Silly commuting racing

UnworthyPapaLazaru

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, cold this morning. Had to pull the football socks up over the knees a la Tierry Henry and put gloves on. I also didnt chage gear or stop peddling, just undertaking a few experiments before making decisions on SS/F bikes.

girv73

Fat, smoking spide (you call 'em Chavs) at a bus stop yesterday shouts over to me "Waaaa sell that f**king bike and get a caaaarrrrr". I was quite please with myself by managing to get out "It's quicker by bike, d**khead" in response

womble88 wrote:

I'd still much rather have cycled than got the train/tube [snip] but just being out and about on the bike to start the day - well nothing can beat it can it?

Had too much cargo for the backpack today so I had to hitch a lift in ... yeah, what you said. Lovely crisp, bright morning in Belfast, and I'm sitting in the traffic queue :roll:

cjcp

Greg66 wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

Kudos for not buying a Trek. Nasty ugly things they are, mmm.

Quite. And often ridden by oafs, as far as I can tell.

Felts are proper cool.

Ok, ok, ok; slow down, everyone. Before you all get all starry-eyed over Snooks' very nice new steed, you all appear to have missed a very important fact: it's got a <very loud cough> compact chainset.

(It is a nice bike though. )

snooks

Out on the old commuter this morning...not a lot of target acton at all....but chuffing bell the bike racks were full at work...I rekon loads of people went to freewheel and left their bikes here. :shock:

I was going to take it easy this morning, but the game plays me, and who am I to decide how fast I'm going to cycle to work, they're only my legs after all, but it's the way of the game that I won't be beaten...EVER! :twisted:

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

Ok, ok, ok; slow down, everyone. Before you all get all starry-eyed over Snooks' very nice new steed, you all appear to have missed a very important fact: it's got a <very loud cough> compact chainset.

(It is a nice bike though. )

Has it :shock: ?

Errrrrrr! Snooks is a girl! Snooks is a girl! Quick, hit him!

il_principe

cjcp wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

Kudos for not buying a Trek. Nasty ugly things they are, mmm.

Quite. And often ridden by oafs, as far as I can tell.

Felts are proper cool.

Ok, ok, ok; slow down, everyone. Before you all get all starry-eyed over Snooks' very nice new steed, you all appear to have missed a very important fact: it's got a <very loud cough> compact chainset.

(It is a nice bike though. )

Nothing wrong with a compact matey! A double is all well and good if you restrict your cycling to English hills - bit for those of us who fancy tackling proper Euro style cols I can assure you a compact is the way to go...

biondino

My focus has a compact and a 12/27 cassette. Anyone want to tell me I'm a girl?

Man, I hate the Trek. Today was my second day of commuting with it and god, it's such an effort! It makes me realise quite how much of my performance IS down to the Focus usually (though the speedo isn't working on the Trek at the moment so I guess it's possible I'm going faster - yeah, right). It's just so lumpen! With the Focus, if I want to go faster, I pedal harder, and accelerate until I hit my chosen speed. With the Trek, I pedal harder, it sort of wheezes and moans, and each extra mph seems harder than the last.

Coming in from Chiswick today, along High Street Ken, ALL the riders I cam across RLJed. All of them. What a bunch of c*cks.

Womble - what time do you ride?

snooks

Greg66 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Ok, ok, ok; slow down, everyone. Before you all get all starry-eyed over Snooks' very nice new steed, you all appear to have missed a very important fact: it's got a <very loud cough> compact chainset.

(It is a nice bike though. )

Has it :shock: ?

Errrrrrr! Snooks is a girl! Snooks is a girl! Quick, hit him!

I've heard all about you and your (almost) matching tarty ways

il_principe

biondino wrote:

My focus has a compact and a 12/27 cassette. Anyone want to tell me I'm a girl?

memememmeme, actually 12/27 is a bit girly for London!

Why not try an 11/21 or 11/23?

greg66_tri_v2.0

biondino wrote:

My focus has a compact and a 12/27 cassette. Anyone want to tell me I'm a girl?

Errrrrrr! biondino is a girl! biondino is a girl! Quick, hit him!


This will run & run...

biondino

Because I can surpass 40mph in 50/12 and when I do encounter a hill (I take my bike out of town every now and then - it'll be enjoying the South Downs on the weekend) I sob like a baby if I can't climb it easily.

greg66_tri_v2.0

snooks wrote:

I've heard all about you and your (almost) matching tarty ways

Ah. Yes.

Well today it's all blue. Except from the neck up, where it's red.

Tarty? Moi? Mais non!

biondino

p.s. there is an N in my name. BioNdino.

lost_in_thought

If you're FCN 0 does that mean that is a scooter overtakes you the scooter-rider gets a scalp?

That must be really hard work...

greg66_tri_v2.0

biondino wrote:

p.s. there is an N in my name. BioNdino.

So there is. Now

greg66_tri_v2.0

lost_in_thought wrote:

If you're FCN 0 does that mean that is a scooter overtakes you the scooter-rider gets a scalp?

That must be really hard work...

No, cos scooter riders aren't allowed to play. They're just there to be scalped. Like the Christians and the lions - the Christians participated, but weren't really allowed the play the whole fighting game thing.

Coriander

Where's Mr Attica this week - has he been eaten alive after his Cheddar Challenge sportive thread in the Sportives section? His comments didn't go down well.

Littigator

BD and snooks are both big girls they need duffing up at breaktime

Anyway on a lighter note...WTF is going on with my form of late? Yesterday coming in I had another fixie giving me gyp until he RLJd to escape the world of hurt I was about to lay down upon him.

Last night I had to extend my ride home by an extra bridge along the river just to make sure the brace of Condors I was sparring with (one geared, one singlie) got the 'don't mess with me message' I was making LOUD and CLEAR!

And the worst of all, this morning, another fixie (sans brakes, does this guy have a deathwish) had me wheezing like a geriatric just trying to hold a decent 25mph form all the way along Embankment

Would someone please send over a big fat cup of toughen the f*** up because I'm getting desparate here.

I think I might go and have a quiet little cry somewhere

dav1

lost_in_thought wrote:

If you're FCN 0 does that mean that is a scooter overtakes you the scooter-rider gets a scalp?

That must be really hard work...

With all the rules accounted for scooters arnt a scalp for some serious players

Scooter FCN1
Clothing - normal +2
pedals - flats i guess +1

Total = 4

roger_merriman

biondino wrote:

Because I can surpass 40mph in 50/12 and when I do encounter a hill (I take my bike out of town every now and then - it'll be enjoying the South Downs on the weekend) I sob like a baby if I can't climb it easily.

well quite, while it's true that london area don't offer massive, or steep hills, having bail out gears is good, plus my knees don't take kindly to me grinding up, and well i still visit my folks who live half way up a steep sided gorge, lots of double arrows around the roads...

lost_in_thought

Dav1 wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

If you're FCN 0 does that mean that is a scooter overtakes you the scooter-rider gets a scalp?

That must be really hard work...

With all the rules accounted for scooters arnt a scalp for some serious players

Scooter FCN1
Clothing - normal +2
pedals - flats i guess +1

Total = 4

I think there should maybe be a special FCN condition:

'engine = -10' or something...

And Litts, it could be fixed gear fatigue... your legs are slowly dying from the extra work or something. A friend of mine was telling me about this - apparently you have to take breaks from riding fixed every so often to give the muscles time to rest.

Obviously I told him to man up and pedal properly. I mean really. What a wuss. I'm going to go round there and steal his lunch money...

cjcp

Littigator wrote:

BD and snooks are both big girls they need duffing up at breaktime

Anyway on a lighter note...WTF is going on with my form of late? Yesterday coming in I had another fixie giving me gyp until he RLJd to escape the world of hurt I was about to lay down upon him.

Last night I had to extend my ride home by an extra bridge along the river just to make sure the brace of Condors I was sparring with (one geared, one singlie) got the 'don't mess with me message' I was making LOUD and CLEAR!

And the worst of all, this morning, another fixie (sans brakes, does this guy have a deathwish) had me wheezing like a geriatric just trying to hold a decent 25mph form all the way along Embankment

Would someone please send over a big fat cup of toughen the f*** up because I'm getting desparate here.

I think I might go and have a quiet little cry somewhere

Oh dear. It seems that you are becoming a girl. (No offence, Cori, Lit)

Perhaps it's the headwinds we face when travellin east. Oh, hang on, nope, I too was heading east this morning and wasn't overtaken. Yes, it does indeed appear that you are becoming a girl. :twisted:

greg66_tri_v2.0

Littigator wrote:

BD and snooks are both big girls they need duffing up at breaktime

Anyway on a lighter note...WTF is going on with my form of late? Yesterday coming in I had another fixie giving me gyp until he RLJd to escape the world of hurt I was about to lay down upon him.

Last night I had to extend my ride home by an extra bridge along the river just to make sure the brace of Condors I was sparring with (one geared, one singlie) got the 'don't mess with me message' I was making LOUD and CLEAR!

And the worst of all, this morning, another fixie (sans brakes, does this guy have a deathwish) had me wheezing like a geriatric just trying to hold a decent 25mph form all the way along Embankment

Would someone please send over a big fat cup of toughen the f*** up because I'm getting desparate here.

I think I might go and have a quiet little cry somewhere

Just give me a moment to don white lab coat, grab my clipboard and grow my forehead a foot up into the sky.

Now, where are my thick glasses and stick-on unkempt beard, and is that camera shooting in black & white?

If you ride at threshold week after week you're going to collapse into a heap at some point. Or get a cold. Or both. Three weeks - max 4 - of increasing your personal pain, then a week to recuperate. Basically periodic training techniques. I had a nice spell in July in which every week for 4 in a row I ramped up slightly the average wattage over the previous week's average. Fifth week, the mind was willing but the legs were already in the departure lounge, tapping impatiently and waiting for the flight to be announced. Nothing there. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

I think those in the know call it "active recovery". I used to call it faggy, but now I call it salvation. It's all about a more measured effort in that recovery week. And picking your travel time.

This programme will be repeated at 5.40am on BBC 2 this coming Friday. Thank you.

greg66_tri_v2.0

On second thoughts, CJ has it right. Unlucky Litts :twisted:

lost_in_thought

Greg66 wrote:

On second thoughts, CJ has it right. Unlucky Litts :twisted:

snooks

cjcp wrote:

Yes, it does indeed appear that you are becoming a girl. :twisted:

Littigator is a girly, Littigator is a girly Lets pull here hair and nick her satchel...and I mean she's a weak girly that can't even ride a bike....

She started it!

Littigator

So the various bits of advice are

1. Man up stop being a girl

2. Stop being a girl I'll steal your lunch money

3. You have to rest for a bitstroke beard thoughtfully, polish forehead (that means getting overtaken...I'm not sure I can bare that)

On a slightly more serious note, it does feel like my legs just haven't got the form they had last week. I did some fairly tough hill climb intervals on Sunday, then yesterday had a hard gym session focusing on backs of legs and bum so I think none of that has helped. Perhaps I'd just better pootle on the roadie for a bit. Maybe I need some calm music on the iPod to help slow me down?

cjcp

Rain. By the bucket load. Here comes the winter. What a bunch of ar se.

Coriander

Greg66 wrote:

On second thoughts, CJ has it right. Unlucky Litts :twisted:

Snork

snooks

cjcp wrote:

Rain. By the bucket load. Here comes the winter. What a bunch of ar se.

Yup, yup yup...rain galore over auld laandan taan...wind is still in the east though...so it's not all bad news