Silly commuting racing

redvee

Been toying with the idea of an Ashton Court circuit for those yokels within riding distance of the place. Plotted the route but have yet to ride it :oops: Start at the mansion and climb up through the park or climb the main road, an 8km circuit with 164m of climbing.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/As ... rt-circuit

sarajoy

redvee I'd be tempted to join if I wasn't so sure I'd be lapped several times! :P

itboffin

sarajoy wrote:

I'm seeing myself going through a few stages pre-SCR here.

So far I'm totally out of the running because I've only just hit stage 2! I'm in my 2nd week of cycle commuting and off on holiday for a few days from this weekend - wonder how long it'll take me to get through stages 3 and 4...

Stages:
1) Making it there and back alive! Resting as necessary before/during/after big hills.
2) Not stopping apart from at red lights. Still on incredibly low gears up the hills.
3) Pushing harder and not 'cheating' by dropping a ton of gears for hills - building speed.
4) Actually having enough puff to choose one's speed as opposed to "oh crap, big hill"!
5) Gosh, other cyclists? Who aren't automatically sailing past me? WICKED!

You forgot the injured or recovering from an injury stage :?

itboffin

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Hmm - lot of bigh hills in Brizzle - bear in mind that the nearest the London lot get to a 'big' hill is Richmond Park - the Marlborough circuit may sort them out !!

Having completed HOTA and regularly in the hills around Marlborough, Pewsey, Everleigh and Devizes I can tell you RP is surprisingly bumpy, yes they're not in the same league but even so they'll raise your heart rate and body temp all the same.

Mock ye not another man (or woman) hill.

Bassjunkieuk

commuterconvert wrote:

The shadows were long and pointing straight ahead. As I drew closer, he could clearly see my shadow closing in his and got out the saddle to repel borders. By this time I was committed and just kept on hammering and managed to pass him while still sitting "nonchalently" at which point he seemed to give up and I just flew on toward the first guy, taking him just at the crest, touching 39 kph on my computer . Not bad for a MTB with slicks & a rackpack going uphill.

Great start to the day, it's funny, I almost always leave the house or work thinking I'll take it easy then somethink happens on the way and the SCR bug kicks in.

Also noted the traffic was nuts this morning, don't know what was going on.

I was just thinking how ideal the shadows are on VB for the SCR this morning :-) I got round the corner and found the ped lights on red so had to slow down. They changed as I got there but another roadie/fast hybrid arrived slightly later and was carrying a bit more momentum then me! I put some power down over the crest, avoiding the cyclist ahead without jamming my skinny wheels into those lovely metal bars that run up parallel to the kerb!!

As I said earlier traffic was dire, being pretty much gridlock from before Stockwell choob to VB, although I did feel like giving myself a pat on the back for snaking through the taxis and buses to find a way through on the green by Stockwell choob, getting round the corner to see an empty bus lane was fantastic!

don_don

itboffin wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Yaaaaay! I had a great ride in!

I went all the way in the little ring, 42/18, with a GI of only 61, and it actually wasn't too horrendous. In fact, I quite enjoyed it, because my ankle only started to hurt after about 6.5 miles! I'm going to take the cadence computer and put it on the roadie...

I too enjoy riding the little ring

Come on someone had too what with GregT being AWOL, ring jokes are few and far between these days.

Apologies for bringing this forward again, but where is GregT? I miss his ring jokes..

cjcp

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Hmm - lot of bigh hills in Brizzle - bear in mind that the nearest the London lot get to a 'big' hill is Richmond Park - the Marlborough circuit may sort them out !!

Remember though that Lucien Van Impe was from Belgium. :twisted:

sarajoy

itboffin wrote:

sarajoy wrote:

I'm seeing myself going through a few stages pre-SCR here.

So far I'm totally out of the running because I've only just hit stage 2! I'm in my 2nd week of cycle commuting and off on holiday for a few days from this weekend - wonder how long it'll take me to get through stages 3 and 4...

Stages:
1) Making it there and back alive! Resting as necessary before/during/after big hills.
2) Not stopping apart from at red lights. Still on incredibly low gears up the hills.
3) Pushing yourself harder to get up the hills at a decent speed. Cadence, what's that?
4) Actually having enough puff to choose one's speed as opposed to "oh crap, big hill"!
5) Gosh, other cyclists? Who aren't automatically sailing past me? WICKED!

You forgot the injured or recovering from an injury stage :?

In that case I guess you start the stages again but get through them a little quicker as you've already laid the groundwork...

NB edited 3 given previous advice!

lost_in_thought

sarajoy wrote:

Stages:
1) Making it there and back alive! Resting as necessary before/during/after big hills.
2) Not stopping apart from at red lights. Still on incredibly low gears up the hills.
3) Pushing yourself harder to get up the hills at a decent speed. Cadence, what's that?
4) Actually having enough puff to choose one's speed as opposed to "oh crap, big hill"!
5) Gosh, other cyclists? Who aren't automatically sailing past me? WICKED!

Love the stages! I think I'm currently on stage 3... following injury!

sarajoy

lost_in_thought wrote:

sarajoy wrote:

Stages:
1) Making it there and back alive! Resting as necessary before/during/after big hills.
2) Not stopping apart from at red lights. Still on incredibly low gears up the hills.
3) Pushing yourself harder to get up the hills at a decent speed. Cadence, what's that?
4) Actually having enough puff to choose one's speed as opposed to "oh crap, big hill"!
5) Gosh, other cyclists? Who aren't automatically sailing past me? WICKED!

Love the stages! I think I'm currently on stage 3... following injury!

Cheers - and good going (but take it easy )

Just realised I'm a little hill-fixated - wonder how much faster I'd be on flat..! Takes me just under an hour at the moment, to get 8 miles.

roger_merriman

itboffin wrote:

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Hmm - lot of bigh hills in Brizzle - bear in mind that the nearest the London lot get to a 'big' hill is Richmond Park - the Marlborough circuit may sort them out !!

Having completed HOTA and regularly in the hills around Marlborough, Pewsey, Everleigh and Devizes I can tell you RP is surprisingly bumpy, yes they're not in the same league but even so they'll raise your heart rate and body temp all the same.

Mock ye not another man (or woman) hill.

indeed while RP and surrey hills may lack say the numbers of bigger lumps, tops out at about 1000ft it has more than enought to knacker if one wises too, though i do miss the brutal steep hills!

greg66_tri_v2.0

I almost had a hand in what would have been an almighty accient this evening; one which would have gone some way to clearing a bit of the stagnant water from the cyclists' gene pool.

I pull up at the lights, and there's a guy waiting. He's on a slicked MTB, thin running leggings, trainers, helly top and a beanie. With headphones on. He's maybe 5'7, 5'8, and a lot thicker set than me. Take a left at the lights and there's a gym 1/2 a mile up the road. I guess he's a trainer there, or if not a trainer, a weights bunny.

Lights go green and we both take a left. He's first off pushing the biggest gear he can, out of the saddle.

Right. Quick, clean, and efficient. Engage turbine and he's snuffed out. Easy.

Except I *know* from the look of him that he'll be busting a hernia to keep me in sight. So I spin it up a bit more :twisted:

I come to a left/right S and there's a car trying to pull out of gap. Just past that there's a pelican crossing, just past that that there's a junction with a minor road joining from the left, and just past that there's a bus stop. It's crowded - I can see the car pulling out, a car pulling away from the pelican, a car waiting to turn right into the minor road, a car waiting to come out of the minor road, and two buses at the stop. So I back off and coast inside the pulling out car, through the pelican, and look to negotiate the gap on the left of the car waiting turn right (which I'm competing for with another car), all with a view on the back of the bus that I have to avoid. This is no longer fast, it's simply negotiating traffic.

And what do I see?

Helly boy, to my far right, on the wrong side of the road, flying towards the junction. The car waiting to turn into the minor road is well and truly committed (about 30 degrees to the traffic) and easing across. Helly boy comes flying by - I hear what must have been his bike clipping the car's o/side front wing. HUGE stand on the horn from the driver as Helly boy sails on, still on the wrong side of the road and now on the wrong side of a bollard.

What a t0sser. I roll past the gym, and sure enough, Helly boy is standing on the pavement outside looking at the non drive side of his bike. He came *that* close to flying over the bonnet of the car turning right, with a 20+ mph launchpad.

I do hope he's pumped all his shiny muscles up though. Maybe that will make him feel better about his ride. :roll:

DonDaddyD

Greg66 wrote:

I come to a left/right S and there's a car trying to pull out of gap. Just past that there's a pelican crossing, just past that that there's a junction with a minor road joining from the left, and just past that there's a bus stop. It's crowded - I can see the car pulling out, a car pulling away from the pelican, a car waiting to turn right into the minor road, a car waiting to come out of the minor road, and two buses at the stop. So I back off and coast inside the pulling out car, through the pelican, and look to negotiate the gap on the left of the car waiting turn right (which I'm competing for with another car), all with a view on the back of the bus that I have to avoid. This is no longer fast, it's simply negotiating traffic.

This is a GREAT example of how far up the road each cyclists should be planning their immediate route/situation/circumstance.

Chapeau sir.

DonDaddyD

I thought the snow would be cool, having missed last weeks frosty road conditions. Was it just me or did it quickly turn to hail. PAINFUL!

Anywho, my only notable encounter was a dude on a Langster. He got excited at a set of lights between Colliers Wood and Wimbledon I scalped him on the 39ring - had been riding it all the way home for a change - and for good measure turned it up to the 50 and spun out on that! :evil:

Nothing else to report except stopping off in Cyclopolis for a pair of gloves. Nice people, very helpful.

DonDaddyD

I thought the snow would be cool, having missed last weeks frosty road conditions. Was it just me or did it quickly turn to hail. PAINFUL!

Anywho, my only notable encounter was a dude on a Langster. He got excited at a set of lights between Colliers Wood and Wimbledon I scalped him on the 39ring - had been riding it all the way home for a change - and for good measure turned it up to the 50 and spun out on that! :evil:

Nothing else to report except stopping off in Cyclopolis for a pair of gloves. Nice people, very helpful.

Bassjunkieuk

DDD - Yes the sleet tonight wasn't pleasant to ride in, it was like a scatter bomb of needles being thrown at your face!!! To make things worse my front wheel started making a rather alarming noise on the way over VB and my front light decided it would switch itself off it I so much as went over a tictac size bump

I hopped off mid-bridge to give the wheel a look and after a few spins it didn't repeat the noise so I got back on, only for it to start a bit further down. Off I hops again and yet again it won't repeat! I'm a bit worried just in case that pot-hole that I hit yesterday on the way home had damaged the front hub as the noise seemed to be coming from the middle of the wheel.........it stopped by the time I finished negotiating Vauxhall X tho. I'm certainly gonna have to keep an eye on this..........

The light carried on bugg3ring around until I stopped and tried re-seating the batteries and wiping the inside of the casing. It stayed on and just in the nick of time as I was approaching the area that usually brings all the blind drivers out (otherwise known as Streatham)

Found a scooter to play with on the run down past Streatham Common station, whilst I didn't get past him I arrived at the next set of lights within a few seconds of him and had a blast putting down the power! I tried again from those lights but he had a perfectly clear bus lane and was rather throttle happy so was touching 40mph down towards the lights at the common.

Just to echo DDD, excellent work there G66, that kind of observation is the difference between regular riders that struggle in traffic to those that can navigate the busiest areas and make it look easy!

iain_j

Fantastic ride home tonight. As this morning, the roads were either clear or moving fast, and most of the lights were green. But tonight I could feel the winter lethargy dropping away in chunks. If it wasn't for the occasional junction or slow car I felt like I could have just kept on accelerating. I even dropped a car on an uphill start from the lights and kept him behind me all the way up the hill!

Just a shame there was no-one around to scalp. Unless I was going so fast I just didn't see them. Yes that's it.

itboffin

don_don wrote:

itboffin wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Yaaaaay! I had a great ride in!

I went all the way in the little ring, 42/18, with a GI of only 61, and it actually wasn't too horrendous. In fact, I quite enjoyed it, because my ankle only started to hurt after about 6.5 miles! I'm going to take the cadence computer and put it on the roadie...

I too enjoy riding the little ring

Come on someone had too what with GregT being AWOL, ring jokes are few and far between these days.

Apologies for bringing this forward again, but where is GregT? I miss his ring jokes..

I suspect Mrs T is using the power of the one ring to rule them all ergo GT has no lost any remaining hair he may have had, lost several stone in weight and has perm blood shot eyes due to extreme sleep deprivation - ah the joys of a new born.

don_don

itboffin wrote:

ah the joys of a new born.

Aha, well that explains it, thanks ITB.

I'll await assorted dirty nappy, baby-sick and sleep deprivation related jokes when he gets back..

Christophe3967

Greg66 wrote:

I almost had a hand in what would have been an almighty accient this evening; one which would have gone some way to clearing a bit of the stagnant water from the cyclists' gene pool. :

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandte ... rough.html

Sounds like someone's a few steps ahead of them and he's riding his pushbike already...

biondino

Good ride home today - three or four swift roadies kept me honest, though only one of them avoiding a scalping. It meant I went that much faster for that much longer, though, which is good as I seem to take it so easy most of the time nowadays. I've also been riding the Trek for the last couple of weeks - I have a new shorter stem for it as a treat.

Jay dubbleU

cjcp wrote:

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Hmm - lot of bigh hills in Brizzle - bear in mind that the nearest the London lot get to a 'big' hill is Richmond Park - the Marlborough circuit may sort them out !!

Remember though that Lucien Van Impe was from Belgium. :twisted:

And Big Mig was from Navarre 8) - its not where you live its how you train

Bassjunkieuk

Bit of a mixed bag on the way in this morning, had a few ejits and some class scalps :-)

The fun all started on road that skirts round Tooting Common and down towards the Waitrose in Balham, I'm filtering down the right hand side of traffic as it's rather busy when a high-vis numpty just pops decides to move over to the right, pulling out straight in front of me :evil: Now either I didn't shout loud enough or he just ignored me/was deaf but I didn't get any response to my "Try looking!"

Next numpty was a Langster riding pavement ninja just after the petrol station, traffic was pretty bad and a couple of riders had used the pavement to get round. I waited and was filtering up the left when I saw him come past on my left and try to come onto the road *just* ahead of me. Queue a quick stomp on the cranks and a "D1ckhead!!!" as I stormed past him. He then proceeded to RLJ the lights by the choob and common but by the time we reached Clapham North the natural order was returned and his beanie wearing scalp was added to my collection :twisted:

He was the first for 3 SS that I bagged on the way in, with one guy in a yellow top putting up a decent fight, despite me binning him from the Common he arrived but a few seconds behind me and lined up at Stockwell - only to start quasi RLJing. Also saw a messenger on a Surly SS with a Zipp front wheel!! Executed a perfect trackstand (a sign of a proper messenger!) and then followed yellow bib wearing guy down to Kennington.

My last potential opponent sadly was carrying quite a bit of speed and a substantial lead. I was giving it some but was only just making inroads into their 20 yard lead @ 25mph!

Still all good fun but horrific traffic (again) from VB to work held me up a bit and knocked a chunk out of my average. On a positive tho I think I have found what the mystery noise was last night..........it seems my Cateye wireless sensor has decided to jettison the lower zip tie, was hanging loose this morning as I set off and would explain the clicking I was getting and why it stopped all of a sudden! Guess I'll be heading over to the nearest hardware shop at lunch for a pack of zipties unless I can scrounge some from the IT supplies :-)

cjcp

Three p***tures in three days up to yesterday. Not annoying at all given that I'd done 3,000 miles without one. :x

Christophe3967

Absolutely nothing going on this morning. I had about half a mile between HSK and Earls Court completely to myself. Through Edith Grove and on to Cheyne Walk just as Mr Shuffle kicked in with scalping track - nothing there either apart from motor bikes. Pretty much the same last night until I arrived at the lights on Ealing Broadway to find my next door neighbour, who drives. We're 2 or 3 miles from home and there is only more set of lights. I decide to see if I can provide a practical demonstration of the benefits of commuting by bike. I'm away from the lights first but she's quickly past me and into Gordon Road, which has just been resurfaced, so I can just keep her in sight. There's no traffic to slow her down and as we get to West Ealing, I'm losing her, but make up ground at the next junction. On to Drayton Bridge Road and there's a half mile drag with a set of lights at the end. They're on red as I roll up to the front and there she is just as the lights go green. Almost home and no chance for her overtake as she has to slow down for the speed bumps. I've unlocked the house, put my bike away, and opened a beer while she's still trying to find a parking space...

lost_in_thought

Christophe3967 wrote:

... I arrived at the lights on Ealing Broadway to find my next door neighbour, who drives. We're 2 or 3 miles from home and there is only more set of lights. I decide to see if I can provide a practical demonstration of the benefits of commuting by bike. I'm away from the lights first but she's quickly past me and into Gordon Road, which has just been resurfaced, so I can just keep her in sight. There's no traffic to slow her down and as we get to West Ealing, I'm losing her, but make up ground at the next junction. On to Drayton Bridge Road and there's a half mile drag with a set of lights at the end. They're on red as I roll up to the front and there she is just as the lights go green. Almost home and no chance for her overtake as she has to slow down for the speed bumps. I've unlocked the house, put my bike away, and opened a beer while she's still trying to find a parking space...

Brilliant! I've raced a few people around town with me on the bike and them in taxis or on the tube, I only lost once, to a canny black cab driver at about 11pm when the streets were empty...

il_principe

DonDaddyD wrote:

He got excited at a set of lights between Colliers Wood and Wimbledon I scalped him on the 39ring - had been riding it all the way home for a change - and for good measure turned it up to the 50 and spun out on that! :evil:

2 things:

1:You scalped him in the 39 ring?

2: You rode home in the 39 ring? MTFU DDD, there are no hills on your commute worthy of the 39!

iain_j

Thoroughly unremarkable ride this morning, except for the fact I had to take a detour to the sorting office to get my parcel of brake/gear cables and lockring tool - bike toys! Got to take a walk at lunchtime to another courier depot to get my new jacket too. It's like Christmas Day again!

Feltup

No scalps as the bike I passed this morning was about 10 places lower in the food chain and a contraption I have never seen before. It looked like an oversize BMX with a baby seat on the top tube and a trailer bike on the back. Talk about wobbly. The little girl on the back kept leaning from side to side which made the mother who could only have been 4'11 veer all over the place. I gave them a very wide berth. I am not convinced the trailer bike was attached that well as it did seem to be able to flop left and right a lot. A bit scary to watch but good on her for riding properly on the road.

DonDaddyD

jashburnham wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

He got excited at a set of lights between Colliers Wood and Wimbledon I scalped him on the 39ring - had been riding it all the way home for a change - and for good measure turned it up to the 50 and spun out on that! :evil:

2 things:

1:You scalped him in the 39 ring?

2: You rode home in the 39 ring? MTFU DDD, there are no hills on your commute worthy of the 39!

You do realise that I'm considering taking you on with the 39 ring.

I like to punch above my weight... :twisted:

Truthfully I dream of rolling up on an Izoard or some such function of beauty and giving you a proper challenge.