Silly commuting racing

Bassjunkieuk

I think you should at least get the hang of jumping kerbs before you tackle red lights ;-)

tardington

Biondio - That sounds sore! Hope your next cool stunt works out better!

itboffin wrote:

I watched my wife attempt a bunny hop a couple of summers ago, at the time I wasn't actually sure what she was trying to do as the only thing that moved was her body, the bike duly hit the step and both went down into a large bush of stinging nettles. :shock:

After recovering from an almost fatal fit of tear inducing laughter I help her out of the bush, she could barely ride home due to laughing so much.

Me and my gf were cycling near aberfeldy in the summer - at one point she just stopped and keeled over into some nettles. Still not sure, why, but it was funny!

Totalnewbie

biondino wrote:

maybe the 45 degree angle wasn't a good idea.

That is exactly how I borked my elbow in my kerb jumping incident. 45 degree angles never a good idea...heal up soon (if you are anything like me I bet the embarrassment was also fairly painful)

cjcp

biondino wrote:

Except I didn't RLJ, that was the point! Maybe I should start

Is your back wheel ok?

boy on bike

Biondino, sorry to hear about that! Hope you recover quickly.

Christophe3967

biondino wrote:

Gah! Failed bunny hop = somersault = banged knee and cracked rib. Bugger!

That all sounds rather painful. I never could get the hang of bunny hops and not likely to perservere now, in the light of your experience. Bad luck

biondino

cjcp wrote:

biondino wrote:

Except I didn't RLJ, that was the point! Maybe I should start

Is your back wheel ok?

Haven't checked! Imagine so - it didn't get caught in or on anything (except my ribs, gruh) and it seemed fine on the rest of the ride, as did the whole bike. There was a pretty substantial clanging noise as the bike clattered to the ground but it didn't hit any obstacles and the shifter must've taken three quarters of the impact. Pretty sure it's ok.

TN - I feel your pain! Ibuprofen isn't doing all that much but I guess if it reduces the inflammation that's the key thing.

biondino

BoB, I kind of fancy your avatar, it's disconcerting

biondino

Christophe - bunnyhopping is fine and great, just don't try it at an angle!

cjcp

I sometimes do Cherry Pickers down Cannon Street.

Did anyone ever used to do Kerb-endos on their BMX?

itboffin

I managed a full endo on my SS with 23c tyres yesterday not on purpose but it did look cool 8)

an I stayed clipped in 8) :?

Edit - come to think of it I took a corner way to fast whilst signalling with my arm today and almost lost it totally, nice skid slide into the other lane.

Jay dubbleU

biondino wrote:

Except I didn't RLJ, that was the point! Maybe I should start

Apologies Blondy - misread your entry :oops:

lost_in_thought

Hmmmmm uneventful morning! I drove from Essex, left at 6am, and got to Ealing at 8 then jumped on the bike.

Unfortunately I'd got hungry half-way down to London and had to eat half the sandwich I'd made myself for lunch, and I'm really not used to cycling on a full stomach. Blargh. Slow.

Fortunately, there was not a roadie in sight, and my lamppost and all the others on my little street were free.

Have all the christmas guilt cyclists given up? Were they just trying to skinny down for V-Day? What's going on? Where is everybody?

cjcp

It was a bit balmy this morning. Was sweating buckets!

Christophe3967

lost_in_thought wrote:

Have all the christmas guilt cyclists given up? Were they just trying to skinny down for V-Day? What's going on? Where is everybody?

Dunno, perhaps they have all given up, which is ironic as the weather is better - thought it might have been busier this morning after half term, but still pretty quiet. The only fun this morning was the bendy bus that had wedged itself across the junction at Tooley St and London Bridge. 6 of us were lined up behind it and had a bit of drag race over the bridge. Fortunately I had the road bike; the chain on the Pearson decided to start slipping on Friday, so now have to work out if this is the sprocket or the chain. Or both :evil:

cjcp

Yep, my chain is on the blink too. Came off or onto the 39 three times this morning :x . So had to ride most of the way in 53x15/16 to make sure it didn't slip. Time for a new chain I think. Have a spare cassette in decent condition lying around too, so might treat the commuter steed to that as well.

Jay dubbleU

Had a similar problem last week which I think may have been down to cable stretch - bikes been running since Sept without any adjustments - tried a quarter turn clockwise on the knob at the back fo the derailier - seems much smoother this morning

il_principe

My new chain on the SS seems to have solved my problems. No worries so far, although red doesn't really go with my blue/white colour scheme on the Pearson! :shock:

cjcp

jashburnham wrote:

My new chain on the SS seems to have solved my problems. No worries so far, although red doesn't really go with my blue/white colour scheme on the Pearson! :shock:

Am surprised you were able to ride the bike this morning. Did you wear red in your clothes so the red chain matched with something? :P

il_principe

cjcp wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

My new chain on the SS seems to have solved my problems. No worries so far, although red doesn't really go with my blue/white colour scheme on the Pearson! :shock:

Am surprised you were able to ride the bike this morning. Did you wear red in your clothes so the red chain matched with something? :P

Actually, I have no matching clothes for the Pearson

But then it's not that sort of bike I guess!

Now if I had the Cartouche....

Citizen Smith

Despite pre-ride diagnostics expecting an operating power of 75% due to a minor strain of man-flu which I've had since last Thursday (which is probably because I haven't eased off the exercise nor the drink), I had pretty good run in this morning.

Wasn't passed at all apart from at traffic lights where my acceleraton is akin to an oil tanker and still haven't quite mastered the art of Speedplays with my right foot. However, these pesky upstarts were soon dispatched.

Only thing of note was a RLJ'ing SS rider along the Tooting-Balham-Clapham drag-strip. I guess I should have noted his form because he used the pedestrian crossing/pavement without dismounting at Tooting Broadway to avoid waiting at the red.

Awful traffic again from Stockwell to VB....might try my normal return journey (Embankment-Chelsea Bridge-Queenstown-Silverthorne-Clapham Old Town-Clapham Common-Tooting Drag Strip) on the way in tomorrow.

jonginge

And I'm back in the game. Three weeks in the cattle-trucks due to wrist injury and subsequent man-flu has all but driven me insane. Those 3 weeks of minimal bike activity have left me with lungs the size and consistency of a slug's and legs made of wood. Still, 2 roadies got the full treatment over col de putney bridge but I paid for it along victoria embankment.

It was quiet today, almost 28 days later...

cjcp

Looks like the average speed of the Embankment peleton just increased...

iain_j

A weekend of recovery for me and TLC for the bike (I'm ashamed at the state I let the chain get into and suprised how fast it got that way) did wonders for me. Felt like I had much more power this morning despite the gusty headwind, and I even got a scalp. Didn't last long though. The roadwork situation is getting utterly ridiculous - 1 mile of stationary traffic this morning. I got most of the way down the outside lane then got stuck, whilst the earlier scalpee found a nice gap down the inside to get through. The yellow signs said the works would be finished by this week but there's still trenches everywhere. And I'll need to come to work by bus sometime very soon. Grr.

@Biondino - sounds painful, get well soon!

Christophe3967

jashburnham wrote:

My new chain on the SS seems to have solved my problems. No worries so far, although red doesn't really go with my blue/white colour scheme on the Pearson! :shock:

Rang Pearson and they told me that the cold weather has caused a few freewheels to fail and almost certainly that's the problem I have with the chain slipping. However this requires a tool which I don't have. They also told to MTFU and ride fixed. :oops:

lost_in_thought

I have one of those little tools you need to remove a freewheel, if you would like to borrow.

Also, yep, MTFU.

Christophe3967

lost_in_thought wrote:

I have one of those little tools you need to remove a freewheel, if you would like to borrow.

Also, yep, MTFU.

That's very kind of you thanks. Pearsons said if I can get the bike down there they'd sort it out, so I think I'm going to do that. This will save me hours of head scratching, grazed knuckles, dirty fingernails and still not getting the tension quite right afterwards.

redvee

lost_in_thought wrote:

Have all the christmas guilt cyclists given up? Were they just trying to skinny down for V-Day? What's going on? Where is everybody?

They're running/riding scared, they know LiTs is back on the bike and riding at 90% of her peak.

Christophe3967

Recovery ride home last night was going well - enjoying the lack of effort needed on the road bike and wondering why I don't ride it in more often - until the VB crossroads. Got a tow from a girl on a scooter and I'm off, heart rate nudging past 140. The street lights along this stretch play tricks with you and I thought I might have company. By now I'm up to 44kph and still not sure if anyone's on my wheel. Not much traffic at Chelsea bridge, the lights are green, so there's no let up. Albert Bridge and there's traffic, so I have an excuse to check and sure enough I've company. He takes the middle of the road and gets ahead, but the time we hit Cheyne Walk he's dropped the speed for soem reason so I can ease past him before he swings off down NKR, and I'm 4 minutes up on the normal time

This morning a new PB - 51 mins exactly including 5 mins stationary, average speed 27.1 top speed 46.3. So much for recovery rides A whole week on the road bike is going to kill me...

lost_in_thought

Hurrah!

Cycling over to Richmond from Kensington last night, crossed over at Kew bridge, and challenged myself to keep my speed above 21mph from the stretch where the fork is all the way to Richmond roundabout.

OK, not an amazing challenge, but I've only been back on the bike just over 2 weeks. Fitness = cr@p.

So I'm spinning along, and spy a roadie in the distance. Red mist descends.

With a herculean effort (fitness = cr@p) I up the spinning and blast past him at about 25mph. Woop! Scalp! Now to hold him off. I needn't have worried. I went across the roundabout, past the station, through the lights, then he reappeared.

And this morning, a guy on a red bike, forget what it was called, may have been recuperating but was spinning along in the biggest sprocket, not going anywhere fast. He's gone. Lights, he reappears just as they turn. Gone again. Lights... back... gone.

The top of his brain must be cold.

:twisted: