Silly commuting racing

daniel_b

itboffin wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

Right as an etaper what are you doing commuting on an MTB? Heretic.

Talking of heretics there's a picture on the cyclosports website of some nutter doing the Highclere on a MTB :shock:

That's heavy duty indeed :shock:

ITB, any idea when the online entry opens for the Highclere jobbie?

Dan

edhornby

lost_in_thought wrote:

In annoying news, my allegedy waterproof DHB overshoes emphatically are not. Water resistant, maybe, waterproof, no.

was it the water running down your leg and into the shoes/socks ? this has happened to me, solved by putting the water proof trousers over the overshoes (undershoes ??)

I have the endura road neoprene ones, winner

lost_in_thought

edhornby wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

In annoying news, my allegedy waterproof DHB overshoes emphatically are not. Water resistant, maybe, waterproof, no.

was it the water running down your leg and into the shoes/socks ? this has happened to me, solved by putting the water proof trousers over the overshoes (undershoes ??)

I have the endura road neoprene ones, winner

Don't think so, water was evident coming in through the middle and through the soles, but not from the top down...

itboffin

Daniel B wrote:

itboffin wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

Right as an etaper what are you doing commuting on an MTB? Heretic.

Talking of heretics there's a picture on the cyclosports website of some nutter doing the Highclere on a MTB :shock:

That's heavy duty indeed :shock:

ITB, any idea when the online entry opens for the Highclere jobbie?

Dan

Nope but i've signed up for advanced notifications and will post as soon as I hear.

symo

When are we going to get the jerseys with SCR, MTFU and 'The Game' logo's upon it.

cjcp

I really missed the bike today. I say "bike" because I'm not sure whether I missed the commute or the two hours I get on the bike each day. So much for a feckin' day off... :evil:

biondino

LiT, glad I didn't kill you once again!

My DHB overshoes worked absolutely fine - but obv if you have holes in your soles you'll be wet!

In other notes - don't you hate it when you push yourself to 95% plus to build up a gap between you and a likely rival, and half a mile later when you finally look round they're nowhere to be seen (either because they're slow as, or because they turned off)?

Bassjunkieuk

I thought I'd found BD this morning as I found a chap on a rather nice looking Focus coming off the E&C towards London Bridge. I pulled up alongside but alas it didn't appear to be our cheery local! Confirmed when I binned the rider with no sign of him for the rest of the road :-)
Having seen BD take off from the marshals at FW I'm sure it wouldn't have been that easy if it was him ;-)

Also did another roadie a bit further up and eventually escaped the tide of red lights that was hindering my progress!

Garou

Finally did my new longer (16-17 mi) commute on the way into work today. Done it couple of times home in the evening, but this is the first morning run - loved it. Been putting it off because of the disruption of moving house, and not being sure of when exaclty Richmond Park opens, but it's all good now.

I even got my first proper scalp in (not many people seem to go the same direction as me), a rather nice slim hybrid in Bushy Park. Text book - saw him, caught him, scalped him. Never saw him again.

lost_in_thought

biondino wrote:

LiT, glad I didn't kill you once again!

My DHB overshoes worked absolutely fine - but obv if you have holes in your soles you'll be wet!

Mine have holes in the soles for the SPDs... but that isn't the issue I don't think!

Aaaaaaanyway, I pootled in on ym usual route this morning due to the fact that I am carrying a large papier-maché ball (head) and a sort of dress thing with a hula hoop (not the crisp) sewn into it. And I made a friend - a lady on a bike with pink bar tape who was also pootling due to carrying silly things for a weekend away! Fun to chat whilst cycling all the way from Acton to Shebu.

Absolutely no scalping action whatsoever. Such a lovely day though!

biondino

Me and my hangover were almost shamed earlier - I didn't get scalped by the fast hybrid rider but I couldn't shake him either, so it felt like a defeat. I was slightly late in to work, so encountered a lot of the post-rush-hour idiots who aren't malicious or aggressive but just a bit dumb. On one occasion a party of FOUR peds tried to cross the road just over Putney Bridge despite the crossing being on a bend at the bottom of a hill - and not ONE of them looked right. Jesus.

Littigator

MORNING ALLLLLLLLLLL!

Tra la la LAAAAA isn't it a luverly day

Don't worry I'm not on drugs. Not last time i checked anyway.

In fact I've just realised that hangover aside, I've obviously had a big karma boost! I'll explain, I got the most uniqu scalp this morning, not only was it an electric bike bimbing along, but the rider was a fullly robed buddhist monk who was cruising along High Holborn in the lotus position on his bike!

I tell ya, the guy had to be seen to be believed...obviously passing him was no challege at all but it was just the sheer joy of pootling past this guy, him with his beatific look of peace and me with my huge grin of sheer delight. We exchanged knowing smiles and I think he passed me some good karma at that point...

nice...Peace Out!

Feltup

Being a Buddhist monk I hope you passed him on the left otherwise it could be like walking the wrong way around a mani wall or spinning a prayer wheel the wrong way (ie anticlockwise) very bad for the Karma. Om mani padme hom.

Littigator

:shock: DOH!

lost_in_thought

In the lotus position? Seriously? That guy must have some amazing balance!

Onan

I thought I'd have my first go at this this morning, and tried to pass a proper roadie. I had him in my sights, and I thought I was going to make mincemeat of him, but it turned out he was just toying with me. As soon as I got close, he geared up, and left me for dead. I think I heard him chuckle as he accelerated away at supersonic speeds.

It seems I suck.

Clever Pun

Onan wrote:

I thought I'd have my first go at this this morning, and tried to pass a proper roadie. I had him in my sights, and I thought I was going to make mincemeat of him, but it turned out he was just toying with me. As soon as I got close, he geared up, and left me for dead. I think I heard him chuckle as he accelerated away at supersonic speeds.

It seems I suck.

good stuff, I've done that before... generally I'm not really paying attention and not putting in the effort required see somone and think oh crap and gun it restoring the natural order of things

keep trying eventually you'll stay with him and one day...

Feltup

Littigator wrote:

:shock: DOH!

You could always write a list and do good things to make up for it

No. 125 Perpetually harrassed cyclists lower down the SCR food chain.
No. 93 Insulted the honest working professionals known as Taxi drivers

(reckon I went to far with no.93)

gb155

Passed a girl from work tonight, however I had to stop as I herd he bike making such a weird noise, turns out her wheel was rubbing, Not a scalp as she walked home but ahh well, On another note I have been MTFU'ing in shorts and a tshirt, However today I wore my shorts but with leggings under them, gloves, a hat and a coat, felt like a wimp but my knees didnt hurt lol, so I will re-MTFU in about May

linsen

I cycled up to the local hospital this morning to give blood and got a couple of scalps on the way up the short sharp hill just at the end of the journey.
On the way home however, I managed something sweet. Zoomed past a man on his MTB, and he was so indignant that he caught me up at the lights, whizzed by and took a short cut, while I had to take another corner.

Still beat him

On Gladys.......

Bassjunkieuk

Nice one Linsen :-) Bonus points (or pints, what with donating blood and all) for doing it post-donation when you have slightly less blood in your body ;-)

Whilst I wasn't on my bike this morning due to working in Woking for the day I did spend yesterday afternoon removing all the crud that the commute to Thames Ditton had left on my bike. I even went as far as removing and dis-assembling my crankset as the cogs where just covered in thick black mess! The only reason I didn't do the cassette was that I don't have tools to take it apart!

Once it was done it looked superb, **almost** good as new! It's amazing how relaxing it is to give your ride a good clean!

linsen

hmm, must do that sometime :oops:

Coriander

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

I even went as far as removing and dis-assembling my crankset as the cogs where just covered in thick black mess! The only reason I didn't do the cassette was that I don't have tools to take it apart!

Once it was done it looked superb, **almost** good as new! It's amazing how relaxing it is to give your ride a good clean!

Hmm, I think we might have slightly different definitions of 'relaxing', BJUK! :oops:

Bassjunkieuk

Coriander wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

I even went as far as removing and dis-assembling my crankset as the cogs where just covered in thick black mess! The only reason I didn't do the cassette was that I don't have tools to take it apart!

Once it was done it looked superb, **almost** good as new! It's amazing how relaxing it is to give your ride a good clean!

Hmm, I think we might have slightly different definitions of 'relaxing', BJUK! :oops:

Well it was "relaxing" until Sebastian woke up! All the kids left me alone (thanks to a movie on telly) and wife was out shopping ;-)

Only thing is I can guarantee it will probably be raining tomorrow so all my hard work will be for nothing after my first outing!

Sewinman

:oops: Riding along from Vauxhall to Victoria and nip in front of a guy on a really cr*ppy hybrid - practically a shopper. He must have taken offence, as he absolutly smashed me off the lights. I should have changed down before the lights but was confident that I would soon catch hiim owing to my far superior FCN. He was wearing combat trousers, wooly socks and one of those helmets that skateboarders wear. He also had a pannier on and thick wheels.

I MTFU'd up after the initial shock and caught up....eventually. This guy was rapid - i mean speedy gonzalez quick. He was spinning like crazy. :shock: Due to the lights changing I had no opportunitys to pass but I have to admit it would have been a struggle. :oops: He turned off at Victoria and I felt truly humbled by this wolf in disguise.

Some geez then drafted me all the way down the Mall without a word of thanks.

lost_in_thought

I got home on Sunday having finally managed to get to Richmond to collect my bike, and realised just how grubby it was. Poor bike.

I really ought to clean it.

Can I use fairy liquid? Is that bad?

In SCR news, I took the chiswick route in this morning, really slow, lots of traffic and seemingly about double the amount of lights to my uxbridge road commute.

I think that might be one for homeward bound only.

Also, some woman in a Fiesta tried to kill me - it's all well and good having bikes go the wrong way down one ways, but the cars need to remember we're there... :roll:

cjcp

LiT - I use fairy liquid to clean parts such as cassettes and mechs (esp the jockey wheels), but only when I've taken them off my bike, and can give them a good scrub down and can get all the soap off. Don't think there's any problem with the frame, but babywipes are the busy for cleaning grease off frames.

Buy a good de-greaser and something like Muc-Off (but be careful not spray too close).

First commute for a few days. A heavy rucksack and a lot of eating over the last four days made me decide to have a pootle in this morning.

Until the first roadie appeared on the horizon, when the mind started to play games with me.

Had to fight the devil on my shoulder most of the way in, particularly since I came across one fixie (on a very nice Bianchi track frame), Planet X man that G66 and I have seen before, a roadie in full kit, and a couple of other roadies. I decided that, in my slightly overburdened state, "holding my own" was the best way forward, which I duly managed.

Bit of a <loud cough> diet this week, me thinks.

Wrath Rob

I saw a failed wolf-in-sheeps-clothing today. What looked like a MTB went past me up Southwark Bridge, remembering my MTFU juice I caught and held him (no passing due to the kurbed off cycle lane) down to the lights on the other side. I had a look at his bike which appeared to be a bit of a Frankenbike, with the frame, forks, wheels, gears etc off of a road bike and then the handlebars and bar ends from a MTB! And no, it wasn't a hybrid before some clever clogs asks

So, nice try mate but why don't you stick the proper 'bars back on the bike and reveal yourself, rather than sluking around pretending to have a high FCN?

Clever Pun

My route was stunningly low on cars today and I managed to take people twice as they go past me on red traffic lights...

Jamaica Road has some nice long bus lane sections which you can really rack up scalps and more fodder than you can shake a stick at

I'm a little tempted to take the folder in the whole route just to see if I can clear 20 scalps in one commute

lost_in_thought

Well my order for a fresh pot of smackdown seems to have been processed and dispatched.

Went the new way home again, and was passed whilst filtering by some plank on a blue roadie in shorts. Close enough to make me jump. I gave chase, slowly, and he proceeded to hardly slow down for a pedestrian crossing resulting in a small child slalom, blast through two red lights, and cross the pavement to get onto a roundabout. Prat. To say the least.

Well imagine my surprise when I caught up with him a bit later... into the bus lane we both went, no idea how fast, but gaining. Then I remembered I had all that shiny new smackdown in stock, so I called on the resource department, and overtook convincingly on the inside, up the hill. Ha!

After a previous display of such abject tw@ttishness, I thought he would be drafting me at the very least, but no, he was well back. Interesting. I am spreading the good word with overtakings.

:twisted: