Silly commuting racing

snooks

Greg T wrote:

Something occured to me last night....

Mud Guards.....

When it was still sunny and dry we mockingly punished mud guards as cyclofurniture and they carried heavt penalty.

[snippity snip]

What do we think?

Tourers have mudguards, for everyone else it's optional, bit like a helmet....just cos the users of mud guards are girly and are afraid of an ickle bit of wet water (and should frankly MTFU), it don't mean they should take a hit on their FCN

Being seen with mud guards is penalty enough...doncha think??
.

Bassjunkieuk

I have to admit I was almost persuaded into mudguards after following a rather rapid singlie pver Blackfriars Bridge. He had race blades and they didn't look massively out of place....I also once saw a roadie with a very low mtb style plastic one that sat just above his wheel.

I of course then snapped out of it and though "wtf, it's only water and my clothes dry!!! i can't sodomize the beautiful lines of my bike for the sake of a bit of comfort 2 weeks a year!!!!"

That and the Chief Accountant vetoed the idea of spending another £40 on me and my bike.........besides in wet weather it stops the klingons as they get a face full of crud if they follow your naked wheel to close :twisted:

biondino

I have raceblades but have only worn the rear one once. It wasn't properly fitted (despite a lot of tweaking!) and skimmed a rice crispie sized agglomeration of rubber from my precious Ultremo.

However, the idea is they'll go on my Trek, and as soon as I decide to commute in the rain, I'll fit them. Or maybe this weekend.

snooks

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

In wet weather it stops the klingons as they get a face full of crud if they follow your naked wheel to close :twisted:

I did wonder why there was no one near me going down the Embankment in the rain the other night...I just came to the conclusion that I'm so damn fast that nobody could keep up :roll: ...guess I just blinded the wheel suckers that usually tail me....I'm going to get some leaves and let them flutter out of mu bag as I hit the Embankment.....Lets see if that keeps them off my back wheel....Dangerous thing leaves!

Clever Pun

Greg66 wrote:

Greg T wrote:

Mud Guards.....

...suck, and no mistaking.

They're one step away from riding with an umbrella up.

And a Ribble with mudguards so obviously says "This is my training bike."

"If you train, why are you so fracking pedestrian, you old woman?"

and nothing says I'm not trying like riding with an umbrella

Totalnewbie

I have mudguards, but then I also have a tourer. It is not only water, it is all the other assorted road crud that makes a black line of crap up your back. Sod that. I think the SKS ones look perfectly fine.

Kieran_Burns

My excuse is my 4+ miles down a bridleway - it took one trip in the wet down there to convince me.

full mudguards = halving my water bill so I don't have to spray clean the bike after every shower, AND fling all my kit in the wash.

knight2k

I agree with Totalnewbie - I'd definately rather not have that black stripe down my back when I arrive at the office in the morning.

On a separate note did I spy your name down for some filming on Sunday in Surrey. Are we going to be on telly together again?

Brixtonbiker

I have race blades and love em
Fit on and off in seconds. stay in place on my pearson touche.
I hate that grey gritty road crud stuff all over me.
Now i get to work when its rainning with mostly dry feet and a dry bum.
My white bib shorts stay lovely and white as well.
Without guards you get more wet from the spary off the wheels than the rain itself.

cjcp

No to mudguards on the commute. The spray keeps drafting fairies away. I know that's selfish, but I don't care.( ) I don't like people drafting me in the wet, when visibility is likely to be reduced and stopping distances increase.

On the club run, it's sociable to use mudguards, but I haven't been on a club run in ages, let alone in the wet, so don't own any.

Totalnewbie

Ah so you're that Darren! I completely forgot what you said your username was.

Yes you did, I'm on for Sunday and another day. I'll be bringing the hybrid as it said something about a grassy track and it's a bit more forgiving...

Have you done any of the other days?

knight2k

Sunday will be my 3rd out of 5 days. I had plenty of holiday left this year. It's just like the BBC gig - lots of waiting around.

I've been using my road bike which has been just about ok. I wished I'd brought my commuter or booze bike at times though.

DavidBelcher

Greg66 wrote:

Greg T wrote:

Mud Guards.....

...suck, and no mistaking.

They're one step away from riding with an umbrella up.

I've had some ropey 'guards gown the years (plastic ones which tended to fall to bits inside 6 months), but have yet to own a pair that blew inside-out in a strong wind.
Now have a nice metal pair which are refreshingly clatter-free, robust and allow me to turn up for work without a wet bum.

David

DavidBelcher

biondino wrote:

I have raceblades but have only worn the rear one once. It wasn't properly fitted (despite a lot of tweaking!) and skimmed a rice crispie sized agglomeration of rubber from my precious Ultremo.

However, the idea is they'll go on my Trek, and as soon as I decide to commute in the rain, I'll fit them. Or maybe this weekend.

I had a pair of Raceblade-style mudguards (by Zefal) which spent most of their time rubbing my tyres (cheapo Vredestein Ricorsos, fortunately durable enough to withstand it) in spite of hours of tweaking. As soon as they'd fallen to bits sufficiently to warrant new 'guards, in the bin they went. 20 quid not very well spent.

David

Jay dubbleU

Nice new shiny Crudcatchers fore and aft which haven't (as yet) even seen mud - I reckon the back one is short enough to put off drafters without me getting a black back - its not the rain I mind - its the crap off the road - grit, dog cr*p, dead rats whatever.

WFH - working from home for the Italians amongst us

gb155

I forgot to mention in this mornings update that I had actually had some scalps in the last 2 weeks, Mainly students, old people pootling but I will take what I can get lol, I was scalped TWICE by the same person tonight, in fairness I was right at the end of my ride and he looked fresh but still it was humbling lol

lost_in_thought

Clever Pun wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

Greg T wrote:

Mud Guards.....

...suck, and no mistaking.

They're one step away from riding with an umbrella up.

And a Ribble with mudguards so obviously says "This is my training bike."

"If you train, why are you so fracking pedestrian, you old woman?"

and nothing says I'm not trying like riding with an umbrella

And what's more it's actually not that difficult... riding around Oxford when I was at uni I regularly used to use a brolly in the rain... on my shopper bike with its baskets. Shame I didn't know the game existed then...

In other news, due to a week of ridiculous travel I haven'tbeen able to cycle to work once this week. Looking forward to tomorrow!

Nevis the Cat

Me, nice clear autumnal day so I hops on the Pinarello Prince, full Record carbon and Zipps, Off I trot overtaking punters left right and centre.

On the way back home from Leeds I pull up next to a ratter, a real old thing with canti brakes. Odd I thought, but not much more. The lights changed and I set off ahead of the lad on the ratter. 1 minute later he came past me as if he had a rocket up his arse. I tried desperately to sit on his wheel but ended up blowing and sweating like a glassblower's arse.

At the next lights I caught up and managed to look at the rider. Mr Jebb smiled at me in acknowledgement and promptly set off again as if he had been stapled to a Porsche.

Moral - Fat punters should never think you are as good as thier ride!!

TheMightyHet

Ha! After a few weeks of riding to work and not seeing anyone on a bike on my side of the road, I finally spotted someone! Who I whizzed past and tried not to grin about finally earning some points and joining in on the silly commuting racing fun!! lol

biondino

Hey LiT, you have a PM! From me I mean, not some dirty perve.... oh.

DiggingDeeper

Nevis the Cat .

Moral - Fat punters should never think you are as good as thier ride!!

Acknowledged, but never stop trying though!!!!

The Chingford Skinhead

Mud guards? I love them. It sorts out the fashionestas and posers from the real men. When I ordered my commuting bike from London Fields Cycles (a seriously good shop) I asked for mudguards and a rack to be fitted. The young lad serving was a bit horrified but I didn't care. Anyone who thinks being soaking wet with a brown muddy streak up your behind and on your back is more cool than having mudguards and being clean is simply deluding themselves. They're the sort of nutters who think that denying themselves gears to tackle hills is also cool :roll:

Oh hang on, you lot do!!! :shock:

Just so you know I have mudguards (the guy at London Fields insisted I had black mudguards so that they blended in :roll: ) I've kindly stuck my reflective green London Cycling Campaign sticker to the rear guard.

While I read your thread I try not to race. Oh I'm lying to myself. The mear hint of a flashing light in the distance and the pain is replaced by a smile as I try to real them in. Of course I rarely have any idea if what I'm passing is a higher or lower FCN than me, I just have to pass. Which leads to a question... I passed a really annoying roadie today on my hybrid. Not once but FOUR times. I'd pass him, get to the lights and stop. He'd RLJ every set so I'd simply pass him again. Does that count as four scalps :?: :twisted:

Almost had my first incident of road rage today as well. Bombing (well, for me - cruising for most of you) down the Lea Bridge Road and some git on a bike pulls out of a junction without looking right in front of me with his mobile phone stuck to his ear. I gave him an involuntary mouthful but had to contain myself from the desire to hit the anchors and take the phone off of him

stuaff

Totalnewbie wrote:

I have mudguards, but then I also have a tourer. It is not only water, it is all the other assorted road crud that makes a black line of crap up your back. Sod that. I think the SKS ones look perfectly fine.

Hear hear. Race Blades on the Cadenza, full SKSs on my Jetstream. And no black crap everywhere else. The dirt doesn't show too much on either bike anyway, as they are, er, black. But I prefer clean black, not covered in crap black.
Sadly no-one to scalp when I commute (out 1230ish, back 2000-2030ish). F***wit chav scum with no lights are roadkill not targets.

Newbury chap

Morning Gents,

Another day without any other cyclists on the road. A day without *ahem* racing is like a day without sunshine....

girv73

Newbury chap wrote:

A day without *ahem* racing is like a day without sunshine....

... so it's like ... night then?

Newbury chap

... so it's like ... night then?

Indeed, a cold, wet and windy night...alone with no one to play with...

Greg T

The Chingford Skinhead wrote:

I passed a really annoying roadie today on my hybrid. Not once but FOUR times. I'd pass him, get to the lights and stop. He'd RLJ every set so I'd simply pass him again. Does that count as four scalps :?: :twisted:

TCS it is a recognised sub game, in my opinion it should be a multiplier, you double the scalps you take from them everytime you do them. 1,2,4,8,16

I did this guy on a MTB, BMX helmet and feck off Porsche Spoiler back mud guard, all co-ordintated in white...... it must have been five times this morning. I hate traffic lights.....

Citizen Smith

Greg T wrote:

I did this guy on a MTB, BMX helmet and feck off Porsche Spoiler back mud guard, all co-ordintated in white...... it must have been five times this morning. I hate traffic lights.....

Ah, so GT, I see you now had frustration with the infamous white BMX bandit...he is a tad annoying to say the least.

Belv

OK, this sound like fun.
I'm FCN #8

One day i hope to overtake 'LycraMan!'. He is the superhero i see occasionally on my way to work that causes me to chase like a dog pursuing a postman (without the barking). Unfortunately i have never caught him, never mind drawn level or overtaken, but one day i will. Oh yes, one day... :twisted:

Bassjunkieuk

Belv wrote:

OK, this sound like fun.
I'm FCN #8

One day i hope to overtake 'LycraMan!'. He is the superhero i see occasionally on my way to work that causes me to chase like a dog pursuing a postman (without the barking). Unfortunately i have never caught him, never mind drawn level or overtaken, but one day i will. Oh yes, one day... :twisted:

That's the spirit :-)

I'm off the bike for a week now due to working down in Woking so whilst I won't be contributing any battle stories I'll try and hop in when I can and inject some humour or useless/ful post's as and when I can! I suspect tho judging by the complete lack of work down here that I'll be on here most of the day :-D