Silly commuting racing

MonkeyMonster

Early in, early out. If you've got good glasses you will be able to see my ghost run

That and the stunned looks from bystanders will still be there hours later!

will3

DonDaddyD wrote:

will3 wrote:

What's the TV called then? Wayne?

Haven't named the TV. But seeing as you asked:

Giant SCR 3 = Donovan.

Seat Ibiza = Sebastian

I am to understand that others on this site also name their bikes. Linsen for example calls her Lemond, Frank.

Sign of affection I suppose.

.

How sweet. I always thought you were a bloke.

redvee

Sat at some lights on the way home and a cyclist passed across my path with all the gear. Helmet, hi viz etc but he was missing one vital thing. Another wheel, commutting on a unicycle

Jay dubbleU

Today very quiet - old lady on a shopper got the full treatment and was whisked into a black hole by the speed of my passing

cjcp

I'm brilliant. I'm absolutely fantastic. I am truly a legend in my own chainset.

I recorded an Embankment PB speed tonight of 36.7mph. This was admittedly with a favourable wind (finally!) and after I'd built up some speed with the aid of the slope off Chelsea Bridge. But, it's a PB and I'm claiming it.

I was unsure whether a chap behind me was going to draft and, having been first away from the lights, with a clear road ahead, decided to go for a PB.

Then saw a chap on a Bianchi, who I've seen a couple of times now. He's quick, and he's pipped me to the top of Bolan Death Crash Bridge recently, but I claimed his scalp tonight with the decisive move being made on Queen's Ride, a 28mph passing move.

A good night's work.

Wrath Rob

I love a tail wind on the way home! Can't match 38 on the Chelsea slope but easily made 30 and only dropped to 27 by the time I reached the traffic at Battersea Bridge. All in all a nice ride home. No scalps though, unlike last night. I have to say if you ride in a world champion's jersey with no ruck sack (so FCN 3?) then you are asking for a scalping. If that was you that I overtook last night between Imperial Wharf and Wandsworth Bridge while commenting about the dithering taxi then your scalp is currently drying on my fence :twisted:

Roastie

cjcp wrote:

I recorded an Embankment PB speed tonight of 36.7mph.

*converts to metric* :shock:

Chapeau, sir!

jonginge

cjcp wrote:

I'm brilliant. I'm absolutely fantastic. I am truly a legend in my own chainset.

I recorded an Embankment PB speed tonight of 36.7mph. This was admittedly with a favourable wind (finally!) and after I'd built up some speed with the aid of the slope off Chelsea Bridge. But, it's a PB and I'm claiming it.

I was unsure whether a chap behind me was going to draft and, having been first away from the lights, with a clear road ahead, decided to go for a PB.

Then saw a chap on a Bianchi, who I've seen a couple of times now. He's quick, and he's pipped me to the top of Bolan Death Crash Bridge recently, but I claimed his scalp tonight with the decisive move being made on Queen's Ride, a 28mph passing move.

A good night's work.

Was a great tailwind but a PB is a PB
That was a fun ride, blitzed everything on embankment but one chap wouldn't let it go and at lights either placed himself in front of me, RLJed or used the cycle path leading up to Chelsea bridge. I returned the favour by passive-aggressively tailing him at 5metres distant all along the NKR. He had no answer when I lit the afterburners on col de putney bridge

itboffin

I haven't ridden since Sat thanks to a nasty and painful stomach bug

Couldn't even make it home from work yesterday had to stay in London

No solid food for four days

cjcp

Roastie wrote:

cjcp wrote:

I recorded an Embankment PB speed tonight of 36.7mph.

*converts to metric* :shock:

Chapeau, sir!

Thank you, sir. A shade below 60kph. D'oh! Must try harder next time.

JG - 8) Did you give him The Look as you blew by?

ITB - :shock: that can't be good if you can't travel.

Fireblade96

itboffin wrote:

I haven't ridden since Sat thanks to a nasty and painful stomach bug

Couldn't even make it home from work yesterday had to stay in London

No solid food for four days

Beer is liquid food though, right ?

m0scs

itboffin wrote:

I haven't ridden since Sat thanks to a nasty and painful stomach bug

Couldn't even make it home from work yesterday had to stay in London

No solid food for four days

I've had some of this too over the last week or so but seem to be on the mend now thankfully.

grantstats

Good ride this morning, until getting 15 minutes down the road when I realised the bag I am carrying is suprisingly light - completely empty after cleaning out last night..... :roll:

Turn around go all the way home - repack, and then back again. More bikes out at this time though quite a few scalps although they dont really count: folders, BSO etc.

Swift shadow on a Trek this morning down Millbank which was fun. Enjoyed the ease off as he tried to pass me...

jonginge

"Keep it going!". That is all.

itboffin

Sort of back on track today still in pain so it'll be car -> train -> bike today

King Donut

cjcp wrote:

I recorded an Embankment PB speed tonight of 36.7mph.

Top work!
I've never actually checked for an Embankment top speed... something else to aim for.
Thanks for the tow home last Friday btw!

The early starts this week have put paid to any SCR action. Left the house at 6.15 this morning and quickly realised I need more than a vest now on the morning run.

Grantstats wrote:

Good ride this morning, until getting 15 minutes down the road when I realised the bag I am carrying is suprisingly light - completely empty after cleaning out last night..... :roll:

Classic.
Must be a day for it... I got to my front door today before realising I'd forgotten the bike.

cjcp

JonGinge wrote:

"Keep it going!". That is all.

A-ha ha ha.



Yes, folks. This morning, JG uttered those very words to me as we approached the end of Blackfriars Tunnel. Just after I'd desperately said something along the lines of "that's it!" and the legs and lungs gave up and I'd topped out at 33.7mph-ish. My response was something like, "Not a ****ing chance, mate". He was at 4 o' clock and then left me for dust. Like KD a couple of weeks ago, I had been Ginge'd all ends up. And this when he's feeling a bit rough because of a cold. I'm not doing very well at all in my head-to-head with JG through that tunnel.

jonginge

cjcp wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

"Keep it going!". That is all.

A-ha ha ha.



Yes, folks. This morning, JG uttered those very words to me as we approached the end of Blackfriars Tunnel. Just after I'd desperately said something along the lines of "that's it!" and the legs and lungs gave up and I'd topped out at 33.7mph-ish. My response was something like, "Not a ****ing chance, mate". He was at 4 o' clock and then left me for dust. Like KD a couple of weeks ago, I had been Ginge'd all ends up. And this when he's feeling a bit rough because of a cold. I'm not doing very well at all in my head-to-head with JG through that tunnel.

To be fair, the last couple of times where you've led it has been a struggle to maintain 4 o'clock through the mid-section of the tunnel. It gets easier again towards the end once I've spun up to 130+.

I was chasing that moped as we re-entered the light: almost got him. My lungs and throat may not forgive me for a while.

MonkeyMonster

nice work on the PB cj, nice work indeed.

New route for me on way home now embankment, up round parliament sq and then the lovely new surface of the Mall. Fecking hate hyde park corner though. Time between green lights/men drives me insane!

I do love the massive connected parts of nice long fast stretch on embankment as compared to stop start lights up on ox street. Totty watch is lower though.

Clever Pun

my dust cover came off my record pista cranks last night on the way home (I'd heard something like a coin hitting the ground and since there was about 3 cyclists around I didn't think anymore of it)... I found it by the roadside on the way in today... result

jonginge

Clever Pun wrote:

my dust cover came off my record pista cranks last night on the way home (I'd heard something like a coin hitting the ground and since there was about 3 cyclists around I didn't think anymore of it)... I found it by the roadside on the way in today... result

Eyes of the hawk!

King Donut

JonGinge wrote:

cjcp wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

"Keep it going!". That is all.

A-ha ha ha.



Yes, folks. This morning, JG uttered those very words to me as we approached the end of Blackfriars Tunnel. Just after I'd desperately said something along the lines of "that's it!" and the legs and lungs gave up and I'd topped out at 33.7mph-ish. My response was something like, "Not a ****ing chance, mate". He was at 4 o' clock and then left me for dust. Like KD a couple of weeks ago, I had been Ginge'd all ends up. And this when he's feeling a bit rough because of a cold. I'm not doing very well at all in my head-to-head with JG through that tunnel.

To be fair, the last couple of times where you've led it has been a struggle to maintain 4 o'clock through the mid-section of the tunnel. It gets easier again towards the end once I've spun up to 130+.

I was chasing that moped as we re-entered the light: almost got him. My lungs and throat may not forgive me for a while.

Him and his tunnel. I'm gonna start getting the train to Charing X so that I have something in the tank for the final stretch. It will cut my commute by 16 miles and cost me ~£2k a year but for that moment of potential glory it has to be worth it.

Clever Pun

JonGinge wrote:

Clever Pun wrote:

my dust cover came off my record pista cranks last night on the way home (I'd heard something like a coin hitting the ground and since there was about 3 cyclists around I didn't think anymore of it)... I found it by the roadside on the way in today... result

Eyes of the hawk!

yeah got to say I was pleased with that

oh yes last night as I was approaching the traffic lights at the bottom of beckenham hill a chap on a boardman said hello and asked how it was getting up the hill, I said not too bad. I let him go first at the lights as as the incline started I whizzed pasted him saying "you just have to man up and deal with it" his laughter was heard in the distance

will3

Nothing to scalp this morning (and in full roadie mode so the bar is high), but the schools are back so:

1) Bunch of kids waiting at a bus stop decide it would be funny to try and make me jump as I go past. The last lot that did this ened up with one of their number being excluded from school (for trying to hit me by swinging their bag out into the road) so hopefully this is not the game of the year for them!
What is is with morons that think it;s funny to shout as you go past?

2) second group of kids on MTBs going to school (how great is that they were even going from one village to the next - fantastic I say even if they do seem to need a full susser for the bike path) two at the front were having a bit of a race against each other when I steam past at about twice their speed.
"F*ck me where did you come from" was I think what he said, but I didn't quite catch the end of it...

cjcp

JonGinge wrote:

To be fair, the last couple of times where you've led it has been a struggle to maintain 4 o'clock through the mid-section of the tunnel. It gets easier again towards the end once I've spun up to 130+.

Whereas, with me, that's about the time when the proverbial Scotty in the engine room is screaming to Capt Kirk on the bridge, "She cannae take no more, Cap'n! She's gonna blow!" and lots of red lights start flashing.

KD - it's the train to Waterloo or serious drafting. I don't see another way, bar an intensive winter programme at the velodrome. It's gonna get to reach the stage where we'll be track standing in the middle of the tunnel waiting for the other to make the first move. Oh, hang on, he's faster than me off the mark too. B*ugger! :x

MonkeyM - resurfaced the Mall, eh? That should make it excellent scooter-scalping territory. Good move switching to Embankment; Oxford Street is hell.

MonkeyMonster

Its gorgeous going south on it - the small drop of height is indeed lovely for scalping cars too.

DonDaddyD

Thunder-D THUNDER-D THUNDER-D! HHHHOOOOO!!!!!!


Feel the magic. Feel the roar! Thunder-D is loose!

Balham drag strip again!

Mutha-feckers!!!!

My usual descent down Balham hill was scampered by heavy traffic. With no real heart in the return journey home I slow down and enjoy a go slow moment.

“You alright mate”

I check my shoulders and a guy on a BMC road bike has just spoken to me and before I can respond has overtaken and ridden off. I think nothing of it. Then a whippet whizzes past me on a road bike called Moures or something, it was white. He had a team kit on and looked fast.

I stroll along to my beloved Balham drag strip thinking that a day-off would be nice. Then the undeniable truth hit me:

”Am I not Thunder-D, did I not scalp the man who sold me my bike, who forced feed me into this life of self powered speed! Is not my commute, crimson from the dripping scalps of my allies and enemies alike!?

My every moment is worshipping speed or demonstrating it!”

As the lights go green and I clip-in I actually shout out “BAM!” ala the “Boom” the Boomers say in Gears of War. People can hear this and I chuckle as the world goes blurry.

Down goes the first few riders, then I take apart the BMC, he looks over stunned. I don’t care, I’m already after whippet. I continue to devour the ground between us, check my bike to his right and overtake.

I arrive at the lights to a imaginary chorus of “Champion” “Champion”!

I’m the best.

King Donut

MonkeyMonster wrote:

Totty watch is lower though.

It's all to do with timing... Give them time to get home and changed in to their running clobber and there is plenty along Embankment / NKR.

Can't you keep going all the way along Chelsea Embankment then up to Olympia? I struggled through Oxford > Regents St the other night as a one-off. Added 20 mins to the commute. Tot or not there's no way I could handle that every night.

@ Will3, you've taken to scalping schoolchildren? Mate, you really need to move to a city

will3

King Donut wrote:

@ Will3, you've taken to scalping schoolchildren? Mate, you really need to move to a city

Ha no, that bit where I said:

Will3 wrote:

Nothing to scalp this morning

:roll:

you're confusing me with DDD who scalps helpless females

TBH the country is great, miles and miles of uninterrupted pedaling scalps are rare but when you spot one, there's no hiding, no turning off, no lights, no traffic, no excuses, just you and the scalp.

Point is it's great to see the yoof of today riding to school rather than being driven in a 4xhandbag. Although on another cycle route there was an accident last year where a schoolkid cyclist got hit by a car at a crossing (not sure how it's not that difficult to cross there, although it's a 60 limit).
Kid was OK I think, but what did the council do? Instead of improving the crossing etc, they provided a free bus.
So much for encouraging physical activity.

Did you know that sparrows can fly at 16.4mph?

MonkeyMonster

I tried the embankment all the way on monday actually and it was okay really. Bit of headwind and no one to chase either after parliament sq - then nasty sh1tty traffic up past earls court but I now have 3 or 4 routes home depending on mood so tis much better.

I'm used to ox st. given it used to be my normal haunt when I worked on dean st. Longer speedy arena's are making me hug my bike more though which is all good. The only reason I may get a roadie is for the gearing. i'm on an xt 48/11,12,13 most of the time on embankment and when chasing (and overtaking) roadies I end up spinning faster than my washing machine.