solvent)

Kieran_Burns

Holy Cow - that was amazing this morning!

Left home in blazing sunshine - cycled out in to the countryside... morning mist making everything look like it was coated in white candyfloss

Cycled out of Gotham and UP into low lying cloud! :shock:

I had to stop to take my shades off as they completely misted up, turned on my rear lights (multi-flash) and cycled on

1/2 mile further on of steady climbing and cleared the cloud. Looked back, and it was just bloody great 8) This blanket of white cloud sitting in the valley with the road rising out of it, clear blue sky as far as the eye could see.

God I love these country commutes.

Cafewanda

St Thomas Street peds - not bad today

Oh, and KB should be banned from making one gratuitously great country cycling commute post per week

Envious? Me? Course not! :shock:

kurako

Lovely morning. 15C or therabout when I left the house. First morning of the year in short sleeves for me :-)

:roll: :roll: :roll: .... Waiting for the first "What? I've been riding in short sleeves for months. Some days I don't even wear clothes" style comment

Oddjob62

Sun is shining
The weather is sweet yeah
Makes you wanna move your dancing feet

Oddjob62

TBH i don't really like hot weather as i'm sweaty enough in the depths of winter... but the ladies wear skimpy outfits so it's worth it

Cafewanda

Kurako wrote:

Lovely morning. 15C or therabout when I left the house. First morning of the year in short sleeves for me :-)

:roll: :roll: :roll: .... Waiting for the first "What? I've been riding in short sleeves for months. Some days I don't even wear clothes" style comment

Someone has already made that comment. Can't remember who though

Kieran_Burns

Cafewanda wrote:

St Thomas Street peds - not bad today

Oh, and KB should be banned from making one gratuitously great country cycling commute post per week

Envious? Me? Course not! :shock:

I can't help it I moved house specifically to have a good commute in to the new office.

I'm thinking about looping out this evening just so I can gratuiously bomb down this hill at silly speeds.

The fact that it also takes me past a University campus right at kicking out time on a hot summers evening has NOTHING to do with it 8)

bomberesque

thanks CRC, that was quick, cheap and good

coopster_the_1st

Glorious morning 8)

Best so far of the year

If it was not for work, I could have kept on cycling

Did do an extra 3.5 miles as I was running early

Cafewanda

KB, bombing down hills is to be encouraged as I've only recently discovered that joy


I want eye candy tooo!!!!!

marchant

Empty cycle path today (hey, it's more direct and so quicker than the road), so I tried riding no hands and managed the length of one straight Why? Because i've never done it before.

Gussio

Sunshine. It is wonderful. That is all.

Cafewanda

marchant wrote:

Empty cycle path today (hey, it's more direct and so quicker than the road), so I tried riding no hands and managed the length of one straight Why? Because i've never done it before.

Good for you! I'm too scared to try at the moment. One day.............

Salsamander

Cafewanda wrote:

marchant wrote:

Empty cycle path today (hey, it's more direct and so quicker than the road), so I tried riding no hands and managed the length of one straight Why? Because i've never done it before.

Good for you! I'm too scared to try at the moment. One day.............

Whenever I get the chance I do the "pretend running" when i'm on my bike, always cheers me up

kurako

It's warm and sunny and no-one tried to run me over this morning

rjsterry

Salsamander wrote:

Cafewanda wrote:

marchant wrote:

Empty cycle path today (hey, it's more direct and so quicker than the road), so I tried riding no hands and managed the length of one straight Why? Because i've never done it before.

Good for you! I'm too scared to try at the moment. One day.............

Whenever I get the chance I do the "pretend running" when i'm on my bike, always cheers me up

I once got told off by a police motorcyclist for that. I was riding down the cycle path towards the Welsh side of the Severn Bridge, and he was riding parallel to me on the road. Ironically, he had to take his hand off the handle bars to attract my attention, to tell me to put my hands on the bars.

Clever Pun

At some traffic lights this morning a lorry pulled up next to me and the driver shouted at me "You should slow down mate so I can keep up"
had a massive shiteating grin on my face the rest of the ride.

Later on I got stuck behind a bus for a bit but it had a massive advert on it from fantasie ladies lingerie "amazing beauty up to size K".. or something like that was just trying my best not to ride into her giant crotch

oh yeah the sunshine

Awesome morning

Cafewanda

Kurako wrote:

It's warm and sunny and no-one tried to run me over this morning

+1

MonkeyMonster

Clever Pun wrote:

something like that was just trying my best not to ride into her giant crotch

That cannot be a bad thing

Sunny, awesome, sunny, warm, sunny and day off

MadammeMarie

To whoever is planting those lovely flowers on Lansdowne Gardens. Thank you!

Porgy

This thread is not for me. Not today anyway.

Mickey Eye

Absolutely wonderful ride this morning. Decided to follow Roasties suggestion of freshening my commute by leaving slightly earlier and investigating a slightly longer route that bypasses about 6-7 sets of traffic lights and the one really scary junction.

RESULT. I am now down to a single set of traffic lights on my entire commute and nearly no heavy traffic, I also get to enjoy views across the harbour and cycle round the old fortress. Absolute bliss. Coupled with the fact that I'm getting a bit more "in tune" with the cyclocross bike (to the point that I totally blitzed past the quite quick MTB pack, led by one roadie) I arrived at work much earlier than expected.

Job is, as they say, a good 'un.

d.n.f

Tailwinds and clipping in the first time of asking... everytime!

8)

Mickey Eye

Ooh yeah, I didn't unclip my entire 7 mile ride either. Was strange realising that when I finished.

Kieran_Burns

Mickey Eye wrote:

Ooh yeah, I didn't unclip my entire 7 mile ride either. Was strange realising that when I finished and fell over.

Fixed that for you

posh_pedaller

Did a 30-miler yesterday, second time on this route, I've become a bit more confident - 14% hill, 50.5 mph yessiree! Unfortunately some vehicles just insist on sticking to the 30mph speed limit. And I have to corner a bit more bravely at the bottom next time unless I want to mix with the traffic coming the other way.

Mickey Eye

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Mickey Eye wrote:

Ooh yeah, I didn't unclip my entire 7 mile ride either. Was strange realising that when I finished and fell over.

Fixed that for you

Haha, yes. Well okay. Maybe once then.

DevUK

My journey home deviates from my journey to work to avoid a nasty hill climb. It adds about a mile on to the home journey but it's a nice route. If I go for the hill I tend to walk it as it's a very busy B road. On the way to work I've noticed that just before the hill there is a gate and a foot path with a sign saying "village 1/2 mile" wondering off into some fields. I'd been thinking about maybe exploring and seeing where it went.

Yesterday on the way home I noticed another gate and footpath marker on the other side of the hill (and river) just before I'd normally deviate from the "to work" route. I figured "what the hell" and dismounted and went through the gate.

I spent 30 mins walking my bike (retro fixed totally not suited to off-road) through some stunning meadows along the river bank, chatting to a chap walking his dog about where the path goes and exploring some more. It was so beautiful and relaxing

Big Wib

just realised my new route is 1.5 miles longer than I thought @ 21.5 miles so I've gone from being depressed about my average speed (which I had to work out manually as the computer on my tricross is v.v. basic) was either 16.2 if you include all the stops & taking my bike up the stairs to my office before remembering to stop the clock or c. 18 depending on how much time I take off for stopping at every single traffic en route etc



oh and its stopped raining for a while