Silly commuting racing

girv73

Sub-zero here in Belfast this morning too, though the roads had thawed by the time I was on them. I had to walk to the end of my street however as it was still iced up!

I didn't see another bike on my way in despite leaving a bit later than usual and well into the main part of the morning rush. Cowards the lot of them.

jonginge

l_i_t wrote:

Also, does anyone else feel like the air is rather heavy on these cold, humid mornings? My lungs appear to be suffering a bit at the minute.

cjcp wrote:

Yep, distinct lack of roadies this morning, but pushed myself reasonably hard. Have a cold so the chest was a bit "tight". Still gave it some stick along Embankment, despite the wheezing. Am not, getting, the train.

Almost felt like coughing up a lung while I was chasing down a RLJing, assos wearing roadie up to Chelsea Bridge. Him and a fastish guy on a hybrid in baggies and flats were virtually the only bikers I saw this morning.

Wore my brand new Craft LS base layer and bigger gloves today and quite happy i did. brrr

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

gtvlusso wrote:

Sea_Green_Incorruptible wrote:

Agree on the lack of Brissle action. Not had a real duel since the end of August when sadly I was scalped by an old shaved roadie on an Ambrosia..

In fact, the ony place on my commute where I seem to get a sniff of other 'competitors' is on the Gloucester Rd. but even then most fall into the 'MTB driftwood' category. Kind of satisfying to blast past at 25 when they're doing 10, but in the end a hollow kind of victory.

Where are all the other roadie commuters? That's what I want to know..

Whats your commute then SGI? From and to?

From Winterbourne in S.Gloucs to the uni in Clifton. Lots of different routes, but most days tend to do a loop - down French Park Rd, through St. Pauls and up Nine Tree Hill in the morning; up Gloucester Rd. down Filton Rd. and through Parkway station in the evening (or vice-versa).

Occasionally go via the Bristol to Bath, Cribbs, or even occasionally Avonmouth/Thornbury depending on how good my legs are feeling!

Tried to post the route via Bikely but the damn thing keeps crashing! :roll:

How about all you other yokels?

TheBrogueadier

Sea_Green_Incorruptible wrote:

How about all you other yokels?

Normal route for me is Coronation Road - Redcliffe Roundabout - Temple Meads - Feeder Road.

Changed it slightly while I'm getting used to my fixie again so it's North Street - East Street - Redcliffe etc..

Quite often throw in Feeder - Centre - Park St - White Ladies - Few laps of the downs - Beggar Bush Lane out and back - retrace to centre then off down Coronation Road for a change of route home.

Bike depending.. Not sure I'd want to do what route on the 75GI fixie..

Clever Pun

Attica wrote:

Nice work CP, which bike were you on?

the fixed... too wet for the squadra and 13 miles on a brompton would require a new @ss

I put a new crank on the squadra on saturday.. it might not be on quite enough as I can't get the mech to use the big ring damnit... might just take it in the shop... bugger

attica

This is my route, plenty of variation into town, sometimes up through Ashton Park and over the Suspension Bridge, sometimes across Cumberland Basin and down Hotwells, sometimes down Coronation Road.

Cycle paths from this direction are an absolute joke, esp Corry Road and the one parallel to Hotwells Road which goes over a huge "manhole cover" style steel area, a good 8 foot by 8, one to be avoided in the wet!

Ooh, get us - all talking about Bristol like we own the thread, there'll be complaints soon that it's all too Bristol-centric

Greg T

Attica wrote:

Ooh, get us - all talking about Bristol like we own the thread, there'll be complaints soon that it's all too Bristol-centric

I'm all for it!

When are going to talk about the Bastard English buying up second homes here, making them unaffordable for locals and destroying our traditional language?

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

Ah. Here we go. Got Bikely working at last. Here is my route.

gert_lush

.....Bristol this Bristol that its the new London village don't you know!

Coolio, nice routes guys, i'm afraid at this time of the year mine is generally 369 both ways to portbury from clifton. In the summer sometimes via failand daily, and have been known to go all the way out to clevedon and back via backwell.

I do like the fact there are some good hills to throw into the mix...but not many scalps!

DonDaddyD

I really want to ride home now.

linsen

I really DON'T want to ride home now - it's dark out there and 6 miles of my commute is unlit

I've never ridden home in the proper dark :shock:

Clever Pun

DonDaddyD wrote:

I really want to ride home now.

I get that as soon as I log on in the morning

gb155

I REALLY Had to MTFU this morning, Minus 6 does that to you, Once warm it was no though, No a single other cyclest going the same way as me this morning and only one tonight, roads were slippy so I took it easy, Now hows the weather looking for tomorrow, I need to scalp someone !

cjcp

Tonight was hard.

The "fun" started at Vauxhall Bridge lights. A good few roadies. I'm about sixth or seventh bike back. Normally, this would be good news. Not tonight. The coughing had started and the chest was getting a little tighter. Nonethelesss, I wasn't going to wuss out, so prepared for the duelling down Death Star Canyon.

Lights go green and everyone's off. I'm quickly past all but three, one of whom is a bit nippy and is out in front of two and three by 20 yards or so. I am waiting about a further five yards back and a little out to the road (not drafting ) and then we're into DSC. Traffic was clear so I went for it. Got past 2 and 3, now for no. 1. Catch and pass him after the bend round right exiting the Canyon. Get to Chelsea Bridge with plenty of clear road behind me. But I paid for it. The chest is hurting and I sense that it won't be long before I start producing some funny looking "grollies".

But there's a new problem: more roadies at the lights, and one SS. Thank God the lights are red, but I can't slow now because the gang behind will catch me. So, down the slope and we're off to Albert Bridge. I pass everyone, but the chest is getting tighter and it's getting harder. The SS, who was leading the group, catches my wheel. B*ugger. I had maxed out at 28-29mph and felt myself beginning to fade - there was to be no second surge. But, alas, I dropped the SS. Excellent! No-one will hear me coughing my guts up :oops:

It was then time for the usual tit-for-tat along the NKR with all the lights, allowing me to get a breather. Then two roadies, one with tri-bars, jump a red. The SS is beside me, visibly annoyed at the pair. This stirs me into giving chase, and he latches onto my wheel. To my utter disbelief, I drop him again and I catch the two RLJers by the summit of Col de Putney Bridge.

Unfortunately, I finally pay for my exertions and the lungs give up along Lower Richmond Road. My chest feels as if a small child is sitting on it and the gaming ends. The SS catches me by Putney Common, drafts for about 200 yards before overtaking me - the wind obviously takes its effect though because he doesn't get away. A small consolation.

Get home, chest a-wheezing, and have to sit down puffing on my inhalers. The good lady looks at me, eyes slightly wide.

Might well be consigned to "recovery" rides for the rest of this week. :roll:

prj45

Ah, did another classic take on the incline coming up from blackfriars underpass onto Victoria Embankment tonight.

25mph all the way up tonight and dropped a roady half way up.

The traffic lights a the far west of Kensinton high street were a sight tonight, had to look twice but as I approached it it was clear there were about 15 cyclists at the lights there, including one dork trying to get across the junction whist an ambulance was coming. I made sure that when I dropped him I did it with total apathy.

DiggingDeeper

Tonight wasn't hard, it was chuffing hard!
Went out at lunchtime to purchase 2x Armadillos 700x25, my favoured choice of weapon as I got a puncture this morning going in on my miserable excuse for tyres conti something, 2 punctures in 3 days. So first job before setting off home was fit the new tyre and put patch on the tube. Wasn't convinced I did it right. The first time few times you handle these buggers it is touch and go cos they are so stiff.

1.5 miles later it's all over. The dozen odd people I hammered past going out of Camden sailed past me with that glad it's him look. Cutting a long story short cocked up the next install, pinched the inner tube again when it snapped on. Didn't think I was going to get it on. Last inner tube now and manage not to c*ck it up. I don't like the expression, but a few geezers with megaphones shouting MTFU might have bucked me up.

Feeling like I have lost the will to leave and unable to feel my hands anymore found my self being drafted by some cheeky monkey on a hybrid up the incline to Manor House. Time to stop snivelling and let him struggle alone. ..............................Zoom. Made it home with no more mishaps.

I guess that's why there are so many hybrids on my route, they trade speed for not c*cking around mending punctures on their 38mm monsters.

Pack some more tubes for tomorrow - roadie till the end (ah, unless I've got nipper I guess)

lost_in_thought

Do you know what nemesis means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent.

Personified in this case by a man on a FG with red rims.

Oh yes, he's back. Whisper it with me.... red rims...

I saw him this morning in front of me at the lights. It was like tunnel vision, the roadie I was playing with was dropped even before I went through the (green) lights, I was only chasing red.

And my word that guy's fast. I don't know what GI he's running, but he's a spinner. He is above me in the FC, thanks to the panniers, but that doesn't matter. All the not trying went out the window - I was sucking in air so fast the cold made my teeth hurt.

It seemed like destiny, all the lights shifted to green as he approached them, with me in hot pursuit. Literally giving it everything I had, leave the reserve tanks empty, this is all that matters.

And I didn't catch him. I didn't even close the gap in any noticeable manner. He is a suicidal filterer, but that is no excuse.

What stings me even more is that I doubt he's even aware that I'm busting a gut trying to catch him. I bet this is how fast he goes everywhere.

Damn it.

However, my shiny new cadence-computer has a shiny new top speed - 28.9mph. Cadence 111 when I looked down at the point where I was having to think about smooth pedalling. And I got to work in under 25 minutes.

I could go faster than that.

I have to.

One day, red. One day. Keep an eye out over your shoulder.

girv73

I woke up this morning still tired from a tough ride home last night (SCRing no-one but myself) and looked outside to see a light dusting of snow and a very icy looking street. I'm about to think "Ah well, maybe it's a bus day then" when the Lords of the (Chain)Rings send me a MTFU-o-gram in the form of a schoolkid on a BMX bombing up the street in nothing more than his school uniform.

He'd no lights or helmet, feck knows what is uniform will look like when he gets to school after all the road crap his BMX was flinging up and I wondered what he was doing out at 6.30am, but I digress.

So I take a man pill and pull on my tights On the road with three layers and double socks, and I'm still brass monkeyed. It starts to snow and I start to question my sanity and wonder if I can turn back ... then a second MTFU-o-gram is delivered in the form of a builder guy cycling UP the hill I'm heading down in nothing but shorts, t-shirt and a hi-vis vest flapping in the wind! All thoughts of warmth and sanity forgotten, I put the head down and spin up on the big ring.

Not much action the rest of the way though. I catch up to BlueGiant (guy on a blue Giant hybrid, one of my regulars) but we're stuck in traffic behind a stop-start bus then he turns off before I can make the scalp stick. The only other incident worth reporting is when the bus stopped to let passengers off they all started slipping and sliding on the footpath at the bus stop as they stepped off. It was like a bad sitcom

Completely knackered now - is it harder going cycling in the cold? - not looking forward to the journey home, but maybe a lunchtime burger at the Christmas market will fuel me up

attica

It's definitely harder riding in the cold, you expend more energy trying to stay warm than normal, a lot more whan it's this cold.
Only bonus is that you smell less when you get to work.

No opposition this morning apart from a repeatedly overtaken woman on a SS MTB with child seat, she was a serial RLJer, hope she doesn't do that with the kid on the back.

Linsen, how was your dark ride?

linsen

It was VERY DARK

The first three miles are along a narrow lane (thankfully underused) and had it not been for my Fenix I might as well have had my eyes closed.

Then 200 yds of street lights then a mile or so more of DARK, then another couple of miles a bit later...

I didn't much like it but I'm feeling a bit braver now I've done it the once.

Roll on 22nd December when the evenings start getting lighter again

martinc

today was a good day to ride...
beautiful clear crisp morning in richmond park and a roadie team out and about.
as i exit at roehampton gate a guy on a gorgeous Cannondale Rush Carbon full susp pops out from the tracks. He blasts past me along Roehampton Lane but it's not over yet. Going towards Col du Jim Morrison bridge a have my finest hour - I see a Rapha clad roadie. He's on a Colagno carbon, everything's so matching black and white he's like a penguin. I blast past him victory is mine... I am Thor!!! I have defeated Rapha man! The TDF beckons!
Victory is short-lived of course.
I'm undertaking on the lower richmond road while he and Rush man are overtaking more successfully. We reach the summit of putney bridge together and the penguin goes straight ahead while Rush guy comes right, up Lower Kings road with me. I take him again but he's still on my tail. Our game of cat and mouse continues onto the embankment. We fly past the city boys in their toys.. a DB9, a DB6, Bentley GT and a 308GTB to name but a choice few.
Rush man is still with me, very impressive for a mtb with knobblies, but the Rush is full carbon with susp lockouts and he's no slouch. Eventually our battle ends at Westminster when we lose each other with the diversions round Parliament. I call it a draw but the moral victory is definitely his.
Chapeau.

gtvlusso

Nothing this morning - apart from a Wheezy student in jeans.

Was not too cold this morning, colder yesterday - Walked Dawg at 6am so I may have got used to it before I set off for work though.

My wife believes that I have a layer of asbestos inside me as I never feel really cold......

I must admit that I find SCR all a bit silly though.....I simply want to get to and from work as quickly as I can, if I overtake then so be it - I guess I don't really think about it. I have had people race me in summer months, occasionally, they are usually easy meat as they never train and only cycle in fairweather. But it is just a pain in the backside as I am heading out to go rowing or doing some training for Tri and don't want to use the energy up!!

And I get a bit too competitive about it - don't know when to back down - elbows out!

Is it me?!

W1

martinc wrote:

He blasts past me along Roehampton Lane but it's not over yet. Going towards Col du Jim Morrison bridge a have my finest hour - I see a Rapha clad roadie. .

Do you mean the Bolan Death Bridge?

attica

gtvlusso wrote:

Nothing this morning - apart from a Wheezy student in jeans.

Was not too cold this morning, colder yesterday - Walked Dawg at 6am so I may have got used to it before I set off for work though.

My wife believes that I have a layer of asbestos inside me as I never feel really cold......

I must admit that I find SCR all a bit silly though.....I simply want to get to and from work as quickly as I can, if I overtake then so be it - I guess I don't really think about it. I have had people race me in summer months, occasionally, they are usually easy meat as they never train and only cycle in fairweather. But it is just a pain in the backside as I am heading out to go rowing or doing some training for Tri and don't want to use the energy up!!

And I get a bit too competitive about it - don't know when to back down - elbows out!

Is it me?!

Sounds like The Game plays you whether you like it or not!
I admit it can be annoying if you're trying to take it easy, but She is a cruel mistress, it's better to try to enjoy the chase than resent it.

martinc

W1 wrote:

martinc wrote:

He blasts past me along Roehampton Lane but it's not over yet. Going towards Col du Jim Morrison bridge a have my finest hour - I see a Rapha clad roadie. .

Do you mean the Bolan Death Bridge?

Doh! Yes. Getting my 70's glam rockers muddled up. ta.

gtvlusso

Attica wrote:

gtvlusso wrote:

Nothing this morning - apart from a Wheezy student in jeans.

Was not too cold this morning, colder yesterday - Walked Dawg at 6am so I may have got used to it before I set off for work though.

My wife believes that I have a layer of asbestos inside me as I never feel really cold......

I must admit that I find SCR all a bit silly though.....I simply want to get to and from work as quickly as I can, if I overtake then so be it - I guess I don't really think about it. I have had people race me in summer months, occasionally, they are usually easy meat as they never train and only cycle in fairweather. But it is just a pain in the backside as I am heading out to go rowing or doing some training for Tri and don't want to use the energy up!!

And I get a bit too competitive about it - don't know when to back down - elbows out!

Is it me?!

Sounds like The Game plays you whether you like it or not!
I admit it can be annoying if you're trying to take it easy, but She is a cruel mistress, it's better to try to enjoy the chase than resent it.

Yeah, I should MTFU in all reality! Get a bit sick of it sometimes - I don't have racing buddies and in summer they are unfit and simply dangerous.....My boss is also an arse and has annoyed me! Grrrr!

W1

martinc wrote:

W1 wrote:

martinc wrote:

He blasts past me along Roehampton Lane but it's not over yet. Going towards Col du Jim Morrison bridge a have my finest hour - I see a Rapha clad roadie. .

Do you mean the Bolan Death Bridge?

Doh! Yes. Getting my 70's glam rockers muddled up. ta.

Easily done, just checking that I've not missed a better route!

attica

Can't say I've ever heard The Doors described as glam rock before

Bassjunkieuk

Had the usual dry patch between home and Brixton this morning. Had some fun filtering through the High Street - the roadworks have really snarled up the traffic and I paid the price for some poor choices as I lost a few roadies in traffic!

Heading towards Stockwell I could see a roadie up ahead and started to bring the speed up as I was determined to be the first one into the ASL! I managed to get past, literally riding the white line at the outer edge of the bus lane due to him taking a rather generous primary!
He got to the ASL just after me and glanced across just as the lights went green. We started off down South Lambeth Road towards the usual stop/start lights. Thankfully today most are green so I can keep my momentum.

As I'm pushing on out of the corner of my eye I see someone try to come along side me! It's the guy from earlier!! I up the pace as he was literally creeping past, pulling it up to about 26/27mph and he disappears again.........he made another try at getting the lead but I managed to maintain my lead until I peeled off down Wyvil Road. In fact I even took 2 more hyrid/MTB types as I didn't want to let him overtake me - something which I wouldn't have done under normal circumstances as I would have done a rather dodgy pass n turn left, but as I was carrying the speed I cleared them with room to spare!

biondino

No cycling today - my run of consecutive days (about 8, I think) came to an end. Shame really as it's still lovely out, but I have been building up stuff at work I couldn't comfortably take home in my rucksack so this evening I'm going to shift the contents of a small shop back on South West Trains.

Cycled to Wandsworth last night at about 8.45 and enjoyed the Embankment. Actually, who am I kidding - it's impossible not to push it along there, especially when scalping someone, and I almost killed myself by the time I got to Chelsea bridge. But I could feel my thighs strengthening even as I rode so it's all good.