Silly commuting racing

The Running Man

I've felt like I've been gradually losing speed over the last few months : I've put it down to the slightly heavier mileage, winter weather etc and wondered if I'd ever find my legs again.

I had a long day in the office yesterday and really mashed my way home into another bloomin headwind and almost decided to have my day off today : thank the Lord I changed my mind.

Zipped in this morning,. Average back up to 17.8 rolling time and that was with a few hold ups over the bridge in Lacock, past the schools in Corsham & Box, and then negotiating the traffic down London Road.

It'll all surely go t*ts up tonight but it was just nice to feel the fire again ...

8) 8) 8)

rjsterry

MonkeyMonster wrote:

I forgot how bad the roads got after 8.30...

Slept in and boy I regretted it, the twunt taxis and more lorries than you shake a cat at. Is it just me or have more mopeds over the last few months got slowly more bold in using asl's and bike lanes and embedding themselves in filtering as to block cyclists.

No it's not you, and it's no just mopeds, proper motorbikes as well. I blame Boris for letting them use bus lanes, which they seem to have interpreted as anywhere that cycles go. Saw a chap point out to a scooter rider that he shouldn't be in the ASL a while back, and he was met with blank incomprehension.

MonkeyMonster

Oh and can I ask whoever is managing it today - can they turn the nasty headwind this morning into a lovely speed assistance on the way home tonight - ta :twisted:

cjcp

rjsterry wrote:

MonkeyMonster wrote:

I forgot how bad the roads got after 8.30...

Slept in and boy I regretted it, the twunt taxis and more lorries than you shake a cat at. Is it just me or have more mopeds over the last few months got slowly more bold in using asl's and bike lanes and embedding themselves in filtering as to block cyclists.

No it's not you, and it's no just mopeds, proper motorbikes as well. I blame Boris for letting them use bus lanes, which they seem to have interpreted as anywhere that cycles go. Saw a chap point out to a scooter rider that he shouldn't be in the ASL a while back, and he was met with blank incomprehension.

They had more police officers down at the Southwark Bridge/Thames St junction today patrolling the ASLs. He said that they couldn't stop the scooters going into the bike lane if there was a broken line and, because the scooter didn't pass the imaginary bold, white line which continues from the road to the pavement to mark the start of the ASL, the scooter wasn't doing anything wrong. So, it seems that scooters can't enter the ASLs but can block cyclists from using them. :roll:

itboffin

So cold this morning, my feet are still numb

jonginge

itboffin wrote:

So cold this morning, my feet are still numb

Aye, a bit chillier than I was expecting. Went back to shorts and warmers; a lighter base-layer and top this morning. Bit too cold but should be ok for the journey home...

Clever Pun

JonGinge wrote:

itboffin wrote:

So cold this morning, my feet are still numb

Aye, a bit chillier than I was expecting. Went back to shorts and warmers; a lighter base-layer and top this morning. Bit too cold but should be ok for the journey home...

I think you might have gone a little early for that..

Snow on friday apparently FFS

jonginge

Clever Pun wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

itboffin wrote:

So cold this morning, my feet are still numb

Aye, a bit chillier than I was expecting. Went back to shorts and warmers; a lighter base-layer and top this morning. Bit too cold but should be ok for the journey home...

I think you might have gone a little early for that..

Snow on friday apparently FFS

Dammit, I seem to remember you saying that last time, too.

Clever Pun

heh

it is getting to that time of year where you require 2 sets of clothes for the commute

or arm and leg warmers anyway

il_principe

The headwind this morning was fecking evil. I've been alternating routes for the last week but keep forgetting my Garmin. Suspect that staying south of the River when Eastbound in the mornings, then hitting Embankment in the evenings is quickest. Embankment seems to be totally fecked in the mornings.

MonkeyMonster

Clever Pun wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

itboffin wrote:

So cold this morning, my feet are still numb

Aye, a bit chillier than I was expecting. Went back to shorts and warmers; a lighter base-layer and top this morning. Bit too cold but should be ok for the journey home...

I think you might have gone a little early for that..

Snow on friday apparently FFS

Snow where exactly?

http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/7da ... pcode=sw1p

At least not at the morpeth 8)

il_principe

Clever Pun wrote:

heh

it is getting to that time of year where you require 2 sets of clothes for the commute

or arm and leg warmers anyway

I'm finding shorts + legwarmers + LS jersey to be sufficient at the moment.

jonginge

Il Principe wrote:

Clever Pun wrote:

heh

it is getting to that time of year where you require 2 sets of clothes for the commute

or arm and leg warmers anyway

I'm finding shorts + legwarmers + LS jersey to be sufficient at the moment.

It was my arms that were cold this morning. Wore my northwave LS rather than castelli. That was the problem

MonkeyMonster

JonGinge wrote:

Il Principe wrote:

Clever Pun wrote:

heh

it is getting to that time of year where you require 2 sets of clothes for the commute

or arm and leg warmers anyway

I'm finding shorts + legwarmers + LS jersey to be sufficient at the moment.

It was my arms that were cold this morning. Wore my northwave LS rather than castelli. That was the problem

long sleeve base and ss jersey on top worked fine mon and tue but I had no clean today... any OT suggestions for simple, tight fitting ls ones that aren't too warm?

Bikequin

I thought it was noticeably colder this miorning than it had been for the past couple of days and has been noted by a couple of people there was one hell of a headwind if you're coming up from the South.

cjcp

Normal Sir Ranulph Fiennes-style attire for me this morning. Sweat was pouring off me.

Firm headwind. Felt like the Pied Piper (see the "Rants" thread).

UndercoverElephant

I call SCR foul! Was coming along Porto prom this morning and I spy a roadie up ahead. This section is full of peds, though, so I keep ambling along. I'm closing on him, and recognise him as a guy I used to have a good few battles with along the next section. I haven't seen him for a while, must have taken a winter break.

I'm maybe 50 yards back now, and there are no more peds, so I start reeling him in. I get to 20 yards behind him, he shoulder checks, does a double-take then nips down a side-street. Now, I know his route and the side-street makes no sense with it, he just did it so I wouldn't have the satisfaction. Cowardice I call it.

Why can't the slow just take their scalping? :twisted:

jonginge

MonkeyMonster wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

Il Principe wrote:

Clever Pun wrote:

heh

it is getting to that time of year where you require 2 sets of clothes for the commute

or arm and leg warmers anyway

I'm finding shorts + legwarmers + LS jersey to be sufficient at the moment.

It was my arms that were cold this morning. Wore my northwave LS rather than castelli. That was the problem

long sleeve base and ss jersey on top worked fine mon and tue but I had no clean today... any OT suggestions for simple, tight fitting ls ones that aren't too warm?

Get some arm-warmers and a number of ss base-layers. That's my normal commuting attire. Getting bored of needing LS now.

itboffin

I'm glad the general consensus is yes to the headwind, I did a double take on the time this morning :oops:

Roastie

Case of GBU this morn'.

Owned all on London Bridge , headwind , and a semi-self inflicted deflation :evil: . Gr.

tgotb

MonkeyMonster wrote:

long sleeve base and ss jersey on top worked fine mon and tue

Were you wearing a jersey with skeleton on the back yesterday evening? HoP around 5.30pm?

MonkeyMonster

That guy on the Brompton wrote:

MonkeyMonster wrote:

long sleeve base and ss jersey on top worked fine mon and tue

Were you wearing a jersey with skeleton on the back yesterday evening? HoP around 5.30pm?

Aye that'll been me. Which one were you

Canny Jock

itboffin wrote:

So cold this morning, my feet are still numb

Don't care, because for the third commute running it hasn't rained!

(Looks nervously outside after terrible fate-tempting...)

It didn't seem to bad coming in from SE London this morning - I'd say it was a degree or two warmer than the last couple of days (7.30-ish)

tgotb

MonkeyMonster wrote:

Aye that'll been me. Which one were you

I nearly asked, but thought that asking a complete stranger "Are you MonkeyMonster" might sound a bit weird if the answer was no :-)

I was on the dark grey Condor with hi-vis jersey and single red pannier

MonkeyMonster

Ahhh... I do remember that combo and shall remember to spot the single red in future - Can't remember what and where you ended up last night. There was some entertainment down embankment last night at that time.

I'm called monkey all the time

holybinch

My head is sore, I'm getting scalped time and time again.
Will teach me for not training properly...

Wait a couple more weeks, and I'll have my revenge!

tgotb

MonkeyMonster wrote:

Ahhh... I do remember that combo and shall remember to spot the single red in future - Can't remember what and where you ended up last night. There was some entertainment down embankment last night at that time.

I'm called monkey all the time

It goes without saying that I scalped you (several times) in between bouts of woesome filtering :P You might also have heard me having words with a black cab driver who tried to play bumper cars under Charing X Bridge. When will I learn to see through the red mist and take down the guy's number plate?!?

Finally got away from you on Cheyne Walk, whilst trying to chase down a couple of roadies I spotted having a ding-dong. The b*stards denied me satisfaction by turning off down Lots Road just as I was about to catch them...

I'll look out for you and say hello next time!

Rich158

Had some great fun this morning, I'm getting my hill legs back again

On the approach to Shooters hill I spied a couple of suitable candidates for scalping about halfway up, but on the approach the legs felt a bit dead and I didn't fancy spinning. Leaving it in the big ring up front I was up out of saddle at the foot of the hill giving it some stick, and determined to catch up with the lights ahead, desperately hoping they were at least equal to me on the food chain :roll:

I caught the first just before the summit, and he was a fellow roadie, bloody great, scalp no.1. Flying past him and dodging the potholes I homed in on scalp no.2, another roadie two for the price of one, woohhhhoooooooooooo

I really shifted up the hill at a speed previously unknown to me, and hit a new HR max in the bargain, what fun

MonkeyMonster

not sure you can scalp me tbh if I remember your rig properly and I usually beetled off from the lights for a way before you came past again

fitness chapeau though - you were going along at 22ish maybe a little more so slowly pulled away each time and also provided a good bit of mtfu to not let you get too far away each time

itboffin

Seems to me that we need a covert method to identify each other or in fact reveal our own dirty Internet secret, team kit didn't really get off the ground plus apart from being expensive and impractical to wear everyday would also give away the game thus reveal to all that you're a "player" no no that wont do...

So how about a subtle sign, perhaps the motion of lifting ones own scalp? with the left hand?

Given at the right moment would reveal your true nature to a fellow player and completely ignored by non players, it would also save you the potential embarrassment of asking a complete strange if they hang out on Internet forums :roll: