Silly commuting racing

WesternWay

No scalps on Friday night, I am going to blame being full of cold, but had a lovely quick trip from the North Circular to the bottom of Barnet Hill with a guy on a slick tyred MTB and another on something with drops.

cjcp

Greg66 wrote:

So, in related news, I have been rising along past the HoP for the last week or so thinking "Hmm. St Margaret's Street will be closed. Wonder which one that is. Can't see a sign."

Well, I found out this morning. Time for a temporary route change, me thinks. :x

Grrrr. Do you know what the reason is? Prep for the opening of Parlt?

The Running Man

Got suckered in like a proper Charlie on Friday night. Was pootling home towards the lights at Lacock when a chap on a Principia slid past me with a cheery "lovely evening" and started accelerating away.

Cue red mist and off we go. Caught his back wheel and cruised up alongside him and we went like a bat out of hell through Lacock village and I led him up towards the climb. He was saying he was off to do a long ride to Paris soon and he looked like it was going to be no bother!!

So I'm thinking there's no way I can keep this up all the way to the top of this bloomin' hill and he's looking like he's out for a Sunday Leisure ride.

Next thing he shoots off to the right saying I'm turning here, best of luck going all the way up, with another irritatingly cheery smile ....

So I'm left there knackered, hot, out of breath with a bloody great hill to get up so I can get home to dearly beloved ....

Next time I'll remember to ask :roll:

BentMikey

Here's my run from Sunday. The last chap I passed was the one who turned out of Jail Lane and tried to leave me behind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq5hWy9GeTo

jonginge

Stupid trees. That is all.

greg66_tri_v2.0

JonGinge wrote:

Stupid trees. That is all.

+the number of filaments flying around this evening from said trees. I had both eyes pinged before I was on the Embankment despite wearing the Bono specials. And then it just got worse. Nose, throat, the lot. Really want the wind to drop off tomorrow.

rjsterry

Well that was fun. Ended up riding the Dahon all the way back as well, and due to my new FCN, I'm going to need to get a trailer for the scalps. Even passed that chap on the electric blue Charge Plug a couple of times, but didn't make it stick, as I kept spinning out. Quite a flash bike that with all matching kit including a blue anodised stem, and nifty little 'bullet' end plugs to the (cut down, natch) flat handle bars. A very pretty thing.

That southerly wind was a bit of a pain as well, eh? kept things nice and cool, but also picked up every bit of grit on the road, and flung it in my eyes.

Despite the extra weight, low gearing and very cautious filtering, I only added 5 minutes to my overall journey, so pretty happy with that. Will see tomorrow if the new riding position and lack of cleats has had any negative effects.

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

So, in related news, I have been rising along past the HoP for the last week or so thinking "Hmm. St Margaret's Street will be closed. Wonder which one that is. Can't see a sign."

Well, I found out this morning. Time for a temporary route change, me thinks. :x

Grrrr. Do you know what the reason is? Prep for the opening of Parlt?

Think so, yes. Looks like it'll be like that all this week.

itboffin

A new commuting PB for me tonight, thanks to the utter balls up by SW trains it's taken me 7 hours to get home this evening, in fact i've been home 30 mins, just having a calming pause before I hit the sack.

Excellent communication work the SW, keep up the good work the Empire depends on you, wot wot!!

redvee

You could/should have rode it quicker.

cjcp

Excellent SCR action this morning all the way from Cheyne Walk to Temple with a racing snake (full shaved legs) of a Dynamo on a crosser and the drafting fairy on the gun-barrel Pearson that KD knows. Had noticeably less in the legs when it came to the rise at the end of Thames St. Beast of headwind, although not sure the guy on the Pearson would know that

gbsahne001

followed a guy on an orange Giant last night (not drafting though), couldn't be bothered to race, well up until the point where he moved onto the drops, kicked it up a notch and then it was on.

Kept up with him all the way at 25mph and you could tell he was getting annoyed, as he kept looking round and seeing me there.

That's when it descended into him jumping several sets of lights, which didn't help his cause as I caught up with him (after waiting for the green) and then dropped him at 30mph along a nice fast straight......paid for it though, as I still had another 18miles left!

UndercoverElephant

Further frustration last night. I had to stop to pick up a CO2 cannister that had just fallen out of my stupid, knackered saddle bag. As I did so, a young guy on a carbon Boardman wearing full racing team colours stopped to see if I needed any help. Nice chap, was riding along with him for a while until the road got better and I could see how quick he was....

"Race much?", I asked. "Yeah, kind of.", he replied, laughing. Turns out he's just got back from the Junior Giro, where he'd had to pull out due to illness. Good God, he's going to kill me, I thought - should be fun to see how long I can cling on, though.

Sadly, at the first point where the road gets better, there's a junction where I turn left. You guessed it, he was turning right. I reckon he was scared.

rjsterry

Another full run in on the Dahon. Starting to get the hang of it over longer distances, but really am missing the Giant. I know technically all the hybrids, MTBs and SSers I pass are now scalps, but it doesn't really feel the same as a proper shaved roadie scalp or a scooter, and those are definitely out of reach at the moment.

notsoblue

Greg66 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

So, in related news, I have been rising along past the HoP for the last week or so thinking "Hmm. St Margaret's Street will be closed. Wonder which one that is. Can't see a sign."

Well, I found out this morning. Time for a temporary route change, me thinks. :x

Grrrr. Do you know what the reason is? Prep for the opening of Parlt?

Think so, yes. Looks like it'll be like that all this week.

Gah, what a pain. Was quite a detour to get round it last night.

Did anyone else notice the horrific amount of dust in the air along the Thames last night? Was coughing and spluttering the time I got to Putney bridge, eyes streaming.... Couldn't show it though, of course.

rjsterry

notsoblue wrote:

Gah, what a pain. Was quite a detour to get round it last night.

Did anyone else notice the horrific amount of dust in the air along the Thames last night? Was coughing and spluttering the time I got to Putney bridge, eyes streaming.... Couldn't show it though, of course.

Should be over and done with by tomorrow I think (don't quote me on that). The dust wasn't limited to the Thames, The A3/A24 was just as bad - still have bits o grit in my eyes, but luckily, I was wearing my facemask yesterday.

cjcp

Eh? What time was this dust about the place? I went through just after 6 and it seemed ok. Thank heavens I missed it! Would have done the asthma no good at all, that.

greg66_tri_v2.0

God that was fecking irksome!

Got to VB lights and Millbank was shut. Diverted south over VB lights into chokka traffic and threaded by way south of the river. Traffic was so bad past the hospital that I was stuck in the middle of the road unable to get into the bus lane. That gave me an opportunity to admire all the debris in the middle of the road. And wonder which bit of it embedded itself in my rear tyre. FECK!

So I do a tyre change at the south side of Westminster Bridge. Can't find the sharp in the tyre, and that's never good. Put a new inner in to find that the valve isn't long enough. Well done genius. Really smart to be carrying that around in the saddle bad all this time.

So I mount the other inner (which is OK), hit the CO2, and hear a little "hiss". Ah. So that's where the fecking sharp is. No more inners. Hmm. Ok, well, it's losing air slowly, and Evans in the Cut is close. So hare over there standing all the way to keep weight off the rear tyre. Get some new Co2 and a couple of new inners. Rear tyre seems to be holding air now. Oh bollocks. Decide against another replacement; instead finish the journey standing.

On a day when I really need to be in early, that was not a great success.

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

Eh? What time was this dust about the place? I went through just after 6 and it seemed ok. Thank heavens I missed it! Would have done the asthma no good at all, that.

I left just after 7.15, and the wind had picked up. It was blowing plane tree pollen like a b@stard.

jonginge

I got home just before eight last night and spent the second half of the ride coughing my lungs up. Nasty stuff. Up until then, though, the tailwind along chelsea embankment was fab: sitting at 33mph barely putting any effort in but spinning madly

What a mess around Westminster this morning! Virtually the entire borough was pedestrianised. Gah, got me some calf pedal-strike. Stupid SOP.

markshaw77

Yep - was still blowing and filling my eyes/ears/lungs at gone 9pm last night - you could actually see clouds of dust and pollen blowing around against the backdrop of the streetlights.

Nasty stuff - my breathing is still not right this morning!!

MonkeyMonster

Margaret should be all done by 3 o'clock today chaps - asked me pal who'd know.

Greg T

Headwind of Death.....

That having been said several fellas did me the compliment of tucking in behind me like I was the last piece of hardcover on the Somme....

No-one fancied a pop at the title today, can't blame them - if I wasn't just so nails and had a scrap of self respect and cojones like coal sacks I'd have given up and drafted some better man myself......

stuaff

rjsterry wrote:

Another full run in on the Dahon. Starting to get the hang of it over longer distances, but really am missing the Giant. I know technically all the hybrids, MTBs and SSers I pass are now scalps, but it doesn't really feel the same as a proper shaved roadie scalp or a scooter, and those are definitely out of reach at the moment.

I feel your pain. I love my Dahons, they're both great despite their foibles, but on long runs in particular I can't help thinking 'on the Viner I'd be x miles down the road by now'!. n+1 should ease that somewhat, being built up in a couple of weeks.

itssam

not a great ride this morning - held my own fine on the roads (no-one around bar a FCN14) but round richmond park (on the hills atleast) i got properly dropped by a good few riders :oops:

majority were around the same FCN as me (4) but one MTB (11) got me while i faffed with my gears...

still, only clocked ~50 miles since a ~ 10 year break, really need to get the miles in (and drop the full storm trooper garb....)

cjcp

Greg66 wrote:

God that was fecking irksome!

Got to VB lights and Millbank was shut. Diverted south over VB lights into chokka traffic and threaded by way south of the river. Traffic was so bad past the hospital that I was stuck in the middle of the road unable to get into the bus lane. That gave me an opportunity to admire all the debris in the middle of the road. And wonder which bit of it embedded itself in my rear tyre. FECK!

So I do a tyre change at the south side of Westminster Bridge. Can't find the sharp in the tyre, and that's never good. Put a new inner in to find that the valve isn't long enough. Well done genius. Really smart to be carrying that around in the saddle bad all this time.

So I mount the other inner (which is OK), hit the CO2, and hear a little "hiss". Ah. So that's where the fecking sharp is. No more inners. Hmm. Ok, well, it's losing air slowly, and Evans in the Cut is close. So hare over there standing all the way to keep weight off the rear tyre. Get some new Co2 and a couple of new inners. Rear tyre seems to be holding air now. Oh bollocks. Decide against another replacement; instead finish the journey standing.

On a day when I really need to be in early, that was not a great success.

That's a "please don't speak to me for about an hour" journey. What the heck was Millbank doing closed???

Yep, I missed the pollen. Result. Looking at the way the trees are swaying, may have more problems tonight. Oh, hang on, I've got my awesomely cool wrap-arounds on. S'all good. 8)

Wrath Rob

Back on the bike after 2 weeks on holiday and I get welcomed with a closed P'Square yesterday morning and then a dust storm on the way home. It was quite comical at the traffic lights when all the cyclists arrived and then immediately started coughing their guts up.

Had some fun with a guy in a Hi-Viz top riding a Boardman on the way back. He caught me napping away from LB round-a-bout, breezing past me along Millbank. Not one to take that lying down I upped my game and got on his wheel, at VB he tucked in behind a hybrid while I rolled to the front of the lights. Lights green and we're off. I know that he's going to be on my tail (in a tail wind?) so I push up the speed. No idea what speed I was doing as the Fuji doesn't have a computer yet, thanks to wiggle for getting my order wrong

He's still there but makes no move to pass. I held him off along the rest of Embankment, joked at AB about the dust and then got a little disappointed that I couldn't take a rest along Lotts Road as he followed. However, by this time he was waning as I was gradually pulling a lead. It was a good few seconds before he joined me again at the bottom of WB. By this time I'd had enough and laid down the power going over the bridge. I could see he was turning my way but by the time I was down the other side he'd been dropped properly.

Hopefully my lungs will be back on stream properly in a day or 2 and next time it won't take 4 miles or so to make the brake!

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

Looking at the way the trees are swaying, may have more problems tonight. Oh, hang on, I've got my awesomely cool wrap-arounds on. S'all good. 8)

Hmm. Well, you've seen mine, right?

Crap was getting in behind them yesterday. Not fun.

UndercoverElephant

Coming into Musselburgh this morning I notice a couple of roadies having a scrap ahead of me. They're going at each other pretty well, and I'm gaining. After about half a mile, I catch up with the loser, vintage steel racing bike, more rust than steel to be honest and I go past him like the wind. Now for the winner of that duel.

I catch him stopped at a red-light in the town centre, riding a nice looking Cannondale, CAAD 9 I think. We chat about the weather until it's green. Then I set loose the dogs of war and leave him standing. I go through the next lights on amber and assume that's the last I see of him, but no! Half a mile further through the town centre, I feel his presence on my six. He's labouring away at the 23 mph or so I was cruising at.

Chapeau to the chap for coming back and giving it all he had, to be honest. I think he was going for the overtake when I spotted him. A click of the gears, and a few strong turns of the crank and he was in a whole world of pain, and I was off in the distance.

cjcp

Greg66 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Looking at the way the trees are swaying, may have more problems tonight. Oh, hang on, I've got my awesomely cool wrap-arounds on. S'all good. 8)

Hmm. Well, you've seen mine, right?

Crap was getting in behind them yesterday. Not fun.

The, um, "awesomely cool" tag isn't quite right. They're more akin to visors on a TT helmet i.e. very uncool. :oops: They're like very large M-Frames.