Silly commuting racing

attica

I was just referring to the PC wearing Cervelo rider that I, ahem, humiliated last week.

gtvlusso

It was a strange moment as I was unsure and on my backfoot a bit - I really thought this guy was gonna tear a strip off me!! I mean - the guy was in full matching pink - even pink socks!

I have seen another guy who rides an old MTB in full Liquigas kit - shoes, socks, bib shorts, jersey, arm warmers and helmet.......but an old MTB...

If it was Blondie +1 for distance commute home!

+1 for Attica too - may have been my old Cervelo!

shoulder_of_orion

Another gorgeous day.

No real SCR action, but I did scalp a huge Suzuki motorbike on the run from Camberwell - Vauxhall, quite a long stretch. I know that filtering doesn't strictly count, but Suzuki man was caning it down the bus lane or on the outside of the traffic whenever he could. So I think it's fair game.

I also scalped a Ferrari on the run from the river to Earl's Court. Granted he was stuck in traffic, but surely he knows that by driving something so outlandishly expensive and extrovert that he is putting a massive target on his back and is fair game for any road user....?

martinc

likewise i passed a red m3 convertible on the lower kings road, he only caught me as as i went under waterloo bridge. 0-60 in 4.5 seconds my arse!

greg66_tri_v2.0

jashburnham wrote:

Had a fantastic journey back as well, scalped 2 roadies on Queens ride, and then comprehensively outgunned a Cervelo (not GregT unfortunately) along Embankment.

Who?

jashburnham wrote:

Had a little duel with a bloke on a Cervelo TT bike as well but once I'd had him he hopped a pavement at lights on the new Kings Road and I didn't see him again (resorting to cheating when you've been nailed, typical Cervelo eh).

Wouldn't know about that.

Don't get nailed, see?

vorsprung

Last couple of weeks I've claimed a couple of scalps on the A38 back from Taunton. The key is holding them off on the downhill- as I am on SS and they are on gears. The racing bike will be on the commute probably next week and I'm hoping for some real racing

On monday someone overtook me just as I came out of work(!!!!)

It was a stick thin roadie on a Pompino. I got on their wheel, with difficulty, but then 50m later they forked left to go up towards Trull.

Later in the same ride I saw a kid on a bike wearing a spacemans "goldfish bowl" helmet

il_principe

Greg66 wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

Had a fantastic journey back as well, scalped 2 roadies on Queens ride, and then comprehensively outgunned a Cervelo (not GregT unfortunately) along Embankment.

Who?

jashburnham wrote:

Had a little duel with a bloke on a Cervelo TT bike as well but once I'd had him he hopped a pavement at lights on the new Kings Road and I didn't see him again (resorting to cheating when you've been nailed, typical Cervelo eh).

Wouldn't know about that.

Don't get nailed, see?

Dammit, I've gone and got my Greg's all confused.

greg66_tri_v2.0

jashburnham wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

Had a fantastic journey back as well, scalped 2 roadies on Queens ride, and then comprehensively outgunned a Cervelo (not GregT unfortunately) along Embankment.

Who?

jashburnham wrote:

Had a little duel with a bloke on a Cervelo TT bike as well but once I'd had him he hopped a pavement at lights on the new Kings Road and I didn't see him again (resorting to cheating when you've been nailed, typical Cervelo eh).

Wouldn't know about that.

Don't get nailed, see?

Dammit, I've gone and got my Greg's all confused.

Oh well. Console yourself. It would have been funny.

If you hadn't fcuked it. :P

biondino

I have never ever been to Bristol!

Jash, 34mph is very conservative for Broomfield Hill - were you delayed there too? I'm not a death or glory kind of rider at all but I routinely reach 37, 38 mph - never quite made 40 but with a bit more MTFUing I'm pretty sure I could.

Bassjunkieuk

Are we sure out pink suited rider wasn't G66 in his "weak shade of red" kit ;-)

Gonna be heading home double time this evening (well doing my best with the laptop on the back!) as my parcel from Wiggle has arrived........finally some "proper" road shoes in the form of their lovely dhb R1's! Will be replacing the lovely Lidl special MTB SPD shoes I've been wearing [out] for the last 9 months!

il_principe

biondino wrote:

I have never ever been to Bristol!

Jash, 34mph is very conservative for Broomfield Hill - were you delayed there too? I'm not a death or glory kind of rider at all but I routinely reach 37, 38 mph - never quite made 40 but with a bit more MTFUing I'm pretty sure I could.

Cars at the bottom of the hill I think. Although tbh I'm concentrating on my flat speeds atm, In fact I'm not sure the 34 was even on Broomfield, might have been on Queens road. I'll have to check the Garmin!

greg66_tri_v2.0

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

Are we sure out pink suited rider wasn't G66 in his "weak shade of red" kit ;-)

Oi!

snooks

jashburnham wrote:

biondino wrote:

I have never ever been to Bristol!

Jash, 34mph is very conservative for Broomfield Hill - were you delayed there too? I'm not a death or glory kind of rider at all but I routinely reach 37, 38 mph - never quite made 40 but with a bit more MTFUing I'm pretty sure I could.

Cars at the bottom of the hill I think. Although tbh I'm concentrating on my flat speeds atm, In fact I'm not sure the 34 was even on Broomfield, might have been on Queens road. I'll have to check the Garmin!

Just a thought (and I may be wrong), but a GPS tracks your speed over the ground, as if the surface was flat so if you're going down hill rather than seeing it as the distance of the hypotenuse of a triangle, (right angle triangle with a horizontal line at the top, skinny point also at the top thick point at the bottom) it will see it as the horizontal distance from the highest point to the lowest point.

Just a thought

il_principe

snooks wrote:

Just a thought (and I may be wrong), but a GPS tracks your speed over the ground, as if the surface was flat so if you're going down hill rather than seeing it as the distance of the hypotenuse of a triangle, (right angle triangle with a horizontal line at the top, skinny point also at the top thick point at the bottom) it will see it as the horizontal distance from the highest point to the lowest point.

Just a thought

Eh? I don't do triggerwotsit and that's made my head hurt. All I know is that the Edge 705 knows what is flat and what ain't, it can even tell you the gradient and is tied into a pretty accurate map in the form of Garmin City Navigator.

Mine is set to log info every second and seems to be pretty accurate.

Christophe3967

snooks wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

biondino wrote:

I have never ever been to Bristol!

Jash, 34mph is very conservative for Broomfield Hill - were you delayed there too? I'm not a death or glory kind of rider at all but I routinely reach 37, 38 mph - never quite made 40 but with a bit more MTFUing I'm pretty sure I could.

Cars at the bottom of the hill I think. Although tbh I'm concentrating on my flat speeds atm, In fact I'm not sure the 34 was even on Broomfield, might have been on Queens road. I'll have to check the Garmin!

Just a thought (and I may be wrong), but a GPS tracks your speed over the ground, as if the surface was flat so if you're going down hill rather than seeing it as the distance of the hypotenuse of a triangle, (right angle triangle with a horizontal line at the top, skinny point also at the top thick point at the bottom) it will see it as the horizontal distance from the highest point to the lowest point.

Just a thought

So do we need a Jash v Blondie face off from the top of Broomfield Hill, to say Robin Hood Gate roundabout??? Jash could then go straight from there to the sprint off against DDD, before tackling G66 in a hill climb up Sawyers Hill. That way we kill many birds with one stone.

Bassjunkieuk

Indeed the Garmin I believe can also track altitude via GPS (or black magic) so in theory even tho you aren't heading very far in the horizontal axis when descending it should be able to work out how fast your going!
When out on the Marlborough group ride when I got to the bottom of the fastest hill the readings from my wheel based cycle computer and the GPS based Sportstracker on my mobile (by no means as sophisticated as the Garmin) was only about 0.2 MPH out, not bad considering I clocked up 41.5!

il_principe

Christophe3967 wrote:

So do we need a Jash v Blondie face off from the top of Broomfield Hill, to say Robin Hood Gate roundabout??? Jash could then go straight from there to the sprint off against DDD, before tackling G66 in a hill climb up Sawyers Hill. That way we kill many birds with one stone.

:shock:

I'd just show Blondie some nasty pictures of injured cyclists beforehand, then casually mention that his helmet and rear QR look a bit loose as we set off. Should take care of Race 1.

Race 2 is as good as won - I'm not going to stop after Robin Hood so superior momentum should see me through!

Not sure about Race 3, but I'm thinking caltrops...

cjcp

jashburnham wrote:

Christophe3967 wrote:

So do we need a Jash v Blondie face off from the top of Broomfield Hill, to say Robin Hood Gate roundabout??? Jash could then go straight from there to the sprint off against DDD, before tackling G66 in a hill climb up Sawyers Hill. That way we kill many birds with one stone.

:shock:

I'd just show Blondie some nasty pictures of injured cyclists beforehand, then casually mention that his helmet and rear QR look a bit loose as we set off. Should take care of Race 1.

Race 2 is as good as won - I'm not going to stop after Robin Hood so superior momentum should see me through!

Not sure about Race 3, but I'm thinking caltrops...

Sawyer's Hill isn't steep enough for a hill climb. Nightingale Lane, however...

Roastie

It is amazing how one incident can spoil an otherwise good mood (perhaps I should have posted this in rants).

I was hammering along nicely. I made my way smoothly past all the traffic over London Bridge, over the wheel strength test section of Borough, negotiated the two roundabouts by E&C and even had a smooth run past Vauxhall. The only blip being a RLJ'ing roadie idiot who I'd just scalped but who then insisted on pushing past on my left and very nearly clipping me as I settled onto my track stand.

So I headed onto the bleak Nine Elms stretch on a happy endorphins high, a few blinking lights ahead (slow MTBs), Waiting at the lights, Two roadies whip by. How this irritates me. They're in their own battle, the Cannondale pilot wins but I catch him by Battersea Park station.

I should add now that over the last week my stupid right hand crank has worked itself loose from the shaft (Shimano two piece, so this is a manufacturing fault) - it works, but has a bit of play and creaks like a b@stard (new crank in the mail).

Amazingly they stop at the red, but (being idiotic) in the intersection rather than in the (empty) ASL. Lights turn green, I grab a gap through the usual multitude of slowpokes who pushed their way to the front in the meantime and who *just have to* be at the front of the queue and then pass Cannondale pilot - leaving me to give it horns down Battersea Park and not get re-caught.

But a red ped crossing scuppers this and he arrives next to me, ready to take off as soon as the ped is passed. Light turns green and I go - but he is struggling to get away in too high a gear (what is probably his 52x12) and veers massively left and forces me to brake (or hit him). Incompetence on a grand scale. I was in half a mind just to elbow the @#%$er out of the way :evil:, but figured it might be construed as out of order to knock him down into the path of traffic.

Anyway, we stay together until Latchmere were, you guessed it, he RLJs and this is the last I see of him. Too many reds to repass him (and practically home anyway) - but was I fuming (calmer now after a bit of typing).

Off to graze...

Bassjunkieuk

Roastiecp wrote:

I was in half a mind just to elbow the @#%$er out of the way :evil:, but figured it might be construed as out of order to knock him down into the path of traffic.

Would be a good way to get rid of RLJers

Seemed all the roadies on my route home where RLJers as well.........bl00dy berks!
I see from your post tho that you do some of my route from London Bridge down to E&C - it's been a while since I've been down Borough High Road and I now remember why I hated it so much.......it's a *tiny* bit better then I remember but I was still WELL out from the kerb avoiding the craters down there!

snooks

yep, traffic lights were my nemesis tonight, leave everyone behind on the Mile End road, stop at the red, and wait for them all to catch up....drop them all again, hit another red...What's an SCR'er s'posed to do?? :?:

The only time someone I got past me was when I stopped at red and they went flying through :evil:

I saw the team clad roadie from yesterday, who went though a -just gone- red that I stopped at....That was it, the chase was on. I'd beaten them off all the previous lights from 2/3 of the way down Mile end road, but this was playing catch up, in a BIG way.

Caught him, passed him, left him for dead. :twisted:

That was until I stopped at a ped crossing at red and they went flying through. into the traffic and I had to turn off....

Now if I leave about 6 1/2 mins earlier I should be able to beat him all the way down the mile end road....Mwaaahhhhhahhhhaaaaa! :twisted:

Roastie

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

I see from your post tho that you do some of my route from London Bridge down to E&C ...

Yeah . I'd noticed a couple of your posts re: SCR action around London Bridge.

Anyhow, I'll be looking out for a speedily ridden SCR.

DonDaddyD

I must be fast! I must be!

I love my new commute. Left at Oval and headed up towards Clapham. My seat post was positioned perfect, I put my head down found my cadence and went into TT Mode.

Overtook everything until a Trek road bike took me. I thought he must be rapid because he stayed in the outside lane and looked to be moving at traffic speed. Past the lights and I'm catching the Trek, he's burned himself out and I've reclaimed my Scalp and taken he's.

Clapham North to the Clapham Common was a little tricky with the traffic so I slowed it down.

Clapham Common to the Clapham South, The drag strip and I count 12 other cyclists. The lights go green and I'm stuck behind a fairweather and a girl to the right with her front wheel hanging other my back, I can't move out. I ride defensively making a opening and I spin like I've never spun before. My bike is squeeking and the bottom bracket is making a knocking sound and I feel it as it does, its a worry but I keep going. I slow it down check the shoulder nothing behind me! :shock:

Balham to Tooting, The drag strip. I do the same spin as above, scalping this over eager flat bar guy who has been bugging ever since I got to Clapham South.

I drop him take a guy on a red Voodoo hybrid in Colliers wood and make my way home wondering what the hell happened at the Marlborough Loop and trying to think of ways I can combine my flat road spinning to hill climbing.... advice please?

snooks

DonDaddyD wrote:

My bike is squeeking and the bottom bracket is making a knocking sound and I feel it as it does,

Yousure it's not your knees? and your bike is fine???

itboffin

Judging by the scuffs on your BB cups i'd say they didn't put it in straight and just forced it.

cjcp

Bonanza! SCR action all the way home tonight!

Topped out at 33.5mph after Chelsea Bridge, so a bit quicker than last night and definitely more in the tank (this is about as good as it gets for me ). The highlight was accelerating away from a scooter at the end of DSC and absolutely skinning another on the outside on the flat section after Chelsea Bridge . Queen's Ride wasn't as quick though - dagnabbit! :P

Tit for tat from from the NKR all the way home with a chap in team kit. But I wasn't convinced he was trying as hard as he could have - things seemed a bit easy for him. Sub-50 mins again though.

Bassjunkieuk

DDD - I'm not sure if your sprinting ability will transfer naturally to hill climbing. The hills we encountered on the ML are a different type of hill to what we get round here. In London we're lucky if we see anything climb for much more then a mile or so (at least in the limited area I've ridden, which includes Crystal Palace........)
Take your 17% hill down in Pollards Hill, whilst it was steep it didn't need a continous effort to get up and regardless of if you grinded up it or sprinted your climbing for about 30-45 seconds.

As has been said before the only way to improve hill climbing ability is to practice on hills! Much like riding on the flat you'll learn your own rhythm and learn how your body deals with tackling hills. I also think you have to remember that you have to mentally climb the hill to. Hitting a hill and thinking "OMFG how am I going to make it up this" immediately puts you on a back foot, where as if you have a few hill climbs under your belt you'll feel more confident and tackle it better!

If you want some good practice we can always do the hill repeats G66 used to do around Crystal Palace, the final part up Anerley Hill really bites!

cjcp

DonDaddyD wrote:

trying to think of ways I can combine my flat road spinning to hill climbing.... advice please?

Hills, hills and hills. And lose weight. And, at the same time, work on your power. It's all about power to weight ratio. See, for example, JonGinge. And hills. (Well, actually, you don't have to ride hills all the time. I'm better on hills than on the flat (better in the sense that I get spanked less), but I rarely venture out into the Surrey Hills. I put it down to carrying the extra weight of my backpack up the much shorter climbs in Richmond Park day in day out. The backpack weighs about a stone.)

itboffin

I just got up then down and up again, repeat and rinse

My goal is to complete the ML without my HR reaching above 180.

cjcp

itboffin wrote:

My goal is to complete the ML without my HR reaching above 180.

You're missing the point: hills don't become easier, just faster. :twisted: