Silly commuting racing

il_principe

JonGinge wrote:

Anyway, not a scalp was on carbon with a power meter...

I nearly rode the Prince today in anticipation of another roaring tailwind this evening...

jonginge

Il Principe wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

Anyway, not a scalp was on carbon with a power meter...

I nearly rode the Prince today in anticipation of another roaring tailwind this evening...

I think I missed out yesterday. Left work at lunchtime so I could WFH due to a powercut at the office. It was all a bit blustery with crosswinds at that point *sigh*

gbsahne001

no one around this morning but I did have some moron in a merc overtake me on double whites, almost crashing into oncoming traffic and then my front wheel as he cut back in.

I caught up with him 5 mins later, as he was stuck in traffic, knocked on the window to enquire "what was the point of that?"

Obviously sitting in traffic had turned him into a zombie, as he'd only look forward staring into space; muppet.

Bassjunkieuk

Citizen Smith wrote:

MatHammond wrote:

Great ride home last night, "raced" a guy on a Focus (Milram colours, Rival g/set, Cayo or Izalco perhaps?) and a Cervelo top. He was giving it some decent speed, managed to stick with him all the way through to Balham then outpaced him on the drag strip towards Tooting before turning off down Ritherdon Road - given he had initially come from behind I guess that counts as a draw (although I was on the Iron Horse so bonus points for me!)

Interesting - v. interesting. I think you guys out-filtered me as we approached Balham tube. I'm on a grey hybrid with pretty wide bars, red backback, all in black.

I spotted the chap on the Focus as some competition too! I was towards the back of the small gaggle of bikes we had at the Balham lights and then followed you two down to Ritherdon.

Nice pace - I wasn't losing ground on you guys but nor was I gaining!

Hmm, a Focus heading along the Drag Strip you say? Not me (alas.......) but I'm sure I spotted a chap on a Focus moving quite quickly when I hooked up with DDD last Thursday on the homeward bound section. This was on the approach from Stockwell but he filtered down the right as we got heamed in behind a bus. I didn't jump on the Focus as I didn't want to drop DDD, but did spot him as a good potential scalp given half a chance :twisted:
Twas dark so I can't recount the exact details of his bike but it could be the same chap :-)

The Running Man

Morning all : there must have been a hell of a tailwind this morning as I flew in averaging over 18 mph and that's with a few hold-ups for traffic etc.

Lovely ride except that is for the dozy female who pulled out of a side road and blocked me as I was hurtling down the bike lane on London Road, and then proceeded to give me a load of verbal and hand getsures because I called her a stupid woman which under the circumstances was quite restrained I thought ....

I can I suppose understand why she was so miserable and bad tempered given that she was by any standards spectacularly ugly, and violently contorting what I can only assume was her face, resting as it did at the top of her bulbous frame, didn't improve matters a bit.

rjsterry

The Running Man wrote:

Morning all : there must have been a hell of a tailwind this morning as I flew in averaging over 18 mph and that's with a few hold-ups for traffic etc.

Lovely ride except that is for the dozy female who pulled out of a side road and blocked me as I was hurtling down the bike lane on London Road, and then proceeded to give me a load of verbal and hand getsures because I called her a stupid woman which under the circumstances was quite restrained I thought ....

I can I suppose understand why she was so miserable and bad tempered given that she was by any standards spectacularly ugly, and violently contorting what I can only assume was her face, resting as it did at the top of her bulbous frame, didn't improve matters a bit.

Now, now. If you can't say something nice about someone... :twisted:

amnezia

So many drafting fairies this morning :? still i had fun trying to shake them off with some sublime filtering.

The Running Man

True - I could have said ... "You don't sweat much for a fat bird do you?"

CXXC

@cjcp

Earlsfield over WB then the strip to Canary Wharf, although I'm maybe thinking of staying southside thru Battersea Pk and then over CB??? I'm willing to try new routes just to get out of that mutha headwind up Millbank this morning!!

Got a visit from the p fairy last night as well, first in ages, not a happy camper as left work at gone 7 and just wanted to get home for some hot grub. :evil: [/quote]

amnezia

CXXC wrote:

@cjcp

Earlsfield over WB then the strip to Canary Wharf, although I'm maybe thinking of staying southside thru Battersea Pk and then over CB??? I'm willing to try new routes just to get out of that mutha headwind up Millbank this morning!!

Got a visit from the p fairy last night as well, first in ages, not a happy camper as left work at gone 7 and just wanted to get home for some hot grub. :evil:

You go almost an identical route to me, what bike are you on? I'll be sure to look out for you.

Headwind wasn't that bad :P

CXXC

is WB a better route than potentially CB?? I head over the river and chuck an immediate right and then join Cheyne Walk. Usually depart Earlsfield at 6:30am-ish (that's a big ISH btw)

this week i'm riding a red 2004 Spesh Stumpy FSR Expert, oh yes my friend, full suss is the way to go given the state of the roads :roll: plus it makes scalping roadies so much fun

amnezia

CXXC wrote:

is WB a better route than potentially CB?? I head over the river and chuck an immediate right and then join Cheyne Walk. Usually depart Earlsfield at 6:30am-ish (that's a big ISH btw)

this week i'm riding a red 2004 Spesh Stumpy FSR Expert, oh yes my friend, full suss is the way to go given the state of the roads :roll: plus it makes scalping roadies so much fun

My personal preference is WB but you could try CB

6.30 ish is about an hour to early for me

cjcp

amnezia wrote:

CXXC wrote:

is WB a better route than potentially CB?? I head over the river and chuck an immediate right and then join Cheyne Walk. Usually depart Earlsfield at 6:30am-ish (that's a big ISH btw)

this week i'm riding a red 2004 Spesh Stumpy FSR Expert, oh yes my friend, full suss is the way to go given the state of the roads :roll: plus it makes scalping roadies so much fun

My personal preference is WB but you could try CB

6.30 ish is about an hour to early for me

And about 1.5 hrs too early for me! (maybe 2.5 hours too early for me this particular morning...)

I'm Kingston-St Katharine's Dock.

CXXC

judging by the speeds you guys go you should be catching me up by about blackfriars then

Citizen Smith

cjcp wrote:

And about 1.5 hrs too early for me! (maybe 2.5 hours too early for me this particular morning...)

CJ - were you waiting at VB lights at just after 9am this morning? I too was a little late this morning. As I crossed over the VB junction from the bridge heading north, I thought I saw you waiting there - I did wave but wasn't sure whether it was you.

If it wasn't, you have a doppelganger!!

tgotb

Just back from weekend ski trip where I discovered that cycling-acquired fitness, rather than preserving the legs, merely provides the stamina to destroy them more effectively.

I was slow this morning, and will be even slower this evening; scalp freely available to anyone who can sustain more than about 18mph :oops:

cjcp

Citizen Smith wrote:

cjcp wrote:

And about 1.5 hrs too early for me! (maybe 2.5 hours too early for me this particular morning...)

CJ - were you waiting at VB lights at just after 9am this morning? I too was a little late this morning. As I crossed over the VB junction from the bridge heading north, I thought I saw you waiting there - I did wave but wasn't sure whether it was you.

If it wasn't, you have a doppelganger!!

Yep, I was. Grey/black jacket, blue shorts and tights. Sorry for noticing you :oops: . That's another fellow SCRer I've failed to spot.

Clever Pun

cjcp wrote:

Citizen Smith wrote:

cjcp wrote:

And about 1.5 hrs too early for me! (maybe 2.5 hours too early for me this particular morning...)

CJ - were you waiting at VB lights at just after 9am this morning? I too was a little late this morning. As I crossed over the VB junction from the bridge heading north, I thought I saw you waiting there - I did wave but wasn't sure whether it was you.

If it wasn't, you have a doppelganger!!

Yep, I was. Grey/black jacket, blue shorts and tights. Sorry for noticing you :oops: . That's another fellow SCRer I've failed to spot.

you do have your eyes open, right?

cjcp

Clever Pun wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Citizen Smith wrote:

cjcp wrote:

And about 1.5 hrs too early for me! (maybe 2.5 hours too early for me this particular morning...)

CJ - were you waiting at VB lights at just after 9am this morning? I too was a little late this morning. As I crossed over the VB junction from the bridge heading north, I thought I saw you waiting there - I did wave but wasn't sure whether it was you.

If it wasn't, you have a doppelganger!!

Yep, I was. Grey/black jacket, blue shorts and tights. Sorry for noticing you :oops: . That's another fellow SCRer I've failed to spot.

you do have your eyes open, right?

Most definitely. I spotted two or three clouds that looked like farm yard animals, and a couple of planes.

MonkeyMonster

TickTock... 20 mins till I hit the track... Not sure if I'll manage owt though

Bassjunkieuk

Took the extended route home this evening down The Embankment this evening. As I hit Whitehall and was waiting at the lights to cross PS I had a look around for G66's tell-tale signs of wind and spotted the flag atop HoP pointing west :-)

TBH I wasn't expecting much competition as I'd left work early (just before 5) so enjoyed the lovely effortless speed along towards Lambeth Roundabout then cruised along Millbank with relatively little effort at about 26mph :-)

Then managed to catch a brief draft behind an Addison Lee luton van along DSC - drafting + tailwind = big win :-D

Found a quick chap on a front sus MTB as I got to 1 bridge before Cheyne Walk who then followed me round onto NKR - he has good pace but lost him when I turned off towards Wandsworth Bridge. From there is was a nice run back home :-)

Added a couple of extra miles to the commute and will probably become my default choice once summer arrives! Must try that route heading in at some point.

gbsahne001

headwind all the way tonight

cjcp

Hurrah for tailwinds! Managed a seated, very spinny effort of 33.6 down Millbank. (JG - I don't think you're Garmin reading was iffy last Wednesday.) Bit too much traffic between CB and AB to have some fun along that stretch.

Clever Pun

Coffee powered awesome tonight got me 3 scalps on tower bridge

along the jamacia way I spot a very fast fixed rider I stay with him and when the opportunity arose I gave it large and passed getting to 28 and passing him I maintain the speed but eventually hit some traffic and he's back with me.. I then have to peel off... I did him but was that really a scalp... I think so 8)

cracking good ride

Canny Jock

Lots of fun on the way home tonight, don't usually get too many SCR's but there seemed to be a lot of fast roadies about (Tooley Street/Jamaica Road/Evelyn Street/Deptford Chursh Street). Probably about 6.30ish, anyone else from here about at that time?

There was a fair peloton heading towards the Limehouse Tunnel roundabout, I was at the back of it but managed to keep in touch. Lost the front half at the roundabout due to a lot of backed up traffic, looked like a lorry backing up from the entrance to the tunnel :shock:

Got one guy at the next set of lights, chasing down another who turned out to be his partner - a quick lady in red on a Cannondale I think? She wasn't hanging about. Rolled along at a similar speed to them most of the way to Deptford.

Then a guy on a yellow Ribble came past me in traffic, we both turned down Deptford Church Street and on to the being-resurfaced Brookmill Road, keeping reasonable pace but not flat out, and called it a draw at the lights by Lewisham roundabout. Saw a guy there on a lovely Pearson Touche (I think) with funky bars which I want, although I'd prefer it with drops.

Saw lots of other nice bikes on the way home, seems to be a lot more around this week - due to the dry weather?

Oh, and Chapeau to the guy on a hybrid/MTB this morning, the bike looked a bit of a wreck, big pannier bag, but your sprints on Jamaica Road were pretty good, and you kept up all the way to Tooley Street

rjsterry

Meh.

Distinctly below par tonight for no apparent reason. Just couldn't maintain a decent speed after DSC and the tailwind seemed to have vanished. I'd pumped the tyres up to 120psi (now paranoid about pinch punctures), which meant that I almost shook my teeth loose on the crappy surface of the Embankment. Millbank was fun though - as BJUK said effortless speed. Day on PT to 'look forward' to tomorrow - might take the Dahon to get a couple of miles in though.

itboffin

Headwind all the way home, which at one point brought me to a stop. Thankfully mrs itboffin had a steak & Guinness pie waiting for me, yummy!

despite the headwind I managed a respectable 17mph avg on the way home, legs are warm and tingling still after two hours.

Robstar24

Canny Jock wrote:

Lots of fun on the way home tonight, don't usually get too many SCR's but there seemed to be a lot of fast roadies about (Tooley Street/Jamaica Road/Evelyn Street/Deptford Chursh Street). Probably about 6.30ish, anyone else from here about at that time?

I was going along there at around that time, if perhaps a ten minutes or so earlier (i ride a blue trek 1200 if you were there at same time as me.

Managed a couple of good scalps of my own tonight: one guy on a SSer along Evelyn Street who was no slouch, I chased him and caught him on that short uphill bridge in deptford, plus then caught a fast guy on a white bike going along brookmill street, scalped him just after the last corner leading up to the lights at lewisham.

then funnily enough there was a procession of 3 of us who had exactly the same helmet in the same colour going along following each other's wheels.

I'm sure rail/road commuters don't go on a forum to share stories of their journeys home

gaz545

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTOgI2kz1UQ - pwnage on vauxhall bridge...

gb155

Had an amazing SCR this morning, 30 seconds from home caught a guy on a celeste bianchi, dropped him at a set of traffic lights, held him off until the big hill out of Hyde (For anyone knows it) I knew he would pass me there(he has before) and he did, I kept up the higest pace I could for the next 2 miles, he was closing but not as quick as I wanted, got lucky with a set of lights and pull infront, kept my awesomeness at 200% for the rest of the way and managed to hold him off, never thought I could SCR for the WHOLE commute, felt amazing, and was a shade over 20 mins for my 6 and a half miles

BTW if your reading this, great ride (I was the fat bloke on the Ribble)