Silly commuting racing

dhope

maddernj wrote:

Been starting on my new route home since Monday (Liverpool Street > Bexley).....Jamaica Road gets a bit competitive doesn't it ! Pretty much after that (down through Deptford > Lewisham) its a bit quieter. Still at least no big College road type hills...just twice the distance

What time are you heading toward Deptford? What're you riding?

maddernj

Past couple of morning's I have been hitting it at about 8am (Need to be earlier)....On the way home about 6:30 ish...

Colnago Master Blue / White / Pink / Green
White Bar grip (bit grubby)

dhope

maddernj wrote:

Past couple of morning's I have been hitting it at about 8am (Need to be earlier)....On the way home about 6:30 ish...

Colnago Master Blue / White / Pink / Green
White Bar grip (bit grubby)

Similar time to me, shall keep an eye out. Yet to pass/be passed by anyone from the forums that I know of.

maddernj

Is your Langster a Copper colour ? Tall Bloke in Black ? Were you riding it this morning ?

dhope

maddernj wrote:

Is your Langster a Copper colour ? Tall Bloke in Black ? Were you riding it this morning ?

Not me, though think I might've seen that one too.

Mine's green
but with flat handlebars

but been riding a stock Boardman Team Carbon more often. Normal height, grey or black shorts, red SS or red/black LS top. Saddlebag with a flashing light on the bag.

maddernj

Cool, will keep a look out.....

asprilla

Ok that was grim.

One small discussion with a woman who drove into the cycle lane whilst on her phone it was fairly uneventful, fortunately.

Gussio

Grim just about sums it up. Traffic was dreadful and the weather worse. Nice solidarity with other riders at just about set of lights.

Adios summer....

greg66_tri_v2.0

Bloody grim. Light reflecting off the road makes it very difficult to spot all the puddles, let alone the ironworks.

By the time I'd got near the end of my road, I'd had enough - tiptoeing around, dodging hazards in low viz is not my idea of fun. I was crawling up a narrow gap the inside of a queue of traffic and decided to roll up a dropped kerb and ride the pavement into my road.

Managed to approach the kerb at too flat an angle, lost the front wheel on the edge of the kerbstone and went sprawling on the pavement. Nice bump on my elbow to show for it.

Probably God paying me back for being mean about the Pope. And trying to ride on the pavement.

rjsterry

On the strength of those three posts, and my ride up to Muswell Hill and back for a meeting this afternoon (just as the rain started to kick in - those little sunny spells earlier were a bit of a tease), I'm glad I MTFD'd and got PT this evening. I'm not even ashamed.

dhope

Left work a few hours late, still raining. Still prefer it to PT if only because I have a 10min walk on the other end of the train which feels like forever when I know it takes 2mins on the bike.

cjcp

Utterly miserable.

Rode to Dulwich first, then back home via Kennington, Stockwell, Oval and Clapham i.e. the very bloody long way round. Took a wrong turn in Dulwich and thought "sod it, I'll just retrace my steps".

The brakes just about gave up at Kennington. That wasn't good. New brake blocks being fitted in the morning. Wet, frozen, miserable. Where the hell did summer go?

@Mat Hammond - yes, mate - that was me you saw coming down Denmark Hill at the lights when you were going up . I would have waved but I didn't let go of the bars for fear of dropping into a pothole and losing control.

notsoblue

TGOTB wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

TGOTB wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

Timing sounds about right, and I don't think there are many RED PX's around Were you wearing a short sleeved hi-vis top?

Yep, that'd be right. Nice bike!

You were pretty quick for a noob :-)

Ta I've been commuting for years though, just the first ride in on the PX. Going quick (between traffic lights) on that bike isn't hard!

The retro-reflective bar end plugs (which you may or may not have noticed!) are very effective; are they PX standard issue?

I hadn't noticed! They're just a shiny metal surface I think, must be standard build because I didn't ask for them...

Pretty sure it was you I saw along Lower Richmond Road from Putney Bridge, dayglow yellow top, red pannier. You turned off down Queen's ride?

Got absolutely soaked on the way home, but loved it. Not many people in Richmond Park, but those who were there had crazy all-weather grins on

Wrath Rob

Concur with the miserable stakes tonight. Had a little SCR action with a guy on a black Condor SS and another tall guy in a hi-iz guillet on something white but the combination of water and heay traffic from Embankment to BB stopped most of the fun

And my keyboard is dying. Can't type 1 on the top row and the letter between c and b has bust. Bluddy kids

itboffin

Jeez folks sounds rough out there this evening, I work from home on Wednesdays and rather than my usual light laps of the local villages I decided the turbo would be more pleasant.

If it's any consolation my physio confirmed my fears today that my duff shoulder might never recover fully and its possible that some pain will always remain.

I might be spending a lot of time on the turbo

jds_1981

I enjoy the rain Brakes weren't as grippy as normal, but then neither were my tyres so it all evens out..

cjcp

jds_1981 wrote:

I enjoy the rain Brakes weren't as grippy as normal, but then neither were my tyres so it all evens out..

Errrr...

asprilla

I don't generally mind the rain, once you are wet you can't really get wetter.

What I didn't enjoy was the flooding and the lack of visibility; between Hampton Court and home I had to cycle in the middle of a 40mph limit lane because the whole of the left side was underwater. At one point I did get bullied over by a WVM and one of my feet was under water!

EKE_38BPM

No brakes and no visibility (rain on my glasses) do not a quick commute make.

Fun though. Totally soaked when I got into the office but I had a massive grin on my face. Pity I couldn't dry my stuff and had to ride home in wet gear. Didn't matter though as it was raining again by then.

cjcp

EKE_38BPM wrote:

No brakes and no visibility (rain on my glasses) do not a quick commute make.

Precisely the reason why I bought a load of contact lenses recently. Really irritates me when I can't see.

nich

maddernj wrote:

Been starting on my new route home since Monday (Liverpool Street > Bexley).....Jamaica Road gets a bit competitive doesn't it !

Yes, yes it does

Flyingbogey

I can trump Sketch's egging yesterday. 645am CS7 down the hill from Clapham Common i was attacked by wildlife. Seriously a small peleton of Pidgeons took flight from my right, i knew it would be close so i covered up and looked away expecting one on the bonce. One went crack into my right thigh and down feared dead. There were quite a few bikes following anyone here?
Been leaving a bit later and found loads more action but the maiden scalp is still there for the taking...

redvee

About a mile into the ride this morning it started to rain, not heavily but still raining. I wanted to go home and change my jacket when in the previous weeks in the rain I've been wearing a ss top :?

gaz545

Met a guy on a cyclocross focus on CS7 by clapham common, he overtook and his tyres threw up loads of spray. Didn't stay too close behind. We jostled position until we got to an open straight where i could just power past. Got to balham and quite a group was behind me. Lights went green and i just powered it down the road towards tooting. Get to around 26mph and i could tell straight away my tyre was flat.

Damn rear tyre goes in the middle of a SCR in the pouring rain. Balls!

cjcp

gaz545 wrote:

Met a guy on a cyclocross focus on CS7 by clapham common, he overtook and his tyres threw up loads of spray. Didn't stay too close behind. We jostled position until we got to an open straight where i could just power past. Got to balham and quite a group was behind me. Lights went green and i just powered it down the road towards tooting. Get to around 26mph and i could tell straight away my tyre was flat.

Damn rear tyre goes in the middle of a SCR in the pouring rain. Balls!

Had to go up Clapham High St last night for the first time in years. Then turned off at the Common instead of going on my old commute route towards Tooting. Forgotten how mental that route was in the rain.

asprilla

Is the worry about the rain keeping you up at night CJ? Posting at 5am about overshoes and such?

Anyway, lovely ride in this morning, London looks much nicer in the mist (when you can't see it) and the park was great. Managed to get away at a decent time, but I'm guessing yesterday's deluge meant a lot of folks either left their bikes at work last night or didn't bother this morning.

Was quiet out there.

greg66_tri_v2.0

God, I have some cr@p traffic at the moment. The road just past the Battersea Land Rover dealership on York Road is bring ripped up. So three lanes of traffic are now being directed left at that junction. That's the way I usually go, as it's lighter on traffic - well, now, it's nose to tail until you hit Battersea Park.

AND THEN! The lights in Pt Sq have been rephased to hit red-red-red as you go round, and the prize for getting round is more nose to tail on Viccy Embankment.

WTF is going on?

Yours,

Miserable of London.

cjcp

Asprilla wrote:

Is the worry about the rain keeping you up at night CJ? Posting at 5am about overshoes and such?

My youngest woke me up. She went back to sleep. I didn't. She had a good couple of hours, so she's fine.

Having had nearly eight hours on Monday night, I've had four and three hours the last two nights, despite riding 40 and 47 miles respectively on those days. I'm resorting to wine tonight.

W1

Greg66 wrote:

God, I have some cr@p traffic at the moment. The road just past the Battersea Land Rover dealership on York Road is bring ripped up. So three lanes of traffic are now being directed left at that junction. That's the way I usually go, as it's lighter on traffic - well, now, it's nose to tail until you hit Battersea Park.

AND THEN! The lights in Pt Sq have been rephased to hit red-red-red as you go round, and the prize for getting round is more nose to tail on Viccy Embankment.

WTF is going on?

Yours,

Miserable of London.

Indeed, although Parl Sq was better this morning for the lights. I've taken to nipping down Whitehall and then turning right at the next junction rather than battling straight on to Viccy E from Parl Sq. I think there's an even quicker shortcut if you take the second right instead, as a SSer showed me this morning.

Pufftmw

Last night was yuk

I broke the strap on my Specialised shoes in the morning and my others are waterproof - which means that although they stop water getting in, they stop it getting out as well! After some umming/erring I decided to NOT wear my "waterproof" jacket/gloves/shorts but got to the yard gate, turned round and put them on! Why did I bother? I was soaked through by Tower Bridge & water in my shoes.. The ride itself was fine but I rode in the middle of the road to avoid puddles. But WTF did my brakes go? Wow - hauling anchor and nothing happening :shock: That was a bit unnerving so I had to slow down a bit. Arrived at my girlfriend's and just stood there dripping like a drowned rat - she still loves me so thats fortunate

Getting into damp clothing this morning wasn't the best but not to worry. Reasonable ride in with no competition anywhere. OKR was chocka - presumably because of the problems in Kennington? Good time considering

It might be time to invest in a new jacket & some overshoes...