Silly commuting racing

kingstongraham

It's obviously an arbitrary limit, but if the law is going to distinguish between a bicycle and a motorbike, at some point a motorised bicycle becomes a motorbike. There's seemingly no enforcement at the moment, so I don't know what huge difference changing the limits would make.

kingstonian

Talking about e-bikes, those bloody rickshaw things that have popped up in London in the past couple of years need sorting out, esp when they are taking up a huuuge amount of the cycle lanes on the Embankment.

rower63

Kingstonian wrote:

Talking about e-bikes, those bloody rickshaw things that have popped up in London in the past couple of years need sorting out, esp when they are taking up a huuuge amount of the cycle lanes on the Embankment.

they get interesting when you're faced with one overtaking another towards you...

mtb-idle

Crazy busy last night on CS Heaven/7 heading south.

Those temporary lights in between Clapham South and Balham don't help but from Stockwell onwards the whole bus lane was full of a mass of shoaling fish.

No point in racing as it's far too dangerous in those circ's; just relax and go with the flow.

smokey_bacon

Yup those temp works are causing alot of bother for people bombing down the hill! luckily my road is right before them.

Small incident for me last night. Was filtering on the left at the lights at the junction between great tower street and London Bridge. Was moving down the side of a van, who was idicating left to go into the pedestrian bit outisde monument. I got halfway down the side of said van before the lights went green and he pulled across me. I managed to stop but I was quite close to the kerb and as he pulled in he wedged by bike between lamp post, van and pavement. Cue a couple of peds giving him some abuse for not looking. No damage to the bike except a very small dent in the front wheel rim. Said to the driver it was just a case of bad timing and 6 of one half a dozen of the other. Shook hands and went our seperate ways.

roger_merriman

Sgt.Pepper wrote:

Mattsaw wrote:

I'm not a fan of any kind of regulation of ebikes as I think as many people as possible should be encouraged to take them up.

Guys like that are going to result in a massive crackdown (that'll affect both legal and illegal users) as soon as the Daily Mail finds out about an accident involving one.

The law in NZ is a limit of 300W before you need licensing, with no speed regulation. To me that seems far more sensible than a prohibitive speed-cap.

The problem with that is that you suddenly have inexperienced cyclists able to reach tour-de-france speeds with negligible effort. Awhile ago I saw a guy on a shared path steaming at 25mph+, barely slowing for women pushing prams. Wanted to give him a piece of my mind, but of course I couldn't quite catch him.

I do agree that some can be scary, though it’s less the speed but the poor riding, ie riding too close too fast etc, this said plenty of roadies that argument can be used on.

Generally I think most e-bikes are probably is no reason to go fast under power beyond current 15mph limit. I can see if you have a road or MTB e bike but those are fairly uncommon or at least I’ve yet to see any. Though I see number of e bikes on my commute.

kingstongraham

Even with a road e-bike, 15mph limit would be fine for assistance wouldn't it? Help going uphill, and you're on your own on the flat.

kingdav

I was behind a restricted e-bike last night on the approach to Brixton Hill toward Streatham, I was quite pleased having a hilly 115miler in the legs from the day before thinking I could latch on and get a tow. It was quite tedious though 15mph, I couldn't take it any more and had to pull round.

mtb-idle

General query but of a commuting nature and CBA to start a specific thread ; can anyone assist?

I fancy giving Swains Lane, billed as the toughest climb in London, a go.

Given I live SW I don't venture that far north very often so was planning on riding there one evening from Canary Wharf and giving it a go.

So the question is, if i arrive there at say 18:00 to 18:30 is it likely to be rideable? I don't expect it to be traffic free, I just mean that I could give it a decent attempt without there being queued traffic all the way up.

Does anyone commute that way and can let me know?

vpnikolov

MTB-Idle wrote:

General query but of a commuting nature and CBA to start a specific thread ; can anyone assist?

I fancy giving Swains Lane, billed as the toughest climb in London, a go.

Given I live SW I don't venture that far north very often so was planning on riding there one evening from Canary Wharf and giving it a go.

So the question is, if i arrive there at say 18:00 to 18:30 is it likely to be rideable? I don't expect it to be traffic free, I just mean that I could give it a decent attempt without there being queued traffic all the way up.

Does anyone commute that way and can let me know?

It is a hit and miss in my experience. It can be dead quiet or you can have a couple of cars behind you, but not more than that. The beginning of the steep bit after the cemetery entrance is quite narrow and drivers are generally patient until the road widens again.

mtb-idle

okay cheers. I'm not expecting closed road TT conditions, just a decent chance to ride it rather than schlepping over there to find it totally rammed (not that I will be troubling the leader board either way).

jspash

MTB-Idle wrote:

...
So the question is, if i arrive there at say 18:00 to 18:30 is it likely to be rideable? I don't expect it to be traffic free, I just mean that I could give it a decent attempt without there being queued traffic all the way up.

Does anyone commute that way and can let me know?

It's also a one-way street going upwards (obvs) with a double yellow on the left. So you have the added benefit of being able to grind it out with your head down if that's your style. Although I doubt you'll gain much in the way of aeroez at 10mph.

mtb-idle

cheers guys, looks like i need to pick a suitable evening weather wise and head on over

elbowloh

MTB-Idle wrote:

cheers guys, looks like i need to pick a suitable evening weather wise and head on over

It's just round the corner from my work. I used to sometimes do a rep before heading home on my commute, but haven't done it for a while. It's not really used much by car commuters so you should be fine.

If you fancy doing a few laps, you can go up Swain's then back down Highgate hill and do a loop. My club sometimes does a Swain's laps evening ride. I think Islington CC do it sometimes too?

rhodrich

Very fast young lady on Millbank to Putney Bridge last night. Could barely keep up with her. Once she'd gone straight ahead at Barnes Common, a few of us were commenting at the Queens Ride traffic lights how strong her riding was. Blonde plaited hair, blue top, maroon coloured messenger bag. Didn't catch what brand of bike she was riding, but noticed it had an SRM SRAM power meter fitted. Anyone know who it might have been?

vpnikolov

Chopper episode by me on Upper Thames St where I had to execute a double overtake due to a very slow overtake in front of me. Riders coming the other way were not too happy (and I was quick to apologise). If there was anyone on here in that group of riders, SORRY!

smokey_bacon

Failed at busw@nkering this morning. Sat at the bus stop ages before bus rolled by without stopping. Then realised the stop was closed! Joy. Failed at bike mechanics yesterday aswell. Had front mech rub issues in small gears for ages. Went to LBS where it was gentelly explained to me that there is a trim function on the front mech which solves the issue. Who knew!!! :roll:

elbowloh

Rhodrich wrote:

Very fast young lady on Millbank to Putney Bridge last night. Could barely keep up with her. Once she'd gone straight ahead at Barnes Common, a few of us were commenting at the Queens Ride traffic lights how strong her riding was. Blonde plaited hair, blue top, maroon coloured messenger bag. Didn't catch what brand of bike she was riding, but noticed it had an SRM SRAM power meter fitted. Anyone know who it might have been?

Is she very petite?

nipmeister

Mr_Ribble wrote:

hopkinb wrote:

wind-assisted smash last night, quickest non-garbage time this year between balham and bec, then again on a segment on Kingston Road. Harder on the way in this morning due to the slight headwind, but still put in a good effort to-ing and fro-ing with a guy in dhb shorts. Motorised and pedal-powered traffic seemed light this morning, which is always a good thing.

Apart from Mr Shouty.... Apologies for confusing you with Mr Shouty.
97% correlation on strava - you took the wrong route round E&C

Oh no, am I Mr Shouty then!?

rhodrich

elbowloh wrote:

Rhodrich wrote:

Very fast young lady on Millbank to Putney Bridge last night. Could barely keep up with her. Once she'd gone straight ahead at Barnes Common, a few of us were commenting at the Queens Ride traffic lights how strong her riding was. Blonde plaited hair, blue top, maroon coloured messenger bag. Didn't catch what brand of bike she was riding, but noticed it had an SRM SRAM power meter fitted. Anyone know who it might have been?

Is she very petite?

Quite the opposite. Normal sort of height, but with thighs bigger than mine (all muscle!)

kenito

vpnikolov wrote:

MTB-Idle wrote:

General query but of a commuting nature and CBA to start a specific thread ; can anyone assist?

I fancy giving Swains Lane, billed as the toughest climb in London, a go.

Given I live SW I don't venture that far north very often so was planning on riding there one evening from Canary Wharf and giving it a go.

So the question is, if i arrive there at say 18:00 to 18:30 is it likely to be rideable? I don't expect it to be traffic free, I just mean that I could give it a decent attempt without there being queued traffic all the way up.

Does anyone commute that way and can let me know?

It is a hit and miss in my experience. It can be dead quiet or you can have a couple of cars behind you, but not more than that. The beginning of the steep bit after the cemetery entrance is quite narrow and drivers are generally patient until the road widens again.

Yep, I commute home to Highgate from Paddington. Use Swains Lane sometimes but generally go by Highgate West Hill then Fitzroy Park. No cars in the latter road as its a private through road. Still a tough climb though

kingstongraham

Fast evening last night going SW. Diverted through the middle of RP and set personal bests across there - didn't think I had them in me.

Anyone know why there are road closed signs in the park?

rower63

KingstonGraham wrote:

...Anyone know why there are road closed signs in the park?

I went via Broomfield yesterday morning, and regretted it. They're resurfacing the tarmac between Robin Hood Car Park and the Broomfield Foothills, maybe more, and a bit further on they were doing some fairly dramatic tree-pruning. I had to divert on to the grass and gravel path a couple of times.

kingstongraham

rower63 wrote:

KingstonGraham wrote:

...Anyone know why there are road closed signs in the park?

I went via Broomfield yesterday morning, and regretted it. They're resurfacing the tarmac between Robin Hood Car Park and the Broomfield Foothills, maybe more, and a bit further on they were doing some fairly dramatic tree-pruning. I had to divert on to the grass and gravel path a couple of times.

Thanks - makes sense. Closed at Roehampton car park clockwise, and the road from Pen Ponds to Robin Hood closed as well. I guess closed at Isabella car park as well anticlockwise.

inbike

Seems a strange bit too resurface when the false flat past Pembroke Lodge is so rough and soul destroying. Or are they resurfacing that, too?

hopkinb

inbike wrote:

false flat past Pembroke Lodge

Damn, false flat you say? That would explain a lot of huffing and puffing on my part! I always assumed it was normal flat, and that my legs were blown or that I'm spectacularly unfit.

elbowloh

My god, something horrible in the air on the way home tonight (got it at lunchtime too). Was coughing all the way home and eyes itching.

hopkinb

elbowloh wrote:

My god, something horrible in the air on the way home tonight (got it at lunchtime too). Was coughing all the way home and eyes itching.

Yep, foul wasn't it? Can't still be plane trees can it?

elbowloh

hopkinb wrote:

elbowloh wrote:

My god, something horrible in the air on the way home tonight (got it at lunchtime too). Was coughing all the way home and eyes itching.

Yep, foul wasn't it? Can't still be plane trees can it?

Felt like I was choking at one point.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

elbowloh wrote:

My god, something horrible in the air on the way home tonight (got it at lunchtime too). Was coughing all the way home and eyes itching.

Was Phil trying to sing one of his old classics?