Your Anti-Rants here

suzyb

A day of firsts today.

First ride of 30 miles in over a year (though only 30 miles cause I did a loop round the square in front of the house so I didn't finish at 29.9 :roll: ).

First time I had someone draft me. He caught up to me at the lights and just sat on my wheel for the 100 yards or so till we went separate roads. Bit of a rant there as well as he didn't even acknowledge me when we parted never mind a thanks.

And my first time filtering past a queue of cars as the traffic was unusually bad.

clarkey cat

I'm not sure 100 yards of drafting deserves a thanks TBH.

englander

So I wanted to do a century ride today after doing my first and only century ride last summer, so I routed one up yesterday. By the time I'd routed it it was actually 110 miles. By the time I got lost a bit I was up to ~115 miles. By that point I thought I might as well round it up to 125 miles to get it over 200km.

http://app.strava.com/activities/59006264

Beer o'clock

EDIT: May or may not have been hallucinating, but I swear I saw hundreds of naked cyclists at the 120 mile point on Embankment...

suzyb

clarkey cat wrote:

I'm not sure 100 yards of drafting deserves a thanks TBH.

It wasn't the lack of a thanks, it was the lack of any kind of acknowledgement I was even there after he'd sat in my wheel. To be honest it made me wonder if he'd been a bit pissed off at being "stuck" behind me. But there was no reason he couldn't pass if he'd wanted to.

I guess I'm just not used to not receiving at least an imperceptible nod of recognition and after him having sat behind me, albeit for only 100 yards it made me little sad

clarkey cat

get up in his grill next time you see him

clarkey cat

Here's my anti-rant.

redvee

clarkey cat wrote:

Here's my anti-rant.

Are you the one on the balance bike?

redvee

This time last night I was 1 mile into a 70 mile ride to Cardiff, eight of us agreed to do the ride and as a group only three punctures.

menthel

Cycling is bloody great. Why didn't I do this sooner?

1) New bike is great. Light, fast and comfortable.

2) Surrey is stunning. 50km round it's back lanes today not far from where I grew up and I am not sure how I missed all of this for so long!

3) Hills. I am finally seeing some improvement. Some real corkers today, including sections claiming to be in the high teens but no walking. A couple of the real lung busters needed a pause to collect myself but the views and the descending more than made up for it!

And I also noticed that now I am on a road bike I am deserving of little nods and waves from other roadies. Didn't happen on the hybrid!

clarkey cat

Ah yes - you only nod to other roadies. To nod to a hybrid rider may give the impression that riding a hybrid is somehow acceptable and should therefore be avoided.

You're not far from Kingston Wheelers if you wanted to get into riding for a club, menthel. The 'easy' group is well within the capabilities of most cyclists and they are a friendly bunch.

asprilla

menthel wrote:

Cycling is bloody great. Why didn't I do this sooner?

1) New bike is great. Light, fast and comfortable.

2) Surrey is stunning. 50km round it's back lanes today not far from where I grew up and I am not sure how I missed all of this for so long!

3) Hills. I am finally seeing some improvement. Some real corkers today, including sections claiming to be in the high teens but no walking. A couple of the real lung busters needed a pause to collect myself but the views and the descending more than made up for it!

And I also noticed that now I am on a road bike I am deserving of little nods and waves from other roadies. Didn't happen on the hybrid!

Speaking of KW, I'm sure my membership was up for renewal in April, but no reminder from them.

Ah well.

clarkey cat

I didn't renew either - I couldn't really afford the extra time it took to ride back into Surbiton, wait for a ride to set off, and then ride back past my house! Shame as I enjoyed the rides I did go out on.

menthel

Thanks guys. Looks like the hills were not as bad as thought, lots of low teens inclines, up to 13.9%- still more than I have done before! I don't think club riding is for me as yet- only really got back on a bike in Feb and still enjoying the novelty of it. I have some friends to cycle with but I really love having the time to myself as well. Not something I get with a busy family life!

asprilla

clarkey cat wrote:

I didn't renew either - I couldn't really afford the extra time it took to ride back into Surbiton, wait for a ride to set off, and then ride back past my house! Shame as I enjoyed the rides I did go out on.

My issue too. If they went out at 8 and didn't stop for 50 minutes for coffee I'd probably have gone more.

roger_merriman

Had a lovely day yesturday did a loop on the MTB around rottingdeen, lovely to see the downs again and the child in me loved the roar from tyres at 30mph plus as I came down the hill.

mudcow007

suzyb wrote:

I guess I'm just not used to not receiving at least an imperceptible nod of recognition and after him having sat behind me, albeit for only 100 yards it made me little sad

maybe he was just enjoying the view from behind you?

suzyb

mudcow007 wrote:

suzyb wrote:

I guess I'm just not used to not receiving at least an imperceptible nod of recognition and after him having sat behind me, albeit for only 100 yards it made me little sad

maybe he was just enjoying the view from behind you?

Must've been a Queen fan then

walkingbootweather

suzyb wrote:

mudcow007 wrote:

Must've been a Queen fan then

Were your tires "under pressure", were you giving him a "Flash", was he going "slightly mad", or concerned that his progress might be halted at that particular point?

I'm too much of a gentleman to think of any other reason

CiB

Either Stone Cold Crazy, or Love Of My Life. I know where my money is.

xx

jimmypippa

Took the youngest two to the Derwent Valley reservoirs yesterday.

Eleven miles in total, at a gentle pace

There they are vanishing round the corner:






Stunning day, and at the visitor centre we bumped into a colleague who'd come over the snake pass and went back to Manchester via Edale and Mam Nick.

redvee

walkingbootweather wrote:

suzyb wrote:

mudcow007 wrote:

Must've been a Queen fan then

Were your tires "under pressure", were you giving him a "Flash", was he going "slightly mad", or concerned that his progress might be halted at that particular point?

I'm too much of a gentleman to think of any other reason

I'm sure there's an Innuendo in there somewhere

suzyb

Flubit order has been dispatched...finally. Matching bottle cage here you come

Blandiblub

Picked up my first roadie tonight, bought second hand from guy at work. Rode home all ok and, man, it feels quick compared to my Sirrus!

Will give it a good going over at weekend and get it ready for commuting next week.

It's a 2011 Specialized allez elite. Woo.

redvee

Popped into Evans and asked them to keep something back for 24 hours for me and the manager knew my name without me telling him, either that's good customer service or I spend too much in Evans.

rubertoe

Chain-reaction.

I have a seized freehub from a set of wheels I bought from them in november (probably down to lazy maintenence on my behalf), So I dropped CRC an e-mail, they will send me a new freehub within the next 24 hours.

Well done them.

SteppenHerring

Joe Root.

(cue wicket)

SteppenHerring

SteppenHerring wrote:

Joe Root.

(cue wicket)

Why didn't I just keep quiet?

the_fuggler

SteppenHerring wrote:

SteppenHerring wrote:

Joe Root.

(cue wicket)

Why didn't I just keep quiet?

I can barely bring myself to type the words....Ravi Bopara!

Mind you, they're only just par with 293.

redvee

Another 30 minute commute tonight, usually 33-35 mins. Faster on the way home with more spikey bits than on the way to work with no spikey bits.

asprilla

If you google 'crap cycling in Kingston' that top result is about one of our dear forumites.

Made me smile.