Your rants here.

Mr Sworld

flynn160603 wrote:

buying a used force rear mech off here.....

Caveat emptor, my friend....

rick_chasey

Bloke on a specialized secteur.

For some reason, he can't/won't turn his head to the right to see what's coming.

Anyway, as I was passing him he decided to pass someone himself. Put me in the path of a lorry.

After a bit of Cambridge "oi!" I realise he can't hear me - I then notice the ear-bud earphones.

:roll: Good job I have better bike handling skills than Robbie McEwen*.




I may be exaggerating for effect.

asprilla

Forgot my glasses. Means I get the joy of wearing by Flak Jackets in meetings for the rest of the day.

mudcow007

flies!

i got a gob full of the little blighters today,

its extra protein i suppose, but i dont want to think about where the flies have been/ landed on recently





dammit now im thinking about what the flies might have landed on ewwwwwww

EKE_38BPM

notsoblue wrote:

I've been off the bike for two weeks because of what appears to be gout in my big toe. It sucks. Can't even put my road shoes on

I really hope for your sake that it isn't gout. Get to the doctors sharpish to get it checked out and to get medicated if it is. There is also some good stuff online about diet and what foods triggers 'attacks' of gout.

My dad has gout and when he has an 'attack' he can't walk, he can't wear socks, he can't wear shoes, when in bed he can't take the weight of a sheet resting on his toe. I think the idea of putting on cycling shoes and cycling would either reduce him to tears or lead to extreme anger.

If I were you, I'd be desperately hoping it was an ingrowing toenail.

gbsahne001

almost left hooked at speed this morning, car obviously thought I was going slower than I was; 6 miles later a parked car tries to door me... must have the invisibility cloak on today.

Koncordski

Strava! Whenever I turn it on for a commute I end up riding like a tosser. Nearly smashed into the back of an addison lee cab this morning and it was 100% not their fault. No more strava commutes for me, too dangerous. :roll:

flynn160603

Mr Sworld wrote:

flynn160603 wrote:

buying a used force rear mech off here.....

Caveat emptor, my friend....

I know I know :roll: should of known not too buy a used mech....not so bad if its a pair of bars or a stem etc....still its an excuse to upgrade to sram red every cloud and all that !!

Koncordski

Investigated my non shifting rear mech at lunch and found that the shifter cable is very frayed and on the verge of snapping. I shall be nursing it home today in one gear and enjoying the weather, you lot can collect the scalp en route.

cyclingprop

Just realised I left something in the office I need tomorrow when I'm not in the office. Going to have to go in anyway

redvee

Not eating at the right time when out on the bike today, it was only 20 mins later than I normally eat but threw me big time. Luckily I had cash to buy cake from a roadside stall.

bails87

I should seemingly be ranting that we have no roadside cake stalls around here!

the_fuggler

Why on earth do I have a chest infection now of all times?! Look at the blinking weather! Very grumpy.

Kieran_Burns

bails87 wrote:

I should seemingly be ranting that we have no roadside cake stalls around here!

We have trees and fields and sunshine and a horizon more than 100 yards away.... They can keep their bleeding cake stalls

redvee

bails87 wrote:

I should seemingly be ranting that we have no roadside cake stalls around here!

The roadside cake stall was outside a shop in the shopping area of Bath, as I didn't have a lock with me this was a godsend.

king_jeffers

Food... can't stop eating. Put 7 pounds on, will start the diet after lunch :->

rjsterry

We still have our heating on in our office and we can't switch it off. I know it's a 1960s office building with some geriatric heating system that needs to have a man sent out to switch it off/on, but seriously, is it really beyond the landlord to fit some room-by-room controls?

king_jeffers

rjsterry wrote:

We still have our heating on in our office and we can't switch it off. I know it's a 1960s office building with some geriatric heating system that needs to have a man sent out to switch it off/on, but seriously, is it really beyond the landlord to fit some room-by-room controls?

+1 but our office was built 6 years ago :?

Anyway! 2nd rant of the day....

Almost ran off the road by an old bastard who had no concept of the size of his car.... was only driving one of those little crappy city cars, really wide road yet still wants to scrap past. Would have banged on his car had I not been trying to avoid him. FFS.

bails87

Strange encounter with an angry van driver this morning. (There's a lot of 'build up' just because I'm trying to figure out what I did wrong)

I turned left out of a residential street onto a main road, solid with traffic in the direction I was going. So I picked my way through the cars halfway out of the junction then rode on the other side of the centre line (no traffic coming the other way) past ~300 yards of stationary traffic towards the traffic lights where the main road crosses a dual carriageway.

I looked ahead for a space to pull into, as I was going straight on, and saw a car that had stopped a decent distance back from the bus that it was behind, so went in between the bus and car. Maybe 3 or 4 cars behind me was a van. The lights go green, we pull away, all but one of the cars behind me turn left, so now there's: bus-me-car-van.

The bus reached a top speed of about 25mph, I was able to draft despite being a vaguely sensible distance back because it was a double decker. After about 150 yards we reach another set of traffic lights, to control the junction with a minor road on the left. The bus turns left, but it's a tight corner so it slows right down (<5mph) I check over my shoulder, car indicating left and hanging back with the van behind it, and go around the outside of the bus to go straight on. I cross the stop line as the lights go to amber, couldn't have stopped in time.

As I clear the junction I look over my shoulder again because the road narrows ahead so I want to know what's behind me. The car has crept through on a 'dark' amber, but is still on the junction, being held up by the slow bus. The van has moved out into the middle of the junction to get around the back of the car and go straight on. Blatantly through a red, and he was virtually stationary when the light went red, there was no ambiguity or "couldn't stop" defence. He was doing a couple of mph, saw the red light then moved out, crossed the white line and accelerated through the junction.

Then he catches up with me, I'm a 2-3 feet from the kerb, avoiding the cr@p zone, normal riding position, no need for primary. The van overtakes close without slowing, I didn't hold him up for a second. Then I find out he's towing a great big trailer, :roll: which gets really close because once the front of the van passed me he was moving back over to the left, so the trailer that's at least as wide as the van forced me to move over towards the kerb.

I shake my head.

Then the van gets stopped at the next set of lights, about 8 seconds after the overtake, it's a couple of hundred yards at most between the 2 sets of lights. I stop behind the van, on the right hand side of the lane to stop any left hooks. I see that the driver window is open.

"Give a bit more space next time please"

"What?"

I scoot up to the driver's window
"I said could you leave a bit more space, your trailer nearly hit..."

"YOU'RE RIDING LIKE A PR*%K"
"eerrrr....what?"
"I ride a pushbike* too, but you're pushing your luck riding like that"
"What? What do you mean"
"You're pushing your luck"
"Why? What did I do wrong?"
"You're pushing your luck riding like that"
"What did I do wrong?"
"You're pushing your luck"

That's all he would say. As if "pushing your luck" was an actual 'thing' and I was supposed to know what that meant.
He roared off when the lights went green, leaving me to jump out of the way of the empty, bouncing trailer again.
Saw him at the next set of lights and just ignored him.

Got his address and phone number though from his liveried van (seems to be a one man band building company). Do you think he wants pizzas or 'escort' services?

*I bet he doesn't. Only people who don't ride bikes call them pushbikes!

nameinuse

Bails - sounds like an idiot with no idea of how to drive or ride safely who doesn't understand other road users are allowed to make progress despite the fact they're not a knuckle-dragger in a big white box. What you did "wrong" was riding your bike properly. Had very similar a few months back on my journey, in the end I decided to let the police explain the error of his ways to him...

Blonde Cyclist

Argh - the noisy party last night that didn't shut up until 1:30 am (I was the 4th person to make a noise complaint) . Seriously, drum and bass music, microphoned DJs, loud enough to keep me up and it wasn't even in our block - it's a residential area and a Wednesday night! Argh. So after less than 5 hours sleep you can imagine my joy at the state of the district line this morning (PT today)...

bails87

nameinuse wrote:

Bails - sounds like an idiot with no idea of how to drive or ride safely who doesn't understand other road users are allowed to make progress despite the fact they're not a knuckle-dragger in a big white box. What you did "wrong" was riding your bike properly. Had very similar a few months back on my journey, in the end I decided to let the police explain the error of his ways to him...

Yeah, thing is, it's not even like I 'held him up' by riding in primary or anything. He was in traffic, then held up by other cars and buses, then went straight past me with no delay while I'm riding in a straight line relatively 'out of the way' by the kerb. And I'm riding like a pr$^k?

Ah well, I'm sure he's enjoying a few stress induced ulcers

Blonde Cyclist

bails87 wrote:

nameinuse wrote:

Bails - sounds like an idiot with no idea of how to drive or ride safely who doesn't understand other road users are allowed to make progress despite the fact they're not a knuckle-dragger in a big white box. What you did "wrong" was riding your bike properly. Had very similar a few months back on my journey, in the end I decided to let the police explain the error of his ways to him...

Yeah, thing is, it's not even like I 'held him up' by riding in primary or anything. He was in traffic, then held up by other cars and buses, then went straight past me with no delay while I'm riding in a straight line relatively 'out of the way' by the kerb. And I'm riding like a pr$^k?

Ah well, I'm sure he's enjoying a few stress induced ulcers

I once had a van scream blue murder at me because I hadn't moved into the curb and had stayed wide to avoid some nasty potholes. They were about 50m back so didn't have to slow and ended up waiting at the next lights where I passed them (they were in the left turn filter I wanted to go straight on). Some people just have a bee in their bonnet.

London_Falcon

Last night just turned off Putney Bridge onto Lower Richmond Road heading for RP. Mum driving her two young daughters, one in the front strapped in the other standing on the back seat with her head out of the sun roof! At 20+ mph any braking either sees this girl lose her teeth or catapults her out of the car, down the bonnet and under the front wheels. Truly insane and not pleasant to be sharing road space with, especially in stop start traffic.

And if your on here hi to the chap on the Brown Pinnacle(?) who shared my disbelief when we both stopped at the lights at the junction of Queens Ride and Upper Richmond Road.

rick_chasey

bails87 wrote:

nameinuse wrote:

Bails - sounds like an idiot with no idea of how to drive or ride safely who doesn't understand other road users are allowed to make progress despite the fact they're not a knuckle-dragger in a big white box. What you did "wrong" was riding your bike properly. Had very similar a few months back on my journey, in the end I decided to let the police explain the error of his ways to him...

Yeah, thing is, it's not even like I 'held him up' by riding in primary or anything. He was in traffic, then held up by other cars and buses, then went straight past me with no delay while I'm riding in a straight line relatively 'out of the way' by the kerb. And I'm riding like a pr$^k?

Ah well, I'm sure he's enjoying a few stress induced ulcers

Probably on a coke comedown.

Speaking as an angry man (albeit not someone who has used coke) - when you're really angry, logic has long escaped you.

rjsterry

London_Falcon wrote:

Last night just turned off Putney Bridge onto Lower Richmond Road heading for RP. Mum driving her two young daughters, one in the front strapped in the other standing on the back seat with her head out of the sun roof! At 20+ mph any braking either sees this girl lose her teeth or catapults her out of the car, down the bonnet and under the front wheels. Truly insane and not pleasant to be sharing road space with, especially in stop start traffic.

Absolute lunacy.

bails87

Re Rick's coke comment:
Is a double espresso not enough of a perk up in the morning?!

I've seen several 'free range' children standing on the back seat of cars. Absolutely shocking.

I forgot my other rant....

If you're applying chamois cream and having to lick your finger to 'wet' the electrodes on a heart rate monitor it's best to either use a different hand for each task or to do the HRM first.....yuk!

mudcow007

seen a guy this morning riding along wearing a helmet with his kid sitting on the handlebars not wearing a helmet

if anyone needs a helmet its a kid sitting on the handlebars i would have thought!!

rick_chasey

mudcow007 wrote:

seen a guy this morning riding along wearing a helmet with his kid sitting on the handlebars not wearing a helmet

if anyone needs a helmet its a kid sitting on the handlebars i would have thought!!

Haha. You'd be in for a shock if you lived in Holland .

king_jeffers

On a more serious note.... I'm in the car today... 20c+ outside