Silly commuting racing

MonkeyMonster

and what a ride home wheeeee

Most fun was overtaking some chaps at parliament sq 2 of which didn't appreciate being scalped. One tarted up in bling'ed ninja outfit was fast on a bike I couldn't recognise - odd lettering and he turned off on chelsea bridge... the other older chap was quick too but blew it (I think) to get away from me but I took his scalp back under the railway before chelsea and never saw him again. I need to be fitter.

Sweaty beast when I got home even in just white long sleeved base and a ss jersey

I love cycling. 8)

itboffin

MonkeyMonster wrote:

and what a ride home wheeeee

Most fun was overtaking some chaps at parliament sq 2 of which didn't appreciate being scalped. One tarted up in bling'ed ninja outfit was fast on a bike I couldn't recognise - odd lettering and he turned off on chelsea bridge... the other older chap was quick too but blew it (I think) to get away from me but I took his scalp back under the railway before chelsea and never saw him again. I need to be fitter.

Sweaty beast when I got home even in just white long sleeved base and a ss jersey

I love cycling. 8)

SS Jersey???

Girl! :P

MonkeyMonster

itboffin wrote:

MonkeyMonster wrote:

and what a ride home wheeeee

Most fun was overtaking some chaps at parliament sq 2 of which didn't appreciate being scalped. One tarted up in bling'ed ninja outfit was fast on a bike I couldn't recognise - odd lettering and he turned off on chelsea bridge... the other older chap was quick too but blew it (I think) to get away from me but I took his scalp back under the railway before chelsea and never saw him again. I need to be fitter.

Sweaty beast when I got home even in just white long sleeved base and a ss jersey

I love cycling. 8)

SS Jersey???

Girl! :P

How many layers were you wearing that thursday michelin man?

itboffin

that's nothing compared with todays impression of an onion

Bassjunkieuk

Have to agree with MM, it did seem to be quite fun on the way home this evening! No notable scalps but I did get held up by a motorbike after an excellent dash down the gentle hill towards Streatham station - I could see a green light ahead which was my ticket to light the afterburners :-D Blasted down the bus lane, overtaking a couple of buses before finding the "slow" motorbike on the incline..

I love cycling 8)

iain_j

To the people I've seen the last few days, riding in shorts:

Stop it. FFS it's the middle of December, thermometer is heading for minus allsorts. Think of your knees.

Sheesh.

cjcp

Evening, ladies.

Anyhoo, tonight was fun, but wasn't fun for the reasons I expected. I was blowing hard, tailwind or not.

First up, a chap on a Principa I saw this morning. His rear light is on the blink, so I bust a hump trying to keep up, before letting him know at a set of lights. He turns off. Good job too.

Joy was shortlived though. A behemoth on a FG went by a in bit of a hurry. Closer inspection of his kit at the next set of lights revealed he was a rower. "Feck", I thought. Also at the lights, however, was the quadded-monster both Greg T and I have previously run into. He's also a rower and fast. T'riffic.

They tear off and I try to keep up. Traffic halts my progress, and there's no way I'm catching them down Millbank; I'm already feeling discomfort. However, they're held up at VB lights, so we're all back together. Whoop. Whoop.

Lights go green and they're off again. They're off again down through DSC. The FGer must be late for tea or something because he's dropping the Lemond - not something I've previously seen. He's about 15 yards ahead of the Lemond, and I'm 15 yards behind the Lemond, holding him though, and een gaining very slightly. I'm pleasantly surprised, even if I'm waiting for the engine to blow at any time.

Get to CB lights, and they're red. Praise be the Lord. They both creep at the lights and have 15 yards on me at the green and accelerate hard away from me. They effectively do a 2-up along the stretch to AB. Not fair! Still, I hold them at about 30 yards ahead. Get in. The warning lights, however, start to flash at the traffic lights by Royal Hospital Rd and I'm very grateful for the traffic. Fast filtering from the FGer and us being blocked by a woman not looking where she was going meant that FGer got away.

I got ahead of Lemond at BB, but he jumped the red at the NKR junction, and that was the last I saw of him.

I then had a duel with a Trek down the NKR (after WBR). He filtered faster up Putney Bridge, and passed me. I re-took him along Queen's Ride, but only just. The tank was empty. The only thing left would have been to get on the drops and get aero.

I won't mind one bit if I don't see any of those guys again before 2010.

I am now going to have a very cold, very deserved beer.

redvee

rjsterry wrote:

redvee wrote:

And as you get ready for the commute in the morning you shout to your OH/housemate/wife etc, 'where's me daps?' and as the bus driver cuts you up you shout a sarcastic 'Cheers drive'

And the memories come flooding back...

http://beast-clothing.com/

itboffin

Okay so I may have had to many layers on this evening, phew! toasty all I needed was a rum cocktail and I could have been in the Caribbean

cjcp

But instead you're in Wiltshire. Oh well. :P

itboffin

cjcp wrote:

But instead you're in Wiltshire. Oh well. :P

Much better trust me

rjsterry

redvee wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

redvee wrote:

And as you get ready for the commute in the morning you shout to your OH/housemate/wife etc, 'where's me daps?' and as the bus driver cuts you up you shout a sarcastic 'Cheers drive'

And the memories come flooding back...

http://beast-clothing.com/

Brilliant! I am revising my Christmas wish list with immediate effect. I tell ee wot, they don't speak proper up yer. Duz me 'ead in

Bit disappointed to find there was a headwind this evening. Didn't really notice it and just thought someone had spiked my lunch with some performance enhancing substances Hit 30 on the stretch from the south end of Blackfriars Bridge to The Cut :shock: Don't know why that stretch is so easy to pick up speed on as it's only slightly downhill, but I always find myself braking hard to avoid running into the back of things under the railway bridge.

Talking of The Cut, I got passed (on the pavement) by some loon in his shirtsleeves :shock: who seemed to see the road and pavement as one, and couldn't see red lights - an accident waiting to happen.

Kept ahead of a scooter down Kennington Road, which was deeply satisfying.Had a tit-for-tat with a chap on a red road bike with disc brakes and football socks (on his legs not the bike) I passed him by Oval tube and kept ahead until the Clapham High Street. He got lucky and managed to filter the right side of a red light at the corner of CC, while I got stuck behind a car doing a three-point turn. Still managed to catch him up by the far corner of the common, but couldn't retake him before he turned off somewhere towards Balham. I think probably honours even, but great fun all the same.

Just bracing myself for the cold tomorrow (and apparently icy roads in the evening)!

attica

itboffin wrote:

Okay so I may have had to many layers on this evening, phew! toasty all I needed was a rum cocktail and I could have been in the Caribbean

I did the same, twas so cold coming out of the pub after a swift half with Mr Red Vee that I took extra precautions, shorts, Ron Hills, Bib Tights, shoes, overshoes, base layer LS jersey, roubaix lined LS jersey, Gore Oxygen waterproof jacket, buff round me neck, buff over me head, ear warmmer thing over that, and castelli winter gloves (never worn those and not had toasty warm fingers, tonight no exception)

lost waterproof when the rain abated

still arrived home drenched, but not with rain.
Still it's all good practice for judging the right number of layers for HOTA

itboffin

Attica so no brizzle curry then, what happened?

Ron hills eh, cheap but useless

attica

Everybody bailed apart from me RV and Mudcovered who would have had to have ridden from Bath in frankly vicious weather to have curry with us two reprobates, so we let him off with a warning and went for a swift half in the Bristle Cider House.

I found a use for the Ron Hills tonight, worn underneath Bib tights they add an extra layer of warmth, they just need that windproof layer outside of them first.

That said, on their own they are pretty fecking useless.

rjsterry

Le singe en laiton a perdu ses couilles aujourd'hui n'est pas?

(this probably deserves an "ark at ee!" :oops:)

Well this morning it was a case of pootle bells, pootle bells, pootle all the way. I can only assume that the cold scared all the worthy foes away as virtually all I passed were a few slow hybrids and MTBs. The only vaguely fast people appeared on Clapham High Street and all filtered like they weren't that bothered about staying alive, so didn't see them again.

Just remembered, there was a roadie in all black who I did pass after Stockwell, and re-caught him at Oval lights despite a previous RLJ from him. He went off to E&C so with nothing else to chase, I pootled the rest of the way.

No SCR this evening as have an awards do to go to. By the look of the weather forecast, I won't be missing much.

Clever Pun

after 2 days off sick back on the bike today and straight back into the game... dropped 2 roadies and a fixed chap... as I made my blistering escape my lungs reminded my why I'd been off and tried collapsing with their first proper exertion in 5 days and the fixed guy took me back, I gave chase but he turned off before I could get my sh!t together..damn

Clever Pun

Attica wrote:

Everybody bailed apart from me RV and Mudcovered who would have had to have ridden from Bath in frankly vicious weather to have curry with us two reprobates, so we let him off with a warning and went for a swift half in the Bristle Cider House.

I found a use for the Ron Hills tonight, worn underneath Bib tights they add an extra layer of warmth, they just need that windproof layer outside of them first.

That said, on their own they are pretty fecking useless.

no gumption you lot.. shame on bristol

rjsterry

Just had a thought: for breakfast I switched my usual 3 Weetabix + 2 slices of toast with Nutella or honey to 2 Weetabix + 3 slices of toast. Could this be the source of my pootling this morning?

cjcp

Yuk. Lovely ride in, but no energy due to this cold, so good job there's no SCR action.

W1

Chapeau to the chap at VB lights B*llocking a hairdryer rider for blocking the cycle lane up to the ASL this morning.

And yah boo sucks to the plank driving the builders lorry who, having swerved accross two lanes of traffic around Parl Sq to exit onto Whitehall (nearly taking me with him) said that I'm going to get killed. Too right, when they've given an HGV licence to Stevie Wonder....

gtvlusso

Sick and pregnant wife/hormones kept me in last night - spent the night ducking crockery and coughing!

I have flu.

Bollox.

In car today!

Roastie

Saw I'd acquired a roadie shaped shadow projected onto bus ahead of me by the headlights behind. Opened the taps a bit. The length of Nine Elms later, roadie shaped shadow gone.*

*Although reappeared (& RLJed) after a long wait at the lights.

Next please!



ps. Been religiously using my buff over my mouth lately, it seems to help greatly with the cold air lung pain thing. It does get a bit soaked after 15 mins though even at moderate beans.

The Running Man

Gordon Bennet it was chilly round the nether regions this morning : had on 2 pairs of socks plus overshoes, shorts under my longs, an ultra thermal base layer plus jacket, plus skull cap, plus thermal inners and heavy duty thermal gloves and I was still bloomin frozen!!

The roads were pretty good this morning though. No frost or ice so got to 38mph coming down Bowden Hill but I'm not looking forward to tonight's journey as it's due to drop to -1 or -2 by hometime. Brrr...

Wonder if I can strap a hot water bottle to the saddle .....

benno68

This morning was rather special, I hit 30mph on the flat - pretty much unheard of - how you guys do it without any assistance baffles me.

Thank you Cardiff Bus for the lovely tow down Richmond Road - it was great

itboffin

WFH

I spent the day writing incident management procedures and training guides, do I rock or what!? :oops:

No SCR action, but I did see several cyclist front my window seat next to the radiator

rjsterry

itboffin wrote:

WFH

I spent the day writing incident management procedures and training guides, do I rock or what!? :oops:

No SCR action, but I did see several cyclist front my window seat next to the radiator

Here's one to keep the other half of your brain busy then (not just ITB but anyone staring out of the window in horror at the weather): Road cycling has lots of French terminology - bidon, musette, rouleur, grimpeur, etc. So what French (or pseudo-French) terminology can you think of for SCR?

Or should I say le Game?

itboffin

@CP were you on the Brompton earlier this week? did you draft a roadie on a blue winter Ribble?

Clever Pun

itboffin wrote:

@CP were you on the Brompton earlier this week? did you draft a roadie on a blue winter Ribble?

nope was ill monday and tuesday... and more importantly I don't draft

itboffin

Clever Pun wrote:

itboffin wrote:

@CP were you on the Brompton earlier this week? did you draft a roadie on a blue winter Ribble?

nope was ill monday and tuesday... and more importantly I don't draft

Elite racer dude at work had a Brompton on his tail down the old kent road and even pushing 29mph he couldn't shake the guy, I thought of you because I know how much you love teasing roadies.

It's a compliment, lap it up it's your Christmas prezzie