Silly commuting racing

rjsterry

+1 I'm not sure if it's a keener awareness of my own mortality, or an inability to warp space-time to fit a bike and rider through a 40cm gap between a bus and a highway maintenance truck, but I just don't need that nonsense in my life.

Bassjunkieuk

Il Principe wrote:

Duelled with two fellow SS'ers. Actually I say duelled but I opened a can of whoopass on them. One of them RLJ'd repeatedly from Battersea to Borough, so he got scalped several times. Av'd 18.2 (moving) a tad down on yesterday, but traffic was worse.

On another note I keep getting outfiltered (still catch the buggers) but it's annoying. I seem to have lost my filtering mojo post-accident. Maybe that's no bad thing?

I think it's a sub-concious thing. I'm now really cautious turning left whilst coming downhills whearas I can normally nail them when turning right. Not sure if it's me looking for connections but it was a left hander I was taking before I became rather well acquainted with that thorny bush in Wales......getting the confidence back slowly with some (fun) practice but I suspect now I'm planning on visiting RP monthly I'll get plenty of practice on Broomfield :-)

cjcp

Good few roadies out tonight. A number of drafting fairies, too. Towed a chap on a red and white Specialized most of the way from the end of DSC to BB, No thanks for that. Fastest chap by far, though, was a chap on a very nice Time.

Did some loops of Richmond Hill on the way home. Legs are now shot.

davis

First try at SCR today...
No real contenders at my late hour. Overtook a couple of hybrids and fixie riders, but I didn't see a single roadie (are they that far in the distance? ). Probably down to the time; eventually managed to arrive in Denmark Hill at about 9.45, after getting lost in Croydon twice.

Got a 15 mph average though (which really seemed like hard work), but that does include the getting lost and turning round twice (even walked for about half a mile back through Croydon; time to study Google Street View, I think)

Think I must have sat behind too many buses; face was *mucky* when I got back.

rjsterry

Bit gusty on Millbank 'sevening. Got blown from a good 25mph down to 20mph in a couple of seconds. Turned off at VB as was in a tearing hurry due to leaving work late (and having been held up for 10 minutes while a group of coaches sorted themselves out on Embankment - see rants), so kept it hurty all the way home after that, bar a bit of a breather in the traffic in Tooting.

cjcp

davis wrote:

First try at SCR today...
No real contenders at my late hour. Overtook a couple of hybrids and fixie riders, but I didn't see a single roadie (are they that far in the distance? ). Probably down to the time; eventually managed to arrive in Denmark Hill at about 9.45, after getting lost in Croydon twice.

Got a 15 mph average though (which really seemed like hard work), but that does include the getting lost and turning round twice (even walked for about half a mile back through Croydon; time to study Google Street View, I think)

Think I must have sat behind too many buses; face was *mucky* when I got back.

Welcome to The Game

davis

cjcp wrote:

Welcome to The Game

Thanks Think I did actually work harder because I had to display Awesome[*] to all my puny victims[**]

Edit: On the train tomorrow though. The horror, the horror.

* Awesome: read "mediocrity"

** Puny Victims: read "people who weren't trying, or clowns on unicycles"

Clever Pun

dropped a roadie an absolute treat tonight: passed him then let him take my wheel as we entered a rough bit of road, once that sorted itself I kicked on and left him for dead

all well and good till I bonked on bromley hill... 1/2 way into my extended ride hime...bugger. took freaking ages to get home, luckily there were no other bikes around to embaras me horrificly

gaz545

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHnYtvIvAnM
Awesome lil duel last night!

Bassjunkieuk

gaz545 wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHnYtvIvAnM
Awesome lil duel last night!

Good work there Gaz and over a considerable distance (I'm guessing Streatham-ish to Croydon as I certainly recognized the roads :-))

Liking the rear-facing camera as well, ultimate SCR humiliation, especially as you can CLEARLY see him up his pedalling the first time, although to be fair that's exactly what I do on the occasions when someone comes past me :-D

CXXC

Does The Game have an official start time every morning, or is it just that the main players and protagonists aren't exactly early risers?! I'm setting off at 6:30am from Earlsfield to CW and, having varied my route several times this week (over WB onto the track, thru BP and over BB onto the track, via Lavender Hill to E&C, via Oval to E&C, have not had anyone come past me or look remotely up for some SCR action.

Maybe I need to have a word with the boss about hours, or simply change jobs....and if he asks the reason the response shall be "The Game"

il_principe

gaz545 wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHnYtvIvAnM
Awesome lil duel last night!

Gaz - what cameras are you using?

itboffin

Argh! Don't know what was going on this morning, really cold start gave way to warm as soon as the bright orange thing came up, stopped removed one layer. I was running to the wire this morning so had to put the hammer down, but nothing!!! Even out of the saddle only hit 20mph which quickly kept sliding down, by 15 miles in I was hurting bad and the sweat was pouring off my cap.

Made it to the station with an avg of 17mph - I don't get it! Legs felt good, all I can think is the wind must have been stronger than I realised.

cjcp

CXXC wrote:

Does The Game have an official start time every morning, or is it just that the main players and protagonists aren't exactly early risers?! I'm setting off at 6:30am from Earlsfield to CW and, having varied my route several times this week (over WB onto the track, thru BP and over BB onto the track, via Lavender Hill to E&C, via Oval to E&C, have not had anyone come past me or look remotely up for some SCR action.

Maybe I need to have a word with the boss about hours, or simply change jobs....and if he asks the reason the response shall be "The Game"

There must be a chance of you seeing King Donut at that time.

As for me, not on your nelly. It's still "yesterday" at that time.

cjcp

This morning was tough. I had no breakfast and the legs were heavy from some hill reps last night. I thought I'd have a pootle. One silver TriandRun bike, one yellow Cannondale and the very big lad on the Soloist put an end to that. It was tit for tat from BB to Parlt Square. I need some food sharpish.

roger_merriman

CXXC wrote:

Does The Game have an official start time every morning, or is it just that the main players and protagonists aren't exactly early risers?! I'm setting off at 6:30am from Earlsfield to CW and, having varied my route several times this week (over WB onto the track, thru BP and over BB onto the track, via Lavender Hill to E&C, via Oval to E&C, have not had anyone come past me or look remotely up for some SCR action.

Maybe I need to have a word with the boss about hours, or simply change jobs....and if he asks the reason the response shall be "The Game"

it's the when and where, out on the edge of london and with shifts I rarely see another bike, and normally nothing to worry about. and almost always going the wrong way or just about to turn off.

CXXC

cjcp wrote:

This morning was tough. I had no breakfast and the legs were heavy from some hill reps last night. I thought I'd have a pootle. One silver TriandRun bike, one yellow Cannondale and the very big lad on the Soloist put an end to that. It was tit for tat from BB to Parlt Square. I need some food sharpish.

you normally eat before you ride in the morning?? surely there's zero chance of bonking on your commute and you need to bear in mind the weight savings

itboffin

Phew! That's was lucky 16mph headwind gusting to 30mph that explains it. What are my chances on that turning into a tailwind for the journey home?

il_principe

I had a tough ride in, was dragged to the pub last night at 9, sunk 4 pints and crawled into bed without any dinner. So this morning's duel was not welcome - shaven roadie whippet, black Cannondale, CSC kit. I held him off for a little while but he came past me at Albert Bridge and it was all I could do to hold on to him - about 4/5 bike lengths back. We were doing a stead 24 - 26mph but it it hadn't been for the lights he'd have had my scalp I think. It's fecking hard to keep up with a serious geared roadie, 50/16 just gets too spinny, and the legs were resolutely refusing to respond to my increasingly panicked demands for more power.... Annoyingly though today's moving Av was the slowest of the week at 17.9mph. Beer certainly does make things tougher in the mornings...

cjcp

CXXC wrote:

cjcp wrote:

This morning was tough. I had no breakfast and the legs were heavy from some hill reps last night. I thought I'd have a pootle. One silver TriandRun bike, one yellow Cannondale and the very big lad on the Soloist put an end to that. It was tit for tat from BB to Parlt Square. I need some food sharpish.

you normally eat before you ride in the morning??

surely there's zero chance of bonking on your commute and you need to bear in mind the weight savings

Good grief, yes. I did 18 miles this morning, with a laptop and work in the backpack. I'm up with the kids beforehand, too, so I'm starving by the time I get in. Which is now. And I'm starving. A man needs to eat!

gbsahne001

itboffin wrote:

Phew! That's was lucky 16mph headwind gusting to 30mph that explains it. What are my chances on that turning into a tailwind for the journey home?

slim

rjsterry

itboffin wrote:

Phew! That's was lucky 16mph headwind gusting to 30mph that explains it. What are my chances on that turning into a tailwind for the journey home?

I think you know the answer to that one.

Legs still a bit sore from flogging them last night so took it fairly steady. Not really a problem as I barely saw any other bikes at all, let alone other roadies, until I got to Oval. All a bit 28 Days Later. Acouple of half-hearted effort were dispatched without really trying on Kennington Road and that was pretty much it. Felt a bit crampy in parts this morning, so I'll go and stretch out in stead of typing this.

The Running Man

Fabulous ride in this morning. Felt like the wind was going in bloomin' circles but still enjoyed it. Over 40 mph down Bowden but then came to a screaming halt as there was a bump at the lights by Whitehall Garden Centre.

Had the wind behind me coming down the bypass into Bath but some dopey dora was blocking the outside lane so I had to put the anchors on again.

Coming down London Road there was a Land Rover in the cycle lane so I had to shrug my shoulders and wait for it to clear off. As I moved off a guy on an old Peugeot steel frame that I'd passed earlier got a wheel in front of me.

I actually heard myself saying out loud, "Bloody hell, we can't have that can we!" And as I lit the burners the guy laughed and agreed.

This SCR business is truly driving me insane .....

NormalD

First ride in of the year today. Great ride, poor time but can't believe how much I enjoyed/missed it.
I'd forgotten how much wildlife there is in the woods and how quiet the roads are early in the morning.

flamite

good ride in until saw ambulance with blues and 2's on stopped by southwark bridge, there was a very nice looking red and white cervelo propped up against side and cyclist on floor being tended to, looked like cyclist was coming north over bridge?

was sat up, hope you're ok...

otherwise, good weather, is it nearing "tit monday"? http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... t%20Monday

CXXC

flamite wrote:

otherwise, good weather, is it nearing "tit monday"? http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... t%20Monday

it can't be too far away :P

I tend to find there is a direct correlation between bumps on show and the number of bumps I have with other road users on my commute!

Citizen Smith

Rolled up to VB lights last night circa 6.30pm and there was absolute gaggle of about ~15+ bikes waiting for the green light which goes to show the winter hibernators are putting their head (and scalps) above the parapet.

I was towards the pack of the pack. The virtual flag went down and we're off. Due to the volume, had to be careful to not catch someone's rear wheel so decided to hang towards the rhs of the lh lane, keeping a careful eye on the traffic overtaking on my right.
As I moved up the peloton, someone shouted out something, I turned to see if it was one of my fellow SCR'rs but didn't recognise anyone so apologies if it was someone on here.

The Aylesford lights were red so we all bunched up again at this junction apart from some guy on a slicked up MTB who scooted round the lot of us onto the pavement and back down again thru the red light. How very dare him.

Lights turn green and we're off again. There are about eight bikes in front of me and as the chain gang hits cruising speed in the DSC, it's apparent that it's not particularly fast. So, I pull out and hit the burners. Always nice to overtake at a significant differential but the key is maintain the acceleration.

Which I do....fly past Mr Slick MTB RLJer like he's stopped for a breather before Claverton St junction.

Fitted a new rear Cateye yesterday which is pretty piercing so I hope that the scalpees had some perspective on how far I pulled away from them.

By the time I got to CB, I had to wait for eons before anyone turned up.

To be fair, I think the chain gang average FCN was fairly high so can't take too much credit. But given the volume, it's takes some gumption to execute a solo pass like that as there could have been some serious contenders hidden in that crowd.

Oh and to that Q the other day about the DSC (Death Star Canyon), I recall G66 coined it as there were roadworks along there so you had to funnel into one lane. As it happens, a Google Streetview car has captured it:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=London,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.486013,-0.132984&spn=0,359.994555&z=18&layer=c&cbll=51.486043,-0.132847&panoid=0EVsobq34Dx_Oc8M8bZeow&cbp=12,214.42,,0,5

cjcp

Nice work, sir.

+1 for VB lights last night. There must have only minutes between us being there last night.

WesternWay

Had a fabulous ride in this morning. Passed someone dawdling in Archway, who fixed on my backend and then had me in Finchley as they RLJd. I pretty much kept with them give or take some red lights all the way to the top of Archway Hill where him going through another Red got him far enough ahead that I lost him. Lovely lovely ride though as normally I am not "with" someone for anywhere near so long.

cjcp

Discovered that fruit and yoghurt for lunch afer a pack of fig rolls late morning just ain't gonna get me home without some measure of pain when there's a headwind...

Left at 7pm. Hardly saw one roadie, and only a few other bikes!