GRcade

gooseberry fool, hope you're ok.

I hate cycling at this time of year, can't see gooseberry fool, no matter how much hi vis stuff you wear, no matter how many lights you have, people STILL don't pay attention to you, as illustrated above.

Properly fell off on sheet ice this morning in the road Luckily it was a dead end road so no traffic, but a car came along and put it's hazards on to stop anyone coming through and running me over. strawberry floating great sheet of black ice on a totally flat bit. Splat on to my side (I've whacked my hip) and I slide along the floor while the bike went about 10ft further down. To cap it off, shortly after the brakes seized up (the cables all popped out and are strawberry floated) so I had to push my bike with the rear wheel jammed for the last half of the journey

Victor Mildew wrote:Properly fell off on sheet ice this morning in the road Luckily it was a dead end road so no traffic, but a car came along and put it's hazards on to stop anyone coming through and running me over. strawberry floating great sheet of black ice on a totally flat bit. Splat on to my side (I've whacked my hip) and I slide along the floor while the bike went about 10ft further down. To cap it off, shortly after the brakes seized up (the cables all popped out and are strawberry floated) so I had to push my bike with the rear wheel jammed for the last half of the journey

And that's why I don't cycle in anything other than pleasant weather.

I almost got run over crossing the road near the end too, but that was my fault for going in front of a car waiting at a junction.

I'm doing it primarily for fitness reasons, but it's too easy to hurt yourself.

Victor Mildew wrote:Properly fell off on sheet ice this morning in the road Luckily it was a dead end road so no traffic, but a car came along and put it's hazards on to stop anyone coming through and running me over. strawberry floating great sheet of black ice on a totally flat bit. Splat on to my side (I've whacked my hip) and I slide along the floor while the bike went about 10ft further down. To cap it off, shortly after the brakes seized up (the cables all popped out and are strawberry floated) so I had to push my bike with the rear wheel jammed for the last half of the journey

Did you manage to finish the delivery?

I did thank you.

It's the worse pain ever hitting ice on your hips.

The feeling of the bike going out from under you is just horrible.

Despite stuff like the weather strawberry floating you over, people not giving you enough space, having to get various layers of gear on in the winter, needing to do various ongoing maintenance, getting hit by cars etc. I still really miss cycling to work.

Bloody hell my hip hurts. No bruising at all yet, so hopefully it's not fractured.

Looking out the window, It's just hit me that the decent cycling to and from work weather is here. Normally this would be a lovely shorts and t-shirt (possibly with a fish on) with sunglasses ride kind of day. But by the time it's realistic to be not only going to work, but to do it by bike, it'll be strawberry floating shitty cold and in the dark again

I've been to some nice rides while being furloughed it's about the only thing that is keeping me from not going mad.

It'd be nice to do here, but as nice and picturesque as the local rides are, they're also extremely narrow and full of dog walkers.

Victor Mildew wrote:It'd be nice to do here, but as nice and picturesque as the local rides are, they're also extremely narrow and full of dog walkers.

I'm pretty lucky with a huge amount of army land near where I live so you can get away from people easily. Although public access is up for review at the moment I just hope they don't change that to much.

After years of my bicycle being unused, I've finally started using it again.

Cycling in London has been a better experience than I expected although no doubt the reduced traffic largely explains that. I've only done about 25 miles of cycling in the last 5 days around roads I'm very familiar with to gradually build up the confidence (and endurance) for longer journeys including potentially cycling to work but at 9 miles each way and the "Cycle Super Highway" being a strip of road painted blue rather than barriers protecting me from motor vehicles I'm still not entirely convinced. Plus in my case the public transport option is faster and much safer although as I'm reliant on the Northern line probably equally as sweaty!

Also after a longer cycle and/or roads that aren't smooth, the saddle causes a fair bit of pain on the Gooch area.

My commute used to be about that length and it was wonderful - just the right distance to give you a good blast of exercise and wake-up fresh air but not far enough to be that tiring. I miss it a lot. It was quicker than the bus for me because that ended up stuck in traffic on the A34 every day.

Your arse will get used to it. Always good to build exercise into the day I found because making a dedicated trip out just to exercise is always harder. Money saving too.

Red wrote:My commute used to be about that length and it was wonderful - just the right distance to give you a good blast of exercise and wake-up fresh air but not far enough to be that tiring. I miss it a lot. It was quicker than the bus for me because that ended up stuck in traffic on the A34 every day.

Your arse will get used to it. Always good to build exercise into the day I found because making a dedicated trip out just to exercise is always harder. Money saving too.

The hairy fat arse of mine did not get used to the tiny bike saddle seat! I couldn't bear the discomfort of walking like John Wayne anymore so had to get a gel seat cover that envelops over the saddle. Vastly more comfortable and no Gooch pain when going over bumpy terrain.

Whilst my own confidence of cycling in London is pretty good for how little I've done, I learnt tonight that a friend's girlfriend ended up in a terrible accident with a car knocking her off her bike at some speed. 11 broken ribs, collapsed lung, teeth knocked out. Thankfully no brain damage but it's utterly terrifying just thinking about that level of injury.

The reduced road traffic seems to make some idiots think speeding is fine just because they have the ability to do so rather than struggling to get out of 1st or 2nd gear.

I doubt I'll be in the office anytime soon but unless cycling in London is safer than it currently is I'll probably just endure the misery of the Northern line.

I swear my bike is the bike equivalent to Stephen Kings Christine. Week of annual leave booked off for this week so on my way home from work on Thursday I'm doing my usual route through Stanley Park and it being an alright day weather-wise it was quite busy. Woman watches me come along the path only to step in front of me at the last possible second, swerve and pressed as hard as I could on the front brake and spent the night in A&E waiting for an X Ray on my left arm/wrist. Luckily no break just tendon damage (Hand went a lovely shade of blue and couldn't move any part of it - Worried it was a break)

I would have happily (In pain of course) got on my bike and rode the rest of the way home if the woman had apologised but instead said I shouldn't even be riding through the park but on a road yeah every screaming sentence that came out of my mouth from that point ended in "banana split"

I.e. "There are ickle pictures of bicycles painted on the strawberry floating pathway you thick banana split"

Went in work Saturday rather than a sick day so it wouldn't mess with my weeks annual leave, 1 handed riding in the rain FTW

I think I need to invest in a little camera or something to go on the front of my bike:x

Not sure how familiar people are with SW London roads but there are some older "Cycle Superhighways" (CS7) which were just small bits of road painted blue which isn't particularly useful for making new cyclists feel safe. The word super was most certainly undeserved. The more recent ones are drastically safer and more pleasant to use.

Over the last few weeks CS7 has been massively upgraded to have either fully segregated sections with lengthy islands preventing vehicles coming too close or "wands" to act as barriers too. Combined with many parking spaces removed too and solid white lines where not practical to have better designed cycle paths and it makes it feel dramatically safer cycling along roads which would normally be very busy and often with drivers not paying enough attention.

Ideally cycling should feel so safe that people don't feel the need for helmets (like in Amsterdam) so hopefully more roads get the upgrade treatment!

There's an interactive questionnaire/map run by the council in my area, in the hope to improving for cyclists and being part of this big greater Manchester cycle highway thing they're planning. Hopefully some good will come of it, but some of the roads are so busy during commuter times there's no way they'll be able to add cycle lanes so I'm not going to get my hopes too high.

Grumpy David wrote:Not sure how familiar people are with SW London roads but there are some older "Cycle Superhighways" (CS7) which were just small bits of road painted blue which isn't particularly useful for making new cyclists feel safe. The word super was most certainly undeserved. The more recent ones are drastically safer and more pleasant to use.

Over the last few weeks CS7 has been massively upgraded to have either fully segregated sections with lengthy islands preventing vehicles coming too close or "wands" to act as barriers too. Combined with many parking spaces removed too and solid white lines where not practical to have better designed cycle paths and it makes it feel dramatically safer cycling along roads which would normally be very busy and often with drivers not paying enough attention.

Ideally cycling should feel so safe that people don't feel the need for helmets (like in Amsterdam) so hopefully more roads get the upgrade treatment!

Should always wear a helmet.