CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!

Commute Full of Win

(13 posts)
  • Started 12 years ago by Wilmington's Cow
  • Latest reply from wingpig

No tags yet.


  1. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    So cars being scraped this morning (or drivers not bothering in a few worrying cases) had me nice and smug. Went past and dropped at least 5 or 6 buses.

    And finally the Charlotte Square end of George Street snarled and not moving despite the green light, but plenty space for a bit of weaving filtering, all the while paying attention to the possibility of movement in the queue; carry on filtering towards Princes Street, and fortuitously choose the correct lane and not the one closed at the end of Princes Street; more gridlock at the bottom of Lothian Road to filter past; then on the turn to Fountainbridge a muppet crossing has moved before it's clear and got stuck when the Lothian Road lights go green so motorised traffic held up, but not me.

    Smug? You bet, why on earth wouldn't I be?

    Posted 12 years ago #

  2. kaputnik
    Moderator

    I took the Telfer Subway and the Roseburn Street pavement path and felt very full of the joys of win of managing to find a route that was (largely) free of roadworks muppetry.

    I remembered one of the Scottish newspapers once coined the term "numptocracy" to refer to the Scottish Government. It came back to mind.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  3. deckard112
    Member

    Have to admit I too am full of smugness when watching people scrape their cars. That is until yesterday when I had to take my car to a meeting in Glasgow and ended up scraping my windscreen and watching jealously as a cyclist went by.

    Karma?

    Posted 12 years ago #

  4. Radgeworks
    Member

    Had one of these rare and zenlike commutes early this morning, just the usual Roseburn to work, but was immensely enjoyable at half 6, not a red light all the way, virtually nae traffic of any kind, all was good, and then the sun came oot at 7am to round things off. Am i looking forward to the 3pm commute hame? We shall see..... R :-)

    Posted 12 years ago #

  5. cc
    Member

    I'm in awe! When I was younger I used to do that, but half the time I would end up at my destination furiously angry. These days to preserve my sanity I cycle gently through the back streets. If I had to take main roads, well, I wouldn't.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  6. Radgeworks
    Member

    Aye its a rare and beautiful thing the unstressful commute,as ive now realised.
    The normal commute is ordinarily fraught with the stresses,situations and obstacles that the not really awake,the unobservant,and the downright plain rude/ignorant/aggressive or dangerous individuals all seem determined to foist upon me, either willingly or un(half)wittingly.

    Enjoy the sun folks, non illegitimi carborundum
    R :-)

    Posted 12 years ago #

  7. Darkerside
    Member

    Glassford/Stockwell St in Glasgow is always hideously snarled up with slow moving buses, cars, taxis and all sorts of stuff, and the lanes go from 2 to 1 to 1+bus lane with left and right filters. It's also got 4 sets of traffic lights.

    There are times when everything is just so, and the alert cyclist can breeze through the lot at full speed.

    Such a time was last night.

    Bliss.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  8. kaputnik
    Moderator

    This morning was lovely. Avoided all the traffic snarls, down the Telfer Subway, through Murieston and Russell Road (normally a rat run, but strangely quiet today) and then Roseburn Park, Corstorphine Path and past Gylemuir School before school run stupidity.

    Could feel warming sun on my back, cool breeze on my face, birds singing in the trees. It were lovely it was.

    Oh, and first day of the new year in shorts too.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  9. Nelly
    Member

    Totally different commute this morning - about 3 hours later than usual as the Sciennes 'cycle to school day' was on.

    Went Leamington Lift Bridge, Canal to Harrison - all lovely and sedate, sunny and relaxed.

    Cut down to my usual route and as there are a load of roadworks on Broomhouse, I beat everyone in a car from Stenhouse to Makro - easily - a great feeling.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  10. Charterhall
    Member

    I'm in the lucky position of being able to finish work at lunchtime on Fridays, and boy did I enjoy it today - a glorious ride home via Riccarton Garden Centre/Currie Hill/Clubbiedean & Torduff reservoirs :-)

    I didn't go as far as kaputnik but I was very comfortable in roubaix 3/4s, no overshoes and mitts instead of gloves.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  11. DaveC
    Member

    I have Winter tights and summer shorts (usually onto of tights as they are low underslung) Might just wear the shorts home this afternoon for a wee change :-)

    Going to head north from St Andrew Sq to the sea at Trinity then west to Cramond, up and over Cramond Brig before cruising back down to the coastal track through Dalmeny and on through S Queensferry. Hoping for no wind and the sun playing out.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  12. shuggiet
    Member

    Took the Alpine route to Edinburgh Park via Torduff and Currie... Absolutely magnificent. Can't think of a coastal city equivalent in Britain with the views. Maybe San Francisco or Sydney...Extra interest due to coming across about 200 soldiers doing their yomping exercises complete with guns.. Very courteous at making way for a cyclist!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  13. wingpig
    Member

    My day was mostly going nicely with a worn-drivetrain-friendly-no-rapid-accelerations-in-traffic-required trundle anticlockwise round the NEPN until my rear mech killed itself with my spokes on Russell Road. Hopefully this will serve as a warning to the betighted bloke who turned in in front of me at Ravelston Dykes then rear-mudguarded me the rest of the way to not go quite so close behind people in case their rear wheel suddenly stops rotating.

    Posted 12 years ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.


Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin