Silly commuting racing

il_principe

lost_in_thought wrote:

IMO, I think anyone on a geared roadie who gets overtaken by a fixed/SS needs to take a long hard look in the mirror and think about what they've done.

Seconded. Imagine the shame of it.

Of course I should add at this point that scalping geared roadies on Embankment happens surprisingly regularly. There are some slow gearies out there. I'm always amused by them wot have a nice roadie but silly platform pedals. What's the point? And do they really count as a proper scalp?

Newbury chap

Request SS/FG be placed below all proper road bikes, Shaved or hairy?

cjcp

Newbury chap wrote:

Request SS/FG be placed below all proper road bikes, Shaved or hairy?

Can. Of. Worms.

(You're right, IMO. )

Bassjunkieuk

jashburnham wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

IMO, I think anyone on a geared roadie who gets overtaken by a fixed/SS needs to take a long hard look in the mirror and think about what they've done.

Seconded. Imagine the shame of it.

Of course I should add at this point that scalping geared roadies on Embankment happens surprisingly regularly. There are some slow gearies out there. I'm always amused by them wot have a nice roadie but silly platform pedals. What's the point? And do they really count as a proper scalp?

Came across a guy exactly like that in Streatham the other day. Riding a rather nice Bianchi with toe clips (1st clue)! He pulled up at the lights along side me and was lifting up his wheel to change down at the front (2st clue). I commented that I hate getting to the lights in the wrong gear and he commented that his gears keep slipping. I asked him when it was slipping and he said "I don't know much about bikes" as if I'd ask him to remove the engine from a car!

Needless to say I wasn't too worried about him catching me up once the lights went green :-)

DavidBelcher

Newbury chap wrote:

Request SS/FG be placed below all proper road bikes, Shaved or hairy?

Where do cyclo-cross bikes fit into the grand scheme of things? I occasionally have to commute to work on mine on Fridays or Saturdays if heading off for a weekend away racing immediately afterwards. By which I mean 'proper' cross bikes - no guards, no slicks, no triple chainsets or long-arm rear mechs, and not a hybrid/touring frameset with rack mounts, guard eyes and/or 135mm back end spacing trying to pass itself off as a cross bike (Van Nicholas Amazon, Specialized Tricross, etc.)!!

David

Newbury chap

Sorry, just to be more specific, SS/FG below racing bikes with drops, hairy or shaven avon. Coming on to "The Game" website....challenging the ruuuuules? I must have been very, very drunk...

cjcp

DavidBelcher wrote:

Newbury chap wrote:

Request SS/FG be placed below all proper road bikes, Shaved or hairy?

Where do cyclo-cross bikes fit into the grand scheme of things? I occasionally have to commute to work on mine on Fridays or Saturdays if heading off for a weekend away racing immediately afterwards. By which I mean 'proper' cross bikes - no guards, no slicks, no triple chainsets or long-arm rear mechs, and not a hybrid/touring frameset with rack mounts, guard eyes and/or 135mm back end spacing trying to pass itself off as a cross bike (Van Nicholas Amazon, Specialized Tricross, etc.)!!

David

Road bike IMO. But, I think you'd skin us all alive whatever you were riding.

Wrath Rob

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

Also changing gears as you pass someone is poor form and reeks of effort. The true gamer will ensure they are in the correct gear as they are assessing their prey, ensuring that when the times comes to put the hammer down the only noise they hear is the ripping noise as you remove their scalp and fly off into the distance :-):

No no no. You waft past and then change up, giving the impression that you're still accelerating. Just don't top out 15 yards up the road and then get caught having to change down as you get retaken very :oops:

Bassjunkieuk

Wrath Rob wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

Also changing gears as you pass someone is poor form and reeks of effort. The true gamer will ensure they are in the correct gear as they are assessing their prey, ensuring that when the times comes to put the hammer down the only noise they hear is the ripping noise as you remove their scalp and fly off into the distance :-):

No no no. You waft past and then[/] change up, giving the impression that you're still accelerating. Just don't top out 15 yards up the road and then get caught having to change down as you get retaken very :oops:

Good idea :-) But as you said you just need to make sure you don't blow up ahead of them........

DonDaddyD

*Rant mode on!*
I think you are all being a little elitest!

My SCR3 is my first road bike. I got the lycra, the SPD-SL's (should have went SPD so I can walk....), the wrap arounds and the Specialized Propero £70 helmet. I by no means am ready to race or would consider myself fast.

I'm one of those guys that would get scalped by FG/SS regularly (Except rolled up trouser wearing Charge Plug-ites I would destroy them). I'm not fake, I strive to get better on my bike and become a proper rapid roadie. Its easy to say "OOooo you roadies that sclaped by my one gear should hand over your bikes" when you been riding a FG/SS for a good long while and also race a roadie in sportives or at some competitive level.

What if you're, like me a beginner, like me? You expect me to ride a SS/FG from the off? I don't have the muscles for it, that's what my road bike is for!

True FG/SS (not rolled up trouser wearing Charge Plug-ites) are the domain of the proper cyclists, race ready roadies and couriers people who have the developed muscles and stamina to know what they're doing.

Having seen Bassjunkie in action he could make that leap. Me? Not so muh, I don't see it as shameful the whole point is that I'm a newbie, enthusiastic about the roadie world and who wants to get faster! Next year or the year after I might buy myself a single speed or fixed gear bike but right now I'm not ready.

*Rant mode off!*

SS/FG should remain above hairy roadie, not because the bike is faster but because the guy on the bike is likely to be faster than hairy roadie. It still should remain lower than shaved roadie because shaved roadie clearly rides/races for a team/club and most likely owns or has owned a SS/FG - example = Jashburnham

DonDaddyD

Wrath Rob wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

Also changing gears as you pass someone is poor form and reeks of effort. The true gamer will ensure they are in the correct gear as they are assessing their prey, ensuring that when the times comes to put the hammer down the only noise they hear is the ripping noise as you remove their scalp and fly off into the distance :-):

No no no. You waft past and then[/] change up, giving the impression that you're still accelerating. Just don't top out 15 yards up the road and then get caught having to change down as you get retaken very :oops:

Bit are very very beautiful moves when scalping I have done both and both are wonderous for the ego and scalp claiming.

In fact yesterday along Coldharbour Lane I did the 'per-chosen gear move' against a Bianchi, which this guy clearly didn't deserve. The hardest part was holding back, putting the hammer down overtaking and keep the cadence up was actually far easier than riding that high gear slow. - Didn't beat the lights though....

lost_in_thought

DonDaddyD wrote:

I think you are all being a little elitest!

Well, we are the elitest.... :P

Hmmm, well maybe I'll let you off handing over your bike then, so you can get faster. It'll be trickier without it.

However, I still maintain that a geared roadie worth their salt, hairy-legged or not, ought to be ashamed to be passed by a SS. This cycling equivalent of being beaten up by a girl should spur them on to MTFU and ride faster.

Therefore, DDD, the rapid SS riders are doing you a favour.

Greg T

DonDaddyD wrote:

*Rant mode on!*
I think you are all being a little elitest!

I don't have the muscles for it, that's what my road bike is for!

Dude, listen I think you should lay off the espresso fountain and full fat coke chaser you've got going on.....

Actually don't.

You apparentley need all the perfromance enhancing drugs you can get your hands on to stop getting scalped by Hipsters on shiny bikes.

If you are looking for sympathy you'll find it after Shit and before Syphillis in the game glossary, it's not a big section mainly written by JB, it says "MTFU and push harder"

We all start somewhere and appreciate a soft start and easy landing but in terms of gaming you get neither - you play with your peers, win, lose and draw.

The relative and personal grading scale keeps you playing in your bracket, if the shame of being dropped by singlies is starting to grip you - you know what the answer must be.....

I'm now thinking of a montage of DDD getting dedicated, cutting out the crisps, cleaning his bike, buying some new kit, doing hill reps, energy drinks, push ups, long distance rides in the rain...... Eyes glued towards his distant goal.

lost_in_thought

jashburnham wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

IMO, I think anyone on a geared roadie who gets overtaken by a fixed/SS needs to take a long hard look in the mirror and think about what they've done.

Seconded. Imagine the shame of it.

Of course I should add at this point that scalping geared roadies on Embankment happens surprisingly regularly. There are some slow gearies out there. I'm always amused by them wot have a nice roadie but silly platform pedals. What's the point? And do they really count as a proper scalp?

A technical scalp, yes, but a moral scalp? Not sure... passing someone really slow doesn't seem like a scalp, if they're on a roadie or not...

I feel nothing but pity for them if they are...

Newbury chap

However, I still maintain that a geared roadie worth their salt, hairy-legged or not, ought to be ashamed to be passed by a SS. This cycling equivalent of being beaten up by a girl should spur them on to MTFU and ride faster.

Here here. Point noted DDD, but the odds favour the average roadie over the FG/SS, purely because of the limited speed. Some SS/FG riders have legs like a filipino girl...

We really need an official adjudicator, like Greg?

DonDaddyD

lost_in_thought wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

I think you are all being a little elitest!

Well, we are the elitest.... :P

Hmmm, well maybe I'll let you off handing over your bike then, so you can get faster. It'll be trickier without it.

However, I still maintain that a geared roadie worth their salt, hairy-legged or not, ought to be ashamed to be passed by a SS. This cycling equivalent of being beaten up by a girl should spur them on to MTFU and ride faster.

Therefore, DDD, the rapid SS riders are doing you a favour.

Oh that's it, its on!

'Begin the Roadie SS/FG war has!'

Wherever there is an SS/FG there will be a DonDaddyD on the horizon, getting closer and then gone with a freshly taken scalp in hand!

Its not safe to leave your house on your Bowery no more!

:twisted:

lost_in_thought

Greg T wrote:

I'm now thinking of a montage of DDD getting dedicated, cutting out the crisps, cleaning his bike, buying some new kit, doing hill reps, energy drinks, push ups, long distance rides in the rain...... Eyes glued towards his distant goal.

Flying high noooooooowwwwwww..... gonna fly nooooooowwwwww......

DonDaddyD

Newbury chap wrote:

However, I still maintain that a geared roadie worth their salt, hairy-legged or not, ought to be ashamed to be passed by a SS. This cycling equivalent of being beaten up by a girl should spur them on to MTFU and ride faster.

Here here. Point noted DDD, but the odds favour the average roadie over the FG/SS, purely because of the limited speed. Some SS/FG riders have legs like a filipino girl...

We really need an official adjudicator, like Greg?

*Not a politically correct moment*
Most couriers and seasoned SS/FG have pigeon legs, this is normally a result of a lack of nutrients and that they have evolved to have legs that offer low wind resistance while their musculature is deceivingly dense maximising the power they can apply to each rotation of the pedal. FACT they're mutants or a differently evolved species of human that can still interbreed with the main species.

Don't believe me? LiT are your legs/thighs huge as your gearing my suggest of female slender while firm enough to convert a holy man into don_don?
*Not a politically correct moment*

Its not the bike, SS/FG make up for limited top speed with quick acceleration, light weight, stiffness and the mutant/different evolved species of human that normally comes with the bike - unless its a Charge Plug (the David Beckham of the cycle world....

Greg T

Newbury chap wrote:

[
We really need an official adjudicator, like Greg?

Do I get a badge?

I actually spawned this very debate a couple of days and several thousand posts ago....

It is true that the high end roadie / fixed space is hotly contested and a source of bitter debate and internicene fueding.

Across the wall deraillers are loaded with razors and fixed cogs are whirled on chains like those Bruce Lee rice flail nun-chuckers ( I don't know how to spell it and nun-chucking is funny).

It is true that the same guy should skin himself ragged geared vs fixie, the high speeds possible in high gears make this a physical fact. Therefore road bikes = higher than fixed....

However.....

Riding fixed is a deliberate and knowing rejection of this truth. The fixed dude is saying, feck it I'll make do without your mechanical advantage I'll skin you with one cog.... come on the lot of you and man up. Therefore fixed = higher than road bikes.

So where does that leave us? I think sometime ago we decided that in the top four bands the numbering system was purely for guidance and that it is basically a hot range with wide arcs with all targets available.

Nothing worth winning comes without a fight, if it felt too easy it was and you need to find meaner oppo with bigger lungs.

There is no ruling in this space it's every gamer and their ego for themselves. That's what I think.

Newbury chap

Wherever there is an SS/FG there will be a DonDaddyD on the horizon, getting closer and then gone with a freshly taken scalp in hand!

Fixies Transform!!! *orders a new 14 sprocket*...now if only i could turn it...

DonDaddyD

Greg T wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

*Rant mode on!*
I think you are all being a little elitest!

I don't have the muscles for it, that's what my road bike is for!

Dude, listen I think you should lay off the espresso fountain and full fat coke chaser you've got going on.....

Actually don't.

You apparentley need all the perfromance enhancing drugs you can get your hands on to stop getting scalped by Hipsters on shiny bikes.

I take everything you said, and will be riding home like the devil possessed me, screaming, eyes streaming with tears, dying on inside!

But I do not get scalped by anyone or anything that can be placed in a category titled Hipsters!
:evil:

Greg T

DonDaddyD wrote:

'Begin the Roadie SS/FG war has!'

Wherever there is an SS/FG there will be a DonDaddyD on the horizon, getting closer and then gone with a freshly taken scalp in hand!

and

What if you're, like me a beginner, like me? You expect me to ride a SS/FG from the off? I don't have the muscles for it, that's what my road bike is for!

You want to start a war? I'd suggest you get down to the armoury and have a look at your weapons, you appear to be undergunned

You want to be careful Lorraine I don't want you straining your chicken legs.

DonDaddyD

Newbury chap wrote:

Wherever there is an SS/FG there will be a DonDaddyD on the horizon, getting closer and then gone with a freshly taken scalp in hand!

Fixies Transform!!! *orders a new 14 sprocket*...now if only i could turn it...

What's funny is that I think that that is still bigger and therefore easier than was LiT pushes.... :shock:

Bassjunkieuk

Greg T wrote:

So where does that leave us? I think sometime ago we decided that in the top four bands the numbering system was purely for guidance and that it is basically a hot range with wide arcs with all targets available.

Nothing worth winning comes without a fight, if it felt too easy it was and you need to find meaner oppo with bigger lungs.

There is no ruling in this space it's every gamer and their ego for themselves. That's what I think.

I fully agree, when I'm out on my bike I'm only looking out for 2 things. Those with drop bars or those with flat bars narrower then their shoulders. These are usually indicators of a roadie or SS/FG and they are all fair targets. Normally a brief observation will be enough to know if they are going to put up a worthy fight. I know my comfort zone and I know roughly how long I can really push it. If I have to get out of the comfort zone (internally that is, this shall never be visible as I never really "try") then it is a scalp well earned. If someone then passes me then I will pursue them until my legs drop off or I collapse dead.

I have toyed with the idea of a SS. Some of my commutes would allow me to travel on mainly flat roads, with gentle inclines that would be doable with a single gear. One day maybe, I'll move over to the dark side!

DonDaddyD

Greg T wrote:

You want to start a war? I'd suggest you get down to the armoury and have a look at your weapons, you appear to be undergunned.

You want to be careful Lorraine I don't want you straining your chicken legs.

As much as I know this will be hard for you, Gregory, don't worry about the guns I'm packing, worry about your own becuase once I'm through scalping you the only bike you'll be brave enough to ride is a hybrid!

Greg T

DonDaddyD wrote:

once I'm through scalping you the only bike you'll be brave enough to ride is a hybrid!

Death before Hybrid.

If you should see me ride with straight bars you may shove them up my arse,



sideways.

Bassjunkieuk

FIGHT

FIGHT

FIGHT

It's like being back in the playground all over again!

Kieran_Burns

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

I have toyed with the idea of a SS. Some of my commutes would allow me to travel on mainly flat roads, with gentle inclines that would be doable with a single gear. One day maybe, I'll move over to the dark side!

Strong in the torque this one is.... :evil:



Mind you - I have a bleeding 18 speed thingy and I use precidely 3 of them. Well.... really only two on a standard commute, and one of them only on the long downhill stretches.

God damn it - I'm a SS in disguise!

Newbury chap

I have toyed with the idea of a SS. Some of my commutes would allow me to travel on mainly flat roads, with gentle inclines that would be doable with a single gear. One day maybe, I'll move over to the dark side!

Take your Jedi weapon BassJunkie! Use it.... Strike us down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!

Bassjunkieuk

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

I have toyed with the idea of a SS. Some of my commutes would allow me to travel on mainly flat roads, with gentle inclines that would be doable with a single gear. One day maybe, I'll move over to the dark side!

Strong in the torque this one is.... :evil:



Mind you - I have a bleeding 18 speed thingy and I use precidely 3 of them. Well.... really only two on a standard commute, and one of them only on the long downhill stretches.

God damn it - I'm a SS in disguise!

I know what you mean about having all the gears and only using a few. I've got a triple on the Giant and only occasionally use the big ring up front (normally going downhill or when wanting to really put the hammer down on a flat). The granny ring gets even less usage as I will only use that when absolutely necessary and I haven't been near those roads for a while due to where I'm working.

This means i spend most of my journey on the middle ring up front and only use about 5 of the 7 cogs at the rear for most roads!

I did try riding the old road bike on a single gear when I was working fairly local once and it was quite fun! This was partly due to laziness as I'd got so used to the riding position on the Giant I didn't feel to safe scrunched up on the old one and the gear shifters are on the downtube!