NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!
madtam
Posts: 141
So having abandonded the laptop and bag plus other bits and pieces at work for once, and therefore heading home with just a change of clothes and feeling much lighter. I was rolling along quite briskly and the weather being pleasant I was giving it a few more beans thinking I might aim for a quicker than usual trip back. The traffic gods were smiling and the lights were in my favour so I haven't been held up at all. On the only significant climb I spot another bike ahead which always up the cadence and effort such that I reel him in briskly and pass him at the top. Although I would like to back off and recover a bit I have to keep pressing on to make sure I lose him otherwise he might realise how hard I am blowing and what effort I have put in. Anyway it's downhill so I still can recover a little whilst keeping the speed going. I put the hammer down a bit more over a Strava section at the latter end of the journey partly just because I could and partly to keep ahead of the bus that I had passed a little way back. Of course, as it's a mile and a half or so of 50mph double lane it went past me and at the end of the segment I backed off so as not to kill myself. However, just around the next bend the bus had pulled in at a stop and was just pulling away giving me the ideal opportunity to coast up behind it and draft it. As it's the usual commute I know the road pretty well and it's the final couple of miles of gently rising good road with just a few potholes and grates to avoid. So I am drafting the bus at a steady 30mph where I usually have to press on hard to hit 20mph otherwise. I am also mid lane rather than towards the kerb where the rougher surface is so it's going great. I know when the couple of bus stops are coming up so am careful to drop back a little as we get to them just in case, but it's my lucky day and we keep going. at the final bus stop only a short distance before I turn off the bus finally indicates and slows but a glance up the road shows it's clear and after the easy drafting the legs feel fine so I squirt round and sprint for the turn. I know I am on for a record now so make the turn up, an unadopted road, tight and fast and now only have the last short but vicious climb to the finish.
OK it's actually a footpath shortcut to the bottom of the estate but I hardly ever see anybody else use it so am guaranteed a personal best as I blast up it dropping down gears as it quickly hits a 15-20% gradient. With the end in site it's the tricky 90 degree right hander up the step onto the ramp alongside the steps. This is where I ride up the 35-40% gradient alongside the flight of stairs and is unrideable in wet conditions due to insufficient traction. Fortunately it's dry now and I will probably bust a bloodvessel at the top but am going up fast. It's steep but short so at the top it's over the pavement back on the final stretch of road which is officially 25% rising to 33% around the hairpin at the top. But I finish before there so the final few pedal strokes, in really too big a gear, are ground out as I endeavour to drag some air into my lungs that really don't know what has hit them at this point. A final twitch left onto the drive and a few metres further and I stop mostly on the brakes but hard up against the step in front of the house and slump sideways agaisnt the wall where I remain for a "little" while. The heart rate gradually starts to head back down towards 200 or so, tunnel vision recedes and after a while I am even able to climb off the bike.
After some considerable time I am finally able to grab the phone out of my pocket to stop Strava running and clock probably an unbeatable personal best time.
Then of course the entire world collapses as I see the keypad come up for me to enter the PIN. This is the PIN to start the phone in the first place and dread hits me immediately. Surely this can't be happening now, not after what I have just gone through. Entering the numbers with numb fingers, partly from oxygen deprivation but partly from mental shock, the phone is actually restarting. The last vestiges of hope disappear as I restart Strava to find that sure enough I have an unsaved ride somehow. That would be the first few hundred metres away from work, just before the phone decided to throw a paddy and shut down.
I have lost it all.
The initial burst of speed on the first quiet section where unencumbered by working weight I sprinted just because I could and it felt good.
The sweeping section of quiet back roads where I with seemingly light traffic and certainly light weight I could pedal freely and back tighter into the bends.
The climb where with an incentive and the lighter weight I might well have scored higher on the strava segment.
The traffic lights all beckoning through without pause or even slowing.
The final strava segment where I went for it and might even have made KOM.
And of course a couple of miles of 30mph drafting where I would surely have clinched the record. The final burst up the hill was the painful end that would have been worthwhile to see just how much time I had cut from my previous best.
Unfortunately it was all for nought and if it wasn't for the fact that I was too knackered I think I might have dropped the phone on the ground and jumped up and down on it until it crushed into powder.
I sometimes think I need to chill out a bit more.
OK it's actually a footpath shortcut to the bottom of the estate but I hardly ever see anybody else use it so am guaranteed a personal best as I blast up it dropping down gears as it quickly hits a 15-20% gradient. With the end in site it's the tricky 90 degree right hander up the step onto the ramp alongside the steps. This is where I ride up the 35-40% gradient alongside the flight of stairs and is unrideable in wet conditions due to insufficient traction. Fortunately it's dry now and I will probably bust a bloodvessel at the top but am going up fast. It's steep but short so at the top it's over the pavement back on the final stretch of road which is officially 25% rising to 33% around the hairpin at the top. But I finish before there so the final few pedal strokes, in really too big a gear, are ground out as I endeavour to drag some air into my lungs that really don't know what has hit them at this point. A final twitch left onto the drive and a few metres further and I stop mostly on the brakes but hard up against the step in front of the house and slump sideways agaisnt the wall where I remain for a "little" while. The heart rate gradually starts to head back down towards 200 or so, tunnel vision recedes and after a while I am even able to climb off the bike.
After some considerable time I am finally able to grab the phone out of my pocket to stop Strava running and clock probably an unbeatable personal best time.
Then of course the entire world collapses as I see the keypad come up for me to enter the PIN. This is the PIN to start the phone in the first place and dread hits me immediately. Surely this can't be happening now, not after what I have just gone through. Entering the numbers with numb fingers, partly from oxygen deprivation but partly from mental shock, the phone is actually restarting. The last vestiges of hope disappear as I restart Strava to find that sure enough I have an unsaved ride somehow. That would be the first few hundred metres away from work, just before the phone decided to throw a paddy and shut down.
I have lost it all.
The initial burst of speed on the first quiet section where unencumbered by working weight I sprinted just because I could and it felt good.
The sweeping section of quiet back roads where I with seemingly light traffic and certainly light weight I could pedal freely and back tighter into the bends.
The climb where with an incentive and the lighter weight I might well have scored higher on the strava segment.
The traffic lights all beckoning through without pause or even slowing.
The final strava segment where I went for it and might even have made KOM.
And of course a couple of miles of 30mph drafting where I would surely have clinched the record. The final burst up the hill was the painful end that would have been worthwhile to see just how much time I had cut from my previous best.
Unfortunately it was all for nought and if it wasn't for the fact that I was too knackered I think I might have dropped the phone on the ground and jumped up and down on it until it crushed into powder.
I sometimes think I need to chill out a bit more.
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Comments
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Now you know why a Garmin is such a good idea!Invacare Spectra Plus electric wheelchair, max speed 4mph
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LolWhat do you mean you think 64cm is a big frame?0
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OptimisticBiker wrote:Now you know why a Garmin is such a good idea!
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Good tale.
I've had my garmin corrupt the ride file for what would have probably been my fastest millbank sprint. It also (rarely) turns itself off - happened today.FCN 9 || FCN 50 -
My iPhone Strava GPS ap took me on a two mile detour round London that I didn't take this morning... granted it gave me a QOM on a road I hadn't ever ridden down (!?!), but I didn't want that, I wanted to see my times on my usual route.
I share your pain.Why? Because I'm guaranteed a seat all the way in.
Brompton SL2
Ridley Icarus SLS0 -
OptimisticBiker wrote:Now you know why a Garmin is such a good idea!
I've forgotten to press the start button on the Garmin too. :oops:None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.0 -
There's no limit.....--
Chris
Genesis Equilibrium - FCN 3/4/50 -
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Does that work as a summary?madtam wrote:Turns out my ride wasn't as awesome as I thought so I deleted it and made up an elaborate excuse.
In all seriousness I sympathise. It's one of the reasons I got my Holux thingy. Unfortunately I forgot to turn it off a couple of nights this week so it didn't last the whole week. Not a problem because I was really slow today.0 -
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daviesee wrote:OptimisticBiker wrote:Now you know why a Garmin is such a good idea!
I've forgotten to press the start button on the Garmin too. :oops:
Well nothing is totally idiot* proof
*I'll admit, under duress, I've forgeotten to press it too, but its very very rareInvacare Spectra Plus electric wheelchair, max speed 4mph0 -
Last week... Smashed myself on regular commuting hill, teeth gritted - Clint Eastwood on an MTB. Claimed KOM as was my right, basked in my hubris all morning, casually attempted to change the ride from roadie default to mtb and deleted the ride. The Gods were definitely laughing at me. That's a lesson in humility.0
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I was on for a PB along a segment last week, only to have it cruelly snatched from me by a truck that decided to wait in the road to turn left. That's annoying enough, so I empathise.
And as for the benefits of a Garmin... my Edge 205 has started telling me that the battery is empty, even if it has been fully charged the evening before. Grr.0 -
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Don't sing this song, it belongs to P.F.Sloan
Even got this as a bloody earworm now! :-DFCN 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 -
....this is why I use the tried and tested blackburn cyclo computer - auto start/stop, av speed, max speed, dist, cycle time & cal. Brilliant - all for £11.99 on the bay...!0
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Rick Chasey wrote:Anyone else think of this when they saw the thread title?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, YES! I thought of this;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InTAt2hI_kg0 -
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Sketchley wrote:
NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! There's no lyricsI used to just ride my bike to work but now I find myself going out looking for bigger and bigger hills.0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_7NDQxfSqc
