Your Anti-Rants here

slowbike

Andy9964 wrote:

Speaking of GP4Ks, mine are now out of winter hibernation

Mine were never in winter hibernation ...

I don't change tyres - I change bikes!

Speaking of which ...

back on the best bike for the ride in today ... ah!.... that's better!

imatfaal

itboffin wrote:

DrLex wrote:

Blow-out just as I arrived back from an hour's blast in the sun. Two new GP4000s now fitted to await the next ride opportunity.

What the hell, how has a tyre come apart like that?

Also your rim surface from that photo looks very grooved have you checked them recently?

Agree about the rim - tyre blow outs are bad but rim blow outs are awful

Snakebite the 2nd

First time this year without the fleece!
Base Layer and jacket only, Summer must nearly be here!!!

Snakebite the 2nd

After weeks of erratic cycling patterns due to working away, illness, or having to drive to work because of other commitments I have what appears to be a clear week of cycling!

Not only that, but I appear to be getting my mojo back.

wolfsbane2k

Managed to get back on the bike with after a week +1 day of PT due to bust wheel. Owch - amazing how much a week off hurts!

adambruntlett

One that tickled me on my commute on Wednesday. Standard blocked roundabout south of Lambeth Bridge, with standard HGV sat halfway into the cycle lane, meaning I had to unclip to get by. His passenger side window was open so I called out cheerily that he was blocking the cycle lane. I'm not sure if this riled him, or if he just generally lost patience with sitting on a roundabout going nowhere, but about ten yards down the road I hear a crunch of metal on metal and turn around to see he has mounted the kerb to get round the car in front, not realising there's a lamppost to his left. Said lamppost was now wedged against his wing mirror and the side of his cab. Karma can be a bitch sometimes.

slowbike

4.5°C - perhaps a little chilly for short fingered gloves - but it'll be nice later on

wolfsbane2k

Realised that i've started to "Enjoy" climbing the local 6.4%, 1km hill. Currently takes me about 9 minutes compared to the KOM of 2;09, and i'm not in the bottom ring either! After 4 "laps" i'm still cycling, although dead.
When i started commuting, i would have had had to bail half way up the hill the first time around!
Legs now suffering, but feeling good!

surrey_commuter

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

Realised that i've started to "Enjoy" climbing the local 6.4%, 1km hill. Currently takes me about 9 minutes compared to the KOM of 2;09, and i'm not in the bottom ring either! After 4 "laps" i'm still cycling, although dead.
When i started commuting, i would have had had to bail half way up the hill the first time around!
Legs now suffering, but feeling good!

Very good work - as an experiment you should try spinning up in the granny ring. I find it no slower going up and find it easier to get back on the power at the top.

adambruntlett

Yup. we're all different and some like to grind up like an old diesel engine but I find that for fairly long hills, spinning is the best option for me too.

menthel

So I will be jobless from mid May. On purpose and of my own doing, it should give me a good couple of months of free weekdays for some cycling before I start any new job I may get. Or perhaps I should open that little cafe and learn to maintain bikes...

wolfsbane2k

Surrey Commuter wrote:

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

Realised that i've started to "Enjoy" climbing the local 6.4%, 1km hill. Currently takes me about 9 minutes compared to the KOM of 2;09, and i'm not in the bottom ring either! After 4 "laps" i'm still cycling, although dead.
When i started commuting, i would have had had to bail half way up the hill the first time around!
Legs now suffering, but feeling good!

Very good work - as an experiment you should try spinning up in the granny ring. I find it no slower going up and find it easier to get back on the power at the top.

Thanks, i suddently realised yesterday after adding the hill to the my commute via a very minor detour a month or 2 ago that I wanted to "do it again", - so I did, And then again, and again. All with a topbag containing clothes, and a rucksack holding a laptop for extra fun. I've been "playing" with the hill , tried a few different gear approaches to get the best balance - I typically spin at 80-90 rpm, or pootle at 70. Any more than 110 or any less than 60 and my torn ACL starts to cause issues, so I've only really got 4 gears to choose from that will actually allow me to get to the top without blowing up.
However, I'm really feeling the burn today!

wolfsbane2k

menthel wrote:

So I will be jobless from mid May. On purpose and of my own doing, it should give me a good couple of months of free weekdays for some cycling before I start any new job I may get. Or perhaps I should open that little cafe and learn to maintain bikes...

Enjoy the time out, you deserve it. Rather than a café, how about a microbrewery?

menthel

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

menthel wrote:

So I will be jobless from mid May. On purpose and of my own doing, it should give me a good couple of months of free weekdays for some cycling before I start any new job I may get. Or perhaps I should open that little cafe and learn to maintain bikes...

Enjoy the time out, you deserve it. Rather than a café, how about a microbrewery?

Surrounded by microbreweries! In fact you could do a cycling tour...

veronese68

menthel wrote:

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

menthel wrote:

So I will be jobless from mid May. On purpose and of my own doing, it should give me a good couple of months of free weekdays for some cycling before I start any new job I may get. Or perhaps I should open that little cafe and learn to maintain bikes...

Enjoy the time out, you deserve it. Rather than a café, how about a microbrewery?

Surrounded by microbreweries! In fact you could do a cycling tour...

I might need to take some time off...
That's not far enough for me to ride to though, I will walk past it on my way to the pub later.

Edit: Forgot the link to the Park Brewery.

fatsmoker

2000 miles so far this year. Well on target to to reach my 6k goal for the year

menthel

Veronese68 wrote:

menthel wrote:

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

menthel wrote:

So I will be jobless from mid May. On purpose and of my own doing, it should give me a good couple of months of free weekdays for some cycling before I start any new job I may get. Or perhaps I should open that little cafe and learn to maintain bikes...

Enjoy the time out, you deserve it. Rather than a café, how about a microbrewery?

Surrounded by microbreweries! In fact you could do a cycling tour...

I might need to take some time off...
That's not far enough for me to ride to though, I will walk past it on my way to the pub later.

Edit: Forgot the link to the Park Brewery.

That, Sambrooks, Wimbledon and By the Horns at the very least.

wolfsbane2k

Took a detour last night through the country to enjoy the sunshine, passed a lady setting up a "free strawberry plant" stand. Stopped for a second to have a chat and picked up a dozen, and she was kind enough to give me a plastic kitchen bowl to put them in so that I could strap them to the pannier.
Cue some funny comments from other riders as I return to suburbia in lycra on a roadie with plants hanging out the back from a washing up bowl! Bowl's going back tonight...
So free strawberry's for my cycle to work porridge in the next few months then - yum!

gbsahne001

SKS for promising to send a new set of mudguards to replace the broken set

ryanshattered

Just had this heartwarming report from a friend:

"Ha! A white van driver almost hit a cyclist over Cotham Brow and the cyclist just started shouting at the driver so he jumped out and took a swing at the cyclist who just dodged it and put the van driver on his ass. The driver jumped back in his van and sped away while everyone laughed at him"

wolfsbane2k

Decathlon customer service.

redvee

Watching the weather forecast this morning and rain forecast for noon, just as I leave for work. Looked at the sky before I left and didn't look any darker so dressed accordingly in a gillet and long sleeve jersey and missed any rain due, in fact there was no rain at all today in the parts of Brizzle that my bike took me.

dhope

Just got told to f off by one of the 'we heard you had an accident' cold callers who then hung up on me. Must be doing something right.

veronese68

dhope wrote:

Just got told to f off by one of the 'we heard you had an accident' cold callers who then hung up on me. Must be doing something right.

Good work. What did you say?

dhope

Veronese68 wrote:

dhope wrote:

Just got told to f off by one of the 'we heard you had an accident' cold callers who then hung up on me. Must be doing something right.

Good work. What did you say?

He said he'd heard I had been in an car accident a few months ago.
I said I had. It was very serious. I died in it along with my passenger. It was tragic. I was drunk when driving so as punishment I'd been sent back to talk to people with useless jobs on the phone for all eternity.
He told me to f off. I wished him the same. Then he hung up.

rick_chasey

Haha, I've done that one too!

'my family died - i was the only survivor. I was driving when my phone rang and it was an accident helpline cold caller - he was distracted and drove off the road'.

redvee

I kept a PPI caller talking for 15 minutes with a load of waffle and also helped by her not having English as her first language. Told her my bank was Coutts, and when she asked what I did for a living I told her I ran a call centre that phones people up and wastes their time.

wolfsbane2k

First ride in on the new bike, can't believe the difference between Microshift and 105. Just need to get a handle on running 2x10 now.

rick_chasey

Had a full bells & whistles health check up.

All bang on, but the interesting one was the Vo2 max test!!

Turns out I'm quite fit but no Chris Froome. Who knew?

MrSweary

Had a run in with some knuckle dragger at the top of CP Park Hill who swerved around a crossing van to get onto the roundabout at speed and took exception at having to brake for me.

He seemed to get very riled up when I calmly suggested he slow down and he didn't like being called 'dear' at all. Blowing him a kiss seemed to be the final straw and he called me something that sounded very unpleasant as he sped off. No doubt he was late for his penis enlargement operation.

Hopefully he had a nice day anyway.