Reasons why I'm faster than you in rank order
Comments
-
I could post a picture of my calves, which are frankly terrifying in their scale and threat level.
Better?
http://www.velochocolate.co.uk Special Treats for Lifestyle Cyclists
From FCN from 8 (road bike, beard, bag, work clothes) to 15 (on my Brompton)0 -
DonDaddyD wrote:SamWise72 wrote:The more of this I read, the more depressed it makes me. I don't know if you read the Silly Commuting Racing thread, but the word "Silly" should be emphasized. I'm not an olympic athlete, I'm not a professional bike racer, or even a serious amateur. I just ride to work, and it's fun to ride faster than anyone else. Maybe you're faster than me, under certain circumstances, and that's fine. Your quote, however, is silly, isn't it? That's like a marathon runner telling a sprinter his ability is less worthwhile.
Maybe I'm faster down Kingsway and over Waterloo Bridge than you, maybe not. I'll bust my lungs trying to be, and then if I'm not, that's ok. And if I am, and you're faster over 50 miles, that's ok too. Chris Hoy may think that being fast over a short distance has a value, BTW, but that's not the point. If you don't get the irony in the bike hero posts, including mine, that go on here, you've missed the point.
What the are you backing down!
For a second there I thought we had another alpha male on the website. Seems like I'm still the only one.
+1
What are you, a man or a mouse?“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0 -
Mooooo
http://www.velochocolate.co.uk Special Treats for Lifestyle Cyclists
From FCN from 8 (road bike, beard, bag, work clothes) to 15 (on my Brompton)0 -
I'm a bit late but -
"4) I maintain my bike properly. If I've cleaned and lubed my chain, and I grease the other bearings now and then, you're in trouble if you don't. "
Whether a chain is lubricated makes no difference to its efficiency, so long as it's clean and unworn. The only thing lube does is stop it rusting and stop it wearing. Source - Bicycling Science 3rd edition
Good post though.0 -
True, but if it's not lubed and you ride in England, chances are it's rusty. When I didn't lube the chain on my IGH equipped tourer for a bit in the rain last year, it got a stiff link and started jumping the ring, which was a real bugger if it happened either half way round a roundabout, or just as I was about to pass someone.
http://www.velochocolate.co.uk Special Treats for Lifestyle Cyclists
From FCN from 8 (road bike, beard, bag, work clothes) to 15 (on my Brompton)0 -
hi,
can anyone tell me what this thread is about? It mesmerises me, yet I have no idea of what it's about...0 -
It's not about the bike...SamWise72 wrote:(Or "Bad news for weight weenies")1) I'm just faster than you; I can take on more oxygen, my muscles process it better, I've got bigger more effective muscles, or I'm bigger full stop, and can use that to my advantage. Let's face it, this is really numbers 1-9, almost always, when you get owned, it's superior strength and fitness. Particularly, if you're in team kit, riding an expensive looking Cannondale, and carrying only a backpack, and you can't shake me, on my Brompton, in work clothes, carrying a big bag off your wheel as we jointly annihilate everyone else over Waterloo Bridge, it's definitely that I'm better.
It's not about the bike...2) I know how to ride my bike. I know how to start effectively and quickly, I'm pushing a sensible gear, I backed off and preserved momentum so I went through the lights fast when they changed, while you were grinding. When someone beats you, almost always they beat you in a race; their bike didn't beat yours.
It's not about the bike...3) I have a more favourable gear ratio. I you ride SS or fixed, chances are that on any geared bike I'll have an advantage off the line, and again at speed, even if I'm on a 3 speed. If you've got plenty and chosen wrong, you're a muppet.
Oh, right - it might be about the bike.4) I maintain my bike properly. If I've cleaned and lubed my chain, and I grease the other bearings now and then, you're in trouble if you don't.
Hang on, yeah. Definitely about the bike.5) I have appropriate tyres. They're not so wide a tractor could use them, they're not covered in ridiculous knobbles, and I've inflated them to a sensible pressure. Maybe you should try that?
Definitely about the bike.6) I'm more aero than you. Clothing might be a factor, but if I've got drops and you haven't, then even if we're equal in every other area, after 20 mph I'm going to start running away from you.
Really, truly about the bike.7) My bike is lighter. Alright, if you're sure you've eliminated everything else on the list, then go ahead and buy a TI seatpost or a carbon fork. But even then, don't forget that you could get the same effect cheaper by eating one less sausage a meal, or leaving your iPod at home instead of putting it in the bag.
I can't make up my mind whether it's about the bike or not.0 -
This thread is about what the OP says it is about, at any given moment and regardless of anything the OP may or may not have stated previously.Cannondale Supersix / CAAD9 / Boardman 9.0 / Benotto 30000
-
Or: "it could be about the bike, but I consider it very unlikely."
And Oscar, the vast majority of people seem to have detected that the thread was on the topic of "what makes people fast", and that I had couched it in the language of "I'm faster than you" to make it grab people a bit more. And I apologise for suggesting that a fat guy on a folding bike might be faster than you. I didn't know it would be a sensitive topic for you.
http://www.velochocolate.co.uk Special Treats for Lifestyle Cyclists
From FCN from 8 (road bike, beard, bag, work clothes) to 15 (on my Brompton)0 -
frinkmakesyouthink wrote:I'm a bit late but -
"4) I maintain my bike properly. If I've cleaned and lubed my chain, and I grease the other bearings now and then, you're in trouble if you don't. "
Whether a chain is lubricated makes no difference to its efficiency, so long as it's clean and unworn. The only thing lube does is stop it rusting and stop it wearing. Source - Bicycling Science 3rd edition
Good post though.
Then I do hope that (at least that section) of Bicycling Science 3rd Edition is constructed of very thin and nicely soft paper because it has certainly missed it's calling as a purveyor of good science.
Efficiency is a mathematical function of power in to a system versus power out of that same system. This ratio is entirely dependent on power losses within the system.
Please take a nicely polished piece of steel and rub it along another nicely polished clean piece of steel. Then try the same thing with a light film of clean oil between them.
Still think it makes mo difference?FCN 5 belt driven fixie for city bits
CAADX 105 beastie for bumpy bits
Litespeed L3 for Strava bits
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.0 -
oscarbudgie wrote:This thread is about what the OP says it is about, at any given moment and regardless of anything the OP may or may not have stated previously.
I'm finding myself increasingly irritated by this (good trolling, well done). Go back and read my OP, and ask yourself this question. Do you think it's more likely that my admittedly open-to-interpretation post was:
A) an overweight 38 year old man on a folding bike telling everyone in the world without exception that he is faster than them, and citing as one of the reasons that he is the only person in the world who lubes his chain and inflates his tyres.
a list of the most important factors in one person being faster than another, made slightly more interesting by the use of Commuting forum style MTFU type language?
http://www.velochocolate.co.uk Special Treats for Lifestyle Cyclists
From FCN from 8 (road bike, beard, bag, work clothes) to 15 (on my Brompton)0 -
have we not derailed this into whether pickled onion monster munch is the best crisp ever thread yet?
Le Cannon [98 Cannondale M400] [FCN: 8]
The Mad Monkey [2013 Hoy 003] [FCN: 4]0 -
smelliest perhaps*MonkeyMonster wrote:have we not derailed this into whether pickled onion monster munch is the best crisp ever thread yet?
* I am of course courting controversy from the scampi fries contingent with my statement but that's just how I roll.Hat + Beard0 -
MonkeyMonster wrote:have we not derailed this into whether pickled onion monster munch is the best crisp ever thread yet?
Pah!
0 -
Does this thread administer a heavy dose of LSD when you read it?
Or is it just the thread?0 -
UndercoverElephant wrote:MonkeyMonster wrote:have we not derailed this into whether pickled onion monster munch is the best crisp ever thread yet?
Pah!
Just decided to Frazzle up my sandwich this lunchtime - chapeau boys, great reminder!0 -
Golden Wonder Cheese and Onion (when they used proper plastic packets not the foil ones) are the best crisps of all time.
It is about the bike as much as it is the person on the bike as it is the environment your riding.Food Chain number = 4
A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game0 -
Contenders....
0 -
I bought Discos and Skips from a supermarket a little while ago - the skips were just as great as I remember, but discos are now really bland and rubbish! I remember them being really seriously crunchy, and so vinegary they'd burn you. Those were the days.
I'd like to add some nominees:
0 -
Wheat crunchish could be a bugger to crisp up a sandwich.....may give it a shot though - smokey bacon in tuna is good etiquette.0
-
Damn you all and your working-class crisps.
Rules are for fools.0 -
Agreed LiT - the sad demise of Discos is tragedy. I don't think they are putting enough MSG in to them anymore. One occasionaly comes accross them, pushed to the corner of the corner shop crisp display...
Other players:
And if I was down to my last 5p.
0 -
JonGinge wrote:Ooh, those wheat crunchies are ace. But so are
Ooooooooh I nearly included them, but then I thought I had too much of a focus on worcestershire sauce flavour crisps... TBH the only crisps I don't really like are the bog-standard walkers.0 -
Do you remember 'Smiths' where you had to do the salt thing yourself from the small blue packet! It would invariably land on one crisp only - so that one would be uber salty and the rest would be bland. Strange concept in hindsight.
When I was about 8 my mum saw a news-story on 'E numbers' and refused to buy decent crisps for a few years - she would get mingin' E number free wheat things. I had to barter for decent crisps at school by leveraging a Peperami.0 -
Sewinman wrote:Do you remember 'Smiths' where you had to do the salt thing yourself from the small blue packet! It would invariably land on one crisp only - so that one would be uber salty and the rest would be bland. Strange concept in hindsight.
When I was about 8 my mum saw a news-story on 'E numbers' and refused to buy decent crisps for a few years - she would get mingin' E number free wheat things. I had to barter for decent crisps at school by leveraging a Peperami.
0 -
Nope you're all wrong... these are by far the best with a really vinegary burning sensation
0
