Silly commuting racing

stuaff

Butterd2 wrote:

StuAff wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

Turns out I'm not awesome after all. Damn.

Oh, fuss and nonsense. We all know better!

StuAff, I see a guy in Greenwich foot tunnel with the top in your avatar, I'm guessing from your location that's not you? I had assumed that was a one off top he had somehow got made up but maybe not. Ride the Ligtning was one of the first albums I bought- many years ago now.

Nope, definitely not me. Primal Wear used to do the Metallica jerseys, official licence. Discontinued now, unfortunately......

asprilla

Overtook an older bloke this morning who appeared to be made completely from muscle and sinue. He was putting in some effort but didn't seem to be getting much pace out of it. Obviously fit, but technique needed improving (says the expert) as I was barely pedaling as I went past him.

Nothing of interest this motning other than the girl in the purple top and road bike I've not identified I saw on PB. Appears to be ab older steel frame with campag. I'd gone past her in the traffic on LRR last night and although she's quite quick she does jump lights and pavements which I find disagreeable. Still, she is pretty and brings a smile to my face when i see her.

dhope

Wasn't cycling in this week as my Achilles has been playing up now for 6 weeks and I wanted to be sure it would be fine for the CityRace last night. Thoroughly average performance and with 6500 people running I couldn't keep track of scalps particularly.

Still
I'd planned on following one of the quicker guys from the start, figured he'd be heading for around 21 minutes and I could grab a tow at the beginning then fall back after a bit while he darted into the distance. With him another guy from work. Quick glance to tot up our places on the [Running] Food Chain. Both in company supplied t-shirts. Running shorts, no tri bars or beards, no shades for either. No Garmin watches or HRMs visible. Running shoes for me. Ah ha! He's wearing those odd finger shoe things.



They've got to be the running equivalent of a tarty shiny fixie to my standard single speed (I only run at one speed, slow). It looks like he's planning to scale walls with those things! That's surely worth a couple of points. I have my target.

Right from the off my original plan didn't work , the fast guy disappears in a flash, clearly looking for some space (again, 6500 running... there was no clear air anywhere). Off goes Spiderman too. Foolish move, young grasshopper, everyone goes away too fast, I'll reel him in later. Marathon not a sprint and all that.

Sure enough, a couple of kilometers in and I spot him ahead. I'm fairly fresh and still quite able to talk without sounding out of breath. His spider sense must be tingling as he glances back just as I'm reaching him. We jog alongside for a minute or so, me remarking on the slight breeze and how it'll be nicer once we've reached the next corner and the sun is no longer in our eyes. As we turn the corner I just check with him what pub we're heading to after, say goodbye and put on a little extra pace.

Finished a minute ahead, not that we were racing. Still got thrashed by the quickest guy here who finished in 18mins to my 24.

Winner finished in 14 minutes. 14 minutes, for 5k?! That wouldn't be too bad on a bike!

Anyway, not SCR but still silly and still racing

Citizen Smith

After having a week off the bike due to birthday celebrations, rejoined the commuting fray yesterday and today.

Decided to stick to spinny yesterday due to a knee injury I sustained playing football last weekend. I'm more a masher than a spinner but stuck with it on both journeys and was surprised some of the speeds I could get to....topped out at 26mph on the drag strip. Appreciate the acceleration when required as well.

Back to mashing today and gave a masterclass to those following on the dragstrip this morning to drive up to post thirty and held it until Balham.

However, I got caught daydreaming on VB bridge incline by a courier who breezed by easy as you like...was very tempted to hangar left after the bridge and then try and cross over to join the throng waiting to head eastbound onto Millbank....been a while since I've done a proper Embankment morning run...may well switch to a Clapham Old Town-Queenstown run for a change....

rjsterry

cjcp wrote:

Oh, Lordy; the headwind did not make for a pleasant pootle tonight.

Nor this afternoon - 'half' day (i.e. left at 2.45 instead of the planned 1pm), so crawled back down the Embankment at about 3. Almost blown to a standstill on Millbank, and had to heel over into the cross wind at the start of DSC.

Due to a 9am meeting in Fulham, I ended up doing an inward run along the full empty length of the Embankment at about 1pm. That was a lot more enjoyable - a very weird sensation doing high twenties with almost no noticeable wind on your face.

dondare

Is there anyone who doesn't think that the wind turned round 180 degrees during the course of the day?

rjsterry

dondare wrote:

Is there anyone who doesn't think that the wind turned round 180 degrees during the course of the day?

Err... (at the risk of sounding smug) me. Behind me on the way in, but oh, how I paid for it on the way home.

richred_uk

WesternWay wrote:

On the way in this morning, I was late and saw a guy on a folder heading towards Whetstone so I assumed it was richred... Cue one entirely confused man ona folder who knew nothing about bikeradar or richred...

I've been on enforced short journies taking the train this week to make sure I don't blow up on Sunday for the Hatfield Sportive - so I've been coming in via New Barnet this week - back to the full commute next week (maybe not Monday).

Keep hunting WW

Rich

Norky

Asprilla wrote:

Overtook an older bloke this morning who appeared to be made completely from muscle and sinue. He was putting in some effort but didn't seem to be getting much pace out of it. Obviously fit, but technique needed improving (says the expert) as I was barely pedaling as I went past him.

Was he on the skinny side? Might have been a runner or other athlete recently turned to cycling. It takes time to build up the different muscle groups, I understand.

cjcp

It was looking like I was going to be late for a do last night, so had to call upon my last reserves of strengh to get home in time. Managed to fend off any drafting fairies, but the result is that the headwinds have broken me - I could sleep all day given the chance.

I've never timed it, but I don't think that it's ever taken me as long to traverse the CB -> AB stretch as it did last night. I kept having to go up the sprockets to keep the legs turning. :oops:

Btw, I don't thnk it's a good idea to have your mouth open when you hit The Wall on Millbank. Swallowing a headwind isn't good.

Spotted a couple of chaps at the Morpeth, so gave them a wave.

rjsterry

cjcp wrote:

It was looking like I was going to be late for a do last night, so had to call upon my last reserves of strengh to get home in time. Managed to fend off any drafting fairies, but the result is that the headwinds have broken me - I could sleep all day given the chance.

I've never timed it, but I don't think that it's ever taken me as long to traverse the CB -> AB stretch as it did last night. I kept having to go up the sprockets to keep the legs turning. :oops:

Btw, I don't thnk it's a good idea to have your mouth open when you hit The Wall on Millbank. Swallowing a headwind isn't good.

Spotted a couple of chaps at the Morpeth, so gave them a wave.

+1 I had a similar dash to avoid being late, and I have been wiped out this weekend. I keep dozing off if I sit still for too long, and my legs are still sore. Wondering if I need a day on the train on Monday to recover properly. Yes, yes I know - MTFU and all that.

BTW, just to update on those Ashima pads: I almost gave a van a detailed examination of its back window, so these may be replaced long before they wear out. I'll give them a little longer to see if they bed in a bit more, but I'm a bit sceptical.

cjcp

rjsterry wrote:

+1 I had a similar dash to avoid being late, and I have been wiped out this weekend. I keep dozing off if I sit still for too long, and my legs are still sore. Wondering if I need a day on the train on Monday to recover properly. Yes, yes I know - MTFU and all that.

Yep, had a quick snooze on the settee today and yesterday. I was in RP at 5:45am today, though. (I managed all of 10 miles because I went to watch some of the TT.)

A day on the train would drive me to insanity. A WFH day would be more productive, which I have this coming Wednesday. Woo hoo!

rjsterry

cjcp wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

+1 I had a similar dash to avoid being late, and I have been wiped out this weekend. I keep dozing off if I sit still for too long, and my legs are still sore. Wondering if I need a day on the train on Monday to recover properly. Yes, yes I know - MTFU and all that.

Yep, had a quick snooze on the settee today and yesterday. I was in RP at 5:45am today, though. (I managed all of 10 miles because I went to watch some of the TT.)

A day on the train would drive me to insanity. A WFH day would be more productive, which I have this coming Wednesday. Woo hoo!

I am having a bit of a dilemma about it - the legs really could do with another day off, but I really don't like getting the train. Luckily there is one train which is relatively quiet and I can take the Dahon for a pootle at each end, but it's still not great - and tomorrow is supposed to be 28˚C and humid, so maybe I'll just tape up the front shifter for a bit of enforced pootling.

cjcp

rjsterry wrote:

cjcp wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

+1 I had a similar dash to avoid being late, and I have been wiped out this weekend. I keep dozing off if I sit still for too long, and my legs are still sore. Wondering if I need a day on the train on Monday to recover properly. Yes, yes I know - MTFU and all that.

Yep, had a quick snooze on the settee today and yesterday. I was in RP at 5:45am today, though. (I managed all of 10 miles because I went to watch some of the TT.)

A day on the train would drive me to insanity. A WFH day would be more productive, which I have this coming Wednesday. Woo hoo!

I am having a bit of a dilemma about it - the legs really could do with another day off, but I really don't like getting the train. Luckily there is one train which is relatively quiet and I can take the Dahon for a pootle at each end, but it's still not great - and tomorrow is supposed to be 28˚C and humid, so maybe I'll just tape up the front shifter for a bit of enforced pootling.

28C? Bike it is then.

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

I've never timed it, but I don't think that it's ever taken me as long to traverse the CB -> AB stretch as it did last night. I kept having to go up the sprockets to keep the legs turning. :oops:

Yes. I had a bit of that too. I collected a shaved roadie on a silver and red alu Soloist before Pt Sq. Popeye calves. He seemed fairly content to tap out an een pace, let me go, and as far as I could tell he wasn't sitting in. Hit the wall of wind at Millbank full face. Not nice.

Managed to pull away from said roadie again off the VB lights. I get to CB and said roadie pulls up ahead of me. I'm in two minds now about going over CB, but decide not to. We're off, and I get baulked a bit. Anyway, I remember coming past said roadie just around the pelican xing where the Flower Show is.

As I went past, I knew I'd made a mistake. I was doing over 40k when I went past, and my speed then leeched out of me like water from a holed bucket. By the time we were close to AB I was down around 31. The AB lights were red ( from a way off) so I sat up. Wasn't long before roadie came by, still tapping out an even and prudent pace. The lights changed to green as we approached, and my heart sank. I clung on as best I could to BB, but Christ, I was happy to peel off then.

One over the river I collected a gust of headwind and grit that was as good as any exfoliation you'll find.

itboffin

I'm not sure what was going through my mind when I thought it would be a good idea to commute FGSS again, that hurt like a MF and hills + 1 gears = pain x lots

Now I have that out of my system it's back to the geared commuter tomorrow!

UndercoverElephant

itboffin wrote:

I'm not sure what was going through my mind when I thought it would be a good idea to commute FGSS again, that hurt like a MF and hills + 1 gears = pain x lots

Now I have that out of my system it's back to the geared commuter tomorrow!

Philip Mangano wrote:

“The very definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.

rml380z

To the guy I passed who was wearing the HTC Colombia team outfit; if you're going to wear that kit on your commute, why are you surprised that everyone wants to sprint past you?

rjsterry

Bike it is indeed. Legs felt fine this morning, and a bit of judicious spinning got me up to CB with plenty left so had a good run up to P. Sq. Managed to hit a few RLs along Vic Emb. but still fairly free flowing. Made pretty good time as well.

+1 on the flying grit on Friday. I left my face mask at home thinking, " there's a good wind, the air should be fairly clean" :oops:

Bzzzzt. Is the wrong answer!

Nearly coughed a lung up when I pulled up at CB lights, due to the amount of crap I had inhaled.

asprilla

To the gentleman on the Viner Perfecta and vomit inducing Viner kit; by complete chance your bespoke scalp fits my collection perfectly.

MonkeyMonster

Not on bike today so please regail with tales of might feats and hairpieces collected. Looks nice out there...

Pufftmw

Due to logistics reasons, did the reverse commute last night about 21:00 and have never seen such bad traffic over London Bridge and down the OKR! Still managed a good time but lost my phone somewhere along the way

This morning, 27 mins and scalped all but one - lycra man on a "Tribute" (??) - who breezed past me near Bricklayers. Best of the morning was a chap on a yellow road bike going up Lewisham Way (steep hill bit) - him out of saddle and pushing hard, me sitting down and gently pedaling - just kept abreast of him til nearly the top then upped the effort a tad and pulled away

tgotb

cjcp wrote:

[Yep, had a quick snooze on the settee today and yesterday. I was in RP at 5:45am today, though. (I managed all of 10 miles because I went to watch some of the TT.)

That's absurdly keen. I was competing, and could hardly motivate myself to crawl out of bed (and based on my shocking performance, I shouldn't have bothered...)

itboffin

MonkeyMonster wrote:

Not on bike today so please regail with tales of might feats and hairpieces collected. Looks nice out there...

M
T
F
U

you girl! :roll:

rjsterry

cjcp wrote:

Yep, had a quick snooze on the settee today and yesterday. I was in RP at 5:45am today, though. (I managed all of 10 miles because I went to watch some of the TT.)

Coincidentally, I was up at this time as well, desperately trying to get the little one back to slepp, so I could have something resembling a lie-in. It didn't work.

bigmat

5am start for me yesterday and like TGOTB I probably shouldn't have bothered! Good fun today trailing a lycra clad roadie on a Coppi bike, good trackstands and he was clearly way quicker than me but I somehow managed to keep catching him at the lights before eventually losing him after Elephant & Castle. I know it was a hollow victory though...

stuaff

Asprilla wrote:

To the gentleman on the Viner Perfecta and vomit inducing Viner kit; by complete chance your bespoke scalp fits my collection perfectly.

Bright blue Agisko kit by any chance? That is pretty horrible, I agree.

asprilla

StuAff wrote:

Asprilla wrote:

To the gentleman on the Viner Perfecta and vomit inducing Viner kit; by complete chance your bespoke scalp fits my collection perfectly.

Bright blue Agisko kit by any chance? That is pretty horrible, I agree.

A combination of washed out blues and pinks. These are both colours that I like, but on this kit it just doesn't work.

He jumped the lights at the end of Priory Lane and then I got stuck behind a car on Queen's Ride and he opened up a gap. About halfway down LRR he shoulder checked to see where a cab was so he could over take a shopper bike; he showed surprise when he found me where he expected the cab. I indicated that he could pull out before blasting past him when he pulled back in again.

I've seen him before in Kingston and actually attempted to make conversation about his Viner, but he wasn't interested.

anton1r

Is it just me has the BBC live text for todays tour stage been attacked with tales of SCR?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/8834082.stm

see 1250, 1248 and 1208

Awesome!

cjcp

anton1r wrote:

Is it just me has the BBC live text for todays tour stage been attacked with tales of SCR?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/8834082.stm

see 1250, 1248 and 1208

Awesome!

I was about to paste that very link! Someone text in: "Yes. Your scalp's ready for collection."