Silly commuting racing

cjcp

King Donut wrote:

cjcp wrote:

You did indeed, sir. I bumped into a club mate on Parlt Square and he was riding to Richmond Park and haven't seen him a good while. I *really* didn't like the pootling - there seemed to be a good few mini-peletons about the place.

Thought as much I clocked the red bike and KW shorts but you were deep in conversation so I didn’t want to be rude.

A whole load of meh going on for me at the moment, not feeling the love out there. Haven't had a good bit of SCR for a couple of months now - just been enjoying the ride in the good weather and luckily avoiding any serious contenders.

Are you in full boy band/builder's vest and lycra uniform until November now?

tardington

All the fools are coming out of the woodwork up here for some trouncing. Mind you a week's tour on a fully laiden bike puts some bigger legs on you.

Cafewanda

@ITB - I suppose it's pointless suggesting you get a checkup CX/train or no?

King Donut

cjcp wrote:

Are you in full boy band/builder's vest and lycra uniform until November now?

Yep that's me done from March - November. Any more +25c weeks and I'll be losing the vest as well. By July I'll be in my pants, and by August I'll be arrested.

biondino

Props to the chap who I followed through Putney this morning who took the name of his De Rosa bike rather literally - pink bar tape, saddle, cables, even bottle cages. Chapeau, and I bet we looked a right pair

UndercoverElephant

tardington wrote:

All the fools are coming out of the woodwork up here for some trouncing. Mind you a week's tour on a fully laiden bike puts some bigger legs on you.

Good to have you back on the roster, Tardy. When you going to be East Lothian way? I believe we have an ultimate battle for ultimate awesome to attend to. :twisted:

UndercoverElephant

biondino wrote:

Props to the chap who I followed through Putney this morning who took the name of his De Rosa bike rather literally - pink bar tape, saddle, cables, even bottle cages. Chapeau, and I bet we looked a right pair

Pink saddle?

El Capitano

Greg66 wrote:

El Capitano wrote:

Rightyhothen, as a commuter of a number of years now, I think it’s time I started doing this properly. However…I’m a little unsure of my starting FCN as I ride to work on two different bikes:

Focus Mares CX bike – complete with mudguards and spds.

Ribble TT bike – but fitted with mtb spds for shoe compatibility.

Other things to take into consideration are; I have shaved legs (hmm, smoooooth), ride in full on lycra (hmm smooooth) and carry a backpack that weighs the same as a small car (actual weight is 16lbs!).

I would imagine the CX bike comes out at 6, being ‘almost’ a touring bike, but not 100% sure where the TT bike comes in – I think it’s a 1?. I’ve used the FCN calculator to obtain these.

Also, to clarify, and I’m using the Focus for this example, I score points for ‘scalping’ those higher up the food chain – ie Scooters, Roadies with shaved legs, Proper rapid Single speeds, Roadies with hairy legs and Faux Single Speeds but nothing for those lower down the food chain?

Ok. I'm calling the Ribble and the Focus as road bikes. If the Ribble has aerobars, then your FCNs are 1 when on the Ribble and 2 when on the Focus. If you sport wraparounds, then drop those numbers by one each.

If yer in Team Kit lycra, then there's another 1 point reduction.

Basically, think of yourself as a T Rex of the commuters, but with a fricking great pink neon target on your back. You have to slaughter everything in sight just to stand still.

Ride fast. Real fast...

Hmm, think I'll have do some work to the focus then - remove mudguards and frog-leg levers, change the tyres from Contacts to Gtorskins and up the outer ring to 53 from 50...

Paul E

I have been living here since August just with one thing and another not had either the space to store my bike where I work or the bike here at my place but it's all slotted into place now, at last

King Donut wrote:

@ Paul E - Sorry if you've said already, where's the commute from?

From the south east, Shooters Hill, across black heath into deptford, right after deptford bridge, then up that road for a bit, right onto creek street then onto evelyn street then onto jamaica road then tooley street over london bridge then upper thames street then vic embankment eventually going right at northumberland ave after that it's a bit irrelevant.

I could go up OKR but I got called a C@nt by an bloke in his lates 50's I would say for merely being on the road near him as he crossed no where near a ped crossing, charming not that it put me off.

ketsbaia

Paul E wrote:

I could go up OKR but I got called a C@nt by an bloke in his lates 50's I would say for merely being on the road near him as he crossed no where near a ped crossing, charming not that it put me off.

Legendary manners round that way!

MonkeyMonster

what the feck was up with embankment tonight...
Some nice roadies to chase though and a single fun lap round RP to finish off with. I do get amused by the digusted looks from some roadies when they look back and realise that I'm still there and yes I'm riding a road bike with drops

cjcp

MonkeyMonster wrote:

what the feck was up with embankment tonight...

Indeed. Tonight's commute could be split up as follows:

1. Work -> Horseguards lights = warm-up
2. Horseguards -> around Parlt Square/Great Smith St etc -> LBR = a crit
3. LBR ->AB = TT
4. AB -> BB = neutral zone/safety car lap
5. BB -> home = TT

For the final stage, from WBR to Bolan Death Crash Bridge, I busted a hump and did my fair share of work at the front into that headwind i.e. all of it. Am knackered.

redvee

Does a scalp on a work colleague count even if you left 5 mins+ after him, went a different route and did 3 times as far as him and your bike is in the hallway and your coming out of the newsagent paying for the C+ you picked up this morning when you see him riding up the road? Him on a Trek thing with 26" wheels and me on foot at the time of the re-scalp.

Bassjunkieuk

Seems I managed to annoy the pilot of a YouMe Sushi delivery scooter on the way home toady :-) I was waiting directly behind a coach waiting to turn right from Euston Road, opposite the station, to head down past Russell Square and onto Kingsway. As our lights went green I waited as the coach took the turn and also watched rather worried as a couple of cyclist went up the LHS of the coach and appeared to try and squeeze round that way!!!

Once he was round the corner I followed the rear right corner round and stayed in that position as it gave me a nice view down the road. I heard a toot and looked back but could only see a scooter about 15m back. I then heard another toot, this time a lot louder. I did another shoulder check and found the scooter rider right on my ar$e indicating with his hands for me to move in! I shifted to the left a bit and he came past gesticulating like I had not right to be where I was!! Not sure if the ejit heard my yelling through his helmet but it was good fun chasing him down :-)

Picked up a chap on a Condor SS at The Cut and then had him to toy with until I lost him with a poor filtering choice on my part in Camberwell. He and another SS rider where clearly having a crack at each other and I was always one set of lights behind them until the bottom of Denmark Hill where Condor rider went left and the SS rider for me as he headed up Denmark Hill. He put in a nice sprint at the first section and then turned off as I closed to within 5-10m........

I tried a spinnier gear on the last hill towards CP today and think I was marginally "fresher" at the top then my usual lower gear/grind technique. In all honesty I think the main reason I get into problems when climbing is by trying to go to fast, if I have someone riding slower to "pace" me it's a damn sight easier!! Guess I need more practice and some mental discipline....

pangolin

Yay good start to the end of the week! New PB of 37 minutes door to door for my commute in. The key is to cycle pretty fast, have a slight tailwind and get lucky with the lights

11 mile commute by the way, Kingston to just opposite Charing X

BentMikey

Two cars and a bus around Hyde Park Corner:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTnZ18TWeRU

ketsbaia

Ah, the cheap, tawdry yet satisfying repeated scalp. How I've missed thee.

So it was with an almost nostalgic sense of childhood wonder that I chanced upon a bicycle from a bygone era, bedecked with Brooks accessories and hand-finished in the powder blue of Thirties milk jugs. What shattered this reverie was the shock of the new - garish lycra-clad thighs pumping clipless pedals on cranks fashioned in the Orient; cranks that drove a v-rimmed wheel with shimmering silver cogs and a hanging teardrop-like device that nestled the chain to its bosom like a new-born child. This insane clash of yore and the modern heaved its way forward at the pace of a juddering, fresh-limbed warthog with nary a care for the trappings of road legislation; bursting its way through red lights like a startled rabbit fleeing through dense thicket.

So I scalped the frigger. Not once, not twice, but thrice; showing it where it belonged in the food chain in no uncertain terms. Racing heart, sweat-drenched clothes and lungs that screamed louder than a banshee on a megaphone were a price worth paying, as I'm sure you'll agree.

W1

Once again, massive amounts of fresh horse manure along the Chelsea embankment this morning. Must be the cavalry - I do wish they'd pick up after themselves.

Cafewanda

"frigger" not heard that word outside of Brixton market or downtown Jamaica in a long time. Oh the memories :shock:

Paul E

First proper commute in and no one tried to kill me, tried a slightly different route from my house to shooters hill road, bad mistake, thought it was flatish but wasn't, not a good start to the ride, will revert to my normal route which means a nice spinny flat route then a nice gentle climb to break my legs in

redvee

Wore full lycra into work today, Trek bibshorts and Fosca Tax jersey, as it was friday and can do a wash tonight. When I arrived the couple of work colleagues already there took the p!$$ out of me, one called me Bounce Armstrong :shock: Bit cold in Brizzle for some, caught up with a bloke on a vintage looking tourer in trousers and Altura jacket plus beanie under his helmet as me and a girl on a Giant wearing similar to myself, shorts and ss jersey, passed him.

Matt the Tester

redvee wrote:

Wore full lycra into work today, Trek bibshorts and Fosca Tax jersey, as it was friday and can do a wash tonight. When I arrived the couple of work colleagues already there took the p!$$ out of me, one called me Bounce Armstrong :shock: Bit cold in Brizzle for some, caught up with a bloke on a vintage looking tourer in trousers and Altura jacket plus beanie under his helmet as me and a girl on a Giant wearing similar to myself, shorts and ss jersey, passed him.

lol sorry but bounce armstrong is pretty funny

Bassjunkieuk

After a fairly mundane ride in this morning I was all prepared for a nice easyish ride home in the evening. It wasn't overly windy and I felt like I was shifting along quite comfortably - the large portion of chips and battered sausage I'd had at lunch obviously being worked off :-)

As I approached one of the last stretches the road was busy as hell. I'd already passed a work colleague who had left after me back in Merton and I was getting ready for the TT section of the ride! As I was picking a line through the traffic I spotted a guy aboard another bike and damn near had an accident.........he was on a Lotus bike!!! Truth be told I'd already clocked a bike with full disc rear wheel but didn't get a look until I was further up the road.

He stopped a few cars behind me in the queue for the lights and I fully intended to have my ar$e served to me on a silver platter down along the road that followed as it was pretty much made for such a nice aero bike with tri-bar :-) Only problem was the rider was either saving themselves for something else or had clearly stolen the bike from a museum as he didn't really catch me up.......having said that he did look like someone from the army with the crew cut hair and big backpack. The closest I got to "THE BIKE" was at the next big roundabout when he pulled up behind me. I then got a look at the gorgeous 3 spoke carbon front wheel, the bike looked like it was going 100mph even sat still behind me :-)

Paul E

Not much happened on my way home from work, a few people about but I was pootling along at times, still did a good time though somehow and felt strong still at the end of the journey.

Did have a woman on a single speed drafting me along embankment this morning, I got caught by every bloody light otherwise I would have dropped her, so much for pacing myself hehe

rjsterry

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

I tried a spinnier gear on the last hill towards CP today and think I was marginally "fresher" at the top then my usual lower gear/grind technique. In all honesty I think the main reason I get into problems when climbing is by trying to go to fast, if I have someone riding slower to "pace" me it's a damn sight easier!! Guess I need more practice and some mental discipline....

I've found a good station-to-station route out from Cobham up to Leith Hill (via East Horsley and Ranmore Common) that is good for practising pacing yourself up hill. It starts off flattish, but with a slight climb, and gradually gets steeper all the way up. The first couple of times I did the route, I bombed off at the start, but then blew up badly on the steeper bits. Learnt fairly quickly that I should pace myself better.

There's a nice steep decent down to Dorking for a bit of a reward, although the road surface can make this a bit hairy as well.

Paul E

As I am working today I rode in again, trafic lights seemed to be kinder for some reason and my average speed went up and I knocked a full 10 mins off my time from home to work that I did yesterday....but no one to race against which was probably for the best as I paced myself better.

Clever Pun

Went out on the bromptonm last night in normal clothes and ripped a competitive hybrid a new one while giving him a cheery good evening and a wave..... heh heh

itboffin

For a long time now i've wondered who XXXXXX reminds me of, now I know



Anyone care to guess which Morpeth regular i'm talking about? :roll:

redvee

steady rider wrote:

lol sorry but bounce armstrong is pretty funny

It goes over my head and I expected it TBH, if there wasn't a reaction then I'd be worried. The name caller though is a prisoner on day release, coming to the end of his sentence, who hails from Sunderland area who I keep calling Geordie Boy. Each time I do he bites big time

Bassjunkieuk

redvee wrote:

Wore full lycra into work today, Trek bibshorts and Fosca Tax jersey, as it was friday and can do a wash tonight. When I arrived the couple of work colleagues already there took the p!$$ out of me, one called me Bounce Armstrong :shock: Bit cold in Brizzle for some, caught up with a bloke on a vintage looking tourer in trousers and Altura jacket plus beanie under his helmet as me and a girl on a Giant wearing similar to myself, shorts and ss jersey, passed him.

Bouce Armstrong has gone over my head too, I'm thinking the smartar$e balls up the nickname and meant "Stretch Armstrong"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretch_Armstrong