Your commuting arch nemesis

Bassjunkieuk

jashburnham wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

There are a couple of guys I've mentioned in the past, who I think are rowers (shorts are a bit too short, and they have bibs but usually ride with the straps down).

One rides a SS with what looks like 56x12. Once he gets himself going he pretty fast, but he doesn't have great leg speed (also makes me think he's a rower) so I can manage with lower gearing and higher cadence. Plus bursts of acceleration help.

The other I haven't seen for a long time now. He looks like he's packing saddle bags down the outside of his quads. Said saddle bags are, umm, quads! Similar style - strong but not fast legs - and I think he rides geared.

When I see those it's "photon torpedoes - full spread - and warp 9.975 until we've run out of coal *and* logs!"

Sweet jesus even our cooler then ice overlord has people that give him trouble! What are us mere mortals to do if we encounter these 2 bike riders of the apocalypse?!?!?!?!

Drop the hammer and nail the fcukers. They may be big but think of the weight they're lugging about.

I don't have a nemesis, but I'm advertising for one.

I thought DDD was hoping to get that role :-D

cjcp

Greg66 wrote:

There are a couple of guys I've mentioned in the past, who I think are rowers (shorts are a bit too short, and they have bibs but usually ride with the straps down).

One rides a SS with what looks like 56x12. Once he gets himself going he pretty fast, but he doesn't have great leg speed (also makes me think he's a rower) so I can manage with lower gearing and higher cadence. Plus bursts of acceleration help.

The other I haven't seen for a long time now. He looks like he's packing saddle bags down the outside of his quads. Said saddle bags are, umm, quads! Similar style - strong but not fast legs - and I think he rides geared.

When I see those it's "photon torpedoes - full spread - and warp 9.975 until we've run out of coal *and* logs!"

Wears London RC shorts? If so, know the one you mean.

Thinking about it, Sprocket Man has kicked my a@rse sixty ways to Sunday, and the guy on the LeMond is mighty quick (also a rower, I think, because his upper body resembles that of a man who could pull a tree out of the ground with his bare hands).

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

There are a couple of guys I've mentioned in the past, who I think are rowers (shorts are a bit too short, and they have bibs but usually ride with the straps down).

One rides a SS with what looks like 56x12. Once he gets himself going he pretty fast, but he doesn't have great leg speed (also makes me think he's a rower) so I can manage with lower gearing and higher cadence. Plus bursts of acceleration help.

The other I haven't seen for a long time now. He looks like he's packing saddle bags down the outside of his quads. Said saddle bags are, umm, quads! Similar style - strong but not fast legs - and I think he rides geared.

When I see those it's "photon torpedoes - full spread - and warp 9.975 until we've run out of coal *and* logs!"

Wears London RC shorts? If so, know the one you mean.

Thinking about it, Sprocket Man has kicked my a@rse sixty ways to Sunday, and the guy on the LeMond is mighty quick (also a rower, I think, because his upper body resembles that of a man who could pull a tree out of the ground with his bare hands).

I've seen Sprocket Man in the past, but before he was mentioned here. I don't remember being concerned by him, so either we went different ways soon after contact, or I smoked his sorry a$$.

I'll go with option number 2, please.

gtvlusso

Greg66 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

There are a couple of guys I've mentioned in the past, who I think are rowers (shorts are a bit too short, and they have bibs but usually ride with the straps down).

One rides a SS with what looks like 56x12. Once he gets himself going he pretty fast, but he doesn't have great leg speed (also makes me think he's a rower) so I can manage with lower gearing and higher cadence. Plus bursts of acceleration help.

The other I haven't seen for a long time now. He looks like he's packing saddle bags down the outside of his quads. Said saddle bags are, umm, quads! Similar style - strong but not fast legs - and I think he rides geared.

When I see those it's "photon torpedoes - full spread - and warp 9.975 until we've run out of coal *and* logs!"

Wears London RC shorts? If so, know the one you mean.

Thinking about it, Sprocket Man has kicked my a@rse sixty ways to Sunday, and the guy on the LeMond is mighty quick (also a rower, I think, because his upper body resembles that of a man who could pull a tree out of the ground with his bare hands).

I've seen Sprocket Man in the past, but before he was mentioned here. I don't remember being concerned by him, so either we went different ways soon after contact, or I smoked his sorry a$$.

I'll go with option number 2, please.

Dark horses these rowing types...remember, rowing is off the legs (mostly!) - I remember the days, twenty years man and boy......Oh me' back!!!

Christophe3967

Mid January on the way home heading past St Thomas's hospital, I rolled up behind a bus at the red light and barely gave the guy on a fixi already there a second glance. I am positioned on the offside ready to overtake the bus whenever it reachs the next bus stop. The fixi is sitting right in the middle of the lane. Green light and I am on the tail of the bus with the fixi. The bus doesn't stop (its empty) and the driver is clearly a budding Lewis Hamilton. We're pushing up to 40kph and I'm struggling to stay in touch, but the fixi is right up the bus's exhaust pipe where he sits all the way to Lambeth Br. Glad I haven't run into him again... :oops:

Roastie

cjcp wrote:

Rostie - I'm in Fenchurch St. What time do you roll in?

Usually arrive atthe station at a little past 7 to catch an espresso before hopping onto the 07:17...

Then I usually leave that vicinity between 6-7pm depending.

You?

Bassjunkie: I've kept an eye out for you, but I think we travel at different times.

sarajoy

1) Is Sprocket Man famous?
2) Can someone please rid me of the Elton John song of a similar name?
2a) Quick, as I've just been reading the budget and am now on "Gordon Brown, texture like sun..." - that's that song ruined forever...
3) I don't have a nemesis yet, well, apart from every single bugger passing me! I manage to pass the odd lady cyclist still wearing her Altura boil-in-bag jacket (but it's sooo hoootttt, how do they do it), but in general all roadies are outstripping me, and all lads on MTBs are just going hell-for-leather while I'm trying not to die before arrival!

Kudos to a guy on a foldie yesterday on my way in, in jeans, made it up the long slow hill in front of me, I couldn't catch him.
Kudos also to the kid in front of me yesterday, MTB, didn't change any gears from what I could hear/see, towel over his shoulder, plastic bag on his handebar, turned off right at the swimming pool eventually after clearing my steepest hill home with no trace of trouble and always way ahead of me...

Ah well.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Roastiecp wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Rostie - I'm in Fenchurch St. What time do you roll in?

Usually arrive atthe station at a little past 7 to catch an espresso before hopping onto the 07:17...

Then I usually leave that vicinity between 6-7pm depending.

You?

Bassjunkie: I've kept an eye out for you, but I think we travel at different times.

That sounds rather uncivilised.

You're drinking coffee somewhere that isn't your home, a good 20 minutes before I wake up.

How dreadful!

Bassjunkieuk

Roastiecp wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Rostie - I'm in Fenchurch St. What time do you roll in?

Usually arrive atthe station at a little past 7 to catch an espresso before hopping onto the 07:17...

Then I usually leave that vicinity between 6-7pm depending.

You?

Bassjunkie: I've kept an eye out for you, but I think we travel at different times.

I don't technically use Fenchurch Street as I'm working up on Bevis Marks behind the Gherkin, I'm arriving at work around 8:10 at the moment but come at it from London Bridge, I could in theory divert to come along the Embankment from Vauxhall Bridge but it would add a few extra miles and thus mean leaving earlier in the morning!

Leave around 5 and then blaze a trail of awesome over LB again towards E&C, although I did have fun one evening blasting along the embankment for drinks at the Morpeth, only to arrive and realize I was rather early considering most other people finish at 5:30 and don't work next door to the pub!

Roastie

Greg66 wrote:

Roastiecp wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Rostie - I'm in Fenchurch St. What time do you roll in?

Usually arrive atthe station at a little past 7 to catch an espresso before hopping onto the 07:17...

Then I usually leave that vicinity between 6-7pm depending.

You?

Bassjunkie: I've kept an eye out for you, but I think we travel at different times.

That sounds rather uncivilised.

You're drinking coffee somewhere that isn't your home, a good 20 minutes before I wake up.

How dreadful!

I know . It is obscene and depresses me.

Roastie

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

Roastiecp wrote:

Bassjunkie: I've kept an eye out for you, but I think we travel at different times.

I don't technically use Fenchurch Street as I'm working up on Bevis Marks behind the Gherkin, I'm arriving at work around 8:10...

This morning London Bridge at 07:00 on the dot (or at least 06:00 because I haven't bothered to reset the time on my Cateye).

cjcp

Greg66 wrote:

Roastiecp wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Rostie - I'm in Fenchurch St. What time do you roll in?

Usually arrive atthe station at a little past 7 to catch an espresso before hopping onto the 07:17...

Then I usually leave that vicinity between 6-7pm depending.

You?

Bassjunkie: I've kept an eye out for you, but I think we travel at different times.

That sounds rather uncivilised.
You're drinking coffee somewhere that isn't your home, a good 20 minutes before I wake up.

How dreadful!

Damn right that's uncivilised! Although I wake up a lot earlier than ol' Snoozy from Temple.

I arrive at the office around 9, leave after 6 usually.

lost_in_thought

cjcp wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

Roastiecp wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Rostie - I'm in Fenchurch St. What time do you roll in?

Usually arrive atthe station at a little past 7 to catch an espresso before hopping onto the 07:17...

Then I usually leave that vicinity between 6-7pm depending.

You?

Bassjunkie: I've kept an eye out for you, but I think we travel at different times.

That sounds rather uncivilised.
You're drinking coffee somewhere that isn't your home, a good 20 minutes before I wake up.

How dreadful!

Damn right that's uncivilised! Although I wake up a lot earlier than ol' Snoozy from Temple.

I arrive at the office around 9, leave after 6 usually.

I breeze in at about 9.30, leave at about 5.25... But I have to get up at 8. Well, sort of. My alarm goes off at 8. It's a grind, I tell you.

sarajoy

Commonly 10 'til 6 here.

Means I avoid tussling with schoolkids for path space though, and the majority of rush-hour hooligan drivers

greg66_tri_v2.0

lost_in_thought wrote:

I breeze in at about 9.30, leave at about 5.25... But I have to get up at 8. Well, sort of. My alarm goes off at 8. It's a grind, I tell you.

From another thread

symo wrote:

Congrats L_i_t, it looks like your hard work at the job has paid off amazingly well.

If only they knew ...

lost_in_thought

Greg66 wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

I breeze in at about 9.30, leave at about 5.25... But I have to get up at 8. Well, sort of. My alarm goes off at 8. It's a grind, I tell you.

From another thread

symo wrote:

Congrats L_i_t, it looks like your hard work at the job has paid off amazingly well.

If only they knew ...

Hey, I work hard! How rude!

Well, when I'm not on bikeradar... or wiggle... or looking for orange things online... or reading Jeremy Clarkson's column... or drinking coffee... or tea... or at the gym...

Yeah. The rest of the time I work hard.

biondino

10-6.30 is my office hours. I went in an hour earlier this morning and maybe three times as many cyclists, almost all RLJing. Bunch of c0cks for the most part

Chaz.Harding

biondino

I hope you smoked them all as a punishment!!

8)

georgio15

i have two. one is a pedestrian and the other is a guy who cycles down the embankment (london) at around 6 on a sunday.

the pedestrian is a chinese guy who is possibly the most stupid man i have ever seen. every single tuesday and thursday at 5 to 5 in the afternoon, he walks across the road right in front of me. i shout oi, he flails his arms and then carries on walking, to be shouted at by my mate. if one of us hit him, we are doing about 55 (its down a hil), then there
could seriously be a fatality. i am starting to think he wants it.

the cyclist rides one of these i think: http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pin ... e-ec017688

he is really quick. at the moment its 5-2 to him. really annoying. i see him on my way back from the gym and i reckon before i could have him. who knows. its pretty close.

cjcp

georgio15 wrote:

the pedestrian is a chinese guy who is possibly the most stupid man i have ever seen.

the cyclist rides one of these i think: http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pin ... e-ec017688

:shock: That's a serious commuting machine. I've seen a couple of Pinarellos, but not that one.

b0y1nterupted

i have 2 of them....

1st is a hybrid riding lady who's easy to pass but likes to RLJ so i have to scalp her twice :roll:

2nd is a really fast roadie who i've seen twice now & he says morning as he sails past with ease :x

georgio15

cjcp wrote:

:shock: That's a serious commuting machine. I've seen a couple of Pinarellos, but not that one.

i don't think he is a commuter. he looks like he rides for a team. he races for sure.

i think i have seen him riding a pretty standard Trek, but not sure as i only ever look for him riding the Pinarello.

jimmypippa

El Gordo wrote:

I don't have a nemisis but I'd love to find out that I was someone elses. Come on, there must be someone here who is overtaken daily in Derby by a bloke on an old Trek with one pannier.

I suspect the guy on the folder who does 5 mph (seriously) that I balze past twice daily doesn't frequent this forum.

There is one guy I pass regularly who I have seen light up whilst cycling (on the pavement) about 8mph. Carefully cupping his hands round the cigarette.

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

georgio15 wrote:

the pedestrian is a chinese guy who is possibly the most stupid man i have ever seen.

the cyclist rides one of these i think: http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pin ... e-ec017688

:shock: That's a serious commuting machine. I've seen a couple of Pinarellos, but not that one.

Yeah, but let's face it, only a complete dork commutes on a high end bike.

il_principe

Greg66 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

georgio15 wrote:

the pedestrian is a chinese guy who is possibly the most stupid man i have ever seen.

the cyclist rides one of these i think: http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pin ... e-ec017688

:shock: That's a serious commuting machine. I've seen a couple of Pinarellos, but not that one.

Yeah, but let's face it, only a complete dork commutes on a high end bike.

I saw my first Pinarello FP3 last week. Bloke was commuting on it down Borough High st. He gave me a look at the lights, saw the Pearson and gave me a smug "my bike's better than yours look." I was so tempted to scalp the smug twunt but sadly he was going straight on and I was turning right. I then had to meet the missus and ride with her back to mine at about 8 mph, seething as everything on the road sailed passed us! :evil:

We shall meet again FP3* man, and I shall have your scalp.

*nice looking bit of kit.

Bassjunkieuk

@JA - I might have seen that guy to! A while back on the SCR thread I mentioned I spotted a Pinarello (pretty sure it was an FP3) heading up towards Borough High Street from E & C choob :-)

Wonder if that fancy fork makes the ride any smoother down that cratered mess??

whyamihere

There was a guy I've seen once, but had an excellent race with, from Birmingham City Centre to Perry Barr alongside the A34. It was a dead heat to be honest, we were both loaded with panniers, and until we split off at Perry Barr we were pretty much matched for pace. I want to see him again, to see if I can beat him.

Roastie

Greg66 wrote:

Roastiecp wrote:

Usually arrive atthe station at a little past 7 to catch an espresso before hopping onto the 07:17...

Then I usually leave that vicinity between 6-7pm depending.

That sounds rather uncivilised.

You're drinking coffee somewhere that isn't your home, a good 20 minutes before I wake up.

How dreadful!

I was thinking this morning (as I headed out the door):

The day before yesterday was the first day I left the front light at home (though ironically freak fog meant it would have been useful), and today was my first morning in mitts rather than full gloves (the ride home in the afternoons has been getting a tad warm with my hands wrapped in fleece!).

b0y1nterupted

the fast roadie did me in again this morning

though he waited until i'd just got up a huge hill & was only going slow having a drink :evil:

girv73

My nemesis is a guy on a grey hybrid machine who always wears 3/4 baggies, even in the depths of winter. I only encounter him as I get to the city centre, along one stretch of road with a couple of sets of lights and a couple of ... undulations. He's quick away from the lights and filters like a mad demon thing that's not afraid of filtering, but I can just about keep up with him.

And that's the key to the desire to compete - he's just out of reach, but I know if I MTFU enough I can maybe stick with him or even gain a little some days.