Silly commuting racing

arsey

AyBee wrote:

Help needed: just moved jobs and have been told I’m 11th on the waiting list for 30 bike spaces...i.e. that’s not going to happen in a long while. Are there any storage/changing spaces around Queen Victoria St? I have no idea where to start, but after 8 years of commuting daily, this is going to drive me insane getting the tube!!

Amateur, when they ask during the interview if you have any questions, top of the list should be "Do you have cycling facilities?"!

dhope

AyBee wrote:

Help needed: just moved jobs and have been told I’m 11th on the waiting list for 30 bike spaces...i.e. that’s not going to happen in a long while. Are there any storage/changing spaces around Queen Victoria St? I have no idea where to start, but after 8 years of commuting daily, this is going to drive me insane getting the tube!!

Good excuse to get a Brompton.
Get it on CycleScheme and they hold the value well enough you'll sell it for what you ended up paying for it.
Plus it increases your FCN dramatically so almost anyone on anything approaching a road bike is a scalp.

kingstonian

Had an argument take place behind me on Lower Richmond Road this morning..............they were arguing as to which of them was going to sit on my back wheel !!!!!

analogueboy

@Aybee I don't know of any that close by but it might be worth checking some of the new co-working spaces that are popping up everywhere, they often have off-street bike storage, showers, lockers etc. Not the cheapest way of doing it but I assume if you're working around there then you're less price-sensitive than most

Gallywomack

AyBee wrote:

Help needed: just moved jobs and have been told I’m 11th on the waiting list for 30 bike spaces...i.e. that’s not going to happen in a long while. Are there any storage/changing spaces around Queen Victoria St? I have no idea where to start, but after 8 years of commuting daily, this is going to drive me insane getting the tube!!

Use your oldest/cheapest bike or buy a 2nd hand beater and lock it on the street. Presumably you can still get showered and changed at the new office. Got to be better than the tube.

anonymousblackfg

Gallywomack wrote:

AyBee wrote:

Help needed: just moved jobs and have been told I’m 11th on the waiting list for 30 bike spaces...i.e. that’s not going to happen in a long while. Are there any storage/changing spaces around Queen Victoria St? I have no idea where to start, but after 8 years of commuting daily, this is going to drive me insane getting the tube!!

Use your oldest/cheapest bike or buy a 2nd hand beater and lock it on the street. Presumably you can still get showered and changed at the new office. Got to be better than the tube.

I wouldn't say cheapest but even £200 Gumtree Allez, tattered to hell and another £100 on locks and security QRs/bolts will have been covered by train w4nkering after two and a half weeks.

Stupid o'clock commute after a weekend of feeling ill (had to bail to the bed on Sat lunchtime, woke up 4.5 hours later having missed all rugby) and still trying to meet a missed deadline from 2.5 hours ago and now stuck unable to go buy any food while I wait for others to be able to get this out the door!

veronese68

Kingstonian wrote:

Had an argument take place behind me on Lower Richmond Road this morning..............they were arguing as to which of them was going to sit on my back wheel !!!!!

Not a problem I've ever had. Very slow ride in today as I was on the daughter's Dutch bike, I've agreed to ride the London to Brighton on it for a joke. I'm already regretting that for a couple of reasons. Thankfully no competition because I would have tried and failed. I do have the highest fcn ever I reckon.
Bit chilly but very pretty in Bushy Park.
Thought there may have been some SCR on Friday evening, passed the guy from here with a Synapse disc and he made a sound as I passed that made me think he was coming after me. Traffic was quite heavy and I was concentrating on the cars I was passing and those coming the other way. Sat up and looked around after I turned off and there was no sign of him. Turns out he took the turn before mine so I have no idea how successful I was. Wanders off to check Strava flybys...

kingdav

AyBee wrote:

Help needed: just moved jobs and have been told I’m 11th on the waiting list for 30 bike spaces...i.e. that’s not going to happen in a long while. Are there any storage/changing spaces around Queen Victoria St? I have no idea where to start, but after 8 years of commuting daily, this is going to drive me insane getting the tube!!

Only Soho & Victoria at the moment, but might be worth asking these guys about their expansion plans.

https://www.h2clubs.co.uk/h2-commute

roger_merriman

Some rotten beast on cheap E-bike overtook me up Brookfield, just to compound the mild annoyance of fully laden bike, and to compound it the swine turned off before I caught him, admitly I wasn’t gaining that quickly even in Richmond Park I wasn’t doing much over the 15mph that E-bikes are limited to, and equally I wasn’t going to flog myself, but they turned so I had to do with leaving cars behind down dark hill!

hopkinb

AyBee wrote:

Help needed: just moved jobs and have been told I’m 11th on the waiting list for 30 bike spaces...i.e. that’s not going to happen in a long while. Are there any storage/changing spaces around Queen Victoria St? I have no idea where to start, but after 8 years of commuting daily, this is going to drive me insane getting the tube!!

The office I work at has semi-secure outdoor racks on upper Thames street, just by Southwark bridge. They're not full. Sure you could park there and walk up. There are guards who ask which company you work at, but I can let you know which one you work at. Can't help with the shower.

elbowloh

roger merriman wrote:

Some rotten beast on cheap E-bike overtook me up Brookfield, just to compound the mild annoyance of fully laden bike, and to compound it the swine turned off before I caught him, admitly I wasn’t gaining that quickly even in Richmond Park I wasn’t doing much over the 15mph that E-bikes are SUPPOSED TO BE limited to, and equally I wasn’t going to flog myself, but they turned so I had to do with leaving cars behind down dark hill!

FIFY

elbowloh

hopkinb wrote:

AyBee wrote:

Help needed: just moved jobs and have been told I’m 11th on the waiting list for 30 bike spaces...i.e. that’s not going to happen in a long while. Are there any storage/changing spaces around Queen Victoria St? I have no idea where to start, but after 8 years of commuting daily, this is going to drive me insane getting the tube!!

The office I work at has semi-secure outdoor racks on upper Thames street, just by Southwark bridge. They're not full. Sure you could park there and walk up. There are guards who ask which company you work at, but I can let you know which one you work at. Can't help with the shower.

Not even to scrub his back?

smokey_bacon

Cracking sunrise through Richmond Park this morning. Absolutely love mornings this time of the year. Looking forward to wearing shorts on the way home for the first time this year if temps are to be believed!

kingstongraham

Smokey Bacon wrote:

Cracking sunrise through Richmond Park this morning. Absolutely love mornings this time of the year. Looking forward to wearing shorts on the way home for the first time this year if temps are to be believed!

Yesterday was lovely - I was intending to get down to Box Hill after work yesterday, but time just got away from me before it went properly dark, so ended up doing a tour of main roads down to Leatherhead and Epsom and back. I must plan these things better, but shorts and short sleeves all the way for the first time this year.

Gallywomack

Always jealous of those commuting through Richmond Park on mornings like this. The Old Kent Road was OK too, but...

Took it more or less easy this morning but wound it up for the Lidl sprint section at the end of OKR as there was a fast-looking guy on SS/Fixie to joust with. He stuck to the bus lane which I think slowed him down slightly, although there was a car clearly wanting to change lanes which slowed us both momentarily. Anyway, a read light at the Bricklayers put an end to the fun but he'd matched my pace up till then so honours even. Luckily he went straight on along Great Dover St when I took my left onto Trinity St, so could go back to pootling without the need for further competition.

kingdav

The un-seasonal weather seems to have precipitated a premature choppergeddon on my route, lots of pulling out without looking on erratic sprints

cyclingprop

Gallywomack wrote:

...The Old Kent Road was OK too, but...

Took it more or less easy this morning but wound it up for the Lidl sprint section at the end of OKR as there was a fast-looking guy on SS/Fixie to joust with.

Sounds like I should be looking out for you...

anonymousblackfg

Lovely commute, not as early as yesterday but still early enough to avoid Choppergeddon. I had one chap over take just before turning off, I really should have closed him down to prove the point.

Full set of green lights from Southwark Bridge to this side of Bank, first time ever I think.

Gallywomack

cyclingprop wrote:

Gallywomack wrote:

...The Old Kent Road was OK too, but...

Took it more or less easy this morning but wound it up for the Lidl sprint section at the end of OKR as there was a fast-looking guy on SS/Fixie to joust with.

Sounds like I should be looking out for you...

Not on the OKR every day and I'm fairly inconsistent with journey times but I'm easy to spot, non-fast-looking guy with a build that would suit your username, on a blue SS (as per sig) with rack and guards.

martinc

RP was a beauty. My legs, not so much.

hopkinb

anonymousblackfg wrote:

Choppergeddon.

I did not leave early enough - hordes upon hordes. Lots of frantic pedalling on the road rather than in the clogged up cycle lanes. Distinct lack of hooting from angry car drivers, maybe they sympathised, maybe they were dazzled by the whiteness of my calves.

anonymousblackfg

hopkinb wrote:

anonymousblackfg wrote:

Choppergeddon.

I did not leave early enough - hordes upon hordes. Lots of frantic pedalling on the road rather than in the clogged up cycle lanes. Distinct lack of hooting from angry car drivers, maybe they sympathised, maybe they were dazzled by the whiteness of my calves.

This weather isn't helpful, we've only just lost the Resolutionists thanks to that snow and ice. I should commute home at peak so will just have to grin and bare it.

veronese68

Gallywomack wrote:

Anyway, a read light at the Bricklayers put an end to the fun...

Was it well read?
Back on my own bike today thankfully. Also beautiful in Bushy Park this morning, even if it was below zero G. Absolutely no competition until I joined the roundabout at Apex corner and there was a roadie coming from my right. Buried myself for the final approach from there to work in case it was the colleague I left behind on Friday, turned out it wasn't.

rower63

These clear evenings I'm doing Sawyers Hill in Richmond Park on my way home, to try to see an object I've only ever seen once, around this time last year, and which even seasoned astronomers are pleased to see. I'm talking about the planet Mercury. It's generally very close to the Sun, so only briefly visible if at all for a short while after sunset, or before sunrise, and even then only very low over the horizon.
These next few evenings, around 1820-30 ish, if you're riding towards Sheen Cross or Sawyers, you'll notice a single bright "star" above and to the left of where the Star & Garter Home is, i.e. just South of West. That's Mercury. It's only slightly less bright than Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. By about 1840, it'll be too low, so it's not there for long.
I saw it last night, quite obvious.
The best time is 1820-1830: before then the sky's too bright, and after then the planet is too low.

As I was pootling and gazing at it, a guy swept past me down on the drops and working hard, and shortly afterwards tried to straight-line the Sheen X roundabout when a car was entering it from the right. Cue him and car screeching to a halt, him right in front of the car's bonnet. Idiot. He was lucky.
Once I'd had my fill of Mercury, I set off in pursuit, and passed him up Sawyers. He caught and passed me again just before Richmond Gate and we both turned left. I kept around 10-15m behind him. Near Pembroke Lodge, we went though some new rather frightening-looking gates partly across the road I've not noticed before. I caught said guy up to comment and he just gave me the "my riding is too important" grunt.

poweredbyidris

"These clear evenings I'm doing Sawyers Hill in Richmond Park on my way home, to try to see an object I've only ever seen once"

Was sure this was going to be the weirdos I've seen descending Sawyers sat on their top tube

elbowloh

rower63 wrote:

.
Once I'd had my fill of Mercury

syphilis?

hopkinb

PoweredByIdris wrote:

Was sure this was going to be the weirdos I've seen descending Sawyers sat on their top tube

I've seen this before. Going 35 kph.

kingstonian

New gates partially across the road near Pembroke Lodge? Thanks for the warning, will have to keep an eye out for them.

sgt.pepper

Had a couple of duels on the way home last nigh into an obnoxious headwind. Worked hard to drop a slightly portly fellow on deep sections who tried pulling past but lacked the legs out of the tow, and then faded once we got to a hill.

Got blasted by an ebike doing at least 30 this morning, was a bit of a shock. Considered giving chase but it would have been a struggle on the racing bike, let alone the 10 speed.

Also not sure about running my new dynamo hub during the day - definitely feel a bit of a difference, but I like having 2 lights on the front/back as it helps visibility so much (drivers subconsciously look for 2 not 1).

rower63

Kingstonian wrote:

New gates partially across the road near Pembroke Lodge? Thanks for the warning, will have to keep an eye out for them.

Interesting. When I went past tonight (after duly seeing Mercury) they were folded back off the road again, looking like fences. I wonder why they were out last night? I've never seen them before, they were just asking for Rhodrich to propel himself over them