A funny thing happened...

optimisticbiker

... on the way home...

Three of us coming up the Edgware Road through Cricklewood, Hendon & Edgware.. Two of us taking turns at the front, the third, on an old steel roadbike that had seen better days, just wheel sucking all the way. Eventually the other guy turns off, leaving me and wheel sucker... so I slow right down until he has no option but to pass, then latch on to his wheel... 1/2 mile ahead is a parked car... getting closer.... and closer... shoulder check, nothing coming so signal and ease out and wait for him to do the same in front of me... no movement... do i pass or wait... if i pass now he'll have to pull out into me so i wait... and wait ... and ... bang he's ridden straight into the parked car. He was more embarrassed than hurt. Don't think there was much damage to the bike, was hard to tell, it was so beat up already... He mumbled something about being in a world of his own, "but it was good following you guys". Not a word of thanks though. After making sure he was OK, I left him to it...

What a pratt!

bails87

Did he damage the car?!

optimisticbiker

bails87 wrote:

Did he damage the car?!

You know what... I never bothered to look :roll:

daviesee

Maybe, just maybe, he was blowing out his ..... just to keep up.
I've been there. :oops:

bails87

OptimisticBiker wrote:

bails87 wrote:

Did he damage the car?!

You know what... I never bothered to look :roll:

Not sure what the :roll: means, but I'm being serious.

Obviously I'm glad he's okay, but if he's done a few hundred pounds worth of damage to an innocent person's car he shouldn't have just left it.

Ben6899

I had a similar encounter in Regent's Park last night.

I pull onto the east 'uphill' drag and there's a guy in civvies riding a very squeaky white road bike. As I cruise alongside, he looks at me and gets out of the saddle to get into my wheel. During this process, I have to swerve to stop him actually hitting me.

Then he sits RIGHT on my wheel all the way up to the traffic lights at Park Way, shouting "Go on! Go on!"... as I'm doing ~24mph. As we round the left hand bend and it flattens off, I drop a cog and open up a gap to drop him.

Thing is, right, timings allow this bloke to be the one who rear-ended the car on the Edgware Road.

clarkey cat

Then he sits RIGHT on my wheel all the way up to the traffic lights at Park Way, shouting "Go on! Go on!"...

maybe he thought he was your personal trainer. I wouldnt mind a bit of motivational chat like that sometimes.

Ben6899

clarkey cat wrote:

Then he sits RIGHT on my wheel all the way up to the traffic lights at Park Way, shouting "Go on! Go on!"...

maybe he thought he was your personal trainer. I wouldnt mind a bit of motivational chat like that sometimes.

It was quite funny, to be fair. I was just a bit nervous, considering he had already almost wiped me out!

And then it was nice to hear the squeak become dimmer and dimmer.

il_principe

clarkey cat wrote:

Then he sits RIGHT on my wheel all the way up to the traffic lights at Park Way, shouting "Go on! Go on!"...

maybe he thought he was your personal trainer. I wouldnt mind a bit of motivational chat like that sometimes.

You should've just farted...

optimisticbiker

Ben6899 wrote:

I had a similar encounter in Regent's Park last night.

I pull onto the east 'uphill' drag and there's a guy in civvies riding a very squeaky white road bike. As I cruise alongside, he looks at me and gets out of the saddle to get into my wheel. During this process, I have to swerve to stop him actually hitting me.

Then he sits RIGHT on my wheel all the way up to the traffic lights at Park Way, shouting "Go on! Go on!"... as I'm doing ~24mph. As we round the left hand bend and it flattens off, I drop a cog and open up a gap to drop him.

Thing is, right, timings allow this bloke to be the one who rear-ended the car on the Edgware Road.

No this one was a pale blue, Bianchi sort of colour... (tho dont think it was one)

Squarepants

OptimisticBiker wrote:

Not a word of thanks though

Sorry does this mean you were expecting him to thank you?

So, you watch him head towards a parked car for some time, said nothing, held back from him and just after he hits the car you expect a genial "cheers mate" from him as he picks himself off the floor..

I don't get roadies

optimisticbiker

I was on my flat-bar hybrid....

And he had just wheel-sucked, sometimes dangerously, for best part of 7 miles...

And I was trying very hard not to laugh OK...

Wasn't expecting a thanks, he'd had plenty of opportunity at various lights beforehand...