"Oh s***!! What was that flash!!?" LMAO!!

downfader
downfader Posts: 3,686
edited October 2009 in Commuting chat
Keep with me on this one - its a bit of a blog..

Today is supposed to be a rest day but I couldnt help myself. :oops: Yesterday I got home and did an extra hour of weights on top of the 30 minute bike ride. I wasnt particularly sore or anything, but I thought I'd take it easy today to allow my body to catch up.

So there I am. Heading across Hill Lane crossing and I think: "S*d it!! I'll ride Hill Lane way home" since half my usual commute has filled up with road works. :lol: On the flat I'm tearing along, and it feels like the other week when I checked my speed and found myself doing 32mph easy. I wasnt in the top ring/little ring yet and as I shifted a car overtook me, driver panicked when she realised I was actually keeping up with the car in front and she was now on his backside.

Theres no speed camera but I did wonder at the time if a flick of light off another car had made her wonder as she then began to slow down and drive a little more cautiously. :?

I also found that I wasnt really pushing it, or out of breath. Slight sidewind too. I was SO tempted to gun it and overtake the line of cars already doing over 30. The driver who had overtaken me kept looking in her mirror, and I could easily see she was a little confused as to how I was still there. :lol: I was 2 seconds away, that doesnt count as a draft does it? :lol:

I've been experimenting as I said with the weights. I've found some upper body stuff seems to help me out no end with the cycling. I've also been doing squats with the weights, 15 reps and 3 sets. Only light weights but in a week I'll up it. Squats have really helped with powering away from the lights.

Oh and I rode down a really steep hill near home. Not a hill I often ride but by god I think I may have broken my personal best - just wish I had the speedo on the damn bike when I did it. I was on the 50/12 combo and my little legs were going like the clappers. What made me laugh was the driver who really forced his car to overtake me, it didnt sound like it could take it. :lol: Obviously he beat me UP the hill! :lol: Then he nearly crashed into a bus further on. :o:lol:

Sorry, just felt like rambling :D

Comments

  • PARIS75
    PARIS75 Posts: 85
    epic stuff

    how big are those thighs of yours big boy :shock:

    stick a tape around them and let us know ASAP :wink:
  • Aidy
    Aidy Posts: 2,015
    Hmm... And now I wonder about mounting a camera flash on my handlebars...
  • downfader
    downfader Posts: 3,686
    PARIS75 wrote:
    epic stuff

    how big are those thighs of yours big boy :shock:

    stick a tape around them and let us know ASAP :wink:

    ..only 24.5 inches. :? No Chris Hoy here in that respect. :lol:

    @Aidy. Dont do it... it'll blind everyone! I know enough about camera flash to know. The speedcam ones are ultra directional
  • suzyb
    suzyb Posts: 3,449
    lol I don't even manage 30 going downhill.
  • BentMikey
    BentMikey Posts: 4,895
    Nice one!

    Oh, I have in the past hit 30mph down Kentish Way in Bromley, with my MaxxD on steady. Then put it on flash at the speed camera, and watch the panic.
  • downfader
    downfader Posts: 3,686
    32.9mph today. :lol: Was a long downhill stretch though. :twisted: Bit tired too so couldnt keep it up (oo-er). Came home and did some weights again.

    BM - I so want a Maxx light now. They look like exactly what I want for night riding. Might even get a B&M IQ light too. Wondering if I could mount them on the forks. :P

    Back to speed cams.. guy I know at work told me a story about some fella in his area. Speeders were causing all kinds of problems, but around the speedcam they were doing the usual brakey-game. This guy is supposed to have snuck out in the dead of light and covered the speedcam signs or written out of order under them I forget. Wonder if its true and if anyone got caught. :lol:
  • prawny
    prawny Posts: 5,439
    I hit 36mph+ everyday in the first mile of my commute to work, PB is 42mph on a still day in the summer. PITA coming home though :(
    Saracen Tenet 3 - 2015 - Dead - Replaced with a Hack Frame
    Voodoo Bizango - 2014 - Dead - Hit by a car
    Vitus Sentier VRS - 2017
  • god i really need to get a speedo for my bike- would love to see what kind of speed i can get to

    What speed can a good cyclist get up to on the flat? 30?
  • downfader
    downfader Posts: 3,686
    god i really need to get a speedo for my bike- would love to see what kind of speed i can get to

    What speed can a good cyclist get up to on the flat? 30?

    I have done that. Usually with the help of a tailwind, but have seen a couple of local guys do it into a headwind. :shock: :shock: 8)

    I can average 25 on the flat. Very slight incline I tend to do more of a 20.

    I find the speedos much more useful on shared paths where there is a limit. Helped me realise that I needed to slow down by quite a bit. Sometimes you think you're going slow when you're not :oops:
  • Porgy
    Porgy Posts: 4,525
    I hit about 35 going downhill from Shooters Hill into Welling and can keep myself at 30 or just below all the way into the High street as long as the lights are in my favour or no-one pulls out in front of me (and it's only happened once).

    The main problem seems to be that even bombing down the hill at 35 everyone seems to want to overtake me - and when i'm at one of the traffic islands it's just too damned dangerous so i usually end up slowing down quite a bit.

    Last time some stupid bint hammered along at just over 30 to pass me and then when she was about 5 feet in front of me turned left !!!! :evil:
  • Porgy
    Porgy Posts: 4,525
    god i really need to get a speedo for my bike- would love to see what kind of speed i can get to

    What speed can a good cyclist get up to on the flat? 30?

    I used to hit 30 on the flat quite a bit when i was still in my twenties. Not so much these days though. :cry:
  • downfader
    downfader Posts: 3,686
    Porgy wrote:
    god i really need to get a speedo for my bike- would love to see what kind of speed i can get to

    What speed can a good cyclist get up to on the flat? 30?

    I used to hit 30 on the flat quite a bit when i was still in my twenties. Not so much these days though. :cry:

    I hit 32 years this year and I think I'm the fastest I've ever been. Talk about peaking late. :oops:
  • Porgy
    Porgy Posts: 4,525
    downfader wrote:
    Porgy wrote:
    god i really need to get a speedo for my bike- would love to see what kind of speed i can get to

    What speed can a good cyclist get up to on the flat? 30?

    I used to hit 30 on the flat quite a bit when i was still in my twenties. Not so much these days though. :cry:

    I hit 32 years this year and I think I'm the fastest I've ever been. Talk about peaking late. :oops:

    I think I peaked around 28/29 - still quite late :oops:

    although I'm having a second peak right now in terms of distance. 8)
  • downfader
    downfader Posts: 3,686
    Porgy wrote:
    downfader wrote:
    Porgy wrote:
    god i really need to get a speedo for my bike- would love to see what kind of speed i can get to

    What speed can a good cyclist get up to on the flat? 30?

    I used to hit 30 on the flat quite a bit when i was still in my twenties. Not so much these days though. :cry:

    I hit 32 years this year and I think I'm the fastest I've ever been. Talk about peaking late. :oops:

    I think I peaked around 28/29 - still quite late :oops:

    although I'm having a second peak right now in terms of distance. 8)

    8)
  • prawny
    prawny Posts: 5,439
    I managed 39.9 today on the way to work, so near and yet so far! :x
    Saracen Tenet 3 - 2015 - Dead - Replaced with a Hack Frame
    Voodoo Bizango - 2014 - Dead - Hit by a car
    Vitus Sentier VRS - 2017
  • downfader
    downfader Posts: 3,686
    prawny wrote:
    I managed 39.9 today on the way to work, so near and yet so far! :x
    :shock:

    *bows down and salutes*
  • will3
    will3 Posts: 2,173
    prawny wrote:
    I managed 39.9 today on the way to work, so near and yet so far! :x

    on the flat?
  • downfader
    downfader Posts: 3,686
    will3 wrote:
    prawny wrote:
    I managed 39.9 today on the way to work, so near and yet so far! :x

    on the flat?

    I thought he said before that he lived at the top of a big hill (or have I got the wrong member..?)..?
  • will3
    will3 Posts: 2,173
    downfader wrote:
    will3 wrote:
    prawny wrote:
    I managed 39.9 today on the way to work, so near and yet so far! :x

    on the flat?

    I thought he said before that he lived at the top of a big hill (or have I got the wrong member..?)..?

    that's cheating!

    my pb was set here:
    http://www.multimap.com/s/DSX4yGwL

    with a very healthy tailwind (which is also cheating).
    40.1mph
    I was on the cyclepath
  • antlaff
    antlaff Posts: 583
    I managed 33 today or a slight decline on 48/13 combo. Can't wait until next year to get new road bike on C2W - once I finish paying off this year's buy!!
  • El Diego
    El Diego Posts: 440
    I have hit 28 on the flat on my heavy as shit hybrid with 700x37 tyres and panniers in victorian gentleman pose. I can't wait to get my 1st road bike (currently being built).
  • jedster
    jedster Posts: 1,717
    Might even get a B&M IQ light too. Wondering if I could mount them on the forks.

    I have mine mounted on the fork crown (if that's what its called, bracket fits to the mudguard fixing just below the headset). It is actually better to mount "seeing" lights lower down than the bars - creates a more useful pool of light
  • pst88
    pst88 Posts: 621
    Max 33-34 on 46x17 @ 150rpm. Never did manage to set off a speed camera despite going that speed through them, allegedly you have do be doing 35+ to trigger it. There's on of those LED signs that lights up when you're going faster than 30 near me but it's kind of out of my way so I've never bothered trying though I expect I could set that off. I haven;t actually broken the 30mph mark since returning to cycling after breaking my wrist in a bike accident. I think I've lost my mojo.
    Bianchi Via Nirone Veloce/Centaur 2010
  • will3
    will3 Posts: 2,173
    pst88 wrote:
    Max 33-34 on 46x17 @ 150rpm. Never did manage to set off a speed camera despite going that speed through them, allegedly you have do be doing 35+ to trigger it. There's on of those LED signs that lights up when you're going faster than 30 near me but it's kind of out of my way so I've never bothered trying though I expect I could set that off. I haven;t actually broken the 30mph mark since returning to cycling after breaking my wrist in a bike accident. I think I've lost my mojo.

    I'm not totally convinced that you're a big enought target for the LED thingies. There in one set at 20mph near here, but I've never been able to work out if it's picking me up or the speeding motorist up the road.
  • downfader
    downfader Posts: 3,686
    will3 wrote:
    pst88 wrote:
    Max 33-34 on 46x17 @ 150rpm. Never did manage to set off a speed camera despite going that speed through them, allegedly you have do be doing 35+ to trigger it. There's on of those LED signs that lights up when you're going faster than 30 near me but it's kind of out of my way so I've never bothered trying though I expect I could set that off. I haven;t actually broken the 30mph mark since returning to cycling after breaking my wrist in a bike accident. I think I've lost my mojo.

    I'm not totally convinced that you're a big enought target for the LED thingies. There in one set at 20mph near here, but I've never been able to work out if it's picking me up or the speeding motorist up the road.

    Its a narrow microwave beam isnt it? Some of the safety camera partnership websites might have some more info on them. I've never set one off either. :(
  • Porgy
    Porgy Posts: 4,525
    pst88 wrote:
    There's on of those LED signs that lights up when you're going faster than 30 near me but it's kind of out of my way so I've never bothered trying though I expect I could set that off..

    There's a couple of those signs near where i live and they go off at all speeds but flash red if you're over 30 - & i find it very useful to know i'm doing 13mph up the hill into Welling.

    also there's another one that says slow down - even if i pootle towards it at 5mph (i was experimenting) it tells me to slow down. Useless fecking sign!! :evil:
  • prawny
    prawny Posts: 5,439
    will3 wrote:
    downfader wrote:
    will3 wrote:
    prawny wrote:
    I managed 39.9 today on the way to work, so near and yet so far! :x

    on the flat?

    I thought he said before that he lived at the top of a big hill (or have I got the wrong member..?)..?

    that's cheating!

    my pb was set here:
    http://www.multimap.com/s/DSX4yGwL

    with a very healthy tailwind (which is also cheating).
    40.1mph
    I was on the cyclepath

    Tis true it was downhill, no pedalling aero tuck only.

    This is my commute route the first mile is the hill.

    www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=3596

    I might have a crack at a top speed sprint next week, I've never really tried before.
    Saracen Tenet 3 - 2015 - Dead - Replaced with a Hack Frame
    Voodoo Bizango - 2014 - Dead - Hit by a car
    Vitus Sentier VRS - 2017