Silly commuting racing

rjsterry

Not much, but that's normal first thing in the morning. As I say, normal service will resume shortly.

wizzlebanger

What happens to my FCN number now that I've added full front and rear mudguards to it? Any change?

(Not that there is ever anyone to regularly scalp or be scalped by where I commute)....

ketsbaia

No shower at work = no cycling in heavy showers.

Christ, that bus was slow.

rjsterry

And now, just to rub it in, the sun is almost out. I'm off for a sulk.

Greg T

wizzlebanger wrote:

What happens to my FCN number now that I've added full front and rear mudguards to it? Any change?

(Not that there is ever anyone to regularly scalp or be scalped by where I commute)....

+1 to your FCN...

And a dry bottom.

ketsbaia

rjsterry wrote:

And now, just to rub it in, the sun is almost out. I'm off for a sulk.

I just had that very same thought. What's worse is the sun's shining in through the window and making my monitor virtually unreadable. :evil:

antikythera

Not found any reference to this important question!

What's the FCN of a boris bike?

rjsterry

ketsbaia wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

And now, just to rub it in, the sun is almost out. I'm off for a sulk.

I just had that very same thought. What's worse is the sun's shining in through the window and making my monitor virtually unreadable. :evil:

The weather mocks us! I have the opposite problem to yours atm - my bathroom is a building site, so I only have access to a shower at work or it's a wash in front of the kitchen sink. Not what you need after a long wet ride.

@antikythera: I think there was a whole thread on it - something like "Have we considered the important question?"

Bassjunkieuk

antikythera wrote:

Not found any reference to this important question!

What's the FCN of a boris bike?

Surely it's something around 15? I swear if someone scalps me on one of those I'll probably throw myself off the nearest bridge........

Pufftmw

ketsbaia wrote:

No shower at work = no cycling in heavy showers.

Christ, that bus was slow.

Wuss

It was raining this morning, you don't need a shower

Lidl @ 08:52

I conveniently removed my waterproofs from my rucksack at the weekend and left them at work, so I was in a t-shirt/shorts this morning fighting through the traffic. Note to self - when wearing shorts, don't wear waterproof MTB shoes as the rain just puddles inside the shoe :roll:

No proper scalps, some RLJs but essentially not a lot of cyclists for some reason.

wizzlebanger

+1 to your FCN...

And a dry bottom.

Duly noted!!! ha ha. Weirdly I want to get caught in a monster downpour now to test how effective they are. Strange.

Norky

rjsterry wrote:

Got up; thought "Ow!"; looked out of window; caved in. Not proud of it, but we all have days of weakness. Even got called a fairweather cyclist by the builder this morning - that stung a bit. Will MTFU tomorrow.

I was woken up (at around 5am) by the rain on the tent, got up at about half-past 6, packed the tent away in the pissing rain, loaded it and panniers onto the bike and rode the heavily-laden bike 13 miles (some of it off-road) through a very wet Sussex to get into the office early. I was sopping when I got to the office (no jacket, just a wind-proof gilet) so I feel perfectly justified in calling you a great blouse-wearing pansy.

Unsurprisingly there was no SCR action (unless you count davis, who camped and rode in with me)

rjsterry

Form a queue please.

Cafewanda

gaz545

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

antikythera wrote:

Not found any reference to this important question!

What's the FCN of a boris bike?

Surely it's something around 15? I swear if someone scalps me on one of those I'll probably throw myself off the nearest bridge........

I overtook someone the other day on one. it nearly killed me doing so and i had to quickly take a side road to avoid any imbaresment of passing out in the main road. If only they had cleats

lost_in_thought

gaz545 wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

antikythera wrote:

Not found any reference to this important question!

What's the FCN of a boris bike?

Surely it's something around 15? I swear if someone scalps me on one of those I'll probably throw myself off the nearest bridge........

I overtook someone the other day on one. it nearly killed me doing so and i had to quickly take a side road to avoid any imbaresment of passing out in the main road. If only they had cleats

I have so far overtaken: 2 MTBs, 1 hybrid with a pannier, 1 brompton and 2 plod-on-a-bikes on Boris Bike travels.

More to follow, no doubt. :twisted:

Bassjunkieuk

gaz545 wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

antikythera wrote:

Not found any reference to this important question!

What's the FCN of a boris bike?

Surely it's something around 15? I swear if someone scalps me on one of those I'll probably throw myself off the nearest bridge........

I overtook someone the other day on one. it nearly killed me doing so and i had to quickly take a side road to avoid any imbaresment of passing out in the main road. If only they had cleats

Now I think I'd make an exception for the SCR massive and it's also why I think an SCR Boris Bike outing would be carnage. Sort of like British Touring Cars where everyone is on (or in) the same vehicle which means it relies on the rider. Also like touring car racing I expect a huge crowd of supporters along The Embankment waiting for the crashes......

May get to try one soon depending on when my key fob arrives. Working in town all week (and next) and have a selection of docking stations near Euston to chose from!

Citizen Smith

Wowzers....haven't got that wet on the bike for a while....I think I mostly aquaplaned into work this morning. Anticipating traffic light changes from afar to ensure I stopped in sufficient time was interesting - so much standing water about.

As for yesterday evening -yes, it was definitely SCR fun and games with rjsterry. I was on my return home from Paddington and had just laid some power down to try and put away a guy on a Trek on the way up to Waitrose Balham junction and then stopped behind this chap waiting at the Balham tube junction. Giant, check. Face mask, check. Hmmm...I wonder.

Lights go green and Trek guy times it well so he passes both of us. However, rjsterry is soon on his tail and going for the pass. I'm close in behind and decide well, it's now or never and give it some beans to make a nice double pass. And down the drag strip we go.....I'm starting to feel it....can't risk a shoulder check otherwise I give the game away. Nearly manage to make the lights by Argos but have to put on the anchors and am quite thankful for the breather.

Rjsterry rolls up alongside a moment later and I'm trying my best skin breathing but I'm fooling no one.

The lights take an age and we're off. Rjsterry shoots off like a whippet and opens up a nice lead. I'm not too bothered as I always accelerate like an oil tanker. However, I recognise I need to spin up quickly to ensure he doesn't get out of touch. The lights at Bec hold us again. We turn left down Tooting Bec Road and the pace is swift.

We make the right turn down Franciscan and I will admit and did shave off a few seconds by taking a bit off the corner. As we made the small climb up to the church, I was having to dig deep to maintain a respectable distance as roadrunner was nearly out of touch. Crested the hill and then like Wile E. Coyote, used my significant ballast (both my own, rucksack & GT frame made from girders) to make up the gap – the silky road surface helped although still had to negotiate the sleeping policeman at the same time.

My quarry got held up at the end of the road by a BMW, so managed coast alongside and ask the question and confirm it was rjsterry.

Glad I only had 30 seconds to my front door as I was knackered. Fair play rjsterry – you got some pace! I would say Chapeau but you have voided that with your cop out today!

rjsterry

Further to this, and the general wee-taking, can anyone explain how a 14 mile commute with a bit of SCR can finish me off, while a 30 mile out and back covering Marlpit Lane, Succomb's Hill, Burntwood Lane and Titsey Hill/White Lane leaves me with just a mild feeling of contented tiredness. Both rides completed at pretty much the same average (door to door) speed. Do all those traffic lights really take that much out of you?

asprilla

rjsterry wrote:

Further to this, and the general wee-taking, can anyone explain how a 14 mile commute with a bit of SCR can finish me off, while a 30 mile out and back covering Marlpit Lane, Succomb's Hill, Burntwood Lane and Titsey Hill/White Lane leaves me with just a mild feeling of contented tiredness. Both rides completed at pretty much the same average (door to door) speed. Do all those traffic lights really take that much out of you?

Sprinting from light to light uses tast twitch fibres and is anerobic whilst constant gentle spinning uses slow twitch fibres and is aerobic.

rjsterry

There wasn't much gentle spinning on my Sunday ride; more grinding up 25% gradients then hammering it back down, with a few fast rolling bits in between. I've ben pondering this for a while, and my theory is that, as it takes a lot more energy to accelerate than to maintain a speed, TL's are a lot more energy consuming than you'd think.

jonginge

rjsterry wrote:

There wasn't much gentle spinning on my Sunday ride; more grinding up 25% gradients then hammering it back down, with a few fast rolling bits in between. I've ben pondering this for a while, and my theory is that, as it takes a lot more energy to accelerate than to maintain a speed, TL's are a lot more energy consuming than you'd think.

Oh. yes. I've had the powermeter on the commute on the odd occasion. It's illuminating when you see you're putting out 700Watts pulling away from every set of lights...

asprilla

JonGinge wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

There wasn't much gentle spinning on my Sunday ride; more grinding up 25% gradients then hammering it back down, with a few fast rolling bits in between. I've ben pondering this for a while, and my theory is that, as it takes a lot more energy to accelerate than to maintain a speed, TL's are a lot more energy consuming than you'd think.

Oh. yes. I've had the powermeter on the commute on the odd occasion. It's illuminating when you see you're putting out 700Watts pulling away from every set of lights...

Force = mass x accelleration.

If you aren't accellerating (ignoring the rotational accelleration) then you aren't using force.

Greg T

Asprilla wrote:

Force, you are not using

Fixed that for you, I have

rjsterry

Asprilla wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

There wasn't much gentle spinning on my Sunday ride; more grinding up 25% gradients then hammering it back down, with a few fast rolling bits in between. I've ben pondering this for a while, and my theory is that, as it takes a lot more energy to accelerate than to maintain a speed, TL's are a lot more energy consuming than you'd think.

Oh. yes. I've had the powermeter on the commute on the odd occasion. It's illuminating when you see you're putting out 700Watts pulling away from every set of lights...

Force = mass x accelleration.

If you aren't accellerating (ignoring the rotational accelleration) then you aren't using force.

Except to overcome friction/rolling resistance. Unless of course, you are cycling through space, which brings us to the same place as Greg T.

jonginge

Asprilla wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

There wasn't much gentle spinning on my Sunday ride; more grinding up 25% gradients then hammering it back down, with a few fast rolling bits in between. I've ben pondering this for a while, and my theory is that, as it takes a lot more energy to accelerate than to maintain a speed, TL's are a lot more energy consuming than you'd think.

Oh. yes. I've had the powermeter on the commute on the odd occasion. It's illuminating when you see you're putting out 700Watts pulling away from every set of lights...

Force = mass x accelleration.

If you aren't accellerating (ignoring the rotational accelleration) then you aren't using force.

Oh, I never knew*

The point was that 700+ >> 200-350Watts that typically get put out between the lights...

* F=ma on its own is a pretty special cse: wind and rolling resistances may be quite important in the force required to propel a bicycle...

asprilla

rjsterry wrote:

Asprilla wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

There wasn't much gentle spinning on my Sunday ride; more grinding up 25% gradients then hammering it back down, with a few fast rolling bits in between. I've ben pondering this for a while, and my theory is that, as it takes a lot more energy to accelerate than to maintain a speed, TL's are a lot more energy consuming than you'd think.

Oh. yes. I've had the powermeter on the commute on the odd occasion. It's illuminating when you see you're putting out 700Watts pulling away from every set of lights...

Force = mass x accelleration.

If you aren't accellerating (ignoring the rotational accelleration) then you aren't using force.

Except to overcome friction/rolling resistance. Unless of course, you are cycling through space, which brings us to the same place as Greg T.

I don't really cycle, I bend space and time to my will. Friction means nothing to me.

rjsterry

Some chaps over at NASA might want a word.

Bassjunkieuk

Asprilla wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

There wasn't much gentle spinning on my Sunday ride; more grinding up 25% gradients then hammering it back down, with a few fast rolling bits in between. I've ben pondering this for a while, and my theory is that, as it takes a lot more energy to accelerate than to maintain a speed, TL's are a lot more energy consuming than you'd think.

Oh. yes. I've had the powermeter on the commute on the odd occasion. It's illuminating when you see you're putting out 700Watts pulling away from every set of lights...

Force = mass x accelleration.

If you aren't accellerating (ignoring the rotational accelleration) then you aren't using force.

Ya see that's why JG is so quick, if we re-arrange the above equation we get:

Big Power/Little Mass = HUGE acceleration :-)

soundninjauk

Ok, I've been cycling to work for a couple of months now (from about a mile west of Shepherds Bush to Soho and back), and this morning was my first real test.

Originally I must admit, I walked outside with the intention of getting the tube. But then someone walked out of the flats opposite wheeling their bike, and I cracked. Plus, why else did I just invest in some lovely Conti GP 4 Seasons?

So yeah, I got pretty wet. Didn't notice how many people I passed, to be honest I was concentrating on avoiding gigantic waves coming off buses and just plain getting to work in the quickest possible time. On the plus side, the tyres were so awesome that apart from the fact that I was getting soaked to the skin, I wouldn't have noticed I was riding in the wet.