Silly commuting racing

cjcp

This morning was an absolute flyer, but tonight will be a grind - got to save something for a short run tomorrow morning too.

cjcp

Greg66 wrote:

I'm claiming this as a win.

Took a different route in this morning. In the one way system south of Battersea and Albert Bridges, I spy a huge hairy roady. He's on a Serotta and wearing the rainbow bands on white - A WORLD CHAMPION'S JERSEY. Ballsy. Very ballsy.

I'm in a hurry and gaining. We take a right hander and I overshoot his rear wheel slightly. Can't pass on the left, so I dab the brakes, flick across behind him and take him. Job done.

Flick left onto the approach to Albert Bridge. Head down, accelerate to 43 and hold it. No point overdoing it. Just hold it at cruising speed.

VW polo eases past and so does the World Champion. Probably no more than 2 or 3 k faster. Within me if I want to step it up. But he's obviously in the mood. Hmm. Then I realise: he's drafting off the bloody Polo!

I step it up a notch, and we hit the lights before the 8ridge together, but I have the momentum. I lead through the width barrier onto the bridge.

It's an incline. Not much of one, but an incline. He's big - 6'4, maybe more. Hammer time. Make him pay for his size. Make him weep for being tall.

Head down and drive. If he comes by me now, it's a fair scalp. Battle has been joined. We both know the score.

I'm half expecting him to come past, but it never happens. We get to the lights at the north side and they're red. I roll to a stop. I'm doing all my breathing tricks to stop my ribs moving. It's partially successful. I think.

And there's no sign of him. Then he rolls up, 10, maybe 15 seconds later, breathing hard. I think he might have stopped to throw up on the bridge.

It's not a slaughter, and if we're heading the same way off these lights I'm going to find out what's beyond the red zone.

Lights change. He goes straight on. I go right, just like always.

I claim that as a win.

I agree. Have you stopped perspiring yet or has the shirt reached saturation point?

victor ludorum

Greg66 wrote:

I'm claiming this as a win.

That's a good win. As soon as he started drafting the VW you had him as far as I as concerned.

I reckon you get a points bonus for the WC stripes. I might own a polka dot jersey, but there are limits.

Clever Pun

Greg66 wrote:

Theme tune for The Game

Like that song a lot, still got the single from years back lying around somewhere

Anyway, bromptoned it in today as I had to drop the car off for a service etc decided on a different route from london bridge to my work I went over london bridge and bagged 6 scalps, one guy tried to stay with me but couldn't.

3 mtbs 2 hybrids and another folder but cliped in and in kit compared to my jeans and smart shirt

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

I agree. Have you stopped perspiring yet or has the shirt reached saturation point?

I'm (still) in the Apple store. It's air conditioned, thank God.

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

Working from home the last few days so out of the game.

However, in a fit of extreme overconfidence/madness, I have purchased an Eddy Merckx style Molteni cycling cap with WC STRIPES.

Do I DARE put it on on Monday though? Now I have the thing in my hands I'm not altogether sure I could take the stress of wearing it in public...

Perhaps I should just save it for prancing round the bedroom in...

cjcp

Sea_Green_Incorruptible wrote:

Working from home the last few days so out of the game.

However, in a fit of extreme overconfidence/madness, I have purchased an Eddy Merckx style Molteni cycling cap with WC STRIPES.

Do I DARE put it on on Monday though? Now I have the thing in my hands I'm not altogether sure I could take the stress of wearing it in public...

Perhaps I should just save it for prancing round the bedroom in...

I wear a cycling cap sometimes, primarily to keep the sweat out of my eyes. However, it was a freebie for entering a duathlon, not a Molteni cap. You might as well put a bullseye on your back if you wear that.

snooks

Had a fantastic ride in this morning, the lights seemed in my favour most of the way, bike was handing like a dream, plenty of energy, even tried chasing scooters in the embankment killing fields, just for a bit of fun, all to no avail and I got dropped buy a hairy roadie in the process even though I was cruising at 26mph, I still got taken, respect to him.

In spite of trying to drink a pub dry and a good curry last night, on my bike I felt I was in another league, on a higher plain, perfectly balanced and in harmony with everything, a serene ride in the heart of London, very very special. now I'm in the office I feel I've been scraped of a shoe

Bagged two, (one SS with a tat - non bikey) but the roads seemed empty this morning.

wittenham

[>> There are some mega dark horse bizarre stiff geared tiny wheeled folder lurkers out there. I've been embaressed myself once or twice.....

This has been one of the most enjoyable threads I have read on a forum. Congrats to all you artists out there. I was a semi-regular on the old C+ but this is my maiden post here. But enough about me, let's talk about my bike.

It's a [gasp] folder.. a beat up old birdie white. I do this because I have a bike ride sandwich with a 45 minute train journey filling [45 minutes by schedule, that is, the last occasion on which the journey actually took 45 minutes, questions were asked in Parliament...] The folder has a few accessories...

- 56 tooth single MDT time trial chainring [standard fit birdy spins out too easily with 18 inch wheels]
- a large cog dura ace rear mech
- easton EA70 handle bars
- titanium Avid brake levers
- those fancy fancy bar end levers with the resting place for your palm

Does all that sound poser'ed beyond belief? it is actually just a cost-effective thing, cheaper to pull stuff out of the shed then publish my credit card details with Wiggle.

Oh, and I am almost always baggied, always with clipless, always ruc'saced, and I would be more likely to think taking the Tube to work was a good idea, than I would be to shave my legs.

Can I get an FCN number. And, yes, the hunting is pretty easy down here.

greg

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

wittenham wrote:

The folder has a few accessories...

- 56 tooth single MDT time trial chainring [standard fit birdy spins out too easily with 18 inch wheels]
- a large cog dura ace rear mech
- easton EA70 handle bars
- titanium Avid brake levers
- those fancy fancy bar end levers with the resting place for your palm

Oh man! You've got to post a picture of that bad boy!

rhext

I don't live in London. There are pros and cons to this:

- Respectable prey are few and far between

- But on the other hand at least we have some proper hills, unlike the slight inclines which Londoners seem to make such a fuss about. (Essex, Mountain Bike capital of Great Britain - Ha!)

But yesterday I actually had an OK day. Without really trying I managed to scalp 5 MTB variants. Not impressive, but more than I'd normally see in a week. No points in it for me (back on the MTB myself), but at least a warm feeling of a job well done. Quite pleased with myself I struggle up the last hill for home and just as I reach the top ready for the last straight I spy another bike on the horizon. From a distance it looks like another MTB, and I'm already knackered but hey, a scalp is a scalp even if worth no points. So I decide to have a go.

As I get closer, I notice the drop handlebars... this might be worth a point. The apparent (from a distance) white t-shirt and jeans resolve themselves into lycra and a proper cycling shirt. Definite points now, and closing fast. Stupid thin wheels with bald tyres resolve next and I could be in the money. And then, just as I compose myself into my 'I'm not really trying, I just happen to sweat a lot' face to spin past, I spot the jackpot.....NO GEARS.

RESULT! Sometimes life is sweet

wittenham

Sea_Green_Incorruptible wrote:

wittenham wrote:

The folder has a few accessories...

- 56 tooth single MDT time trial chainring [standard fit birdy spins out too easily with 18 inch wheels]
- a large cog dura ace rear mech
- easton EA70 handle bars
- titanium Avid brake levers
- those fancy fancy bar end levers with the resting place for your palm

Oh man! You've got to post a picture of that bad boy!

Why, did it go past you too quickly to get a good look...?

[ouch, I am going to pay for that one]

victor ludorum

wittenham wrote:

- 56 tooth single MDT time trial chainring [standard fit birdy spins out too easily with 18 inch wheels]
- a large cog dura ace rear mech
- easton EA70 handle bars
- titanium Avid brake levers
- those fancy fancy bar end levers with the resting place for your palm

Can I get an FCN number. And, yes, the hunting is pretty easy down here.

Welcome to The Game...

I've never ridden a birdy, but it doesn't look that far away from a high-end brompton general performance-wise. Am I underestimating it? The high-gearing is a dangerous little addition though. That could pack an unexpected punch if someone is expecting an easy scalp. The problem with the higher spec add-ons is that you'd have to be an observant gear-head to take them in in passing (or being passed) though, so it would be a bit of a stealth score.

I reckon you could justifiably claim a -1 or 2 on the standard brompton/folding score of 10, with consideration taken for gear which more or less cancels itself out (baggies +1, clipless -1, etc). However, there are others whose judgements are better attuned than mine.

Citizen Smith

Quiet run in this morning. Only 2 hairy roadies bagged but both were sweet.

There is definitely a correlation between length of gain/time to scalp and satisfaction of point notched. Both required long lead times and both done on hills. In fact I reckon I do more on hills than flats.

I'm going to vary my route home and have a crack at this Embankment mularkey. I'll be joining it at circa 6.15 near Temple tube, so beware fellow gamers for a cheeky hybrid (GT Legato) with large double panniers. I am also wearing a shocking flouro cycle top today so not hard to miss when you see me ease by.

Greg T

Greg66 wrote:

I'm claiming this as a win. ....

Battle has been joined. We both know the score. .....

Then he rolls up, 10, maybe 15 seconds later, breathing hard. I think he might have stopped to throw up on the bridge. ......

You done him all ends up.

Doing Big 'uns is a joy in and of itself.

Well done you.

I think the reason that there were so few bikes on the road this morning (I noticed it too) is that there are still a load of blokes trying to get home after last night's wind fest....

Jaysus......

So in my two weeks of game playing I've lost 1.5 Kilos. 3lbs. I have ridden in for eight years and in that time have never lost weight like this......

We should set up a diet scheme the G-Plan diet. Get a load of 1980s Grifter bikes (you know the ones that are made out of Plutonium, lead and railway sleepers) put a bigger chain ring on them and tell "dieters" that they are FCN 4 and have to stay away from hairy roadies. Drive them down to Putney bridge and make them do shuttle trips up and down it in rush hour when the West London Grinders are hunting......

That'll do it......

I had a Grifter XL....



I think XL meant Extra Lardy as it weighed so much time ran fasterwhen you rode it and on one occasion when I came back from the shops to get a pint of milk I found none of my clothes fitted me anymore and I was older than my Mum.

snooks

Greg T wrote:

We should set up a diet scheme the G-Plan diet. Get a load of 1980s Grifter bikes (you know the ones that are made out of Plutonium, lead and railway sleepers) put a bigger chain ring on them and tell "dieters" that they are FCN 4 and have to stay away from hairy roadies. Drive them down to Putney bridge and make them do shuttle trips up and down it in rush hour when the West London Grinders are hunting......

That'll do it......

I had a Grifter XL....

I think XL meant Extra Lardy as it weighed so much time ran fasterwhen you rode it and on one occasion when I came back from the shops to get a pint of milk I found none of my clothes fitted me anymore and I was older than my Mum.

Don't tell me, you wore away the black plastic bit of your rear mud guard by making is sound like a motorbike!!!

Red blue and yellow gears, that was the way forward!!!

fury21

I had a Grifter too. I just remember that it was red but then my brother had peeled all its stickers off before I inherited it.

Looked like a BMX, weighed about the same as an elephant.

attica

Christ on a bike look at this:-


My wife has just bought this for "pootling to the shops", thing is that this has now become my default fallback bike for when my singly goes sick. I almost want that to happen just so I can get some serious scalps for a change rather than the usual clean sheet.

Any idea what the FCN would be?

cjcp

Greg T wrote:

So in my two weeks of game playing I've lost 1.5 Kilos. 3lbs. I have ridden in for eight years and in that time have never lost weight like this......

We should set up a diet scheme the G-Plan diet. Get a load of 1980s Grifter bikes (you know the ones that are made out of Plutonium, lead and railway sleepers) put a bigger chain ring on them and tell "dieters" that they are FCN 4 and have to stay away from hairy roadies. Drive them down to Putney bridge and make them do shuttle trips up and down it in rush hour when the West London Grinders are hunting......

That'll do it......
quote]

I never had a Grifter; I had the Striker. Remember that? Lower down the FC than the Grifter and you could hear it coming from four miles away because it made this clicking sound with every pedal revolution.

On the subject of diet, is anyone else starving when they get home, having done battle with this headwind? Last night, I ate two slices of bread with melted brie on them while I was still in my bib shorts, then a salmon fillet with boiled potatoes, tomatoes, rocket (which, strictly speaking, is what food eats, rather than being food in itself) and two more slices of bread. This was followed by a big bag of Minstrels. Tonight, it's Tacos and beer.

Attica - I think the green wheels give it that edge. Also, it's a SS.

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

I had a Striker too. They were smaller, but shared the cast iron construction of the grifter. They were superior I think because of their fake plastic suspension (even if their weight did mean they left a furrow in the tarmac on hot days...).

snooks

Attica wrote:

Any idea what the FCN would be?

I don't care, but I'm sure you'd look loverly (sic) with those pink ribbons on your SS!!!

chewa

Greg66 wrote:

I'm claiming this as a win.

Took a different route in this morning. In the one way system south of Battersea and Albert Bridges, I spy a huge hairy roady. He's on a Serotta and wearing the rainbow bands on white - A WORLD CHAMPION'S JERSEY. Ballsy. Very ballsy.

I'm in a hurry and gaining. We take a right hander and I overshoot his rear wheel slightly. Can't pass on the left, so I dab the brakes, flick across behind him and take him. Job done.

Flick left onto the approach to Albert Bridge. Head down, accelerate to 43 and hold it. No point overdoing it. Just hold it at cruising speed.

VW polo eases past and so does the World Champion. Probably no more than 2 or 3 k faster. Within me if I want to step it up. But he's obviously in the mood. Hmm. Then I realise: he's drafting off the bloody Polo!

I step it up a notch, and we hit the lights before the 8ridge together, but I have the momentum. I lead through the width barrier onto the bridge.

It's an incline. Not much of one, but an incline. He's big - 6'4, maybe more. Hammer time. Make him pay for his size. Make him weep for being tall.

Head down and drive. If he comes by me now, it's a fair scalp. Battle has been joined. We both know the score.

I'm half expecting him to come past, but it never happens. We get to the lights at the north side and they're red. I roll to a stop. I'm doing all my breathing tricks to stop my ribs moving. It's partially successful. I think.

And there's no sign of him. Then he rolls up, 10, maybe 15 seconds later, breathing hard. I think he might have stopped to throw up on the bridge.

It's not a slaughter, and if we're heading the same way off these lights I'm going to find out what's beyond the red zone.

Lights change. He goes straight on. I go right, just like always.

I claim that as a win.

You know, the terrible thing is that I can see that I would have approached this exactly the same way and had exactly the same thoughts as you!

I've had no-one further up the food chain from me in my sights for most of this weak. I've been picking off MTB's every day but they don't count. I feel like the guy who shot Bambi's mum.

Beating a Smart away from the lights doesn't gain me points does it :?:

cjcp

chewa wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

I've had no-one further up the food chain from me in my sights for most of this weak. I've been picking off MTB's every day but they don't count. I feel like the guy who shot Bambi's mum.

Greg T

Attica wrote:

Christ on a bike look at this:-


My wife has just bought this for "pootling to the shops", thing is that this has now become my default fallback bike for when my singly goes sick. I almost want that to happen just so I can get some serious scalps for a change rather than the usual clean sheet.

Any idea what the FCN would be?

Is this your wife?

Clever Pun

Attica wrote:

Christ on a bike look at this:-


My wife has just bought this for "pootling to the shops", thing is that this has now become my default fallback bike for when my singly goes sick. I almost want that to happen just so I can get some serious scalps for a change rather than the usual clean sheet.

Any idea what the FCN would be?

AHAHAHA HAHAHA

no wait...AHAHAHAHAAHAA

you'll be going for rides together as well you realise that don't you

attica

What disturbs me GregT is that you either knew where to go to get that picture, or you already had it on your hard drive.

Mrs Attica refuses to ride with me, she's a player of the game so refuses to be beaten by me, yet can't actually beat me, so ends up working herself into a frenzy trying to get past me while I pootle alongside her, she hates that.

victor ludorum

I could never play the game whilst cycling with my missus. She has a Trek 7.6, which
is a nice little city bike, but she carries panniers and packs more for a 10mile round trip in Central London than Shackleton took to the South Pole. She also cycles more slowly than any other cyclist on Earth. Riding alongside her is more like trackstanding. Once, we were overtaken by a middle-aged woman riding a Pashley Princess with a basket on the back and a West Highland terrier in it. I have never truly recovered from this.

attica

I overtook an entire family who were out for a bike ride the other week, only thing is I was out for a run. The Father/Husband looked mortified.

cjcp

victor ludorum wrote:

I could never play the game whilst cycling with my missus. She has a Trek 7.6, which
is a nice little city bike, but she carries panniers and packs more for a 10mile round trip in Central London than Shackleton took to the South Pole. She also cycles more slowly than any other cyclist on Earth. Riding alongside her is more like trackstanding. Once, we were overtaken by a middle-aged woman riding a Pashley Princess with a basket on the back and a West Highland terrier in it. I have never truly recovered from this.

Taken by a folding bike and now this. You need to burn up the road on the way home tonight.

Greg T

Looking West the rain Gods are gearing up for the weekend....

Still England are 579 for 7 against the Saffas at Lords, Bell's eight of a double ton and tonight is takeaway curry night!

Could it get any better?

Of course our very own Snooks is within touching distance of some dropped handlebar (not the moustache Attica DOWN) skinny wheeled road bike action....

My game plan tonight is to nurse my knackered body home and hide for the weekend. I'm off on a business trip for Mon Tues so come Wed I'm gong to be jumping out of my skin and rapiiidooooooo.