Silly commuting racing

Retch

This, boys and girls, is the kind of day SCR was made for. Scalped a Porsche, but it was only a Boxster.

Lots of BSO persons around today - adds an element of "Crazy SCR" to proceedings as you seek to avoid a lunging Brompton and a confused lady in an altogether unsuitable but darned tidy floaty dress.

cjcp

Il Principe wrote:

That's prob what people think of me commuting on a sodding Pinarello Prince atm. Talk about painting a massive target on your back, I spend each ride in a constant state of barely constrained fear. Every time another roadie looks at me at the lights I feel I should explain that I don't normally commute on the Pina...

Need to get the SS up and running pronto!

One Pinarello Prince spotted on Millbank this evening. No hint of it being overtaken.

Unfortunately, I was watching all the action from the sidelines, waiting to pick up a parcel.

Had a belter of a ride home once I got going again. Gave it some beans, then did half a lap of RP before posting a season's PB for a lap of 18:25. Not hugely quick, but I was heavily laden with a laptop and work, slowed a little by traffic and it came off the back of a quick commute, so I don't regard it as a one-off lap as such. I had a chap on Pearson on my tail for most of the lap and his presence kept the legs going, so cheers, fella.

He also had a few kinds words to say before he turned off, so chapeau that man 8)

Aidy

To the guy on the dark blue, steel Pinarello up Farringdon Road - good try

To the guy who followed me up like, all of the A1010 - fast. I really actually had to try to stay ahead.

itboffin

Oh i so had the beans tonight shame i was social riding as i twice span up to the 30s with ease. Looking forward to June's London TT training sessions, its going to be brutal

Bassjunkieuk

I thought I might have found DDD today on the way home when I spotted a black chap on a Kuota Kharma as I turned out of Albany Road this evening :-) I tried my best to see if it was da man without staring, not something you you want to do in the middle of Camberwell

It turned out it wasn't but him so I proceeded with the usual plan of action when I encounter a nice looking bike - unleash hell :twisted: I fecked up the filtering as I rode up the RHS of traffic towards the traffic lights only to find the ice cream truck on my left wanting to turn right..........DOH!!

It was pretty much neck and neck as we rode up towards the hospital until some stupid b!tch decided to pull out of a side road on the left whilst looking right....I mean WTF? I got a rather odd look from the people standing on the pavement as I yelled "might want to try looking where your going!" but I don't think she heard inside her silly little tin box.
This did mean that me and Kharma chappie arrived at the lights at the bottom of the Denmark Hill climb together.

Lights go green and BOOM we both set off. He is now giving it some beans but I wrestle the bike and find I'm upto 20mph and carry on with the power. I can't bring myself to look back and ignore the warning signals coming from my legs........until I turn down Sunray Avenue first :-)

I'd also like to give a special mention to the chap on the blue SS along The Highway, you certainly had some impressive pace and superb filtering skills, I think we both got a couple of clean scalps on each other and the rest happened in traffic - certainly gave me a nice wake-up call early on in the commute :-D

Bassjunkieuk

Just like to say a quick thank you and award this mornings SCR Badge of Honour to the gent on the blue Orbea in Camberwell - you sir where certainly quick! I don't think I've ever had to go north of 30 to claim a scalp along that stretch!! Chapeau :-D

I also got caught napping by a rather rapid bloke on a red Specialized on the run upto Tower Bridge. I'd already eyeballed a red (for a change!) Bianchi rider and claimed his scalp only for the Speccy rider to come whizzing past me!! I re-fired the afterburners and caught up and overtook in filtering as we approached traffic by Tooley Street but didn't see him again as I crossed the bridge :-(

cjcp

Awesome ride in. Aaaaaaab-sooooooo-looooooooooot-leeeee awesome. 8)

Clever Pun

Craggers wrote:

depends where you sit on the ladder, if you're on a roadbike they're just flotsam and jetsam I'm afraid

I ride a langster fixed so I reckon they're in my league...it just seems like they'e more concerned with not getting sweaty/messing up their hair than they are in SCR....wish they would try harder!

careful now by dissociating yourself from that group that puts you right in the target zone of useful fixed/SS rider

ketsbaia

Nothing of much note to report this morning, apart from the irony of being cut up not once but twice by a van with 'rubbish clearance' written on the side. "Quite," I yelled at him through his open window as I filtered past him for the last time at the Bricklayers Arms roundabout. That puzzled look on his fizzog will remain with me for many a year.

Aidy

cjcp wrote:

Awesome ride in. Aaaaaaab-sooooooo-looooooooooot-leeeee awesome. 8)

It was so sunny

biondino

The train was fun too this morning

stuaff

On one of my regular runs down to the seafront and back this morning, there was, for once, some action...I come up behind a guy I've seen about a few times before- alu Trek (as to the model, pass), TT bar set-up (no aero bars, but that weird 'hoods are where the drops should be' thing a couple of Dahons have- see pic here), lycra, toe clips and a rucksack. Make it FCN 5, I think. I'm on the Cadenza, SPDs but otherwise street clothes (FCN of 9 if you count it as a folder- and it folds, so it should, 7 as 'fast hybrid'). A mile or so of steady 18-20 mph rolling speed, with me just about keeping the gap steady, despite his (legal) eagerness to get through junctions. On an uninterupted stretch, I hit 22, passed him fairly easily, and it stuck. A few minutes later, saw him up ahead on a turn-off- cheating bugger must have gone through the park (the only road to that point is the one I took)....clean scalp anyway.

MonkeyMonster

biondino wrote:

The train was fun too this morning

yeah, was awesome playing sardines this morning.

on a total topic derailment - Bio - were you in the havelock tavern a few saturdays ago?

biondino

MonkeyMonster wrote:

biondino wrote:

The train was fun too this morning

yeah, was awesome playing sardines this morning.

on a total topic derailment - Bio - were you in the havelock tavern a few saturdays ago?

Yes! With my gf - I drank too much wine and got argumentative

MonkeyMonster

biondino wrote:

MonkeyMonster wrote:

biondino wrote:

The train was fun too this morning

yeah, was awesome playing sardines this morning.

on a total topic derailment - Bio - were you in the havelock tavern a few saturdays ago?

Yes! With my gf - I drank too much wine and got argumentative

Right... glad it was you as I did think wait a sec I recognise that mug but having met you maybe once and I keep forgetting real names I wasn't about to rock and say ello bio.

Bassjunkieuk

ketsbaia wrote:

Nothing of much note to report this morning, apart from the irony of being cut up not once but twice by a van with 'rubbish clearance' written on the side. "Quite," I yelled at him through his open window as I filtered past him for the last time at the Bricklayers Arms roundabout. That puzzled look on his fizzog will remain with me for many a year.

Now you see you made the classic mistake of making a rather clever joke to someone with the brain capacity of a single celled organism (harsh I know as one of them might have understood the joke.....)

I did see a taxi cut rather close to another rider today and he gave a taxi a stern look and indcated as much as he rode past, not that Mr Black Taxi driver was the least bit interested!

andy83

got overtook unawares yesterday morning by some guy with a fixie, got me on the hill aswell, chapeau to him, was tempted to chase after him but was compeletely opposite direction for me

however got two more races in, the one which pleased me the most was the muppet who jumped the light and incensed me, especially as it was for road works, needless to say I caught him and overtook him and left him for dead

Jay dubbleU

Message to the to**er in the red top on a mountain bike this morning - did a wheely in traffic, RLJd in front of a bus and finally nearly hit a pedestrian by turning right without signalling - grow up - you're not 12 anymore

itboffin

StuAff wrote:

On one of my regular runs down to the seafront and back this morning, there was, for once, some action...I come up behind a guy I've seen about a few times before- alu Trek (as to the model, pass), TT bar set-up (no aero bars, but that weird 'hoods are where the drops should be' thing a couple of Dahons have- see pic here), lycra, toe clips and a rucksack. Make it FCN 5, I think. I'm on the Cadenza, SPDs but otherwise street clothes (FCN of 9 if you count it as a folder- and it folds, so it should, 7 as 'fast hybrid'). A mile or so of steady 18-20 mph rolling speed, with me just about keeping the gap steady, despite his (legal) eagerness to get through junctions. On an uninterupted stretch, I hit 22, passed him fairly easily, and it stuck. A few minutes later, saw him up ahead on a turn-off- cheating bugger must have gone through the park (the only road to that point is the one I took)....clean scalp anyway.

something you want to reveal to the group... :roll:

:P

stuaff

itboffin wrote:

something you want to reveal to the group... :roll:
:P[/quote]
Should there be? And how's your therapy going, btw?

Craggers

careful now by dissociating yourself from that group that puts you right in the target zone of useful fixed/SS rider

I hope so! I've been keeping my eyes peeled for a bit of fixed racing action but not much potential on my commute....might have to re-route

Bassjunkieuk

Guess who I found along Narrow Street this evening? The same Kharma rider from yesterday! Bang went my plans for a gentler ride home this evening.......kept me on my toes down The Highway (even with the stupid b!tch who came past me as I was doing 23 to then turn left in 20 yards........) I also picked up another fairly quick rider but had a bit of better luck filtering then the 2 *slower* chaps :-)

Got to Tower Bridge and red lights are lit 1/3 way over with tons of traffic and a bunch of cyclists!! Great looks like the bridge is going up! Cue a quick u-turn and re-join Upper Thames Street. Head west until Southwark Bridge and cross there and head towards E&C. To completely mix things up I decided that Kennington Lane + The Drag Strip would be quite fun for this evenings ride. It turned out to be quite fruitful as I repeatedly scalped a RLJing guy on a white/lime green Trek. It was quite fun as he'd set off quickly as he went off before the lights changed but slowed down about 50-100m up the road allowing me to reel him in AGAIN and AGAIN! This carried out right the way until past Clapham Common with him drawing out a larger lead through Clapham High Street as he did some proper RLJing at a couple of the ped crossing sets.

rjsterry

So, did I miss anything?

Been on holiday for a week in East Devon, with a day of work either end, so have had nearly a week and a half off the bike. Am itching to pedal again. Started last week with a site visit on a project in Bristol, so rode up to Paddington, got the train to Bristol Parkway and then rode from there to the meeting. Two things struck me almost immediately on leaving the station: how I had forgotten that South Gloucerstershire is a lot hillier than London, and how few traffic lights there are there. Had a great blast along the dual carriageway around the edge of Cribbs Causeway, barely having to ease off at the roundabouts. Shame there were no other cyclists about. A bit more of a workout later heading back up to Frampton Cotterell, to leave my bike with my parents, but still a refreshing change from the Smoke.

Unfortunately, I have now contrived to leave my bike in Bristol, so will be stuck with the Dahon folder until I can get it back (hope it's not too soon).

By the way, East Devon, and particularly the bit around Seaton and Lyme Regis looks great cycling country (lots of nice country lanes, and although the hills aren't that high, they are all brutally steep). Will have to work out how to get m bike down there for next time.

MonkeyMonster

blimey... 'Ow many riders this morning.
Good runnings and very much looking forward to tonights run home. A few roadies out there not protecting themselves, got stuck behind a street cleaner at parliament sq too.
Nice bit of power pootling at 25+
Amazing what a big cycle on monday and then 2 rest days can do for your energy levels.

The Rookie

Scalped by a 'roadie' last night :oops: still I was 6miles into my commute,a nd he was on a nice looking cannondale and looked very fresh, so either super fit, or not come far!

However light my bike is, I'm still lugging 5lbs of laptop around on the back!

Simon

asprilla

The Beginner wrote:

However light my bike is, I'm still lugging 5lbs of laptop around on the back!

I tend to be more concerned with the 8kg of excess fat mine is always carrying around.....

iPete

Any body fall victim to the guy with the 2 panniers and tent this morning, SCR is that little bit more fun when you pass people fully loaded

Shame I can't filter very well!

Clever Pun

Lovely day clear roads till I got to lewisham, then it's cloudy and the roads are rammed... boo

Still I got the pleasure of utterly destroying this fella on a carbon TT bike (I think the make was Kat..something) twice. felt good.

Also last night a London Phoenix rider with shaved legs and baggy shorts???... wtf. He did me fair and square I stayed with him but didn't really have the final push to take him before I had to turn off

Bassjunkieuk

What lovely weather! Finally got to wear the sleeveless top (not wife-beater vest style one tho.....) in this morning and boy was it nice :-) Even managed to attract a long stare from a young lady at one of the first bus stops I passed :-D

Had some fun with a chap on a SS through Camberwell after a brilliant launch off from the lights at the green! We kept trading places up until the last lights before E&C where I managed to clear a set of lights that he found where red :-) He soon re-joined me tho, along with another SS as we went up towards Waterloo....I was buggered if I was being beaten over WB by someone with fewer gears then wheels so I dug deep and managed to get past em both by the time we arrived at the northside, trying my best to control the breathing!

The SS guy who had tailed me from Camberwell certainly had some decent speed, holding mid 20's with seeming ease on the flats so chapeau sir!

itboffin

I'm in the basement I have no idea if it hot / cold - day or night