Silly commuting racing

rjsterry

Not that much of a stretch when you think about it. Fork blades (single or paired) cantilever all the way from the fork crown, so cantilevering out from that by about 4" isn't so much. Also virtually all car wheels are only supported on one side. That said, I do agree that they look a little unsettling.

Trying to pace myself a bit more evenly this week so I don't end up with such sore legs again, and so far so good. A bit of fun started exiting P. Sq, got broken up along before LBR by a bus and a U-turning Range Rover, before a few of us regrouped at VB lights. One or two other hairy roadies in the group, so set off briskly and found myself in front. Didn't push it too hard, to see if anone wold bit but nothing happened until we were past the petrol station. One chap in a pink jersey (shaved legs - phew) came past, then but I managed to close the gap fairly well before we hit the back of the CB queue. Think I can claim at least one of the other hairy roadies (not sure what happened to the other one).

Butterd2

dhope wrote:

Butterd2 wrote:

All the action seems to be on the west side of town, anyone playing SCR on the east side (Greenwich/Isle of Dogs/Cable street etc)?
Greenwich park hill great for cruising past people on the way up and Cable Street getting a very fast new blue surface on the cycle path though it's still going to be quicker to use the road when it's clear.
Steps at Greenwich foot tunnel closed for 20 weeks!! Now have to wait with all the lazy numpties who use the lifts- may have to go Deptford / Tower bridge?

FCN 4 due to a short beard so should be able to rack up some decent points against other hairy roadies.

That'd be around my neck of the woods.
First cycle in today, from Greenwich, Trafalgar Road, past the Cutty Sark and through Deptford, up to London Bridge and onto St Pauls.

Still on the fixed for now, I fear bringing out the carbon Boardman would betray my Cycle2Work-Newbie status so need to get my legs back first so I can fend off people looking for easy scalps.

You don't ride up the hill in Greenwich Park do you? That's a great spot for scalping SS/Fixies, got another one last night. I know it's not entirely fair but he was half way up when I got to the bottom. Grow a beard to up your FCN by one then it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

It's all very well looking too Kool for Skool but if you have to ride up a hill every day then either be good or become a scalpee.

Valy

Greg66 wrote:

Just remembered something I saw this evening that caused a triple take: a guy on a MBT with one of those front forks that only has a fork on one side. Feck me that's a spooky looking thing. I was completely hypnotized by it! It looked like it was going to collapse any second.

Innit a Cannondale? innit?

El Capitano

Absolutely brapped it in this mornng on the TT bike, but no SCR sport to be had.

WesternWay

El Capitano wrote:

Absolutely brapped it in this mornng on the TT bike, but no SCR sport to be had.

You could have had me, last night and this morning were hard bloody work for some reason

Butterd2

dhope - Tried the Deptford/Tower Bridge route today, it's certainly quick, 5mins off my normal time via the foot tunnel but much busier.

Had a good race with a guy in blue on a mountain bike with nobblies from Greenwich to Tower Bridge (even my FCN +1 beard was not going to protect me from a scalping). In the end we both took turns to try and ride the other of their wheel but neither of us could so I believe my scalp is still in tact even though the moral high ground is his - well done to you sir.

cjcp

JonGinge wrote:

Aha, some good scalping tales and some in-house BR racing. Excellent.

No such excitement for me but once I'd cleared the morass of traffic east of HoP I did enjoy the blast along chelsea embankment. There seemed to be free speed being handed out this evening

I had some fun along there last night. Must have been about five roadies, including a rapid chap in an Aqua Sapone SS jersey on a Boardman, IIRC. There was another chap on a yellow and green Bianchi, who took a bit of a tow and whose engine seemed to blow after BB.

MonkeyMonster

Woo hooo
Lovely ride in this morning. Legs at full power too. Silly (fluro caped ,blue ribble I think) roadie rode very dangerously on the race track to weave between large dumper and a bus to retake his scalp only to lose it 30 seconds later as I came storming round past at 29 mph at Temple... He was not seen again.
Wonder if the legs will still have anything left for way home. Hope so

richred_uk

Fun last night - got passed by a chap on a SS in a team jersey and rapha shorts just after high barnet on the A1000, who then sat in front of me *just* at that speed where my regular speed would catch him at about 1" per minute. So I had to pass him (on a foldie with flat pedals) - them's the rules.

He then sat in my slip stream for the next 4 ish miles meaning I had to keep going at a cracking pace so as not to look daft but also not look like this was anything other than my usual pace. He then danced up the hill at Potters Bar as my legs crumbled. I did start to catch him again on the flat, but lost him at some lights later - obviously he then turned off as I didn't see him again all the way home (not that he powered into the distance - oh no!).

End result - my time home was 1hr 1min ish for 16.2 miles rather than the 1 hr 8 min ish I'd previously clocked - now I have to motivate myself to match that even without the 'encouragement' of a rider behind me!

Rich

Stelvio_W

I held on to their coat tails Chelsea Bridge, still at 28. Lights change, down the ramp, back up to 28 and I'm on the hoods, suffering in silence. Mr Airnimal is also fatiguing as the Ribble rider powers into the distance

Wrath Rob - that was me on the Ribble. Black Top and Black / White Shorts. I think I have had a "run-in" with you before, but I have been out of the game for a month as started a new job. Still dusting of the cob webs but with all these fair weather cyclists I'm still causing carnage. I have to admit I was drafting a scooter on the drag strip but I must have overtaken 15 riders...its a battlefield out there

I met Mr Airnimal on Friday evening, so when I saw him on Monday around the HoP i knew it was going to be another epic. Such a big guy on a small bike, I assume his gears are upsized to compensate for the smaller wheels! I was thinking that he must be a rower by the look of him. I turned of at Parsons Green and enjoyed a 50 metre 'warm down' to the front door

dhope

Thanks to the lycra clad roadie on the white Trek this morning from Deptford to Monument. I couldn't pass you but together we passed everyone else.

cjcp

Stelvio_W wrote:

I met Mr Airnimal on Friday evening, so when I saw him on Monday around the HoP i knew it was going to be another epic. Such a big guy on a small bike, I assume his gears are upsized to compensate for the smaller wheels! I was thinking that he must be a rower by the look of him. I turned of at Parsons Green and enjoyed a 50 metre 'warm down' to the front door

I think I saw Mr Airnimal last week - can't remember if it was Thursday or Friday evening. A blue Ribble also rings a bell, but can't place the day. Thursday was full-on all the way to Putney Bridge. Can't remember the details of Friday, but I left earlier, so would have been around HoP at about 6-6:10pm.

rjsterry

Should have swung down to QTR and over the river at Chelsea Bridge this morning. Stockwell is one massive conefest at the moment, with consequent queues. I think it must be part of the CS7 'improvements' to the gyratory, as there is evidence of lots of scrubbed out line markings, and a few new kerbs already in evidence. All fairly quiet otherwise - the few potential scalps I saw were always in dense traffic.

tgotb

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

NKR was a bit busy wasn't it! Did feel like having a go at a rider tho who was protesting at a van driver who indicated then turned left into a sideroad. Yes the van driver "should" have noticed the rider but I always expect them to not and don't just blindly carry on riding until I'm alongside them!! A little bit of foresight (or watching where your going......) pays off around town!

NKR is a nightmare for potential left hooks and people pulling out without looking, especially at the petrol station and the two side roads immediately after. I normally find an opportunity to get outside the cars if they're moving slowly; seems to be much safer, and quicker too.

If you're in the cycle lane, there's also a big danger of getting rear-ended if you have to stop at the zebra crossing...

jonginge

I believe I spied IanB this morning on the NKR through Parsons Green. Ian, I gave you a wave but was mostly concentrating on the traffic.

Bassjunkieuk

rjsterry wrote:

Should have swung down to QTR and over the river at Chelsea Bridge this morning. Stockwell is one massive conefest at the moment, with consequent queues. I think it must be part of the CS7 'improvements' to the gyratory, as there is evidence of lots of scrubbed out line markings, and a few new kerbs already in evidence. All fairly quiet otherwise - the few potential scalps I saw were always in dense traffic.

You should certainly have done! As I approached the red lights to turn from Clapham Common down towards QTR I saw about 10-15 cyclists on various hybrids/BSOs turn in from the opposite direction. They had a massive lead with the light sequence but I got to the lights at the bottom of the descent in the 42*12 gear and pulled round the right of the waiting van and plonked myself dead centre in the ASL :-) As I was waiting a chap on a Boardman Team Carbon arrived and I felt I had some more worthy opposition but didn't expect him to last long. Once the lights went green me, him and a scooter went shooting off down the road and all hit the raised crossing about the same time but I kept the power on and the Boardman guy had no answer :twisted:

A bit further ahead I then meet my ride buddy for the rest of the trip, a chap aboard a red Cinelli, with a (helpfully) noisy freewheel :-) I passed him initially as we hit the bus lanes before the "chicane" on Queenstown Road, just before crossing Wandsworth Road. Some very quick filtering over CB saw us both waiting to lay waste to DSC and lay waste he certainly did!! Once the road opened up he was shooting off and I was having to nudge 26, 27, 28 just to keep up! I eventually managed to rein him in due to some lucky filtering on my part as I found myself alongside a BMW (to my left) we where doing a nice 23mph but I could see empty lane ahead of him so I stomped on the pedals to get round in front him and carried on upto VB lights. I don't think I've ever seen it so busy there, tons of cyclists!! When the lights changed we all sprinted off but had to immediately come off the gas as people swerved round the police car parked near the Morpeth.......

Cinelli guy was still there giving it large and we kept trading places. I knew from previous experience that I probably wasn't going to maintain the pace required to hold him off until H.o.P without some sort of systems failure! A small saving grace was that once we crossed LBR it got a bit busier so the pace slowed a bit and there where some rather nicely dressed ladies posing for pictures opposite H.o.P - hot pants and high heels with knotted shirts are a sure fire way to draw attention :-D

Me and Cinelli guy eventually lost each other as he headed off a different exit from Traf. Sq. RB. Chapeau sir, that was fun :-)

Bassjunkieuk

TGOTB wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

NKR was a bit busy wasn't it! Did feel like having a go at a rider tho who was protesting at a van driver who indicated then turned left into a sideroad. Yes the van driver "should" have noticed the rider but I always expect them to not and don't just blindly carry on riding until I'm alongside them!! A little bit of foresight (or watching where your going......) pays off around town!

NKR is a nightmare for potential left hooks and people pulling out without looking, especially at the petrol station and the two side roads immediately after. I normally find an opportunity to get outside the cars if they're moving slowly; seems to be much safer, and quicker too.

If you're in the cycle lane, there's also a big danger of getting rear-ended if you have to stop at the zebra crossing...

Agreed I was already on the RHS as I've also experienced the PITA that is that petrol station and the 2 side roads, the cars just seem to ignore the cyclists!

dhope

Butterd2 wrote:

dhope wrote:

Butterd2 wrote:

All the action seems to be on the west side of town, anyone playing SCR on the east side (Greenwich/Isle of Dogs/Cable street etc)?
Greenwich park hill great for cruising past people on the way up and Cable Street getting a very fast new blue surface on the cycle path though it's still going to be quicker to use the road when it's clear.
Steps at Greenwich foot tunnel closed for 20 weeks!! Now have to wait with all the lazy numpties who use the lifts- may have to go Deptford / Tower bridge?

FCN 4 due to a short beard so should be able to rack up some decent points against other hairy roadies.

That'd be around my neck of the woods.
First cycle in today, from Greenwich, Trafalgar Road, past the Cutty Sark and through Deptford, up to London Bridge and onto St Pauls.

Still on the fixed for now, I fear bringing out the carbon Boardman would betray my Cycle2Work-Newbie status so need to get my legs back first so I can fend off people looking for easy scalps.

You don't ride up the hill in Greenwich Park do you? That's a great spot for scalping SS/Fixies, got another one last night. I know it's not entirely fair but he was half way up when I got to the bottom. Grow a beard to up your FCN by one then it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

It's all very well looking too Kool for Skool but if you have to ride up a hill every day then either be good or become a scalpee.

Not on the commute, no, I'm more Maze Hill way (at the bottom that is).
What am I looking out for btw, the Scott or the Pace?

UndercoverElephant

I was meant to be taking it a bit easy last night, I was full of good intentions. Then, coming through Musselburgh I spot a roadie up ahead wearing a maglia rosa. Talk about waving a red rag at a bull, well a pink rag at an elephant...

I wind up the pace, this guy's not slow, but a real poseur; iPod in and thinking he's something really special. You actually thought the young ladies at the bus stop were looking at you, didn't you? Well, you did until I flew past you and you saw their gaze following me.

You only actually managed to take my wheel for about 100 yards before you faded, too. How upsetting for you. :twisted:

Wrath Rob

Stelvio_W wrote:

Wrath Rob - that was me on the Ribble. Black Top and Black / White Shorts. I think I have had a "run-in" with you before, but I have been out of the game for a month as started a new job. Still dusting of the cob webs but with all these fair weather cyclists I'm still causing carnage. I have to admit I was drafting a scooter on the drag strip but I must have overtaken 15 riders...its a battlefield out there

I met Mr Airnimal on Friday evening, so when I saw him on Monday around the HoP i knew it was going to be another epic. Such a big guy on a small bike, I assume his gears are upsized to compensate for the smaller wheels! I was thinking that he must be a rower by the look of him. I turned of at Parsons Green and enjoyed a 50 metre 'warm down' to the front door

Glad to hear you were drafting a scooter, though if that was you dusting off the cob-webs I'm not sure I want to see you in full cry! I'll keep an eye out for you...

Mr Airnimal was effing quick though, given the lack of 2 wheels vehicles in front of him

ketsbaia

Trek roadie dispatched with ease this morning. Not really sure why he showed up. Had a more interesting tussle with a bearded roadie sprinting from junction to junction as we were both massively held up by red lights. He had the jump on me from the off, but I reeled him in as we approached the next set of lights. Then we'd both stop. Honours even, I expect, but I was on the point of taking you out of the game when we parted company at the Bricklayers Arms. And you'd have been a worthy scalp, my friend - I actually had to change gear to effect that attempted overtaking manoeuvre.

lost_in_thought

Whew! What a busy morning!

To be completely honest I've forgotten most of my morning's ride in, there was one notable scalp on South carriage drive, up the hill (haha), but the main point was the HPC bike carnage!

It was at unprecedented levels today, I joined a gaggle of I reckon 35 cyclists!

Just cycled over to Camden and back for work, such stunning weather today, and scalped a dude in team kit. I'm in a dress, heels and leggings. Ahahahaha. :twisted:

Bassjunkieuk

lost_in_thought wrote:

Whew! What a busy morning!

To be completely honest I've forgotten most of my morning's ride in, there was one notable scalp on South carriage drive, up the hill (haha), but the main point was the HPC bike carnage!

It was at unprecedented levels today, I joined a gaggle of I reckon 35 cyclists!

Just cycled over to Camden and back for work, such stunning weather today, and scalped a dude in team kit. I'm in a dress, heels and leggings. Ahahahaha. :twisted:

Breaking news: An as-yet unidentified cyclist has thrown themselves under a bus in Camden. Witness report him crying like a girl with a big bloodied patch on his head. Police are eager to speak to a young lady in a dress who was seen leaving the scene at great speed :-)

Top notch work LiT :-)

cjcp

lost_in_thought wrote:

Just cycled over to Camden and back for work, such stunning weather today, and scalped a dude in team kit. I'm in a dress, heels and leggings. Ahahahaha. :twisted:

There was a rapid female SSer on Embankment last night. I put in a prolonged burst just to make sure...

lost_in_thought

cjcp wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Just cycled over to Camden and back for work, such stunning weather today, and scalped a dude in team kit. I'm in a dress, heels and leggings. Ahahahaha. :twisted:

There was a rapid female SSer on Embankment last night. I put in a prolonged burst just to make sure...

'twasnae me.

TBH I think if I came out to play with the big boys on embankment I wouldn't be very rapid at all. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it's miles out of my way.

Butterd2

dhope wrote:

Butterd2 wrote:

dhope wrote:

Butterd2 wrote:

All the action seems to be on the west side of town, anyone playing SCR on the east side (Greenwich/Isle of Dogs/Cable street etc)?
Greenwich park hill great for cruising past people on the way up and Cable Street getting a very fast new blue surface on the cycle path though it's still going to be quicker to use the road when it's clear.
Steps at Greenwich foot tunnel closed for 20 weeks!! Now have to wait with all the lazy numpties who use the lifts- may have to go Deptford / Tower bridge?

FCN 4 due to a short beard so should be able to rack up some decent points against other hairy roadies.

That'd be around my neck of the woods.
First cycle in today, from Greenwich, Trafalgar Road, past the Cutty Sark and through Deptford, up to London Bridge and onto St Pauls.

Still on the fixed for now, I fear bringing out the carbon Boardman would betray my Cycle2Work-Newbie status so need to get my legs back first so I can fend off people looking for easy scalps.

You don't ride up the hill in Greenwich Park do you? That's a great spot for scalping SS/Fixies, got another one last night. I know it's not entirely fair but he was half way up when I got to the bottom. Grow a beard to up your FCN by one then it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

It's all very well looking too Kool for Skool but if you have to ride up a hill every day then either be good or become a scalpee.

Not on the commute, no, I'm more Maze Hill way (at the bottom that is).
What am I looking out for btw, the Scott or the Pace?

I'm usually on the Scott, Pace is really just used in the wet these days. I too use Maze Hill when the Park is shut but excepting the ride up the one way street the wrong way to get to the park gates it is a nicer route when open. Then I head through the Standard to Charlton.

Hairy, lycra, no luggage and beard. Oh yeah and 105kg's and 6'3" so larger than your average Roadie.

King Donut

@ CJCP, Good to see you last Thursday. Wasn’t sure it was you until we hit Priory lane (you’ve changed your rear light - the part of your bike know best). Was all I could do to keep in touch while trying to avoid the nods sitting in your wake along Embankment. The Airnimal was one of the better behaved.

This morning’s run was off the dials. Several tried (without trying) and several failed. A tattooed Pearson and a helmetless roadie both gave good accounts of themselves but were disciplined on the open road.

Was going so fast I didn’t even see the burds near HoP. No doubt they too were admiring the sight of such a fine specimen in white lycra.

Bassjunkieuk

King Donut wrote:

Was going so fast I didn’t even see the burds near HoP. No doubt they too were admiring the sight of such a fine specimen in white lycra.

I got the timing pufect as the ped crossing lights changed as I was approaching. Tis rather difficult to navigate the speed humps, craters and taxis whilst perving :-)

mrc1

If anybody is after my scalp then tonight is the day to try for it!

Got talked into doing squats and deadlifts at the gym earlier and am now sporting a pair of jelly legs.....

MonkeyMonster

its all about the timing...