New house, new route to work!

I've spent the last few weeks trying to find a safe, convenient and 'not too exhausting' route to work. Now, living near Bromsgrove, the ride takes 1 hour 30 each way and involves riding over the Wasley Hills.

The weather has not, however, been kind and I'm getting used to sweating up hills and then freezing down the other side.

Getting fitter though and seeing a different group of commuters each day.

Motorists on this side of town are a little scarier especially near the Longbridge works!!!!

The last few days have been fairly grim weather wise. Storms over the weekend and grey wet weather since, nothing to inspire the spirit!

It's half term week and so the roads have much les traffic on them during my commute, great you might think but actually it's sometimes worse. With quieter roads comes faster traffic, it seems when there isn't a queue to hold up the 'business' traffic then speed limit signs certainly won't inhibit their progress, it can make for a much riskier experience!

Too many weather changes ... this morning was warm but cloudy.

Just arrived at work in time because a storm hit soon after, very pleased not to be out in it!

Another cold, bright morning, There was frost on car windows and normally I'd be on my trike on a day like today but I haven't yet got it out of the shed and so I had to risk the geared bike - no problem actually.

I was dressed in three layers, longs, gloves and a 'Winter BUFF' - nice and warm. A chap rode down the opposite side of the road wearing a short sleeved cotton shirt, no gloves and no hat. With the wind chill it must have felt sub-zero, I wonder if he realises that his chances of thrombosis are increased in exposure to cold weather? Anyway, I'd have frozen riding like that.

Misty yesterday morning and it rained, at least it wasn't too cold.

Today was similarly grey and wet, so fixed again.

Traffic was, as ever, impatient. There were also many queues on the way this morning the Wake Green Road being particularly bad. I think car drivers must be a very frustrated group, when there was even the smallest bit of 'clear' road, cars would come rushing by, - to the next queue of cars where I again overtook them.

Chatted to another commuter at a junction near Millenium Point. I think he's slightly older than me. He was riding a yellow racing bike, no mudguards and clipless pedals. Compared to my bike, mudguards, rack, toeclips his was stripped down but I bet he cleans his bike at least weekly!

During last night's ride home I caught up with a bike rider approaching one of the busiest gyratories (traffic islands with traffic lights) in Birmingham. I only ever turn left at this junction because it's so busy and cars using it have just come off the Expressway and are geared up to faster speeds and aggressive tactics. Anyway this cyclist, anorak flapping, pottered onto the island with the intension of going 'straight on', at first he didin't indicate and the dual-carriageway exit was an immediate problem for him as cars were trying to exit across his path. One car stayed behind him but he was travelling so slowly that it was causing confusion and difficluty. Anyway the event ended by the car tooting his horn and the cyclist giving him the 'finger'. But who was at fault? Both I guess, him for being slow and unassertive and the car driver for being intolerant and impatient. Definitely a junction to avoid if at all possible!

This morning's ride was cold but another bright autumn day, on the whole a good way to start the day.

Had a few days off the bike - using a car to visit Leeds! - travel by road is equally unpleasant by car, just a little faster!

This morning's ride was one of those cold, bright autumn mornings that are a pleasure to ride in. After the last few days bad weather it felt like a real privilege.

Rode in in my 'Italia' long sleeved jersey today by way of homage to Chipo's win in the World's last weekend.

This morning was one of those days I dread.

Cold, windy (North East) and wet. At least it wasn't raining as heavily as it did overnight.

The 'beauty' of a fixed gear bike on a ride like this morning's is that there's less to get dirty and damaged by the wet and the grit. The down side (why is there always a downside?) is that it's much harder to pedal into the teeth of a wind with a gear that's slightly too high. Although if I'm lucky it'll be behind me on the way home.

I'm sure an HGV deliberately drew up close to me on my left as I was waiting to turn right at traffic lights this morning and then pulled off closer and faster than necessary to intimidate me but maybe I'm just being paranoid!

Near the Aston Villa ground a Post Office van overtook so fast and close that I felt it necessary to 'shake a fist at him' (as you do) I think he spotted the gesture as he flashed his 'hazard warning' lights - so much for 'professional' drivers.

I've come to realise that my perception of traffic is significantly influenced by my mood. This morning, for example, traffic was rushing around as you would expect but my tolerance of cars overtaking close to me (too many to count!) or travelling too fast - lots - was low and I found myself shouting at them, not that they would have heard of course cocooned in their metal boxes. What was worse was that it reduced my enjoyment of the ride (sometimes you wouldn't believe I could enjoy it based on what I write here!). So I made a conscious effort to relax which improved matters a little.

I see lots of bad driving each day (you guessed?), well it is a 13 mile commute through the city -each way, but sometimes I see equally bad examples of cycling. Today a man (probably midlle aged) was riding a 'traditional roadster' with panniers on the wrong side of the road for about 100m, he then rode on to the pavement and continued for around 200m. At least no cars swerved past him and no pedestrians were on the footpath, pity I was there to witness it really.

Ride home on Tuesday evening was fairly uneventful but spotted the results of two car crashes (both minor) on the way home.

I've observed that when the wind blows so car driver behaviour becomes more erratic (faster speed, more braking) and so it was this morning. Relatively quiet roads but travelling faster and generally quite impatient.

No accidents.

The boots have disappeared ! perhaps they've found a new home.

Gears this morning, feeling tired and a lot of 'colds' & coughs around, hope I've not succumed. That's the good thing about gears rather than fixed, if the going gets tough, the wind blows hard or you're just knackered, there's usually a lower gear!

Saw, or rather heard, an accident on the way home last night. A single decker bus was turning right towards the fire station from Aston Science Park and appeared to have swerved to avoid a pedestrian(?) hitting a car coming in the opposite direction. The 'ped' appeared to be lying on the pavement with a few people around him (her?). The car wasn't too damaged, front wing only.

Can't decide what's worse, cars turning right immediately in front of me, exceeding the speed limit or driving too fast for the conditions. Lots of examples of both this morning. Do the 'right turn' brigade have any sense at all or is it suspended when they get behind the wheel, it appears they take risks (with my safety) for the sake of a few miliseconds progress.

I'm suprised by what I see sometimes. Near the climbing centre on the central reservation of a dual carriageway there's a discarded pair of good quality well cared for walking boots, the kind that have been broken in over many miles but have been looked after. They've been there for a couple of days at least. How did they get there? Why were they left behind?

Broken cloud this morning but a comfortable temperature. A little cooler than last week possibly, weather forcast indicates colder weather by mid-week.

Traffic was suprisingly light compared to the last few [riding] days but that just gives car drivers an opportunity to travel faster than the speed limit.

I like the autumn, varied colours, cooler temperatures without being frozen and the smell of bonfires.

Ride home last night was OK, good weather again. Car drivers seem more impatient in the evenings and so there's always a little more conflict and bad driving!

Another fine morning after a coolish night. Rode in on 'gears' today.

Whilst waiting in a queue to turn right a car pulled out from the junction immediately in front of a oldish bicycle rider. The car didn't hit the bike or cause him to stop but it certainly looked close to me. The car driver looked like he 'snarled' when I pointed my finger at him in admonition, maybe he was upset that someone had noticed his dangerous driving or, more probably, that someone had 'told him off'! What compounds the offence was that he had a child in the passenger seat - a good example to future generations!!

Should I be so self-righteous? Well I do occasionally do silly, dangerous or even illegal manouevers on the bike but I don't think I've ever endangered anyone's life but my own.

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful, queues of traffic on the inner ring road to the south of the city again, lots of cars going nowhere fast. One of the small contributions to schadenfreude that comes from riding through a city.

A bright sunny start this mornng, in fact a beautiful autumn morning.

Traffic was congested on the way in and so 'traffic jamming' was the way to go. I guess I shouldn't be suprised that some car drivers can't cope with a cycle travelling whilst they are stationary and therefore try to move as close to the car in front as possible so that I can't move into 'their' space.

A couple of traffic policemen were doing a speed check on a busy approach road to an industrial estate, we exchanged 'good mornings', they certainly have my support as cars regularly exceed the 30 mph limit there.

The regular 'lollipop' men (school crossing patrol) were also cheery this morning too, it must be the sunshine.

I also spotted a female cycle commuter I regularly see but as always she more or less failed to acknowledge my existence, this contrasts with a male commuter who always waves or nods in the morning. Perhaps it's the lycra, the fact that I'm male and older or maybe she just isn't very friendly (unlike many cyclists) but I'll probably keep trying!

This is the BLOG of a cycle commuter from Birmingham UK.

1 October 2002

I was riding home on a 'fixed' wheel this evening. It was grey and there was a warm, southerly breeze, I struggled!

About half way home it began to rain and as I couldn't be bothered to stop and put on a rain jacket I was wet when I arrived. Traffic was busy but not too bad, at least I didn't have any 'close shaves' this evening. I think I'm going to have a rest day tomorrow.