Silly commuting racing

itboffin

biondino wrote:

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.

What's the matter with you man she just about TOLD you to get out and ride :P

Citizen Smith

lost_in_thought wrote:

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)

Yes, to quote our very own Lord Lucan...

Greg T wrote:

..... an honesty decision made as to the validity of the scalping. This is a game you basically play with your ego after all. Your Ego is a fierce critic and will keep you dare I say it "real".......

You and you only, know in your heart's heart whether it was a geniune scalp to notch up!

DonDaddyD

Right that's it 5-ish on Friday. I'll soon be tearing apart the roads o the A24 that's Clapham to Wimbledon.

All who dare to take my route better look over their shoulders. I'm hungry for scalps!!!!

sarajoy

Overtaken by several speedy folks as usual.

Always wonder if any of them are on these boards!

iain_j

You wait ages for some SCR action then two come along at once. There was the peloton battle last night, tonight it was mano-a-mano.

I'm on my heavy Claud Butler tourer with whopping great 35C tyres. Let's just do a double check on my FCN:

Roadie with hairy legs
Lycra
Panniers - TWO today cos there was a lot to take in/take home
Helmet
No shave gel this morning so a bit stubbly but wouldn't say it was a beard

So it's FCN 5 tonight. And I'm still a bit hungover.

I roll out of the carpark gates, and rethink my earlier decision of not needing my lights, so I stop and switch them on. As I do so, a cyclist rolls past. He looks serious:

Sleek single-speed bike
Lycra
Backpack
Helmet
No facial hair
Proper roadie shoes, unlike my clunky SPD's

He's FCN 3 then. He may even have had hairless legs under those leggings, in which case FCN 2.

So, singlespeeder arm-signals right at the lights and stops as they're on red. After a minute the pedestrian crossing lights go red so he starts to roll forwards. Fool. Anyone who frequents this route would know we're not getting green for another minute yet. He doesn't care. He RLJ's and speeds off up Park Lane.

By the time I move off from the green, on about 70% power after last night's beers and pulling all that extra weight, his red light is way off in the distance. No scalps tonight for me.

What's this! I'm slowly gaining on him! Nowhere near enough to catch him, Plus, if he turns left at the end and up the hill, I've had it. I'm in for a grovel on the hill tonight.

When I get to the traffic lights at the end of Park Lane they're on red, and he's stopped there, albeit a long way past the white line. When they go green he accelerates up to the next red lights 50 yards on, and bumps up onto the pavement, past the lights, back onto the road and speeds off up the hill. You've let us down, you RLJ'ing pavement-cyclist. I've got no chance but I don't care now cos you're a cheat.

A few seconds pass and I get the green light. Singlespeeder is nowhere to be seen. I don't suffer too much on the hill, surprisingly, but by the time I'm getting near the top I'm looking forward to getting my breath back at the lights. But, unusually, they're already green so I block out the pain and accelerate again. A car in the queue is a bit slow off the mark and I dive through the gap to make the right turn into Princes Road. Ah hah! Singlespeeder is also turning right. Game on.

I whip the chain up onto the big ring and put the hammer down, only to get caught at the pedestrian crossing (singlespeeder is powering off into the distance). Is this going to be a repeat of last night's tournament where everything was conspiring against me?

Pedestrians cross, lights go green, I power off again. I'm quite surprised at the power I'm putting down. Singlespeeder's red light seems to be drawing closer. Suddenly the gap is closing down rapidly. The adrenaline flows, the hairs on the back of my neck go up, I get that feeling of watching my lottery numbers come up one by one [FYI I've never had more than a tenner on it]. I start making preparations - do all the required accelerations and maneouvres well in advance so by the time I'm passing him there's no signs at all of any effort. Check behind, drift out, click up the gears, spin them up and settle back into comfortable pedalling and breathing rhythm.

Scalped.

Now to maximize my gains. Keep the accelerations going. At this point my stomach starts to protest. Oi! I'm still ill you know! My legs join in. Oi! We kept you up at the bar for HOURS last night! I tell them to shut it and keep on powering along and daren't look back.

Half a mile on there's some red lights. As I stop and disengage my SPD's I hear same clack right behind me. Sh!t he's been right on my wheel.

Lights go green and I'm away. Parked cars coming up, I glance back over my shoulder and he's several bike lengths back already. I keep it going. Another glance and he's miles behind. Down the dip, back up the hill, up to the lights at the end of Ullet Road, they're green, keep going. Glance back, he's nowhere to be seen.

That'll teach him.

Bassjunkieuk

Oh it's so nice to be back up in town! One of my rarer commutes today taking me up to near White City, meaning I get to tackel the mahusive roundabout on the south side of wandsworth bridge and part of New Kinds Road (well on the route I've chosen I do..........)
Not much to report as it was a 9:30 start so I was leaving rather late. Nothing in the way of quality scalps but still an excellent and welcome long ride after the 2 mile bimbles into the local town centre for the last 4 days!

The return journey saw a bit more action as a fast hybrid guy was giving it large on the busy road towards Tooting. He switched to the right side and got ahead as I filtered on the left. Closed down his 15 yard lead by the next set of lights and then put him in his place once we had some room :-)

redvee

sarajoy wrote:

Always wonder if any of them are on these boards!

Think the same myself on seeing some of the keener/speedier commuters in Brizzle.

jimmypippa

Glad there was nobody around this morning, I don't know if it was the headwind, but last-night's commute home was quicker than this morning's ride into work. 49 minutes, uphill as opposed to an hour downhill.

My legs just weren't working today.

itboffin

jimmypippa wrote:

Glad there was nobody around this morning, I don't know if it was the headwind, but last-night's commute home was quicker than this morning's ride into work. 49 minutes, uphill as opposed to an hour downhill.

My legs just weren't working today.

You're not alone my ride this afternoon was a struggle, 18 miles in 66mins - Now I have calf pain that's not quite sure if it's from a hard workout or over-straining.

Def a strong headwind again today

Bassjunkieuk

I was also marginally quicker on the way home yesterday, which I also found out, thanks to Sports Tracker, was in fact in an upwards direction! I'd never realized that there was such a difference in height between the lowest and highest points, just over 200ft apparently

https://sportstracker.nokia.com/nts/wor ... ?id=709873

OK so it's not got any major climbs, it's London after all, but I do still end up at a higher point at home then the location I left from :-)

itboffin

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

I was also marginally quicker on the way home yesterday, which I also found out, thanks to Sports Tracker, was in fact in an upwards direction! I'd never realized that there was such a difference in height between the lowest and highest points, just over 200ft apparently

https://sportstracker.nokia.com/nts/wor ... ?id=709873

OK so it's not got any major climbs, it's London after all, but I do still end up at a higher point at home then the location I left from :-)

Be warned the GPS data from mobiles should be taken with a pinch of salt

Bassjunkieuk

itboffin wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

I was also marginally quicker on the way home yesterday, which I also found out, thanks to Sports Tracker, was in fact in an upwards direction! I'd never realized that there was such a difference in height between the lowest and highest points, just over 200ft apparently

https://sportstracker.nokia.com/nts/wor ... ?id=709873

OK so it's not got any major climbs, it's London after all, but I do still end up at a higher point at home then the location I left from :-)

Be warned the GPS data from mobiles should be taken with a pinch of salt

I use a seperate GPS receiver :-) If that helps of course!

itboffin

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

itboffin wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

I was also marginally quicker on the way home yesterday, which I also found out, thanks to Sports Tracker, was in fact in an upwards direction! I'd never realized that there was such a difference in height between the lowest and highest points, just over 200ft apparently

https://sportstracker.nokia.com/nts/wor ... ?id=709873

OK so it's not got any major climbs, it's London after all, but I do still end up at a higher point at home then the location I left from :-)

Be warned the GPS data from mobiles should be taken with a pinch of salt

I use a seperate GPS receiver :-) If that helps of course!

Afraid not I also use an external GPS and the data is still away with the fairies, at one point I climb 1000ft in 1mile, yeh right as if.

But fair play to you chap, that's a pretty fast avg across South London, you've clearly mastered timing traffic lights, roundabouts and filtering, just think what you'll be capable of on empty quiet country lanes

Bassjunkieuk

Cheers! When I get out for my occasional fun rides I'm normally up in the 17's for the average as I can pick routes that let me keep moving and avoid continuous traffic light stoppages!

I'll bear that in mind with my GPS tho, so fat I haven't seen anything to wild (except the first ride I did that it reported I did 69.7mph!), will be interesting to compare data next week :-)

iain_j

Is it just me, or have we lost a couple of hundred pages? Thought it was on 600-odd.

Bassjunkieuk

iain_j wrote:

Is it just me, or have we lost a couple of hundred pages? Thought it was on 600-odd.

Yep, we where around the 614/615 - any volunteers to go find what's missing ;-)

iain_j

Post count still looks the same, 9000-odd. Mysterious goings-on :P

LazyBoycp

Looks as though other threads have mysteriously shortened too, but with no loss of posts. Longer pages for some reason?

Are there any Manchester commuters here? I commute from the south up Palatine Road and Wilmslow/Oxford Road and see a fair few cyclists, most of whom I leave gasping at the speed of my passage.

Bassjunkieuk

Looks like it is more posts per page.
I think we used to run @ 15 per page which put us on page 615.
We now appear to have 20 per page :-) Guess we only noticed because it really makes a difference having 5 extra posts per page over 9200+ posts!

Only problem is now that we have to do our milestone pages again and all the previous ones make no sense...........still at least it works well now so our 10,000th post will be on page 500!

greg66_tri_v2.0

DAMMIT! I WANT MY 600th PAGE PIONEERING POST BACK!!!

WAAAAAAHHHHH!!!! :evil:

Clever Pun

Not technically a commute but worthy of note I feel

I went to condor for my free first service on the brompton.... on the way back to london bridge there's a guy in front of me on a bike.. I suspect this went through his mind

got my fancy bike with taped up tubes... check
stupidly long seated track stand.. check
looking cool.. check
getting dropped like a stone heading over blackfriars bridge buy some dude on a brompton...check
feel ashamed... check

itboffin

Clever Pun wrote:

Not technically a commute but worthy of note I feel

I went to condor for my free first service on the brompton.... on the way back to london bridge there's a guy in front of me on a bike.. I suspect this went through his mind

got my fancy bike with taped up tubes... check
stupidly long seated track stand.. check
looking cool.. check
getting dropped like a stone heading over blackfriars bridge buy some dude on a brompton...check
feel ashamed... check

Good try CP but lets get back off topic.

So the number of pages has shortened because the admins have restructured the various sections of the forum :twisted:

NB: anyone too lazy or uncool enough NOT to have read this forum from the beginning firstly you missed a lot fun, giggles & humiliation and secondly a fair chunk of those posts now make no sense - that's what you get for slacking.

Bassjunkieuk

I can see a divide forming soon where we have the SCR Old School that have been here since ChrisLS's post last June and followed it from it's humble beginnings and many rule changes and vast amount of off topic chatter and the SCR New School, made up of those that have drifted here for one reason or another seeking a sense of being and an explaination as to why they feel compelled to chase down all those in front of them :-D

shoulder_of_orion

I hope that makes you feel better as I ease past you one-handed on embankment giving you a cheery "morning" as I go on my way. :twisted:

gb155

Sorry I have not been around here much but I have been on the Townsend and scalps are normally what I am to others on that, HOWEVER on Thursday with bitchin headwinds I did manage to take an old boy on a hybrid, as I say the winds were REALLY bad and I had no idea how far he had come so it was potentially hollow but I took it anyway.

Finally getting rid of the pain in my shins from last weekends 15 mile ride and 5 mile run, Running IS NOT for me !!!!!!!

Ohhhh yeah and FINALLY got a decent bike again, a 22" GT Avalanche Expert 08, Not new but damm its a hell of a good bike, Will do me very nice while I wait for cycle2work to be set up.

Gaz

itboffin

@gb155 good to have you back matey, shame about the bike situation I hope you didn't lose too much £££ over it, still you've another new bike

One day you'll be drawn to the dark side :twisted:

A scalp is a scalp add it to your pile - age & sex are irrelevant in the GAME :twisted:

gb155

itboffin wrote:

@gb155 good to have you back matey, shame about the bike situation I hope you didn't lose too much £££ over it, still you've another new bike

One day you'll be drawn to the dark side :twisted:

A scalp is a scalp add it to your pile - age & sex are irrelevant in the GAME :twisted:

Feels good to be back, Just had a blast on the GT, Damm I cant stop smiling now

Looks like im gonna loose out pretty bad but its better than the Dawes sat there doing nothing at all, If it did that then I would loose %100 and get nothing from it.

Maybe I will, The feeling that GT gave me though I doubt it lol

Scalped by a Fat boy on a steel 15 year old Townsend MTB.....Ohhh the shame he must be feeling now lol

Have a great weekend mate.

cjcp

A 5 mile run after a 15 mile run?! That's multi-sport training! Yep, stick to the bike.

Greg T

Have I missed anything?

cjcp

Excellent! Another newcomer!

What's your commute?