Silly commuting racing

victor ludorum

Totalnewbie wrote:

Found me a fellow female on a road bike but it felt a hollow victory as she was on flats and trainers, then again she didn't have my mudguards, rack and pannier combo...so technically we were equal...hmmm.

Its the 'hmmmm' that gives it away. you crave bigger game. feel the anger coursing through you, give into the dark side...

Totalnewbie

Well, I thought I had a worthy roadie opponent later on as we went along Albert Embankment. I was catching him up nicely... then he went up onto the bloody cycle path that skirts round Vauxhall Cross... (and is divided by about three toucan crossings and is largely a frustrating affair). I stayed and played with five lanes of traffic which was of course much faster. Another hollow victory...the fecking cycle path...I ask you...*

*ok, I used it a handful of times when I really was a Totalnewbie and nervous of traffic but you hardly ever see roadies using it...

snooks

Totalnewbie wrote:

Well, I thought I had a worthy roadie opponent later on as we went along Albert Embankment...

It was bloomin' breezy along the river tonight

Totalnewbie

Yep it was. And it's never in your favour is it...

biondino

So Putney Bridge tonight, I stop at the lights on the Fulham side behind 2 MTBs - or so I think. They both rlj and the faster of the two is out of my range by the time the lights change. The slower looks like easy meat but that's the problem, too easy... oi! As I start to pull away a fixie shoots past me, driven quickly by someone who looks like they know what they're doing.

I stamp on the pedals and get on his tail quickly. A bus turns and slows us both down, and as it clears it's a straight drag race to the brow of the bridge. Neck and neck at first, but I won't stand up, I won't appear anything other than focused and relaxed, and I gradually pull away, one length, two, three, probably about 4 by the brow. I freewheel down the other side, victorious, but desperately hoping he's not turning right as well because I'm cream crackered. He carries on towards the high street. Victory!

As I cycle home smugly, legs hairily turning the cranks on my lovely carbon friend, it suddenly occurs to me - today I am wearing my Astana 2007 The Cheatingest Team Ever! (TM) jersey. Colour drains from my face. Today of all days I have to be a sodding FCN3.

Bassjunkieuk

Had the best race of my recent weeks of relatively quiet commuting this morning. As I was waiting to pull out of the side road onto the main road in Morden I spotted a roadie coming down towards me! I waited for a suitable gap after him and pulled out to begin chasing him down. As he passed I couldn't quite make out if he was a shaved like a laydee or hairy, either way he was in full lycra/jersey combo so I reckon he was an FCN above me.

As I started chasing him down I realized he was actually making fairly good ground. I was doing a rather reasonable 22-23mph and only slowly gaining on him. I begin to realize I have a proper race on my hands and prepare to lay down some decent speed.

We pull up at the next set of lights which only turned out to be a short sprint to the next set. I launched off and managed to hold him off until the next set, which I knew was going to be the big battleground. These lights lead onto a big dual carriageway, meaning the cars can give you a wide berth (in theory) and leave us to "play". It started out pretty much like the last set of lights, they went green and I sprinted off managing to get ahead. I started working up through the gears, all the time keeping an eye on the shadow down by my side.

A quick glance at the speedo confirmed I was indeed shifting, just over 28mph. My legs are starting to burn and I was trying to maintain my breathing. It was then that I noticed another shadow next to me, and then heard him along me. I started trying to push harder but my legs and lungs just didn't seem to want to co-operate. I could now feel him breathing down my neck but knew I couldn't give up. As we approached the far end of the road I started to back off as we where approaching traffic. He slipped past then and we filtered through to the front of the queue. We both stopped at the front but I couldn't bring myself to say anything to him, mainly due to the fact I was trying my hardest to not collapse!

When the lights changed we both headed in different directions and I took a slightly-slower-then-normal ride up Grand Drive as I was still recovering from the previous battle. I don't feel I can claim the scalp as whilst I did beat him off the lights, he did manage to catch me up when I was in full swing. Still proper fun tho, even though I did ride my self silly :-)

guinea

I got overtaken tonight when giving it some juice.

I was doing 26mph on knobbly tyres.

The bugger was on an MTB too. Unfortunately he was in baggies and myself in lycra, although he had SPDs and I had flats. Our FCNs were the same.

My first defeat.

I don't want to talk about it any more.

snooks

biondino wrote:

So Putney Bridge tonight

Some git on a bright orange trek went by me <FCN went past, got about 6ft ahead, not full in line in front...Then gobbed!?! :evil: ...inches away from having green hair gel, and a face full of goo I was not amused :evil:

Then he had the indecency to RLJ so I could gob on his back at the lights!! :twisted:

Obviously passing me had torn up his lungs so badly he had to try to get some more air into them

snooks

guinea wrote:

I got overtaken tonight when giving it some juice.

I was doing 26mph on knobbly tyres.

The bugger was on an MTB too. Unfortunately he was in baggies and myself in lycra, although he had SPDs and I had flats. Our FCNs were the same.

My first defeat.

I don't want to talk about it any more.

Go on talk, get it out of your system....You might want to read the rules again though... in the preamble at the start you'll see this :
The Game:
Dropping / Pulling anyone higher in the Food Chain Number makes you stronger and more attractive to burds*. Getting dropped / trying to keep up with anyone lower means your soul hires a kudos remover to lower your self worth.

IF your FCNs were the same, no crime has been commited, do not go to jail, pass go and collect £200! Unless you knew you were better than him of course, then you can rot in the dungeons of your soul...but if not...

Stop your moody "I was beaten" attitude, get out of the tunnel of despair you find yourself in, rise up, stand proud Guinea, for you are a player, someone to fear on the road, a noble challenger who rides on a different level (than the tube shy gutter wobber at least) who is more attractive to the opposite sex, or the same sex if that's your inclination, who finds himself, or herself, amongst brothers, or sisters, or both...

Rse forgot where I was going with that...anyway don't let it happen again!
.

spursn17

God, this game is killing me!

Took my first roadie today. It was a girl on Northumberland Ave, she jumped the lights at the embankment junc (I've stopped RLJ'ing as a result of reading these forums) and I caught up with her at the Blackfriars underpass. I don't know if I'm ashamed as it feels like I've taken advantage as it's a girl (apparently I've got a bigger heart and lungs), or if I feel chuffed as she was going at a fair old lick on a road bike.


How do you put your FCN number at the bottom of your posts?

snooks

spursn17 wrote:

God, this game is killing me!

Yep it's killing us all, but we like it and we'll all die fitter

spursn17 wrote:

How do you put your FCN number at the bottom of your posts?

Up there not qite top left you should see :BikeRadar Forum Index click on that...in roughly the same place on the next page you'll see Profile, click that, scroll down and find where it say signature , add what ever you want...lines from a song, how good you feel beating girlies or just your FCN, and if you want to link to the facebook group you can just put [ and ] at each end of this url=http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17813152777]THE Game[/url and put that in your signature and it should look like the bit at the bottom of mine....also make sure BBCode is ON

It should all become clear when you give it a go

cjcp

TWO Police Community Support scooters on Embankment during tonight's commute. They were, however, scootering very sensibly, so not the greatest of scalps.

spursn17

Cheers Snooks

I've noticed that since I've been reading this thread my average speed has gone up.

il_principe

spursn17 wrote:

(I've stopped RLJ'ing as a result of reading these forums)

WooHoo.

I had a great time this am - headed up to Richmond Park on the roadie for a quick lap. No one of interest on the way but on the way back I scalped 1 Kingston Wheeler (shaved). Put me in a great mood for the Embankment, so at Battersea Bridge I spy a couple of hybrids creeping at the lights, one of them shoots me a look (to be fair I'm astride the Prince and sporting matching Pinarello lycra and gloves (tart alert, FCN through the floor) so clearly there's a large target on my back), anyway this fella looks like he fancies it, the lights go green and he's off like a whippet (or so he thinks), I clip in languidly, then slip onto the drops and put the hammer down, take him doing 21 or so then wind all the way up to 30mph (hybrid boy is left choking on my smug), wheel in a little red scooter, speed limited I reckon - I'm holding 30 up to Battersea Bridge and he just can't pass me, then I lose him in traffic. 2 more hybrids passed post bridge then I'm waiting at the lights for the Lupus street junction and scooter boy pulls up alongside. He's wearing a dark visor but inclines his head towards me and I guess he wants to go again - sadly Lupus is my turn off so I have to leave him to it, but dammit if scooters aren't more fun than hybrids.

Thing is, am I allowed to play the game when I'm out training? Had to bus it into work tonight as I'm meeting the GF straight after work so technically no commuter racing for me today even if I was racing commuters...

Greg T

Just in case you haven't kept pace with my bike history...... I've previously been a solid salt of the Earth yeoman hairy Roadie.

However my head was turned by lots of mystical talk about single geared bikes and I thought - hey - it's apparently cool and all the kids at school are doing it so I decided rather than spend three months looking for bits and a frame, three months working out that none of the bits fitted the frame and three minutes deciding I'd built a crap bike - I'd just buy a singlie.

2nd Hand Kona Paddy Wagon, or the tractor as it has become known....

Now the gearing was stock 42 16 (42 teeth on the ring on the crank, 16 teeth on the cog on the back wheel) and whilst pleasant would have me topping out at 110 RPM and 22 - 23 mph, well under the embankment required cruising speed to play with the big dogs... If you aren't eating up 25 on the flat then you are high end hairy roadie food from now till Christmas. (Wind changes everything)...

So I upped the size of my ring (gnurk) to 48, that puppy will develop 26 mph at 110 RMP (or thereabouts) so the "power band" is bang in the critical low to mid twenties wheat from the chaff space......

Other singlies on stock off the peg bikes will be running similar original gears and as such are falling beneath my wheels with mechanical surety.

Three - yes three Spesh Langsters this morning........ Ridden down and crushed by my mighty ring.

I'm not counting the hairy roadies I'm doing as there are too many. (Have I told you about my big ring?)

Something that the single gear is teaching me is that I am a great big nancy "oooh it hurts a bit, I'll change down" when I'm on the road bike. When you have no-where to go you've just got to man it up and attack the hills / wind. I've found myself with my hands down on the drops sitting up and attacking Tower hill this morning just because I wanted to keep my cadence up. I haven't used the drop bars as leverage before - not needed to with my (ample) bodyweight being sufficient to turn my cranks in low gears.

I seem to have been a great big girly man for the last eight years.

Remember - play safe.

il_principe

Nowhere to hide with just the one cog. SS has totally changed my riding style on the geared roadie. I tend to grind up climbs now when I used to spin (not always a good thing) but I do find that I can power up short climbs now much better than I used to.

el_presidente

jashburnham wrote:

Nowhere to hide with just the one cog. SS has totally changed my riding style on the geared roadie. I tend to grind up climbs now when I used to spin (not always a good thing) but I do find that I can power up short climbs now much better than I used to.

I agree, have been commuting on fixed for the past three months or so & felt superfit on a long geared ride the other day.

Greg T

I'm considering following JB down to 15 on the back to "really kick the arse out of it"....

I'm starting to sound like a proper single speed beardy - when do I get my CAMRA membership?

victor ludorum

jashburnham wrote:

Thing is, am I allowed to play the game when I'm out training? Had to bus it into work tonight as I'm meeting the GF straight after work so technically no commuter racing for me today even if I was racing commuters...

If you're out amongst commuters on a weekday, on a Pinarello Prince in full matching lycra, you've got no choice. You've got to be playing, even if only in self-defence. You can be damn sure that everyone else on the road will be playing you.

Its got wiggly front forks for heaven's sake! I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful bike but it's not exactly understated is it? Did Gaudi design it on an quiet day at the Sagrada Familia? If you go past on that, middle-aged ladies on shoppers with big wicker baskets on the front are going to be up on the hoods looking for a scalp...

il_principe

victor ludorum wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

Thing is, am I allowed to play the game when I'm out training? Had to bus it into work tonight as I'm meeting the GF straight after work so technically no commuter racing for me today even if I was racing commuters...

If you're out amongst commuters on a weekday, on a Pinarello Prince in full matching lycra, you've got no choice. You've got to be playing, even if only in self-defence. You can be damn sure that everyone else on the road will be playing you.

Its got wiggly front forks for heaven's sake! I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful bike but it's not exactly understated is it? Did Gaudi design it on an quiet day at the Sagrada Familia? If you go past on that, middle-aged ladies on shoppers with big wicker baskets on the front are going to be up on the hoods looking for a scalp...

Looking, but not getting. Having said that, I was about as understated as this fella today:

http://www.vimeo.com/1368591

Video courtesy of Tynan, cheers fella!

pst88

Oh great adjudicators of the game, where do wool jerseys fit into the grand scheme of things? My guess is that it's on a level with lycra? Although to the untrained eye it just looks like I'm riding along in a woolen jumper... Difficult to judge. Popped my Campagnolo Classica wool long sleeve jersey on this morning and although I might not want to admit it, I knew deep down in my heart that my FCN had changed.

victor ludorum

jashburnham wrote:

Looking, but not getting.

Ah, but you'd be surprised by what a middle-aged woman can do once her ears are pricked...

Besides, you lose concentration for one moment, you pause to admire yourself while passing a shop window and bam!

If you go around looking like the fastest gun in the west, you always have to be ready for the punk behind you to whisper 'draw'.

il_principe

victor ludorum wrote:

If you go around looking like the fastest gun in the west, you always have to be ready for the punk behind you to whisper 'draw'.

I'm hoping that all this ostentation will bring some "punks" out of the woodwork... it's all a cunning tactic you see... I just see myself as bait!

Greg T

pst88 wrote:

Campagnolo Classica

Campy kit looks cool but is bought at the cost of constant vigilance and dead certain Glycogen debt.......

For myself I fancy this kit - LOOK FREE LITTLE CAP!



http://www.alwaysriding.co.uk/alwaysshop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=143_146_46&products_id=8

But am too scared.........

cjcp

el_presidente wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

Nowhere to hide with just the one cog. SS has totally changed my riding style on the geared roadie. I tend to grind up climbs now when I used to spin (not always a good thing) but I do find that I can power up short climbs now much better than I used to.

I agree, have been commuting on fixed for the past three months or so & felt superfit on a long geared ride the other day.

I agree, although by a different method.

Whilst I don't ride a singlie, I left the front mech off my commuter, so always ride in the 53. The idea was to combine the effect of having to ride up the steep hill in Richmind Park or into the ever-present headwinds on Embankment and being laden with a heavy-ish backpack to be stronger uphill. Seems to have worked.

Claimed a shaved fixie in club colours and a chap on tri bars this morning. Credit to the very feisty mtber wearing trainers though. He was scalping most things in his path.

il_principe

cjcp wrote:

Credit to the very feisty mtber wearing trainers though. He was scalping most things in his path.

I always wonder how these fellas manage to do this in trainers. Kudos.

jedster

spy a couple of hybrids creeping at the lights, one of them shoots me a look (to be fair I'm astride the Prince and sporting matching Pinarello lycra and gloves (tart alert, FCN through the floor) so clearly there's a large target on my back), anyway this fella looks like he fancies it, the lights go green and he's off like a whippet (or so he thinks), I clip in languidly, then slip onto the drops and put the hammer down, take him doing 21 or so then wind all the way up to 30mph (hybrid boy is left choking on my smug)

So hybrid boy may have the heart for the fight but no race sense. I mean, some bloke pulls up next you in full euro-gimp atire and some piece of extravagant italian exotica underneath him, do you

a) belt off, allowing him to take you at his leisure and, FCN positions not withstanding, make you look an arse for picking fights you couldn't win
or
b) let the tart go but stick on his wheel, sizing him up and letting his FCN paranoia grow for as long as possible.

You have to credit his ambition but he won't last long in this game unless he learns from his mistakes.

Greg T

Jedster's on the money.

The canny player will hold off and size up the oppo before, "in a time and place of his choosing", make his move. It is a low risk strategy, as we know the pain of a counterbumping on Putney Bridge actually registers on seismic sensors in Japan.

However.

Taking off at the head of the field and laying down your awesome for all to see, inviting all comers is a "big bet - big win" play - it's ballsy.

I went for option two last night with the swarm (and there were players in the mix) at the lights at the Putney side of the bridge going right. I won.

BAM!

il_principe

Got to be option 2 eh, some of these hybrids are wolves in sheep's clothing - I saw one trackstanding impeccably the other day FFS. Number one and as jedster points out you run the risk of:

jedster wrote:

let the tart go but stick on his wheel, sizing him up and letting his FCN paranoia grow for as long as possible.
.

:shock:

ride_whenever

Do we have a current list, or is the one on the first page still active? I fancy playing but cannae be arsed to trawl through 68 pages!