Silly commuting racing

Clever Pun

chromehoof wrote:

this is fantastic. Its gonna add a whole new dimension to my commute. starting today!

excellent username btw

good luck out there

Littigator

chromehoof wrote:

this is fantastic. Its gonna add a whole new dimension to my commute. starting today!

Welcome Noob, happy hunting on yer way home and remember...

It's a jungle out there kids, play safe!

it's a dark jungle

a dark cold jungle

a dark cold wet jungle

not really a jungle at all actually, but it is dark cold and wet...like a dark cold wet town really, yes exactly like that!

Wrath Rob

I think its time for a beer to help keep me warm before the cold, dark ride home.

Anyone checked to see if the cycle capacitor is is suck or blow mode for those of us heading west?

snooks

biondino wrote:

You guys might like this:

http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77

I got a top score of zero, but then again I did used to colour correct images for a living

Anyway, having caught up on the days fun and games in the last 30 mins, I managed to kick the SCR habbit for a day (well almost) and I'm truly amazed.....I actually got some work done!!! :shock:

Littigator

snooks wrote:

biondino wrote:

You guys might like this:

http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77

I got a top score of zero, but then again I did used to colour correct images for a living

Anyway, having caught up on the days fun and games in the last 30 mins, I managed to kick the SCR habbit for a day (well almost) and I'm truly amazed.....I actually got some work done!!! :shock:

One step at a time buddy. I managed a few days last week. But here I am back again begging for more!

cjcp

chromehoof wrote:

this is fantastic. Its gonna add a whole new dimension to my commute. starting today!

As CP said, welcome! and great username!

Tonight will be hard. I have a backpack full of work. :shock:


<three deep breaths, begins to meditate and prepare the legs and mind for the battle ahead. eyes open. "Rock On!" :twisted: >

snooks

Littigator wrote:

snooks wrote:

biondino wrote:

You guys might like this:

http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77

I got a top score of zero, but then again I did used to colour correct images for a living

Anyway, having caught up on the days fun and games in the last 30 mins, I managed to kick the SCR habbit for a day (well almost) and I'm truly amazed.....I actually got some work done!!! :shock:

One step at a time buddy. I managed a few days last week. But here I am back again begging for more!

I've read every one of the 363 pages of this thread, I'm not giving up now

I was just amazed how much work I can do when I'm not reading this bollox!!!! ...That was after waking up with a hangover this morning, a couple of pints at lunchtime, ...AND I still got a stack of work done

I wonder how many day's I've wasted on here......

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10...hang on....

Takes shoes and sock off....

11,12,13,14,15,16, 17,18,19, 20 erm

Dunno, but it might be a few...

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

Tonight will be hard. I have a backpack full of work. :shock:

Whichever way you cut it, there are really only two explanations for this.

1. You've spent too much of your employer's time on here today, or
2. You're a bit slow.

Which is it? :twisted:

greg66_tri_v2.0

snooks wrote:

I was just amazed how much work I can do when I'm not reading this bollox!!!!

Easy there tiger.

"Work" for you involves pressing a button - the same button, mind - which doesn't even have a letter on it! :shock:

"Work". I've never heard such a travesty of an injustice. 8)

Stevehall00

Never mind how much work you do/do not get through, It is now the weekend and time for the balancing act between training and drinking. I am being forced to go to a gig tonight.

But wait, I have also said I will go with my little rubber mountain bike chums to dalby forest tomorrow to experience the 'thrills' of the 'red route' I tried to explain that there isnt a pigs eye worth of difference between going over the bars into a boulder or sideways into a scania 38tonner leaving Hull docks with a sleepy eyed driver from denmark at the wheel. Bot they would not listen.

Can I play 'the game' offroad I think not.

Stevehall00

Here is a passage to explain a passion for two wheels, modified by my grubby plagaristic mitts for 'the game'

There are some things nobody needs in this world, and a bright-red, Full carbon, warp-speed road racer is one of them - but I want one anyway, and on some days I actually believe I need one. That is why they are dangerous.

Everybody has fast bikes these days. Some people go 50 miles an hour on two-lane blacktop roads, but not often. There are too many oncoming trucks and too many MTBs and too many stupid animals in the way. You have to be a little crazy to ride these super- high-speed crotch rockets anywhere except a racetrack - and even there, they will scare the whimpering **** out of you. On some days you get what you want, and on others, you get what you need.

Never mind the velodrome. The track is for punks. We are Road People. We are players of 'The Game'."

'The commuter racer is a different breed, and we have our own situations. Pure speed in fixed gear on a banked smooth track is one thing, but pure speed in top gear on a gravel-strewn downhill ess-turn is quite another.

But we like it. A thoroughbred SCR affectionado will ride all night through a fog storm in freeway traffic to put himself into what somebody told him was the ugliest and tightest decreasing-radius turn since Genghis Khan invented the corkscrew.

. I still feel a shudder in my spine every time I see a picture of a 80s steel raleigh, or when I walk into a public restroom and hear crippled men whispering about the terrifying Cannondale Triple... I have visions of compound femur-fractures and large black men in white hospital suits holding me down on a gurney while a nurse called "Bess" sews the flaps of my scalp together with a stitching drill.

cjcp

Greg66 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Tonight will be hard. I have a backpack full of work. :shock:

Whichever way you cut it, there are really only two explanations for this.

1. You've spent too much of your employer's time on here today, or
2. You're a bit slow.

Which is it? :twisted:

Just got home. It ain't 2. :twisted:

DonDaddyD

That is it, I retire into the off season. Some will be happy, some will be sad and most will be glad to see the back of me.

Today after work I had planned to ride from Camberwell to Kingston to my friends fancy dress Halloween party (none of them are cyclist and the sight of me in lycra is scary enough - ask LiTs - the sweat? Well that's to make my costume look authentic).

I may not be the fastest of riders but I am a safe (and I'd like to think competent) cyclist. So lets move onto my journey. Yes there were cyclist all over my route, yet the vast majority of them were a danger too themselves and other road users. Most dont look over their shoulders when turning or moving out, many weren't using lights or even visible, there were RLJers and some trying to go around buses not looking with cars in their blind spot and the bus clearly indicating and shaping to move out. There is no moral victory in scalping people like this, sure I passed them when safe, but more for my own safety than anything else.

My journey all week has been filled with these cyclo-commuters (new term what do you think?) who really have no business riding in the winter and should have stopped when nights got earlier and the weather got colder.

I also know of no other way to further illuminate myself. I have four lights, 2 on my helmet, 2 on the bike and a bright white coat. You can't not see me, you can't! So I can only come to the conclusion that at least four people today wanted to kill me.

These were:

Woman pulling out from side road with me clearer too near to fully stop without doing something drastic.
Guy pulled out of side road as I was in front of him
Woman turning off main road onto side road as I was in front of her
Woman who squashed me into the curb
Guy who wanted a head on collision with me

That was just my 30min journey back home. Its been like this all week.

So, guys and burds, I retire into the off season. Sure along Norwood Road (my road) I'll be participating in the odd 'exhibition scalp' (a little like how retired boxers take part in an exhibition bout) but for the most part I feel there is nothing silly about commuter racing in the winter with greasy roads and the fear of black ice. Its just dangerous.

il_principe

DonDaddyD wrote:

My journey all week has been filled with these cyclo-commuters (new term what do you think?) who really have no business riding in the winter and should have stopped when nights got earlier and the weather got colder.

Nooooo DDD don't give up!

Oh and they're not cyclo-commuters, they're POB's: "Person on Bike", as oppose to "Cyclist."

Numpty morons the lot of them. It's your duty to ride like and SCR PROtm and help them to see the error of their ways.

Either that or you are actually too visible... it's a recognised issue!

Wrath Rob

Well, tonight's ride home was an interesting one for all of the right reasons. Propelled by a couple of pints and the mythic Easterly I decimated the streets of London. No one came close (was it the smelly synthetic base layers?), no one stood in my way (it was after 7 and the pedestrians had all fled the cold). 3 minutes off of my fastest time in the last 3 months! I was bouncing off of the walls when I got home I was so excited.

Of course, the post Friday night rush hour lack of traffic may have helped with that a little

Bassjunkieuk

D3, NO DON'T GIVE UP! It would be such a shame to not hear your epic battle reports each day :-)

My extended commute home this evening actually turned out to be rather fun. I rolled up to the lights at the top of George Street in Croydon, only to watch the bus ahead of me go straight through a red light!! Not very good as about a month ago at the same junction a bus was pushed about 75 yards down said street by a tram, killing someone in the process. Thankfully it took place before shop openings on a Sunday, 1 hour later and it would have been carnage but I digress............

Another cyclist lines up next to me, a pretender on a full sus halfords special. I'm a lane away and as the lights go green I drop the hammer big time. I know he was well below me but I didn't just want to drop him off the lights I wanted to make him want to curl into a little ball and cry. As I approached the side road for the car park a lovely lady decided to pull out, I had plenty of room and no traffic to my right so I moved over and carried on with the speed. I overtook her and glanced down to see 27 on the cycle comp :-D

Arrived at the kiddies halloween party feeling fairly good and tucked into the sausages and assorted sweets and crisps! It also turned out we where going to the sis in laws after this, which I didn't object to as I was gonna be riding and she lives near the top of the hill near my road, which means I get to come DOWN on the way home :-)

When we left I had a slight lead on the wife in the family bus with the kids as she was facing the wrong way, as I pulled off a bus was heading down the road so I saw this as a worthy oppo! I started spinning up and the bus was getting nearer, I didn't get passed it but managed to make up ground with all the traffic islands and speed humps it had to negotiate. I got to the house with a great buzz and checked the comp again, max speed registered at 38mph :twisted:

Wifey wasn't very impressed as I pulled out "at the same time her".........not that she caught up with me :-D

chromehoof

cjcp wrote:

chromehoof wrote:

this is fantastic. Its gonna add a whole new dimension to my commute. starting today!

As CP said, welcome! and great username!

Tonight will be hard. I have a backpack full of work. :shock:


<three deep breaths, begins to meditate and prepare the legs and mind for the battle ahead. eyes open. "Rock On!" :twisted: >

thanks all. The real fun starts today though. Last week was quiet with the schools closed for mid-term. The real snarl-up starts today. First commute home in the dark with everyone back at work, school, etc.

I need to liven up though. This morning I got blown out of it twice (once by a motorbike in a bus lane - moral high ground to me, the other a taxi that I accidentally cut up - technically, the moral high ground is his, but I'll never yield an inch to taxi drivers!), and almost got hit once. Sleepy monday morning for you!

lost_in_thought

Good god, how on earth did this thread make it to half-way down page 2?? :shock:

Had a stonking commute in this morning, spied a guy on a blue merida roadie we filtered courteously through Acton, and as we waited at the lights another guy on a Ribble cruises through the red light... muppet.

I let Merida go, as ever, I love this particular stretch of road, a slight downhill to get the cadence up, then into a bus lane with a slight uphill where the high-ish cadence just eats up great bites of road... and scalp as I pass him well over to the right. Next in my sights: Ribble.

I see him, off in the distance, and put the head down and get going, pulling up at a red only a few seconds behind him. I comfort myself that even without the red I'd have got him eventually. Merida guy arrives a few seconds later.

Off the lights, and it's Ribble followed by Giant (me) followed by Merida, and Giant's coming up on the outside to take Ribble, is Merida coming with her? Well she's not sure - head down and pedal like fury, Ribble's definitely gone gone gone!

Stop at some lights, Ribble's RLJ'd past on the outside! Cheating sod. Merida and Giant give chase, Merida clearly enjoying the clean air provided by Giant's substantial panniered form.

Onto shebu high street, Giant checks the shop windows, she's lost Merida a bit, but Ribble is well within her sights, and she pulls alongside him, then they both slow for the red light at the triangle.

On green, it's a mad sprint for the roundabout, there's no traffic, and Ribble's taken this one. Giant turns right, Ribble and Merida go straight over.

A knowing nod: well played chaps. See you tomorrow.

But scalps? Merida never got past me again, but held my tail for a while, and Ribble was passed once but then fought back in a sprint off the lights - my work ethic ruined any retaliation.

Oh and they both had gears... :twisted:

Bassjunkieuk

Good fight LiT :-) I had a rather abrupt wake up call this morning, as I approached one of the side roads just starting out on my journey. I turned out as I couldn't hear the usual cars hurrying down, only to see a cyclist about 20 yards up the road, knowing this road he should be carrying a reasonable amount of speed as it's a gentle hill a bit further back!
I put the hammer down as I turn out and manage to stay ahead and he catches up at the bottom. Due to his positioning he got a gap in the traffic that I couldn't safely make and got over the roundabout ahead of me.

The traffic was grid-locked as usual so I crossed the roundabout and went down the middle of the traffic as I knew I was going to catch him :twisted: I passed him once the road went up a little (and it's only a very short hill, the sort you can sprint up, 20 yards at most!) I made it look effortless as I pulled in just in front of him, after a quick look back to make sure I had passed him! Of course all this was pointless as he was riding a MTB!

Rest of the commute was un-eventful, but then I don't usually see much action in this 2 mile sprint!

greg66_tri_v2.0

Brothers (and Brothers with Lady Bits),

Until further notice I am officially Off Games.

Some of you will recall I've had back probs over the last few weeks. At the end of last week it was still giving me more trouble than it should at the end of the week, so I went to see my physio over the weekend. All the usual teeth sucking that I've learnt to expect followed.

She gave me some stretches, which I followed assiduously. But last night as I went to bed, things did not feel quite right. Sure enough, this morning was unpleasant, with me barely able to reach to put my socks or shoes on.

Not that that puts me off riding in, of course. I decided I'd take it easy ("Active Recovery squared" - somewhere between 22 and 26 kmh, I 'd guess, I didn't turn the head unit on). Yet as I rode, my lower back got tighter and tighter. To the point where it was more comfortable to ride standing than on the hoods. And when stopped, back peddling my left foot from 6pm to 9 or 10 pm was really very unpleasant. The "climb" (ha ha) up from Temple Tube was genuinely teeth grinding. And I could hardly get off at the end without laying the bike on the floor.

All of which no doubt deserves the usual MTFU, but the point of this is that I felt unsafe. When you're so tense from pain, and feel like your back is about to deliver a real zinger any second, you don't have any on-tap power, or fluidity, or confidence. So you freeze up. And that's So Not Good In Traffic.

So there we are. Officially Off Games. I need this to get better before I can play.

Greg T

Greg66 wrote:

So there we are. Officially Off Games. I need this to get better before I can play.

At your stage of life old boy this might well mean a sad end to a glittering career.

Like a proud old warship, once the pride of the fleet, all shining metal and single purpose, now laid up at the dockside, skeleton crew, superceded and irrelevent..... The next journey will be the last, to the breakers yard.

Still, there is always dominos down the British Legion.

Feltup

Nice work LiT, looks like at the very least you gave a couple of grade one buzz cuts but I reckon you cut deeper than that and they are now in the office stationary cupboard crying their hearts out :twisted:

On a side note, "HAS ANYONE SEEN MY LEGS?"

Set off this morning with the joys of being back on my bike after last weeks spill and cruised along in warm up mode, a quick dance on the pedals up the short hill out of the village and wham straight into the NE head wind. OK time to start putting some effort in; went for overdrive and all I could hear was the sound of the Delorian as Marty McFly tries to start it up after going back in time woo woo wooooooooo. OK lets try a different attack and pick the cadence up even further woo woo wooooooo. Hmmmmm OK lets just sit up and cruise then!

Luckily this time there was the usual quantity of prospective racers on route i.e. non, so my scalp stayed firmly attached. I have the one hairpin of Winter Alp to contend with on the way home so watch this space tomorrow for a tale of a heroic battle against this mighty climb

cjcp

Indeed, off to the Bangladesh for Mr66.

I might even give you a tow along Millbank. :twisted:

Heal up fast, Mr66.

(To all: keep the goading coming, although you realise that he will probably be a man on a mission to scal[ us on his return a la Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven.)

cjcp

lost_in_thought wrote:

Good god, how on earth did this thread make it to half-way down page 2?? :shock:

Had a stonking commute in this morning, spied a guy on a blue merida roadie we filtered courteously through Acton, and as we waited at the lights another guy on a Ribble cruises through the red light... muppet.

I let Merida go, as ever, I love this particular stretch of road, a slight downhill to get the cadence up, then into a bus lane with a slight uphill where the high-ish cadence just eats up great bites of road... and scalp as I pass him well over to the right. Next in my sights: Ribble.

I see him, off in the distance, and put the head down and get going, pulling up at a red only a few seconds behind him. I comfort myself that even without the red I'd have got him eventually. Merida guy arrives a few seconds later.

Off the lights, and it's Ribble followed by Giant (me) followed by Merida, and Giant's coming up on the outside to take Ribble, is Merida coming with her? Well she's not sure - head down and pedal like fury, Ribble's definitely gone gone gone!

Stop at some lights, Ribble's RLJ'd past on the outside! Cheating sod. Merida and Giant give chase, Merida clearly enjoying the clean air provided by Giant's substantial panniered form.

Onto shebu high street, Giant checks the shop windows, she's lost Merida a bit, but Ribble is well within her sights, and she pulls alongside him, then they both slow for the red light at the triangle.

On green, it's a mad sprint for the roundabout, there's no traffic, and Ribble's taken this one. Giant turns right, Ribble and Merida go straight over.

A knowing nod: well played chaps. See you tomorrow.

But scalps? Merida never got past me again, but held my tail for a while, and Ribble was passed once but then fought back in a sprint off the lights - my work ethic ruined any retaliation.

Oh and they both had gears... :twisted:

:twisted: Love it.

Feltup

Greg66 it is time to MTFU but seriously have you been to a McTimoney Chiropractor before? I found the style to be much kinder on the body than regular Chiro but with the same end results. They use more massage and firm pressure rather than cracking to realign the spine etc. I certainly felt a lot less bruised and better in myself after it. Just a thought. What ever you do go and get it sorted.

cjcp

Feltup wrote:

Greg66 it is time to MTFU but seriously have you been to a McTimoney Chiropractor before? I found the style to be much kinder on the body than regular Chiro but with the same end results. They use more massage and firm pressure rather than cracking to realign the spine etc. I certainly felt a lot less bruised and better in myself after it. Just a thought. What ever you do go and get it sorted.

I get my kids to jump over my back. The lasting pain seems to override any pain from aching and ageing bones.

Kieran_Burns

Greg - you should think of your back mate, but please don't give up the cycling!

I have the perfect soluiton for you:




boy am I glad I live nowhere near you

cjcp

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Greg - you should think of your back mate, but please don't give up the cycling!

I have the perfect soluiton for you:




boy am I glad I live nowhere near you

Golden!

One problem: it's not his colour; it needs to be pink...

lost_in_thought

cjcp wrote:

Golden!

One problem: it's not his colour; it needs to be pink...

Problem solved:



Even got a skirt guard...

Kieran_Burns

I thought the basket was the killer - pink would've been too cruel 8)