Silly commuting racing

veronese68

Dinyull wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

Glad it’s not worse MTB, I’ve noticed corner cutting seems worse recently. You’d think Chelsea tractors would all have power steering but it seems the drivers are often incapable of turning the wheel far enough to turn a corner properly so have to cut them.

Phone in hand will restrict hand movement.

This morning as I approached the roundabout at Apex Corner a Merc in the left hand lane sticks it's hazard lights on about a car length back from the give way lines. I look over my shoulder to see what the traffic is up to and move across to the right hand side of the left lane. As I'm getting closer the hazards come off and she indicates right and pulls onto the roundabout. I have enough room to scrub off a bit of speed and am passing her on the left as I'm going straight on at the roundabout. As I'm passing the car suddenly straightens up rather than going round the roundabout for a moment, I adjust my line to be sure as I was already giving said car a wide berth. Look across and see the dumb b!tch is holding her phone with sat-nav on in front of her face and swiping at the screen with the other hand. I shout "Get off your phone you stupid b!tch" as she carries on oblivious to the world around her. The tart really did need to be dragged out of her car and beaten with her phone. I'd say beaten senseless but she already has the senseless bit covered.
Other than that a wet and windy ride in with no competition, horizontal rain from my left as I rode through Bushy Park.

vimfuego

Tashman wrote:

Glad you're all (relatively) OK MTB. it is amazing the level of incompetence in general. Experienced both on 2 and 4 wheels

Yep likewise - glad you are OK fella

mtb-idle

Jeepie1999 wrote:

@MTB-Idle What a difference a week makes. It was this time last week we were chatting happily as by chance we met up on CS7. Then you do a fab video, then a nasty bump. Hope you get more luck next year.
(I was in my moles jersey).

indeed yes, what a difference. Hi Jeepie, good to say hello on here as I didn't see you on Strava, only one of your colleagues/comrades/fellow riders.

2019 cant come quick enough for me.

cjcp

London-Red wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Currently in Paris. Not seen anything which would inspire me to commute by bike in this traffic, and with this quality of driving...

Is Paris not on fire?

All quiet while I was there (maybe they take a break during the week), but they're expecting it to kick off again tomorrow: stations being closed and whatnot.

kingstonian

No ticking noise from my bike on the commute home!!!!!!

cjcp

Kingstonian wrote:

No ticking noise from my bike on the commute home!!!!!!

The clear excitement in your post makes it sound like the high point of your week.

kingstonian

cjcp wrote:

Kingstonian wrote:

No ticking noise from my bike on the commute home!!!!!!

The clear excitement in your post makes it sound like the high point of your week.

Bordering on the high point of the year

tgotb

Kingstonian wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Kingstonian wrote:

No ticking noise from my bike on the commute home!!!!!!

The clear excitement in your post makes it sound like the high point of your week.

Bordering on the high point of the year

And you're *quite* sure it's not just your hearing?

itboffin

I walked my old London commuting route today, definitely quicker and easier by bike :-)

Not that the roads were ever great but i did notice they're considerably worse than two years ago, a couple more years and sarf London will be back to the good old days of cow shite and cobbles.

sgt.pepper

Good bit of SCR this morning, dropped a roadie taking himself a bit too seriously while on a fully laden ten speed. Looking forward to seeing his face going through the footage this evening.

Also, you guys will love this - https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/n ... ical-party

hopkinb

Roads were sticky this morning. At least that's the only explanation I can come up with to explain the relationship between the effort I was putting in, and the speed I was travelling. Definitely not the massive pile of lovely golden & crisp roast potatoes I ate yesterday.

The number of cyclists is definitely falling in the approach to Christmas. I expect an uptick of resolutioners in the New Year, to fall away by mid Jan, then the "sweet spot" of roads empty of cyclists, but awful weather, until the end of March, when the hordes will return in greater numbers.

anonymousblackfg

cjcp wrote:

London-Red wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Currently in Paris. Not seen anything which would inspire me to commute by bike in this traffic, and with this quality of driving...

Is Paris not on fire?

All quiet while I was there (maybe they take a break during the week), but they're expecting it to kick off again tomorrow: stations being closed and whatnot.

Dull ride with a good bout of 'is that hybrid that's keeping ahead an e-bike?' yes it was, though it seems he had a mechanical as punishment from the cycling gods.

Gallywomack

Over-layered a bit this morning, was very sleepy getting dressed and couldn't face the thought being cold during the first 5-10 minutes of the ride. "Fatigue makes cowards of us all", as the interweb reckons either General Patton or Vince Lombardi said.

Got annoyed by a guy who rather pointedly cut a corner to get in front of me at the start of Q1 (the segregated bike lane on Edward St), so when I had the opportunity on Childers St I powered past looking as nonchalant as possible. Didn't see him again until the lights where Q1 crosses Borough High St, where he got away quicker than me and promptly turned off, thus claiming a technical victory - gah!

Q1 is annoying for that kind of thing. There are (in my view at least) very few places along its length where it is safe to overtake - nodders are fine, but with anyone doing any kind of pace, there is rarely time and space to pass them safely. So you get these choppers who (again, in my view) are taking unnecessary risks to maintain pace, rather than waiting patiently for safe opportunities to pass. Once in the open they aren't really quick, so you pass them and then end up with them impatiently on your wheel while you hang back for safe opportunities to make progress, or they re-pass you when it isn't really safe to do so. So my usual policy is to not bother passing anyone with a modicum of pace to avoid that kind of nonsense, but occasionally their chopperishness is so egregious that I feel compelled to, just to make a point.

frogonabike

Sgt.Pepper wrote:

Good bit of SCR this morning, dropped a roadie taking himself a bit too seriously while on a fully laden ten speed. Looking forward to seeing his face going through the footage this evening.

Also, you guys will love this - https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/n ... ical-party

The comments are fantastic So much gammon

smokey_bacon

Steady in this morning to a chorus of freewheel buzzing as many dusted off the summer bikes for a dry, dull winters day. Also having bike fit issues which are making things more painful than they really should be at the moment.

rhodrich

First ride in this morning with a brand new headset. What a difference: the bike is responsive, and I can actually steer! Did it make me any faster though? Sadly not, despite the relatively light traffic. I guess a week off the bike makes a reasonable difference to fitness.

Gallywomack

My headset is in dire need of replacement too - was properly seized this morning when I got the bike out the garage, and sounded like a bag of rusty chains when I worked it back to life. I get the feeling that having to lock my bike outside in all weathers has hastened its demise. Determined to get to Xmas without spending a penny on the bike (bit of a stupid arbitrary goal in fairness) and haven't the time for fettling at the moment anyway, so I'm living with it for now. Hoping to get a good start on building up a new SS commuter over xmas so will have to research good value headsets that can cope with being left out in the rain.

mtb-idle

Gallywomack wrote:

. "Fatigue makes cowards of us all", as the interweb reckons either General Patton or Vince Lombardi said.

.

"The trouble with the Internet is that you can't believe anything you read" as Winston Churchill once said...

In other news a work colleague is now the proud owner of a GoPro having been close-passed by a driver in East London last week. Apparently the driver was watching an adult movie on his dashboard console on a full size iPad :evil: :shock:

drhaggis

MTB-Idle wrote:

Apparently the driver was watching an adult movie on his dashboard console on a full size iPad :evil: :shock:

"I heard your bottom bracket was in dire need for an oversized downtube..."

roger_merriman

MTB-Idle wrote:

Gallywomack wrote:

. "Fatigue makes cowards of us all", as the interweb reckons either General Patton or Vince Lombardi said.

.

"The trouble with the Internet is that you can't believe anything you read" as Winston Churchill once said...

In other news a work colleague is now the proud owner of a GoPro having been close-passed by a driver in East London last week. Apparently the driver was watching an adult movie on his dashboard console on a full size iPad :evil: :shock:

It amazes me where folks will watch porn, one of my friends flat is opposite some business big glass fronted things, in the evening the screens are visible...

Equally a work colleague had some one on the bus the other day, the sound was quite noticeable...

kingstonian

A few years ago I saw a guy have to be told by cabin crew on a flight from LHR to Boston to stop watching it on his iPad. Just bizarre what some people think is acceptable in a public place.

daveholla

Decent bit of SCR this evening with a chap on a black felt along the CS8 along Chelsea Embankment, going well till traffic at Battersea bridge hampered the effort. Anyone on here - I was on my SS Giant commuter?

hopkinb

Rode in via London Bridge by mistake. What a sh!t show that bridge is!

Was accompanied by a helmetless bloke on a cube (maybe a felt, definitely a brand with 4 letters) with deep carbon wheels, wearing a pair of very short & tight adidas PE shorts. He must have been freezing. Which would explain the effort he was putting in trying to stay warm. Also a trackstanding woman with blonde curly hair who had good pace.

Enjoyable commute in the cold, but still morning as and when traffic opened up.

dhope

Actually rode my bike to work today. About the first time in 10 months :oops:
Uneventful apart from that. Nobody quick playing. Left pretty late so roads not as manic as normal.
On a black CAAD12 Disc around 9.15-9.45, Greenwich -> St Pauls incase I happened to be on the same patch of road as anyone.
Really must ride my bike more...

veronese68

Rode in the slightly longer way this morning as I'm only on the bike today and Thursday, still a shorter ride than most on here. Went through RP which was a bit nippy but not unpleasant. Amazingly nobody passed me, I think I was in a gap with no quick riders. I managed to pass a few people but don't think any could be classed as a scalp. Then from Richmond to work I was travelling in the opposite direction to most.
Riding through Twickenham watched a guy on a bicycle, a guy on a motorbike and a car all jump a red light from different directions at the same time and somehow they all missed each other. The bike and motorbike were in opposite directions as the pedestrian light was on green and then a car crossed their paths having to avoid them both as it went.

london-red

Veronese68 wrote:

Went through RP which was a bit nippy but not unpleasant. Amazingly nobody passed me, I think I was in a gap with no quick riders.

I had you in my sights. Saw you as you pulled out from your road, looked you in the eye when you went along Park Road and I was approaching the top of New Road then finally got on your wheel.... just as I turned off at Ham Cross. Would have shouted and carried on up to Richmond Gate but was running late!

sgt.pepper

Really good bit of SCR this morning. Passed a roadie on the ten speed who gave chase for a good mile until he turned off. Couldn't break his tow despite pushing like mad, was great having some competition.

Think I may have also caused some conflict on Monday filtering past other cyclists with a car behind me - sometimes it's a difficult line to draw between 'being assertive' and 'being obnoxious.'

Will also likely be visiting London at some point in early Jan if there are any pub meetups planned, can't remember if they'd been mentioned. Would be cool to put some faces to avatars. Planning on picking up a cheap ten speed for getting around the Brighton/the UK - sod getting stuck in Christmas traffic.

smokey_bacon

Noticeably darker out this morning. No SCR for me through the gloom. Did get a shudder when a flat bed lorry carrying scaffolding I was following stopped quickly and its contents looked like they were trying to escape...thankfully none did. People from https://www.squaremilecycling.co.uk/ at the top of Blackfriars asking for support for a new cycleway. Declined to give my email to a random person....dont think they will be that successful as I dont know if its a huge problem.

hopkinb

50/17 and 34/17 for most of the commute due to an extremely frayed rear derailleur cable, which meant my shifting went to sh!t last night. Then it finally gave up the ghost at Toulouse Lautrec, meaning 34/11 the rest of the way. Tried to book it into bespoke, but they have closed their workshop for December. 34/11 all the way home then. :roll:

rower63

hopkinb wrote:

...Tried to book it into bespoke...

:shock:
are you made of money!!??