Silly commuting racing
Comments
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I'm definitely not trying to mix it, as evidenced by the fact I ride in work clothes and trainers with toe clips.
And fall off with alarming regularity. (Although funnily enough, not from the SS. Yet)
Just as with anything in life, there are myriad reasons for people to choose to ride a certain bike, and showing off is not everyone's main motivation.0 -
jedster wrote:I'm going to challenge the emerging (and frankly shameful) consensus that fixies should be pushed down below hairy roadies.
CHOOSING fixed or SS you are making a statement about your cycling prowess, insider knowledge and general too-cool-for-schoolness. In the terms of The Game you are saying "I can still mix it with you lot on greared bikes despite the handicap". It's this presumption that leaves you vulnerable to scalping by unshowy, pragmatic hairy roadies.
So to summarise, stop wingeing and MTFU.
J
I'd like to invoke the ancient bird right of flip flopping and say that Jedster's words have big medicine and I'm now changing my mind again......
He's right you know.....
Hmmmmm
I'm going to have a look in the bogs to see if my knackers really have been absorbed...Fixed gear for wet weather / hairy roadie for posing in the sun.
What would Thora Hurd do?0 -
I thought of another question do i get points for overtaking cars (downhill following wind broken breaks) and yes i may have a levellers album or two but no self respecting beardy would be caught dead in footwear then we couldn't show off our strange suedo-hippy-pagan manliness0
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That's a point, also what about trains, and busses. Assuming it is on the open road.
I got a train on friday evening, the driver looked sad...
I propose, busses have an FCN of -2, cars -5 and trains -10...0 -
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I know I'm only new here but can anyone use the phrase 'MTFU'
Would it be inappropriate when my 4 year old son wont eat his dinner or throws a tantrum becuse the TV dares show the wrong 'Thomas the Tank Engine' episodes
What about my wife complaining that being pregnant with twins is leaving her feeling v tired
Or when my daughter complains about getting her hair washed
Your advice would be welcome, it's hard to know the correct etiquette these days
(yeah you did count that right -4 kids)“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0 -
WheezyMcChubby wrote:I know I'm only new here but can anyone use the phrase 'MTFU'
Would it be inappropriate when my 4 year old son wont eat his dinner or throws a tantrum becuse the TV dares show the wrong 'Thomas the Tank Engine' episodes
What about my wife complaining that being pregnant with twins is leaving her feeling v tired
Or when my daughter complains about getting her hair washed
Your advice would be welcome, it's hard to know the correct etiquette these days
(yeah you did count that right -4 kids)
The same answer applies to all three situations. Yes you can, but not in earshot of the wife!
[EDIT] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unkIVvjZc9Y
Contains swearing if you/your work are sensitive about such things [/EDIT]FCN 7- Tourer, panniers, Lycra and clipless
What is this game you speak of? Of course I'm not playing...0 -
I have consulted the ancient texts. Starting with page 26 of this thread:Greg66 wrote:One thing puzzles me about this "Food Chain", I confess. Why is there any honour in any roadie scalping a fixed? A roadie should always be able to scalp a fixed, because he has taller gearing at his disposal. I have always felt cheated when I have swept by a rider, only to see that they have a child's gearing.
And then this, on page 39Greg66 wrote:cjcp wrote:Remind me though: why are Singlies on a fixed higher up the FC than a hairy-legged roadie? I don't mind picking up points all day long ( 8) ), but just wondering.
I don't think they should be. But there are some properly fast singlies out there, and that's a proper scalp to be had. I agree with Greg T that the majority should be below hairy roadies, but there is a small subset of singlies who have evolved fast enough legs to warrant being between smooth & hairies. Judgment is for the hairy roadie to make when they take them
The ancients resolved this by creating the proper rapid/the fauxs distinction. Perhaps now the time has come to adopt a distinction between "Proper rapid" and "the rest". If you're a geared roadie, and you have to work effortlessly to take the singly, then he's "proper rapid". Otherwise, he's below you in the FC.
I think the Council must consider again the meaning of the ancient texts ...0 -
Who decides the FC ranks?0
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WheezyMcChubby wrote:
(yeah you did count that right -4 kids)
Ha! That still puts you about 7 below one of the "regulars" here (although how he has the time to be a regular here is beyond me).0 -
Just as with anything in life, there are myriad reasons for people to choose to ride a certain bike, and showing off is not everyone's main motivation.
Trust the ladies to inject a dose of common sense into proceedings. All very laudible EXCEPT
Point of order!
With the exception of the crucial "don't ride like a tw*t" point in our constitution, there is no place in this thread for common sense.
I too would argue that my SS is a pragmatic choice - my gear avoidance is all about making maintenance simple. Actually that's almost true. Well, there's a grain of truth anyway.
There is a good way of testing honesty on this front - does your fixie/ss have a rack and mudguards? If yes, you just might be able to sell me the "it's not a fashion statement" line. (and of course FCN adjustments already cover such things).
J0 -
Jen J wrote:Who decides the FC ranks?
They are the immutable word of God (Thor - official Game God) delivered through his prophets in visions and hallucinations.
The truth of word becomes law through the debate of devotees and hermits. Doctrine emerges and the best joke wins.Fixed gear for wet weather / hairy roadie for posing in the sun.
What would Thora Hurd do?0 -
jedster wrote:Just as with anything in life, there are myriad reasons for people to choose to ride a certain bike, and showing off is not everyone's main motivation.
Trust the ladies to inject a dose of common sense into proceedings. All very laudible EXCEPT
Point of order!
With the exception of the crucial "don't ride like a tw*t" point in our constitution, there is no place in this thread for common sense.
I too would argue that my SS is a pragmatic choice - my gear avoidance is all about making maintenance simple. Actually that's almost true. Well, there's a grain of truth anyway.
There is a good way of testing honesty on this front - does your fixie/ss have a rack and mudguards? If yes, you just might be able to sell me the "it's not a fashion statement" line. (and of course FCN adjustments already cover such things).
J
No mudguards as I live in Wimbledon, where the roads these days are generally tarmacked rather than mudtracks
. And I don't have a rack as I have a rucksack to carry my stuff to and from the gym at lunchtime.
My reasons for getting into SS (not progressed to the fixie side yet) are that I fell in love with the Bowery, wasn't really getting on with gears, liked the simplicity and low maintenance, and wanted to quickly build biking specific leg muscles.
But surely biking in jeans and trainers way overides a mudguard and rack?
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Greg T wrote:Jen J wrote:Who decides the FC ranks?
They are the immutable word of God (Thor - official Game God) delivered through his prophets in visions and hallucinations.
The truth of word becomes law through the debate of devotees and hermits. Doctrine emerges and the best joke wins.
Ah. I understand.0 -
Greg T wrote:Jen J wrote:Who decides the FC ranks?
They are the immutable word of God (Thor - official Game God) delivered through his prophets in visions and hallucinations.
The truth of word becomes law through the debate of devotees and hermits. Doctrine emerges and the best joke wins.
Ah. I understand.0 -
My *only* reason for not advocating now that all SS-ers sit below all roadies is that there's this guy on the Embankment...
I think he might be a rower: his shorts are just a little too short. And there's a top bit to them (like bibs) which aren't bibs. He rides a SS, and I swear if he's not on 56x13 I need an eyetest. Mercifully he's a masher. Maybe he has to be with that gearing. But once he's wound himself up, he's not easy to despatch, and if he were able to spin up to 90+ and hold it we'd all be toast. Every last one of us.
Maybe he's as common as a winged unicorn in a top quality glue factory. But he's real, and so there's a need for something to hold a place for SSers above hairy roadies.0 -
jedster wrote:
There is a good way of testing honesty on this front - does your fixie/ss have a rack and mudguards? If yes, you just might be able to sell me the "it's not a fashion statement" line. (and of course FCN adjustments already cover such things).
J
Aha! It does! I regularly cycle around on my fixed with 2 panniers, if not 2 then at least one... and therefore I have to have a rack...0 -
Ah, the rowing cyclists are amusing. You should see the universty womens boat peloton cycling to radleigh for training... Now that is rapid.
We had one guy, rode a BSO full sus piece of junk with huge tryes that were normally flat, but could quite happily cycle alongside roadies who were pushing fairly hard and hold a gentle conversation. He's now got a road bike and is proper rapid.0 -
Greg66 wrote:My *only* reason for not advocating now that all SS-ers sit below all roadies is that there's this guy on the Embankment...
I think he might be a rower: his shorts are just a little too short. And there's a top bit to them (like bibs) which aren't bibs. He rides a SS, and I swear if he's not on 56x13 I need an eyetest. Mercifully he's a masher. Maybe he has to be with that gearing. But once he's wound himself up, he's not easy to despatch, and if he were able to spin up to 90+ and hold it we'd all be toast. Every last one of us.
Maybe he's as common as a winged unicorn in a top quality glue factory. But he's real, and so there's a need for something to hold a place for SSers above hairy roadies.
Greg, your being too slow to dispatch this one guy is not the firm grounds upon which FCN classifications are established...0 -
Greg T wrote:jedster wrote:I'm going to challenge the emerging (and frankly shameful) consensus that fixies should be pushed down below hairy roadies.
CHOOSING fixed or SS you are making a statement about your cycling prowess, insider knowledge and general too-cool-for-schoolness. In the terms of The Game you are saying "I can still mix it with you lot on greared bikes despite the handicap". It's this presumption that leaves you vulnerable to scalping by unshowy, pragmatic hairy roadies.
So to summarise, stop wingeing and MTFU.
J
I'd like to invoke the ancient bird right of flip flopping and say that Jedster's words have big medicine and I'm now changing my mind again......
He's right you know.....
Hmmmmm
I'm going to have a look in the bogs to see if my knackers really have been absorbed...
A-ha! The fixies have employed The Argument of Last Resort, The Final Refuge of The Desperate when they know they're beaten: ok, I'm slower, but I look cooler. It's like reorting to the Human Rights Act when you know you've nowt else to go on. (G66 will appreciate this.
)
If s/he is proper rapid, and they overtake you (not merely draft you, because that's being a wuss of the highest order), you're beaten and you can have no complaints. But that's for the fixie/SSer to prove and to basically sort themselves from the chaff that rides SS/fixies.
Down the Food Chain you go, chaps/chapettes.
<puts tin hat on and ducks. G66 - you wanna ride in convoy tonight? I'll keep watch up front, while you act as tailgunner?> FCN 2-4.
"What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
"It stays down, Daddy."
"Exactly."0 -
lost_in_thought wrote:Greg66 wrote:My *only* reason for not advocating now that all SS-ers sit below all roadies is that there's this guy on the Embankment...
I think he might be a rower: his shorts are just a little too short. And there's a top bit to them (like bibs) which aren't bibs. He rides a SS, and I swear if he's not on 56x13 I need an eyetest. Mercifully he's a masher. Maybe he has to be with that gearing. But once he's wound himself up, he's not easy to despatch, and if he were able to spin up to 90+ and hold it we'd all be toast. Every last one of us.
Maybe he's as common as a winged unicorn in a top quality glue factory. But he's real, and so there's a need for something to hold a place for SSers above hairy roadies.
Greg, your being too slow to dispatch this one guy is not the firm grounds upon which FCN classifications are established...
That's him!
Big guy, wears a baseball cap (not cycling cap) blue Ribble bike, six foot legs - very very rapid!
This bloke is proper very rapid singlie.
perhaps this is my mistake. I'm mistaking myself for rapid and in fact I am not.....
I'm going to meditate on this.....Fixed gear for wet weather / hairy roadie for posing in the sun.
What would Thora Hurd do?0 -
Greg66 wrote:My *only* reason for not advocating now that all SS-ers sit below all roadies is that there's this guy on the Embankment...
I think he might be a rower: his shorts are just a little too short. And there's a top bit to them (like bibs) which aren't bibs. He rides a SS, and I swear if he's not on 56x13 I need an eyetest. Mercifully he's a masher. Maybe he has to be with that gearing. But once he's wound himself up, he's not easy to despatch, and if he were able to spin up to 90+ and hold it we'd all be toast. Every last one of us.
Maybe he's as common as a winged unicorn in a top quality glue factory. But he's real, and so there's a need for something to hold a place for SSers above hairy roadies.
You're talking seriously short? And he wears a t-shirt? If so, he was unashamedly dfrafting Stevenson' Sprocket last week and his legs are the size of pre-school children. But, he's the one which will rise to the top and prove the exception to the rule and scalp you.FCN 2-4.
"What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
"It stays down, Daddy."
"Exactly."0 -
lost_in_thought wrote:Greg, your being too slow to dispatch this one guy is not the firm grounds upon which FCN classifications are established...
Now now, dearie, don't get caught up in the feeding frenzy,,,
I said it wasn't easy to despatch him. Not that I couldn't.
And plainly you've not spent enough time around me to realise that in the Greg66-centric world I inhabit, this more than ample justification to re-write the FCN. 0 -
cjcp wrote:
<puts tin hat on and ducks. G66 - you wanna ride in convoy tonight? I'll keep watch up front, while you act as tailgunner?>
G66
Sure. In fact, what I've got in mind is when Aragorn and King Theoden ride out from Helm's Deep through the massed orks ...
Except tonight will be worse.
For the Orks. :twisted:0 -
Greg66 wrote:cjcp wrote:
<puts tin hat on and ducks. G66 - you wanna ride in convoy tonight? I'll keep watch up front, while you act as tailgunner?>
G66
Sure. In fact, what I've got in mind is when Aragorn and King Theoden ride out from Helm's Deep through the massed orks ...
Except tonight will be worse.
For the Orks. :twisted:
:twisted:FCN 2-4.
"What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
"It stays down, Daddy."
"Exactly."0 -
Greg66 wrote:Sure. In fact, what I've got in mind is when Aragorn and King Theoden ride out from Helm's Deep through the massed orks ...
I'm thinking this sounds more like Leonidas and chums
More knickers than M and SFixed gear for wet weather / hairy roadie for posing in the sun.
What would Thora Hurd do?0 -
Greg T wrote:That's him!
Big guy, wears a baseball cap (not cycling cap) blue Ribble bike, six foot legs - very very rapid!
This bloke is proper very rapid singlie.
perhaps this is my mistake. I'm mistaking myself for rapid and in fact I am not.....
I'm going to meditate on this.....
He is a big bugger. I can't remember the headgear. What I do remember is this gigantic USA-style dinner plate he was using at the front, and the fifty pence piece at the back.
There's another possible rower who rides geared. Worked with him from Lambeth Br to Chelsea Br. Again, really short shorts, red this time, with a bib/top rolled down just like the dinner plate driver. Leg length suggested about 6'4" tall. Skinny calves but these gigantic saddle bags on the outside of his quads. I think they were another pair of quads he'd stolen and stuck on. Towed him, took a tow, and towed him. That was as much frontline action as I fancied that evening. But he rides geared and uses his gears to boot. The one I'm referring to is very definitely SS.0 -
Greg T wrote:Greg66 wrote:Sure. In fact, what I've got in mind is when Aragorn and King Theoden ride out from Helm's Deep through the massed orks ...
I'm thinking this sounds more like Leonidas and chums
More knickers than M and S
It's no accident, I take it, that that's cropped to the right shape to be your next avatar, is it? :twisted:0 -
Greg66 wrote:The one I'm referring to is very definitely SS.
Yep he's a regular,
He waits at Parliament Sq just after the car entrance to Westminster Palace for his girlfriend (also on a bike also rapid) he then blasts the length of the embankment (dropping his GF in the process) then waits for her again just after the Cheyne Walk garage going into Fulham.
He drafted me once - I made a one way, suicide, all or nothing , leave nothing in the tank and unload glory dash. In fairness to him he sat on me for all of - oh 300 m before getting bored and ramming me stupid.Fixed gear for wet weather / hairy roadie for posing in the sun.
What would Thora Hurd do?0 -
Greg T wrote:Greg66 wrote:Sure. In fact, what I've got in mind is when Aragorn and King Theoden ride out from Helm's Deep through the massed orks ...
I'm thinking this sounds more like Leonidas and chums
More knickers than M and S
my first thought was.... bet they would struggle up a big hill
closely followed by does a cloak count as baggies?Nothing in life can not be improved with either monkeys, pirates or ninjas
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