Silly commuting racing

martinc

-3 and black ice on the road outside my house meant I went for the train. Regretted it as soon as the sun came out and spent the train journey wishing I was on the bike. Grrr. MTFU.

silverstreak

More of this please! Glorious sunshine - though still feeling knacked from last week’s grimness. Was comfortably going past others on way back from Richmond to Teddington last night when left for dust by a guy on a Canyon who’d come out of nowhere (RP I think, no commuter bag). Turned out he was a Cat 3 racer. Way out of my league.

anonymousblackfg

I've a spare front disc wheel not being used if you need one, no where near EC4 though...

veronese68

hopkinb said:

On the train, courtesy of London's finest scrotes. Went to ride home last night and found (the admitted weak link) steel cable securing my front wheel had been snipped, and said wheel removed. Sometimes I thread the heavy chain through my front wheel as well, sometimes I don't. Sod's law that I didn't yesterday. Shopping for a new wheel plus accessories and I guess I should put another heavy chain in the basket as well.

I suppose I should take some comfort from the fact that the other three locks (all gold sold secure) securing the frame and rear wheel to the rack were undisturbed. I have taken no chances though, and got permission to bring the bike up to the office while I wait for the new bits to arrive.

The barstewards!
I've got a spare wheel if you want it, actually I think I have 2. One of them still has a disc and the tyre from our attempt at CX racing in late 2018.

eta: Hadn't seen ABFG's post but the offer still stands.

hotspanners

A perfect example of why unsolicited drafting on the commute is annoying - last night was on Queens Ride in Barnes and had to brake to give way to a car coming into the mini roundabout just before the railway bridge. Granted, it was a bit sudden as the car came into the RAB quite quickly from the right and it's not great visibility there, didn't signal or anything as I thought I was on my own.

I heard a chorus of displeasure from no less than 3 blokes who'd sneaked on my wheel behind me for having the nerve to stop at a roundabout. FFS lads.

anonymousblackfg

hotspanners said:

A perfect example of why unsolicited drafting on the commute is annoying - last night was on Queens Ride in Barnes and had to brake to give way to a car coming into the mini roundabout just before the railway bridge. Granted, it was a bit sudden as the car came into the RAB quite quickly from the right and it's not great visibility there, didn't signal or anything as I thought I was on my own.

I heard a chorus of displeasure from no less than 3 blokes who'd sneaked on my wheel behind me for having the nerve to stop at a roundabout. FFS lads.

Zero sympathy for idiots like that! I think in my cold weather panic this morning I did over dress but in good news the bike shop having ignored my e-mail about where my wheels were, been arsey to me on the phone, chastising the wheel builder for telling me the wrong delivery date and that they'd be done next week, The box with the wheels in just turned up!

kingstonian

hotspanners said:

A perfect example of why unsolicited drafting on the commute is annoying - last night was on Queens Ride in Barnes and had to brake to give way to a car coming into the mini roundabout just before the railway bridge. Granted, it was a bit sudden as the car came into the RAB quite quickly from the right and it's not great visibility there, didn't signal or anything as I thought I was on my own.

I heard a chorus of displeasure from no less than 3 blokes who'd sneaked on my wheel behind me for having the nerve to stop at a roundabout. FFS lads.

I had a bloke glued to my rear wheel last night with a front light flashing about a billion lumens, was most annoying as the one time I took a glance to see what was there my retina was burnt to a crisp. Not quite sure what I found more annoying, the drafting or the ridiculous front light.

At least he didn't freewheel when drafting me. Now that is super annoying.

asprilla

kingstonian said:

hotspanners said:

A perfect example of why unsolicited drafting on the commute is annoying - last night was on Queens Ride in Barnes and had to brake to give way to a car coming into the mini roundabout just before the railway bridge. Granted, it was a bit sudden as the car came into the RAB quite quickly from the right and it's not great visibility there, didn't signal or anything as I thought I was on my own.

I heard a chorus of displeasure from no less than 3 blokes who'd sneaked on my wheel behind me for having the nerve to stop at a roundabout. FFS lads.

I had a bloke glued to my rear wheel last night with a front light flashing about a billion lumens, was most annoying as the one time I took a glance to see what was there my retina was burnt to a crisp. Not quite sure what I found more annoying, the drafting or the ridiculous front light.

At least he didn't freewheel when drafting me. Now that is super annoying.

Was that beyond Kingston? Might have been me.

Coming through Kingston I took my normal route through the bus station while the other chap waiting at the crossing took the road.

I caught him on the way to Bushy Park and he put his food down. I was on single speed 90rpm / 36.5kph pretty consistently and this chap pretty much matched me without pulling away. I would freewheeling to drop back trying to maintain some distance (aiming for atleast 10m) but he would then slow so I would catch him again. When I got close he would put his foot down again and pull away so clearly over taking wasn't an option.

wolfsbane2k

Almost an hour earlier (7 am) start than normal hoping Took the gritted route in, and was surprised by a tenfold increase in the number of riders around (from 1 to 10); quite the opportunity for a morning SCR which I've not had for a while.

Taking most riders with a little bit of effort, I saw someone joining the main road ahead, and they were starting to pull away, and thought I'd give it a go. Caught them up, nodded "hi", and was then flabbergasted as they put the hammer down - over 2.5km they just toyed with me until a driver MGIF'd approaching a set of traffic lights, which went amber/red as we approached, so became a brake check on a frosty surface too. Twassock.
Still, gave me an opportunity to breathe/return to a "your heart rate won't explode if you keep this up for another ten seconds" heartrate. Checking strava flyby, it was the KOM holder for almost all of the local segments, and had already done 40 miles of interval training before popping out in front of me... and then went on to do another 20 miles.

I rarely ride with other players, so was feeling pretty good about myself until then; a lesson in modesty given rather succinctly!

kingstonian

asprilla said:

kingstonian said:

hotspanners said:

A perfect example of why unsolicited drafting on the commute is annoying - last night was on Queens Ride in Barnes and had to brake to give way to a car coming into the mini roundabout just before the railway bridge. Granted, it was a bit sudden as the car came into the RAB quite quickly from the right and it's not great visibility there, didn't signal or anything as I thought I was on my own.

I heard a chorus of displeasure from no less than 3 blokes who'd sneaked on my wheel behind me for having the nerve to stop at a roundabout. FFS lads.

I had a bloke glued to my rear wheel last night with a front light flashing about a billion lumens, was most annoying as the one time I took a glance to see what was there my retina was burnt to a crisp. Not quite sure what I found more annoying, the drafting or the ridiculous front light.

At least he didn't freewheel when drafting me. Now that is super annoying.

Was that beyond Kingston? Might have been me.

Coming through Kingston I took my normal route through the bus station while the other chap waiting at the crossing took the road.

I caught him on the way to Bushy Park and he put his food down. I was on single speed 90rpm / 36.5kph pretty consistently and this chap pretty much matched me without pulling away. I would freewheeling to drop back trying to maintain some distance (aiming for atleast 10m) but he would then slow so I would catch him again. When I got close he would put his foot down again and pull away so clearly over taking wasn't an option.

No, it was between Pen Ponds car park and Ham Cross

dekant

Weird commute this morning.

Outer zones seemed completely dead with far less traffic than usual, then as I got closer to work the inner zones seemed the complete opposite. Backed up traffic everywhere, and lots of rat running down the back roads I use where I rarely see many cars at all.

In other news, for first time in ages passed the classic angry commuter riding through a *very* dark Richmond park with wholly inadequate lights shouting and swearing at me that I should "dip" mine.

Haven't had that in ages and assumed it was because decent lights are so cheap now but if you happen to be on here, no thanks. You can decide to ride round in the pitch black basically using your natural night vision but it's your problem that any oncoming traffic will relatively blind you. I prefer to see where I'm going.

rower63

dekant said:

... it's your problem that any oncoming traffic will relatively blind you. I prefer to see where I'm going.

Classic idiot. That attitude in a car classifies you as a dangerous driver.

smokey_bacon

Yeah RP was well gloomy this morning. Felt quite claustrophobic and gave me abit of a scare when I happened upon some rutting deer.

On the light thing. I always make an attempt to cover mine for oncoming riders, as I dont have a dip function. But there are always numpties I dont see till the last second because they've got no lights on whatsoever. What I have objected to recently is the groups that lap the park in the morning each with a bright light on which all adds up to getting your retinas burned out if you are unlucky enough to be going the other way!

dekant

For clarification, my light was pointed at a sensible angle, though at the time of passing I was going up hill which can make it seem relatively higher. I also tend to dim mine to a lower setting when passing people.

The reason the guy had issues was because he had a "city" light, i.e. one to ensure that you are seen rather than one with which to see. They are fine in the city where you are really seeing by street lights regardless of how powerful your lights are but they are not suitable for Richmond park.

adskis

Nice bit of SCR last night. (doesn't happen here in the wilds of South Cambridgshire).
Bit of a back and forth with a quick roadie (black and red Scott - Speedster maybe?) for about 5 miles from the hospital down to Sawston. Took the win (just) as we both headded in different directions. Glad he turned off as I was failing my skin breathing at the lights.
Oddly he didn't Strava it. Couldn't see him on Flybys. Seemed like a definate player.

anonymousblackfg

In the latter stages of my ride I was thinking the standard of riding from our new cycle commuters was increasing as they have got used to the rigors of their new mode of transport. Following this, many then decided to stream through red lights, cut me up to turn left only to be stuck behind another cyclist, sit on my right trying to turn across me and other general fvckwittery. Roll on more sh|t weather.

kingstonian

Talking about lights, what I find the scariest is runners in Richmond Park, on the road, in the hours of darkness, that are completely invisible until you are 10 yards behind them. I've had 2 close calls in recent weeks, fairly soon I'm going to crash into one of them. It really isn't difficult to at the very least wear something reflective, though wearing a light isn't exactly breaking the bank.

silverstreak

With you on lights. Always switch to the beam in RP. It’s just too dark/dangerous. otherwise. Both run and ride in the park and didn’t appreciate the runner thing until I started riding. Always use reflective top now.

j_mcd

Over the last few days there's been a couple (i.e. people together) running on the bike path just coming into Kingston. It's dark and I didn't expect them to be there. They weren't wearing anything reflective at all.

Close call on both occasions (although you could accuse me of not learning from the first time, but..meh..)

roger_merriman

silverstreak said:

With you on lights. Always switch to the beam in RP. It’s just too dark/dangerous. otherwise. Both run and ride in the park and didn’t appreciate the runner thing until I started riding. Always use reflective top now.

Isn’t that about riding to within your ability to see? Bare in mind the parks have deer who can run a lot faster and the bigger ones can be easily doubled your weight.

Went though Richmond yesterday bike lights seemed fine better than my commute where if I’m unlucky I meet the guy with some cheap light on flash, which is fine if it’s sub 100 lumens but beyond that is desperately unpleasant, I have high beamed him once or twice, I have a Strada which has High/medium/low and remote, which seems to have done the trick.

Further on down the embankment saw lassy with a fine builders bottom, who clearly had running rather than cycling kits so a fetching and I’m sure uncomfortably cold strip, and some very wise chap on a TT bike who I’m sure could stop....

silverstreak

They should fit the deer with lights, too.

rower63

dekant said:

For clarification, my light was pointed at a sensible angle, though at the time of passing I was going up hill which can make it seem relatively higher. I also tend to dim mine to a lower setting when passing people.

The reason the guy had issues was because he had a "city" light, i.e. one to ensure that you are seen rather than one with which to see. They are fine in the city where you are really seeing by street lights regardless of how powerful your lights are but they are not suitable for Richmond park.

If you normally are dipped but were going over a crest then fair enough, not much you can do about that, I'll take back my insult.

But to those others: if I'm totally dazzled by a non-dipped light pointed at my eyes, having dazzling lights of my own doesn't remedy that. So I'm one of the "shouters", though I always use the word Please! at the end.

... and last night took the biscuit, I'd just crested Broomfield when a guy came down in the opposite direction with a steady light on the front of his bike, and a flashing one on the front of his helmet. Trouble is, they were both RED. Jesus, what could go wrong there?

kingstonian

Yeah, I've seen a bunch of people recently with white lights on the rear, others with red lights at the front. What is it with some people, it really isn't hard. Tw@ts.

stn5

I saw a cyclist on a hybrid with one of those POLITE NOTICE vests and a blue flashing LED on his seatpost the other evening. Riding on the pavement of course.

hopkinb

New wheel sitting here next to me to replace the one that got nicked, so will be riding home tonight.

Got the 60mm Prime Black edition disc wheels (a bit deeper & a bit nicer looking than the previous Prime RP-50 wheels I had), and seeing as I bought a front, I bought a new rear too because matchy-matchy.

I've had > 2.5 years out of the previous set of Primes with only one spoke go pop. I was just about to replace the bearings in the old set, but I had no reason to replace them other than the theft, so hoping these will be just as hassle-free.

Assuming they don't get nicked of course. Though the new on-guard mastiff chain also sitting next to me will bring the total of locks to 4, with no easy-cut steel cable any more, so potential thieves will have to have a pretty good angle grinder/industrial hydraulic equipment and the time to get through 4 gold standard locks or the thick steel of the bike rack. No doubt the bstards will have my saddle and seatpost away next. Though I have been locking the bike there for 18 months and no one has tried that yet.

veronese68

hopkinb said:

No doubt the bstards will have my saddle and seatpost away next.

Upgrade saddle and seatpost, keep the old ones in your desk should such an emergency should arise.
Glad to be back on the bike today after driving yesterday, boy it felt warm.
No competition this morning but had a little Tuesday evening. Caught a guy just before a line of traffic so hung back, he then cleared a roundabout but I had to wait. Caught and passed him doing about 25mph. Problem was I then had to maintain that pace, looked around after a bit and he'd either turned off or I'd well and truly dropped him. I suspect he'd turned off. Helped me to keep warm at least.

itboffin

well if they do at least you can still ride the bike home, good core workout ;-)

anonymousblackfg

New wheels and a 1x10 set up (started changing the chain and before I realised it I was extracting BBs and other faff for 2 hours last night).

Most po po i've ever seen in Kennington last night, must have been 4 motorbikes and 5 squad cars and a decent size car transporter stopping cars. A good sight though most the fvckwits you hope they'd stop probably sailed through on false plates anyway.

kingstonian

That reminds me.............yesterday I had an early departure from the office so was enjoying riding in the light. After Millbank I was stopped at the lights and a moped came from the right, clean through a red light and headed onto Vauxhall Bridge, closely followed by a police motorbike about 10 yards behind his back wheel

mtb-idle

anonymousblackfg said:

Most po po i've ever seen in Kennington last night, must have been 4 motorbikes and 5 squad cars and a decent size car transporter stopping cars. A good sight though most the fvckwits you hope they'd stop probably sailed through on false plates anyway.

yeah I clocked them too and happened to be wearing my GoPro after a work colleague who wanted to record his cycle commute and me to do him an edit had borrowed my GoPro. He had just handed it back to me yesterday so I wore it on the ride home (for those of you who think I record everything I ride, I don't, really )