Commuting: Practice first or just MTFU and do it?

Butterd2

cjcp wrote:

You'll want to check out your LBS and fine websites such as these: www.wiggle.co.uk and www.chainreactioncycles.com

You just had to go and do it didn't you? There we were trying to help the guy and you have gone and bankrupted him!

(That reminds me, I haven't been on Wiggle yet today.....)

hatbeard

Butterd2 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

You'll want to check out your LBS and fine websites such as these: www.wiggle.co.uk and www.chainreactioncycles.com

You just had to go and do it didn't you? There we were trying to help the guy and you have gone and bankrupted him!

(That reminds me, I haven't been on Wiggle yet today.....)

it's already too late for me I've spent the last month on Evans poring over their stock (I had to use them for C2W) obv they're not the cheapest but I price matched like a mofo (got my spesh tricross sport 2010 for £670).

I got an email just now telling me about some cashback from quidco that's just been paid into my bank and already it's been mentally converted into a fraction of a turbo trainer

Alphabet

so, hatbeard, are we all going to swarm around you in a big south londony gang and force you to do the whole seven miles tomorrow? :?:

Butterd2

hatbeard wrote:

I got an email just now telling me about some cashback from quidco that's just been paid into my bank and already it's been mentally converted into a fraction of a turbo trainer

Don't forget a 'king big fan and a quick visit to the Sufferfest site for some motivation.
http://www.thesufferfest.com/

dhope

Alphabet wrote:

so, hatbeard, are we all going to swarm around you in a big south londony gang and force you to do the whole seven miles tomorrow? :?:

Hah, I like that idea. Where/when to meet? Greenwich pier, by M&S and Gypsy Moth?

ad213812

Started commuting a couple of months ago, did a couple of practice runs to figure out my routes, fell of my bike and royally knacked my knee the day before I started in my new job :x
What a tit

hatbeard

the gauntlet has been thrown down and providing I can walk tomorrow (ran a 10k today and knocked 10 minutes off my previous timing so may be a bit sore) I'll be commuting all the way tomorrow morning under the watchful eye of cyclopsbiker.

eep :shock:

nich

I am Jealous. I've been off the bike since last Monday, I need my fix badly!

deptfordmarmoset

hatbeard wrote:

the gauntlet has been thrown down and providing I can walk tomorrow (ran a 10k today and knocked 10 minutes off my previous timing so may be a bit sore) I'll be commuting all the way tomorrow morning under the watchful eye of cyclopsbiker.

eep :shock:

He he, good work, Cyclopsbiker! Got him drunk enough to commit...good tactics

hatbeard

deptfordmarmoset wrote:

hatbeard wrote:

the gauntlet has been thrown down and providing I can walk tomorrow (ran a 10k today and knocked 10 minutes off my previous timing so may be a bit sore) I'll be commuting all the way tomorrow morning under the watchful eye of cyclopsbiker.

eep :shock:

He he, good work, Cyclopsbiker! Got him drunk enough to commit...good tactics

they were all quite threatening. I feared for my safety

got all my kit laid out ready and am off for an early night.

cyclopsbiker

we did NOT threaten him!!! he's a willing cyclist.....his buddy is off to check the map
(seriously...I do know the way....honest....)

hatbeard

cyclopsbiker wrote:

we did NOT threaten him!!! he's a willing cyclist.....his buddy is off to check the map
(seriously...I do know the way....honest....)

I'm fine from the other side of london bridge so don't worry too much about straying from your typical route...

deptfordmarmoset

I'm now tempted to hang around outside Pet R Us at 7:30am to see how this pans out...

Paul E

hatbeard wrote:

cyclopsbiker wrote:

we did NOT threaten him!!! he's a willing cyclist.....his buddy is off to check the map
(seriously...I do know the way....honest....)

I'm fine from the other side of london bridge so don't worry too much about straying from your typical route...

Thats the way I go, just watch tooley street though it's a bit of a minefield, keep it slow and watch out for taxis and peds and cover your brakes.

Blandiblub

Hi - noob here...

FWIW, I'm thinking of starting the occasional commute between Wellng and North Greenwich Tube station to pick up the Jubilee Line from there.

Tried a route out today and it was pretty good. I'm ok in traffic and no incidents (it was Sunday tho!), no silly buggers in cars or anything.

I rode up to Plumstead Common, cut through to Charlton station, Bugsby's Way, and on from there. Big hills (for me!) on the road from Plumstead Common to Ha Ha Road but not as bad as I was thinking.

Coming back from The O2, I went via the main road from Bugsby's Way, Charlton retail park, Woolwich Ferry, Woolwich town centre, Plumstead High Street, Wickham Lane. Bugger of a hill there though - nearly killed me! - but did pretty well for a first go.

Either route was similar timings/distance - about 7 miles in about 35 mins. Not too quick compared to most on here but I was pleased with the progress!

Only intend to do it once or twice a week tops tbh but well worth a go!

deptfordmarmoset

Blandiblub,

I'm sure there's a route from Welling to Greenwich Peninsula running to the north of Shooters Hill that will get you away from the biggest hills, or at least I'm sure I recently went from Greenwich to Welling and managed to miss out the worst. Or maybe it took me up towards Shooters Hill a little but broke up the climb into stages without trying to go over the top. I'll have a look at the maps tomorrow. Unless you want to suffer on hills, that is...

PS, I don't know where you're going to in town but after that hilly bit at your home end, the rest's a doddle if you're ok in traffic. Just to economise on your Oyster card, you understand...

Paul E

I don't go down towards the river so avoiding charlton retail park way, there is a cycle lane but busses and cars seem to just avoid it and got quite close to me, I tend to go for the short sharp blackheath hill and then over the heath then the long slog up shooters hill till I turn off to go along woolwich common, It does even out the hills a little bit.

Like marmoset says, once past the hilly bits out by us in town its mostly flat, the embankment is great if my legs are cooperating.

dhope

Paul E wrote:

hatbeard wrote:

cyclopsbiker wrote:

we did NOT threaten him!!! he's a willing cyclist.....his buddy is off to check the map
(seriously...I do know the way....honest....)

I'm fine from the other side of london bridge so don't worry too much about straying from your typical route...

Thats the way I go, just watch tooley street though it's a bit of a minefield, keep it slow and watch out for taxis and peds and cover your brakes.

+1

Yep, be careful. I'll join you later in the week once the bruising has gone down slightly and I've either got back the Boardman or sorted the wobbly wheel on the fixed.

Greg T

soy_sauce wrote:

the best method to teach a kid to swim is to throw him/her into the deeper side of the pool.

Sadly the Jury did not agree.

I do however now have some marvelous but badly spelled DIY tattoos

nich

Did you have a whole entourage accompanying you today? On Tooley St. there were hundreds of cyclists, well, 12 or so.

Obviously I was just sat at the back of the group chilling 8)

hatbeard

Well thanks to cyclopsbiker's fantastic (and patient) assistance I made it all the way in (proof)

was slow and steady but the mileage was fine, only managed to dice with death about 3 times as well so about the average number of near death experiences for a journey of that length.

legs had plenty of go in them at the end so plenty of room to up my pace as I get more comfortable with the route as well.

dhope

hatbeard wrote:

Well thanks to cyclopsbiker's fantastic (and patient) assistance I made it all the way in (proof)

was slow and steady but the mileage was fine, only managed to dice with death about 3 times as well so about the average number of near death experiences for a journey of that length.

legs had plenty of go in them at the end so plenty of room to up my pace as I get more comfortable with the route as well.

Congrats.
You did a 6.2m run in 48 minutes, you can do a 5.65m cycle in well under 41 minutes.
You have plenty left in your legs (and lungs) :twisted:

And congrats again

Cafewanda

hatbeard wrote:

deptfordmarmoset wrote:

hatbeard wrote:

the gauntlet has been thrown down and providing I can walk tomorrow (ran a 10k today and knocked 10 minutes off my previous timing so may be a bit sore) I'll be commuting all the way tomorrow morning under the watchful eye of cyclopsbiker.

eep :shock:

He he, good work, Cyclopsbiker! Got him drunk enough to commit...good tactics

they were all quite threatening. I feared for my safety

got all my kit laid out ready and am off for an early night.

If I remember rightly, we were mildly encouraging, pointing out the advantage of starting today rather than tomorrow, or Wednesday, or Thursday......................... :P

cyclopsbiker

congrats indeed - you did great. I kept the pace steady the whole way in...that way you get to learn the route without tiring yourself out on the first half. you'll get the time down soon enough. we did stop 2 or 3 times on the way to chat about the road/junctions etc so that will have added some time on. all in all a great commute in. well done

Cafewanda

Excellent news

hatbeard

dhope wrote:

hatbeard wrote:

Well thanks to cyclopsbiker's fantastic (and patient) assistance I made it all the way in (proof)

was slow and steady but the mileage was fine, only managed to dice with death about 3 times as well so about the average number of near death experiences for a journey of that length.

legs had plenty of go in them at the end so plenty of room to up my pace as I get more comfortable with the route as well.

Congrats.
You did a 6.2m run in 48 minutes, you can do a 5.65m cycle in well under 41 minutes.
You have plenty left in your legs (and lungs) :twisted:

And congrats again

that 48 min 10k was 10:00 faster than I've ever ran it before though. I'm usually a bit more of a pootler when I run.

waddlie

Welcome to the club, HatBeard. In no time at all you'll be zooming through queues of traffic, timing the lights to perfection so you fly through at speed just as they're hitting amber and shouting and swearing at every motorised vehicle that comes within 10m because their drivers don't have similarly awesome levels of road awareness...

cyclopsbiker

did you make it home ok yesterday?
bike at home today as planned or has the commute bug got you proper?

The Rookie

Waddlie wrote:

timing the lights to perfection so you fly through at speed just as they're hitting green

Corrected for you, we don't want to be encouraging people to commit any criminal offences do we now?

Simon

hatbeard

cyclopsbiker wrote:

did you make it home ok yesterday?
bike at home today as planned or has the commute bug got you proper?

I made it home ok but I went to the gym after work with some friends and it was my first time doing weights so my arms were like jelly so I rode to london bridge and got train back as I wasn't confident on the bike at that point.

Bike is at home today because I will be running tonight if all my aches and pains subside and if not I'll probably not be in a position to ride anyways.

will be back on the bike tomorrow though.