Silly commuting racing

linsen

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Jen J wrote:

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Think my legs are getting stronger - came home tonight using big ring only - I was on the middle ring for the first couple of weeks - mind you difficult to tell - I have legs like spaghetti

Middle ring? I don't understand, what's a middle ring?

Alas Jen, as an SS type you will never know the joy of a middle ring :oops:

I've got a tiny ring as well

Me too!

Jen J

linsen wrote:

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Jen J wrote:

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Think my legs are getting stronger - came home tonight using big ring only - I was on the middle ring for the first couple of weeks - mind you difficult to tell - I have legs like spaghetti

Middle ring? I don't understand, what's a middle ring?

Alas Jen, as an SS type you will never know the joy of a middle ring :oops:

I've got a tiny ring as well

Me too!

I have a MTB too :oops:

Jen J

Ok, so I can't sleep, and I'm really looking forward to going clipless on the fixie for the first time to get to work later this morning.

It would be a really stupid idea to go out for a quick ride now, wouldn't it?

nicklouse

Yes it would.

Not that you will listen.

take care.


LIGHTS

Jen J

Woohoo! 9.86 miles in about 40 minutes. Loved it. (Yes I know I'm not going to break any speed records)

No idea where I was headed, but ended up going through Raynes Park, Morden, Colliers Wood, Tooting and back to Wimbledon.

Tooting High Street has Christmas lights up already. It's only just stopped being October :?

Love the new shoes/pedals. So much easier than the old toe clips (which were a huge hassle once I went fixed as they'd scrape along the ground if I hadn't managed to get my feet into them in time) and also than my road pedals/shoes.

Have just realised that bar a few stops at lights, I was pedalling non-stop for 10 miles. Hmm. Achy legs tomorrow.

Oh yeah, SCR thread isn't it - sorry, no scalps.

Goodnight...

Bassjunkieuk

JJ, are we to understand you went for a wide in the wee hours of the morning?
Sounds like a great idea to me, I think LiT rode from home from Clapham at that hour once and said it was great as the roads where almost traffic free :-)

Seems I must have stupidly put the invisibility cloke on this morning as I had quite a few drivers and peds try to get out in front of me. I just wish people would learn to look and use their eyes!

No notable scalps but I did pass a rather quick guy on either a slicked up MTB or hybrid who was keeping up a decent 17-19mph on my final stretch.

Garou

I live in Clapham so cycle on the A24 quite a lot, too. It is indeed a lot of fun in the early hours when the traffic is absent. The evenings can be a right b**ch though - the other day i had loads of doors opening in my face left and right, and the buses are murderous.

Actually you do get used to it.

Plenty of other bikes around too - i'm always getting scalped by folks on shiny roadies :evil: At least i'm usually able to fend off the fixies 8) .

Newbury chap

Today's SCR action. I saw a shopper coming in the opposite direction, a lady in her autumn years. The prospect of turning around and making a "detour" is becoming quite seductive....

lost_in_thought

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

Sounds like a great idea to me, I think LiT rode from home from Clapham at that hour once and said it was great as the roads where almost traffic free :-)

Spot on! I heart riding in the middle of the night. However, I NEVER have trouble sleeping, so I have to stay up for some reason - usually alcohol based - then cycle home.

Ride back last night - thanks for the offer of the jacket biondino, very kind of you - but I'd already left the office. As it turns out I wore my work clothes with my jersey over the top and once I got going I wasn't too cold.

This morning was hilarious - there was a guy on a speedy hybrid, who I was lazily drafting a bit - he was going at about 17mph! Fair play hybrid guy.

But then I berated myself for the lack of M'ingTFU and b*ggered off into the distance.

Stopped at some lights, and eventually hybrid guy ghosts past me, followed by a middle-aged guy on a condor SS with what look like carbon forks!

'You, sir', I thought, 'need to be taught a lesson in cycling. And it just so happens I'm in a teaching mood.'

So I blast past the two of them just after the lights thinking 'that'll get him annoyed, maybe he'll MTFU' and he did. A bit.

Off from the next lights, and he's standing up pushing like blazes giving it the big one. I hold my ground, stay seated, and hilariously remain alongside him while he's going all Theo Bos to my left. I'm like the swan - smooth and unflustered.

As expected, he tops out and gives up, settling for a frankly geriatric 20mph, when I cruise past him, still accelerating. Uphill.

We go our separate ways at the roundabout. Do you think you might be past it Condor guy? Time to throw in the towel and admit it?

:twisted: :twisted:

itboffin

Newbury chap wrote:

Today's SCR action. I saw a shopper coming in the opposite direction, a lady in her autumn years. The prospect of turning around and making a "detour" is becoming quite seductive....

It bad out here "prey" are so few and far between, I almost turned around yesterday to do just that, a fast roadie on the other side, ho hum!! still when you/we do encounter a worthy opponent the spoils will be all the more enjoyable.

PB on my SS yesterday, I held 27MPH for half a mile on the flat, Buns will be pleased, I was spinning like a crazy man.

Clever Pun

just a couple of roadies today one was an old guy riding a vintage condor... I had to spin pretty fast to bin him


Beers tonight anyone?

Sewinman

lost_in_thought wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

Sounds like a great idea to me, I think LiT rode from home from Clapham at that hour once and said it was great as the roads where almost traffic free :-)

Spot on! I heart riding in the middle of the night. However, I NEVER have trouble sleeping, so I have to stay up for some reason - usually alcohol based - then cycle home.

Ride back last night - thanks for the offer of the jacket biondino, very kind of you - but I'd already left the office. As it turns out I wore my work clothes with my jersey over the top and once I got going I wasn't too cold.

This morning was hilarious - there was a guy on a speedy hybrid, who I was lazily drafting a bit - he was going at about 17mph! Fair play hybrid guy.

But then I berated myself for the lack of M'ingTFU and b*ggered off into the distance.

Stopped at some lights, and eventually hybrid guy ghosts past me, followed by a middle-aged guy on a condor SS with what look like carbon forks!

'You, sir', I thought, 'need to be taught a lesson in cycling. And it just so happens I'm in a teaching mood.'

So I blast past the two of them just after the lights thinking 'that'll get him annoyed, maybe he'll MTFU' and he did. A bit.

Off from the next lights, and he's standing up pushing like blazes giving it the big one. I hold my ground, stay seated, and hilariously remain alongside him while he's going all Theo Bos to my left. I'm like the swan - smooth and unflustered.

As expected, he tops out and gives up, settling for a frankly geriatric 20mph, when I cruise past him, still accelerating. Uphill.

We go our separate ways at the roundabout. Do you think you might be past it Condor guy? Time to throw in the towel and admit it?

:twisted: :twisted:

Thats intense!....Have you cosnidered that you are crushing fragile male ego's across the capital!? How many men have put the bike away in the garage for the last time follwing summary humiliation from L_i_T...

No scalps of note...finding decent action on a road bike is much harder than my old plucky hybrid. However, riding through Brixton last night and I witnessed a fight between a guy and his girlfriend. She was throwing punches and screaming at him - not particularly pleasant. They were drunk and as they staggered about I heard a saxophone playing the theme from 'Once Upon a Time in America' outside the underground station. The rain was coming down, the road was greasy and there were people streaming past on their way somewhere. It was all very dark and urban.

Anyway, the 'scene' got my attention and I thought about it for the remainder of my ride. Cycling is cathartic.

biondino

Morning all!

Even though I now have to do some bike and schedule wrangling in order to get my bike home for the weekend (I'm off to see a Young People's Music band tonight, go me), I decided to ride in today as I've done so little lately (as my scales confirm - I've put on half a sodding stone!!). I'd only give the legs 5/10, and the traffic was appalling, but it was a nice morning and I certainly feel better for having done it.

And - I had a sparring partner! And what a chap - 65 if he's a day, wearing day-glo everything, inlcuding gloves, with two large rear lights flashing (at 9.30am on a sunny morning). And I notice he's wearing sandals - and I'll wager they're not the LiT clippy kind.

As I approach him, I notice he's doing a decent speed and obviously giving it some. I raise an eyebrow, as if to say "hmm, obviously not a challenge for the likes of me but I may have to push beyond first gear to pass the old fellow", and do precisely that. And he MTFUs and sticks with me! Fortunately I am only in second gear and raising it to third, about 22mph, I can tell I'm pulling away.

At the next set of lights, I have to slow down for a while, and as the lights go green and I set off, the chap overtakes me, giving it some! I actually felt a bit bad at this point, and thought maybe I should let him stay ahead - think how happy he'll feel. This sympathy lasted about half a second, and I powered back past him.

Naturally, lights kept us much closer together than we would have been otherwise, and the exertions of this OAP were enough to raise my average speed and heartbeat for most of the journey! Chapeau sir.

biondino

I also got a smile from a moped rider this morning, and help from a lorry, and no-one tried to kill me.

LiT, I decided to test ride the new (DHB Rogate) jersey this morning, and it's not bad. Quite toasty - wore it on its own and was pretty comfy the whole way. I notice it's made in Bosnia.

Newbury chap

PB on my SS yesterday, I held 27MPH for half a mile on the flat, Buns will be pleased, I was spinning like a crazy man.

What ratio are you running?

Some Friday fun...

Why cant bicycles stand up on their own? Because they are too tyred...

Sewinman

Delete - double post.

lost_in_thought

Clever Pun wrote:

Beers tonight anyone?

Might be able to make it for a beer, but can't stay long!

Clever Pun

lost_in_thought wrote:

Clever Pun wrote:

Beers tonight anyone?

Might be able to make it for a beer, but can't stay long!

ditto, I've got whisky at home to be drinking

itboffin

Newbury chap wrote:

PB on my SS yesterday, I held 27MPH for half a mile on the flat, Buns will be pleased, I was spinning like a crazy man.

What ratio are you running?

Some Friday fun...

Why cant bicycles stand up on their own? Because they are too tyred...

Yesterday was 72GI so thats roughly 130RPM it did raise my heart rate some what and just look at the weather right now, perfect!

il_principe

Clever Pun wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Clever Pun wrote:

Beers tonight anyone?

Might be able to make it for a beer, but can't stay long!

ditto, I've got whisky at home to be drinking

I can do a quick one although for the first time I will be sans bike, sniff. Had an early morning meeting and was expressly forbidden to go home and get in the bike after that. My usual trick is to swan home post meeting, change and then cycle in to work as I argue it's still quicker than the tube. Sadly that argument doesn't stand when the meeting is 4 stops from the office apparently. Grrrr..

Also to the roadie on the Giant with red tires on the Embankment last night - you may have thought you'd got a scalp after sneaking up on me, but it doesn't count if you can't hold the speed you used to pass me, a point I hope I made when I passed you about 1 minute late (legs whirring like a washing machine on spin cycle). You were quick my friend but I expect more from a kitted up fellow with the advantage of gears.

lost_in_thought

biondino wrote:

I also got a smile from a moped rider this morning, and help from a lorry, and no-one tried to kill me.

LiT, I decided to test ride the new (DHB Rogate) jersey this morning, and it's not bad. Quite toasty - wore it on its own and was pretty comfy the whole way. I notice it's made in Bosnia.

Gah! Must... not... shop...

Made in Bosnia, eh? That's actually a bit bizarre.

It's always nice when no-one tries to kill you. Brightens the day.

Citizen Smith

Jen J wrote:

Tooting High Street has Christmas lights up already. It's only just stopped being October :?

Nice work Jen. I live round these parts - those lights are up because of :Eid

Been a while since I have posted as I have been krazy busy but rest assured I have read every humorous page.

I have just changed jobs and hence commute. For a couple of days a week, I will head to Paddington from Tooting - how I have missed cycling through Hyde Park in the mist first thing in the morning. And then onto the train and once at Reading I cycle down the Thames to Microsoft on the business park. When I cycled back last night I forgot how pitch black it gets when go away from the street lights and before your eyes adjust to the dark. As my light is not the brightest and I was on the towpath next to the river, I had to be very careful indeed. Thankfully it's only a short distance!! Might stick to the road next time.

Another observation is that this commute is 4 miles longer (now 11 miles in total) than my old commute. My legs are feeling it despite cycling regularly. I will be most definitely M'ing FTU for my dash home this evening from my new London base (Victoria).

I am also considering extending my London commute to include a loop along the Embankment to my old place of work at Temple and then back along the Strand and the Mall to the office. Of course, according to game rules, all scalps in this loop should be null and void since this extension is superfluous to my commute.

'Scalp' of note to report - shaved roadie in full lycra on the stretch between Tooting Bec and Balham - I say 'scalp' because he seemed to be keeping something back when I passed and he was a speck in the distance by the time I'd reached the next lights. I think my soul rightly doesn't want to cash it.

girv73

itboffin wrote:

For those of you who use Nokia sports tracker and are sad enough to record every ride I've created an SCR group on the Nokia website.

Oh right it's just me then :oops:

Nope, I too am a sad, no-life, IT boffin.

girv73

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

JJ, are we to understand you went for a wide in the wee hours of the morning?
Sounds like a great idea to me, I think LiT rode from home from Clapham at that hour once and said it was great as the roads where almost traffic free :-)

+1

I was fettling the bike a few nights ago in preparation for the next morning, around 10pm it was, and just decided "Ah what the hell" and took off for a half hour spin round the streets "just to stretch the legs". It was great just flying about with noone else around

One slightly edgy moment when I encountered some dodgy looking hoodies on a dark road, but I think they were as surprised to see me as I was to see them and I sped off unchallenged.

Newbury chap

More Friday fun.

A tandem rider is stopped by a police car.

"What've I done, officer?" asks the rider.

"Perhaps you didn't notice sir, but your wife fell off your bike half a mile back . . ."

"Oh, thank God for that," says the rider - "I thought I'd gone deaf!"

Newbury chap

A nerd was walking down the sidewalk one day when his friend, another nerd, rode up on an incredible shiny new bicycle.

The first nerd was stunned by his friend's sweet ride and asked, "WOW! Where did you get such a nice bike?"

The second nerd replied, "Well, yesterday I was walking home, minding my own business, when a beautiful woman rode up to me on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, 'Take what you want!'"

The second nerd nodded approvingly, "Good choice. The clothes probably wouldn't have fit."

Jen J

girv73 wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

JJ, are we to understand you went for a wide in the wee hours of the morning?
Sounds like a great idea to me, I think LiT rode from home from Clapham at that hour once and said it was great as the roads where almost traffic free :-)

+1

I was fettling the bike a few nights ago in preparation for the next morning, around 10pm it was, and just decided "Ah what the hell" and took off for a half hour spin round the streets "just to stretch the legs". It was great just flying about with noone else around

One slightly edgy moment when I encountered some dodgy looking hoodies on a dark road, but I think they were as surprised to see me as I was to see them and I sped off unchallenged.

'Twas indeed a fabulous ride. A few dodgy driver moments, most notably the car that drove right up behind me and beeped - disregarding the fact it was illegal to beep at that time, I have no idea why he was doing it - it was very much an angry, get out of my way beep, yet we were the only two vehicles within sight.

Another unerving moment was when I took the long way home, and there was some guy standing in the middle of the road near Walkabout in Wimbledon Town, wasn't entriely sure he wasn't going to find it hilarious to reach out and grab my bike, so gave him a wide berth. Don't actually know why he was standing in the middle of the road...

girv73

I would like to announce, this is the first week I've managed to do 4 days on the bike! Go me! I'm ace, me! Bet you wish you were as ace as me!

Bassjunkieuk

Whilst we're doing humor, in a more direct sense then usual.....

A motorway and a dual carriageway are sat in the pub and they're both boasting about how hard they are. "I'm blatantly harder than you" says the dual carriageway "I've got two lanes and a central reservation". "No way" says the motorway "I've got THREE lanes, a central reservation AND a hard shoulder! I'm so much harder than u!!". The next thing, a normal road walks in the pub and the motorway and the dual carriageway hide under the table. The road walks over to the bar, orders himself a drink knocks it back and has a look around. Unimpressed, the road gets up and leaves. Sheepishly, the dual carriageway and the motorway climb out from under the table. "look at you 2!" said the barman "you're both boastin about how hard u are and a normal road walks in and you're both terrified and hide under the table!!". " Ya don't wanna mess with him" said the motorway "He's a cycle-path"

Clever Pun

Grammargator
Bald Greg
Cripple Greg
FaceJunkie?

you guys about?

See what I did there?.... badly