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While riding in this morning a driver moved in the middle of the road a bit more to let me through more easily. Not necessary but it gave me a smile when the roads normally seems so full of conflict in the mornings.
So, anyone else got moments of pleasure during their morning commute? Do you go to work via the Koppenberg, stop for a coffee and croissant, race the same people each day?
It's mainly off road and I get to see deer, badgers and rabbits. Also see a Proclaimer a lot too which is cool.
Today will be my first ever almost entirely off road commute. Only 7 miles of pretty dull disused railway etc but I'm actually quite giddy as it makes such a change from the busy roads Ive been using forthe lst four years or so. Just another 4 hrs to wait.
I work offshore on a rig:
Helicopter to work, off road by default! With pretty views of the Shetlands.
Ah, nice edit. Now I understand the 'off by default' bit 🙂
wasn't commuting but a driver very clearly indicated for my benefit that he was turning off and I could get straight out onto the road he was on - gave me a thumbs up too as we passed
(and also, semi-rural white van men are waaay more considerate than their reputations (or than most agricultural 4x4s - mind, this is the new forest 🙄 ))
I try to hold on to the thought that my commute is as pleasant as it has ever been, being largely away from traffic and C O N F L I C T ! In my last job commuting through the Black Country and over junction 10 of the M6 was a battlefield of gold toothed gangsters, rep mobiles and belching artics. I hold that thought and instantly I'm in a better place, well I am because I'm not in the Black Country! I really can't be bothered with the stress of a mega city commute. Last time I was in London I really didn't envy the jostling congested advanced cycle stop lines and mad rush of cyclists and pursuing cars.
So gonna get the bikes out the garage in 5 minutes and drop the kids off at school and nursery and pedal calmly to work down the cyclepath.
Had a car hang back rather than force an overtake on a twisty bit of steep downhill the other day whilst on my road bike, meaning I could use the whole road which was nice.
Recent trend for vans full of lads to pull along side and shout out my speed when I'm going flat out. A bit annoying, but I know they are trying to be encouraging!
i commute across aberdeen from out deeside
highlights include the daily deer display bounding across the fields near the house and occasionally the red kite swooping down infront of me.
most days its just the car with nice sounding engines that come by.
tvr griffith , aston martin vantage , ferraris and various porsches.
Deeside does seem to have more than ample supply of big engined cars eh.
Not being another motorist is pleasure enough for me.
There is this one corner I like on the route, it's a fast down, the corner is in a dip and it rises steeply after the corner. I like to hit it as fast as I dare so momentum carries me up the rise. Problem is it becomes a massive puddle when it's wet, effectively ruining my whole ride in. There just aren't many exiting bits when road riding!
I am currently letting the train take the strain of a trip to London.
One day in the city and my 2 mile ride into the office through the Peak District will reinforce my belief that I am sooooo very lucky to live in an idyllic place.
in London I really didn't envy the jostling congested advanced cycle stop lines and mad rush of cyclists and pursuing cars.
It isnt obligatory to join in you know 😉
I look forward to my one day a week in London. My commute from Paddington to Trafalgar square is relaxing and pleasant. I ride to meetings all over the city and look forward to it. Even in the rain, I have my wet weather gear and enjoy the ride.
And in summer the hotties on bikes is one of the finest sights known to man.
The only small pleasure from commuting that I get is that of being alive when I reach the other end.
People in Leicester quite frankly are a bunch of female genitalia.
That is the best, when there is a really nice bit of route to look forward to.There is this one corner I like on the route
Forgot another one. There used to be a ferry back to Edinburgh from Burntisland. It used to feel like you were on holiday if you rode to Burntisland and took that home instead of riding across the Forth road bridge
I'm lucky to have one of the best commutes I can imagine. It's mostly cycle path through one of Melbourne's parks and along the river. In the mornings I'm escorted by flocks of lorikeets and at sundown they're screeching and roosting in the trees before the whopping great flying foxes start flapping about. Out on the river there's a pair of black swans and loads of cormorants. This morning the water was still so I noticed tonnes of bronze coloured starfish on the riverbed. There's an old Chinese fella who feeds the gulls and he's started to wave hello to me.
And in the summer the birds are just fantastic....
The days I walk to work are the best. Riding through the school run chaos after escorting my son to school is never fun. After my son changes school this summer I can see myself walking more often. When I walk it's not unusual to meet half a dozen friends/acquaintances/customers on the way.
I go part a university building on my new commute, exams on just now, lots of hawt nymphs.
Black lycra does not stay solid in colour for very long. It goes a little translucent. Some occasional nice views ensue.
Roadie chasing - Never need to overtake them, but drafting along behind them on the etape du Embankment can be a giggle. On a three speed ladies bike. 🙂
When I was in London I used to cross Tower Bridge and then Westminster Bridge, past the Palace of Westminster every day just to avoid the Etape du Embankment. Cycling two parts of London that visitors from around the world were desperate to photograph always made me smile. I can probably be found gurning in the background of a thousand people's holiday snaps.
Angus, I usually go on the South Bank as well, far nicer/quieter. The Etape can be a giggle sometimes, though!
Agree re being in photos! I go over Westminster most days, so am sure I'm in many a photo! I try to smile as I ride through the background, though! 😉
Mines a car commute unfortunately but its been enhanced X100 by sorting out a digital radio adaptor. No more moyles/Evans decisions, just 6 music now. Commuting is actually a pleasure now 😀
Lasy Friday I let a 135 bus pull out as I approached it at 25+mph on the road bike. Residents of North Manchester will know that it is one of those long bendy buggers, so getting along side one can be a bit hairy. Got a flash of the hazard lights and a thumbs up out of the driver's window. He waived me past at the next stop then gave my a grin at the traffic lights.
What a nice man, and much better than having to dig a cyclist out of the wheel arch.
"Black lycra does not stay solid in colour for very long. It goes a little translucent. Some occasional nice views ensue. "
nor do endura team kit shorts ....
im aware that my bib 3/4s are more than a little see through on the rear facing panel - does it bother me - does it hell ..... I do try to wear them under my stealths but i dont always need the stealths for the ride home after wearing them in !
I enjoyed hammering along the Embankment going to Canary Wharf - that and the bits by Buckingham Palace were a good hard workout. I was on my laden hybrid though, I'd love to be doing it on the road bike one day.
Waving vehicles out is good, sometimes tricky to communicate it tho.
Annoying when a stopped driver does it, oblivioug to you when filtering.
Out on the road bike yesterday going full tilt on the flat, cars over taking me. Lights on green so i dont slow down a mini shoots in front to turn left, Thought this is going to hurt a tad but it just slows down and lets me through i was so shocked i gave a little wave of gratitude. So they aint all that bad some of the time.
And best bit of my ride coming down a longish steep hill out side of chepstow if I go like a f***ing loon i can hit 52mph (indicated) i get in the middle of the road and chase cars down BLOODY GOOD FUN 😆 😈
On my way home a few weeks ago, I was just about to move away from some lights going uphill, turning right when a posh-looking woman in a very flash car with the window down in the lane next to me suddenly said "you've got very nice legs". I looked at her and she suddenly looked mortified. Guess she only meant to think it, not say it. Made my day!
I used to enjoy my 6 miles off road (mostly) each way run into work but now I have to get through the tunnel to the office.
I'd give up a chunk of pay to have that comute again!
Pausing on top of Walbury Hill to see the Kennet Valley stretched out underneath. Very England. Should take a flask of tea and leave earlier really.
A BMW stopped today to let me cross the road.
Always enjoy my commute (Cambridge Guided Busway so traffic free). This morning though, got to leg it through town after dropping the car off for a service.
A guy on a Dawes roadie pulled in from of me at the bottom of Castle hill (the best we have to call a hill round here anyway). As I overtook him on the hill, I mumbled about not getting in-front if you can't stay there, nothing too miserly. Anyway, when he caught up at the next set of lights we both chatted in a friendly manner about how warm it was and how we'd both managed to overdress for the weather. Nice being able to chat to people on the way in, I reckon car drivers would be far more sociable and kinder to each other if they had a little chat in the mornings!
Riding from the Shepherd bush roundabout up to Notting HIll Gate without hitting a red light was one of the greatest pleasures on my commute. Didn't happen often but when it did it was fun.
Also riding on the Thames between Kew and Hammersmith on a misty autumn morning has something special about it.
there is a corner on the moors that if I turn off the traction control I can hit a four wheel drift every time....
If I'm on my motorbike, the nod or left hand motion other riders give you as they go past always makes me smile.
I commute through the city, and in summer on the smaller roads there are occasionally days when you get just enough cyclists at the same time that they have control of the road rather than the cars. It isn't an aggressive, critical mass sort of thing. It just happens. Doesn't feel like summer has properly arrived until that day
😀 @ leffeboy! I know exactly what you mean. Lovely, isn't it?
Pre uni days I used to run from my job in Aintree up Walton Hall avenue to Queens drive then from there race the teatime busses right through Rice lane and Walton Vale, praying for Red lights! Used to get some funny looks from passengers as we passed and repassed one another!
There is no greater sense of (albeit childish) satisfaction than chasing down and overtaking roadies when I'm riding home on the longest continual climb in England. Yes, you've just been beasted by a girl on a mountain bike wearing a rucksack. Love it!
I know it's not the intended response, but a little while ago I was cut up by a white van man, I caught up further down the road, he was sat in traffic, window open, taking a slug from a can of fizzy stuff. I politely asked if he could give me a bit more room next time?
He promptly dropped the nearly full can in his lap, much to the amusement of his mate in the passenger seat. Karma. Priceless.
Also see a Proclaimer a lot too which is cool.
It's great to see them in their natural habitat, though they spook easily.
Just turning out of the car par, to be honest. If I take the tube home, I don't feel like I've left work until I turn onto my road and start jangling my housekeys in my pocket.
Whereas that feeling starts as soon as I'm on the bike. Shorts and a tee-shirt, bike ride ahead of me, my own time.
One-handed trackstand at the lights. No bugger i know ever sees me doing it though.
Is this related to cynic-al's commute?