Silly commuting racing

cjcp

Greg66 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

The mate who built them has acquired a Parlee. G*it. He's not taken delivery yet, but am looking forward to seeing this in the flesh in the NY.

Ooooh. Nice. Z4? Or even more £££? I'd be interested to hear what you think (try to get him to let you take it for a spin. About 50 miles should). A Parlee or a Crumpton are about the only things I'd think about swapping mine for.

Can't remember which model. Blast! I think it's from the shop/showroom you've previously mentioned. With regard to what I think, I strongly anticipate saying "the puppy's plums". I will beg him to let me take it to the end of the road. And the best bit? He's not telling the wife!

cjcp

Nailed it this morning. Spotted the fast hybrider I see when I'm on the road bike in Parson Green. I slipped the googles on, lowered the head and body and fed more cheese to the mice in my legs.

He kept getting away due to lights and ped crossings, but hammered it along Embankment to Parlt Square, where he popped back up on the radar. He was on the other side of the Square, so put a big spurt on from Wm Bridge and eventually passed him just after Temple tube. I think he was a bit shocked as I've not seen him passed by a mtb, although I don't recall seeing him and Frosty the Snowman in a head-to-head. If this guy was on a road bike, he would cause some problems. But, now that I've done him on my mtb too, his scalp is truly mine.

Clever Pun

cjcp wrote:

Nailed it this morning. Spotted the fast hybrider I see when I'm on the road bike in Parson Green. I slipped the googles on, lowered the head and body and fed more cheese to the mice in my legs.

He kept getting away due to lights and ped crossings, but hammered it along Embankment to Parlt Square, where he popped back up on the radar. He was on the other side of the Square, so put a big spurt on from Wm Bridge and eventually passed him just after Temple tube. I think he was a bit shocked as I've not seen him passed by a mtb, although I don't recall seeing him and Frosty the Snowman in a head-to-head. If this guy was on a road bike, he would cause some problems. But, now that I've done him on my mtb too, his scalp is truly mine.

good skills sir....

nothing at all from me except I skimmed a ped that jumped out from behind a lorry I think her face might have caught my arm, I asked if she was alright and she said yes so I went on. She was crossing next to a roundabout where railing are supposed to stop people crossing... was lucky that I wasn't going that fast and didn't connect fully as that would have hurt like a mofo

Jay dubbleU

My first serious roady scalp today - caught him under the GW underpass dropped down to the middle cog and whipped past him on the short but steep hill up to the Old Canal thanks to lower gearing on the Giant - he chased my up the long canal run but ran out of steam as we got to the Canal Bridge - lucky for me as my legs were about to explode - well and truly scalped 8)

audaxvirgin

I met White Van Man again! He passed me as I stopped to post a letter and I noticed he looked at me rather intently, then I recognised the number. I didn't follow him, but I was keeping an eye out and I found his van parked at a house that's being built, so I got off the bike and turned his wing mirror back to front. As I got back on the bike he popped out of the house and shouted 'Can I help you!' so I rode off and HE FOLLOWED ME IN HIS VAN! Having had to take the trouble ot get in it and reverse out of the drive! He overtook me and stopped (same tactics as previous time) so I rode round him past an oncoming van, then he did it again so I rode round him again and he started driving so that he was to my left, talking to me out of his window, shouing as follows:
HIM: I've called the police about you damaging my van!
ME: Oh good!
HIM: I took a picture of you!
ME: That's nice
HIM: I'll knock you off that bike!
ME: F- OFF! (2 fingers)

And that was it. He gave up and I rode on, grinning and singing the Hallelujah Chorus. Maybe I'd better be careful cycling to work next Tuesday but it was SOOO satisfying!
:twisted:

itboffin

It might be a bit early to point out the obvious but we are approaching 500 pages and I've noticed more GT activity, lets make this one harder for him to win :twisted:

Greg T

itboffin wrote:

lets make this one harder for him to win :twisted:

You try too hard.

itboffin

Greg T wrote:

itboffin wrote:

lets make this one harder for him to win :twisted:

You try too hard.

I'm watching you, old man.

Bassjunkieuk

Glad to read everyone else is having such fun in the run-up to crimbo!

Like Linsen I am also off games until after xmas now due to a lovely long block of holiday and to top it off the new bits for my bike are already arriving!
Wifey very kindly got me the new wheels I've longed for as a birthday present (I'm 26 today!!) and they arrived yesterday.
So I now have a nice set of black Mavic Aksium's in a box at the other end of the living room waiting for me to christen my new toolkit (thanks mum and dad ) to fit them to the bike :-)
All I need now is a new set of brake blocks (a must as I don't want the old crap filled one's filing down my new rims!) and some new tyres and I'll be fitting them ASAP.

Hopefully with the improved wheels and a small weight saving from some lighter and faster rolling tyres I'll be absolutely flying in the new year! I CAN'T WAIT!!! Annoyingly I got a £40 "bonus" in the form of high street vouchers in this months paycheck.........worst bit is that of all the shops that except them Halfords is the only one that stocks bike bits :-( BUGGER!!

itboffin

Bassjunkieuk

many happy returns

linsen

happy birthday, BJUK,

you are so young :shock:

chuckcork

One for the Holy Crap! section.....overtaking a guy who was going rather fast on a hybrid, winding up big time and with full power on, I race past, and then have the chain wrap itself around the rear derailleur/spindle, lock up and then snap and cause my rear wheel to lock solid! (not neccesarily in that order)

Found myself skidding to a halt on the side of the wet road....what the few seconds before overtaken guy though I have no idea. Almost as good a faux pas as failing to unclip before falling over in the traffic?

lost_in_thought

Happy Birthday BJUK!!

On the old commuter I used to regularly overtake people spinning like a madwoman, only to hit a bump and have my chain fall off. Which was always a bit embarrassing.

The chain fell off about once every 2 miles on that thing. Which meant that I became an expert in replacing it, so could pop it back on and overtake them again! At which point I'd usually hit a bump and......... well you can see where this is going.

For some reason, though, I'm still very attached to that bike.

vorsprung

Yes I've noticed the chain falling off during overtakes

Then I tightened up and STOPPED BEING SLACK

itboffin

chuckcork wrote:

One for the Holy Crap! section.....overtaking a guy who was going rather fast on a hybrid, winding up big time and with full power on, I race past, and then have the chain wrap itself around the rear derailleur/spindle, lock up and then snap and cause my rear wheel to lock solid! (not neccesarily in that order)

Found myself skidding to a halt on the side of the wet road....what the few seconds before overtaken guy though I have no idea. Almost as good a faux pas as failing to unclip before falling over in the traffic?

Glad you're okay and I hope you raised your hands in victory ala Jason Kenny
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ayAT0XbU_Zw

greg66_tri_v2.0

Happy Birthday BJUK!

I've had the rear wheel and cranks lock solid in an instant once, courtesy of some tissue paper that blew into and then got locked into my rear mech/chain/cassette. Not fun.

DonDaddyD

Happy Birthday BJUK!!!

A toast to your new wheels!!!

Hip hip Hooray!!!

Bassjunkieuk

Many thanks for the well wishes everyone!

On the subject of un-fortunate failures at very bad times I once had my chain snap as I pulled away from some lights :shock:

It was on the halfords MTB so what do you expect, but it was rather annoying as I had a car right up my ar$e! I almost fell off but managed to recover what remained of the chain from the road as I limped back to the side. Thankfully at this point I was only commuting about 3 miles so I ended up walking the last half :-(

itboffin

Hey Bass it must be killing you having those wheels at home on view, aren't you worried the children might play with them?

I just received a call from my LBS to say they've chased my BB (easy) on the Mercian and I can collect tomorrow morning, ace I'll have another bike back on the road by Sunday.

It's just like Christmas

Bassjunkieuk

ITB - I've put the wheels back in the box at the moment to minimize the chance of them being ruined by the kids before I get them on the bike. I'm just trying to keep my mind off them at the moment!

Jen J

Happy Birthday BJUK!

itboffin

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

ITB - I've put the wheels back in the box at the moment to minimize the chance of them being ruined by the kids before I get them on the bike. I'm just trying to keep my mind off them at the moment!

what self control, Chapeau to you slightly older young man.

I also have a brand new Dolan cross frame in it box waiting to be built, drool drool drool

I will be at the LBS 09:00 tomorrow morning.

gb155

Evening all

Made a SCALP Wednesday, Older guy on a MTB, He was the only bike heading my way all week, Though im now on nodding terms with a roadie who I see at least 3 times a week.

Took the long 12 mile way into work this morning, Was AMAZING.

Have a great friday eve everyone

Wrath Rob

Meh, journey from hell tonight. It was the Christmas party last night which involved a lot of black sambuca, tequila, jaegermeister. It also involved not a lot of sleep and being in the office for 9am. I'd left the bike there as otherwise I'd have been riding in still drunk so had the joy of riding it home tonight with a rampaging headache, raging thirst and two roadies goading me into playing on the Embankment. One was a big time drafting fairy, and both sacrificed all SCR points by jumping a set of lights, and I knew I could have had them both.

Well, my head knew that but my body knew it was in trouble and wisely called it a day by shutting down my ability to breath and sending massive pain signals from my legs before I could do any real damage. By the time I got home I'd succeeded in sweating out all the remaining alcohol, unfortunately along with the rest of the water in my body. Imagine my wife's surprise when a dessicated husk walked in the door on Wrath Rob's bike

Still, I've got another 3 days on the bike to go, and then my favourite ride of the year, the one-day-in-the-office-in-the-xmas-holidays-when-no-one-else-is-on-the-roads-ride. Last year I beat my best time by 3 mins! I'm half tempted to get back on the Boardman to eke out the benefits of gears :P

itboffin

Wrath Rob wrote:

Meh, journey from hell tonight. It was the Christmas party last night which involved a lot of black sambuca, tequila, jaegermeister. It also involved not a lot of sleep and being in the office for 9am. I'd left the bike there as otherwise I'd have been riding in still drunk so had the joy of riding it home tonight with a rampaging headache, raging thirst and two roadies goading me into playing on the Embankment. One was a big time drafting fairy, and both sacrificed all SCR points by jumping a set of lights, and I knew I could have had them both.

Well, my head knew that but my body knew it was in trouble and wisely called it a day by shutting down my ability to breath and sending massive pain signals from my legs before I could do any real damage. By the time I got home I'd succeeded in sweating out all the remaining alcohol, unfortunately along with the rest of the water in my body. Imagine my wife's surprise when a dessicated husk walked in the door on Wrath Rob's bike

Still, I've got another 3 days on the bike to go, and then my favourite ride of the year, the one-day-in-the-office-in-the-xmas-holidays-when-no-one-else-is-on-the-roads-ride. Last year I beat my best time by 3 mins! I'm half tempted to get back on the Boardman to eke out the benefits of gears :P

You wash your mouth out young man and straight to bed with no tea

cjcp

Happy birthday, BJUK!

Sod this mtb lark. Ridiculous headwind tonight. Books in the backpack and a heavy bike to boot. My God! I almost came to a standstill on Millbank. Actually had to get out of the saddle to get some speed up. Fortunately, the good lady made a curry, so the energy reserves were soon back up.

Good w/e all.

jimmypippa

andy jackson wrote:

jimmypippa wrote:

Attica wrote:

Snip...

I do anyway, I forgot to mention the guy who looks Italian, and about 20, with a cycle cap, etc... fixed gear(?), no bloody rucsac or impedimentia (except a pump in his jersy back pocket) but I only have seen him in the summer (probably at university, natch, I was young once mutter mutter)

I don't feel too bad being passed by him, especially when it is bloody hot and I have my work clothes on my back too... (I am thinking about changing to panniers though, for better temperature control)

You are right about the hills though:


I think this should work to show one of my "extensions" to my commute when I have some spare time:

Stubbins Lane, chinley


There are plenty of others:

This one is quite amusing
except that I can't get google maps to accept that you go along "Elanor lane" and then "Old Road" then "Lesser Lane" past the Beehive (serves Tim Taylor's Landlord) and up Cowlow lane.

Good summer additions to end a commute from Stockport

Thats near Me

maybe we will duel!

I suspec that there would be a very short time where our commutes could overlap.

I get off the A6 just before Hazel Grove (Simpson's Corner), and go along minor roads into work.

It would be fun, as the A6 down from Disley to Hazel Grove is nice and fast, about 100m {eDIT: descent] in a couple of miles according to google maps terrain (that's a nice addition to google maps I hadn't noticed before).

There was the headwind from hell this afternoon though (or maybe I was being a weaner)...

I do someimes pass a cyclist several steps above me on the foodchain in High Lane, but it isn't really fair, as he is just turning onto the road, and stuck inside the stationary traffic, whilst I am overtaking the traffic on the outside, and have had a significant height advantage to build up some speed.

Off topic: I reported a pothole on the A6 with the CTC filll that hole, and it has been fxed now (1 week), and another in Derbyshire (2-days) to get fixed. Satisfying.

cjcp

itboffin wrote:

what self control, Chapeau to you slightly older young man.

I also have a brand new Dolan cross frame in it box waiting to be built, drool drool drool

I will be at the LBS 09:00 tomorrow morning.

Are they giving you a new Dolan frame?

itboffin

cjcp wrote:

itboffin wrote:

what self control, Chapeau to you slightly older young man.

I also have a brand new Dolan cross frame in it box waiting to be built, drool drool drool

I will be at the LBS 09:00 tomorrow morning.

Are they giving you a new Dolan frame?

No I bought it from ribblecycles and it's a beauty only problem now is i'm not sure I want to get it dirty

itboffin

A interesting quote from Dr David Bailey, a physiologist for British Cycling.

I have not cycled seriously for a few years, but I still ride to work most days, slipstreaming commuters, not satisfied until I have broken the 50-year-old man on a Brompton who is oblivious to the race he has not entered.

Sound familiar...?