The Tyne and Wear Commuter Thread

jomoj

the thing to do with the cyclone is to leave early - like 8am early thus avoiding the inevitable chaos when hordes of under prepped wobblers and once-a-year MAMIL wannabe racers mix. And ensuring they actually have food left in the feed stops.

Will be doing the 104 miler for the first time, hoping it's not going to be too windy but have a group of about 6 together so can share the load up front.

tuktuk - thats bad karma for all the people who passed you but unfortunately its not unusual. I will usually try and stop to check if someone is ok.

What pump are you using? I just splashed out on a Lezyne pressure drive in edinburgh bikes sale and its the dogs knackers. Also have a blackburn airstik pump with a fold out handle which is pretty good

tuktuk

Its a giant mini something or other, you only get a few inches of pump action *ahem* so you have to pump for ages to get any pressure but it feels like when it gets to a certain stage the air is coming out of the pump and not into the tyre. I only stopped pumping it up as i was bending the valve, because of how stupid the thing is trying to work it.

One guy that passed me i was only chatting with him on the way home the other day haha, i got sorted anyways, the only damage was to my shoes with walking the 3 mile or so

Looked at tyres and i think im going to order continental ultra gatorskin, 2 tyres with tubes for less than £50 from wiggle. Hopefully they are better than the standard ones i have atm

Twostage

Can't remember which model I have on my commuter but it has a built in pressure gauge which is useful. Its also double action (not the right words) so it pumps on the pull as well as push. I think all the small pumps need lots and lots of pumps to get anywhere as the air chamber is small. The one on my MTB has a small hose so you don't put sideways pressure on the valve.

tptvmbircn

Oh wow neighbors,

I commute to doxford park (mainly) everyday, usually cycle around sunderland through to southshields one way, up the c2c to around alston another and hartlepool the next, just see how i feel really and if im with the mtb'ers or roadies. I tend to hill train around cox green area behind penshaw monument.

I've had a black karate monkey (setup as a CX) for about a year now so not the hardest person to spot, happy with this thread!

Initialised

tuktuk wrote:

Its a giant mini something or other, you only get a few inches of pump action *ahem* so you have to pump for ages to get any pressure but it feels like when it gets to a certain stage the air is coming out of the pump and not into the tyre. I only stopped pumping it up as i was bending the valve, because of how stupid the thing is trying to work it.

Defo bad karma, I've helped out a few people, always ask it someone's OK if they are in trouble. Did someone's chain a while back.

For mini pumps I use Topeak Mini Dual G. It can get my Gatorskin to 120PSI but it's an effort so I usually end up at 90 and finish off with the track pump when I get in. Sometimes the rubbers wear out eventually if you let them get too hot for too long or too often but Halfords/Evans/LBS will usually change them from their box of spares for nowt so long as they know your face.

jomoj

a + for gatorskins here, been using them for 4 years and had very few punctures with them, unlike the supposedly well protected schwalbe marathons which seem to turn to sponge in the wet. I often ride along the glittering pathway taht is the NCN 72 route through Walker and Wallsend and if they can survive that they can survive most things. Only thing with gatorskins is that they (like most tyres really) get harder and less grippy when it gets cold so be aware on the bends and roondaboots in the winter.

humey53

Hi lads (I assume you're all lads, how sexist of me).

Geordie exile living in Derbyshire here for last 16 years.

Great to read your threads about my old stamping ground, especially the Coast Road. At the age of about 10 I got my first bike (steel brakes ffs) and me and my mates cycled from Bensham to the seaside ALONG THE COAST ROAD. Mind you that would be early 1960's when traffic volumes were much lower. Couldn't understand why parents went apeshit when they found out.

All the best

tuktuk

I feel sorry for anyone caught out in that thunderstorm! Seen a guy on a bike nearly flattened by a tidal wave caused by 2 fire engines.

Twostage

It is a bit serious weather wise at the moment. Hopefully the worst is over as some of our building's basements are flooding.
Can you get hit by lightening on a bike :?

tuktuk

Our basement looks like its flooding too, although we havent got access atm to see whats going on. There is a car parked outside the basement door and the water is half way up the wheels haha id hate to have to get in that!

The quayside got closed off before! Im holding off as it seems to be getting brighter, but the rain is still hamering down.

My brakes are awful in the wet Im bound to have an off today.

walkingbootweather

I'm on PT trying to get home after a meeting in newcastle. Rain is biblical and traffic dreadful. Good luck to anyone trying to get home by bike.

tuktuk

Just been told the coast rd is bumper to bumper all the way for anyone going home by car... I suppose all routed will be very slow by now though.

Good luck guys, im off

jomoj

currently trapped at work by flooded roads, if I had the bike I could probably get home!
A1, Coast Rd and A19 are all jammed. Going to wait it out at work and accrue some overtime. Best route to the east is probably along Fossway or Walker Rd.

check this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkua3S0h ... e=youtu.be

tptvmbircn

Rains just started here in Sunderland, Ironic how I've just purchased a set of long board fenders (Please be as quick as usual CRC!)

If you follow Sunderland Now on Twitter there are some disturbing images of severe flooding!

walkingbootweather

Roads around Heworth flodded some several feet deep. Wish I'd got a canoe

Long_Time_Lurker

So my eye infection saved me from that biblical flood. I worked from home today - good job too. I head home at 4 normally, so would have got caught in all of that.
Hope everyone else got home safely...

tuktuk

I pedaled down the Fast lane of the coast rd at one point

I ended up stuck just after benfield road so went back and up towards benton and joined the coast rd again at the shell garage where i took to the coast rd itself as all the cars were stuck. I was getting cheered on by the cars stuck on the westbound side haha

Initialised

Well that was fun. The lightning came, and followed by the thunder and some Christ that's close bolts of lightning. I And then the rain came and came and came to the inevitable jeers of 'you're getting wet tonight'. The Internet went down. Phones went down. Power went off. Those who still had signal started getting news in that the Metro was off, and Team Valley was flooded and blocked at both ends so I came back with 'at least I'll get home'.

So I topped up the water bottle, and donned the overshoes and headed off into the gridlock. Seemed OK at first then I saw the line of traffic stretching off in every direction at each junction only to end at a flooded stretch.



I knew it was bad when someone offered to buy my bike. Ne chance!

I had to take a few diversions and hit a few crank high puddles. Nearly lost traction down a bike lane. Seeing a car with a Specialized on the roof rack stuck on the Redheugh Bridge put a smile on my face. Get out and ride, and at least you'd be getting somewhere. Half way down Scotswood Road things got bad. Totally blocked both ways by flood water so I diverted up to Hadrians Way up a path that had become a new Tyne tributary.



So yeah I got wet, my shoes probably won't be dry for the morning and my drive train is probably covered in slit from the rain and riding through sediment laden flood water but having seen how hard it was for cars I got home in reasonable time considering and wouldn't do it any other way.

anthdci

Well that was a fun ride home! But it was much quicker than by car that's for sure.
Left work at 5, thought it was subsiding. My waterproof overshoes had let water through before I got to the tyne bridge. I followed the cycle path to go under the railway, saw it was fully submerged but didn't realise how deep. I stopped when it passed my knees. Loads of guys in a garage were cheering me as i came back up to go round.

Felling bypass was interesting, purposely went to the cycle path again, until I met someone plogging through with his bike knee deep. So chucked the bike over the railing and went the other side. It wasn't much better there was another 2 locations further up the felling bypass just as bad. Then follingsby lane was like a river.

My 50-55min commute too 1 hour 13min. So not too bad, considering people in cars have been taking 3+ hours.

This ride I am proud of.
Runkeeper:
http://runkeeper.com/user/anthdci/activity/98303374

Initialised

Like wise, not fast but the most fun I've had on the ride home for ages.

Days like this feel like staring in your own personal B-Movie

anthdci

best bit was everyone at work said i was daft cycling, and that i should get the metro. Hmm think not! It's still broken

Twostage

This was the sky just before 4:00. I've never seen such continuous lightening.


IMG-20120628-00027 by twostage, on Flickr

I left work just before 7:00 in lovely sunny weather and the the whole of scotswood road was stationary. Similar pic to initialised :-


IMG-20120628-00030 by twostage, on Flickr
The only way to get through was on foot or bike
Similar story on the bank out of blaydon, road was a lake with a car in the middle and police stopping everyone apart from cyclists

jomoj

brilliant! Well done lads. Wish I'd brought the bike today...

tuktuk

Not far from mine



Wish i had took pics of the coast rd as it was really deep!

Initialised

Some pictures:

Coast Road:









Quayside:



Brandling/Exhibition Park:





Chillingham Road:





Dean Street:



Walkergate Metro



It's Apocalypse Toon!

EDIT: just nipped to the shops, abandoned cars all over the place, loads more foot traffic than you'd normally get around mid-day let alone mid night.

Watch out for extra debris and silt in the cycle lanes/paths and on the roads in general tomorrow morning.

Twostage

The fountain coming out of a drain on Dean street is amazing. I'm assuming scotswood road is going to be passable this morning.

Alinshearah

Great fun last night, especially swimming along Scotswood road and Wylam. Got home on 5-10 mins slower than usual unlike some of my work colleges that took 4 to 5 hours. That will teach them to have laughed at me.

Initialised

Scotswood Road was still horrible this morning, passable though, down to one lane in places. Dust in the face from all the mud washed down onto the road. Still scattered with abandoned cars on the way back. I guess they are the ones who hydro locked their engines.

We had some get in the house and a little damage to the kitchen floor.



Mrs Ini was in a panic and Mini Ini mk1 said "if any more comes in I'm going upstairs" Mini Ini mk2 said "I'm glad you didn't get struck by lightning"

Initialised

Westgate Road: Attack of the walking wheelie bins:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m8yE_Kr ... r_embedded

Twostage

Initialised wrote:

Westgate Road: Attack of the walking wheelie bins:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m8yE_Kr ... r_embedded

Absolutely brilliant. They are like daleks on their way to conquer something.