Silly commuting racing

jonginge

Actually, I think that's the stretch of road where I fell off

itboffin

JonGinge wrote:

Meh. Doctored photo. Your breath's not steaming. :P

Shouldn't you be cleaning your shoes or something

jonginge

itboffin wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

Meh. Doctored photo. Your breath's not steaming. :P

Shouldn't you be cleaning your shoes or something

No need. Belgian booties installed...

il_principe

JonGinge wrote:

itboffin wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

Meh. Doctored photo. Your breath's not steaming. :P

Shouldn't you be cleaning your shoes or something

No need. Belgian booties installed...

Yey!

page23

AndyOgy wrote:

Wow!

You city folk have so much fun. Before I lost my job, I commuted straight out of Brighton and onto cycle paths and country roads and then right into the middle of nowhere.
Being that I'm not working now, I decided to cheer myself up by pretending to commute to an imaginary job this morning. Spent 2 hours riding around the busiest parts of Brighton, Hove, Shoreham and loved every second of it. It's just so intense compared with what I was used to, felt like I was only out for 20 minutes.
My jobhunting has now become very location based. Ideally looking for something 8-10 miles away through very heavy traffic. I'll save the country lanes for the long weekend rides.

become a bike courier in london?

Christophe3967

itboffin wrote:

I would like to point out that these stories of snow at this years HOTA may have been TRUE, look at the state of the road :shock:

It settled so quickly, that was the wierd bit. That's a great photo - it seems ages ago already.

greg66_tri_v2.0

jashburnham wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

itboffin wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

Meh. Doctored photo. Your breath's not steaming. :P

Shouldn't you be cleaning your shoes or something

No need. Belgian booties installed...

Yey!

Not the socks that you wear on the outside of your shoes again, please.

Definitely only for those who aspire to the Superman look.

lost_in_thought

Well what better way to protect your impractical white shoes than with impractical white socks?

OTOH, why buy white shoes if nobody will ever see them?

I'm trying to understand. I'm just not cool enough.

il_principe

lost_in_thought wrote:

Well what better way to protect your impractical white shoes than with impractical white socks?

OTOH, why buy white shoes if nobody will ever see them?

I'm trying to understand. I'm just not cool enough.

Summer/Winter.

Actually the white ones are v impractical, I own black ones instead.

greg66_tri_v2.0

jashburnham wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Well what better way to protect your impractical white shoes than with impractical white socks?

OTOH, why buy white shoes if nobody will ever see them?

I'm trying to understand. I'm just not cool enough.

Summer/Winter.

Actually the white ones are v impractical, I own black ones instead.

I might have known.

And tell me, on which side of your trousers do you sport your underpants?

jonginge

I may have both :oops:

jamesp345

Boffin I remember that day well, was flipping freezing at the end and weather ruined my idea of a 3hr30 ride. Sorry for going off topic, I'm so sad I actually checked out your finish time to see if I was quicker. lol. Nice ride

greg66_tri_v2.0

JonGinge wrote:

I may have both :oops:

Oh

My

God.

A SELECTION of pieces of silly kit. Whatever next? :roll:


<ducks, scuttles away rapidly...>

lost_in_thought

jashburnham wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Well what better way to protect your impractical white shoes than with impractical white socks?

OTOH, why buy white shoes if nobody will ever see them?

I'm trying to understand. I'm just not cool enough.

Summer/Winter.

Actually the white ones are v impractical, I own black ones instead.

AHA!

After all that 'you have to put white things on the viner, sod practicality' you have outed yourself as a user of other colours at contact points! HA!

And I'm sure you have some red ones too, don't you?

EDIT: Greg, I'm surprised you don't have any - surely the perfect complement to one of your infamous head-to-toe block colour looks?

jonginge

jamesp345 wrote:

Boffin I remember that day well, was flipping freezing at the end and weather ruined my idea of a 3hr30 ride. Sorry for going off topic, I'm so sad I actually checked out your finish time to see if I was quicker. lol. Nice ride

ITB, CJ, Linsen, Attica and I were in either the penultimate or last groups to start. We pretty much got the worst of the weather. Still a very good day, though

don_don

nation wrote:

I spied the skinny tyres of a road bike off in the distance and thought "right, I'm having you" turned up the cadence, and hauled past him on a clear road. To be fair to him he was struggling along in tracksuit bottoms and one of those big coats that you see football managers wearing, and the bike looked fresh out of the box, but I'm counting it.

Maybe I'm stereotyping, but was he riding like he'd just nicked it? :shock:

jamesp345

lost_in_thought wrote:

Well what better way to protect your impractical white shoes than with impractical white socks?

OTOH, why buy white shoes if nobody will ever see them?

I'm trying to understand. I'm just not cool enough.

White is uber cool for cycling kit in the summer only thing that beats white shorts is black shorts with white stitching. Winter kit should be all black topped with a white helmet and rounded off with white shoe covers.

I have white shoe covers which cover my white shoes in winter to protect them, also the amount of dirt and road grime build up on the shoe covers is a good indicator of just how hard / far your riding. It doesn't matter how fast you ride long as you look cool. 8)

cjcp

Not exactly firing on all cylinders this morning. A, ahem, few beers last night. I felt like vomiting on the first hill this morning. :oops:

sarajoy

Beautiful ride in!

Overtook a couple of bimbling MTB-ers but got scalped several times myself.

I don't mind, I was a well-oiled machine this morning

I dunno if it was the seat padding in the LIDL pants, the saddle-positioning, or just the end of my saddle-sore period, but I also was mucho comfortable. Although a fair bit of my weight was on my wrists, so might notch my saddle nose up a bit for the ride home.

I think wearing just a long-sleeve T shirt and the hi-vis smileyvest probably helped by not letting me overheat for once... dumped the over-warm and toasty (hence usually sweaty) gloves today too.

Whoop!

il_principe

lost_in_thought wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Well what better way to protect your impractical white shoes than with impractical white socks?

OTOH, why buy white shoes if nobody will ever see them?

I'm trying to understand. I'm just not cool enough.

Summer/Winter.

Actually the white ones are v impractical, I own black ones instead.

AHA!

After all that 'you have to put white things on the viner, sod practicality' you have outed yourself as a user of other colours at contact points! HA!

And I'm sure you have some red ones too, don't you?

Yes, yes I do.



I'm not ashamed!

lost_in_thought

jashburnham wrote:

I'm not ashamed!

I'm beginning to think you should be...

nation

don_don wrote:

nation wrote:

I spied the skinny tyres of a road bike off in the distance and thought "right, I'm having you" turned up the cadence, and hauled past him on a clear road. To be fair to him he was struggling along in tracksuit bottoms and one of those big coats that you see football managers wearing, and the bike looked fresh out of the box, but I'm counting it.

Maybe I'm stereotyping, but was he riding like he'd just nicked it? :shock:

Didn't think of that.

I'm presuming not, since he was wearing some kind of cycling gloves and a helmet, which are hardly the kind of things you'd carry around if you were setting out to steal bikes. I think he just overestimated the cold (I'm in shorts, base layer and jersey at the mo. Sometimes a gilet if it's windy).

biondino

AARGH I HATE YOU ALL I WANT TO RIDE DAMMIT

il_principe

I'm taking my bike down to Sussex this weekend, going get some good coastal riding in, and tackle Battery hill, which is the best climb local to my folks. 525 feet over 2 miles. It's one of those hills that goes on forever:



View from the top:



Has a special place in my heart though. I remember trying it as akid and always failing. Then when I first got a roadbike some years back I tackled it and had to stop twice. Over the years I've ridden it regularly and now find it pretty easy, but always a nice challenge in terms of speed. First time I ever did it in one I got to the top and both calves cramped at the same time - keeled over onto the verge, still clipped in, and lay there for about 5 mins just gasping for air!

don_don

biondino wrote:

AARGH I HATE YOU ALL I WANT TO RIDE DAMMIT

Any update on the rib/cycling thing? Have you been out for a 'test-ride' yet?

shoulder_of_orion

It's my third day back in the GAME.

I do think there should probably be an allowance for gender but especially for age. Yesterday I overtook a lady "roadie" who had to be at least 70 years old, she looked spritely enough but really didn't have to try at all and if I were using the FCN calculator she would definitely have been higher on the scale than me. I also overtook a girl of about 16 who likewise was easily passed and she was in full lycra.

It just doesn't seem right to count them as scalps. Whaddaya think?

I did my first proper bona-fide scalp this morning. A thin guy who looked like Rasmussen on an old steel racer, did him on the approach to Oval. Had him several times fair and square before he turned off (he always seemed to get in front of me at the lights).

I have definitely lost a bit of my cycling sense, i.e. knowing when to overtake or to filter, judging the speed of oncoming traffic etc. It will take me a while to get that back I suspect...

lost_in_thought

Shoulder of Orion, that's what I refer to as the difference between a technical scalp and a moral scalp.

Yeah sure their kit puts them higher up the food chain that you, but if they're a geriatric on a prehistoric roadie, are they really a challenge? Rarely.

However, others on here would argue that a scalp's a scalp, and the old dear on her tourer should GTFU (grannyTFU)

greg66_tri_v2.0

Shoulder of Orion wrote:

I do think there should probably be an allowance for gender but especially for age. Yesterday I overtook a lady "roadie" who had to be at least 70 years old, she looked spritely enough but really didn't have to try at all and if I were using the FCN calculator she would definitely have been higher on the scale than me. I also overtook a girl of about 16 who likewise was easily passed and she was in full lycra.

It just doesn't seem right to count them as scalps. Whaddaya think?

The Game knows no mercy or compassion. Women, children, the elderly, hybrid riders: they're all prey in The Game.

Sounds like your Game head isn't fully locked into place yet. Get out there soldier, and start acting like you're in a slaughterhouse! :twisted:

mapless

Scapled a guy on a Flat barred Bianci with tribars in Hyde park earlier. Had to stop to get back on the road at which point he attemped to wheel suck and get back past. Casually as possible wound it up a little bit for 1/2m or so to the lights by which time he'd gone. Quite pleased by a speedo check in the office at the 28mph sustained with panniers, guards etc. Impressed with his attempted repass as his calves suggested he could sprint a bit.

biondino

don_don wrote:

biondino wrote:

AARGH I HATE YOU ALL I WANT TO RIDE DAMMIT

Any update on the rib/cycling thing? Have you been out for a 'test-ride' yet?

No, no test ride, and when I told the gf I wanted to see how it felt over the coming weekend, she told me exactly what she thought of the idea followed by a "but if that's what you want to do, I'm not going to stop you". Sigh.

It's still pretty sore, albeit less fragile-feeling than before, and I really, really don't want a relapse. So I might wait a bit longer.