Your Anti-Rants here

bails87

The Ribble is gone

But it's an anti-rant because I didn't really use it anyway (once since I bought the CX, in October) and I got a good price for it. The buyer paid cash, so no PayPal fees, so I knocked a bit off the price for him.

And I just got a text from him saying he was more than happy with the bike and he'd flown into work on it this morning. I feel better knowing it's gone to a good home!

Although I am down to only three bikes now...(Commuter/CX, MTB and my 'retro' Raleigh hack)

veronese68

bails87 wrote:

The Ribble is gone

But it's an anti-rant because I didn't really use it anyway (once since I bought the CX, in October) and I got a good price for it. The buyer paid cash, so no PayPal fees, so I knocked a bit off the price for him.

And I just got a text from him saying he was more than happy with the bike and he'd flown into work on it this morning. I feel better knowing it's gone to a good home!

Although I am down to only three bikes now...(Commuter/CX, MTB and my 'retro' Raleigh hack)

So......what are you going to replace it with?

asprilla

The company just gave us beer. For breakfast.

bails87

Veronese68 wrote:

bails87 wrote:

The Ribble is gone

But it's an anti-rant because I didn't really use it anyway (once since I bought the CX, in October) and I got a good price for it. The buyer paid cash, so no PayPal fees, so I knocked a bit off the price for him.

And I just got a text from him saying he was more than happy with the bike and he'd flown into work on it this morning. I feel better knowing it's gone to a good home!

Although I am down to only three bikes now...(Commuter/CX, MTB and my 'retro' Raleigh hack)

So......what are you going to replace it with?

You lot are a bad influence

The only road riding I do is the commute, which the Boardman is just as good for. Better, in fact, from a practicality point of view. I'm also starting a new job soon, so I need to scope out the bike storage (probably quite poor) so I wouldn't ride in on anything too shiny.

But that Di2 equipped Canyon is good value.....

veronese68

Asprilla wrote:

The company just gave us beer. For breakfast.

Do they need any more staff? I think I would have precisely no appropriate skills to offer them, but I like beer and that strange contraption on the wall.

veronese68

bails87 wrote:

The only road riding I do is the commute, which the Boardman is just as good for.

29er? Full sus?

CiB

Kieran_Burns wrote:

...fantastic Transit driver in East Leake Was coming up behind me and saw the (very minor) shoulder checks, held back and gave me a massive thumbs up to let me know it was okay to indicate right. I duly did so and pulled right across so he could pass on the inside.

He got a big smile and an equally big wave - ahh.... great day

You've pulled mate. Get yer coat...

asprilla

CiB wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

...fantastic Transit driver in East Leake Was coming up behind me and saw the (very minor) shoulder checks, held back and gave me a massive thumbs up to let me know it was okay to indicate right. I duly did so and pulled right across so he could pass on the inside.

He got a big smile and an equally big wave - ahh.... great day

You've pulled mate. Get yer coat...

Like two seals bobbing....

bails87

Veronese68 wrote:

bails87 wrote:

The only road riding I do is the commute, which the Boardman is just as good for.

29er? Full sus?

I might just put the money into a savings account and start saving up for an MTB 'superbike'. 8)

Kieran_Burns

Well - that was a turn up for the books

Cycling buddy (he of the seals comment ) decided to tackle Bunny Hill for the 1st time and I followed him up. I talked him up the hill, got him to concentrate on cadence the whole way up and just keep the cranks spinning in whatever gear.

I was shouting encouragement at him the whole way - pushing him on and I suddenly realised I was climbing the damn hill SHOUTING encouragement and not being out of breath at all.

Where the hell did that level of fitness come from??? It was actually an enjoyable climb and I never thought I'd write THOSE words

marchant

Just a short one; my son riding around the square on his new bike and loudly proclaiming it as "the best thing ever", then asking me to get my bike out and join him. So I did.

finnjävel

I ordered a new bike four days ago and have already lost 1 kg weight, before even getting my paws on it.

Yesterday I bike-commuted to work for the first time this year. Even though the conditions are still a bit scary, it left me with a smile on my face. Had to drive in today and scouted a more ice-free route, I guess the smile is only going to get wider.

Kieran_Burns

Over in rants I complained about the main commute road being shut for 3 weeks... well we found this out by chatting to the foreman yesterday morning and he okayed us to cycle through for the 1st week while they were preparing the road and while it was still safe.

I checked with the guys down the other end as he suggested and everyone was okay for cyclists to go through while they still could.

Well, I cycle up the road this morning (overtaken by a mini that had to turn back ) and got to the shutoff section....

to find a fence across the whole road apart from one specific bike sized section where the fence had been pulled back to allow us through.

How cool is that???

Oh, and thanks to the coach driver (from the company I had previously complained about) who hung back up the entire hill because he knew as soon as he passed me he'd only have to stop. Although the unexpected work out was a little hard

davis

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Well, I cycle up the road this morning (overtaken by a mini that had to turn back ) and got to the shutoff section....

to find a fence across the whole road apart from one specific bike sized section where the fence had been pulled back to allow us through.

How cool is that???

That's awesome.

jonny_trousers

Post illness I had no intention of ripping the sh*t out of my return journey last night, but having a Langster rider in all the gear join the road a little way ahead of me, I at least wanted to see if I could keep up with him across Waterloo Bridge. I managed it at around 19mph, but it was a hell of a struggle and I was a little surprised to see how much my fitness level had dropped from a little viral infection. Once I got alongside Waterloo station, however, I twigged something wasn't quite right and I pulled over to discover that my front brake was pretty much jammed down because of an earlier pothole incident. Ah, the relief! Said Langster rider was duly scalped 4 or 5 minutes later.

veronese68

Just saw a bloke cycling in a hi viz jacket and a hi viz flat cap. A hi viz flat cap? Wow.

Applespider

I thought I was going to post a rant this morning but then divine justice intervened.

I was cycling down a road this morning - parked cars either side for 100m, then widens out, then more parked cars etc. It's generally fairly courteous between cars/cyclist on it. Except this morning, about halfway down one double-parked stretch, some idiot races up behind me until his bumper is virtually on my wheel and stays there, revving menacingly. There is nothing I can do - he's so close that even if I did want to try to stop and let him past, he'd hit me as I braked - and besides, it's only another 30m til the road widens out again. So I ignore him. When the road widens again, he revs so hard that his tyres squeal and screeches off.

At the bottom of the road, there's a set of traffic lights. I'm filtering down the inside (lots of space) and who should I spot but my pal from further up the road. He's pulled over a little to the kerb but there's still lots of space. I pass him. As I reach his mirror, he moves to try to block me. Unfortunately (for him), he's forgotten that his aggressive driving style has meant that he stopped nose to tail with the van in front. So he's now just driven into the van in front of him... with a nasty metal crunching noise and a very large bloke driving that van. Ah... more haste, less speed...

davis

Applespider: that's beautiful.

Topaxci

Applespider wrote:

So he's now just driven into the van in front of him... with a nasty metal crunching noise and a very large bloke driving that van. Ah... more haste, less speed...

Love it. Some days Karma really does work.

Mine was nearly a rant too:
Freezing fog on my commute this morning, though I only realised when visibility was down to 10 metres or so that the fog was clinging to my glasses, making me nearly blind. Quick removal and I could see again.

Lovely ride in though and the rarest of things happened, a full commute without having to stop once. Only had to dab the brakes a couple of times and slow for roundabouts. Made the 4.5miles in just under 12mins . Very pleased with myself.

SimonAH

Received news of my payrise for 2012 and bonus yesterday afternoon - both VERY surprisingly healthy :-D

I may be shopping for an N+1........

veronese68

SimonAH wrote:

Received news of my payrise for 2012 and bonus yesterday afternoon - both VERY surprisingly healthy :-D

I may be shopping for an N+1........

Excellent, good news. I had my annual review at 5.25 on Friday. I was told everything was fine and got a standard 3%. I think my manager is scared of me telling him what I think of him so made sure he could get rid of me as quickly as possible.

Kieran_Burns

Please see The Register about our pay rises and bonuses (what exactly ARE bonuses????)

veronese68

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Please see The Register about our pay rises and bonuses (what exactly ARE bonuses????)

I looked at The Register. Are you a Flintstone?

CiB

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Please see The Register about our pay rises and bonuses (what exactly ARE bonuses????)

yeah we stopped your bonuses so we could have a bit more this Q. Gotta pay for the bike bling somehow.



Wishes t'were true...

Stone Glider

Our granddaughter is into the 'Princess' idea, her favourite game when she visits us is 'Rescues' which consists, mainly, of her standing in the utility room and shouting 'Help, Help!' until we come and rescue her. She is nearly three, so games are not too complex. When out on a ride yesterday, enjoying the sunshine and pootling along a quiet country road, I was fully programmed to respond when I see a bike in the road and a rider crouched over it. Thinking that they had just crashed, I called out "You a'ryte?" which is a proper Northamptonian greeting. The reply was in the negative and I could now see that they were struggling to inflate the front tyre with the bike laid in the path of any approaching traffic. This seemed an opportunity to exercise my new-found rescuing abilities and I moved the bike onto the verge, unhooked the saddle pack to deploy my tyre levers, patches, spare inner tube and pump. The old-fashioned long bore pump being used wasn't getting much air into the tube, which had mysteriously deflated. After removing tyre & tube there was no sign of a p*nct*re and the (many) patches were holding just fine and there were no sharps on the inside of the tyre. My spare tube was too big for the 23mm tyre so I replaced everything on to the wheel and started to pump the tyre up as hard as I could manage. Once we agreed that the tyre was hard enough I removed the pump. At which point a distinct plop followed by a rush of air as the tube valve shot out and lost itself in the grass verge :oops:

We now discovered that taxi firms are unwilling to convey bikes and really dislike having to find cyclists stuck on country roads. Luckily I knew the name of the pub in the nearest village (approx. 1 mile away) and they graciously consented to collect my companion from there.

So there you have it, as far as my 'Knight to the Rescue' efforts, pretty poor show. The good news is that just after I reached home myself I had a phone call from Rachel to say she was safe & sound and about to go out and recover her bike from behind the hedge where we had left it. I do hope the next time she ventures out she will have a pump that works, a spare tube (without those cr*ppy valves), levers and patches. All of which would cost her a good deal less than the Taxi Fare.

dhope

Stone Glider wrote:

Our granddaughter is into the 'Princess' idea, her favourite game when she visits us is 'Rescues' which consists, mainly, of her standing in the utility room and shouting 'Help, Help!' until we come and rescue her. She is nearly three, so games are not too complex. When out on a ride yesterday, enjoying the sunshine and pootling along a quiet country road, I was fully programmed to respond when I see a bike in the road and a rider crouched over it. Thinking that they had just crashed, I called out "You a'ryte?" which is a proper Northamptonian greeting. The reply was in the negative and I could now see that they were struggling to inflate the front tyre with the bike laid in the path of any approaching traffic. This seemed an opportunity to exercise my new-found rescuing abilities and I moved the bike onto the verge, unhooked the saddle pack to deploy my tyre levers, patches, spare inner tube and pump. The old-fashioned long bore pump being used wasn't getting much air into the tube, which had mysteriously deflated. After removing tyre & tube there was no sign of a p*nct*re and the (many) patches were holding just fine and there were no sharps on the inside of the tyre. My spare tube was too big for the 23mm tyre so I replaced everything on to the wheel and started to pump the tyre up as hard as I could manage. Once we agreed that the tyre was hard enough I removed the pump. At which point a distinct plop followed by a rush of air as the tube valve shot out and lost itself in the grass verge :oops:

We now discovered that taxi firms are unwilling to convey bikes and really dislike having to find cyclists stuck on country roads. Luckily I knew the name of the pub in the nearest village (approx. 1 mile away) and they graciously consented to collect my companion from there.

So there you have it, as far as my 'Knight to the Rescue' efforts, pretty poor show. The good news is that just after I reached home myself I had a phone call from Rachel to say she was safe & sound and about to go out and recover her bike from behind the hedge where we had left it. I do hope the next time she ventures out she will have a pump that works, a spare tube (without those cr*ppy valves), levers and patches. All of which would cost her a good deal less than the Taxi Fare.

Sounds like a lot of work just to give Rachel your phone number

Stone Glider

flimflam_machine

Took my new 1 x 9 on my commute this morning. It behaved pretty well, despite being built up out of a frame that I found and various ebay/classifieds bits. The shifting's a little wooly, but some fettling should sort that out. Now I just need to resist the urge to upgrade all the parts to get a marginal decrease in weight.

Ben6899

A guy on a hybrid riding like an absolute helmet in Regents Park yesterday: jumping red lights, some with pedestrians and then averaging about 16mph which meant everyone had to overtake him repeatedly as he proceeded in an unpredictable manner.

Icing on the cake was when three of us were sat at the T-junction at the southeast corner of the park's Outer Circle - me at the front - and he came from behind, at almost full tilt and cut between me and the car in front. Sort of almost 90deg to the footway and an inch or two from my front wheel.

The anti-rant comes when I explain that after we managed to pull out of the junction - safely - I put the hammer down, made up the 500m (we waited ages for a SAFE gap) and crushed his red-light jumping, irresponsible cycling, flat-barred soul. Didn't see him again.

bails87

It turns out my new job has a secret staff only bike parking area, behind a locked gate. Which is right next to the office I'm in, which is also right next to the place where the showers are. Sounds like cycling in will be easy peasy!