Not another commuting video - CS7 content

mtb-idle

Afternoon all,

I've been capturing lots of footage over the last few months with a longer term plan in mind i.e. a commuting video showing how my commute changes over the year.

However I also saw the opportunity to edit a video I've had in mind for a while illustrating the joys of commuting via Cycle Superhighway 7.

It's for entertainment purposes. I'm not interested in pursuing car drivers for alleged wrong-doings nor is my own riding always perfect. There's only one cussing that's just about drowned by the soundtrack. It's just for fun innit.

The choon picked itself, in fact I had thought of the tune/title before I had even captured the footage. Let me know what you think and whether it works.

Select 1080p in bottom right hand corner of video for the best viewing option and it's best viewed with sound

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/405513/

Be safe out there.

Kieran_Burns

https://youtu.be/GCtHmrDU8YE

:P

mtb-idle

cheers KB. Over 100 views last night and not a single comment. I thought it was ok actually.

Your commute is the same distance as mine but clearly the exact opposite in terms of experience.

BTW, 18 minutes is too long for a video

Kieran_Burns

MTB-Idle wrote:

cheers KB. Over 100 views last night and not a single comment. I thought it was ok actually.

Your commute is the same distance as mine but clearly the exact opposite in terms of experience.

BTW, 18 minutes is too long for a video

Not when it's that purdy

(it is okay! Some of my vids have thousands of views and only a couple of comments)

elbowloh

I ride CS7 from Colliers wood to Clapham Common (where I cut across the common), so looking at this vid is like going back through my own memories!

Didn't see anything out of the ordinary in the video in terms of drivers or other cyclists, just what I see every day!

mtb-idle

Kieran_Burns wrote:

MTB-Idle wrote:

Not when it's that purdy

(it is okay! Some of my vids have thousands of views and only a couple of comments)

I was referring to this thread rather than the video!

Kieran_Burns

I get that with lots of my comments

I still think the Llama one has them all stumped

mtb-idle

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I get that with lots of my comments

I still think the Llama one has them all stumped

I hoof'nt- a clue what you are on about :oops:

surrey_commuter

I am just about to move to Epsom and work in Canary Wharf so any chance you can show the entire commute?

I will be in the West Hill area so was going to go across to Ewell and pick up the A24 to Morden then CS7. Am happy to listen to alternative suggestions.

t5nel

I watched that video like that and it certainly gives some perspective on how relatively simple and low risk my route is - (I get frustrated when I have to brake for any other road user)

I am sure you 'get used' to whatever the surroundings are. One thing I would say is that road behaviour that seems 'normal' in London - e.g. the gaps people are forces to squeeze through or the way that you have to pass vehicles - people riding in that manner round here would be condemned, beeped at, shouted at etc.

London commuters, CS users you have my respect

Cheers
Tim

mtb-idle

Surrey Commuter wrote:

I am just about to move to Epsom and work in Canary Wharf so any chance you can show the entire commute?

I will be in the West Hill area so was going to go across to Ewell and pick up the A24 to Morden then CS7. Am happy to listen to alternative suggestions.

Hi SC, yes that's the route I take. I work in CW too.

The whole commute you say?

https://Vimeo.com/17062831

timothyw

Yeah, the two things that first struck me were one, I'm very glad that my commute is considerably quieter than that, and two, there's a couple of times that you seemed to slip infront of other people waiting at traffic lights, which I as a fellow cyclist would perhaps take as a bit cheeky (2:04, 3:08).

Still, looks like an interesting project, keep it up.

thepeopleschamp

Makes me so homesick I had to stop watching it! I used to live in Morden and ride CS7 daily, such memories, everyone suddenly thinks they're a speed demon when you get down the slide of clapham common, I forgot that! Seeing the part of Tooting High St I was run over, brings a tear to my eye!

You don't realise how boring bike ridding really is until you leave London.
I live in the Surrey Hills now & it amazes me how (at a conservative estimate) every single middle aged male in SW London rides past my house on a Saturday and Sunday morning when they have CS7 right on their doorstep!

jedster

Like it.
I don't use any on road cycle lanes on my commute and I have to say they don't look much fun from your video. Found my stress levels rising everytime you were alongside a moving HGV and the number of potential conflicts with cars turning across you is huge. Do you reckon they are an improvement on normal roads?

menthel

Disappointing on two counts. One, I'm not in it! Two, it makes CS 7 look relatively tame...

It really does show what you can get used to I guess.

vimfuego

Yes likewise - can't believe I'm not in it!
And I wondered why my other half looked pale when I showed her my own footage of a CS7 commute :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqRwlzLz4oE

mtb-idle

jedster wrote:

Like it.
I don't use any on road cycle lanes on my commute and I have to say they don't look much fun from your video. Found my stress levels rising everytime you were alongside a moving HGV and the number of potential conflicts with cars turning across you is huge. Do you reckon they are an improvement on normal roads?

Jedster, I first rode that commute in 2003 and 2004 when it was only me and a handful of other cyclists on the roads. After a break I started again in 2009, same route still and the superhighway 'opened' in 2010 ISTR and I'm still going...

In my opinion the CS7 has made cycling easier. There's a specific area on the road for bikes, and traffic in the main accepts it and keeps clear. The trick however is to remember that it's just some blue paint. It doesn't have any magical qualities and if a car, truck, bus wants to encroach on the area then it can and frequently does. As long as you bear that in mind and don't trundle along believing that you are inviolate then you are fine.

Much in the same way that the rest of the world works really, and I don't mean just cycling. :idea:

Kieran_Burns

I just watched yours all the way through, and then mine.

I feel bad now.

(and smug... so very, very smug)

jedster

[quote}

In my opinion the CS7 has made cycling easier. There's a specific area on the road for bikes, and traffic in the main accepts it and keeps clear. The trick however is to remember that it's just some blue paint. It doesn't have any magical qualities and if a car, truck, bus wants to encroach on the area then it can and frequently does. As long as you bear that in mind and don't trundle along believing that you are inviolate then you are fine.
[/quote]

words of wisdom! thanks

surrey_commuter

MTB-Idle wrote:

Surrey Commuter wrote:

I am just about to move to Epsom and work in Canary Wharf so any chance you can show the entire commute?

I will be in the West Hill area so was going to go across to Ewell and pick up the A24 to Morden then CS7. Am happy to listen to alternative suggestions.

Hi SC, yes that's the route I take. I work in CW too.

The whole commute you say?

https://Vimeo.com/17062831

Cheers for that - looks very hairy at that speed and looks further than I thought to Morden. Was surprised you use CS3... I thought you would use the "highway to hell"

mtb-idle

Surrey Commuter wrote:

<snip>. Was surprised you use CS3... I thought you would use the "highway to hell"

I use both, depends which way I approach it.

My classic route is up CS7 to Elephant & Castle, New Kent Road & then across Tower Bridge. Approaching from this direction it's easier to go straight on at Tower Bridge and onto CS3 than to do an illegal right turn onto the Highway.

If I follow the full CS7 (which I rarely do) and cross Southwark Bridge then right onto Lower Thames Street it's easier to just carry on straight and onto the Highway.

In the evening I mix and match depending on how I feel as it's just as easy to get onto CS3 or the Highway heading West.

I've done the commute over 1,000 times in the last 6 years so a little bit of mixing it up here and there makes it a bit more interesting.

surrey_commuter

MTB-Idle wrote:

Surrey Commuter wrote:

<snip>. Was surprised you use CS3... I thought you would use the "highway to hell"

I use both, depends which way I approach it.

My classic route is up CS7 to Elephant & Castle, New Kent Road & then across Tower Bridge. Approaching from this direction it's easier to go straight on at Tower Bridge and onto CS3 than to do an illegal right turn onto the Highway.

If I follow the full CS7 (which I rarely do) and cross Southwark Bridge then right onto Lower Thames Street it's easier to just carry on straight and onto the Highway.

In the evening I mix and match depending on how I feel as it's just as easy to get onto CS3 or the Highway
heading West.

and you go home over Tower Bridge? I did that once and shat myself after finding myself on what felt like a motorway getting onto the New Kent Road

I've done the commute over 1,000 times in the last 6 years so a little bit of mixing it up here and there makes it a bit more interesting.

mtb-idle

quote fail!

Yes, I do go home over Tower Bridge. New Kent Road is fine. Bus lane all the way.

But again I mix and match. for the last few weeks I've been going home via Richmond Park to take advantge of the decent weather and extend the commute

https://www.strava.com/activities/289325685

surrey_commuter

MTB-Idle wrote:

quote fail!

Yes, I do go home over Tower Bridge. New Kent Road is fine. Bus lane all the way.

But again I mix and match. for the last few weeks I've been going home via Richmond Park to take advantge of the decent weather and extend the commute

https://www.strava.com/activities/289325685

cheers for all the advice - will give New Kent Road another look. Putting 5 miles on to go through RP is a step too far for me.

slowbike

It does look like you need a chill pill to ride/drive through london - just accept that everyone is liable to go everywhere and not as you expect - and behave accordingly ...

I have to stop once or twice on my usual commute in or back - I might get a bus passing me, one or two lorries, a few vans but mostly just cars ... and they're usually well behaved ...

I think being safe on the road is a certain amount of conditioning - as long as we all do what the others are expecting then it's ok - it's when we take them by surprise that it starts to go wrong - yes that does seem to contradict my first sentence - but not really - if you're expecting everyone to act in a random manner then you know to look out for it ...

drlodge

That commute looks horrid! Glad you're still in one piece, and a little surprised.