Silly commuting racing

anonymousblackfg

hopkinb wrote:

I alway thought a sub-30 minute or ~32kph moving time commute was possible. I always thought it would be on the way in though, given the prevailing wind.

Nope, battered it home last night in 29 mins and 56 secs moving time, 4 minutes longer elapsed. 2nd overall on the full CS7 southbound segment.

Chapeaux!

Not to rain on your parade but that must have been some serious luck with the lights.

I made good progress as well but was boiling over keeping pace with a guy on a bang tidy stainless number with deep sections and orange hubs. I did get overtaken by some gimp on a cross bike which annoyed me, as I clawed him back he turned off right so evidently a weak planned move by him.

Agent57

Someone passed me on the commute this morning. So I accelerated to tail him. After a couple of minutes he dropped the hammer. He was younger and on a road bike.

My commuting FCN is 8. He was a 2. Losing still sucks.

But at least I got a PR on a segment called "Why do morons chat shit to pros in the comments?" \o/

ryan_w-2

Had a few wheel suckers today that I dispatched, notably down Embankment and approaching Blackfriars.

Headwind wasn't fun paired with last nights max 10 min effort session on the turbo. Still somehow managed a joint power PB...

jds_1981

TGOTB wrote:

anonymousblackfg wrote:

I take it this new ULEZ has done feck all for everyone else's commute!

I doubt it'll make much difference while the black cabs are exempt. I just popped out to get lunch, and probably 90% of the vehicles I saw were (pre-2015) diesel black cabs.

St Pauls area has long been predominantly back cabs and buses. I guess the 2020 rollout might improve things a little but the charging criteria isn't exactlya stretch to beat.

veronese68

anonymousblackfg wrote:

hopkinb wrote:

I alway thought a sub-30 minute or ~32kph moving time commute was possible.

Not to rain on your parade but that must have been some serious luck with the lights.

Should I p!ss on his chips even more by pointing out that lighter traffic due to Easter holidays probably helped too?

He''s still way faster than me though.

anonymousblackfg

Yep, Hopkins rider for the evening was really able to shift:

veronese68

Is the dog pretending to ignore you in the manner of an upset wife?

smokey_bacon

Very tired and grumpy this morning meant I was abit of a d1ck on some bits of the ride in this morning. So yeah...sorry about that anyone I may have encountered!

kingstongraham

On public transport for a few days, but Hammersmith Bridge closed to motorised traffic until further notice because of structural faults. It was only a matter of time - I've been commuting over it for 4 years and it's been a known imminent problem for all that time, and years before. It sounds like there is no plan to fix it, and no money to fix it. So that's good (as long as they make it so we can actually cycle over it and don't have to walk the bike).

asprilla

Was supposed to be an easterly this morning so I was going to trundle in. Didn't feel like it though. Still hoping it's easterly this evening as yesterday's ride home was lovely.

ryan_w-2

It was definitely a headwind coming from Fulham to Wapping. Legs felt like poop this morning and the cold definitely reeled in the efforts.

EDIT: 93.3% headwind confirmed. Knew it was hard work!

Was back in winter tights, jacket and gloves this morning. Zero degrees when I left home.

anonymousblackfg

I saw the Hammersmith Bridge news, I used to live 300 metres south of it, was joyous each time they closed it or a truck got jammed. There is a solution of giving it to the City of London to look after who have a property fund for maintaining the bridges...

Goldilocksed the kit but hated that head wind, I let myself be beaten by some douche allez man I came across the other day. This will annoy me all day. Good news, my new bike box is here.

Tashman

That was a tad chilly this morning in deepest darkest Sussex. I think I've just about got the feeling back in my toes. Not a great week for the zip to fail on my overshoes.

rower63

Nice ride in and chat with big Dave B, we discussed the Boat Race. Legs still tired after yesterday's riding on the Bottecchia: with down-tube friction shifting I shift less often and, prefering to be in a harder gear rather than easier, I tend work harder on it.

Today's ride also notable for being chastized twice by van drivers for not being in the cycle lane, this almost never happens to me. Once on Kingston bridge and again along Priory Lane. Kingston bridge man got a quick look up and middle finger once his tirade was over, I ignored the Priory Lane one.

monkimark

Has anyone cycled over hammersmith bridge in the last couple of days?
I've been on the motorbike so had to take putney bridge instead, would be nice to be able to still use it for the cycle commute next week though.

poweredbyidris

Absolutely no legs this morning after a few intervals sessions in the gym this week.

This didn't deter countless wheelsuckers hiding from the head-breeze though. One bit of SCR when some fella with aero wheels came sprinting out of my slipstream to try to make the lights at Vauxhall bridge. Didn't have the legs to latch onto his wheel, so he got a good gap, and I resigned myself to the loss. Lights changed before he got there though and he sailed through the red, giving me the win.

tgotb

monkimark wrote:

Has anyone cycled over hammersmith bridge in the last couple of days?
I've been on the motorbike so had to take putney bridge instead, would be nice to be able to still use it for the cycle commute next week though.

I know people who have, with no issues.

anonymousblackfg

Pre work laps which was nice, I even dusted off the good bike, the power data looked better than I expected so maybe i'm not as fat and lazy as I think.

mattsaw

monkimark wrote:

Has anyone cycled over hammersmith bridge in the last couple of days?
I've been on the motorbike so had to take putney bridge instead, would be nice to be able to still use it for the cycle commute next week though.

Yes it's fine.

The first day the barriers were the full width of the road so I had to dismount and use the footpath.

That afternoon however they have opened up a 5-6 ft gap at the side to allow cyclists though onto the bridge itself.

Last night I spotted a few people pushing mopeds and motorbikes over also.

dizzydane

monkimark wrote:

Has anyone cycled over hammersmith bridge in the last couple of days?
I've been on the motorbike so had to take putney bridge instead, would be nice to be able to still use it for the cycle commute next week though.

Yup. It's great! No traffic along Castelnau. Not been able to put the hammer down the last 2 days as legs still recovering from Flanders.

Some guy filmed his ride over the peaceful bridge here:
https://twitter.com/jeremyburge/status/ ... 7448978432

kingstongraham

Mattsaw wrote:

monkimark wrote:

Has anyone cycled over hammersmith bridge in the last couple of days?
I've been on the motorbike so had to take putney bridge instead, would be nice to be able to still use it for the cycle commute next week though.

Yes it's fine.

The first day the barriers were the full width of the road so I had to dismount and use the footpath.

That afternoon however they have opened up a 5-6 ft gap at the side to allow cyclists though onto the bridge itself.

Last night I spotted a few people pushing mopeds and motorbikes over also.

Good news.

mattsaw

The difference it makes to the journey between Hammersmith and URR is immense. It's all but car free now as everyone is avoiding the area.

monkimark

Marvelous, the putney bridge diversion isn't bad on a motorbike but even at 7am it looked pretty hellish for cars.
Sounds like next weeks (and the foreseeable future) cycle commutes just got a lot more pleasant. According to the BBC it's closed indefinitely.

itboffin

is anyone else getting no metrics data displayed on Strava with a web browsers but fine on mobile?

DrLex

KingstonGraham wrote:

On public transport for a few days, but Hammersmith Bridge closed to motorised traffic until further notice because of structural faults. It was only a matter of time - I've been commuting over it for 4 years and it's been a known imminent problem for all that time, and years before. It sounds like there is no plan to fix it, and no money to fix it. So that's good (as long as they make it so we can actually cycle over it and don't have to walk the bike).

Still not fixed? Wowsers! I remember being in school next to it, hearing a crack like a rifle shot and wondering what the fook had happened. Closure will no doubt make all the smug rich residents of Barnes even more insufferably smug about their “village feel”.

itboffin

it was shut for years when i was young for the same reason, when will they just accept its not suitable for the amount of modern traffic

asprilla

itboffin wrote:

it was shut for years when i was young for the same reason, when will they just accept its not suitable for the amount of modern traffic

Yeah, but then the Romans built a replacement and you were fine for a few years.

itboffin

Asprilla wrote:

itboffin wrote:

it was shut for years when i was young for the same reason, when will they just accept its not suitable for the amount of modern traffic

Yeah, but then the Romans built a replacement and you were fine for a few years.

yeah but what have the Romans ever done for us?

veronese68

itboffin wrote:

yeah but what have the Romans ever done for us?

Well, there’s the roads...

Gallywomack

I can scarcely remember a less eventful ride than this morning, and that's absolutely OK with me. About as nice a start to the week as one could wish for.

Although I had originally planned to swing by Rotherhithe and do some miles at threshold which would have been rather less pleasant. One up for being lazy I spose...