Silly commuting racing

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Comments

  • hopkinb
    hopkinb Posts: 7,129
    rower63 wrote:
    ...What do you mean about the idro? I've had mine for ~20 months now, apart from a hole in the elbow when I came off on ice in Brixton, it's done ok - not sure it's worth the RRP but mine was a gift...
    Welcome back to the forum George, glad to see you're mended. (For the record, George in his full-fitness form is quite quick, especially in a short sprint).

    Very interested in that jacket, subject to one thing. I have rather long arms, and one thing that irritates me about supposedly water-resistant jackets is the inevitable presence of a gap between the jacket-cuff and the glove cuff as I'm leaning forward resting on the hoods. I have some thick actually waterproof gloves (ski gloves not bike gloves - properly waterproof bike gloves do not exist AFAIK). But that wtareproofness becomes moot if the water simply runs down the wrists into the glove.

    So, my question is: do the cuffs have thumb-loops, to hold the cuffs down over the top of the gloves?

    Are you saying I am quite slow in a short sprint?! :wink:

    No thumbloops on the idro. The sleeves are long. The wrists are also pretty tight, they might stay if you stretched them over your glove cuff, but I'd be somewhat worried about tearing the sleeve.
  • hopkinb
    hopkinb Posts: 7,129
    These mugs would not dare of pushing into a queue in Waitrose but once on a bike any sh1t behavior is fine apparently.

    Nah, they'll push in anywhere..
  • martinc
    martinc Posts: 422
    Pleasantly sunny ride in ruined by getting to office bike shed to discover my lock had been power-sawed in half. They must have done it yesterday and ran out of time to do the 2nd lock. Oh well, bike looks lovely next to my desk now.
    Always in stealth mode
  • hopkinb
    hopkinb Posts: 7,129
    martinc wrote:
    Pleasantly sunny ride in ruined by getting to office bike shed to discover my lock had been power-sawed in half. They must have done it yesterday and ran out of time to do the 2nd lock. Oh well, bike looks lovely next to my desk now.

    Fcukers. My office bike storage is semi-outdoors, albeit with cameras and periodic security walkabouts. I have 3 "gold" standard locks - a d-lock and cable, a hiplock chain, and a big heavy Onguard Chain with an enormous padlock. I still half expect to find the bike gone at the end of the day.
  • arsey
    arsey Posts: 171
    rower63 wrote:
    ...What do you mean about the idro? I've had mine for ~20 months now, apart from a hole in the elbow when I came off on ice in Brixton, it's done ok - not sure it's worth the RRP but mine was a gift...
    Welcome back to the forum George, glad to see you're mended. (For the record, George in his full-fitness form is quite quick, especially in a short sprint).

    Very interested in that jacket, subject to one thing. I have rather long arms, and one thing that irritates me about supposedly water-resistant jackets is the inevitable presence of a gap between the jacket-cuff and the glove cuff as I'm leaning forward resting on the hoods. I have some thick actually waterproof gloves (ski gloves not bike gloves - properly waterproof bike gloves do not exist AFAIK). But that wtareproofness becomes moot if the water simply runs down the wrists into the glove.

    So, my question is: do the cuffs have thumb-loops, to hold the cuffs down over the top of the gloves?

    I've just bought the Gore version of the same thing. No thumb loops and I actually find the wrists slightly loose (although I have got girly wrists and have a medium size jacket). I could probably fit into a small but quite like the room for layering.

    Currently on sale at a very "good" price here - https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product/sal ... xsdjacket/
    Canyon Ultimate CF Disc
    Vitus Energie Disc
  • mtb-idle
    mtb-idle Posts: 2,179
    it's lunchtime and I'm still cold. I'm sitting at my desk in work trousers and shirt but also wearing a long sleeved zip up cycling top to try to get my core temp up.

    Okay so it was a chilly ride in but i was appropriately dressed but what reeeaaaaallllly didn't help was no hot water in the work showers.

    Brrrr and grrrrrrr.....
    FCN = 4
  • rower63
    rower63 Posts: 1,991
    rower63 wrote:
    ... Very interested in that jacket ...
    Arsey wrote:
    I've just bought the Gore version of the same thing ... Currently on sale at a very "good" price here - https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product/sal ... xsdjacket/
    just taken the plunge on an XL - thanks Ryan
    Dolan Titanium ADX 2016
    Ridley Noah FAST 2013
    Bottecchia/Campagnolo 1990
    Carrera Parva Hybrid 2016
    Hoy Sa Calobra 002 2014 [off duty]
    Storck Absolutist 2011 [off duty]
    http://www.slidingseat.net/cycling/cycling.html
  • asprilla
    asprilla Posts: 8,440
    rower63 wrote:
    rower63 wrote:
    ... Very interested in that jacket ...
    Arsey wrote:
    I've just bought the Gore version of the same thing ... Currently on sale at a very "good" price here - https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product/sal ... xsdjacket/
    just taken the plunge on an XL - thanks Ryan

    Yeah, I just bought the medium. That should guarantee the driest winter on record.
    Mud - Genesis Vapour CCX
    Race - Fuji Norcom Straight
    Sun - Cervelo R3
    Winter / Commute - Dolan ADX
  • rower63
    rower63 Posts: 1,991
    Asprilla wrote:
    rower63 wrote:
    rower63 wrote:
    ... Very interested in that jacket ...
    Arsey wrote:
    I've just bought the Gore version of the same thing ... Currently on sale at a very "good" price here - https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product/sal ... xsdjacket/
    just taken the plunge on an XL - thanks Ryan
    Yeah, I just bought the medium. That should guarantee the driest winter on record.
    best consider it insurance
    Dolan Titanium ADX 2016
    Ridley Noah FAST 2013
    Bottecchia/Campagnolo 1990
    Carrera Parva Hybrid 2016
    Hoy Sa Calobra 002 2014 [off duty]
    Storck Absolutist 2011 [off duty]
    http://www.slidingseat.net/cycling/cycling.html
  • cruff
    cruff Posts: 1,518
    Also a big well done to the Rapha douche on a pearson fixie for just forcing me left at the Oval segregated track as he couldn't be bothered with sitting 2 by 2. Being petty I just undertook and forced my way back in front of him. These mugs would not dare of pushing into a queue in Waitrose but once on a bike any sh1t behavior is fine apparently.
    I HATE that. Used to drive me absolutely nuts. Almost punched one bloke's lights out at the pinch point outside Stockwell station a few years back when he shuttled me into traffic because he couldn't be arsed to lose his 'place'. Spent the next five minutes smashing him to bits up Clapham Road and Kennington Park Road, turning the screw on him, listening to him gasping and panting behind me until he finally popped outside Kennington Station, calling me a 'F***ing flash c***'. I think he's probably still lying somewhere in the gutter.
    Fat chopper. Some racing. Some testing. Some crashing.
    Specialising in Git Daaahns and Cafs. Norvern Munkey/Transplanted Laaandoner.
  • arsey
    arsey Posts: 171
    rower63 wrote:
    rower63 wrote:
    ... Very interested in that jacket ...
    Arsey wrote:
    I've just bought the Gore version of the same thing ... Currently on sale at a very "good" price here - https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product/sal ... xsdjacket/
    just taken the plunge on an XL - thanks Ryan
    No problem, although I would have thought XL will be quite large on you?

    That was me saying hi in the park yesterday by the way :)
    Canyon Ultimate CF Disc
    Vitus Energie Disc
  • rower63
    rower63 Posts: 1,991
    Arsey wrote:
    rower63 wrote:
    rower63 wrote:
    ... Very interested in that jacket ...
    Arsey wrote:
    I've just bought the Gore version of the same thing ... Currently on sale at a very "good" price here - https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product/sal ... xsdjacket/
    just taken the plunge on an XL - thanks Ryan
    No problem, although I would have thought XL will be quite large on you?

    That was me saying hi in the park yesterday by the way :)
    Ah Hi - I did wonder - thanks. I went for XL on the basis that L for a bike kit maker is not a "normal" L. I generally go for "L" for rowing kit. Also, if I do don that piece of kit, I'm not too worried about flappiness, I just want to ensure the arms are long enough!
    Dolan Titanium ADX 2016
    Ridley Noah FAST 2013
    Bottecchia/Campagnolo 1990
    Carrera Parva Hybrid 2016
    Hoy Sa Calobra 002 2014 [off duty]
    Storck Absolutist 2011 [off duty]
    http://www.slidingseat.net/cycling/cycling.html
  • asprilla
    asprilla Posts: 8,440
    rower63 wrote:
    Arsey wrote:
    rower63 wrote:
    rower63 wrote:
    ... Very interested in that jacket ...
    Arsey wrote:
    I've just bought the Gore version of the same thing ... Currently on sale at a very "good" price here - https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product/sal ... xsdjacket/
    just taken the plunge on an XL - thanks Ryan
    No problem, although I would have thought XL will be quite large on you?

    That was me saying hi in the park yesterday by the way :)
    Ah Hi - I did wonder - thanks. I went for XL on the basis that L for a bike kit maker is not a "normal" L. I generally go for "L" for rowing kit. Also, if I do don that piece of kit, I'm not too worried about flappiness, I just want to ensure the arms are long enough!

    The reviews I read said you should size up, especially as it's not insulated so you'll probably want to wear some layers beneath it in the depths of winter.

    Weirdly, they said that out of the Idro, Oro and C7, the Idro was the only one they didn't have to go larger in.
    Mud - Genesis Vapour CCX
    Race - Fuji Norcom Straight
    Sun - Cervelo R3
    Winter / Commute - Dolan ADX
  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,072
    Can anyone recommend a good dehumidifier, now the mild days are drawing in drying kit inside without a tumble drier takes ages and covers the windows in condensation and no i'm not opening the windows when its single digits outside.
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
    Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
    Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
  • Now I have started TrainerRoad base training, I'm having to fight the urge to get into SCR.... but yesterday was a laugh, get to the hill on cedar's road up to clapham common at the lights. There are a few others and I go screw it lets go... I blast it.... and then my bag opens and tupperware comes out the bag. Luckily the nice woman who was apparently trying to keep up collected it for me.
  • kingstonian
    kingstonian Posts: 2,847
    Had a guy valiantly trying to stick to my back wheel this evening from Vauxhall Bridge to Chelsea Bridge. On a couple of occasions he pulled out to overtake, realised he couldn’t and slipped back again. Best bit was that I could hear him huffing and puffing and then eventually he popped.
  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    itboffin wrote:
    Can anyone recommend a good dehumidifier, now the mild days are drawing in drying kit inside without a tumble drier takes ages and covers the windows in condensation and no i'm not opening the windows when its single digits outside.
    Extractor fan in the bathroom, controlled by two humidity sensors, one in the bathroom and one on the landing; comes on if the relative humidity in the bathroom is more than a few % greater than the relative humidity on the landing. If we leave the bathroom door ajar it takes ~30 mins to dry the bathroom out after someone's had a shower, or comes on intermittently if there are clothers drying on the airer above the bath.

    Same system also detects someone having a shower (because the relative humidity hits 100%) and turns on the heated towel rail for 45 mins to dry their towel out.
    Pannier, 120rpm.
  • hopkinb
    hopkinb Posts: 7,129
    Was feeling knackered/ill yesterday, so did the back route commute in via wandsworth common, clapham common, and then Q5 to Waterloo, then round the back of the cut and tate modern to southwark bridge.. Can't have gone more than 30 kph at any stage. It was lovely to just pootle along, hardly any cars or other cyclists. Only took 10 mins longer than normal. I should get myself a bike for that sort of riding, flat-barred single speed perhaps - felt a bit silly with the slammed stem and the carbon wheels tootling along like a maiden aunt.

    Train today due to double school run and mini's bike being in storage for the time being...
  • Had a guy valiantly trying to stick to my back wheel this evening from Vauxhall Bridge to Chelsea Bridge. On a couple of occasions he pulled out to overtake, realised he couldn’t and slipped back again. Best bit was that I could hear him huffing and puffing and then eventually he popped.
    What time.... This might have been me. I was omw back after a heavy interval session and couldn't help myself but someone dropped me.
  • wolfsbane2k
    wolfsbane2k Posts: 3,056
    TGOTB wrote:
    itboffin wrote:
    Can anyone recommend a good dehumidifier, now the mild days are drawing in drying kit inside without a tumble drier takes ages and covers the windows in condensation and no i'm not opening the windows when its single digits outside.
    Extractor fan in the bathroom, controlled by two humidity sensors, one in the bathroom and one on the landing; comes on if the relative humidity in the bathroom is more than a few % greater than the relative humidity on the landing. If we leave the bathroom door ajar it takes ~30 mins to dry the bathroom out after someone's had a shower, or comes on intermittently if there are clothers drying on the airer above the bath.

    Same system also detects someone having a shower (because the relative humidity hits 100%) and turns on the heated towel rail for 45 mins to dry their towel out.

    very off topic, but what system is that? That's exactly what I need right now.
    Intent on Cycling Commuting on a budget, but keep on breaking/crashing/finding nice stuff to buy.
    Bike 1 (Broken) - Bike 2(Borked) - Bike 3(broken spokes) - Bike 4( Needs Work) - Bike 5 (in bits) - Bike 6* ...
  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    very off topic, but what system is that? That's exactly what I need right now.
    It's home-made.
    <geek>
    The humidity sensors are low-power Arduino-based devices that transmit data (using RFM69 radios) to a Raspberry Pi running OpenHab. That transmits commands to separate Arduino-based controllers for the extractor fan and towel rail.
    The Raspberry Pi is also on the home network, which makes it easy to configure/program from a PC, and serves out nice web pages with graphs of temperature, humidity etc.
    Arduinos are all set up to run at very low power; they'll run for a year or two on three AAA batteries (and transmit their battery state back to the central controller, obviously)
    Same system also controls a lot of the lighting, so I can turn all the downstairs lights on and off from a single switch inside the front door (including the Xmas tree lights when they're up), have various lights to come on and off when we're on holiday etc. I can also use my phone to control the fan when I'm on the turbo...
    </geek>

    Edit: I suspect you could get most of the benefit by fitting an extractor with a built-in humidistat. Main disadvantage of those is that they're hard to adjust, and don't work so well across a range of environmental humidity levels (they'll either run 24/7 in very humid weather, or not dry the bathroom out as well as they could when the weather's dry; having a separate sensor somewhere else in the house solves that problem at the cost of additional complexity).
    Pannier, 120rpm.
  • kingstonian
    kingstonian Posts: 2,847
    jacemano wrote:
    Had a guy valiantly trying to stick to my back wheel this evening from Vauxhall Bridge to Chelsea Bridge. On a couple of occasions he pulled out to overtake, realised he couldn’t and slipped back again. Best bit was that I could hear him huffing and puffing and then eventually he popped.
    What time.... This might have been me. I was omw back after a heavy interval session and couldn't help myself but someone dropped me.


    I left London Bridge at just after 6.30pm, so I guess it would have been 6.45pm ish
  • asprilla
    asprilla Posts: 8,440
    Asprilla wrote:
    rower63 wrote:
    Arsey wrote:
    rower63 wrote:
    rower63 wrote:
    ... Very interested in that jacket ...
    Arsey wrote:
    I've just bought the Gore version of the same thing ... Currently on sale at a very "good" price here - https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product/sal ... xsdjacket/
    just taken the plunge on an XL - thanks Ryan
    No problem, although I would have thought XL will be quite large on you?

    That was me saying hi in the park yesterday by the way :)
    Ah Hi - I did wonder - thanks. I went for XL on the basis that L for a bike kit maker is not a "normal" L. I generally go for "L" for rowing kit. Also, if I do don that piece of kit, I'm not too worried about flappiness, I just want to ensure the arms are long enough!

    The reviews I read said you should size up, especially as it's not insulated so you'll probably want to wear some layers beneath it in the depths of winter.

    Weirdly, they said that out of the Idro, Oro and C7, the Idro was the only one they didn't have to go larger in.

    Mine arrived today whilst I'm WFH.

    I'm a small in most manufacturers, but a medium in this appears to be pretty much perfect. It's a good fit across the back and chest and a bit looser on the shoulders / arms, but that's my morphology. Arms are long; I can pull the sleeves around halfway down my fingers. The cuffs aren't tight though, presumably so they can fit over mitts / gloves.
    Mud - Genesis Vapour CCX
    Race - Fuji Norcom Straight
    Sun - Cervelo R3
    Winter / Commute - Dolan ADX
  • rower63 wrote:
    Arsey wrote:
    rower63 wrote:
    rower63 wrote:
    ... Very interested in that jacket ...
    Arsey wrote:
    I've just bought the Gore version of the same thing ... Currently on sale at a very "good" price here - https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product/sal ... xsdjacket/
    just taken the plunge on an XL - thanks Ryan
    No problem, although I would have thought XL will be quite large on you?

    That was me saying hi in the park yesterday by the way :)
    Ah Hi - I did wonder - thanks. I went for XL on the basis that L for a bike kit maker is not a "normal" L. I generally go for "L" for rowing kit. Also, if I do don that piece of kit, I'm not too worried about flappiness, I just want to ensure the arms are long enough!

    I have an XL, and I am not huge, but also probably not the classic only cycling body shape. I'd probably go L if I bought another, but had to exchange the Medium as it was tiny. Ryan has child size wrists, my Idro sleeves are fine.

    Thanks for the welcome back...unfortunately not fully fit. Same as last time - snapped ACL, I'm going under the knife again in the next month, so will be back off the bike for winter. Gutted.
    2015 Planet X Nanolight
    2012 Planet X Pro Carbon (Stolen :( )
  • wolfsbane2k
    wolfsbane2k Posts: 3,056
    TGOTB wrote:
    very off topic, but what system is that? That's exactly what I need right now.
    It's home-made.
    <geek>
    Ah, I've got similar monitors around the house, only monitoring though using 9 wired bme80 sensors and a RPI , but not running openhab just yet,. My OH wants something asap so was hoping something commercial existed.
    How long did it take to get yours working?
    Intent on Cycling Commuting on a budget, but keep on breaking/crashing/finding nice stuff to buy.
    Bike 1 (Broken) - Bike 2(Borked) - Bike 3(broken spokes) - Bike 4( Needs Work) - Bike 5 (in bits) - Bike 6* ...
  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    How long did it take to get yours working?
    Hard to say - I'd spent a while bimbling around with the radios and some cheap knock-off Arduinos to see what they'd do. From that point it was probably an hour or two each to build the first iteration of the sensor, the fan controller and the RPI/radio interface, and half a day to set up the RPI with Openhab (which I'd already played with a bit beforehand).

    The initial version had one sensor, which I had to tweak because the battery life wasn't great (replaced on-board voltage regulator with a far more efficient one, and configured it to dial back the transmit power dynamically based on the signal strength at the receiver). Having discovered the limitations of one humidity sensor, I then had to build another and play around a bit with the rule for turning the fan on and off.

    Now I have the basic infrastructure, it's easy to add on sensors or controllers whenever I get annoyed by something in the house not working as well as I think it should. For instance, integrating with Google Home didn't require any hardware at all; I just created some IFTTT rules to send specific messages to the RPI in responce to Google Home commands, and then created additional rules within the RPI to respond to those messages (typically turning lights on and off, or overriding the central heating if I tell it I'm working from home). Everything's message based; sensors and switches send messages to the RPI, controllers respond to messages from the RPI. In theory the controllers could respond to messages directly from the sensors, but in practice it's more flexible to send everything through the RPI. Messages are all encrypted; coupled with the fact that it's a one-off, and doesn't control anything too critical like door locks, I'm not too worried about security.
    Pannier, 120rpm.
  • asprilla
    asprilla Posts: 8,440
    Imagined that I met Mattsaw and had a chat between Priory Lane and Hammersmith. Was all a glorious dream though because Strava says we didn't ride together.
    Mud - Genesis Vapour CCX
    Race - Fuji Norcom Straight
    Sun - Cervelo R3
    Winter / Commute - Dolan ADX
  • I thought the crowds would be thinning by now, apparently not. I had the pace but not the focus to stay with a guy on a nicely winterised fast looking bike. still beat him due to his poor luck with the lights and his lack of Sex Panther knowledge.
    If I know you, and I like you, you can borrow my bike box for £30 a week. PM for details.
  • mattsaw
    mattsaw Posts: 907
    That will be the one and only time a meeting with me will ever be mentioned in the same breath as glorious dream :lol:

    Always nice to put a face to a familiar Strava avatar.

    Best of luck later-on also.
    Bianchi C2C - Ritte Bosberg - Cervelo R3
    Strava