Silly commuting racing

attica

Right, had a day out of the office, so there's a few things we need to catch up on:-

A few German facts:-
Hugo Boss apparently produced the SS uniform, so it wasn't just composers.
Krupp are also Thyssen Krupp, they make lifts
So do Schindler (Schindler's lifts geddit)
There used to be a five square mile Krupp factory in Essen, North Germany
The RAF extensively re-modelled this factory such that today there are two buildings left, the hall where Big Bertha was cast, and the Ikea over the road.
Mr Krupp was a huge anglophile and created a faux English manor house on the outskirts of Essen.
In 2000 I found myself working in the self same hall where Big Bertha was cast, under the direct employ of one Lord Lloyd Webber (trunken arschloch) - there is now a theatre built free standing within the building and I was a sound engineer/stage manager.
German crew, perhaps understandably, don't particularly like taking orders from an Englishman, but do jump about a foot in the air if you use the phrase "das ist verboten"

Sorry, all pointless and completely OT, but I felt the need to share. Bitte sehr.

Back on topic.

As I mentioned on Tuesday, I was going to be a sitting duck on the way home, my legs felt bl00dy awful. I managed a clean sheet, then about 5 miles from home I spotted in front of me, a shaven roadie - the only base FCN above mine. Now it's not often I get the opportunity to take a scalp, so I reached down into the depths and summond everything I had,
"more power Scotty"
"She cannae take it capn"
"Come on Scotty give me everything you can"

You know the story, Scotty miraculously found enough power...

I reeled him in up a hill, legs screaming but I ignored them, breathing through every pore, I even managed a cheery "evening" as I passed him. I swear I looked like I wasn't trying at all.

Going down the other side of the hill, the lights were red, so we both had a bit of recovery time and acknowledged each other. Lights changed I powered down the hill, taking my cadence up to about 150 I flew down the hill, my roadie opponent drafted me til I topped out then powered past on his big ring.
He'd put about 400 yards into me by the time the gradient levelled out completely. Then I started reeling him in again. By this time Scotty was onto about his fifth miraculous burst of power in the episode. I actually caught the slippery fellow again, only for our paths to diverge moments after I drew level with him (for some daft reason I was to proud to draft). Scotty breathed a huge sigh of relief and the last half a mile was done at a snails pace.

No true scalp but my honour was definitely intact.

I have a question for the floor:-

If you reel someone in and they do then drop you properly, have they taken your scalp, as nobody actually got passed?

Apologies for waffling on for so long, but consider this to be my whole days worth of posting in one, easy to skip, chunk. Aber ich kann ein bischen Deutsch spreche.

cjcp

Attica - good post (has anyone else thought that Attica is howing the sort of form where he should now gaduate from The Provinces and have a crack at the title in The Big Smoke?).

I don't think he's scalped you, but you just have to accept that he's got more welly in them legs of his (for the time being... :twisted: (one day, he shall be yours))

I,erm, have a confession to make. Been out with clients tonight and, erm, left the road bike at work. I cannot face the trainin the morning, so have to commute on the, ahem, mountain bike in the morning. It will be like life in slow motion.

Bassjunkieuk

cjcp wrote:

I,erm, have a confession to make. Been out with clients tonight and, erm, left the road bike at work. I cannot face the trainin the morning, so have to commute on the, ahem, mountain bike in the morning. It will be like life in slow motion.

I do feel this one statement sums up the appalling state of our trains quite well. when a dedicated roadie would rather ride a MTB in to work then use the trains!
I fully understand as I have at times been forced to use alternative bikes in favor of public transport and don't regret a single moment, just look at it this way by downgrading to a MTB you have increased your pool of targets by 100-200%! I predict many scalps for you this morning cjcp!

Bassjunkieuk

cjcp wrote:

I,erm, have a confession to make. Been out with clients tonight and, erm, left the road bike at work. I cannot face the trainin the morning, so have to commute on the, ahem, mountain bike in the morning. It will be like life in slow motion.

I do feel this one statement sums up the appalling state of our trains quite well. when a dedicated roadie would rather ride a MTB in to work then use the trains!
I fully understand as I have at times been forced to use alternative bikes in favor of public transport and don't regret a single moment, just look at it this way by downgrading to a MTB you have increased your pool of targets by 100-200%! I predict many scalps for you this morning cjcp!

Coriander

cjcp wrote:

I,erm, have a confession to make. Been out with clients tonight and, erm, left the road bike at work. I cannot face the trainin the morning, so have to commute on the, ahem, mountain bike in the morning. It will be like life in slow motion.

And are you going to cycle them both home tonight? Surely you will have to take the train one morning to get one of the bikes home???????

dafruk

Good ride this morning, a couple of people finally stepped and put out something that I can properly claim as a scalp.

1 hairy roady in club kit who I ate up going along gorgie road is welcome to come claim his hair back. When I first took it I thought it was a scalp but as it came off so easily I've now realised it was just a hairpeice. Front up man you're wearing club gear.

2nd hairy roady who took too agressive filitering down the opposite side of the road and pushing to the front at lights I'd like to claim as a scalp, but my honour won't allow it as I'd only just drawn level when he peeled off down a side road. I reckon he was a player and didn't want to take the loss.

On a seperate note I've finally given in and dropped the baggies for a set of bib shorts. I'm impressed very comfy, plus everyone knows the ladies love a man in head to toe fitted lycra... No? Oh well, scalping makes you more attractive to the opposite sex so I guess it balances out.

itboffin

Yep never even made it home last night, bike hopefully still chained up at the station and I can still smell the tequila on my breath, why do I get the feeling today is not going to have a happy ending!!!

Greg T

I blistered into work this morning.

KA-POW

Of course it could have something to do with me running an 18T cog on the back and only squeezing barely 70 GI - it just feels fast as your legs are spinning....

I noticed earlier in the week that at >100 rpm I was bobbing badly and am experimenting by reducing the length of my post......

Now I normally run a fairly long post with my legs fairly straight at the bottom of the stroke.... However I find that as the ryhthm gets frantic I'm wobbling my hips too much and this can't be good.

I dropped 5mm off the post length and whilst my legs feel a bit odd and bent I've lost the wobble and am getting more power down.....

So I read a sheldon article about chain tension, he talks about "walking the wheel" back one side at a time.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed.html#tension

So I gave it a go - I knew there must be a trick to get this right.

I had to stop 3 mins down the road as the chan was under so much tension it was screaming....

I collected three hairy roadies this morning who really should have known better..... C'est le Guerre.

Now - who is it that commutes down the embankment with their wife? I think I was chatting her up last night.......

ride_whenever

WRT chain tension, the cranks should spin freely for a couple of revolutions (dependant on bb smoothness) right?

cjcp

Coriander wrote:

cjcp wrote:

I,erm, have a confession to make. Been out with clients tonight and, erm, left the road bike at work. I cannot face the trainin the morning, so have to commute on the, ahem, mountain bike in the morning. It will be like life in slow motion.

And are you going to cycle them both home tonight? Surely you will have to take the train one morning to get one of the bikes home???????

Nope - am in town on Sunday anyway so will pick the up the mtb then.

And on the subject of mtbs :evil: ...

Never in the history of mankind's daily pursuit to get to work as quickly as possible has so much energy been wasted. I burned 150 more calories pedalling like a man possessed to get to work 8 mins later than usual. The sweat was pouring off me this morning! I hadn't left Richmond Park before realising that I'd run out of gears (I seriously don't know how you SSers ride anything starting with a 48).

I claimed two fixies and two roadies, but I'm not commuting on that brick anytime soon again. Strictly for pootling in the Park.

ride_whenever

You can get pretty rapid on a mtb...

From the sounds of things, you made the rookie mistake of taking the same route as you do on your spindly road bike...

It is an all-terrain vehicle, so treat it like one... You basically go in as straight a line a possible, over obsticles, down steps wallrides on the bendy busses as they go round corners.

noob

cjcp

ride_whenever wrote:

You can get pretty rapid on a mtb...

From the sounds of things, you made the rookie mistake of taking the same route as you do on your spindly road bike...

It is an all-terrain vehicle, so treat it like one... You basically go in as straight a line a possible, over obsticles, down steps wallrides on the bendy busses as they go round corners.

noob

You make some fair points. Never again though.

Greg T

ride_whenever wrote:

WRT chain tension, the cranks should spin freely for a couple of revolutions (dependant on bb smoothness) right?

Mine spin for ages.....

Is that bad?

ride_whenever

I had a lot of fun razzing through london on my 456...

Did startle a tourist when I jumped down a flight of steps though!

ride_whenever

Greg T wrote:

ride_whenever wrote:

WRT chain tension, the cranks should spin freely for a couple of revolutions (dependant on bb smoothness) right?

Mine spin for ages.....

Is that bad?

I have no idea, but I'm running an old cup and cone BB that is on it's way out. Quite possibly you just have really centered your ring nicely but could ramp up the tension a little. Having dumped a chain pulling away from lights infront of a bus and a minivan i can honestly say that I'd rather have it a bit tight than too loose!!!!1

Clever Pun

after a fruitless couple of days I got 3 scalps this morning

the first two were in a handy little peloton, 3 guys a hybrid drafting a roadie drafting a bigger roadie.. cruised past them... then increased the speed and left em for dead. I'm Back!

the third was more tricky heading out the the tunnel towards CW he was a bit ahead of me and spinning freely and putting in a good pace, I decided to give it a go and steadily caught him I stayed back to assess the situation not drafting of course as that's for the weak. I then made my move pedalling hard until I drew close then showed no effort and went past and I knew I had to keep up the mid twenties or he'd take me, I powered on for another k in fear but held out when I went under the roundabout and he was nowhere to be seen

Greg T

Yep - I'm all about a tight chain....

I kicked the arse out of it this morning though - It was so tight I think I've banana'ed my frame.

On another matter......

If Krupps made bikes I'd defo have one..... Apparently they'd go west like the clappers but when you go east they only get halfway to where you are going before slowing right down.

ride_whenever

*splurge*

just snorted up the last of my cup of coffee, and the fine grains are now all over my chin...

attica

cjcp wrote:

Attica - good post (has anyone else thought that Attica is howing the sort of form where he should now gaduate from The Provinces and have a crack at the title in The Big Smoke?).

I don't think he's scalped you, but you just have to accept that he's got more welly in them legs of his (for the time being... :twisted: (one day, he shall be yours))

High praise indeed. Thanks CJ, maybe I will have to come and grace the Embankment with my presence some day

The roadie didn't even come close to scalping me, OK he dropped me briefly on a descent, but I reeled him in once the real work started again. It just brought the question of the "no pass scalp" to mind.

My legs definitely had more welly than him, just not at 150rpm (try it, it's frickin fast), but our paths diverged before I could begin the depiliation proper.

lost_in_thought

Talking of chains, I'm after a half-link one, but are all chains generally sold at one standard length and you cut them down appropriately?

Also, I'm intrigued to see the slow progression whereby all the men on this forum are girl-i-fying their legs...

Maybe a thread for hair-removal processes? :P

And Attica, your krupp-related vignettes were very interesting, so my statement of 've make ze coffee maschine und auch ze giant excavator' may not have been far off the mark! Ah, you've got to love germany.

Apparently they'd go west like the clappers but when you go east they only get halfway to where you are going before slowing right down.

slowing right down, trying to recruit finland, realising it's too bloomin cold and before you know it you're back heading for Richmond again... tricky...

Littigator

Morning All!

Attica, I reckon you got yourself a scalp there, if it looks like a scalp, feels like a scalp (ooerr) and smells like a scalp (ahem) it is a scalp.

Cha...



...peux!

Greg T - stop stalking my Missus or I will have to tear you a new behind on the race track of life that is The Game.

Otherwise, I am highly enjoying my new route home which involves an extended detour from Bond Street to Embakment via Trafalgar Square then the windy drag along to Albert Bridge tossing hairpieces in my wake.

I must admit, a number of times recently I've been caught out in the rather stiff breeze past Millbank and even more so between Chelsea and Albert Bridge. It does make the legs burn somewhat and has resulted in Mrs Littigator (watch it GT) refusing to plant the evening smacker on myself due to a steady drip of sweat all over the carpet...I promise I'm not trying really!

cjcp

Attica wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Attica - good post (has anyone else thought that Attica is howing the sort of form where he should now gaduate from The Provinces and have a crack at the title in The Big Smoke?).

I don't think he's scalped you, but you just have to accept that he's got more welly in them legs of his (for the time being... :twisted: (one day, he shall be yours))

High praise indeed. Thanks CJ, maybe I will have to come and grace the Embankment with my presence some day

The roadie didn't even come close to scalping me, OK he dropped me briefly on a descent, but I reeled him in once the real work started again. It just brought the question of the "no pass scalp" to mind.

My legs definitely had more welly than him, just not at 150rpm (try it, it's frickin fast), but our paths diverged before I could begin the depiliation proper.

Attica - I've re-read your post, initially read in the thick fog caused by one Staropramen too many, and feel obliged to change my view. He was a shaven roadie. If he had any self-respect, he wouldn't draft at all, let alone somebody lower down the FC. And he got reeled in. If I were him, I'd have got home and looked at myself long and hard in the mirror.

Verdict: you win.

I was spinning quickly this morning on my mtb, but 150 is ridiculous.

lost_in_thought

Attica definitely gets a scalp for taking a shaved roadie on a fixie!

As you pull away, he looks through the haze of sweat and pain at your bike... 'he's only... got... one... gear'

And as CJCP says, that would surely make him take a good look at himself in the mirror, and perhaps consider reconstructive surgery to the top of his head.


I had to take the tube this morning

attica

cjcp wrote:

Verdict: you win.

I was spinning quickly this morning on my mtb, but 150 is ridiculous.

Cheers folks, I reckon, yep a moral win, but I've no bloody mass of skin and hair to show for it as I didn't get the chance to put clear air between us.

The rules are clear. it wasn't a scalp.

As for 150 RPM, I doubt I could spin faster without a chain, it's seriously fast but no match for a roadie descending a hill.

snooks

Well it's been a pants few weeks for me as far as the game is concerned

Thanks to my dentist, a replacement filling and an infected root, I've been in pain for the last week (yep over the bank hols as well), like real pain! like worse than man flu type pain!!!! :shock: ...I considered decapitation to relieve it but was advised against it by my girlfriend, thankfully I got it sorted out yesterday, and I was able to go out this morning for a blast along the Thames, no hills! but no targets either

Didn't cycle in today, as beers after work are calling, they help to wash the antibiotics down you know :twisted: Then I'm off on holiday tomorrow

I see the facebook group has hit 100!

Are we all going to meet up after this freewheel thingy on the Sept 21st??

Many beers and lots of curry...or just a picnic in the park summut like flapjack and water?

ride_whenever

lost_in_thought wrote:

Talking of chains, I'm after a half-link one, but are all chains generally sold at one standard length and you cut them down appropriately?

I've just bought one for my ss jump bike, you can just punch the links out as per a normal chain, it is a bit tougher though.

I'm going to fit my shiney new middleburn 46t ring, new 16t rear sprocket and connex wiperman Z1 star chain to my commuter tonight... Superbling!

biondino

Leaving for work at 9.20am really reduces the number of potential scalps. I don't know why I hang around on this thread, I barely play the game

Littigator

Nooooooo don't go BD...we like your shiny head

greg66_tri_v2.0

Last night:

Pull up at Big Ben and there's a gaggle of bikes. As we go past the HoP it's resolved itself into a roadie (P1), a roadie on a Giant with aerobars (P2) and me (watching).

P1 and P2 are not hanging around. We have engaged The Game.

We all hit the Lambeth Bridge roundabout together. We come off with P2 drafting P1. I'm a bike width further into the road, just behind P2. P2 keeps looking round. He's nervous. He has good reason to be.

Past MI5 and P2 wants to make his move. He's thinking he might cut me up if he pulls out. He swings out slightly and looks around. One word: "Go", from me. He takes P1. I go with him and ride straight over the top as he pulls round P1. Hahahaha. The trap has been sprung.

Now we're into the Invisible Wall Of Air In The Road. It's pain and suffering time. I look down to see I'm holding 43kmh into the Wall. P1 and P2 are dust in my wake.

Vauxhall Bridge lights - another gaggle, but with a hairy roadie riding in circles forward of the ASL. He's lycra'd. He's off well before the green. He's my target.

I peg him back along the former Death Star Canyon. The next lights before the sweeping right hander opposite the power station are red and there's traffic waiting. We both back off. But then he runs the light. Devil spawn. The red mist descends over my pupils as he builds 60m before the lights go green. I go on the G of green. He will be mine.

Stamp the pedals and I'm closing. Ever closer. At 20 metres I have a 5 second regroup. This will be Lance v Jan in the first time trial of the 2005 Tour. I go again, sweeping past him on the approach to the next lights. He's history.


Sidenote: my courier bag has white reflector tabs hanging off the buckles. Which now have "FCN 0" written on them. Just so people in the know know :twisted:

snooks

biondino wrote:

Leaving for work at 9.20am really reduces the number of potential scalps. I don't know why I hang around on this thread, I barely play the game

Why not leave earlier? Get to work, then go out for a coffee?

or a bacon, sausage, cheese and egg roll? Get the veggie count up at the start of the day and you'll be fine for the next few hours until lunch