Silly commuting racing
Comments
-
Plane trees are still out in force. Tempted to start a petition to replace all plane trees in London with something, anything not quite so antisocial.elbowloh wrote:FCN 9 || FCN 50 -
Quick ride in this morning most the way from Putney to Parliament. One guy on a black fixie, another on possibly a black CAAD and then the 4th rider on a Colnago Master. Maybe just imaginary SCR as it was just 4 fast guys riding predictably and leaving the dross for dead. Not sure if any of those riders are on this thread.0
-
Pearcy wrote:Quick ride in this morning most the way from Putney to Parliament. One guy on a black fixie, another on possibly a black CAAD and then the 4th rider on a Colnago Master. Maybe just imaginary SCR as it was just 4 fast guys riding predictably and leaving the dross for dead. Not sure if any of those riders are on this thread.
...which is often more satisfying than actual SCR!
None to speak of this morning for me. I will be reclaiming a KOM tonight on my old route though as some imposter seems to have stolen it! The cheek!0 -
I had a bit of this the other night, arranged to meet some club mates who are quicker than me at London Bridge and we whizzed down to Purley together, nice!frogonabike wrote:...which is often more satisfying than actual SCR!0 -
Nothing today. Every rider in front of me was run down and dispatched with with souplessant ease.
0 -
kingdav wrote:
I had a bit of this the other night, arranged to meet some club mates who are quicker than me at London Bridge and we whizzed down to Purley together, nice!frogonabike wrote:...which is often more satisfying than actual SCR!
Agreed, always good to get a quick nodderless group. Same again this morning with a guy riding a Cannondale on DTswiss deeps along Embankment. Exchanged a few words of annoyance when the clear run was halted by the ped crossing by St George’s square. :roll:0 -
Congrats to the bloke in the silver BMW that ploughed straight through the bollard and streetlight on Chelsea Embankment this morning. Happened right in front of me, sounded like a bomb going off. Front of his car was destroyed, airbags all went off, one helluva bang. Couldn't see any reason why he did it, must have lost concentration.
Talk about ruining your week.............0 -
Kingstonian wrote:Congrats to the bloke in the silver BMW that ploughed straight through the bollard and streetlight on Chelsea Embankment this morning. Happened right in front of me, sounded like a bomb going off. Front of his car was destroyed, airbags all went off, one helluva bang. Couldn't see any reason why he did it, must have lost concentration.
Talk about ruining your week.............
Better his week than anyone else's!
Meanwhile on CS7 I had a super relaxed commute trying to keep the effort down and shoaled in with the masses. Was a very different experience to normal and in some ways it felt more pleasant constantly being in the middle of the stream. Must've given me a new level of cycling zen as my HR average for the ride was only 1110 -
True, could have quite easily have ploughed into some people if it was lack of attention. If he hit that avoiding some people I'll be a little more sympathetic. He should pay more attention in future at least. Bet traffic along there was fun after that.dekant wrote:
Better his week than anyone else's!Kingstonian wrote:Congrats to the bloke in the silver BMW that ploughed straight through the bollard and streetlight on Chelsea Embankment this morning.
Talk about ruining your week.............
Very uneventful ride in for me. Traffic through the roadworks by Kingston station was so bad I had trouble picking my way through on the bike. Then I got rained on. Hardly saw another cyclist all the way in but was passing plenty of cars.0 -
Tw@t of a coach driver this morning revving & roaring his engine at me along Kingston Road at the home end of my commute this morning. I pulled away smartly from the level crossing for the tram and accelerated up to 45 kph (tailwind/fresh legs). There was solid stationary traffic on the other side of the road, and I was soon aware of this coach a couple of metres behind me, revving like he wanted to overtake, so I made my position a bit more primary to head off any potential close pass. There was a red light up ahead at South Wimbledon crossroads, so I started to soft pedal, cueing more revving from the coach. I made the slow down and back off signal, and turned round to see him mouthing something at me. Normally I ignore stuff like this, but this is meant to be a professional driver, so at the lights, I pulled across to have a word. He opened his window, so I asked him what he thought he was going to achieve by breaking the speed limit to overtake a cyclist with a close pass on the approach to a red light in heavy traffic. He said that I was going too fast, and I should have slowed down to let him overtake. I said that he was an idiot, that he should be able to see ahead that there was a red light, and that his overtaking would achieve literally nothing as he is driving a large vehicle in rush hour traffic. He started to abuse me, so I let him know about the cameras on the bike and asked if he thought his employer or the police would be interested in seeing the footage. That shut him up, and I rode off, leaving him seething.
Is it frustration? Idiocy? Small man syndrome? Does he think he can nip his coach into a gap somewhere and steal a march on the other traffic? Or is it just because I was on a bike and therefore "should" be overtaken, even though I'm only a shade under the speed limit? Whatever it is, it's not something that a professional driver should be doing.0 -
hopkinb wrote:Tw@t of a coach driver this morning revving & roaring his engine at me along Kingston Road at the home end of my commute this morning. I pulled away smartly from the level crossing for the tram and accelerated up to 45 kph (tailwind/fresh legs). There was solid stationary traffic on the other side of the road, and I was soon aware of this coach a couple of metres behind me, revving like he wanted to overtake, so I made my position a bit more primary to head off any potential close pass. There was a red light up ahead at South Wimbledon crossroads, so I started to soft pedal, cueing more revving from the coach. I made the slow down and back off signal, and turned round to see him mouthing something at me. Normally I ignore stuff like this, but this is meant to be a professional driver, so at the lights, I pulled across to have a word. He opened his window, so I asked him what he thought he was going to achieve by breaking the speed limit to overtake a cyclist with a close pass on the approach to a red light in heavy traffic. He said that I was going too fast, and I should have slowed down to let him overtake. I said that he was an idiot, that he should be able to see ahead that there was a red light, and that his overtaking would achieve literally nothing as he is driving a large vehicle in rush hour traffic. He started to abuse me, so I let him know about the cameras on the bike and asked if he thought his employer or the police would be interested in seeing the footage. That shut him up, and I rode off, leaving him seething.
Is it frustration? Idiocy? Small man syndrome? Does he think he can nip his coach into a gap somewhere and steal a march on the other traffic? Or is it just because I was on a bike and therefore "should" be overtaken, even though I'm only a shade under the speed limit? Whatever it is, it's not something that a professional driver should be doing.
Report him. Seriously.
I've had 2 incidents with coaches in the past 18 months, 1 absolutely terrifying. A professional driver should know better, and although the thought of a cameras might straighten him....his employer calling him into the office definitely will.
It's the only way most drivers will learn.0 -
Oh, I have reported him to his employer. This wasn't a serious incident for me, as I was big enough & ugly enough to take the lane to stop the close pass on this occasion. However, it would probably have been a close pass by a large vehicle for a less confident rider, which is why I have reported it.0
-
Dinyull wrote:hopkinb wrote:Tw@t of a coach driver
Report him. Seriously.
I've had 2 incidents with coaches in the past 18 months, 1 absolutely terrifying. A professional driver should know better, and although the thought of a cameras might straighten him....his employer calling him into the office definitely will.
It's the only way most drivers will learn.
Seconded.Intent on Cycling Commuting on a budget, but keep on breaking/crashing/finding nice stuff to buy.
Bike 1 (Broken) - Bike 2(Borked) - Bike 3(broken spokes) - Bike 4( Needs Work) - Bike 5 (in bits) - Bike 6* ...0 -
Good.hopkinb wrote:Oh, I have reported him to his employer.0 -
hopkinb wrote:
Is it frustration? Idiocy? Small man syndrome? Does he think he can nip his coach into a gap somewhere and steal a march on the other traffic? Or is it just because I was on a bike and therefore "should" be overtaken, even though I'm only a shade under the speed limit? Whatever it is, it's not something that a professional driver should be doing.
Absolutley this IMO. Sounds like a weapons grade moron. Though im sure he always pulls over and lets faster vehicles through all the time :roll:0 -
hopkinb wrote:Oh, I have reported him to his employer. This wasn't a serious incident for me, as I was big enough & ugly enough to take the lane to stop the close pass on this occasion. However, it would probably have been a close pass by a large vehicle for a less confident rider, which is why I have reported it.
Good man.0 -
Get a roadsafe report in, not sure what has happened to my last one but at least they have asked for a witness statement. I fear all his employers will do is tell him he should have got out the coach and tried to hit you.
From sharing that bit of your commute, I can confirm there is absolutely nothing he could gain and not anywhere from there to South Wimbledon to turn off in a coach.If I know you, and I like you, you can borrow my bike box for £30 a week. PM for details.0 -
tiz the season for em i think, tonight driving home I had a van that kept grazing the pavement, a car doing 25 in a 50 with a tailback of at least 1/2 a mile then speeding up to 50 when going through villages, and finally another car that rolled up to a junction i was on and just kept going.
All that in 10 miles, driving has gone to shit in this countryRule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.0 -
45kph headwind this morning, not terribly fun. There was also a slip covering the path of the gorge I go down, so had to use the road. Sat behind a large lorry at about 50kph, and suddenly had rather unpleasant realisation that the only thing keeping me from going under it was some brake cables that are probably 10 years older than I am. Might get some fresh ones this weekend, even though they're working fine. Or am I being unduly paranoid?0
-
PR'd the Sex Panther this morning. Nuff said.0
-
Nice ride in shared briefly with Mr Hopkins this morning, sorry I didn't say hi but I wasn't 100% sure it was you without your mudguards! Couldn't quite catch you up Balham Hill then I turned off at Clapham Common 0
-
frogonabike wrote:Nice ride in shared briefly with Mr Hopkins this morning, sorry I didn't say hi but I wasn't 100% sure it was you without your mudguards! Couldn't quite catch you up Balham Hill then I turned off at Clapham Common
Was that you who nearly got driven into by a smart car by some daft bint? I recognised your hair, but not your bike, which seems to have got very fluorescent!0 -
hopkinb wrote:frogonabike wrote:Nice ride in shared briefly with Mr Hopkins this morning, sorry I didn't say hi but I wasn't 100% sure it was you without your mudguards! Couldn't quite catch you up Balham Hill then I turned off at Clapham Common
Was that you who nearly got driven into by a smart car by some daft bint? I recognised your hair, but not your bike, which seems to have got very fluorescent!
That was indeed, just remembered that... Thanks for letting her know! I was using all of my concentration on avoiding action - she really did dive at me!
Yeah treated myself to a new bike for Christmas, the old Cube is still used for wet weather duty as I can't do N-10 -
Some competition but hoards of nodders. Great to see a new barrier stopping cars rat running around E&C, piss all point if van drivers just mount the pavement to driver around it!
Else, Sex Panther fail today, by quite some margin, straight into the red at the main road.If I know you, and I like you, you can borrow my bike box for £30 a week. PM for details.0 -
frogonabike wrote:That was indeed, just remembered that... Thanks for letting her know! I was using all of my concentration on avoiding action - she really did dive at me!
Dunno how she didn't see you. She certainly didn't indicate. Anyway, see you around, I'll keep an eye out.0 -
I saw similar at the Clapham Common junction with Rookery Road.
I had been riding for quite a while with a guy on a lime green Cannondale. no racing taking place, just a fast-paced commute.
We were in line in the cycle lane with another reasonably paced rider but not drafting, we had reasonable gaps between us. I pulled out into the right hand lane as i always do as it's classic left-hook territory there and saw a Smart car with a not so smart driver come past me and then try to get in the gap between the two riders to turn left.
Seriously, all they had to do was to wait half a second and pull in behind the guy on the Cannondale and they could make the turn safely but no he tried to force his way in.
The car hooted, lime green cannondale called him a w@nker, I dropped the c-bomb and on we went.
#justanotherdayonCSHeavenFCN = 40 -
Yep I'll say hello next time rather than just looking at your wheels/frame combo and thinking I'm sure that's him...
On the general lack of driver patience front, I think it must be because we all cycle (obviously) we appreciate the effort it takes to accelerate and how inefficient it is to drive so impatiently vs how little you actually gain. On a bike we can choose to push it for the fun/workout but in a car that doesn't really work the same!
I've certainly found more joy in MPG's than MPH in recent years! Maybe I'm just getting old/have a child now/am skint etc0 -
Insanely close pass this morning by a manic guy in a people carrier, on a wide open road. Pretty sure he was on something.
Just said 'what's the point' as I cruised past him waiting at the next roundabout tailback.0 -
Had an unintentional drunk cycle home last night thanks to SWT being utterly unable to run a train service and Waterloo being gridlocked - resulted in me sitting in the middle of Richmond Park listening to the Stones banging out Satisfaction from Twickenham Stadium
In other news, good work by the Boris Biker who nonchalantly wandered across the road at Chelsea Bridge junction to plonk himself at the front of the peloton, which had been waiting for an age to get going... Arse right in front of my face. Could only laugh.0 -
I had an off last night at the West Croydon station omnishambles of a junction where car, meets bus, meets pedestrian, meets tram lines. Green for me turning right from London to go down behind Centrale, but lights about to change, pedestrians on autopilot start to cross, I pick my way through but a guy with a big rucksack hesitated, swung round and caught me with the bag. I wobbled off. I have two bloody elbows and a sore knee, stiff neck. Pedestrian was fine and apologetic, acknowledging the lights being green for about 10 seconds and the need to make hay.
I cheered myself up when I got home by buying most of a bike on ebay, beginning the prep for my new uber-commuter build, I'll start a thread on that, but will be looking for some SCR steer in due course.0
