Silly commuting racing

Bassjunkieuk

GOOD NEWS!!! Well sort of....

Just had a call from the LBS MY BIKE IS READY FOR COLLECTION

Only 2 problems are that I'm in London now until late this evening so can't collect it for drinks this evening (unless I wing it back to home, get changed, get to LBS and ride in - a push to do in a hour...)
The other sore point is the costs - £125! Not to bad considering I've had a new BB, cassette, brake cables, chain and 2 new spokes on the rear wheel - plus the service which made up £50 of that.

Guess I'll be going out bright n early tomorrow to collect it and then home the long way :-)
Roll on Monday when I can (to quote 300) unleash hell on the way to work :twisted:
Haven't got hold of the wife yet so this is all assuming she doesn't kill me in the mean time....just glad I finally got the compensation from my accident 2 years ago, makes paying a bit easier.

Bassjunkieuk

GOOD NEWS!!! Well sort of....

Just had a call from the LBS MY BIKE IS READY FOR COLLECTION

Only 2 problems are that I'm in London now until late this evening so can't collect it for drinks this evening (unless I wing it back to home, get changed, get to LBS and ride in - a push to do in a hour...)
The other sore point is the costs - £125! Not to bad considering I've had a new BB, cassette, brake cables, chain and 2 new spokes on the rear wheel - plus the service which made up £50 of that.

Guess I'll be going out bright n early tomorrow to collect it and then home the long way :-)
Roll on Monday when I can (to quote 300) unleash hell on the way to work :twisted:
Haven't got hold of the wife yet so this is all assuming she doesn't kill me in the mean time....just glad I finally got the compensation from my accident 2 years ago, makes paying a bit easier.

Bassjunkieuk

GOOD NEWS!!! Well sort of....

Just had a call from the LBS MY BIKE IS READY FOR COLLECTION

Only 2 problems are that I'm in London now until late this evening so can't collect it for drinks this evening (unless I wing it back to home, get changed, get to LBS and ride in - a push to do in a hour...)
The other sore point is the costs - £125! Not to bad considering I've had a new BB, cassette, brake cables, chain and 2 new spokes on the rear wheel - plus the service which made up £50 of that.

Guess I'll be going out bright n early tomorrow to collect it and then home the long way :-)
Roll on Monday when I can (to quote 300) unleash hell on the way to work :twisted:
Haven't got hold of the wife yet so this is all assuming she doesn't kill me in the mean time....just glad I finally got the compensation from my accident 2 years ago, makes paying a bit easier.

Bassjunkieuk

GOOD NEWS!!! Well sort of....

Just had a call from the LBS MY BIKE IS READY FOR COLLECTION

Only 2 problems are that I'm in London now until late this evening so can't collect it for drinks this evening (unless I wing it back to home, get changed, get to LBS and ride in - a push to do in a hour...)
The other sore point is the costs - £125! Not to bad considering I've had a new BB, cassette, brake cables, chain and 2 new spokes on the rear wheel - plus the service which made up £50 of that.

Guess I'll be going out bright n early tomorrow to collect it and then home the long way :-)
Roll on Monday when I can (to quote 300) unleash hell on the way to work :twisted:
Haven't got hold of the wife yet so this is all assuming she doesn't kill me in the mean time....just glad I finally got the compensation from my accident 2 years ago, makes paying a bit easier.

Bassjunkieuk

GOOD NEWS!!! Well sort of....

Just had a call from the LBS MY BIKE IS READY FOR COLLECTION

Only 2 problems are that I'm in London now until late this evening so can't collect it for drinks this evening (unless I wing it back to home, get changed, get to LBS and ride in - a push to do in a hour...)
The other sore point is the costs - £125! Not to bad considering I've had a new BB, cassette, brake cables, chain and 2 new spokes on the rear wheel - plus the service which made up £50 of that.

Guess I'll be going out bright n early tomorrow to collect it and then home the long way :-)
Roll on Monday when I can (to quote 300) unleash hell on the way to work :twisted:
Haven't got hold of the wife yet so this is all assuming she doesn't kill me in the mean time....just glad I finally got the compensation from my accident 2 years ago, makes paying a bit easier.

Bassjunkieuk

GOOD NEWS!!! Well sort of....

Just had a call from the LBS MY BIKE IS READY FOR COLLECTION

Only 2 problems are that I'm in London now until late this evening so can't collect it for drinks this evening (unless I wing it back to home, get changed, get to LBS and ride in - a push to do in a hour...)
The other sore point is the costs - £125! Not to bad considering I've had a new BB, cassette, brake cables, chain and 2 new spokes on the rear wheel - plus the service which made up £50 of that.

Guess I'll be going out bright n early tomorrow to collect it and then home the long way :-)
Roll on Monday when I can (to quote 300) unleash hell on the way to work :twisted:
Haven't got hold of the wife yet so this is all assuming she doesn't kill me in the mean time....just glad I finally got the compensation from my accident 2 years ago, makes paying a bit easier.

Bassjunkieuk

GOOD NEWS!!! Well sort of....

Just had a call from the LBS MY BIKE IS READY FOR COLLECTION

Only 2 problems are that I'm in London now until late this evening so can't collect it for drinks this evening (unless I wing it back to home, get changed, get to LBS and ride in - a push to do in a hour...)
The other sore point is the costs - £125! Not to bad considering I've had a new BB, cassette, brake cables, chain and 2 new spokes on the rear wheel - plus the service which made up £50 of that.

Guess I'll be going out bright n early tomorrow to collect it and then home the long way :-)
Roll on Monday when I can (to quote 300) unleash hell on the way to work :twisted:
Haven't got hold of the wife yet so this is all assuming she doesn't kill me in the mean time....just glad I finally got the compensation from my accident 2 years ago, makes paying a bit easier.

Bassjunkieuk

GOOD NEWS!!! Well sort of....

Just had a call from the LBS MY BIKE IS READY FOR COLLECTION

Only 2 problems are that I'm in London now until late this evening so can't collect it for drinks this evening (unless I wing it back to home, get changed, get to LBS and ride in - a push to do in a hour...)
The other sore point is the costs - £125! Not to bad considering I've had a new BB, cassette, brake cables, chain and 2 new spokes on the rear wheel - plus the service which made up £50 of that.

Guess I'll be going out bright n early tomorrow to collect it and then home the long way :-)
Roll on Monday when I can (to quote 300) unleash hell on the way to work :twisted:
Haven't got hold of the wife yet so this is all assuming she doesn't kill me in the mean time....just glad I finally got the compensation from my accident 2 years ago, makes paying a bit easier.

Bassjunkieuk

GOOD NEWS!!! Well sort of....

Just had a call from the LBS MY BIKE IS READY FOR COLLECTION

Only 2 problems are that I'm in London now until late this evening so can't collect it for drinks this evening (unless I wing it back to home, get changed, get to LBS and ride in - a push to do in a hour...)
The other sore point is the costs - £125! Not to bad considering I've had a new BB, cassette, brake cables, chain and 2 new spokes on the rear wheel - plus the service which made up £50 of that.

Guess I'll be going out bright n early tomorrow to collect it and then home the long way :-)
Roll on Monday when I can (to quote 300) unleash hell on the way to work :twisted:
Haven't got hold of the wife yet so this is all assuming she doesn't kill me in the mean time....just glad I finally got the compensation from my accident 2 years ago, makes paying a bit easier.

Bassjunkieuk

GOOD NEWS!!! Well sort of....

Just had a call from the LBS MY BIKE IS READY FOR COLLECTION

Only 2 problems are that I'm in London now until late this evening so can't collect it for drinks this evening (unless I wing it back to home, get changed, get to LBS and ride in - a push to do in a hour...)
The other sore point is the costs - £125! Not to bad considering I've had a new BB, cassette, brake cables, chain and 2 new spokes on the rear wheel - plus the service which made up £50 of that.

Guess I'll be going out bright n early tomorrow to collect it and then home the long way :-)
Roll on Monday when I can (to quote 300) unleash hell on the way to work :twisted:
Haven't got hold of the wife yet so this is all assuming she doesn't kill me in the mean time....just glad I finally got the compensation from my accident 2 years ago, makes paying a bit easier.

Bassjunkieuk

GOOD NEWS!!! Well sort of....

Just had a call from the LBS MY BIKE IS READY FOR COLLECTION

Only 2 problems are that I'm in London now until late this evening so can't collect it for drinks this evening (unless I wing it back to home, get changed, get to LBS and ride in - a push to do in a hour...)
The other sore point is the costs - £125! Not to bad considering I've had a new BB, cassette, brake cables, chain and 2 new spokes on the rear wheel - plus the service which made up £50 of that.

Guess I'll be going out bright n early tomorrow to collect it and then home the long way :-)
Roll on Monday when I can (to quote 300) unleash hell on the way to work :twisted:
Haven't got hold of the wife yet so this is all assuming she doesn't kill me in the mean time....just glad I finally got the compensation from my accident 2 years ago, makes paying a bit easier.

Bassjunkieuk

GOOD NEWS!!! Well sort of....

Just had a call from the LBS MY BIKE IS READY FOR COLLECTION

Only 2 problems are that I'm in London now until late this evening so can't collect it for drinks this evening (unless I wing it back to home, get changed, get to LBS and ride in - a push to do in a hour...)
The other sore point is the costs - £125! Not to bad considering I've had a new BB, cassette, brake cables, chain and 2 new spokes on the rear wheel - plus the service which made up £50 of that.

Guess I'll be going out bright n early tomorrow to collect it and then home the long way :-)
Roll on Monday when I can (to quote 300) unleash hell on the way to work :twisted:
Haven't got hold of the wife yet so this is all assuming she doesn't kill me in the mean time....just glad I finally got the compensation from my accident 2 years ago, makes paying a bit easier.

Bassjunkieuk

GOOD NEWS!!! Well sort of....

Just had a call from the LBS MY BIKE IS READY FOR COLLECTION

Only 2 problems are that I'm in London now until late this evening so can't collect it for drinks this evening (unless I wing it back to home, get changed, get to LBS and ride in - a push to do in a hour...)
The other sore point is the costs - £125! Not to bad considering I've had a new BB, cassette, brake cables, chain and 2 new spokes on the rear wheel - plus the service which made up £50 of that.

Guess I'll be going out bright n early tomorrow to collect it and then home the long way :-)
Roll on Monday when I can (to quote 300) unleash hell on the way to work :twisted:
Haven't got hold of the wife yet so this is all assuming she doesn't kill me in the mean time....just glad I finally got the compensation from my accident 2 years ago, makes paying a bit easier.

Bassjunkieuk

GOOD NEWS!!! Well sort of....

Just had a call from the LBS MY BIKE IS READY FOR COLLECTION

Only 2 problems are that I'm in London now until late this evening so can't collect it for drinks this evening (unless I wing it back to home, get changed, get to LBS and ride in - a push to do in a hour...)
The other sore point is the costs - £125! Not to bad considering I've had a new BB, cassette, brake cables, chain and 2 new spokes on the rear wheel - plus the service which made up £50 of that.

Guess I'll be going out bright n early tomorrow to collect it and then home the long way :-)
Roll on Monday when I can (to quote 300) unleash hell on the way to work :twisted:
Haven't got hold of the wife yet so this is all assuming she doesn't kill me in the mean time....just glad I finally got the compensation from my accident 2 years ago, makes paying a bit easier.

Bassjunkieuk

GOOD NEWS!!! Well sort of....

Just had a call from the LBS MY BIKE IS READY FOR COLLECTION

Only 2 problems are that I'm in London now until late this evening so can't collect it for drinks this evening (unless I wing it back to home, get changed, get to LBS and ride in - a push to do in a hour...)
The other sore point is the costs - £125! Not to bad considering I've had a new BB, cassette, brake cables, chain and 2 new spokes on the rear wheel - plus the service which made up £50 of that.

Guess I'll be going out bright n early tomorrow to collect it and then home the long way :-)
Roll on Monday when I can (to quote 300) unleash hell on the way to work :twisted:
Haven't got hold of the wife yet so this is all assuming she doesn't kill me in the mean time....just glad I finally got the compensation from my accident 2 years ago, makes paying a bit easier.

Bassjunkieuk

GOOD NEWS!!! Well sort of....

Just had a call from the LBS MY BIKE IS READY FOR COLLECTION

Only 2 problems are that I'm in London now until late this evening so can't collect it for drinks this evening (unless I wing it back to home, get changed, get to LBS and ride in - a push to do in a hour...)
The other sore point is the costs - £125! Not to bad considering I've had a new BB, cassette, brake cables, chain and 2 new spokes on the rear wheel - plus the service which made up £50 of that.

Guess I'll be going out bright n early tomorrow to collect it and then home the long way :-)
Roll on Monday when I can (to quote 300) unleash hell on the way to work :twisted:
Haven't got hold of the wife yet so this is all assuming she doesn't kill me in the mean time....just glad I finally got the compensation from my accident 2 years ago, makes paying a bit easier.

Bassjunkieuk

Apologises for the page and a half of post's, there appears to be a bug in safari!

Kieran_Burns

Did you stick a vibrator on the submit button or think you were playing an FPS again?

il_principe

cjcp wrote:

biondino wrote:

My Wiggle order arrived today - my first bib tights! How exciting and possibly homoerotic! Shall I wear them tonight?

Also, some mediumweight gloves; headband (for both summer and winter use - when you're bald the sweat just collects in your helmet and runs down your face, nice); base layer; overshoes; rimtape for new wheels, and tools for cassette changeage. £125 all in. Not too bad?

I'm just about to pop into Evans actually to see if they've got any caps. Mine is absolutely bumping after a week of soaking up the sweat.

Try Swrve caps: http://swrve.co.uk/caps.html

UnworthyPapaLazaru

My word, you are pleased!! How many times did you post that?

greg66_tri_v2.0

Hey, BJUK, is your bike ready for collection yet?

At the moment I have no lock and even less chance of being out of this place by 6. Or 7. @rse.

cjcp

jashburnham wrote:

cjcp wrote:

biondino wrote:

My Wiggle order arrived today - my first bib tights! How exciting and possibly homoerotic! Shall I wear them tonight?

Also, some mediumweight gloves; headband (for both summer and winter use - when you're bald the sweat just collects in your helmet and runs down your face, nice); base layer; overshoes; rimtape for new wheels, and tools for cassette changeage. £125 all in. Not too bad?

I'm just about to pop into Evans actually to see if they've got any caps. Mine is absolutely bumping after a week of soaking up the sweat.

Try Swrve caps: http://swrve.co.uk/caps.html

Jash - nice one. But you truly are a poser. WOOL caps?!

Btw, aside from the Dragon, how much training did you do for the Etape? Did you do a long ride every weekend for a certain number of months ahead on top of your commute? I've my eye on the Marmotte and, maybe, the Cinglés du Mont-Ventoux, perhaps all in the same week to cut down on the cost of flights. I've been given a provisional green light from the boss, but long rides more than twice a month ain't gonna go down so well. I thought about tagging on a couple of laps in the Park at the end of two commutes a week to increase the, wait for it, "base fitness", but reckon I could get away with one long ride a month in the Surrey Hills doing reps of Leith Hill and Whitedown (I'm not sure the latter is humanly possible mind)?

attica

lost_in_thought wrote:

Why the gloves people? Why do you need them when it's not freezing?

I wear em to protect my hands in the event of a fall, I rarely need anything more than track mitts even in the depths of winter.

One of the weirder things about my circulation is that I can have socks, shoes and overshoes on, with fingerless gloves, yet it'll be my feet that go numb!

2wheelzgood

LiT wrote:

Why the gloves people? Why do you need them when it's not freezing?

To keep the bar tape white! 8) :oops:

lost_in_thought

Attica wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Why the gloves people? Why do you need them when it's not freezing?

I wear em to protect my hands in the event of a fall, I rarely need anything more than track mitts even in the depths of winter.

One of the weirder things about my circulation is that I can have socks, shoes and overshoes on, with fingerless gloves, yet it'll be my feet that go numb!

I'm exactly the same. My feet are rubbish at dealing with the cold.

Having had a nasty crash earlier this year, my hands were the least of my worries, although I still have a shadow from a road rash graze.

So I can stick to my 'gloves are just another thing I would have to wash' position!

attica

lost_in_thought wrote:

So I can stick to my 'gloves are just another thing I would have to wash' position!

I prefer not to wash mine, all the better for scaring people away, it's stopped many a potential scalping having that fug in my slipstream.
I only tend to wash them when I notice people passing out on the other side of the street.

Bassjunkieuk

Greg66 wrote:

Hey, BJUK, is your bike ready for collection yet?

At the moment I have no lock and even less chance of being out of this place by 6. Or 7. @rse.

Well spotted there Greg....again sorry about that, I was posting it from an apple mac via Safari and I didn't get the usual message after hitting submit so I clicked it a "few" more times only to be told I couldn't post that much in succession! When I re-checked the forum I saw we (I mean I got us) onto page 172!

il_principe

cjcp wrote:

Jash - nice one. But you truly are a poser. WOOL caps?! Btw, aside from the Dragon, how much training did you do for the Etape? Did you do a long ride every weekend for a certain number of months ahead on top of your commute? I've my eye on the Marmotte and, maybe, the Cinglés du Mont-Ventoux, perhaps all in the same week to cut down on the cost of flights. I've been given a provisional green light from the boss, but long rides more than twice a month ain't gonna go down so well. I thought about tagging on a couple of laps in the Park at the end of two commutes a week to increase the, wait for it, "base fitness", but reckon I could get away with one long ride a month in the Surrey Hills doing reps of Leith Hill and Whitedown (I'm not sure the latter is humanly possible mind)?

I don't like the wool ones, just the plain with striped jobbies!

The Marmotte - brave man, supposed to be about the hardest sportive there is! Might be better to try the Etape first though. I didn't train enough is the short answer, was going great guns in Dec, Jan, then got dumped badly and lost all motivation for a few months... that hurt me in the long run but I finished ok despite quite a nasty crash.

Of course it all depends on how fit you are to start with. I'm 28 and in reasonable shape, but tagging a few laps of the park and doing 1 long ride a month probably ain't gonna cut it. Make sure you get the base miles in over winter, I used rollers weeknights and then got out at the weekend. Start building the miles up in early spring. As soon as it's light then I was doing 2x20 miles rides during the week (early morning pre commute )with a 50, 75 or 100 miler every weekend. Before the actual event you want to have done at least 2 - 4 100 mile rides if not more. To give you an idea, we did London-Brighton London, the Dragon, weekends in the Black Mountains, Wales and lng trips round the Surrey hills. I'm not convinced that hill repeats in Surrey will help much, the hills there are nothing like the alps/pyrenees. A good tip I was given is to train on the flat but just push as hard as you can, that gets closer to replicating the type of endurance Euro sportives demand. Short sharp English hills require a different type of effort, the Alps require sustained endurance. We trained a bit in Wales and obvio did the Dragon, but even the Bwlch is nothing compared for the Tourmalet. Remember the longest hills in Surrey will see you climb for maybe 10 mins or so, climbing in the mountains you'll be grinding it out for an hour or more and it's going to hurt. If you can afford it then get out to Europe - I wish I had because nothing in the UK can prepare you for proper mountains, they are relentless and if you haven't trained hard enough then you won't finish. It's an old cliché but there is nowhere to hide once the gradient kicks up.

Whatever happens you have plenty of time to get training. The training board on here is also a good place to seek advice, some pro-coaches lurk on these boards!

Good luck and maybe see you at the Marmotte!!

Bassjunkieuk

Just caught up on the last few pages (except 172 where some tw4t posed the same message over and over......)

That Cervelo P3 looks rather tasty but I'd have to say if I saw someone on that on my commute I'd sure as hell give chase just incase there is some lottery winner aboard who just went out and dropped a few grand on a bike without the legs/lungs to back it up! But it's more then likely being ridden by some super fit person so chasing it would be like trying to catch a Lamboghini in my Prius i.e almost pointless!

lost_in_thought

jashburnham wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Jash - nice one. But you truly are a poser. WOOL caps?! Btw, aside from the Dragon, how much training did you do for the Etape? Did you do a long ride every weekend for a certain number of months ahead on top of your commute? I've my eye on the Marmotte and, maybe, the Cinglés du Mont-Ventoux, perhaps all in the same week to cut down on the cost of flights. I've been given a provisional green light from the boss, but long rides more than twice a month ain't gonna go down so well. I thought about tagging on a couple of laps in the Park at the end of two commutes a week to increase the, wait for it, "base fitness", but reckon I could get away with one long ride a month in the Surrey Hills doing reps of Leith Hill and Whitedown (I'm not sure the latter is humanly possible mind)?

I don't like the wool ones, just the plain with striped jobbies!

The Marmotte - brave man, supposed to be about the hardest sportive there is! Might be better to try the Etape first though. I didn't train enough is the short answer, was going great guns in Dec, Jan, then got dumped badly and lost all motivation for a few months... that hurt me in the long run but I finished ok despite quite a nasty crash.

Of course it all depends on how fit you are to start with. I'm 28 and in reasonable shape, but tagging a few laps of the park and doing 1 long ride a month probably ain't gonna cut it. Make sure you get the base miles in over winter, I used rollers weeknights and then got out at the weekend. Start building the miles up in early spring. As soon as it's light then I was doing 2x20 miles rides during the week (early morning pre commute )with a 50, 75 or 100 miler every weekend. Before the actual event you want to have done at least 2 - 4 100 mile rides if not more. To give you an idea, we did London-Brighton London, the Dragon, weekends in the Black Mountains, Wales and lng trips round the Surrey hills. I'm not convinced that hill repeats in Surrey will help much, the hills there are nothing like the alps/pyrenees. A good tip I was given is to train on the flat but just push as hard as you can, that gets closer to replicating the type of endurance Euro sportives demand. Short sharp English hills require a different type of effort, the Alps require sustained endurance. We trained a bit in Wales and obvio did the Dragon, but even the Bwlch is nothing compared for the Tourmalet. Remember the longest hills in Surrey will see you climb for maybe 10 mins or so, climbing in the mountains you'll be grinding it out for an hour or more and it's going to hurt. If you can afford it then get out to Europe - I wish I had because nothing in the UK can prepare you for proper mountains, they are relentless and if you haven't trained hard enough then you won't finish. It's an old cliché but there is nowhere to hide once the gradient kicks up.

Whatever happens you have plenty of time to get training. The training board on here is also a good place to seek advice, some pro-coaches lurk on these boards!

Good luck and maybe see you at the Marmotte!!

I tell you what, that's actually making me want to get on it this winter (not on the fixie) and have a go at it. I currently take my craptastic road bike out for about 30 miles twice a weekend most weekends, but am in the position of bein gin Europe quite a lot for work and could well extend trips over the weekend... All very interesting.