Silly commuting racing

anonymousblackfg

Kingstonian wrote:

Was thinking about it on the way home.....it is true I only ride it on the commute when the roads are bone dry, but the bike runs better, is more aero and my position is better too. So a combo of things I guess......

I also think on the good bike I notice the difference in speed and tend to push a bit harder rather than just taking the benefits.

Not as many people out and about as I thought there would be this morning, needed to stay ahead of nodders but stunningly I think I had pretty much green lights from Balham to Stockwell. No pots though which I guess is a sign that there is no segment for that whole section as I'm sure i'd be up there given this is pure luck.

j_mcd

Arrived at Guildford Station to find that there were no trains running into London. No other choice but to cycle all the way in to Canary Wharf.

It's the first time I've done it this early in the year but a nice tailwind through London helped make it a properly pleasant ride. Couple of PBs as well.

hopkinb

Spidey senses stopped me from smashing into a family of four this morning. Coming through Balham on the blue paint, and a high sided Luton-style van which was in front of me and to the right in the main carriageway slowed and stopped for no reason (from my point of view). I stopped pedalling and feathered the brakes, then grabbed a full handful as the family appeared in front of me in the bike lane and immediately froze. Stopped with 20 cm to spare. Luckily the bloke behind me on a bike had also spotted that something wasn't right, and didn't pile into the back of me.

Not a crossing, but one of those "refuges" in the middle of the road. Van driver did not think to check his mirrors before stopping and waving the family through into a bright blue cycle path. Due to him being a high sided vehicle, I was completely unsighted.

Who would have been at fault if I was a less experienced rider, and close to 100kg of me and bike had battered into a couple of little girls?

Them, for not checking the cycle lane was clear? The van driver, for letting them cross without checking that the cycle lane was clear? Me, for not anticipating that a van stopping for no reason could mean that someone or something might unexpectedly appear in front of me?

Answers on a postcard. Anyway, at least I know my brakes work.

poweredbyidris

hopkinb wrote:

Spidey senses stopped me from smashing into a family of four this morning. Coming through Balham on the blue paint, and a high sided Luton-style van which was in front of me and to the right in the main carriageway slowed and stopped for no reason (from my point of view). I stopped pedalling and feathered the brakes, then grabbed a full handful as the family appeared in front of me in the bike lane and immediately froze. Stopped with 20 cm to spare. Luckily the bloke behind me on a bike had also spotted that something wasn't right, and didn't pile into the back of me.

Not a crossing, but one of those "refuges" in the middle of the road. Van driver did not think to check his mirrors before stopping and waving the family through into a bright blue cycle path. Due to him being a high sided vehicle, I was completely unsighted.

Who would have been at fault if I was a less experienced rider, and close to 100kg of me and bike had battered into a couple of little girls?

Them, for not checking the cycle lane was clear? The van driver, for letting them cross without checking that the cycle lane was clear? Me, for not anticipating that a van stopping for no reason could mean that someone or something might unexpectedly appear in front of me?

Answers on a postcard. Anyway, at least I know my brakes work.

I think a large portion of any court ruling is dependant on whether you were wearing a helmet

Gallywomack

Fault on all sides had a collision occurred, without anybody setting out to be particularly reckless. Just a lack of thought. I do think flashing across of all kinds should be discouraged, yes it's courteous but often leads to manoeuvres being taken without proper observation.

asprilla

Set off on the good bike today but the batteries were flat. I assume that was the problem anyway: front had changed down and wouldn't shift but back was still working.

Went home and plugged it into the laptop and everything showed up green so no loose connections.

Changed bike. Discovered my batteries were flat.

kingstonian

Asprilla wrote:

Set off on the good bike today but the batteries were flat. I assume that was the problem anyway: front had changed down and wouldn't shift but back was still working.

Went home and plugged it into the laptop and everything showed up green so no loose connections.

Changed bike. Discovered my batteries were flat.

Di2, presumably. The front shifter shuts down first, leaving the remaining power just for the rear shifter. Last year I had a bunch of problems with my Di2, was convinced it was a loose connection and then eventually figured out that the battery was holding virtually no charge - enough to deal with the first 20 mins of a ride and then it would conk out. New battery fitted and all was fine. Moral of the story was to replace the battery every 3 years or so.

dekant

J_MCD wrote:

Arrived at Guildford Station to find that there were no trains running into London. No other choice but to cycle all the way in to Canary Wharf.

It's the first time I've done it this early in the year but a nice tailwind through London helped make it a properly pleasant ride. Couple of PBs as well.

I used to do Guildford to Fulham/Wimbledon quite regularly. Apart from the single lane part of the A246 outside of Guildford it's a reasonably nice ride and most of the time you get a pretty good tailwind when coming back into London. Them were the days.

mtb-idle

J_MCD wrote:

Arrived at Guildford Station to find that there were no trains running into London. No other choice but to cycle all the way in to Canary Wharf.

It's the first time I've done it this early in the year but a nice tailwind through London helped make it a properly pleasant ride. Couple of PBs as well.

Chapeau!

I was planning to ride today (Epsom to Canary Wharf) but then thought I really ought to get my best set of wheels fixed after the horror show of a weekend ride to Brighton during the 45mph winds t'other week when the various crap on the roads caused a mis-shift over the top of the cassette and blew four spokes on the drive side and gouged a chunk out of another four.

I would normally fix these myself but you just try getting hold of 285 mil. black, flat-bladed straight-pull spokes. Like hen's teeth, I tells ya. The only place that can either provide the spokes or fix the wheel easily is Condor Cycles.

I opted for the latter and headed down to Ewell East station for the 7-19 a.m. wheel in hand to find, like you, that overrunning engineering works at both Dorking and Waterloo had blown a hole wide-open in what is let's face it a dodgy Southern service anyway.

Long story;short, I caught the 8-19 (which didn't turn up until 8-45) and took a leisurely trip to Gray's Inn Road.

Managed to escape with the wheel booked in and an impulse purchase of just a new pair of socks which is tough in Condor on any day, never mind what is not only payday for me but also annual bonus day...

mtb-idle

MTB-Idle wrote:

Gallywomack wrote:

MTB-Idle wrote:

What gear are you running? (Traditional SSer greeting)

LOL, I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know off the top of my head.
#musttryharder

I went out for a spin with Dizzydane yesterday, well more of a leg breaker as we are training for Flanders, 110km and 1700 metres of climbing and a lot more for her. I also got a chance to wear my new socks mentioned previously, an impulse buy from Condor Cycles on Friday #strongsockgame

An amusing moment in the yurt at the Dabbling Duck in Shere saw three separate groups realise they all had something in common making me the only Brit in there with nine Saffers all talking Afrikaans.

Anyways, we couldn't agree or remember what the gearing was (it was from her mate that I got the bike) and I finally got around to looking today when I was doing some other bike maintenance (those 110 km above weren't made any easier with a chain that wouldn't shift into the large ring on the front and was slipping on the rear).

No markings front or rear so I had to resort to counting teef. 46:16

Dizzy says hi to you all; did that beer you were arranging ever happen?

rower63

MTB-Idle wrote:

MTB-Idle wrote:

Gallywomack wrote:

MTB-Idle wrote:

What gear are you running? (Traditional SSer greeting)

LOL, I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know off the top of my head.
#musttryharder

I went out for a spin with Dizzydane yesterday, well more of a leg breaker as we are training for Flanders, 110km and 1700 metres of climbing and a lot more for her. I also got a chance to wear my new socks mentioned previously, an impulse buy from Condor Cycles on Friday #strongsockgame

An amusing moment in the yurt at the Dabbling Duck in Shere saw three separate groups realise they all had something in common making me the only Brit in there with nine Saffers all talking Afrikaans.

Anyways, we couldn't agree or remember what the gearing was (it was from her mate that I got the bike) and I finally got around to looking today when I was doing some other bike maintenance (those 110 km above weren't made any easier with a chain that wouldn't shift into the large ring on the front and was slipping on the rear).

No markings front or rear so I had to resort to counting teef. 46:16

Dizzy says hi to you all; did that beer you were arranging ever happen?

You and your socks. Hi to Dizzy too - why has she disappeared from here lately? She ought to be able to say hi herself surely ...

kingstonian

Any of you peeps in Central London have a Di2 charger I could borrow today? Just need to whack some charge in mine.

kingstongraham

Looks like the Priory Lane roadworks are just going to be annoying, and cause traffic jams, not a road closure. Shame.

asprilla

Rode the good bike with 58mm rims this morning.

Was lovely but a bit twitchy when crossing junctions with a side wind.

kingstonian

Kingstonian wrote:

Any of you peeps in Central London have a Di2 charger I could borrow today? Just need to whack some charge in mine.

Don't worry, after encountering the rudest guy on the planet in Evans Cycles by London Bridge, I spoke to a guy at Cycle Republic on Lime St who not only offered to charge the battery up for me but also made me a cuppa when I dropped it off

kingstonian

Asprilla wrote:

Rode the good bike with 58mm rims this morning.

Was lovely but a bit twitchy when crossing junctions with a side wind.

This morning was def windier than I was expecting when I left home

njee20

Northerly wind too, and unusually strong for the morning. Hoping it holds out until this afternoon rather than turning into a southerly!

ryan_w-2

I'm obviously setting off too early...

Not SCR at all on the way into work.

Set a couple of PB's en route to Wapping this morning, averaged 42kph along the Upper Thames Flat segment which wasn't bad considering the state of my legs after a hard weekend on the bike.

Gallywomack

Yeah the wind wasn't doing what I expected at all this morning - sure the BBC were showing a sou'wester when I checked upon waking, but maybe I was too dopey to read it properly.

CS3/embankment WB was so busy from Blackfriars to Northumberland Ave that overtaking was simply not possible - solid double lines of cyclists in both directions. Remarkable. I didn't mind too much as I already had 10 miles at threshold on the Rotherloop in my legs as well as the rest of my normal commuting distance, but a slight shame not to have been able to push on a bit given the lack of the usual headwind.

kingdav

Kingstonian wrote:

after encountering the rudest guy on the planet in Evans Cycles by London Bridge

Just in case anyone didn't know Spitalfields & Mark Lane branches closed recently so only Evans to remain in the city are St. Pauls and London Bridge.

veronese68

MTB-Idle wrote:

Dizzy says hi to you all; did that beer you were arranging ever happen?

Hi to Dizzy, meant to start a thread on that a while back. Started one now:
viewtopic.php?f=40012&t=13104290
Back on topic, rode in but the only competition was my shadow. It was several feet in front of me all the way here.

Gallywomack

Pleasant ride in on Q1, marred right at the end by having an argument with a bloke on some sort of posh folding bike (seemed to be ti with a big round downtube, didn't recognise it but don't think it was a Brompton), who shoaled me at the Northumberland Ave turn off on CS3, then dithered as the light went green so I slightly awkwardly pulled away around him. Then at the Trafalgar Sq lights, he pulled up next to me and accused me of 'cutting him up'. My response was fairly sweary, unfortunately. His view was that he hadn't pushed in front but was 'next to me'. Should you happen to be reading - no, you came from behind (because I'd overtaken you) and ended up in front of me, that's shoaling and I stand by my assessment that you're a d**khead, doubly so for having a go at me. And no, my manoeuvre wasn't in the least 'dangerous'.

And breathe...

kingstonian

trainw@nkering today, out with the lads for beers tonight. Most amusing moment on the journey was the fat woman trying to cram her obese dimensions into the seat next to me and being all huffy when I refused to move an inch to give her more space to wedge her rolls of blubber into, so she had to sit sideways in the seat. Really not my problem you eat enough to feed a small army each day, luv.

asprilla

Last night was a lovely ride home with a 30.8kph average speed.

Flew past everyone, except for a Cat2 chap from Saddle Drunk Racing who put me back in my box at the top of Broomfield.

Gallywomack

Fun little joust as far as Lewisham with a roadie who seemed to be having a slight contretemps with a taxi when I first saw him in Downham. He eased past me somewhere between Downham and Catford and was setting a decent pace so I just contented myself with keeping up at my usual 10-metre distance, which was quite hard work. This continued up to Lewisham but I could sense he was tiring by then so, being a bit of a sneak, I powered past him on Molesworth St knowing I was stopping in Cornmill Gardens to meet my mate. As I slowed I turned to say bye and admit that I was stopping there to meet someone, and he made a jokey comment along the lines of 'you'd be really quick with clipless pedals' - nice bloke. Legs felt very good this morning, as they should after binning the MTB night ride I had originally planned to do last night.

Pleasant pootle the rest of the way and managed to avoid any arguments on CS3 for once.

smokey_bacon

Genuinely surprised at how swift I was this morning after having a cold and pulling my back at the weekend. Dispatched a group up and over ballet school hill then another, larger, cat 4 group out of worlds ends and over Battersea bridge. Of the 6 or so in the group I was the only one to make the lights at the bridge. Was well happy with that little win. Meant I clocked a pot on strava for the Surbo > City segment. Expecting to be back in old man mode this evening!

hopkinb

Forgot to wash my 3/4s and my longs, couldn't find my knee warmers = just shorts = brrrrrr.

Whippet-like guy in all-black (London Dynamo gabba) on an all-black bike, long hair & a beard would probably have handed my @rse to me on a plate had he not turned off at stockwell. He had eased up to 52 kph on the stretch from Clapham North to Stockwell. Distinct difference in style - he was turning his tallest ratio sedately, while I was whirling 50/14 like a demented fat hamster.

jonginge

Good to see you, Rower. It has been a while. Was funny watching the shoaling horde scrabble for your wheel after chelsea bridge. You had about 10 by vauxhall

kingstonian

Reasonable pootle in this morning, with a hangover after beers last night.

Tashman

Did my 35 mile round trip again yesterday and got handfulls of PBs. This riding more regularly lark gets you fitter it seems! No SCR for me unless you count racing myself for Strava segments