Silly commuting racing

hopkinb

anonymousblackfg wrote:

I've now learnt to stay away from Embankment on the way home, the idea of it is always better than the reality of it.

Wooooo, the ghost has done its job here. Woooo.

At the very least, if everyone started coming south, it'd be more fun. I only see abfg, dekant and Seymours Catouque every so often, and dekant and Seymours have taken to going basically cross country across clapham and then wandsworth common. Maybe they're training for the upcoming CX season.

anonymousblackfg

Sadly I couldn't tell you if i'd bumped into Seymours or dekant. Having MTBidle and knowing Simon, Mike and Tri chap on the white condor fixie with big caradice at least makes it relatively social (& not forgetting spinny guy or your doppelganger for a bit of pace).

How's up past Burntwood School going each morning, have only done it once a dreadful draggy slog last time I tried that route.

tgotb

hopkinb wrote:

At the very least, if everyone started coming south, it'd be more fun.

I tried it a few times. I found bits of it a bit annoying, but I'm sure that would fade as I got to know the route better; the bit from Blackfriars Bridge to E&C is super-annoying, but I could probably find an alternative. Fundamentally though, I just found the scenery really boring; endless buildings on both sides. I looked at my current 14-mile route, and all but 2.5 miles of it has either park or river on at least one side of the road; I think that's spoiled me...

hopkinb

TGOTB wrote:

hopkinb wrote:

At the very least, if everyone started coming south, it'd be more fun.

I tried it a few times. I found bits of it a bit annoying, but I'm sure that would fade as I got to know the route better; the bit from Blackfriars Bridge to E&C is super-annoying, but I could probably find an alternative. Fundamentally though, I just found the scenery really boring; endless buildings on both sides. I looked at my current 14-mile route, and all but 2.5 miles of it has either park or river on at least one side of the road; I think that's spoiled me...

You're right, river is much much nicer. I'm currently in central Wimbledon while I have some building work done at home and I did try coming in along the common, then down into Putney and the standard way in from there. Traffic was dreadful though. Plus fairies, so back to normal service now.

hopkinb

anonymousblackfg wrote:

Sadly I couldn't tell you if i'd bumped into Seymours or dekant. Having MTBidle and knowing Simon, Mike and Tri chap on the white condor fixie with big caradice at least makes it relatively social (& not forgetting spinny guy or your doppelganger for a bit of pace).

How's up past Burntwood School going each morning, have only done it once a dreadful draggy slog last time I tried that route.

Seymours and dekant are both quick.

Burntwood is fine, settle into a rhythm and spin up it, there's normally a tailwind.

Who is my doppelganger? The guy who wears a lot of pink on a ti bike that's posher than mine?

anonymousblackfg

hopkinb wrote:

Burntwood is fine, settle into a rhythm and spin up it, there's normally a tailwind.

Who is my doppelganger? The guy who wears a lot of pink on a ti bike that's posher than mine?

Nope, guy on a carbon Willier who's reasonably quick, your face and build, shouting at lots of things.

jacemano

pangolin wrote:

Protests possible around Parliament at about home time, for those of you who go that way.

I forgot about this, and ran straight into it

W1 wrote:

Please can someone explain to me the madness which is the single-file bollards on Westminster Bridge? It's bad enough that arrogant "fools" think that everyone queuing to get through the lights are just waiting for them to ride past and push-in - but the same "fools" then barge into the follow-on queue waiting to get through the bollards too.

What was wrong with having an access as least as wide as the bike lane?

And not to mention the bossy people directing traffic at the parliament square end getting in the way, then failing to notice the lights changing and causing even more congestion by not blocking the herd of peds crossing against the red light....

Has anyone adopted an alternative route heading west to avoid this stupidity?

I have no clue WHY they have moved everything like so, but it is definitely ruining my chances at making an attempt for top 10 on my commute to work.

I could take CS whatever it is that goes through elephant and castle and then london bridge but to be honest, I much prefer following the river than all the start and stop.

Also happy because I did an FTP test about 6 weeks ago, got an abysmal number (201W), today I got 246W.... now just to find another 60W or so before March would be nice. (Edit also I want to learn to hold my 1400W sprint for more than 3 seconds )

drhaggis

No real racing here up north, but managed to fix the front derailleur of a lady in an MTB. It was really simple (I hope it held on her way back home!), but I still feel undeservedly proud of it.

itboffin

cjcp wrote:

hopkinb wrote:

cjcp wrote:

otherwise I'll head south at Southwark perhaps and switch back north at Lambeth.

Stay south, you know you want to. Wooooo, it's the ghost of the better and quicker route home. Wooooo.

I'll never turn to the Dark Side by going south.

We burn your sort over here :twisted:

Mind you this week i've gone as far SW as is possible, its been wet cold and windy :roll: :? :evil:

martinc

Currently enjoying the summer route of Kings Road and last night was particularly lovely.. empty roads, sunshine and a gorgeous sunset in RP. The last hurrah with the schools and bankers back next week.

anonymousblackfg

Very pleasant commute on the northern route, even if you could stomach that much carbon and rapha today, sunny overpriced cafe stop before a roll in.

W1

I tried going South of the River a few times when, a few years ago, the Embankment going West became completely grid-locked and impassible (this was in the Before Segregated Cycle Lane era) for no reason whatsoever.

It took so long, and was so disjointed, that part of me is still on that last ride.

I am taking Horseguards going East in the mornings but it's not helped by people riding the wrong side of the cycle lane on the north side of Parliament Square jumping the lights and then diving into the cycle lane to go over Westminster Bridge. If you want to go left, stay left....

Coming West you'd need to take your chances by turning off the cycle lane before Westminster which means risking being (a) rammed whilst waiting to turn or (b) being collected by one of those enormous rip-off cycle taxis coming the other way.

Gallywomack

My view as someone who comes from SE London and now has to get to the west End (as opposed to straight over a bridg into the City as I was before) is that getting across central London (say Zone 1 and immediate surrounds) is an arse whichever way you slice it.

smokey_bacon

anonymousblackfg wrote:

Very pleasant commute on the northern route, even if you could stomach that much carbon and rapha today, sunny overpriced cafe stop before a role in.

Its been like that all week. The average cost of the peloton has gone up a good £3-5k or so and riding standards have decreased in proportion!

tgotb

W1 wrote:

I am taking Horseguards going East in the mornings but it's not helped by people riding the wrong side of the cycle lane on the north side of Parliament Square jumping the lights and then diving into the cycle lane to go over Westminster Bridge. If you want to go left, stay left....

The "normal" route actually seems to work quite well for me at the moment; the light phasing means that once you get a green light on the second hand turn round Parliament Square, you generally get a clear run (or nearly so) all the way onto Embankment.

The narrow gaps are annoying, I assume it's because they have to route us through the secure "vehicle-proof" zone, whereas we would normally stay outside it.

hopkinb

A few sprints to make green lights, but my heart wasnt in it, despite the tailwind, and a couple of others who seemed to be keen to press on. Did enough, but no more.

Went via Evans on London Bridge to pick up some battery-powered mini lights as spares to keep in my saddle bag, so a slight diversion to add interest.

bradsbeard

anonymousblackfg wrote:

Very pleasant commute on the northern route, even if you could stomach that much carbon and rapha today, sunny overpriced cafe stop before a role in.

:roll:

kingstonian

hopkinb wrote:

A few sprints to make green lights, but my heart wasnt in it, despite the tailwind, and a couple of others who seemed to be keen to press on. Did enough, but no more.

Went via Evans on London Bridge to pick up some battery-powered mini lights as spares to keep in my saddle bag, so a slight diversion to add interest.

Did you encounter the most miserable man on the planet whilst in Evans (big bloke, zero desire to help anyone, constantly rude to anyone and everyone)? I won't use the place now, partly because of him and partly because Evans is now owned by Mike Ashley. There is another place within a 1 min walk of Evans, called On Your Bike, which is virtually underneath the Barrowboy & Banker pub, and I would recommend instead.

hopkinb

Kingstonian wrote:

hopkinb wrote:

A few sprints to make green lights, but my heart wasnt in it, despite the tailwind, and a couple of others who seemed to be keen to press on. Did enough, but no more.

Went via Evans on London Bridge to pick up some battery-powered mini lights as spares to keep in my saddle bag, so a slight diversion to add interest.

Did you encounter the most miserable man on the planet whilst in Evans (big bloke, zero desire to help anyone, constantly rude to anyone and everyone)? I won't use the place now, partly because of him and partly because Evans is now owned by Mike Ashley. There is another place within a 1 min walk of Evans, called On Your Bike, which is virtually underneath the Barrowboy & Banker pub, and I would recommend instead.

I did not encounter him thankfully! It was a click and collect effort for some Lezyne femto lights, which I had ordered in a sale in July and forgotten about. I rarely go in to an Evans except to pump up my tyres as my track pump gave up a while back. Which reminds me, I must buy a track pump.

Thanks for the recommendation though.

norks74

hopkinb wrote:

Kingstonian wrote:

hopkinb wrote:

A few sprints to make green lights, but my heart wasnt in it, despite the tailwind, and a couple of others who seemed to be keen to press on. Did enough, but no more.

Went via Evans on London Bridge to pick up some battery-powered mini lights as spares to keep in my saddle bag, so a slight diversion to add interest.

Did you encounter the most miserable man on the planet whilst in Evans (big bloke, zero desire to help anyone, constantly rude to anyone and everyone)? I won't use the place now, partly because of him and partly because Evans is now owned by Mike Ashley. There is another place within a 1 min walk of Evans, called On Your Bike, which is virtually underneath the Barrowboy & Banker pub, and I would recommend instead.

I did not encounter him thankfully! It was a click and collect effort for some Lezyne femto lights, which I had ordered in a sale in July and forgotten about. I rarely go in to an Evans except to pump up my tyres as my track pump gave up a while back. Which reminds me, I must buy a track pump.

Thanks for the recommendation though.

Weirdly, my track pump just gave up this week on the presta valve nozzle...but the big holed one for the kids bike is fine. What happened, is there an easy fix? No air is blowing out of that hole.

Or am I like you needing to buy a new one?

Evans was generally terrible a long time before Mike Ashley 'rescued' them imo.

anonymousblackfg

hopkinb wrote:

I rarely go in to an Evans except to pump up my tyres as my track pump gave up a while back. Which reminds me, I must buy a track pump.

Don't forget there is a track pump by those tools on the left on Extra Sex Panther, just after Vapiano.

Nice cold early commute but too long spent waiting at a level crossing.

rick_chasey

Here's a story to cheer you lot up if you're feeling slow.

18 months after binning the cycle commute I turned up to the local club run from a coffee shop; 28kph average around the flatland of Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire doesn't seem particularly challenging.

I used to not only keep up but ride plenty faster club runs at my old club (KW) just off the back of commuting every day.

About 30km into the run, sitting in the wheels the entire time, we go up the first hill, which can't have been even a fifth of box hill. Barely a hill. Maybe triple the length of railway bridge.

Suffice to say I was dropped so quickly I was too puffed out to get back on. I turned around and headed home, very slowly.

So you might feel slow, but trust me, if you're on the bike most days, you ain't that slow.

hopkinb

anonymousblackfg wrote:

Don't forget there is a track pump by those tools on the left on Extra Sex Panther, just after Vapiano.
.

Coincidentally I spotted that this morning!

Bit nippy out I thought. Must look out for my arm warmers.

DrLex

Rick Chasey wrote:

[...] I was too puffed out to get back on. I turned around and headed home, very slowly.
[...]

Username doesn’t check out - s/be“Nil Chasey”?

jacemano

Rick Chasey wrote:

About 30km into the run, sitting in the wheels the entire time, we go up the first hill, which can't have been even a fifth of box hill. Barely a hill. Maybe triple the length of railway bridge.

Suffice to say I was dropped so quickly I was too puffed out to get back on. I turned around and headed home, very slowly.

So you might feel slow, but trust me, if you're on the bike most days, you ain't that slow.

Hmmm.... this could be me. I can keep up just fine till any hill appears. Hills just blow me up everytime. But I have a plan. It's a simple one mind you, lose weight.

Also definitely got into a SCR this morning, which amused me because my legs are still feeling it from the weekend a little and so the purpose of this morning was to recovery ride. Butttt my ego struggles when someone passes me, I have to pass back. And I did, without breaking a sweat (although I think some of this is due to it suddenly being a little chilly this morning). Happy though that I can actually manage to do my commute at a decent pace now, not topping 140BPM.

rick_chasey

DrLex wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

[...] I was too puffed out to get back on. I turned around and headed home, very slowly.
[...]

Username doesn’t check out - s/be“Nil Chasey”?

Hah that's actually quite good.

asprilla

Overtook a lady on a flat bar single speed coming up Castlenau. She rinsed me over Hammersmith Bridge.

Holidays are exhausting.

njee20

There are a couple of track pumps around Bankside - the one down the side of Vapiano toward Tate Modern, and also one on Southwark Bridge Road, just by the CBRE building south of the junction with Southwark Street. They're a bit shagged, but better than nothing!

I've always found Evans at London Bridge pretty helpful, took a wheel in there last year after I broke a spoke, they had one, leant me a spoke key to fit it and run it through their jig, then refused payment.

mtb-idle

Norks74 wrote:

Weirdly, my track pump just gave up this week on the presta valve nozzle...but the big holed one for the kids bike is fine. What happened, is there an easy fix? No air is blowing out of that hole.

Or am I like you needing to buy a new one?

It will just be the 'rubber' (in reality a piece of plastic). depending on the brand you can get a service kit. Just unscrew the head, pop out the existing rubber and replace.

Alternatively you can get a whole new head that you just connect to the tube although a good quality hozeclip is a must to prevent it coming apart when under pressure.

mtb-idle

Anyone on here rocking the full Wyndy Milla team kit on CS7 heading south last night?

He (you?) looked like a player of the game and was much faster than me but I was able to give him a few challenges as I was generally quicker pulling away from the lights allowing him to chase then overtake me.

Thanks for the tow along Balham High road, I thanked you at the lights and you laughed.