Silly commuting racing

Clever Pun

nice to meet the embankment peloton last night

I'm off to france now so no cycling for a bit... I'm going to be toast when I get back


Was good to see everyone was nervous about getting scalped on the way to the pub...

Bassjunkieuk

Have to agree with CP, the drinks/meet-up was fantastic fun, even tho I was sans bike and feeling rather over-dressed Really good to put faces (and bikes!) to the names on here, even tho it was quite odd having to introduce yourself twice - well at least for those that don't use their normal name on here!

Will have to try and make it a regular occurrence :-D

itboffin

ditto a great night :? although next time I think I'll bring another of my bikes, I left with a serious case of ring envy :shock:

snooks

Booo

Sounds like it was fun....Sorry I couldn't make it...prior engagement

I was working in Sweden and Plymouth last week so the bikes have been safely tucked away. I'll be out nice and early on Monday morning, and see if I can bag a few.

So, any gossip? Is Greg's ring big and shiny? Who has the biggest thighs? and who scalped who on the way to Kings road?

I look forward to reading all about in on Monday
.

Bassjunkieuk

Managed to make it into work safely today on the old Raleigh, but by god was it scary! I'm so glad I didn't see any other cyclists (it was only 2 1/2 miles in the same town......) cos I would have had to think twice about giving chase!

For starters it was wet which means no dangerous riding or late braking and the geometry on my old bike is SO different to my usual ride! I remember when I first got out on the Giant back in December that I felt like I was rather stretched out, but eventually got used to it. Now I'm back on the old bike I feel incredibly squashed! The stem is about half the length and the top tube feels much shorter too - all this lead to me feeling rather less then confident! Looks like if I want to use this as a basis for a SS a new stem will also be needed :-)

Guy at shop said it might take upto 2 weeks to get the bike service done so I guess I'll just have to either get used to it or switch over to my Halfords MTB (yuck) or even the wife's hybrid (has a high top tube and a bit lighter then the scaffolding based MTB but still - it's a hybrid........), however on the plus side I am trying to stick to one gear to see how I'd fair - think it's about 42x15 atm - nowhere near LiT's but still good practice! Doesn't feel to bad but I really could do with SPD's to get some extra wattage down as the clips just don't cut it!

cjcp

Pleasure to meet you all on Friday, even the deviants riding SSers.

Got scalped all over the show on the way home, namely by Greg T and Littigator. As a finely-tuned athlete, my body doesn't process even the slightest amount of alcohol particularly well.

Incredibly, despite an enforced go-slow due to the rain, an extremely delicate stomach and a heavy rucsac, I wasn't scalped this morning. Where was everyone?

jonginge

Gibbering and whimpering on the train.

Got home on thursday with an ominous creak from the BB. Checked it out and there was quite a bit of play. I thought to myself 'no bother, the BB is over 20 years old I'll just replace it'. Got round to doing that on sunday. Cranks and adjustable cup came off like they'd been greased yesterday. The fixed cup, however, won't budge with the measly amount of torque my climbers arms can muster Into the shop it goes...

Meantime, thinking about a SS for commute/winter...

ride_whenever

JonGinge wrote:

Meantime, thinking about a SS for commute/winter...

Or you could just get one for the entire year... and do all your riding in a blissful state of fixed goodness.

Greg T

I had a rubbish time on Friday.

Ended up talking bikes and banter all night with a load of weird guys from the t'internet. I then worked out that I'd only meant to stay for one and had overshot that mark significantly and it was now getting dark and I had no lights.......

I had to ride in convoy with Litts and CJCP both of whom are rapid.......

The rain kept everyone off the road today - just as well as I'm now fixed at 48 - 18 (I thought I'd try it out on a gentle gearing......) I was comical at slow speeds.....

Next time we have a social I'll bring lights.....

2wheelzgood

hehe.. so true but as I found out, fixie is a different kettle of fish.
people are on about massive gears and that's fair enough on a ss. but a much bigger difference to the effort needed to crank up, is slowing on a big fixed gear, It's very hard I found out. I'm going down so I am more confident of being able to slow down faster.

sounds like friday beers was fun. someone tell GT and Lits, that ot's not a competition though..
Man I'm so slow on my fixie it's mad.

2wheelzgood

GT if you ever want to swap, and yours is 3/32, I have a 16t here.
yes I'm a wimp, but finding it scary!

snooks

I think I passed all 4 cyclist I saw with lower FCN out there this morning...anyway very, very quiet inc cars....must be summut to do with the chuffing big black clouds in the distance....hmmmmm

I was stalked by a roadie, who eventually decided they'd had enough of looking at my soggy rse and decided to go it a lone....Only for me to meet up with them again at the south of Westminister bridge, I went via Lambeth bridge/ St Thomas's, they went via Parliment square.

Ho hum, try to dry my stuff out before getting it wet later

il_principe

Good to meet the fixed/singlespeed schism (and assorted gearies) on fri. Hope you all got home safely; I was rather late to meet my friends in the end!

I’ll be enlarging my ring this week as well.

Very few people on the roads this morning, I was briefly taken on by an over-enthusiastic MTB’er in Kilburn but he was swiftly dropped. Saw a lovely Wilier at the top of Park Lane as well but he wasn’t playing – probably kicking himself for taking his shiny white carbon out in the rain.

Taking the Pinarello down to Sussex this weekend so I hope the weather improves!

itboffin

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

Managed to make it into work safely today on the old Raleigh, but by god was it scary! I'm so glad I didn't see any other cyclists (it was only 2 1/2 miles in the same town......) cos I would have had to think twice about giving chase!

For starters it was wet which means no dangerous riding or late braking and the geometry on my old bike is SO different to my usual ride! I remember when I first got out on the Giant back in December that I felt like I was rather stretched out, but eventually got used to it. Now I'm back on the old bike I feel incredibly squashed! The stem is about half the length and the top tube feels much shorter too - all this lead to me feeling rather less then confident! Looks like if I want to use this as a basis for a SS a new stem will also be needed :-)

Guy at shop said it might take upto 2 weeks to get the bike service done so I guess I'll just have to either get used to it or switch over to my Halfords MTB (yuck) or even the wife's hybrid (has a high top tube and a bit lighter then the scaffolding based MTB but still - it's a hybrid........), however on the plus side I am trying to stick to one gear to see how I'd fair - think it's about 42x15 atm - nowhere near LiT's but still good practice! Doesn't feel to bad but I really could do with SPD's to get some extra wattage down as the clips just don't cut it!

I have a loan machine if you're interested it's even fitted out with lights!!! (take note Greg T) sorry but the skipping rope is spoken for.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3055/2771431438_50c241621c.jpg?v=0

biondino

Hello everyone.

I missed Friday's pi... um, meet-up as I was in Scotland (no riding done at all I'm afraid) but am well up for the next one. Did you like each other enough to do it this week?

attica

Come to that, if you liked each other enough, do you think a "national" get together would be in order - perhaps for Christmas? (can't believe I'm thinking that far ahead already, it IS still summer, it IS still summer, IS it still summer?)

snooks

It was a "national" get together, everyone was invited....

Tho not all of us made it

DonDaddyD

Attica wrote:

Come to that, if you liked each other enough, do you think a "national" get together would be in order - perhaps for Christmas? (can't believe I'm thinking that far ahead already, it IS still summer, it IS still summer, IS it still summer?)

Though I was absent from last Fridays festivities, how about an unofficial bikeradar forums bike ride.

I'm just throwing it out there, I'll leave others to run with it and fine tune the details.... if the idea sticks that is.

il_principe

DonDaddyD wrote:

Attica wrote:

Come to that, if you liked each other enough, do you think a "national" get together would be in order - perhaps for Christmas? (can't believe I'm thinking that far ahead already, it IS still summer, it IS still summer, IS it still summer?)

Though I was absent from last Fridays festivities, how about an unofficial bikeradar forums bike ride.

I'm just throwing it out there, I'll leave others to run with it and fine tune the details.... if the idea sticks that is.

Not sure that would be a good idea really, can you imagine the carnage that would ensue?

attica

snooks wrote:

It was a "national" get together, everyone was invited....

Tho not all of us made it

True, but a weeks notice isn't very long for those of us having to travel, which is why I was thinking ahead.

I like Jash's idea too

Bassjunkieuk

A bike ride does sound good, followed by drinks of course :-)
Not to sure where and when tho, the easiest I can think of is meeting up for the Freewheel - hopefully the sheer amount of other cyclists on the road should control the battling antics of the riders taking part :-)

snooks

Sod the food chain I was fighting mother nature tonight!!

13 miles of headwind madness, with some drizzle thrown in for good measure. Can't remember it being that bad for a while.

Only consolation was I wasn't overtaken at all, not once, silky legged roadies or otherwise, a completely clean sheet.

Dunno which I was more happy about, getting home or keeping a clean sheet!

attica

snooks wrote:

Sod the food chain I was fighting mother nature tonight!!

13 miles of headwind madness, with some drizzle thrown in for good measure. Can't remember it being that bad for a while.

Only consolation was I wasn't overtaken at all, not once, silky legged roadies or otherwise, a completely clean sheet.

Dunno which I was more happy about, getting home or keeping a clean sheet!

Had the same feeling of relief when I got home tonight. Clean sheet too.

When will this wind ever abate? Still it's the same for everyone who's being played by The Game

patchy

ok - so did my first proper commuter race – several technical scalps BUT i couldn't get the only one that mattered.

However, the only reason he dropped me was because he kept jumping reds – literally, every red from upper street to the British Library (including that hellish corner by Kings Cross) unlike me, who stopped. And caught up. And stopped. and caught up.

My question is, can i take this as a moral/points victory?

ride_whenever

You can have a moral victory, but next time man up you big sissy!

jonginge

ride_whenever wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

Meantime, thinking about a SS for commute/winter...

Or you could just get one for the entire year... and do all your riding in a blissful state of fixed goodness.

Ok, no more fixed-gear shill-shallying for me: just ordered a Pearson. Soon I'll be able to flip-flop instead

Greg T

So, I played "fantasy game" this morning.

I'm now running a fixed gear - like a track bike - are you coming with me on this journey.....

So there I am, on my track bike, just like Hoy, Romero, Wiggins, Cavendish, et al.....

I'm running a low gear so the bike's twithcy and responsive. Suddenly the embankment becomes the home straight of the Velodrome and I'm just coming off the corner with a Dane in my sights and the crowds going wild.

I'm spinning now, the wall of noise is deafening, a nation is on their feet shouting at their TVs - a bike length down, here I come- - going like a train - the Dane can do nothing about it....

I drop him like a red hot brick - he's broken and as I burn around the final corner the roof comes off the velodrome....

The guy on the MTB looks a little surprised that I threw my arms in the air and acknowledged the crowd at the bus stop as I went by him...

He asked me why I had a Union Flag with me at the lights as well.

Don't lie I'm not the only one am I.

cjcp

JonGinge wrote:

ride_whenever wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

Meantime, thinking about a SS for commute/winter...

Or you could just get one for the entire year... and do all your riding in a blissful state of fixed goodness.

Ok, no more fixed-gear shill-shallying for me: just ordered a Pearson. Soon I'll be able to flip-flop instead

Oh, good grief: another one bites the dust.

itboffin

Greg T wrote:

Don't lie I'm not the only one am I.

Nope it was the only thing that kept me going yesterday morning, get in Team GB

Players of The Game stage 1 of the Tour of Britain will be along the Embankment.

2wheelzgood

Being rainy, I took the ss monster today and realise how fast it is. I have no worries spinning up the gear to 30mph and I reckon I'll get faster as my thighs stop aching and start growing due to fixie riding!

I hope I don't incur any FCn penalties but I've altered the geometry of the bike.
The 10 degree stem is now upside down making the bar complete with bar ends and aero (looks like a bodged version of the bars that Wiggo et al have) stick dead horizontal from the headstock (-10 degree must cancel out the angl of the rake).

It sits really tall and feels giant compared to the skinny fixie, but it's a do everything, scalp everyone singlespeed.

anyone else noticed how often the BBC track commentator at the Olympics uses the word "scalp"?