dave-smith.co.uk

So tomorrow instead of doing the usual early morning drive down the M4 into town I get to lie in bed for an extra hour or so (not training tomorrow) and then stumble on to a train into Paddington, all ok up to this point, however from there I then have to make my way across town on the underground, something I've not done during rush hour for about 6 years, and I'm not looking forward to it.

So the extended London Congestion Charge comes into effect today, no doubt the traffic lights will no be re-phased to give the appearance of freer-flowing traffic and Ken will sit in the "testicle" counting all the cash coming in....

...and that got me thinking, what's needed at some of the busier border points is for some sort of flashing display to be put up that counts the vehicles entering the zones and keeps a running total for the day for that point of how much money is going straight the London's Mayor Bus Buying Fund (because we really need more buses badly driven clogging up the streets) and maybe at every 100 cars, there should be a *kerching* till register sound... (or Pink Floyd's "Money" gets played)

So when you are stuck in traffic on the M4 and haven't moved for 10 minutes (and have switched the engine off) don't phone someone +11 timezones away as they will be in the pub having fun, and you haven't even got into the office yet....

so yesterday, before the wns i had to get home, and this happened to coincide with the end of the tube strike, so there were loads more people on the roads, and certainly a lot of those people are more used to playing in tunnels than having to deal with london traffic

and so in a 20ish minute commute, i was almost squashed in 2 different bus incidents, cut up by 3 cars, and ended up abusing 2 black cab drivers and this doesn't include the idiots that failed to stop at amber / red lights (and that was before the wns with 1 black cab incident, 1 bus incident and a lorry getting stuck and having to do some reversing into the skate...) what is it about these mindless fuckers? have they no concept that their actions and decisions could leave someone seriously squashed, or is it "me me me" taken to its more extreme levels.

ggrrrr!

or so the journey this morning went, got the gym this morning to have a swim / shower and managed to pour water out of my cycling shoes....

nice.

glad it is summer here now

almost
no need for the lights on the bike this morning for the commute, it was certainly light enough, although i'll be keeping them on for a while yet as i don't trust other road users... this mornings commute was great, cold, but once i was warmed up it was fine....

managed to get a good pace going and my average hr was good.

certainly a nice start to the week (and no laws broken or people abused)

;-)

of course tomorrow i'm using public transport as i'm at the hospital for a checkup. still that leaves the rest of the week for commuting on the bike (asuming the forecast snow doesn't appear)

last nights commute
was good, i rode at a nice steady pace and quite enjoyed it, in spite of the drizzle.

traffic laws broken : 0 (wasn't i good)
other road users abused : 3.5 (hmmm, maybe not)

but in my defence the abuse was:
- a warning shout of "look" (hence the half)
- a shout of "look" followed by a "pratt" as a chap walked through non-moving traffic without bothering to look for bikes (motor or otherwise)
- abused a driver who did a left turn in front of me without bothering to signal
- and "no rush" to tow pedestrians who strolled across the road like they had all the time in the world even though the little red man was there when they stepped off the pavement....

so not really abuse, more sort of warning shouts (or something)

on the plus side this mornings commute was zero laws broken and zero road users abused!

cold fingers
but then not wet fingers, so this is an improvement on yesterday.....

about 4 degrees c this morning, not su much wind and no rain (yay!) not a bad run down, pretty sure i've still not found the best route yet but it does for me.

traffic laws broken : 2 (left turn on red with no traffic coming)
other road users abused : 0

in my defence...
i do stop for zebra crossings and also pedestrian crossings, i also don't use the pavement, so i figure that i'm nicer than most cyclists in town...

;-)

nice weather for ducks
so i wake up a bit (20 minutes) before the alarm clock, and notice that isn't raining, great, then i doze and wake up again 5 minutes or so later, and now it is, and it stays that way until i've got to work and had my shower, then it stops....

someone somewhere has it in for me.

oh and for the record:
traffic laws broken : 3 (but in a safe way)
other road users abused : 1

bus lane tales (part 1 of a series)
well this morning was my first commute into the office by bike, and it wasn't raining, but it was windy, in fact it was a head wind the whole way along the kings road which was nice.... however head winds aside the journey was pretty good taking 25 minutes to complete, any time benefit gained from cycling to work was lost though as i had to go up the office to recover my wash kit / trousers before heading off for a shower at the nearby gym, still with a simple bit of thought i'm sure i can over come this and actually make the time gained from cycling to work allow me to stay longer in the bed in the morning...

also as this was my first attempt i didn't want to put pressure on myself by running late.

i'd now like to bore you with some facts from my heart monitor but it would seem the battery has gone in the chest strap, so i can't

however for the record my average speed was 12.0 mph and my max was 20.5