Silly commuting racing

lost_in_thought

biondino wrote:

Hey LiT, can you confirm you got round the Vauxhall one way system intact? I watched you setting off (at my advice) and from the side at least it looked like a nightmare!

Hope you were okay and had a fun party. Lovely drinks - good to meet Greg and Snooks, and also kind of good to be home relatively sober at a reasonable hour

I'm aliiiiiiiiive!

Thanks for your concern, as per the fixed thread I got to Clapham with no issues, thanks for the directions!

Good drinks again, fun to see/meet you all! I'm going to get myself some bar-end lights, they were cool.

Also, to post pretty much the same thing as I put on the other thread, I really enjoy riding around London in the dead of night - I left Clapham at 0230 and got back to Ealing a while later, it was really quiet and the roads were very empty, not windy or raining, really fun ride back and I managed to follow my series of maps with only minor issues! Must buy one of those head lamps, or maybe one of those Garmin bike gps things Jashburnham was on about!

Wrath Rob

Bummer. Ended up having a fee beers on Friday and left the bike at the office. I'm now very much not looking forwards to the 45 minute tube journey into work instead of the 40 minute ride. Think of the scalps I'm missing out on!

UnworthyPapaLazaru

Not commuting, but Im going to tell you anyway.

On my third circuit of Arthur Seat today (see the scenic thread for photos) I was at the gates at the bottom on the phone arranging a rondezvous with the family when a guy on a lovely new Bianchi passes by. My thoughts immediatley turn to catching him, and just as quickly change to 'dont be ridiculous'. I finish my call and set off in ernest. Im making steady progress and the Bianchi getting slowly closer. Upon reaching the really steep bit (where the photo doesnt do it justice - see thread noted above), I pass him! Im delighted. Me on my humble MTB with slicks have passed a road bike!! On a big bloody hill!! I make it to the summit and do a cheaky swan neck to see where he is. It is now official in my mind that I have his scalp in my pocket!! What a win, even though it is not a commute I couldnt care less. For me, this one counts.

I have to be honest though as we see the sneaky peak of the castle he passes me (again see thread noted above for aided visualisation). My excellent excuse (oh yes, there is one) is that I have arranged to meet the family just as the downhill starts to take my boy out on his bike. For the last hundered or so yards I have been swan necking as every car passes expecting to see the missus driving round. The guy probably thought I was checking his progress. I wasnt, honenst guv!

Loved it today. My first two circuits were good too, the first especially. i climbed that hill like I had never done before. Attacked at the start and kept the momentum going till the top. Great stuff. Tomorrows commute will be taken on with a spring in my step!

Greg T

Sad News I'm afraid.

I've been diagnosed with stage one man flu, a slight tickle in the back of my throat. I fear that this will progress quickly, the prognosis is not good and I may well be dead by the end of the week, if not sooner.

The ride in this morning was a horror story of no energy and low mo-jo, a disaster in gaming terms compounded by some outrageous braking for the lights ambush scalpings that drove me to unasked for counter attacks.

I think dipped too deeply into the life energy well doing a hybrid from the lights at the bottom of Tower Hill. (A very small hill for non Lahndoners - you see inclusive even when mortally ill) - it was him what done it.

I'm a goner.

Littigator

biondino wrote:

Sorry, that was meant to be a PM to Littigator

blllleeeuuurrrghhhh....cough cough.....aflllaaaarrrgghhhhh....uh uh wipes mouth

Littigator

Greg T wrote:

Sad News I'm afraid.

I've been diagnosed with stage one man flu, a slight tickle in the back of my throat. I fear that this will progress quickly, the prognosis is not good and I may well be dead by the end of the week, if not sooner.

The ride in this morning was a horror story of no energy and low mo-jo, a disaster in gaming terms compounded by some outrageous braking for the lights ambush scalpings that drove me to unasked for counter attacks.

I think dipped too deeply into the life energy well doing a hybrid from the lights at the bottom of Tower Hill. (A very small hill for non Lahndoners - you see inclusive even when mortally ill) - it was him what done it.

I'm a goner.

My wife's got a cold...hmmm...now I'm deeply suspicious!

cjcp

Greg T wrote:

Sad News I'm afraid.

I've been diagnosed with stage one man flu, a slight tickle in the back of my throat. I fear that this will progress quickly, the prognosis is not good and I may well be dead by the end of the week, if not sooner.

Your condition will probably deteriorate much quicker than you think. Best to say your "goodbyes" today.

I am in the recovery stage. I took Sudafed and Night Nurse and that seemed to do the trick.

Litts - how did Chertsey go? Get the points you need?

biondino

Morning all!

My hand is still sore and bruised from an incident this morning. I didn't come off my bike - but I smacked the car who cut me up so hard in anger that it's all swollen! Couldn't use the rear brake or stand on the hoods for the rest of the journey

Still, I managed an emergency stop that had all the passers by spontaneously applauding, so that's something.

SCR wise, I dropped a dude on a carbon Condor with Fulcrum 3s so not a scalp, but pleasing nevertheless. And then diced for a few miles with a guy on an enormous red Cannondale (with Endura overshoes - any of you lot?) on the Kings Road until he turned off.

But the most amazing thing about my commute in today is I didn't encounter ONE red light jumper. Huh.

Bassjunkieuk

BD, hope your hand feels better for the ride home. - if you hit the car hard enough to hurt your hand did you notice if you left a dent :-)

GT, I can only wish you a speedy (pun intended!) recovery but as with all cases of man-flu we have to take things hour by hour!

Back on the bike this week and heading out south west to Thames Ditton for the long and un-eventful commute. Mixing it up a bit this week tho as I'm trying some alternative routes, mostly just to get some new scenery and hills (gentle inclines for those up norf) in and secretly hoping to find some prey...

No worthy foes to speak of this morning so I set about ripping apart cyclist I could spy in the distance, usually setting myself a goal of overtaking them before a certain point. Not quite as fun as a good ol' tussle up town but beggers can't be choosers!
Did have quite a few of those satisfying "cruise past huge queues of traffic" moments, the best one being on Portsmouth Road as one of the building sites was holding up traffic in both directions in a effort to reverse a HUGE truck out! I came down the RHS of the cars (nought coming the other way!) and just flew past it all, the road was deserted after that :-)

greg66_tri_v2.0

Greg T wrote:

Sad News I'm afraid.

I've been diagnosed with stage one man flu, a slight tickle in the back of my throat. I fear that this will progress quickly, the prognosis is not good and I may well be dead by the end of the week, if not sooner.

The ride in this morning was a horror story of no energy and low mo-jo, a disaster in gaming terms compounded by some outrageous braking for the lights ambush scalpings that drove me to unasked for counter attacks.

I think dipped too deeply into the life energy well doing a hybrid from the lights at the bottom of Tower Hill. (A very small hill for non Lahndoners - you see inclusive even when mortally ill) - it was him what done it.

I'm a goner.

Oh well, never mind.

Bagsy your Lemond. :twisted:

Clever Pun

I dropped a fixed bike with the seat and bar tape I want for my project, shame he didn't have the legs... his seat was too high though and had a horrible butt shuffle wobble thing going on.. I had to pass him for the sake of my own eyes

later on the A13 2 couriers absolutely flew past me filtering through traffic, once it was clear I dropped them both like stones, but their ability to get through small gaps did impress and scare me

in other news I was coming down beckenham hil spinning my little heart out and my bag decided to move round to the front of me but since my legs were going so hard I was scared about using one hand to sort it so had to gimp pedal with the bag on my front pretty much at least till I got back on the flat... bit nerve racking

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

Litts - how did Chertsey go? Get the points you need?

I'm quite curious about this too. First, because he said it was a 3km track, which seems awfully short, but secondly, because I think anyone who moves off being a cat 4 racer is deserving of big push up the FC.

-2 for a Cat 3 racer? Or should we make the bullseye just a bit larger?

Greg T

Greg66 wrote:

Oh well, never mind.

Bagsy your Lemond. :twisted:

I have ordered my lawyers that you should only receive my oldest cycling short's gusset patch, unwashed.

I'm fading fast.

Littigator

biondino wrote:

Still, I managed an emergency stop that had all the passers by spontaneously applauding, so that's something.

Brilliant, you gotta love the fact that you had strangers applauding you. I hope you took a bow?

girv73

I had a random ped at a bus stop offer up a high five on Friday as I passed

Clever Pun

girv73 wrote:

I had a random ped at a bus stop offer up a high five on Friday as I passed

I got a chinese restaurant flyer like that

biondino

I put my rear Raceblade on the Focus to see if it would work. It did (by which I mean it neither fouled the wheel nor flew off - there wasn't any rain to test it out on properly) but I feel like I've defied its sleek contours

Greg T

Littigator wrote:

I hope you took a bow?

Who do you think he is Geronimo?

I think we discussed this over beer once but the next logical evolution of the game breaks with the "non trying" directive and we enter in open warfare.

Riding non handed with a quiver of arrows on your back you and mark filter left and right shooting arrows at each other whilst maintaining a good pace and not getting left hooked / pot holed / minced etc etc

It would up stakes considerably and end once and for all the helmet debate.

If Bows are too much we could start off small with pea shooters....

itboffin

Greg T wrote:

Sad News I'm afraid.

I've been diagnosed with stage one man flu, a slight tickle in the back of my throat. I fear that this will progress quickly, the prognosis is not good and I may well be dead by the end of the week, if not sooner.

The ride in this morning was a horror story of no energy and low mo-jo, a disaster in gaming terms compounded by some outrageous braking for the lights ambush scalpings that drove me to unasked for counter attacks.

I think dipped too deeply into the life energy well doing a hybrid from the lights at the bottom of Tower Hill. (A very small hill for non Lahndoners - you see inclusive even when mortally ill) - it was him what done it.

I'm a goner.

Is it too early for me to make a bid for your bikes? :twisted:

lost_in_thought

Greg T wrote:

If Bows are too much we could start off small with pea shooters....

Spud guns? Obligatory potato bracket on the handlebars?

I had to leave home late this morning, 1015 to be precise, and then absolutely flew in to work, managed to be only 10 minutes late for my 1030 meeting!

But no other bikes at all...

Let's all hunt down Greg T this evening with nerf pistols...

Wrath Rob

How about paint ball guns? Very satisfying and if you could string together enough hits in a short a period of time you could push your competitor into a lamp post in a comedic fashion

Bassjunkieuk

Greg T wrote:

Littigator wrote:

I hope you took a bow?

Who do you think he is Geronimo?

I think we discussed this over beer once but the next logical evolution of the game breaks with the "non trying" directive and we enter in open warfare.

Riding non handed with a quiver of arrows on your back you and mark filter left and right shooting arrows at each other whilst maintaining a good pace and not getting left hooked / pot holed / minced etc etc

It would up stakes considerably and end once and for all the helmet debate.

If Bows are too much we could start off small with pea shooters....

Small pea shooters? how about water pistols (or cannons)?? Extra care would need to be taken to account for wind and gravity then as flying along at 25+ would make for some creative trick shoots.......the term pi55ing into the wind comes to mind :-)

lost_in_thought

Littigator wrote:

biondino wrote:

Still, I managed an emergency stop that had all the passers by spontaneously applauding, so that's something.

Brilliant, you gotta love the fact that you had strangers applauding you. I hope you took a bow?

Litts stop avoiding the question! Did you win your race?

Greg T

Wrath Rob wrote:

How about paint ball guns?

You see the danger is going to be the legion of unethical moral free wheel suckers who decide that the ten feet from the stop line "count". These guys would stop nipping in front of you "again", instead they would stop behind, draw their weapon and off you in the back of the head Chinese Execution style.....

We'd have to evolve pack tactics with tandems with rear facing seats acting as rear protection.

Littigator

Alright alright no I didn't win and didn't come anywhere near winning and am extremely p*ssed off about it. In fact I think I got my worst result ever.

Cherstey is renowed for cat 4 attacks never working. Despite this I agreed (pointlessly I kept making the point beforehand) to a team attack with the three fellow Mo's I was racing with, I took an almighty turn on the front only to then realise no one else was going to do their turn as I'd apparently gone too hard for the other guys. This was on the pemultimate lap which left me with no recovery time before the sprint finish.

The guy who tried to take over from me and managed to come alongside only to say he couldn't manage any more proceeded to nick my second place :evil:

But despite all that it was good fun racing with them and we had a good laugh as we went

Oh well there's always next time, I'll be entering the Hillingdon winter series if anyone fancies it, after 3 weeks summer training in South Africa...nice

Greg66 the circuit is just under 2 miles around, it's an old MOD car test track. It's actually fairly long compared to Hillingdon (1.5kms) and Crystal Palace (1km) both quite technical crit tracks.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Littigator wrote:

Alright alright no I didn't win and didn't come anywhere near winning and am extremely p*ssed off about it. In fact I think I got my worst result ever.

Cherstey is renowed for cat 4 attacks never working. Despite this I agreed (pointlessly I kept making the point beforehand) to a team attack with the three fellow Mo's I was racing with, I took an almighty turn on the front only to then realise no one else was going to do their turn as I'd apparently gone too hard for the other guys. This was on the pemultimate lap which left me with no recovery time before the sprint finish.

The guy who tried to take over from me and managed to come alongside only to say he couldn't manage any more proceeded to nick my second place :evil:

But despite all that it was good fun racing with them and we had a good laugh as we went .

Awesome. It's like listening to Johan Bruyneel, but without the knowledge of cycling tactics.

Littigator wrote:

Greg66 the circuit is just under 2 miles around, it's an old MOD car test track. It's actually fairly long compared to Hillingdon (1.5kms) and Crystal Palace (1km) both quite technical crit tracks

Oh, that is quite long.

Must get tricky around the third and fourth feed stations

Littigator

Greg66 wrote:

Oh, that is quite long.

Must get tricky around the third and fourth feed stations

We do more than one lap ya know (harrumph)

:x

Greg T

Littigator wrote:

We do more than one lap ya know (harrumph)

:x

Is there any weaponry involved?

I fear that this topic should be "discussed" in the humming Road forum. Honestly it's just chat chat chat over there.

lost_in_thought

Littigator wrote:

Alright alright no I didn't win and didn't come anywhere near winning and am extremely p*ssed off about it. In fact I think I got my worst result ever.

Cherstey is renowed for cat 4 attacks never working. Despite this I agreed (pointlessly I kept making the point beforehand) to a team attack with the three fellow Mo's I was racing with, I took an almighty turn on the front only to then realise no one else was going to do their turn as I'd apparently gone too hard for the other guys. This was on the pemultimate lap which left me with no recovery time before the sprint finish.

The guy who tried to take over from me and managed to come alongside only to say he couldn't manage any more proceeded to nick my second place :evil:

But despite all that it was good fun racing with them and we had a good laugh as we went

Oh well there's always next time, I'll be entering the Hillingdon winter series if anyone fancies it, after 3 weeks summer training in South Africa...nice

Greg66 the circuit is just under 2 miles around, it's an old MOD car test track. It's actually fairly long compared to Hillingdon (1.5kms) and Crystal Palace (1km) both quite technical crit tracks.

Litts, what it sounds like to me is that you're too fast for all the other Cat 4s and should be immediately promoted to Cat 3!

So how does one qualify for said winter series? Do you have to join a team?

cjcp

Littigator wrote:

Alright alright no I didn't win and didn't come anywhere near winning and am extremely p*ssed off about it. In fact I think I got my worst result ever.

Cherstey is renowed for cat 4 attacks never working. Despite this I agreed (pointlessly I kept making the point beforehand) to a team attack with the three fellow Mo's I was racing with, I took an almighty turn on the front only to then realise no one else was going to do their turn as I'd apparently gone too hard for the other guys. This was on the pemultimate lap which left me with no recovery time before the sprint finish.

The guy who tried to take over from me and managed to come alongside only to say he couldn't manage any more proceeded to nick my second place :evil:

But despite all that it was good fun racing with them and we had a good laugh as we went

Oh well there's always next time, I'll be entering the Hillingdon winter series if anyone fancies it, after 3 weeks summer training in South Africa...nice

Greg66 the circuit is just under 2 miles around, it's an old MOD car test track. It's actually fairly long compared to Hillingdon (1.5kms) and Crystal Palace (1km) both quite technical crit tracks.

Schoolboy error, Litts.

From my experience at Hillingdon, you have two options:

1. Identify the juniors who look fast and get at the front on the start line, and see if the juniors are riding together. If they are, it suggests that they are going to break, so watch them. They will make the break, then ride at a high pace, share the work (I think because they have no points to go for because they're too young. I could be wrong).

2. If you can sprint at 40mph, stay in the front 10 wheels and then welly it from just after the final bend whcih takes you onto the final straight. Win outright and you move up to Cat 3 straight away, otherwise, this should ensure that you are consistently in the top 10.

This coming from the presently asthamtic warthog who hasn't raced since February :roll: