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Last night I foolishly left right before it was due to start raining, thinking it wouldn't be all that bad. I had to wring out my trousers/shoes/socks and towel myself dry upon returning home. These items remain wet even now.

Those two things tend to go hand in hand. Globalisation is how we got into this mess. Not to mention that pesky industrial revolution.

I've got the 13L one, and sometimes fill it to absolute capacity. Looking at your photo, I might have been putting it on wrong...I've never put the top straps through the saddle rails.

Excuse me.

I have the alpkit seat pack too, but have mixed feelings about it. Have used it extensively, and sometimes it's great; other times it swings around a lot/needs constant re-tightening. I think my seat post height + saddle angle might be hindering my ability to put it on properly. Also, it's a huge pain to get on at all, and then you have to take it off if you want to remove anything. Or am I just doing it wrong?

Made up for by the hot girl in transparent leggings waiting at the lights on Tooley st. Unfortunately I was sporting the clear lenses in my glasses and not the tinted ones. Rumbled/10

While perhaps not on the same level as almost running someone over, making someone feel uncomfortable/upset while they're going about their business is not cool. Ditto referring to ogling a woman as some kind of consolation prize.

casualmisogyny/10

Cold 06:30am start. Super cold along the towpath - the river was frozen up in Enfield! Everything very beautiful/glittering with thick frost. Including my face after about 20 minutes.

Allow me to enrich/diminish your life.

I was retching at the idea of wrapping exercise in more exercise. I'm getting fat for winter.

I threw a gym session in the middle of my commute which helped too.

[dean gaffney retching noise]

Thin socks + thick socks + shoes + overshoes = feet still cold. Not as cold as my face though. Still, crunched through some good frozen puddles. \o/

Stopped off to pick up some groceries mid-commute yesterday, and as I was locking up I was approached by a woman who'd been waiting to cross the road nearby. The exchange went something like this:

woman: "Why do you ride your bike so close to people?"
me [intrigued]: "Excuse me?"
woman: "You nearly knocked me off just now."
me [perplexed]: "I don't think that was me."
insistent woman: "Yes it was. And you almost ran into me twice up there." [indicates further up the road]

I consider how she would have to be an elite sprinter in order to be almost knocked down by me (twice) further up the road and then be in position at the crossing to be similarly threatened, before I realise what's going on. No longer do individual cyclists merely represent all cyclists, we now ARE all cyclists.

Hertford East to Tottenham Hale in the mornings, the reverse in the evenings. I'm quite fond of riding around in the dark - I liked getting to work in time to watch the sunrise. Alas, daylight saving has robbed me of that pleasure.

Hey, thanks for the recommendation! I'll be in Cambridge in a couple of weeks, and will try and track down the wandering yak for lunch.

Kudos to you for sticking it out up until now. I've been taking the train half way/bike the rest for a couple of weeks now.

Speedy puncture right as I cruised into the train station this morning. Swift and elegant replacement of tube and wheel between Hertford East and St Margarets (a journey of eight minutes).

No one say anything about how it only takes them four minutes, please. Let me have my moment.

Were the vegan scotch eggs as repellent as the real thing?

Jumped every light (junctions excepted) this morning*. I felt ok about it.

*pre-sunrise, so there was no one around to witness my wrong-doing anyway.

I went to vegfest on the Sunday. It felt like a large proportion of the attendees were groups of teenage girls, which was quite heartening. Sometimes it feels like it won't be too long before veganism is truly mainstream - but then I remember what percentage of the population is vegetarian and /o

This also popped up on my radar today. On one hand, if it means fewer people consuming meat then that's great - on the other, it's slightly unsettling that the key to doing so is mimicking animal blood and tissue. I feel we should be trying to change people's perceptions of what's ethically acceptable - this seems like it's condoning/'normalising' the consumption of meat.

Ta very much, will look into it. Sadly, I think I need my underarms ventilated at all times.

I also overshoed (overshod?) yesterday. Damp feet on the way back. \o/ (Am back to doing the canal route. The A10 is too desolate once you get past tottenham.)

Also, it is now that time of year where one can simultaneously boil and freeze, depending on choice of clothing - is there such a thing as a windproof + breathable jacket? I sweat buckets. :/

:( I am also pretty exhausted, despite having a much shorter commute. Got to work today and consumed half a loaf of bread. Hmm.

Super late reply, sorry. River route is very bumpy (as in, sharp rocks) between the M25 and the north circular. I have been doing it on 35c tyres, but prefer the A10. Most people are on MTBs. There are also sometimes horses on the path near the reservoir, which is fun but also quite annoying. More people/cyclists/dogs the further in you get (so, once you're past walthamstow).

Accidentally hopped onto the A1055 this morning. Was as described, and I quickly scrambled back onto Hertford Road. Definitely quicker than the river, but also less actual cycling and more sitting at lights. Good luck on Monday. You'll be simultaneously svelte and muscular in no time.

How's the long commute going? I've started cycling from just below Waltham Abbey to Camberwell, and have yet to do it in less than 1h25. I've been staying on the towpath until Seven Sisters, and I think that's what's slowing me down.

Does anyone know how busy/horrible the A10 (or the A1010, which I imagine is fine?) is up past SS? Is there a reason google maps thinks it'll take longer than the towpath?

Alas, beer buckets, rather than buckets of beer. The weight was metaphysical/in the form of ingredients which will be used to manifest future beer.

Also, this was yesterday.

Hello to the man on the green bike with tiny bars, who stopped on the Chelsea embankment to ask if I needed help carrying two heavy beer buckets. You're a kind soul!