Silly commuting racing

jimmypippa

Kieran_Burns wrote:

jimmypippa wrote:

FFS Fourth double post

STEP AWAY FROM THE MOUSE!

Yes that is the problem: I tend to use opera, with mouse gestures, but if the website is playing up, I can go back and forwards several times, almost without realising.

Arrgh.

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Oh, and Jimmy - I may have asked before - but what part of the Peaks? (I'm right at the Southern tip - I have to cycle 15ish miles north to get to Ashbourne)

Just South of Kinder Scout, near Buxton (click on my sig picture to see my regular commute: dodgems with loads of quarry lorries on the A6.)

I saw a right numpty today: Cycling on the pavement , except when ther ewere parked cars whereupon he dropped into the road to go round them


...He was cycling on the right hand pavement, so kept on jumping into the path of the oncomming traffic.

blu3cat

Ah, nothing livens up the return journey than a few easy scalps , a couple of roadies on Fulham Palace Road, no epic struggles unfortunately

A quick note to the lycra-d chap on the Time and his friend on the Specialized. Top work for RLJing through into the box junction where Hammersmith one way and the A40 exit meet. You really were plenty old enough to know better. :roll:

cjcp

Had a chap on a Look grabbing a tow through and out the other side of DSC tonight to the railway bridge lights tonight. He was on the drops too. Next time, feel free to say "thanks", fella.

Whole gaggle of roadies RLJ'd at the lights before that bridge and then made the green lights at Chelsea Bridge. Just as well because they saved themseves a scalping. :twisted:

Roastie

I was in Swindon again today, so rode up to Pads for the train and then the 6km blast out to the office.

I feel for guys who ride the route I rode today - there is just about zero SCR through Chelsea/S.Ken/Hyde Park. It is Pootleville.

Thankfully just one day a week.

Eau Rouge

So..there I am coming into work down the hill to the first of the two sets of part-time traffic lights near work. The first set, at the bottom of a long hill, go green, so I can scoot around the turn and keep some momentum. Three cars pass me on the run to the second set, which are red. There is a little cycle lane on the left here, so I use that and start to come past them on their left when the lights change. The second two are indicating to turn left, like me, into work. As I come past them, I see the lead car is also indicating left, and has started to move now the lights have changed. The entrance is nowhere near wide enough for a car and a bike, especially when the BMW driver isn't going to be looking for me, so I brake and let him go, slipping in behind him and in front of the second car.

It's only about 200m to a right turn and the start of a drag, but it has two big lumpy speed bumps in that 200m, and it's flat. I know I'm faster than a car over those bumps, so around the turn I move over to the right and when the road opens up, move to overtake the BMW. We hit the first bump together, but I roll over it with no drop of pace while the beemer has to slow a lot. I hold the pace to the next one, moving back into the proper lane, and over the second one. After that one the car can speed up again, so I need to keep the pace for the last 100m and by the time I make the right turn, the car has still to catch up.
I fully expected him to cruise past up the drag, but no, he must have gone straight on, and with a bit of effort I made it up the drag before the other cars arrived too.
I'd call that a bit of a scalp

itboffin

itboffin wrote:

I rode the SS with my new mans gearing this morning, I feel old and used like on of GT hankies

sitting on the train staring at the wind swept countryside wondering why I did that

this is going to hurt...

Okay that was weird, windy and I was tired yet I managed to go faster than this morning into a headwind and uphill all the way home and it actually didn't hurt at all.

Must be the new Castelli bib shorts :roll: yes more new Castelli

redvee

Coming home tonight I had the stupid idea of scalping a scooter :roll: Pulled upto the lights just behind her rolling slightly ready for the charge of the green light and she was away and through the next set of lights just as they went from green to amber and being the light abiding cyclist I am I had to stop but she was at the next set of lights when I got there but chasing was out of the game as I wanted to hit the ATM. Talking of which they aren't touchscreen like my phone yet :oops: tried to press the screen and not the buttons at the side of the screen.

girv73

I was taking it easy today after an epic (for me) 55 miler. It was wet and windy so I wasn't expecting much action, but maybe I'd left later than usual or something 'cause by-crikey there were a lot of bikes along the Belfast Lough Shore path. None were moving as fast as me, even in "active recovery" mode One girl did give it a go as I passed her, but an easy ramp to 17mph left her well behind.

On the way home again I was looking for another easy ride, but I ended up chasing a fit looking chap on a Specialized Tricross (I think) with matching Specialized branded kit and accessories. We were moving at 20mph and I don't think he was trying too hard, though there was a tailwind at that point. Moot anyway, as our paths diverged pretty quickly and I was back on to the shore path where there were a few laggards to pass but nothing interesting.

Then in the Newtownabbey Way foresty path I lost the back wheel on a wet & slippery bend and went down hard on one arm, failing to get out of my clips. The arm, and that whole side, hurt like a stabby thing now, but I think.the bike is undamaged - phew! Cheers to the weird guy (standing in the forest on his own in the rain with a big box of lager cans) for asking if I was OK.

itboffin

@girv glad you ok but WTF up with forest man? I'm assuming he was fully dressed :shock:

il_principe

Well that was a damp 9 miler! Got from the missus' new place in Willesden to the office in a moving time of 29 mins Not shabby considering how many damn red lights i had to slow for.

In other news, for 2 days now there's been a blonde girl on a front susser for part of my route, heading from Lambeth bridge down past the War museum. She jumped every red light yesterday and today. I've not had a word but I was so tempted. I've already seen her force another cyclist (proceeding through a green) to take evasive action. Yesterday she jumped a light right in front of 2 of those ridiculous coppers on scooters. I turned to them and said:

Me: "Why do you lot never do anything about that"
CSO 1: "About what?"
Me: "Did you not see that cyclist jumping the light"
CSO1: "No."
CSO2: "Even if we did, we couldn't do anything about it; we're not officers"

FFS, what is the point of CSO's anyway? Mitchell & Webb nailed this one.

girv73

I've no idea what Forest Gimp was doing! Like I said, he was just standing in the middle of the path, in the rain, by himself, with a 12 pack of lager. Contemplating his next collection of poetry about trees, I guess.

Bit hurty today, but I'll live. I need to clean & check the bike later on, I couldn't face it last night.

bigmat

Attempted to race a commuter on a Colnago tt fixed wheel bike today, but couldn't match some of his suicide manoevres, he first went past me on the run to Elephant & Castle, I kept him in view as he almost got wiped out entering the first round about then could barely watch as he went through the red light onto Borough High Street, weaving round the front of an oncoming bus. I managed to stay close along Borough High Street and then overtook him across London Bridge, but he jumped the lights at the end (again) - as the lights changed I thought I might catch him before the Fenchurch St turn-off, but then noticed that he was holding on to the back of the bendy bus in front! Seriously, its guys like that who give RLJers a bad name

gtvlusso

Missed the rain!!!!! Wooohoo!!!

Left my wife in bed, checked out of the windows - looked dank..Released the hound, got my crap together and made a run for it - just started spitting as I walked in the office rotary door (which is broken again!)....!

Beat my old adversory on his Focus Izalco again.....he has never beaten me to the end of the A38 - about 6 miles, although we regularly swap positions....his endurance is low.

King Donut

girv73 wrote:

Cheers to the weird guy (standing in the forest on his own in the rain with a big box of lager cans) for asking if I was OK.

No worries. Glad you’re ok.

Loads of slippy stuff around at the moment. I nearly lost the back wheel on the mini roundabout after Bolan death bridge this morning. Wasn’t supposed to be that wet on the run in. Wore the baggies which now weigh a ton. Hopefully they’ll dry out by home time - draped over my PC under the desk.

Also saw higher than normal count cyclists kerbside fixing pnuctures (3 male w helmet; 1 male w/o helmet; 1 female). Needless to say I sped past all of them avoiding eye contact at all times.

@IP, is it me or have Mitchell & Webb nailed just about everything?! They'd get my vote in a general election.

biondino

Any of you lot going through Knightsbridge on a hybrid at a good 25mph last night, then down the Fulham Road? Chapeau for the speed, even if I did simply *have* to overtake you as we turned off. I'm bald enough without losing my scalp to a hybrid, thanks very much

Greg T

King Donut wrote:

@IP, is it me or have Mitchell & Webb nailed just about everything?! They'd get my vote in a general election.

If we can get people to brush their tongues - then we can do anything!

lost_in_thought

Il Principe wrote:

FFS, what is the point of CSO's anyway? Mitchell & Webb nailed this one.

From my limited experience of them, their purpose is to call the police when they may have caught someone doing something slightly wrong.

So yeah, Mitchell and Webb got it pretty well spot on... 'just some guy'...

gtvlusso

lost_in_thought wrote:

Il Principe wrote:

FFS, what is the point of CSO's anyway? Mitchell & Webb nailed this one.

From my limited experience of them, their purpose is to call the police when they may have caught someone doing something slightly wrong.

So yeah, Mitchell and Webb got it pretty well spot on... 'just some guy'...

We should arm CSO's and let the chips fall where they may......

Greg T

gtvlusso wrote:

We should arm CSO's and let the chips fall where they may......

I think we should set up a paramilitary wing of the Brownies.

Nothing like a heavily armed eight year old girl smacked out of her head on fizzy pop and biscuits to enforce a bit of law and order.

Christophe3967

Eau Rouge wrote:

I'd call that a bit of a scalp

Speed bump assisted, but nevertheless a scalp.

Last night I had to wait for ages for the driver of an elderly Luton van to notice me in his mirrors. I wasn't prepared to go past him unless he'd seen me, as the sight of a cyclist in their mirror often prompts a burst of acceleration. In this case, there was the usual double take, accompanied by the grinding sound of a clapped out gearbox being downshifted. Checked behind to see a cloud of black soot but no traffic behind us, so was able to sit beside him ast he coaxed a further 3mph out of his protesting engine. He's staring straight ahead, trying to ignore me (perhaps feeling guilty about the volume of filth his engine's emitting). We're going down a slight gradient and now there's a car bearing down on me, so I push on in front of him. Can't believe how these vans are allowed to stay on the roads - London's supposed to be a low emissions zone ffs. :? Never mind the scalp - I'd prefer to see his van impounded. :evil:

cjcp

Saw some genuinely cr@p riding this morning on the NKR.

Having gone through a zebra crossing with peds on it, then through a red light, the rider (equipped with horizontal tri bars) is right up behind a fellow rider in the cycle lane looking to eek past, then squeezes (bike a'wobbling slightly) between that cyclist and a car, cutting up the cyclist, then, approaching the KR, heads on through another a zebra crossing when peds are crossing, even though the rider doesn't have full view of the crossing because cars are parked over it.

:roll:

shoulder_of_orion

Nothing much to report this morning, other than after scalping two roadies on the run off after chelsea bridge, I had a van start to overtake me, then stay alongside. I noticed my speedo said 29mph, so he was probably trying to stay within the speed limit, so I upped my speed a bit. Hammered it all the way to the next lights, opposite the pagoda in Battersea Park.

God I was hanging after that. It really did me in. I had gone from 75% effort overtaking the roadies to 100% effort overtaking the van. I nearly collapsed.

il_principe

Shoulder of Lamb wrote:

Nothing much to report this morning, other than after scalping two roadies on the run off after chelsea bridge, I had a van start to overtake me, then stay alongside. I noticed my speedo said 29mph, so he was probably trying to stay within the speed limit, so I upped my speed a bit. Hammered it all the way to the next lights, opposite the pagoda in Battersea Park.

God I was hanging after that. It really did me in. I had gone from 75% effort overtaking the roadies to 100% effort overtaking the van. I nearly collapsed.

That's a great stretch of road for plus 30 efforts eh!

jedster

Having gone through a zebra crossing with peds on it, then through a red light, the rider (equipped with horizontal tri bars) is right up behind a fellow rider in the cycle lane looking to eek past, then squeezes (bike a'wobbling slightly) between that cyclist and a car, cutting up the cyclist, then, approaching the KR, heads on through another a zebra crossing when peds are crossing, even though the rider doesn't have full view of the crossing because cars are parked over it.

some people really need a slap...

(not really but what a c0ck!)

J
[/quote]

itboffin

Ooo! Blowing a bit out there this evening, I wasn't going to play but as the roadie chewing his way past the dozens of commuters at the bottom of blackfriars bridge had gone to all the effort of dressing up in his best kit perched upon his race steed it seems only fair that I let him have his best attempt before breezing past in my jeans and work shirt on the beaten up old SS, quick glance, smile and a nod before launching a cav style burst of additional speed off into the distance....

Did require quite a bit of effort what with the breeze n all but still well worth the effort

The game owns me

but I own his scalp & pride :twisted:

redvee

Went mad this morning as I left a little earlier and totalled 6.5 miles to work this morning compared to the 0.9 miles I was doing 6 months ago but I did pay the price for the extra miles. Failed to climb the 94ft to the high point of the ride in 500m :oops: and had to resort to lucosade twicer during the morning to get my energy levels back to a normal level but on a goodside I did miss the rain

gb155

To the Middle aged guy who commutes from Hyde to Manchester in yellow high viz on a hybrid.....When a fat boy is racing you and the traffic lights are RED....you look a knobber for shooting through them and being caught by said fat boy again.



Evening Peeps

jimmypippa

gaz, are you filling out you SC stats still?

gb155

jimmypippa wrote:

gaz, are you filling out you SC stats still?

ahhhhhhhhh.....ermmmmmm.....oooooops :shock:

rolf_f

I enjoyed my excursion yesterday - just on the final leg back to the car I see a rider ahead of me. I reel him in nicely, pass him with a cheery hello which he returns. I check out his full carbon Trek, he checks out my 1990 Dawes Horizon with 501 main tubes. I carry on, with a couple of out of the saddle power bursts just to make the point. He weeps.....