How long to do 9000km?
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
Confessions of a Cycle Commuter
(1669 posts)-
Posted 6 years ago #
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I've forgotten to put my laptop in the bag twice this week. Monday not the end of the world for the morning and just worked from home on Monday afternoon after speaking to the kids at University about how to have a career NOT in biology, when you have a degree in biology.*
Today was worse as I headed into town to catch a train to Leeds for the day. Thankfully remembered about 5 mins away and headed back at a sprint. Certainly warmed me up!
*I also talked about how awesome biology was if you want to work in that - never fear fellow bio-grads.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I started my first job in not-biology two days before graduating.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I beat that - I had my one month review in my not-biology job the day I got my results.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@gembo
Thats about 5-6 years of (mostly) single speed commuting. It won't include wee local trips that I don't record on Strava!
Posted 6 years ago # -
@edinburgh cycle training, if through bad winters, ice and salt etc then maybe. But 1500km a year should not be so punishing? Seems counterintuitive as single speed less to go wrong. Except that only leaves the flip flop / free hub to break. Is it stored in a very cold place? Has there been water ingress?
On derailleur cassette and rear mech hanger etc all get changed after a year or two. so there is more to go wrong so spreads out the pain?
With fixie or single speed it is supposed to be your knees that get wrecked
Posted 6 years ago # -
@gembo
It is used all year round. Its cleaned regularly and kept indoors (except when parked up at work.)
I wondered if the thumping it takes off the city's roads might have contributed? It was taken off my old rear wheel which was wrecked by a pothole a couple of years ago. It also copes with cobbled roads every week.
The only "new" experience for it was I stripped the bike completely before christmas to repaint the frame. I did give the wheels a good wash in the shower before putting them back on - could that have done it?
Posted 6 years ago # -
wheels in shower could be, did you use a hairdryer to dry them?
Posted 6 years ago # -
Nope!
If its my stupidity, then I can live with that! And learn, of course!
Posted 6 years ago # -
potholes sounds more likely
though if your shower is a Power Shower? maybe
Posted 6 years ago # -
Failed to show due respect to old rails at Commercial Quay this morning. Went down like a sack of tatties. Couple of wee bruises, most significant being to my ego.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Tough luck @urchaidh. Heal fast/well
This morning I politely told a car driver that he hadn't scraped the ice off his windscreen enough (if at all). He then decide to go on the offensive, telling me I shouldn't be telling him about safety as I had my kids on a bike :-/
Having told me I shouldn't be wearing dark glasses (they are yellow tinted & it was 8am and light) he went on to say he was reporting me to the police. Charming.
For the rest of the ride I had to convince the kids I wasn't going to jail. :-(
Posted 6 years ago # -
@HankChief
Best response to anyone suggesting they'll call the police is to get your phone out and offer to do it for them. Stout parties generally deflate quickly.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@hankchief - "politely told a car driver that he hadn't scraped the ice off his windscreen enough."
Interactions between different choices of transport are often like that. I had someone pull up beside me in ASL to advise me that my bike is too low etc. Very hard to answer back in a neutral way.
Car users are backed up by being the majority with major brands behind the vehicles they use. Modern cars are safe and reliable. Many have styled in blind spots though (!) offset by parking sensors. So some drivers think their cars are so protective that it isn't necessary to clean windows, use lights, check mirrors, pump up tyres etc. Likewise a section of cyclists also have defects on their bikes. Of course only one is a danger with 'collateral' damage.Posted 6 years ago # -
Getting off the train late at night in Waverley the other night I had changed into my cycling commuting clothing which is dark camo shorts, and a grey non-high vis jacket.
I had the following conversation with a nice lady and her increasingly embarrassed work colleague.
Lady - "Hope you've got lights"
ARob - "Pardon?" (genuinely didn't hear her)
Lady - "Hope you've got lights"
ARob - "ah yes. Yes I do. They're in my bag ready for the bike"
Lady - "I hope you've got a high vis jacket as well?"
ARob - "Actually studies have shown that at night high visibility colours are no better than dark colours. What really matters is reflectivity. This piping all around my bag is reflective, as is this patch on my shorts, and the patches on my jacket. It's super visible to cars"
Lady - "Well I think.."
Colleague - "Ahem well stay safe out there. Have a good ride home"
Interesting to think whether she equally approaches people who are smoking and asks them if they've considered stopping, or if she approaches those who are larger and asks about their eating habits in an effort to improve their health.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@arobcomp
Maybe you should invite her to take the last train from Edinburgh to Glasgow on a Friday night to advise passengers on their alcohol consumption.
I have been congratulated by a pedestrian in Blairadam Forest park on my cycling attire/lighting - "exactly how a cyclist should appear" apparently. Spoiled my mood a little...
Posted 6 years ago # -
@Arobcomp, she might take on smokers in public places. From the colleagues' quick intervention to reframe the discussion as a genuine concern for cyclists' safety in the mean streets, it sounds like the colleague is either quick on his/her feet or has been nin these conversations with the other colleague previously?
If you have a dog with you when you are out walking people will talk to you more. Anything noutwith the quotidian and you are public property. I do very much like your questioning almost Socratic response- do you mean reflictivity, different from hi-viz etc. Moving the discussion to the evidence (though the Lady was maybe not one for data?)
Posted 6 years ago # -
If you have a dog with you when you are out walking people will talk to you more.
A lot of people will talk to my dog without talking to me.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@Frenchy I'm terrible for talking to dogs but not their owners...
A Brompton is good for having random strangers talk to you in a "cool bike" way rather than a "you're going to die/you're in my way" manner.Posted 6 years ago # -
@fimm - to be clear, I'm not complaining.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Got off the train at Euston with my Brompton, forgot I was in London and smiled conspiratorially at all the fellow Brompton owners. One of them was startled enough to smile back.
London is perhaps the only place in the world where the Brompton isn't a guaranteed conversation starter, although in the outer boroughs you will occasionally get some people asking about it
Posted 6 years ago # -
Got back to my bike tonight and the rear wheel was pancake flat.
Pumped it up and it seemed to hold air so rode it home. It was still full of air when I put it away.
So, do I have to go into battle with the studs and inner tube in the cold garage tonight or can I eek it out until next week's snow has gone and then change it for my summer tyre?
Posted 6 years ago # -
See what the morning brings
https://www.yr.no/place/United_Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/long.html
Posted 6 years ago # -
So, do I have to go into battle with the studs and inner tube in the cold garage tonight
Nope. Take it into the warm living room. Man or mouse?
Posted 6 years ago # -
London is perhaps the only place in the world where the Brompton isn't a guaranteed conversation starter
thinking back, its a surprise that Paul Weller never penned an ode to the Brompton
there he was with The Jam and all that 'in the city' vibe
and then with the Style Council, he was in the cycling garb and getting all continental way before there was any tour coverage on brit telly
to this day he's bedecked in rapha
Posted 6 years ago # -
50s through back Mark Lamarr has lost his quiff?
Posted 6 years ago # -
is that lamarr ? did not recognise
i remember some nineties lamarr related nonsense i witnessed with a big issue vendor kicking off at the top of the walk
but we're not in the pub and i cant be bothered typing it out
he was blameless though
Posted 6 years ago # -
Keeping on the topic of haircuts, Weller must be tied in first place with Sir Rod as the pop star with the worst haircuts in the. Period 70s - present day?
My greatest Jam related fear is that Weller actually employs hairdressers to give him such bad barnets. Curiously, as with sir rod they both appear to have what you would call A Good Head of Hair and yet what gets done to it is surely criminal in certain jurisdictions?
Posted 6 years ago # -
@gembo
One of the advantages of the UK exiting the EU is that we avoid having to adopt the Single European Haircut in 2019.
Anyway, this brings us nicely on to the never-addressed-on-CCE topic; what is the ideal cycling haircut?
I mean, many will argue for the Marco Pantani, but some, like yourself, with copious supplies of correctly placed hair will argue for less aerodynamic shapes.
Did the Ukrainian womens' tarck team not adopt hideous mullets for one Olympics as a psychological weapon? Helmet hair an issue I guess for some. Many?
Posted 6 years ago # -
Any ideas of fixing my puncture last night disappeared once the rugby came on and the first beer was poured.
So it was no surprise when I found the tyre deflated in the garage this morning.
Can you guess what I did next?
That's right, I took a different bike and made the kid cycle their own.
Maybe I'll fix it tonight...
Posted 6 years ago #
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