4 April 2007

First ride to work day of the year - Day 2

Much the same as yesterday. Still chilly as I set off but today I made a change to my gear.

I dropped the t-shirt and shirt in favour of a polo shirt with the St George cashmere jumper over the top. If you think that leaves me a bit less clothed, I added my Chilli heated vest over the top. I didn’t bother getting the wire out and wore it as it is. Much better.

Once again the traffic was reasonable on the M20. Instead of Polish coaches today’s large vehicle of choice was the Czech truck. Sad to see them copying the Germans and using “spedition” instead of “doprava” in their names! Call me a traditionalist if you like!

The M25 was almost deserted as I joined and even the clag up by the A2 was light and apart from an Audi A6 that thought skimming the outside of me was a good idea as we took the swoop lane down to the A2. Audi? The new Jaguar? Cars driven by t*ats that think they own the road?

Through all the cameras on the A2 we had the usual ebb and flow in the traffic, speeding up and then braking hard rather than a constant speed and slight roll off that means I get there at the same time as they do.

Today I decided to come up through the City. Along East India Dock Road the bus lane is open to motorcycles and you can see the red tarmac empty as far as the eye can see. You still have to be careful, as cars coming from the left seem to think they can stick their noses out halfway across the lane. Until you reach the Commercial Road end when the bike access finishes progress is good, after that it clags up.

As for congestion charging. What a great idea. Has it actually cut the traffic going into the City and centre of London?

Anyway, it’s great to be on the bike.

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