Silly Commuter Dawdling

MarkAshton

I have noticed a growing trend for people to partake in "Silly Commuter Racing", whereby people often discuss how they "scalped" another fellow commuter on their way to work.

This is great... if your racing. I am more of a sit back, watch the world go by and get from A->B kind of guy. My commute is nothing more than a form of transport. I take pride in how easy I can ride into/out of work without getting caught up in the sport of "Silly Commute Racing"... (Easier said than done)

I know there must be a few others who also share the same mentality, so thought I'd start the "Silly Commuter Dawdling" thread where people can post reports on how they were "scalped" by a guy on a uni cycle. You see so much more when going slow!

Getting scalped by a racer with full Lycra and shaved legs gets minimum points. Getting passed by a guy on a Boris bike in full work gear giving it the beans gets maximum points... But who needs points!

Who's first?

veronese68

But to quote the late* Bruce Forsyth "What do points make?"

* I know he's not dead yet, I'm future-proofing this post in case this runs as long as the SCR thread.

notsoblue

MarkAshton wrote:

My commute is nothing more than a form of transport

Liar.

pangolin

Bit odd how you describe this 'growing trend' as if it's something special you've noticed rather than the most popular thread on the forum, going for nearly 5 years, with over Forty Thousand replies. But yes, good spot.

If your (correct use of your ) commute is nothing more than a mode of transport to you, why do you feel the need to justify your happy go lucky, care free cycling attitude by inventing your own point system?

I dunz believe you. Man up and speed up.

MarkAshton

Its tough holding back sometimes.

pangolin

It's tougher winning (if you are referring to holding back on the road).

meanredspider

I had an amusing (virtual) exchange with a fellow commuter and Strava-ist. I'd spotted him in the dark distance and, whilst the competitive cyclist side obviously kicked into life (makes the commute more interesting for a start - not much to see in the dark), my legs were tired so I thought I'd creep up slowly on him. I was slightly disappointed to catch him quite quickly because a. it meant he was probably a nodder and b. it meant the interest in my ride would soon be over. Anyway, at that point, he spotted my lights and set off up the next hill like a greased weasel (transpires he's 20 years younger and 20kg lighter than me). I obviously had to give chase...

The funny thing was the exchange later. He was saying that there's no way he was going to be overtaken because then he'd have to overtake me back. He'd been thinking of turning off his lights and hiding until I'd gone. I was telling him that I'd been thinking of turning off my lights to trick him into thinking I'd given up and been dropped. As it was we both held station (at pace) for the next 5 miles until our paths diverged and we could both take a well-earned breather!

The moral of the story is that, even when we don't feel like it, we can't help but be competitive

mudcow007

meanredspider wrote:

even when we don't feel like it, we can't help but be competitive

Ian.B

pangolin wrote:

Bit odd how you describe this 'growing trend' as if it's something special you've noticed rather than the most popular thread on the forum, going for nearly 5 years, with over Forty Thousand replies. But yes, good spot.

If your (correct use of your ) commute is nothing more than a mode of transport to you, why do you feel the need to justify your happy go lucky, care free cycling attitude by inventing your own point system?

I dunz believe you. Man up and speed up.

A tad aggressive/sarcastic? Off to the SCR thread with you!

pete_s

Must be a city thing. I'm too busy riding home with my hands in my pockets singing to my iPod to worry about being overtaken or racing. Riding time is chill out time.

Initialised

There are those days when you just can't be harrissed and there are those days when you have no choice but to dawdles. Trouble is they tend to get interrupted by someone overtaking you and giving it the I'm not out of breath cheery hello and before you know it your sitting in their wheel waiting for an opportunity to pass and give them the why did you bother over taking me glance.

MarkAshton

Pretty uneventful ride home along the embankment. A fair few other dawdlers out, had a guy on a hybrid up my a$$ (his super bright strobe light gave it away) but he never seemed to want to pass. Shame.

Bit colder than I had hoped and couldn't work out if it was a head or tail wind?

chilling

pete_s wrote:

Must be a city thing. I'm too busy riding home with my hands in my pockets singing to my iPod to worry about being overtaken or racing. Riding time is chill out time.

Nah, in the city we need our hands to operate our iPads.

daddy0

MarkAshton wrote:

...couldn't work out if it was a head or tail wind?

Normally I'd say that there is no such thing as a tail wind, but in your case maybe you should give it the switcheroo and deny the head winds existence?

"I just had a really great ride, it took me twice as long as normal to get home. No, it was no headwind, I was dwadling like a pro."

meanredspider

pete_s wrote:

Must be a city thing.

You must be right - I'm racing around the city hairy coos, being mobbed by the city red kites and dodging the city red squirrels

roger_merriman

depends on time and mood, if I'm riding home with my wife who does ooh 8mph we get passed by joggers let alone other cyclists!

The Rookie

I don't see many other cyclists on my cross country commute, but most on 'proper' bikes rea usually up for a bit of SCR, had a great run with another Hybrid the other day, we were so evenly matched we ended up taking it in turns to be first wheel.... a couple of good strava segments were the result!

MarkAshton

Busy today. Seemed like a big tailwind from the South West. The best dawdling conditions! Barley any pressure on the pedals but still flying along. Not looking forward to the journey home though, wind speed is set to increase!

fatgrimpeur

pangolin wrote:

Bit odd how you describe this 'growing trend' as if it's something special you've noticed rather than the most popular thread on the forum, going for nearly 5 years, with over Forty Thousand replies. But yes, good spot.


From the same 20 odd people.....

pangolin

We are not odd.

We know how quotes work though

mudcow007

pangolin wrote:

We are not odd.

We know how quotes work though

oooow you b1tch!!

pangolin

MarkAshton

Gearing up (literally) for a windy ride home. Granny ring will be well and truly utilised (as always).

MarkAshton

Wind so strong tonight, dawdling went out of the window, it became personal between bike and wind.

MrSweary

MarkAshton wrote:

Wind so strong tonight, dawdling went out of the window, it became personal between bike and wind.

Very much this. Mainly just to keep going forward for me though....

notsoblue

Wind assisted dawdle this morning. Lovely

shouldbeinbed

MarkAshton wrote:

I have noticed a growing trend for people to partake in "Silly Commuter Racing", whereby people often discuss how they "scalped" another fellow commuter on their way to work.

This is great... if your racing. I am more of a sit back, watch the world go by and get from A->B kind of guy. My commute is nothing more than a form of transport. I take pride in how easy I can ride into/out of work without getting caught up in the sport of "Silly Commute Racing"... (Easier said than done)

I know there must be a few others who also share the same mentality, so thought I'd start the "Silly Commuter Dawdling" thread where people can post reports on how they were "scalped" by a guy on a uni cycle. You see so much more when going slow!

Getting scalped by a racer with full Lycra and shaved legs gets minimum points. Getting passed by a guy on a Boris bike in full work gear giving it the beans gets maximum points... But who needs points!

Who's first?

do you lose points if you overtake people tho? even if you've not had to make the effort to do so?

I like the idea, I'm a happy pootler and don't see many others either way so i'll not be troubling the scorers much. On the ccasions someone does scalp me I am happy to let em go, they're going faster than I want to anyhow, but if I see I'm catching someone then there is a bit more of a spur to close the gap as quickly as I can.

JimboPlob

Why does the wind always seem to pick up in the afternoon? Also had a wind assisted tailwind dawdle in this morning, nice and easy. Not going to fall into the same trap as light night and try to fight the wind... "must dawdle and accept speed will be minimal"

I felt there were a few people out last night (mainly on sit up and beg bikes), who were a bit of hazard. Seemed to be getting blown all over the road and didn't quite know how to handle it.

MarkAshton

Epic dawdle this morning. Legs not working. Great tailwind pushing me along in the granny, passed by pretty much everything on the road. Its amazing at how bad some of the riding is when you sit back and watch!

asprilla

JimboPlob wrote:

Why does the wind always seem to pick up in the afternoon?

I would assume it was something to do with the sun being out warming things up and this having an impact on air currents.