Long commute day. Get out of the shower, dry myself. Open bag of office clothes. Knickers, yes. Tights, yes. Bra? Oops. No bra. Decided that I am not going to wear a sweaty sports bra all day in the office... Fortunately I have a dress made of quite thick material with me, and a jacket over it, and my, err, "support requirements" are not very large...
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
Confessions of a Cycle Commuter
(1669 posts)-
Posted 11 years ago #
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Glad to find my spare black shoes under the desk this morning (!)
Posted 11 years ago # -
A couple of weeks ago I took the bike on a train to Fife. I carefully lent my bike against another bike while the owner looked on. Atter a kink on the track my bike fell over towards other commuters. The train was very busy. Fortunately I managed to grab the handle bars before it hit anyone. Unfortunately, in my haste, pressed the air sound button and unleashed 115 dB into the packed train. Apologies to my fellow passengers.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Always worth taking a bungee when you're going by train, even if you can get to the rack the straps are often missing.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Lol, been there biketrain! :-))
My confession is that a couple of nights ago choosing the canal towpath was a muddy 'mare with icy patches! Stayed upright, but it was attention grabbing!Posted 11 years ago # -
Unpacking my bag in the changing room this morning:
Underwear - check
Shirt - check
Suit - check
Make up/toiletry bag - check.
Towel - ...
Shoes - ...I can now categorically confirm that it takes 14 paper towels to fully dry a MeepMeep-sized person after a shower, and that the walk of shame between offices in Lakes and a suit does not get any less embarrassing the second time round.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@MeepMeep can't you leave a pair of shoes under your desk?
Posted 10 years ago # -
The only thing is to walk with confidence - make them feel embarrassed for not wearing Lakes.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Ha, yes, I have done the paper towel thing more than once. :-)
Posted 10 years ago # -
I've taken to just wearing my Shimano shoes all day on dress down rather than bring non-work shoes with me. Boots live under my desk at all times.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I only have one pair of work shoes and get changed in another building so the logical place for my shoes to live is in my locker. I could get another pair of shoes to specifically live under my desk in times of need but then they'll be just another thing to de-camp when I move on (at which point it's easier to have everything in one place).
Amir: excellent suggestion!
Posted 10 years ago # -
I just meant "a spare (inexpensive) pair to live somewhere suitable at work for emergencies"
Posted 10 years ago # -
Work shoes live in locker. I have been caught out on an odd occasion if I've got the train home in civvies and forgot to bring the work shoes back in on the Monday.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Precisely what caught me out - bevvies in civvies on Wednesday.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Last Wednesday my pal Iain was doing some work on my house. sorry about this backstory but it is necessary. I had looked out a spare set of keys for him but my teenage daughter couldn't be bothered locating her keys so she took them to school. This meant I had to tamper with the fabric of the space time continuum and take my bike lock key off my set of keys and give Iain my keys. that meant I was rolling with a wee key in an unfamiliar place in my pocket. Not good. However manage to get around various parts of Edinburgh with reasonable success. However, I end up at the staff awards ceremony at the refurbished assembly rooms. Prior to refurbishment they used to let you put your bike in a very big store room. Since refurb they direct you to railings outside Starbucks, however they are wrong headed there as there are five Sheffield stands in front of assembly rooms in the middle of the George st parking. So that is where i put my bike. Returned to the venue and began to watch the ceremony. About half way through ( after I failed to win my category, but do not worry, a member of my staff beat me) I started looking for the wee key, nowhere to be found, not in any pocket, Starting to think I am going to have to ask the audio visual guy running the event who I know and who is also keen cyclist if he has bolt cutters. Decide to go down retrieve panniers to check the key is not there, but first I decide to go outside, get to my bike, still there but no sign of a lock. Wheel it into the venue, retrieve panniers from cloakroom, take out lock, take bike outside and this time remember to lock it, return to watch rest of ceremony. No wonder I didn't win.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Yesterday's towel palava? Yeah, I noticed this morning that my towel was hanging up over the drying rail in front of the very same shower I used.
I'm awarding myself an incredibly sarcastic 10 out of 10 for observation.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Perhaps it's a quantum towel?
Posted 10 years ago # -
Ummmm there is a pair of pants on the innocent route between Hermits croft and East Parkside.
Hope they're noone's on here!
Posted 10 years ago # -
Innocent pants huh? (Muffled snigger)
Posted 10 years ago # -
A lesson in the positives of being prepared:
Whenever I'm heading somewhere around town I wouldn't want to have to walk back from, I carry the same few tools and supplies. Minipump, spare tube, tyre levers, multitool, chain tool and a box wrench if I'm on a bike with bolted wheels. Thing is, in several years of scooting about town, I've never needed any of them. I've been extremely lucky and avoided any visits from the p* fairy while out. Not had any parts loosen, chains break or anything serious enough that it couldn't wait until I got back to fix. Still I religiously pack those same tools into the rugsack every time. I even checked the tube was still fine recently as it had been sitting about bundled up for years and I thought it might have been punctured by all those times it's been thoughtlessly stuffed in beside sharp objects.
So last night/this morning I had been up Bonaly for the fireworks. When jumping back on the bike to leave I suddenly feel the grip is about to fall off the bar just as I set off. Turns out the whole bar is loose in the stem clamp. I had this sudden horror when I thought I couldn't remember packing the multitool but it was there reliably as ever. Quick tighten up of the bolt and I'm ready to go. Ahh, panic over.
Later in the evening I was descending down Oxgangs at around 30mph when it occurred to me that sometimes a bolt spontaneously loosening can be the sign of imminent failure/cracking etc. What a nice comforting thought. Also comforting was the knowledge that stem cost me a whole £1 from the bikestation and was one of those generic unbranded quill ones of distinctly non-premium quality. Last I ever touched it was back in October when I built the bike up. Bolt was greased and tightened using the old 'well that seems about right!' hand method.
I'll give it a proper inspection today in the light. I suppose I can spare another pound or two for a replacement if needed. Also to do: Adjust brakes, check hubs, fettle gears and about a thousand other wee maintenance jobs I've been putting off this winter.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I had Bad Commuting Day yesterday.
- Cross-threaded the lid on my coffee flask, so had some in-pannier leakage which happily just avoided my shirt.
- Punctured the rear wheel on the way in due to vast amounts of sharp detritus from the sea washed over the road.
- Punctured the front wheel on the way out due to running over some piece of car left in the road.
- Front tyre was flat again a few hours later, so I've either knackered the rim, picked up a third unrelated puncture, or fitted a faulty tube. Whilst removing the wheel to fix, I stripped the spade off the dynamo wiring.
The recumbent is now having a timeout day to think about what it's done.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Oh, that formattings gone horribly wrong...
Edit: sorted.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@ Darkerside
BBPress doesn't like lists - even though it offers the option!
Fortunately not many people try to use.
Thanks for fixing.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Think it was because I tried to close using /UL rather than /List. Caused all sorts of hilarity, including hiding the edit button.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Went for my shower at work this morning, reached into my bag for a shirt and found that I had brought one of my (12 year old) son's, and not my own.
This is why I am sitting at my open plan desk in a QPR away shirt from a couple of seasons ago, in which I was planning to cycle home. Black on the left half, red on the right. A bit loud to fade into the background.
Posted 10 years ago # -
"QPR away shirt from a couple of seasons ago"
I think that's taking dress-down-Fridays a bit-too-far.
Posted 10 years ago # -
At least it's the away shirt - horizontal stripes aren't flattering.... (had the good fortune to be born a Newcastle fan)
Posted 10 years ago # -
@Wilmington's Cow - "had the good fortune to be born a Newcastle fan"
I wouldn't call it good fortune! It is a heavy cross we bear ... ;)
Posted 10 years ago # -
That thing where you go to unplug your (dead) light battery when setting off home to discover you never switched it on this morning.
sigh.
Computer is back on.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Hub generators…
Never give up. Never surrender.
Posted 10 years ago #
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