Silly commuting racing

prj45

Greg66 wrote:

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.

Why, thank you kind sir!

Wrath Rob

Where was everyone on the way home? After 2 days off I was all ready to play but there was no bugger out there!

However, as I hadn't ridden in 2 days and left the bike at work, all my waterproofs were at home. My shoes now have newspaper stuffed in them in the vain hope of them drying out before tomorrow morning

rjsterry

prj45 wrote:

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!]

+1 on the oily patches and 'bottomless' puddles Can't believe how much oil there is on the road at the moment. Absolutely weeing down when I left work, and was only in civvies with the Dahon, so jumped on the Northern line, which served me right, but there was no way I was doing 13 miles on a clown bike in jeans, never mind in that rain. Of course it was dry when I got off the train in Hackbridge :roll:

Having ordered some M520s today, I tried to swap my old SPDs from the Giant to the Dahon to make it a bit less hairy. Despite a 12" adjustable spanner, I couldn't shift them - puny pipecleaner arms - so will have to ship them both to LBS.

Ian.B

I've been wearing my new shoes this week, full of nice cool airy holes. Now that my toes have been sloshing round in puddles all the way home, I'm beginning to understand the reason for those funny shoe cover thingies.

lost_in_thought

rjsterry wrote:

Having ordered some M520s today, I tried to swap my old SPDs from the Giant to the Dahon to make it a bit less hairy. Despite a 12" adjustable spanner, I couldn't shift them - puny pipecleaner arms - so will have to ship them both to LBS.

Noooooo wait a sec... for really tight things an adjustable's no good, you need a proper spanner the right size. Try to get one with one ring end and one open end, use the open end on the pedal (obv) and you can hook your adjustable through the ring end to make an uber-spanner. If that doesn't work, find a length of pipe (I seem to recall you're having the bathroom done?) that fits as tightly as possible over the spanner and use that for extra leverage.

Also, pour fat coke on them. Seriously. I can't believe people drink that stuff. :shock:

rjsterry

lost_in_thought wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

Having ordered some M520s today, I tried to swap my old SPDs from the Giant to the Dahon to make it a bit less hairy. Despite a 12" adjustable spanner, I couldn't shift them - puny pipecleaner arms - so will have to ship them both to LBS.

Noooooo wait a sec... for really tight things an adjustable's no good, you need a proper spanner the right size. Try to get one with one ring end and one open end, use the open end on the pedal (obv) and you can hook your adjustable through the ring end to make an uber-spanner. If that doesn't work, find a length of pipe (I seem to recall you're having the bathroom done?) that fits as tightly as possible over the spanner and use that for extra leverage.

Also, pour fat coke on them. Seriously. I can't believe people drink that stuff. :shock:

This is true - the adjustable was too wide for the Dahon folding pedals as well. I'm normally a stickler for using the right too, but I was trying to avoid buying more stuff. A length of pipe would be good, but copper and PVC aren't really up to the job, and the scrap metal people took the stripped out bits of steel gas pipe (the bathrooms finished now and very nice thanks ) Might give the coke a go though.

Headhuunter

I almost completely lost it last night turning from Ilderton Rd into OKR. As I turned the corner both front and back wheels started to skid sideways and I felt myself going down, hoping that the car behind wouldn't roll straight over me, but at the last minute I managed to straighten up and keep going.

It's happened before but I don't very often turn that corner in the rain so I always forget that it's incredibly slippery. Also the new Ribble has Vittoria Rubino tyres which don't seem to have good traction in the wet. As I cycled up Pepys Rd in New Cross last week I actually managed to wheel spin. It's a fairly steep hill and the road has been newly resurfaced and was a bit wet, and yes I have awesomely powerful thighs, but it seemed a bit ridiculous that I managed to wheel spin a couple of times...

Pufftmw

Having had my "day off" I was determined to ride home last night, so duly togged up in waterproofs left the office in Aldgate and it stopped raining! Before long I was getting really really hot and sweaty inside which tends to make you more breahtless than before. I left the office about 20:30 and hit the OKR on my trusty Gary Fisher and as usual, nothing to chase down or challenge me but by the time I got to Lewisham Hi St I was stiffled and had hit cruise mode....

AT WHICH POINT the only bike to have overtaken me this week comes tootling past - a white Ribble with a very bright flashing tail-light and a bloke lycra'd up = caught me napping :oops: Obviously, red rag to a bull so I gave chase up the Lee Road but I got frozen out by a transit looking for a parking space, so chappie has about a 50 yard lead on me - time to hit the hammers and like puffing billy I start to draw him in. Unfortunately I only go so far up the Lee Road before I have to turn off and by that time I was about 5 yards behind so I can't claim the scalp

This morning, just a wet wet ride in - both rain and wind against me but once again, no-one to challenge me Overtook a couple of motorbikes who were taking it cautiously up the bus lanes and overtook one on TBR who was waiting to overtake a van. He seemed to get cross and hooted me as I overtook - I mean, if you're not going to overtake, then I will so don't get upset about it :roll:

Arrived looking and feeling like a drowned rat - clothes and shoes all into the server room to dry off

& its stopped raining now!

Headhuunter

Pufftmw wrote:

Having had my "day off" I was determined to ride home last night, so duly togged up in waterproofs left the office in Aldgate and it stopped raining! Before long I was getting really really hot and sweaty inside which tends to make you more breahtless than before. I left the office about 20:30 and hit the OKR on my trusty Gary Fisher and as usual, nothing to chase down or challenge me but by the time I got to Lewisham Hi St I was stiffled and had hit cruise mode....

AT WHICH POINT the only bike to have overtaken me this week comes tootling past - a white Ribble with a very bright flashing tail-light and a bloke lycra'd up = caught me napping :oops: Obviously, red rag to a bull so I gave chase up the Lee Road but I got frozen out by a transit looking for a parking space, so chappie has about a 50 yard lead on me - time to hit the hammers and like puffing billy I start to draw him in. Unfortunately I only go so far up the Lee Road before I have to turn off and by that time I was about 5 yards behind so I can't claim the scalp

This morning, just a wet wet ride in - both rain and wind against me but once again, no-one to challenge me Overtook a couple of motorbikes who were taking it cautiously up the bus lanes and overtook one on TBR who was waiting to overtake a van. He seemed to get cross and hooted me as I overtook - I mean, if you're not going to overtake, then I will so don't get upset about it :roll:

Arrived looking and feeling like a drowned rat - clothes and shoes all into the server room to dry off

& its stopped raining now!

I ride a Ribble along OKR but it's blue and I don't go as far as Lewisham HS or Lee HR

Wrath Rob

Wet, cautions, cold, boring, no-fun ride this morning. No-fun as no-one else was around to play with. 1 guy with white and black tyres was moving reasonably quickly but he didn't rise to the bait of me rising past. I needed some encouragement to stay warm!

Harveytile

I wussed out this morning. Three days of constant rain and wet gear helped excitement levels reach all time lows. Last night was the final straw...

Riding along, minding my business when I felt her unmistakable presence - the PF! :shock: Only the second for the year but not even 5 miles into the 20 mile commute and in the peeing rain. So I spent a few minutes with the FG upended replacing tubes.

A fairly uneventful ride until just after Crystal Palace when a pair of twunts in a large Merc pulled out of a side street almost knocking me off. I expressed my dismay and clearly stated his stupidity at which point he thought it prudent to drive his car practically into the kerb causing me to perform a deft lock-up to trackstand manoeuvre. Seeing I wasn’t going anywhere the pair decided to drive off congratulating themselves of their bravery :? .

They weren’t too talkative at the next red light. Maybe they will be more talkative to the police. Date, time, location, and reg all logged. May pricks like these rot in hell. :roll:

(Maybe this should be in the rants section... sorry)

Lost the Plot

I finally have summoned up the courage in the face of all the awesomeness that is prevalent on this thread to say hello.

So hello.

Having finally got back in the saddle 8 weeks ago and being overtaken by just about everyone out there. I have been loving the last 2 weeks.

I only have a short route to and from work but 90% of it is along CS3 and last week having finally been released from at a reasonable hour had 3 days of trouncing roadies and a couple of ss's along cable street. And this weeks weather means that whilst all the roadies are wondering why they can't seem to cycle at a decent pace when the ground is wet, my fat nobbly tyred MTB is flying

I am starting to think I might have to leave the flat a bit earlier and extend my route :twisted:

My FCN....

a nice lowly 8

Wrath Rob

That was a ride and a half



Elder guy in red and yellow team jersey on a Condor fixie. Battled all the way down Embankment from Bank to P'Square, hitting 25, 26mph at times when traffic allowed. Somewhere near P'Square we picked up a flat bar roadie fixie who was able to spin his legs like he was a washing machine. The 3 of us had fun up to VB then flat bar took the lead after that, the other fixie was last but came past us both and I followed closely to CB, knowing that the path of the geared one is stronger.

Condor man goes right in the queue, I follow flat bar to the lights and then light the touch paper at the crest of the hill. 25, 26, 28, shoulder check and he's still there, Condor rider is not in sight. A Golf comes past so I dig deep, dial the pain generators to 11 and launch onto the back of the Golf, getting into its draft. 31, 32, 33 and my lungs are screaming. The Golf is pulling away. 34mph, I'm holding it. Cars ahead are slowing, back down to 30. I'm too far into oxygen debt and the Golf is paying too little regards to the speed limit. I pull out of the primary and wind down to 25 to take me to AB. No point in checking back up the road, I can smell the toast.

I made it to AB and reached it just as the lights changed. I got slightly baulked by a guy in a green top on a CX bike with a rack and twin panniers. Easy meat I thought. However, despite the slow start he winds it up to 23mph. Hmm, challenge anyone? We both turn off for Lotts Road and I nip ahead. Despite some fast riding on my part he's on my tail the entire way, past Imperial Wharf and all the way to the bottom of WB. Still reeling from my Embankment efforts I can't make a decisive break.

So I say FCUK it and when the lights go green I give it 95% up Col de Wandsworth Bridge. Out the saddle the works, up to 22mph, change up a gear, up to 24, I catch his wheel pulling alongside me out the corner of my eye. Over the crest I'm hauling ass, 25mph and he's still there. No point pushing on down the other side, I need to turn right, exactly where he is. As I turn to look at him he says something to me. I smile, mention I need to go right and let him pull ahead. Chapeau fella, I hope those panniers were empty.

All in, a top ride home to make up for the recent torrential rain

Bassjunkieuk

@rjs - I've got a couple of proper pedal spanners if your interested? I seem to remember the originals on my SCR being rather stuck but the one I picked up from Evans helped shift the buggers! The second one came as part of a bike toolkit box from Wiggle......

PM me if you want to give it a go and I'm sure something can be arranged!

stephan1

It makes me laugh when people try and race me when I am riding to work. I am enjoying my ride and don't need to rush, so why are you trying to make me compete with you?

jds_1981

stephan1 wrote:

It makes me laugh when people try and race me when I am riding to work. I am enjoying my ride and don't need to rush, so why are you trying to make me compete with you?

Because people like playing games? No-one will make you, just depends on whether you're willing to step up to the competition

jonginge

jds_1981 wrote:

stephan1 wrote:

It makes me laugh when people try and race me when I am riding to work. I am enjoying my ride and don't need to rush, so why are you trying to make me compete with you?

Because people like playing games? No-one will make you, just depends on whether you're willing to step up to the competition

HTFU, Stephan

stuaff

JonGinge wrote:

jds_1981 wrote:

stephan1 wrote:

It makes me laugh when people try and race me when I am riding to work. I am enjoying my ride and don't need to rush, so why are you trying to make me compete with you?

Because people like playing games? No-one will make you, just depends on whether you're willing to step up to the competition

HTFU, Stephan

If you don't want to race 'em, don't. Some people are in a hurry though...I don't do pootling, at least not in terms of effort- if someone goes past me I feel obliged to try and get back past them. It's better exercise, if nothing else! And we still enjoy our rides....

Norky

JonGinge wrote:

HTFU, Stephan

You might want to link to the specific bit in the video, otherwise poor Stephan might be a bit confused .

+1 on the HTFU.

P.S. Stephan, the URL in your signature is malformed. You'll want a colon in there.

notsoblue

stephan1 wrote:

It makes me laugh when people try and race me when I am riding to work. I am enjoying my ride and don't need to rush, so why are you trying to make me compete with you?

I'm not racing, I'm just riding to work.

soundninjauk

notsoblue wrote:

I'm not racing, I'm just riding to work.

Likewise. I like to ride to work at a very specific pace (about 17/18mph, where it's comfortable spinning on the middle gear on the 3 speed hub), I don't like going slower, and I can't go much faster unless it's downhill. If other people are going slower, or overtake me and then don't pull away, then it's just physics really isn't it?

rjsterry

notsoblue wrote:

stephan1 wrote:

It makes me laugh when people try and race me when I am riding to work. I am enjoying my ride and don't need to rush, so why are you trying to make me compete with you?

I'm not racing, I'm just riding to work.

Likewise - glad I provide amusement. I usually do need to rush to get to work in time, but I don't enjoy my ride any the less for that.

cjcp

Looks like I missed the rain last week.

On the downside, cream teas, pasties, pies, Doom Bar, red wine and a cold, are going to take their toll this coming week...

greg66_tri_v2.0

stephan1 wrote:

It makes me laugh when people try and race me when I am riding to work. I am enjoying my ride and don't need to rush, so why are you trying to make me compete with you?

Yeah. Losers and slow people always claim that.

lost_in_thought

stephan1 wrote:

It makes me laugh when people try and race me when I am riding to work. I am enjoying my ride and don't need to rush, so why are you trying to make me compete with you?

Nobody's forcing you, poppet.

If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.... or the embankment.

Your choice.

:twisted:

zanes

notsoblue wrote:

I'm not racing, I'm just riding to work.

What's the difference? :twisted:

Bassjunkieuk

stephan1 wrote:

It makes me laugh when people try and race me when I am riding to work. I am enjoying my ride and don't need to rush, so why are you trying to make me compete with you?

Hunny denial ain't just a river in Egypt!

ketsbaia

stephan1 wrote:

It makes me laugh when people try and race me when I am riding to work. I am enjoying my ride and don't need to rush, so why are you trying to make me compete with you?

I need to rush as I'm usually late.

And I'm racing. Racing like my life depended on it.

Pufftmw

ketsbaia wrote:

stephan1 wrote:

It makes me laugh when people try and race me when I am riding to work. I am enjoying my ride and don't need to rush, so why are you trying to make me compete with you?

I need to rush as I'm usually late.

And I'm racing. Racing like my life depended on it.

Good break? You missed all the rain last week!

rjsterry

cjcp wrote:

Looks like I missed the rain last week.

On the downside, cream teas, pasties, pies, Doom Bar, red wine and a cold, are going to take their toll this coming week...

Funny, I found that Doom Bar had the opposite effect. Mmm cream teas, pies and beer.