Silly commuting racing

attica

Fnnrk.

You're not meant to stand on it, you'll hurt him.

lost_in_thought

Purple abominator?

Dare I ask if there are photos to clear up what I don't doubt is a huge misunderstanding...? :shock:

victor ludorum

snooks wrote:

Yeah right, and thigh measuring is normal?

Thing was awry a LONG time ago, I'm just worried it's taken you so long to realise.....Now that IS worrying

I don't even know what normal is anymore. Help me....

victor ludorum

Attica wrote:

VL, do I win a prize for succintness?

yes

victor ludorum

lost_in_thought wrote:

Purple abominator?

Dare I ask if there are photos to clear up what I don't doubt is a huge misunderstanding...? :shock:

We were just starting to get over that one, and you ask for photos!?!

Dear god in heaven...

lost_in_thought

victor ludorum wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Purple abominator?

Dare I ask if there are photos to clear up what I don't doubt is a huge misunderstanding...? :shock:

We were just starting to get over that one, and you ask for photos!?!

Dear god in heaven...

Sorry, sorry, I was curious!

jedster

Dare I ask if there are photos to clear up what I don't doubt is a huge misunderstanding...?

Actually, a few weeks ago I had a few spare minutes waiting for a train at Paddington so I remembered the camera on my phone, slipped it out and snapped a couple of pics. I though about posting them but, you know how it is, I've been busy, I've been feeling a bit shy and frankly intimidated by some of the porn posted by our tartier brethren.

I'll see what I can do...

Promise you won't laugh...

J

lost_in_thought

Seriously, search montana trk-al1... That is my gollum bike... I have no grounds for scorn...

And furthermore, it entirely doesn't matter!

cjcp

Now, I'm fairly sure I saw this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21373331@N ... 923361354/

on tonight's commute, being ridden by this gentleman

Greg T wrote:

Love your sounds man

Biondino - were you wearing a red t-shirt tonight?

chewa

Wahaaaay! Finally some victims. Took a shaved leg roadie on a Willier last night, full Assos kit too, anodized hubs and rims - very bling!, another the same night on a Trek.

Tonight lunched a Lance lookalike, Trek bike, full Discovery kit even the Atmos helmet!
He sucked my wheel for a couple of miles as I passed another roadie on a Giant(but Lance couldn't keep up with me on the hills! - as an Ullrich fan I felt like turning round and giving him "the look") and only passed me when I met a friend and slowed for a chat.

Did get passed by a lovely wee lady on a carbon fibre Scott, time trial helmet, but she is very fit (in all senses of the word ) and higher up the chain than me. I caught her on the downhill to Barnton, but that was gravity and my heavier build.

Roll on tomorrow.

biondino

Red t-shirt? Check.

Woah - cj, if you overtook me tonight when I was bonking (Parsons Green & Fulham - had been drinking beer at work and the first half of my journey was all about sprint starts from lights and stuff - I get to Parsons Green and suddenly my energy's sapped and I ride to Putney Bridge at half pace before creaming an MTBer and getting my self-respect back) then it doesn't count, alright?

Funnily enough I was going to come on here and say that if the tall guy on the red bike who shot past me in Parsons Green was reading, I'm sorry but I don't count as a scalp!

Coriander

You can't choose when to be a scalp and when not, young man.

biondino

I don't need to - CJ has a higher FCN number

cjcp

biondino wrote:

Red t-shirt? Check.

Woah - cj, if you overtook me tonight when I was bonking (Parsons Green & Fulham - had been drinking beer at work and the first half of my journey was all about sprint starts from lights and stuff - I get to Parsons Green and suddenly my energy's sapped and I ride to Putney Bridge at half pace before creaming an MTBer and getting my self-respect back) then it doesn't count, alright?

Funnily enough I was going to come on here and say that if the tall guy on the red bike who shot past me in Parsons Green was reading, I'm sorry but I don't count as a scalp!

That was indeed me. Now I know it's you, I'll say "hi" next time.

Was pootling along Embankment tonight - working from home tomorrow so my rucsac was the weight of a baby Shetland. Roadie drafts me all the way from Parliament Square to Albert Bridge. I've seen this drafting fairy before; he doesn't want to overtake - he knows he hasn't the legs to make it stick, but the weight of my rucsac means there's no way I can make a quick getaway at any lights. Gets ahead by going 5 yards beyond the stop line at AB lights, but he's reeled in comfortably before Battersea Bridge and turns off before the New King's Road.

That's the last of this week's commuting fun for me.

cjcp

chewa wrote:

Tonight lunched a Lance lookalike, Trek bike, full Discovery kit even the Atmos helmet!
He sucked my wheel for a couple of miles as I passed another roadie on a Giant(but Lance couldn't keep up with me on the hills! - as an Ullrich fan I felt like turning round and giving him "the look") and only passed me when I met a friend and slowed for a chat.

This must have crushed him. To wear the kit, then draft and still not be able to keep up on the hills. Oh my. It's like wearing white football boots: you only wear them if you're a bit special.

biondino

Wow - yeah, say hi next time though considering how fast you were going there's little chance I'd have heard you over the sonic boom!

(tbh I had always wondered if Gamers were really as hardcore as the exploits they describe. I can confirm CJ is - though even as he went off into the distance I was thinking "I bet that guy plays - no-one goes that quickly normally". I reckoned that *if* I had been feeling my best - and as a result actually pulled away from the lights at a decent pace - I might have been able to draft him, but there's no chance I'd have got past. Chapeau)

cjcp

biondino wrote:

Chapeau)

Thank you, sir.

That's normal commuting time for me, so there's a fair chance we'll see each other again.

itboffin

cjcp wrote:

That's normal commuting time for me, so there's a fair chance we'll see each other again.

* Gulp :shock:

R25 Flyer

Had a great day yesterday. Made it in to work in record time and was certain I'd complete the return journey in less than an hour total. No scalps on the way in but that isn't unusual as I rarely see any one.

And then ....

On the way home I saw my target, just up ahead of me, cresting the top of the hill. I ducked low and sucked in some air, slipped up a gear and powered up the hill to catch up. I knew that with his heavier mass I'd have to move going downhill to pass him but was prepared to fight for it even though my thighs protested. Half way down the hill, I moved out and around him giving a nonchalant nod of acknowledgment as I passed.

I had just scalped my first COMBINE HARVESTER!!

Ok, my heart did sink a bit immediately after I'd passed him - he was on Nobbies! How does that square up? My mind is totally confused. He has an engine so is kind of in scooter (FCN1) territory but then Nobbies! Does this shift him down to MTBer territory? If so, then "No scalp!" Only piece of pertinent information is that I am fairly certain he wasn't wearing Lycra.

Happy scalping tonight everyone!

Roll on winter - more cars, more queues. Nothing cheers me up as much as smiling at the drivers in a long line of stationary traffic.

il_principe

*Waves .... Hello LiT, good spot last night. I noticed the lady on the Bowery and was just thinking "is that LiT" when you started waving. Thank god we weren't going the same way, I'd have had to put my money where my big ring is.

So who's having beers tonight?

Greg T

Can't do beers tonight - Mrs T is massively pregnant and is unlikely to be issuing pink passes anytime prior to mid century.

Anyhooo.

In the odd - you never quite know how it's going to turn out - kind of way I was not feeling that great getting onto the bike last night, however two miles down the road and the juices are starting to flow and by the embankment proper I'm spinning. Now my weak weak fixed experimental 48-18 gearing isn't going to cut the mustard with high order roadies but it will do the job in the congested middle order...

I'm bagging mid table hairy roadies for fun and pickiing up Klingons - all very gratifying but no big dog fight epic tales...

Until Putney....

In my peripheral vision as I'm coming left onto the P Bridge Stretch I see a half wheel and flash of red coming alongside. Fortunately a bus pulls out blocking us both - he drops back - clever clever - let me feel the heat, he can check out my form and attack at a point of his choosing....

Well it didn't quite work out that way did mein freund?

Hammer Time!

The joy of the lower gearing is that you can put down some rapid revolutions and on a short slope it's perfect.

So then - feeling bouyed by my awesome display of firepower on the bridge I'm looking for marks.

In the far distance is a roadie, looks the part and it's on.....

As we go by the old Putney Hospital I'm a couple of bike lengths off and see Aero bars!

Bada-Boom!

It gets better - as we turn onto the Bolan Death Tree road (long straight - good surface - little railway bridge at the end) - he hunkers down and assumes the aero death race position. I'm grinning from ear to ear.....

The mighty tractor of hubris with 25mm Schwalbe tyres and a fattish pilot does him all ends up.

Gleaming.

I had a power metered roadie in my sights also and would have had a shot at the title but I just ran out of gear inches.....

itboffin

R25 Flyer wrote:

I had just scalped my first COMBINE HARVESTER!!

Okay so after Wednesday/Thursday alcoholic excesses I was dreading the ride home but then out of nowhere I produced a stunning almost PB ride home but alas no scalps unless? we're going to count farm vehicles, I totally owned a TRACTOR :twisted: which I can promise you is not as easy as you might think.

dafruk

Greg T wrote:

I had a power metered roadie in my sights also and would have had a shot at the title but I just ran out of gear inches.....

So does this mean you're going to have to man-up and push yourself out to LiT ratios?

Also I think you'll have to change your siggy, sounds like you're past dabbling in this fixy thing, I reckon you're a playah now.

I had a very boring ride this morning, not a bike in sight, one club roadie passed the whole journey but he was going the opposite direction.

lost_in_thought

jashburnham wrote:

*Waves .... Hello LiT, good spot last night. I noticed the lady on the Bowery and was just thinking "is that LiT" when you started waving. Thank god we weren't going the same way, I'd have had to put my money where my big ring is.

So who's having beers tonight?

Can do beers tonight, but do need to rush off to Essex perhaps more urgently than last time!

And yeah, hiya!

Actually after I saw you and thought 'well he's going the other way, that is probably fortunate', I looked to my left, and lo, a veritable line up on the not-quite-legal-but-people-do-it-anyway bit of the lights at Hyde Park Corner...

On the right, lane 4, LiT, fixed, clippy sandals, backpack, frilly work skirt and work top. Lining up in lane 3, the old dude on the racer who I'd dropped at the lights before - no contest. Next over, another girl on a fixie! Hurrah! Toe-clips, and casual gear - not overly concerned. And then, in lane 1, the contender - a roadie with more computer equipment on the bars than is in my office, iPod, SPDs (obvious), the works.

And they're off! From the out it's LiT and lane 1 ahead, then calamity for LiT as the opposing cycles are in the way, she zips round behind the MTB-er, apologising as she goes, but she's only just behind the target... don't turn towards victoria roadie man... And he doesn't!

So it's a sprint towards piccadilly, other SS girl is out of the running, missed her toe clip, old dude has gone towards victoria, it's lanes 1 and 4...

As we round the bend into piccadilly, I'm really spinning up, ignoring the taxi behind me :oops: but there are more serious things to deal with. And he's seen me, well outside him, not drafting, and then I hear a clickety-clack... he's changed gear! Cheater... I'm not having any of that... Head down, into the slip off the roundabout - come on livs try harder!

I hear another click, I think he's worried, I've nosed ahead... and with a herculean effort I'm past him! Clear air follows shortly after, I think he now realises he's been beaten... but no! Lights at the bottom of the hill... stay green... if we have to stop there his gears will ensure defeat for me... and they do! Lucky really, not confident I'd have stopped from that speed

Up the hill again, I'm more than a bus length in front, and gaining, it's all over for the roadie.

Scalped by a girl in a frilly skirt.

To quote litts, ithankyou!

ride_whenever

Last night coming back through oxford...

Scalped two cars coming down headington hill...

Punched out of the lights on magdalen street and nommed an entire peloton of mtbs and one full lyrca'd hi-vis roadie, cigarette in hand!

I arrived home fitted two new drivetrains (34:14 on the silly bike with 1/2 link and new shiney 46 middleburn hardcote ring, 16th chrome rear sprocket and Z1 star chain onto the pomp) yet even so, this morning, even though it was devoid of targets, i still got up headington hill faster on the bigger gears!

Bassjunkieuk

Well done LiT's that truly sounds like an epic battle which you deservedly one. I should imagine that roadie is now contemplating public transport after the thrashing you administered him! Not that we expect anything less from someone capable of pushing the GI's you do of course :-)

One of the things I do try to avoid when scalping someone is the obvious clunking of gears changing, I'd much rather change up at the front (it's a bit quieter!) or push a bigger gear from further back as the noise of gears changing alongside you is an obvious sign of trying, either that or a clear "your to slow for me!" warning - the game's equivalent of bell!

biondino

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

"your to slow for me!"

Did you mean to post this on the grammar thread?

Bassjunkieuk

biondino wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

"your to slow for me!"

Did you mean to post this on the grammar thread?

Sorry "Your're to slow for me"

Messed up on that last time........

Greg T

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

Sorry "Your're to slow for me"

Messed up on that last time........

My iron-o-meter is on 50/50 a dangerous reading it could go either way........

I'll get off the fence.....

I think BJK has fecked it.....

Bassjunkieuk

In a bid to make up for my poor showing on the previous post please accept this:

http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=23736188958

Details of the next planned "The Game" drinks/curry. Judging from the previous post's on this subject I've put it down for the 5th September at a TBC location, which will probably be on or near our sacred ground's. Invites have gone out on facebook already but I thought I'd post it on here to for those few people who haven't succumbed to signing up for FB yet!