Uh-Oh. Right hand heated glove stopped working half on route home. Appears I may have another loose connection in the controller wiring, again. 🙁 At least I have a spare now…
Author: Arthur
Seasoned London commuter, doing my best to stay rubber side down and never stop moving forward.
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Position to be Seen
On the back of the excellent BikeSafe course I did on Saturday, already I’ve found one of the tips covered useful and prevented a potentially hairy situation.
Riding home in the dark, along a quiet tree lined avenue, I spotted up ahead the nose of a car protruding from a junction. Its indicator was flashing to turn right across my path and was slowly creeping out. I changed position, moving out towards the centre of the road, to make myself visible around the tree. The car hit the brakes and waited for me to pass.
It was a simple trick, being aware the tree was blocking the line of sight between myself and the car driver, and changing position accordingly. But had I not moved out the car driver would not have seen me until much later, and likely would have pulled out in front of me.
So, tip of the day, position yourself to be scene. Consider what may obscure you.
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BikeSafe, a Ride Out with the Cops
Today, I attended the BikeSafe day over in Romford, run by the local traffic police. After hearing many good reports in the course and its benefits, I decided to give it a go.
Check out your local Lidl store next week, they’re doing a bunch of biker gear cheap. Lids, boots, gloves and thermal base layers. The Lids, gloves and boots look a bit cheap and probably only worth bothering with for occasional pillion use. However the thermal base layers look decent. Although the worst of the winter is over, it’s still pretty chilly out there, so will still be useful before next winter. Offer starts Feb 28th, but be quick, once the stock has gone, that’ll be it.
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Cold Frosty & Foggy Morning
Distinctly frosty and foggy this morning. But once wrapped up warm, it was a good ride into work. So glad I’ve got my heated gloves and Pinlock visor. I do like riding into London on a foggy day, coming in past Canary Wharf, with just a sun blinding glint coming out of the fog where some skyscraper is hidden. The Shard (pictured) was particularly dazzling as it poked out above the fog, and just the top most floors visible and catching the sun.
This shot of the Shard was taken from just off Bermondsey Street.
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Ride Magazine Subscription
The first issue of my Ride magazine subscription arrived today. Excellent Christmas present from my wife. I had picked up the odd issue previously and found it a very good read, with loads of great articles. Not just reviews or new bikes I can’t afford, but decent riding tips, maintenance info etc.
This month they have several pages dedicated to bike security to help prevent theft. The subscription also had a free gift, some Oxford heated grips, potentially very useful. Not sure I’ll use them myself since I have heated gloves. However, my wife is keen to get her own bike and fancies them for that… 🙂
In the wet, minimise risk of locking wheels and skidding; apply front and back brakes equally, 50:50 each, gradually and smoothly.
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Wet Ride, Waterproof Time
Terrible weather today, absolutely tipping it down. Time to dig out my waterproof over trousers, highly glamorous.
Picked these Basic II Rain Pants up from Hein Gericke for £20. Like their name, just basic thin waterproofs to put on over my leathers. They work really well, keep me nice and dry, zipping down over boots to stop rain running down into them and pulled up under jacket to stop the rain entering there. Very effective, no leakage around the crotch where water can collect. They have no pocket holes mind. Being thin and lightweight, means I can pack them up at the bottom of my bag or under the seat, so they’re always handy in case the weather turns bad.
The only downside with these trousers is they can be a bit slippery on the seat. I keep finding myself sliding forward from my default riding position. No doubt I can get some sort of grippy seat covering, shall have to investigate.
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Bloody Unpredictable Taxies!
Not me thankfully…
Close shave this morning. Filter through the Limehouse Link, between two lanes of traffic doing around 10mph. Suddenly an Addison Lee minibus suddenly swaps lanes right in front of me. His indicator blinked once before he had moved across. I hammer the horn and swerve to his left, to find him, moving back over to the left lane. Luckily escaped with just a clip of the mirror. Fucking moron.
Be warned Taxies, be they black caps, private hire or whatever, are often the most dangerous of drivers on the streets of London. Often behaving unpredictably and erratically, with little or no indication of what stunt they’re about to pull. Watch out for:-
- Sudden U-Turns, be it across you, or from opposite direction into you.
- Sudden lane changes.
- Sudden stopping and starting.
Give them all a wide berth and treat with extreme caution…
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New Header Image
Currently playing around with a new header image for the site. Gone for a collage of bike pics and London landmarks. Would be interested in your feedback, let us know what you reckon.