Silly commuting racing

cjcp

rjsterry wrote:

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.

I only like Doom Bar when it's cold. It's foul when warm. I should also add brownies and ice cream from the St Kew Farm Shop. Heavenly.

(The cold has evolved into the shivers.)

cjcp

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.

This is just about spot on.

Canny Jock

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...

Hmm, sounds like you were near me. I was in St. Ives, camping unfortunately, Doom Bar (and Tribute, Proper Job etc.) helped me through the rather mixed weather.

Had some great cream teas and pasties though. And the ride today has shown it has taken its toll.

nich

I have just listened to the most epic song ever in preparation for my morning commute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He695tveBng

There will be scalps!

Bassjunkieuk

nich wrote:

I have just listened to the most epic song ever in preparation for my morning commute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He695tveBng

There will be scalps!

I was having flashbacks to some of my best scalps (and scalpings!) whilst listening to that! Would be perfect for a video montage if I had a helmet camera :-)

lost_in_thought

Bleurgh. Not feeling so hot today.

:?

Lovely sunny day though!

UndercoverElephant

Developed man-flu yesterday, severe pootle mode last night. Could barely hold 20 mph on the flat - I felt awful. MTFD today and crammed the bike on the train. The ride from the station to work is mostly a descent, still felt awful, but due to civvy clothes, picked up two scalps on the way.

Probably be handing them back tonight.

itboffin

It felt like I was towing the whole world this morning, could have been the panniers loaded for the week ahead or perhaps I just need to MTFU

Boris biking again this week :evil

MonkeyMonster

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Scalps-a-plenty.
Two notes: to the dude on the perfectly clean white dahon - bet you got a few "could do better" in your school reports
Only two chaps kept their scalps - an oldish (the bike) red cannon roadie I'm pretty sure i've seen before and another chap on a white bike - don't think it was mr dahon but might have been. Was trying to dodge motobikes so wasn't paying much attention to anything bar keeping me alive.
Its good to be back after a week off. Will be RPing it later too.

Morning All!

rjsterry

Brrrr! First sign of autumn this morning, but gorgeous blue skies. Rode the Dahon in, so was on the look out for unsuspecting roadies. Not much to speak of bar a nice dark green Bob Jackson tourer coming up through Balham and a few MTBs. Fairly quiet down to CB, then onto the Embankment, and spinning for all I was worth. Took a couple of hybrids, but just as I was going through DSC, a couple of roaies came past, one with aero bars, and I was already at maximum revs, so not much I could do.

However, managed to get a green light ride through at VB, then I noticed aero bars has got slightly held up in traffic, and slowed, so turn the knob right round to 'Extra spin'



Woooooohahahahaha! I'm past both roadies, and manage to stay in front until the PS roundabout. :twisted: There I see the actual Girl on a Pink Brompton.:shock:

Dum-Dum-Duuuumm!

Watch out chaps! Luckily she doesn't seem interested in humiliating anyone, so round the square we go, following a red Condor w/ left hand pannier on Vic. Emb., which was pretty busy, so not much chance for any further scalps.

EDIT: Hope all you lurgified types feel better soon, it's supposed to be a good week weather-wise.

silverburn

Sorry, I've been very much stuck in the past...the past where this was all "unwritten". Until today - I've decided to publish a slightly better than normal ride to work for me.

Route: Burntisland -> Leith (24 miles) 30% non-tarmac. I even get a waterfall!
Time take: 1hr 25mins
Climbing: 500m
FCN score: 8 (mtb + slicks + clipless = 12kg)
Today's scalps: 14
of which are "point scoring" scalps: 5
Scalps "lost": 1 (non-point scoring)

Lovely day, and the first sign of autumn; you can see your breath in the morning. First day out on a newly-rebuilt commuter, after the local gypo's nicked my previous steed.

And onto the point scoring scalps:

Scalp one: Route 76 past Dalgety bay. All the gear looks good, and riding in top gear is admirable but when your cadence is 40rpm, you're not actually going that fast. Also makes it tricky to accelerating onto my wheel too, as you might have noticed. :P

Scalp two: Roadie through Inverkeithing after the 20% climb from the station; the mutual glance...the tell-tale shoulder rock as he tries to accelerate away before I join the road behind him...but it was not to be. Slotted on the wheel for the descent to the Forth bridge, and waited for the opportunity. Is it cruel to accelerate past when you see them drop a gear?

Scalp three: Slight drag out of Dalmeny, saw 4 bikes in a line. Dialed up maximum warp, and blew past them all before the top. Mr Tourer + clipless was hiding in the middle. No response, but probably because I managed to accelerate into the slipstream of a bus immediately after the move, and got sucked down the descent at 45mph.

Scalp four: I was getting worried here...got caught by a "fast hybrid" on the climb to Crammond brig. My excuse - my gears were slipping! I wasn't struggling in any way you understand... :roll: Still... held him off until I was back on to my preferred hunting ground...decsents and flats. Head down, power up...and the baffles are soon clear.

Scalp five: I'm on my hunting ground now until I get to work. Final cycle path section, dodging dogs, runners & grannies. Mostly & slightly down hill. Dial up 110rpm, and I'm blowing past everything. Caught hairy-legged roadie daydreaming. He popped onto the wheel ok, but couldn't hold the same speed over a slight rise (I do admit to riding on the rivet though for 30 seconds), and I was clear again.

Non-scoring scalp lost: titanium equiped roadie; a formidable advisary (one of 2 titanium roadies I meet), one I can match if I can get his wheel. Unfortunately he's learned this, and made sure I couldn't cross the gap today. Skipping gears didn't help. Revenge will so, so sweet when I claim this scalp...and I will. oh yes. :twisted:

UndercoverElephant

silverburn, a fellow Leith worker. Whereabouts do you work? I commute from the East, so I doubt we'll overlap.

Pufftmw

Left a wee bit earlier today and although I saw some cyclists, no-one even tried to draught me. Was completely awesome up Lewisham Way though

But I caught most every single traffic-light :roll:

silverburn

UndercoverElephant wrote:

silverburn, a fellow Leith worker. Whereabouts do you work? I commute from the East, so I doubt we'll overlap.

Near Warriston, just off Ferry Rd.

Loads of excellent cycle paths round that neck of the woods in Edinburgh...many are tarmaced. FYI - my commute only has about 1.5 miles of actual road sections. Some of it could even be considered singletrack. Take a detour near aberdour, and it's definitely singletrack.

In fact, today was typical in I saw foxes, deer, rabbits, a squirrel, the sea (about 3m away from it at one point in fact) and the waterfall. Seals are often visible in summer, and my wife even saw dolphins once. In summer, you can stop at Silversands beach on the way home for an ice-cream. You know you deserve one.

The Londoners would probably have anxiety attacks if they rode this route though...there's no myriad of psycho bus and taxi drivers to rub their elbows/face/entire body against...

ketsbaia

Pufftmw wrote:

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!

Nice break from work but no cycling at all due to almost constant rain down on the south coast.

Had a 60-mile spin out in Kent yesterday with a few of the guys on here and suffered badly due to intense lack of practice. I'm now convinced SCR does very little for my overall fitness, what with the commute being only 3.5 miles.

I don't suppose the beer, cream teas and chippy suppers helped much last week either. :roll:

cjcp

rjsterry wrote:

EDIT: Hope all you lurgified types feel better soon, it's supposed to be a good week weather-wise.

Horribly snotty this morning. Kept having to look behind me just in case...

@Canny Jock - I was in Chapel Amble, near Wadebridge. We were on Polzeath beach. Riding into and out of Polzeath on either side would be fun. Not. The roads out must kick up to 20%.

UndercoverElephant

silverburn wrote:

Near Warriston, just off Ferry Rd.

Nice commute. Definitely no overlap, mines from East Lothian to near Leith Links. I'm still looking for an overlap with someone here, it makes the racing all the more intense if you know you're going to have to suffer the ignominy of being scalped by someone else on the forum...

redvee

Cold enough today for me to don my Gore jacket but felt uncomfortable wearing it as it's been so long since I last wore a jacket on the commute, two hours later bright sunshine and no need for any clothing other than shorts & t-shirt in work. Spitting image are wrong, today I met a nice South African. He collared me as we rode over the river behind Temple Meads and chatted as we rode side by side and he left me his business card and will introduce him to the delights of our little online community.

MonkeyMonster

Met a nice chap called Ben on a slicked up mtb as raced each other to RP not allowing any slacking at all. Mouth full of scalps by the time we got there.

Luckily realised/worked out part of the click is my right spd - so am I right in thinking not to bother trying to fix - just buy some new ones?

cjcp

Thank heavens there was a tailwind tonight, otherwise I would have coughed up all sorts.

Anyway, scalped a scooter through Blackfriars Tunnel and eventually dropped some fairies at the end of DSC, then eeking through the lights at CB to leave them for good.

Pretty sure I then saw Mr Ribble (ex-Stelvio) in Quickstep shorts pulling away from lights at WBR taking a cheeky tow from a scooter before he turned off .

warthog562

guys, sorry if this has been asked before but i have ben in oz for a few weeks and not kept up. what is the SCR No for the borris bikes? took one for a spin for the first time and rounded up a couple of fast hybrids(obviously pootleing) , chased a roadie for while but had no hope but enjoyed trying.

seamus

gbsahne001

met a nice guy on a carbon this evening, I'd passed him and his mate earlier as they were going too slow; he caught up and we tagged each other for a few miles before coming alongside for a chat.

He commented that, "you make that MB go at some speed", I thanked him for the compliment then he peeled off to go and find his mate, who was nowhere to be seen.

rjsterry

To misquote Samuel L. Jackson, and in turn the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel, the path of the righteous (late) cyclist is beset on all sides by the inequities of bad drivers, and the tyrannies of dawdling nodders...

I was in a hurry to get home early so that Mrs RJS could go to a first aid course, and I could put Little M to bed. Managed to drop my chain twice - once in Blackfriars Tunnel :shock: and once leaving Parliament Square - and generally get caught at every mummyfudging traffic light going, and stuck behind every wobbling bunch of nodders when puling away from said lights. Nodder: if I can pull past you at speed on a clown bike, you really need to have a word with yourself.

:evil: and then some.

By the time I was past Mitcham, I was suffering from cyclist's Tourettes.

cjcp

rjsterry wrote:

Managed to drop my chain twice - once in Blackfriars Tunnel

Done that. Definitely a twitchy bum moment.

mr_ribble

cjcp wrote:

Pretty sure I then saw Mr Ribble (ex-Stelvio) in Quickstep shorts pulling away from lights at WBR taking a cheeky tow from a scooter before he turned off .

Yup, that was me. You must have been in Wheelers kit then. I was meant to be taking it easy tonight, given I have just come back from the annual London to Paris triathlon. 48 hours with no sleep, and a very choppy cross channel relay swim (during which I got attcked by a lamprey) have taken there toll on me so I dont care if anyone overtakes me tonight.

If a scooter is going to coast down NKR then I am going to take all the help I can get..

Wrath Rob

Awesome ride home!

Encountered a guy on a white Boardman with toe-clips (WTF) who was pretty rapid, it took me all they way from Bank to Battersea Bridge to drop him. Kept me on my toes. Chapeau!

Big thumbs up to the go on the maroon Carrera in the black and orange top. Pushing your way to the front of the lights, more than once, and then holding up the fast people behind you takes real skill. Well done :roll:

Also got thanked for a tow by a guy wearing a hi-viz top who I towed all the way from VB lights to Lotts Road. MTFU mate, its a tail wind, no point drafting!

All in I broke an hour for both ways plus the faffing around in the car park. Rock on!

rjsterry

cjcp wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

Managed to drop my chain twice - once in Blackfriars Tunnel

Done that. Definitely a twitchy bum moment.

Luckily I managed to coast out to the little bit of pavement before the first sliproad, bt was waiting for the loose chain to swing into the spokes of the back wheel and send me over. I was in a foul mood most of the way home. Little M was asleep by 8.10pm though, which may be a record.

notsoblue

Mr_Ribble wrote:

I was meant to be taking it easy tonight, given I have just come back from the annual London to Paris triathlon. 48 hours with no sleep, and a very choppy cross channel relay swim (during which I got attcked by a lamprey) .

Whoa, what happened there? Thats not common, surely?

cjcp

notsoblue wrote:

Mr_Ribble wrote:

I was meant to be taking it easy tonight, given I have just come back from the annual London to Paris triathlon. 48 hours with no sleep, and a very choppy cross channel relay swim (during which I got attcked by a lamprey) .

Whoa, what happened there? Thats not common, surely?

+1! WTF are those things????

Chapeau, btw. 8)

UndercoverElephant

cjcp wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

Mr_Ribble wrote:

I was meant to be taking it easy tonight, given I have just come back from the annual London to Paris triathlon. 48 hours with no sleep, and a very choppy cross channel relay swim (during which I got attcked by a lamprey) .

Whoa, what happened there? Thats not common, surely?

+1! WTF are those things????

Chapeau, btw. 8)

Oh by god, do I not like the look of these things!