Silly commuting racing

rower63

vpnikolov wrote:

Yesterday was the first time I had to ride in commuting hours to the West. As such, I was very excited at the prospect of some SCR given the type of riders that go that way. Strangely enough there was not a lot of competition up until Grosvenor Rd at which point I got absolutely smashed by a guy on a stealth black Planet X - Pink POC helmet, red Sky jersey.
Me being on my main bike, I could see I had to maintain about 600W+ just to get on his wheel. That unfortunately DID NOT happen due to the massive headwinds last night. A quick chat at the next set of traffic lights revealed that he is running 49/16 which left me very impressed. If it is someone on this forum, you can't be that fast on a bike. :evil:

Can you recall whether it had a front disc brake and Enigma fork? If so, I can confirm he is quite good.

vpnikolov

Yep, it was a disc-brake equipped and the fork caught my attention too.

rower63

vpnikolov wrote:

Yep, it was a disc-brake equipped and the fork caught my attention too.

Yes I know him. His frame is a cracked-BB warranty-replacement of one that iPete and I have been perving over, and have mentioned herewith a few times, for years.

jspash

WFH these days means no more SCR. But nothing is stopping me from getting up waaay too early to fauxmmute into central lundin and back. Then back home with time for a shower and breakfast before sitting down to work. Why didn't I think of this years ago? :?

Witnessed a new RLJ twist by a triantelope in baggies and no helment. She would race up to the stop lines, hop the curb, then get back in to the street using the pelican xing then spin like mad off down the road!?!? She topped out at 20mph so was easy to catch/pass. But it was hilarious to see this little charade play out again and again from Shepard's Bush eastward. What the designation for a female chopper? "Shopper" doesn't sound right...

smokey_bacon

Being a chopper is gender neutral surely?

asprilla

I have my key fob for the bike park, so to quote Jean Bobet; Tomorrow, we ride.

Edit: scratch that, I have team drinks in the calendar.

sgt.pepper

Smokey Bacon wrote:

Sgt.Pepper wrote:

Raleigh has also been a nightmare lately - went a week with 2 punctures a day - turned out the 40 year old rubber had degraded and was piercing internally. Got some nice looking white sidewalled replacements though

40 year old tyres :shock: :shock: :shock:

Ha, yeah I suppose it was a little sketchy. They came with them when I got it, and I was just using them till they squared off. The rear was an absolute state by the time I got the new ones, really cracked as well as degraded. New white sidewalls look amazing though, especially paired with my new (faux) retro front light.

Got some nasty clicking sounds this morning from around the bottom bracket/front derailleur area this morning, no idea what's causing it as I just got the BB serviced. Other than that, really found some pace coming into town - put in a brutal effort to try get a little stronger for track club this weekend.

Is it also bad I've got to a point where I struggle to decide which bike to take to work anymore?

rower63

rower63 wrote:

vpnikolov wrote:

Yesterday was the first time I had to ride in commuting hours to the West. As such, I was very excited at the prospect of some SCR given the type of riders that go that way. Strangely enough there was not a lot of competition up until Grosvenor Rd at which point I got absolutely smashed by a guy on a stealth black Planet X - Pink POC helmet, red Sky jersey.
Me being on my main bike, I could see I had to maintain about 600W+ just to get on his wheel. That unfortunately DID NOT happen due to the massive headwinds last night. A quick chat at the next set of traffic lights revealed that he is running 49/16 which left me very impressed. If it is someone on this forum, you can't be that fast on a bike. :evil:

Can you recall whether it had a front disc brake and Enigma fork? If so, I can confirm he is quite good.

As coincidence would have it, I bumped into him last night. It was him, he remembers the conversation. He's generally at or near the top of a daily Strava segment if he gets free traffic.

dhope

Prommuter / all the gear again today. One chap on a hybrid subtly giving it beans, passing me while I was doing ~350W but then both slow for the lights. Thought I'd re-pass after to restore the natural order of things but...

One for the commissaires.
Lights are red. I stop but he peels off to the turning on the left, does a little u-turn and then another left through the green light and back onto the road ahead of the red light I'm still waiting at and vanishes into the distance.
Is this foul play or a bit of SCR roadcraft worthy of Sagan?

arsey

You might be interested in my tubeless win yesterday - https://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40042&t=13015799&p=20384372#p20384372

tl;dr, I rode 10km with a 2 inch nail in my tyre.

On a completely different mechanical issue, my rear derailleur seems to have snapped so the ride to work was in 36x11 today. Not as bad as I thought it would be!

tgotb

dhope wrote:

One for the commissaires.
Lights are red. I stop but he peels off to the turning on the left, does a little u-turn and then another left through the green light and back onto the road ahead of the red light I'm still waiting at and vanishes into the distance.
Is this foul play or a bit of SCR roadcraft worthy of Sagan?

Were the first left turn and U-turn legal? If so, clever (albeit a bit pointless, I wouldn't have bothered). If the left turn was through a red light, or the U-turn illegal, then no.

smokey_bacon

Day off work for me. So rode to Giro in Esher for second breakfast then laps in RP. Portsmouth Road is probably the road in the worst condition that I ride on. Feels like you need an MTB in some places. One small moment of SCR for me with a grimly determined OAP up sawyers. She passed me on the approach pushing a big gear grimly. As the road went up she refused to give the big gear up at which point shed almost ground to a halt. By this point I'm waiting for my opportunity to strike. She threw in the towel about a 3rd of the way up but botched the change to the little ring with a massive wobble. That was my cue. Short out of the saddle burst and she was gone. Job done. The cruise home was uneventful!

rick_chasey

Smokey Bacon wrote:

Day off work for me.

On the day the Tour goes up the Alp.

How convenient.

rower63

Smokey Bacon wrote:

... One small moment of SCR ... OAP ... She ... she ... she'd ... That was my cue. Short out of the saddle burst and she was gone.

you must feel very proud

smokey_bacon

Rick Chasey wrote:

Smokey Bacon wrote:

Day off work for me.

On the day the Tour goes up the Alp.

How convenient.

This plus it's my birthday. Thanks to ASO for the present!

smokey_bacon

rower63 wrote:

Smokey Bacon wrote:

... One small moment of SCR ... OAP ... She ... she ... she'd ... That was my cue. Short out of the saddle burst and she was gone.

you must feel very proud

Lol yep. I'll take the victories where I can get them

tgotb

Smokey Bacon wrote:

This plus it's my birthday. Thanks to ASO for the present!

Are you really Laurent Pichon?

dhope

TGOTB wrote:

dhope wrote:

One for the commissaires.
Lights are red. I stop but he peels off to the turning on the left, does a little u-turn and then another left through the green light and back onto the road ahead of the red light I'm still waiting at and vanishes into the distance.
Is this foul play or a bit of SCR roadcraft worthy of Sagan?

Were the first left turn and U-turn legal? If so, clever (albeit a bit pointless, I wouldn't have bothered). If the left turn was through a red light, or the U-turn illegal, then no.

All legal
Seems my neon green, aero-lidded scalp is in the pannier of an older gent on a hybrid :oops:

tgotb

dhope wrote:

Seems my neon green, aero-lidded scalp is in the pannier of an older gent on a hybrid :oops:

Looks that way.

I remember doing something similar in my car (minus the U-turn) to get ahead of a friend, in the days before I started driving like someone's grandfather.

njee20

You used to be able to do the same on south end of Clapham Common if the lights went red in front of you. Not used CS8 for years to know if it still works.

smokey_bacon

TGOTB wrote:

Smokey Bacon wrote:

This plus it's my birthday. Thanks to ASO for the present!

Are you really Laurent Pichon?

I wish!!!

rhodrich

The only legal red light avoidance I get up to is at the pedestrian crossing by the Sainsbury's petrol station on the Lower Richmond Road as you're going west after crossing Putney bridge.

If these lights are going to red as you approach them, it's possible to turn left into the petrol station, ride across the forecourt, and left out of the petrol station exit, bypassing the lights completely......

sgt.pepper

Weird moment this morning. Had just put in a decent effort on an open stretch of road, passing a queue of slow moving vehicles. The lights up ahead change, so ease off and sit up to stretch, which for some reason the van driver behind me took as some kind of personal affront. He lurks close to me for a second, before passing deliberately close...to race up to the red light. I lane split to cruise past just to show how pointless it was, and it was a fat bloke looking really happy, as though he'd hindered me in some way? Just looked at him puzzled and disappeared off. Very strange.

rower63

Nasty nasty looking smash on the LRR just entering Putney, near Brew. Motorbike wedged under a BMW with debris scattered all over the road, emergency services hadn't even arrived yet when i went through around 0742. I hope the rider is OK, though it didn't look good...

hopkinb

Good rapid ride home as far as Clapham South last night with a guy on a dark blue Ribble with nice wheels. I assume he's not on here, though he followed me on Strava.

Last commute in for a while, as I start 6 weeks garden leave at the end of today, before a new job on 4th Sept. I'll be wobbling back later with a very full backpack. Hopefully I'll be able to make time for lots of daytime riding somewhere more picturesque than CS7.

Luckily the new job is just at the northern end of Southwark Bridge, so normal service will resume in due course.

Enjoy your summers people.

rower63

rower63 wrote:

Nasty nasty looking smash on the LRR just entering Putney, near Brew. Motorbike wedged under a BMW with debris scattered all over the road, emergency services hadn't even arrived yet when i went through around 0742. I hope the rider is OK, though it didn't look good...

... and to add to the tales of woe, shortly before this, I passed a chatty group on the Dark Hill/Broomfield High Plains, which included a mate of mine, though i didn't recognize him in the group. It turns out he had a front tyre blow-out halfway down Broomfield, and is now in A&E with a broken Clavicle. Luckily for the others he was at the back of the group at the time

anonymousblackfg

hopkinb wrote:

Good rapid ride home as far as Clapham South last night with a guy on a dark blue Ribble with nice wheels. I assume he's not on here, though he followed me on Strava.

Last commute in for a while, as I start 6 weeks garden leave at the end of today, before a new job on 4th Sept. I'll be wobbling back later with a very full backpack. Hopefully I'll be able to make time for lots of daytime riding somewhere more picturesque than CS7.

Luckily the new job is just at the northern end of Southwark Bridge, so normal service will resume in due course.

Enjoy your summers people.

I might even bin work at an ok time today so will look out for you. Else, enjoy the break you slacker.

rick_chasey

rower63 wrote:

It turns out he had a front tyre blow-out halfway down Broomfield, and is now in A&E with a broken Clavicle. Luckily for the others he was at the back of the group at the time

Holy moly that's unlucky.

How on earth did that happen?

roger_merriman

Rick Chasey wrote:

rower63 wrote:

It turns out he had a front tyre blow-out halfway down Broomfield, and is now in A&E with a broken Clavicle. Luckily for the others he was at the back of the group at the time

Holy moly that's unlucky.

How on earth did that happen?

Not a lot to a road bike tyre, they are remarkably light, extra speed/load on sidewall? or simply sharp bit of gravel etc.

tgotb

rower63 wrote:

Nasty nasty looking smash on the LRR just entering Putney, near Brew. Motorbike wedged under a BMW with debris scattered all over the road, emergency services hadn't even arrived yet when i went through around 0742. I hope the rider is OK, though it didn't look good...

No sign of anything an hour later, which I'd say is encouraging. I witnessed an accident on LRR a few years ago that left a casualty with what looked like potentially very serious injuries, and the road was apparently closed all morning for the police investigation.