Silly commuting racing

Deadeye Duck

You say that, but when he floats over a traffic jam, mary poppins style, he'll have the last laugh!

King Donut

edhornby wrote:

at the lights I'm stopped next to a guy holding a brolly as he's riding his bike !!! he was riding one handed and holding brolley in other

Brilliant.

Some good action this morning. Caught a threesome just after VB and scooted along at 30-35 with a steady tailwind. Filtering through the lane restriction on Embankment, I pass a scooter and suddenly I'm drafting an Aston who's holding 30mph and being very considerate to the other cyclists. Road clears and he floors it leaving me with a bananarey mucas in mouth as I try to gain some kind of slingshot behind him. Needless to say I just look like a tw4t who’s trying to keep up with an Aston Martin on a pushbike.

I hope it’s not raining later. Last night’s ride home was horrible.

Roastie

cjcp wrote:

I've pencilled in either 21st (Hillingdon) or 23 (HH) for some racing as a bit of last minute speed training before the Tour of the Black Mountains.

I'm feeling a bit lame this week, so will probably skip both CP and The Hill this week anyways.

amnezia

Seriously dark moody clouds moving over london at the minute.

Ride home could be interesting..... :shock:

shoulder_of_orion

Had some brilliant action last night on way home....

First I passed a quickish guy on an Eddy Mercx bike on embankment, he wasn't happy and gave chase. I was on the hoods and put the hammer down in a kind of offhand way to give the impression of not putting any effort in. Suddenly click click click and I was out of gears. At that point (31mph doing a slowish cadence), I got down onto the drops and put the hammer down. I dropped him big time on the westerly approach to Chelsea bridge (the little up hill bit). He got past me later on Embankment due to a combination of filtering, red lights and traffic, but when I looked over we both knew the damage had been done.

Then immediately after that and I found I had another limpet behind me. He followed within wheel length from Vauxhall bridge to the other side of Oval. I felt like turning round and saying "try taking a turn at the front". But I didn't and at the lights I got a look at his bike and lo and behold it was a green steel Reynolds with mud guards and single pannier. Sure enough he took off like a rocket and took his turn at the front for a while and for the next three miles we were cat and mouse, neither having the power to get away from the other each passing the other regularly.

My bike is nowhere near the best but if we had been on like-for-like bikes I would probably have been in a whole world of pain and remorse this morning.

I was anyway in a way. I had a puncture! I had almost wanted one as I got to try out my new CO2 gizmo. Pure magic, inflated it fully in 2 secs. I would have been away 2mins later had it not been for the massive bald patch on my tire, but just after the tire was inflated, a small bubble appeared through the bald patch and BANG!

Another flat. No more tubes. Left bike at mates house slummed it in on train and tube, 1 hour late.

I had noticed the bald patch on Friday and ordered some new tires but they still haven't arrived. C'mon wiggle!

hisoka

On my way home last night I don't honestly know if I passed anyone, the rain was so hard that i could barely see a few metres ahead and the puddles so deep I could have cycled past a submersed rider on a bike and not even seen them!
Does SCR count if I was near enough swimming rather then riding?

On a side note, felt awesome to make it all the way home in the horizontal river!

lost_in_thought

It's just brightening up... I might not need my rain jacket after all!

I did manage to cycle in in the one clear bit this morning.

I think last night's rain may have meant that the SCR 'always on a clear road' rule may not have applied...

blu3cat

oh my god - the rain, it's bouncing a full 1 ft high off the road, and it is getting like night here.

Hmm, maybe a tiptoe with waterproofs on is in order.

very little action this morning - left late and missed all the earlier commuters, but had an argument with a bus driver (private hire).

he started to overtake me on Fulham palace Road and gave me plenty of space only to realise there was a traffic island due to a crossing in the middle of the road. Cue him cuttingstraight back to the kerb, missed me by about 6 inches next to my right handlebar.

Cue me banging the back left hand side of the bus and an absolutely foul mouthed tirade against the driver (I may have questioned his sight, his parentage and compared him to both female and male genitals as well as what he likes to do with them).

It's then I relaised the bus wasn't empty, but was carrying a school trip of 8-11 year olds who no doubt heard me rant(I feel so guilty about my tirade) :oops:

amnezia

lost_in_thought wrote:

It's just brightening up... I might not need my rain jacket after all!

Famous last words... i rode home through a thunderstorm :shock:

time to DTFU

redvee

Had somebody on an old roadbike with the handlebars turned through 180 degrees trying to pass me several times on teh ride in today. Left him at a set of lights and thought that would be the end of him but no, he came back for more.

BTW no rain in my part of Brizzle since dinnertime, dry ride in and home.

jimmypippa

cjcp wrote:

edhornby wrote:

ok FCN adjudication request

at the lights I'm stopped next to a guy holding a brolly as he's riding his bike !!! he was riding one handed and holding brolley in other

it was hammering it down this morning in manchester so it was b ugger all use.... funny tho

Some people are too stupid for words.

A former colleague used to shave on his bike. He also sometimes rode with a brolly. He lived about 5-miniutes from work

Roastie

Nice quick ride back with G Roberts. Pity those puddles were so incompatible with speed.

Bassjunkieuk

Tarmac Terrorist wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

Tarmac Terrorist wrote:

this looks like a fun game! i regulary roast fellow cyclist on my way to work - a short hop rom dulwich to elephant and castle. I extended my journey to take in the old kent road to make the journey longer and look for new scalps. I was mullered by this guy one morning and it pushed me to train harder and push myself a bit harder....but i was wondering how much of a difference (it might sound silly i know) your bike makes in these situations?

Welcome TT :-) What you riding? One of my commute routes take me through Dulwich (Village) then to E & C via Denmark Hill & Camberwell - So far I've only encountered one person on that route (a chap on a SS Genesis) who has ever given me any trouble but I can at least keep an eye out for you ;-) As far as bikes go the we have an allowance for these with the FCN (google it or look at the link in my sig for "The Game" group on Facebook) so roadies and FG sit just below scooters (included to give those uber fast people something to play with!) at the top down to full on knobbly equiped MTB's and shoppers at the bottom.

Also belated happy birthday CJ :P

Thanks Bassjunkieuk! i ride a carerra virtuoso, gets me around, but have realised my entusiasm is not matched by my choice of steed lol! so hoping to purschase a Boardman team carbon in next few weeks. its red and i normally wear a grey lid and there are not many black guys cutting through traffic at that time of the morniing down my way lol! what bike do you ride, will look out for you!!

Black and red Giant SCR 3.0 (07) for me, I've seen a few road bike riders down through there but can't remember if I've come accross a Virtuoso yet.
Nice and easy ride home today thanks to the "mildly" wet roads, I decided to take it a bit slower then my usual sprint home. Lined up at the final lights and I can see another cyclist ahead of me, a good 50-75m lead. As I get closer I can see the "rider" is on a clapped out old MTB and my overtake is being held up by his rather erratic riding style as he just casually sways side to side with a car just off his back wheel. Once the traffic stops coming in the opposite direction the car and myself go round and I immediately put the hammer down and swing back in as I come past him then undertake the car just for good measure :-D

cjcp

Another unscheduled deflation. Two in the same day now. Grrr.

Guess how many people asked if all was ok?

One. Double grrr.

The irony is that I stopped on the NKR, turned the bike around to see if a woman with a flat was ok.

And there were loads of RLJers. :evil: One in club kit. Good advert, mate. :?

tardington

If someone pushes in front of you at the lights, that counts as throwing down the gauntlet doesn't it?

A guy with a trailer with a lawnmower went in front of me today.

Kieran_Burns

tardington wrote:

If someone pushes in front of you at the lights, that counts as throwing down the gauntlet doesn't it?

A guy with a trailer with a lawnmower went in front of me today.

So he cut you up then?


Well... SOMEONE had to say it!

tardington

We need a 'boom tish' smiley really, don't we?

rolf_f

Kieran_Burns wrote:

So he cut you up then?


Well... SOMEONE had to say it!

Naaaah, mowed him down!

Kieran_Burns

tardington wrote:

We need a 'boom tish' smiley really, don't we?

Maybe a "Dear God. NO more!" smiley?

tardington

Just leave me a lawn you guys!

Bassjunkieuk

Top of the food chain, the mow-ped :-)

tardington

I am going to grass on you.

hisoka

You know after a while these jokes become too mulch.

Roastie

cjcp wrote:

Another unscheduled deflation. Two in the same day now. Grrr.

Guess how many people asked if all was ok?

One. Double grrr.

The irony is that I stopped on the NKR, turned the bike around to see if a woman with a flat was ok.

And there were loads of RLJers. :evil: One in club kit. Good advert, mate. :?

My top two pet peeves - unwillingness to even offer help and bl^%dy RLJing.

Kieran_Burns

at least mine are a cut above the rest.

Greg T

Were you going at a fair clip? If you could seed ahead you might have been able to get your motor running and left him in a Flymo

UndercoverElephant

hisoka wrote:

You know after a while these jokes become too mulch.

True, but in a pun-fest you should make hay whilst the sun shines.

Kieran_Burns

UndercoverElephant wrote:

hisoka wrote:

You know after a while these jokes become too mulch.

True, but in a pun-fest you should make hay whilst the sun shines.

it's raining

biondino

Aaargh - I decided last night to put my old Alexrim wheel from the Trek on the Focus as an interim measure, but the door to my shed is jammed shut and I can't unlock it! Gah!

Anyone in London W1 selling a cheap, solid Shimano-compatible rear wheel in good nick?

lost_in_thought

biondino wrote:

Aaargh - I decided last night to put my old Alexrim wheel from the Trek on the Focus as an interim measure, but the door to my shed is jammed shut and I can't unlock it! Gah!

Anyone in London W1 selling a cheap, solid Shimano-compatible rear wheel in good nick?

Or a sledgehammer so you can get into the shed... why is the fulcrum taking so long?