Silly commuting racing

rhodrich

Any hint of ice or snow means I use my Richmond Park avoidance route (Sheen/Queen's Road/Petersham). Powering through slush and ice in the dark isn't my idea of fun!

Was thinking twice about riding through there this morning, having been caught out before on roads of sheet ice, but was pleasantly surprised to see that they'd gritted the roads, plus the Ballet School cycle path.

elbowloh

I had to go to Cannock yesterday, so missed the snow-mute. The drive back over the hills on the M40 was pretty hairy.

I heeded the Met office yellow warnings for ice today, so didn't cycle in again. Sounds like it wasn't too bad?

frogonabike

Wicked ride home last night, it’s taken a few years but I think I’m getting the kit dialled for sleety ming. Gotta love the bar mitts

Not sure what to do about the sore face yet though, that was a tad painful

No real SCR to speak of, most people seemed to be taking it pretty carefully

veronese68

anonymousblackfg wrote:

...from the comments above having a cap on really makes a huge difference.

Yes, a cap and overshoes would have made all the difference. The cap more so.
Had to drive in today but the cap's waiting to go in my bag tonight.

jds_1981

frogonabike wrote:

Wicked ride home last night, it’s taken a few years but I think I’m getting the kit dialled for sleety ming. Gotta love the bar mitts

Not sure what to do about the sore face yet though, that was a tad painful

No real SCR to speak of, most people seemed to be taking it pretty carefully

Planet X used to have balaclavas.
https://www.google.com/search?q=planet+ ... +balaclava
Work quite well.

That being said I suffered a lot yesterday due to the difference between the BBC weather forecast and the reality.

kingstonian

Warm cap with earcover things works a treat in this weather, along with a neckwarmer that you can pull up over your nose/mouth/cheeks etc to stop your face freezing off. With that on I'm always toasty warm down to silly temperatures.

frogonabike

Balaclava’s not a bad shout, I think I’d be fussy about the fit being right but it could work well.

I’m being picky though to be fair, hands feet, body and the rest of my head were all toasty!

mtb-idle

Kingston beer? I'm in. Will see if Dizzy Dane is interested too.

hopkinb

Legs warmed up eventually this morning, and it turned out to be a very pleasant ride.

Bearded bloke on a Cube wearing a yellow Rapha gilet was around and about this morning, quick away from the lights. One of the CS7 users from on here who I haven't met yet?

Changed my front brake pads a couple of days ago, as I was starting to brake on the springs. Organic pads don't last that long stopping a big bloke like me, especially in winter (up to 2 months on the front). I see that Aztec do a sintered pad in the sram shape that I need for £13.50 at Evans. Have any disc brake users tried sintered pads on their road bikes? Is the noise unbearable (it's already pretty bad in the wet with organic pads). Or do I just suck up the expense of changing the organic ones more regularly (I'm totally happy with the way they perform)? I suppose the only way to find out is to buy a set and try them out.

kingstonian

Beers in Kingston is good with me, CJ too. Let me know when.

anonymousblackfg

Train w4nkered for fear of ice. On shopping advice from above.

- Cap with ear flaps + a buff is spot on for sleet

- I've never noticed any difference in all the disc pads i've tried, I now just buy Uber Bike ones off e-bay

dekant

hopkinb wrote:

On the plus side, a little bit of wet weather e-bike assisted SCR with someone I can only assume is dekant, given his name on Strava. Hi dekant, you were putting up such a good effort keeping up with e-bike man, I couldn't help but join in. Apologies for the stealth pass heading up the rise towards Wandsworth Common station, you caught up at the burntwood road lights anyway, then traffic stopped play.

Yes, this was me - always up for the chipped e-bike challenge, particularly when it's raining and it means I'll get home faster!

I reckon it was a 500W motor given my outputs and the size of his rear hub. I did mean to check Strava later to work out who you were as I was surprised to have company given it was full gas to stay on the wheel. Was a little taken aback when you powered through by Wandsworth Common but I guess you were chasing the lights (I knew I had enough time in the cycle and was fairly tired at this point!)

hopkinb

dekant wrote:

Was a little taken aback when you powered through by Wandsworth Common but I guess you were chasing the lights...

Nope, that bit was pure SCR, the road opened up a little, I saw my chance, trusted my sprint, and in the truest sense of silly commuter racing, you had no idea you were even in a "race".

I'll keep an eye out, and say hi in future.

kingstonian

Love a bit of SCR racing against a chipped e-bike. Once every couple of months or so there's a guy I come across on the evening commute, normally pick him up around Parliament Square and he follows the river round to Chelsea Bridge. The last time I saw him, probably November, I used him in true derny style and we were doing 42kph along Chelsea Embankment and I'm sure his e-bike wasn't maxed out.

asprilla

Kingstonian wrote:

Love a bit of SCR racing against a chipped e-bike. Once every couple of months or so there's a guy I come across on the evening commute, normally pick him up around Parliament Square and he follows the river round to Chelsea Bridge. The last time I saw him, probably November, I used him in true derny style and we were doing 42kph along Chelsea Embankment and I'm sure his e-bike wasn't maxed out.

Chap on a green 29er? He shifts.

cjcp

EDIT: the below is for hopkinb....

For "organic", read "as soft as cheese", IME.

Being on the heavier side, I tend to go through the disc pads a little quick, it seems, but I seem to burn through them pretty quickly.

Cycle Surgery in Spitalfields sells them for around £10. I may have had them on sale, but worth a look.

Re beer in Kingston: Norbiton pizzas are ace (£5 each on Friday lunchtimes, which I appreciate is only useful to those who WFH near there on Fridays ), and the beer is nice; the Albert is good (very good for Sunday lunch after a walk in Richmond Park - a hit with my kids).

dekant

hopkinb wrote:

dekant wrote:

Was a little taken aback when you powered through by Wandsworth Common but I guess you were chasing the lights...

Nope, that bit was pure SCR, the road opened up a little, I saw my chance, trusted my sprint, and in the truest sense of silly commuter racing, you had no idea you were even in a "race".

I'll keep an eye out, and say hi in future.

Haha. In which case, I doff my cap to thee sir. You didn't even get out of the saddle, so perfect SCR technique.

hopkinb

cjcp wrote:

EDIT: the below is for hopkinb....

For "organic", read "as soft as cheese", IME.

Being on the heavier side, I tend to go through the disc pads a little quick, it seems, but I seem to burn through them pretty quickly.

Cycle Surgery in Spitalfields sells them for around £10. I may have had them on sale, but worth a look.

Thanks CJ. Superstar components used to do some pads with kevlar in the pad compound, which were a bit harder wearing than the standard "cheese" pads, but I've run out of my stash of those, and they don't sell the sram road pads any more.

I'll buy a set of these Aztec sintered ones and use them on the front brake when the ones I've just put in melt away in the salt and grit of the next few weeks of riding. If they're any good, I'll post on here.

tgotb

Uberbike Sintered pads for me; they last absolutely ages unless you're racing in the wet, on sandy ground.

veronese68

I'm on Uberbike race matrix at the moment, pleased with them so far but can't comment on longevity yet as I've just changed to them from my stash of Superstar. Obviously I'm easy on pads being so slim and trim.
Beers in Kingston is definitely a plan, when should we do it? School night or a Friday?
Slow ride in this morning as I took the MTB, very rumbly.

cjcp

hopkinb wrote:

cjcp wrote:

EDIT: the below is for hopkinb....

For "organic", read "as soft as cheese", IME.

Being on the heavier side, I tend to go through the disc pads a little quick, it seems, but I seem to burn through them pretty quickly.

Cycle Surgery in Spitalfields sells them for around £10. I may have had them on sale, but worth a look.

Thanks CJ. Superstar components used to do some pads with kevlar in the pad compound, which were a bit harder wearing than the standard "cheese" pads, but I've run out of my stash of those, and they don't sell the sram road pads any more.

I'll buy a set of these Aztec sintered ones and use them on the front brake when the ones I've just put in melt away in the salt and grit of the next few weeks of riding. If they're any good, I'll post on here.

I had a look in my backpack and found the spare set I carry. Clarks' Organics.

Yep, I carry a spare set just in case they wear through with all the guff on the road. I burned through a set doing a lap of RP before Christmas. 'kin' terrifying...

mtb-idle

re the squealing are you putting grease on the pad backing as you would on a car?

Edit: I don't have road discs but have ridden MTB discs for 20 years. Go sintered. much harder wearing.

kingstonian

Asprilla wrote:

Kingstonian wrote:

Love a bit of SCR racing against a chipped e-bike. Once every couple of months or so there's a guy I come across on the evening commute, normally pick him up around Parliament Square and he follows the river round to Chelsea Bridge. The last time I saw him, probably November, I used him in true derny style and we were doing 42kph along Chelsea Embankment and I'm sure his e-bike wasn't maxed out.

Chap on a green 29er? He shifts.

Not sure, it might be a white bike but I'll have to take a closer look and try to remember (I'm terrible at remembering these things...........)

rhodrich

Asprilla wrote:

Kingstonian wrote:

Love a bit of SCR racing against a chipped e-bike. Once every couple of months or so there's a guy I come across on the evening commute, normally pick him up around Parliament Square and he follows the river round to Chelsea Bridge. The last time I saw him, probably November, I used him in true derny style and we were doing 42kph along Chelsea Embankment and I'm sure his e-bike wasn't maxed out.

Chap on a green 29er? He shifts.

If it's the guy I'm thinking of, bike is a Specialized Turbo Levo HT, similar to this one (but probably not the 2019 model):

https://www.leisurelakesbikes.com/30959 ... kblue.aspx

Most definitely not street legal in the guise he has it. He's also partial to ignoring red lights. At least he has the decency to flag his rides on Strava as E-Bike rides.

tgotb

cjcp wrote:

I burned through a set doing a lap of RP before Christmas. 'kin' terrifying...

Que?

What are you doing with the brakes? No-one ever won a race by going slowly...

roger_merriman

TGOTB wrote:

cjcp wrote:

I burned through a set doing a lap of RP before Christmas. 'kin' terrifying...

Que?

What are you doing with the brakes? No-one ever won a race by going slowly...

I’m assuming it’s stop start traffic, I get 3k (miles) F/R on my commute bike, I’m probably over 100kg fully kitted up, the bike is a old MTB with Bags and what not so at least 20KG if not more!

The fun bikes eat though pads, worse being the gravel bike possibly as it’s cable it doesn’t self adjust? Not sure but it eats pads on wet gritty rides faster than the MTB on exactly the same pads!

sgt.pepper

Legs are coming back after 3 weeks off the bike, though stamina and lactate thresholds are still way off where I was before Christmas. Passed a very skinny guy on a gravel bike on the flat, who got me back on the long climb. Sadly he pulled off before I could re-engage - hate when they do that.

Couple of hairy moments yesterday. A taxi almost took out an ebike turning into a petrol station without even attempting to look in his mirrors. Just threw his hands up with a sh*t eating grin. Then on the way home I had to hit the anchors for a van that was pulling out - I thought he was pulling into traffic, but was actually doing a U-turn. Was my fault - should have considered that option, but brain wasn't with it.

kingstonian

Managed to get home in one piece despite plenty of numbnuts stepping in front of me on my route home. Was taking it a bit easy as I’m off for a ski weekend in Switzerland tomorrow and really didn’t need to be going with road rash (or worse)

prhymeate

I was at the lights by Clapham South underground this evening when a lorry tried to go through a red light and clipped a Dominos lorry, breaking off the wing mirror. The guy in the lorry got out and told the Dominos guy to pull over. I rode off but 30 seconds later the lorry passed me and the Dominos guy behind was beeping his horn. Seems like he just drove off. I've got it on camera so have contacted Dominos. How many years worth of free pizza should I hold the footage hostage for?

rhodrich

Wore my full on winter kit that only comes out a few times a year yesterday morning. Ski gloves, Pearson winter jacket, full thermal bib longs, woolly Belgian cap. Worked perfectly in the morning, when it was -5C in Richmond Park.

In the evening though, at 4C, I was absolutely boiling. With the zip halfway undone on my jacket, the clouds of steam coming off me when I stopped were quite unpleasant.

Just reminded myself why I always under dress by most people's standards. WFH today, but will be back to bib shorts, long sleeved top, and no base layer on Monday. Much more manageable.....