Silly commuting racing

Headhuunter

CXXC wrote:

Clever Pun wrote:

MatHammond wrote:

Anyway, racing - I'm on the good bike tonight. Planning on meeting up for a Dulwich club run so will be on road between Fenchurch St and Elmers End between 6.30 and 7 - hopefully moving fast!

I knew someone from here would be on that run I see a load of you meeting up around that time... keep meaning to stop and ask about it but just keep on flying by thinking... yeah next time etc

Its a decent chaingang ride, usually 2 groups (fast/slow) with selection just nr Coney Hall, head out to the M25 and back via pilgrims way with a bit of "through and off". nice people, nice country lanes

I've been on that chaingang before but I don't do it very often as it's hard to finish work in Chancery Lane at 6-6.15pm, get home, drop my bag, change clothes, change bikes and get to Elmers End for 7....

SurosaRider

Got passed yesterday by a chap on a lovely Cervelo P3 with Zipp Sub 9 on the back and a skin suit! I can usually take out roadies on my mountain bike (food chain No 9) but this time I thought; fair enough... I imagine he was on the way to a TT or triathlon or something, not just taking SCR WAY too seriously.

bigmat

Clever Pun wrote:

Saw Mathammond on the way home, nice to meet you... didn't particularly want to hang around though as I was getting cold.

How'd the 'club' run go?

Nice to meet you too - I waited until 7.15pm and nobody else turned up so I headed home. Was quite relieved to be honest, weather got dramatically worse after that, poor visibility, I was starting to get cold - not great conditions for a club run! Looks like it might brighten up over the weekend / next week so will aim to get the miles in then I think.

asprilla

Great ride in this morning.

That is all.

Headhuunter

I'm feeling virtuous, I was flagged down by a guy near Surrey Quays Tube station who was trying to help another guy with a puncture. He'd put a new tube in but had no way of inflating it! Unfortunately the new tube was also busted, it wouldn't inflate, so I donated my spare tube to him. Hopefully my karma will be good today. He had a nice bike, some kind of alu Condor with various carbon bits. He said that it wasn't his usual commuter which was in for repairs or something....

notsoblue

Last night was a bit of a disappointment in terms of SCR. Lots of people about on nice bikes, but nobody wanted to play. Enjoying the lack of headwind I blasted along millbank, and caught up with a big group at VB waiting at the lights. They change green and I power off in a big gear. I'm comfortably pushing high 20s as the road curves slightly to the right, and I look over my shoulder to see if I've managed to entice any drafters....but nothing... Somewhere way back in the distance this is the scene:



Rain seems to dampen the competitive spirit, this is the worst thing about commuting when its wet

97BlackC5

Hi, I've been lurking here for a while & just noticed a few of you ride in from Bexley. I ride in from Bexley Village, over Shooters Hill (fun) to Greenwich, through the park to the foot tunnel. Then up past Mudshoot to Canary Wharf, 11 miles. I leave at 5:30am, normally takes me about 47mins, I ride a Giant Rainier MTB FCM 11, or a Specialized Crossroads Comp FCN 10 (both bikes baggy clothes & flat peddles) raising my numbers.

Never really see anyone on the way in, comming home is a different matter though , just wondered if anyone else on here goes my way????

Headhuunter

97BlackC5 wrote:

Hi, I've been lurking here for a while & just noticed a few of you ride in from Bexley. I ride in from Bexley Village, over Shooters Hill (fun) to Greenwich, through the park to the foot tunnel. Then up past Mudshoot to Canary Wharf, 11 miles. I leave at 5:30am, normally takes me about 47mins, I ride a Giant Rainier MTB FCM 11, or a Specialized Crossroads Comp FCN 10 (both bikes baggy clothes & flat peddles) raising my numbers.

Never really see anyone on the way in, comming home is a different matter though , just wondered if anyone else on here goes my way????

At 5.30am I'm not surprised you don't see anyone! I think most of London is in the land of nod! Even when I commute between 7.45 and 8.15 there are noticeably fewer people than if I leave a bit late, say at 8.15....

itboffin

Oh dear my recalculated FCN is 0 on the roadie and 2 on the commuter an that's only because of the slight beard + panniers.

Clever Pun

itboffin wrote:

Oh dear my recalculated FCN is 0 on the roadie and 2 on the commuter an that's only because of the slight beard + panniers.

you don't have a beard... stop being a chancer, don't shave your face for 2 weeks then we'll see

lost_in_thought

Clever Pun wrote:

you don't have a beard... stop being a chancer,

Clever Pun: Tells it like it is.

rjsterry

DUe to a snapped spoke nipple, I'm on the Dahon in civvies today. Got the train to Victoria , then pootled off in search of someone to embarrass, but no luck. Even swung down onto the Embankment to see what I could find, but nuffink. Spun like a loon going through the Blackfriars tunnel, and on that basis have ordered some M520s to ensure my feet stay connected (still have those ridiculously smooth Dahon folding pedals).

jonginge

lost_in_thought wrote:

Clever Pun wrote:

you don't have a beard... stop being a chancer,

Clever Pun: Tells it like it is.

You sure he's talking facial?

london_scottish

97BlackC5 wrote:

Hi, I've been lurking here for a while & just noticed a few of you ride in from Bexley. I ride in from Bexley Village, over Shooters Hill (fun) to Greenwich, through the park to the foot tunnel. Then up past Mudshoot to Canary Wharf, 11 miles. I leave at 5:30am, normally takes me about 47mins, I ride a Giant Rainier MTB FCM 11, or a Specialized Crossroads Comp FCN 10 (both bikes baggy clothes & flat peddles) raising my numbers.

Never really see anyone on the way in, comming home is a different matter though , just wondered if anyone else on here goes my way????

5.30 in the morning and over shooters hill, are you mental?

I'd by-pass that bad boy and head down through welling to woolwich I think, but I probably need to mtfu.

I head through blackfen, new eltham, lewisham, OKR, sometimes on way home I go over Shooters hill for a laugh but not often.

maddernj

5.30 in the morning and over shooters hill, are you mental?

I'd by-pass that bad boy and head down through welling to woolwich I think, but I probably need to mtfu.

I head through blackfen, new eltham, lewisham, OKR, sometimes on way home I go over Shooters hill for a laugh but not often.[/quote]

That'll be my new route in a few weeks......

quite looking forward to the lack of hills

97BlackC5

Sorry, but what does OKR stand for? Must admit beeing doing my route for around 7 years now, but recently found a way of bypassing Shooters Hill via Falcon Wood, I end up re-joining the road to the Sun In The Sands roundabout at the lights at the bottom of Shooters Hill!!! Been using that route for the last week, slightly longer & funny enought not even that much quicker but a lot less hilly

asprilla

Old Kent Road.

Gazzaputt

97BlackC5 wrote:

Hi, I've been lurking here for a while & just noticed a few of you ride in from Bexley. I ride in from Bexley Village, over Shooters Hill (fun) to Greenwich, through the park to the foot tunnel. Then up past Mudshoot to Canary Wharf, 11 miles. I leave at 5:30am, normally takes me about 47mins, I ride a Giant Rainier MTB FCM 11, or a Specialized Crossroads Comp FCN 10 (both bikes baggy clothes & flat peddles) raising my numbers.

Never really see anyone on the way in, comming home is a different matter though , just wondered if anyone else on here goes my way????

I live just up from the village.

I travel to Charlton via lower road to Woolwich. Danson park, Welling, Plumstead, Woolwich and Charlton. I set off about 7am.

Extend that up Bostall Hill for hill repeats once a week.

lost_in_thought

Well, that was, erm, interesting!

It transpires that all the things which make the Maxima such a brilliant bike to ride in the dry make it a little scary in the wet. I had a bit of a 'moment' in the 3rd from right-hand lane (out of a total of 7 lanes) on Hyde Park Corner rbt where I slid a bit, and recovered, then decided that taking it very easy was the order of the day.

Once I got to about Ealing Common and the traffic calmed down, I managed to enjoy it.

Now I am faced with a dilemma:

Do I take the Fuji tomorrow on the offchance that the Fuji people can get it into an Evans in Mayfair before tuesday, or do I say to hell with it and take the Maxima again?

prj45

Well, pwned by LIT again.

We were both riding rather skittish road bikes along in the pouring rain, so it was all a bit slow motion, but that didn't stop her trouncing me; predatory even in the most adverse conditions.

lost_in_thought

Hahahaha that WAS you.

I thought it was, but didn't like to say 'are you prj45' as it's an odd question to ask a stranger if it turns out to be a case of mistaken identity.

prj45

lost_in_thought wrote:

Hahahaha that WAS you.

I thought it was, but didn't like to say 'are you prj45' as it's an odd question to ask a stranger if it turns out to be a case of mistaken identity.

Totally understood! And I didn't want to freak you out by coming out knowing who you were.

Viner in the rain a? I'd promised not to take my road bike out in the rain, but I've been off the bike for a while so was desperate to ride.

Hyde park corner in that, on that, respect!

lost_in_thought

Ah, we English folk are silly aren't we? I wouldn't have been freaked out at all, it would have just confirmed my suspicions that you were, in fact, prj45!

Yeah, Viner+Rain=Eek.

Well, to be fair it wasn't the rain so much as those little irridescent patches of oil all along the road.

:shock:

prj45

lost_in_thought wrote:

Ah, we English folk are silly aren't we?

Yup, wouldn't have it any other way!

lost_in_thought wrote:

Well, to be fair it wasn't the rain so much as those little irridescent patches of oil all along the road.

They're very pretty, but yes, potentially lethal.

That and the puddles which you don't really know whether they are going to get your feet a little bit wetter, or contain a 6 inch deep chasm that buckles your wheel, snaps your forks and dumps you under the nearest bus!

[edit, if somebody can suggest how I can write that last bit in proper English please let me know!]

greg66_tri_v2.0

prj45 wrote:

That and the puddles which you don't really know whether they are going to get your feet a little bit wetter, or contain a 6 inch deep chasm that buckles your wheel, snaps your forks and dumps you under the nearest bus!

[edit, if somebody can suggest how I can write that last bit in proper English please let me know!]

That, and not knowing whether the puddles will give you slightly wetter feet, or hide a 6 inch deep chasm that will buckle your wheel, snap your fork and dump you under the nearest bus.

Clever Pun

JonGinge wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Clever Pun wrote:

you don't have a beard... stop being a chancer,

Clever Pun: Tells it like it is.

You sure he's talking facial?

I'm pretty sure pant beards aren't part of the calculation

greg66_tri_v2.0

That was a horrible ride home. Gloomy, wet, greasy, and humid.

Bah.

Clever Pun

I got beeped when in the right hand lane to allow me to filter to a further right hand lane to turn right at the next set of lights about 200m away rather than cross 3 lanes of busy traffic. (Turning from the A21 to Beckenham Hill)

The women in the car gesticulated something angrly at me and then drove off only to wait at the next set of lights. I rolled up to the car and she's not seen me and chatting away to her friend... I knock on the window and she turns round and I can lipread the words "Oh fu<k" I ask her to wind the window down and the following dialoge ensues
Me: "I'm very sorry to have delayed you for 2 seconds"
Her: "err that's ok"
Me: "Why exactly did you feel the need to beep me?"
Her: "It was to err... umm let you know I was there just incase you were going to cross the lanes"
Me: "uh huh, well that would be a pretty stupid thing to do wouldn't it. I was in this lane to avoid crossing all the lanes of busy traffic"

I could see she was absolutly bricking it, now hopefully she'll be a little more cautious before beeping someone needlessly. Hopefully she was bright enough to notice the sarcasm in my voice but I doubt it.

lost_in_thought

You scary.

Clever Pun

lost_in_thought wrote:

You scary.

yeah I did bring the massive looming where's the sun gone stance. she had to crouch and lean to see my face... heh heh