Bubble burst...

[Arch]

A couple of weeks back, i was smug because I'd overtaken 3 people on the way in, albeit one of them a chap with an empty child seat on his bike.

Today I was overtaken, and only just managed to then keep up with, a chap with a full child seat on the back.

I was impressed - we hit 18mph down Bootham.

In my defence, when I caught him at lights and commented on his superior power, he replied in English with what might have been a Dutch accent.

Still, I over took several other people, although many of them had their saddles too low.

 

[Crackle]

A flying Dutchman no less.

 

[Downward]

So you couldn't pass the dutchie on the left hand side ?

 

[very-near]

So you couldn't pass the dutchie on the left hand side ?

Not if he is driving a lorry

 

[thomas]

That's a bit quick with a child on the back.

Hmm, you could go a lot faster in a car that doesn't come with any special safety features.

 

[Arch]

Hmm, you could go a lot faster in a car that doesn't come with any special safety features.

All cars have special safety features, like the big steel box surrounding the occupants..

I did think it was a bit quick, but the guy was obviously completely at home on the bike, and the kid seemed happy. I suppose, strapped in well, the seat acts as a bit of a cage in the event of a fall, and whatever speed you are doing, a bus running over it isn't going to be good.

The guy I saw on the way home was different. Pulling a Burley trailer on a full-sus BSO, when he stopped in the traffic queue I wondered if he had some sort of palsy he was standing and jiggling the bike on it's suspension. He stopped for long enough for me to think it wasn't involuntary. And then next time the lights changed (it's a junction with short phases, and narrow lanes, so no room to filter on the road - I just wait in line.), he hopped the whole lot up onto the pavement to ride down to the ASL, where he got back on the road and waited at the red, to turn left. As did the guy on a solo bike who rode down the pavement past me to join him. Why bother with the lights, when you've just broken the law riding on the pavment?

Anyway, I blasted past him with ease moments later when the lights changed. Oh yes, I can overtake a guy on full-sus BSO towing a trailer alright..

 

[soopoot]

Aren't you getting a bit too competitive? I usually just ignore things like this and get on with my own things - saves me lots of hassle.

 

[Arch]

Aren't you getting a bit too competitive? I usually just ignore things like this and get on with my own things - saves me lots of hassle.

I don't think so. It doesn't matter if I'm overtaken, but as I get fitter and less fat, I find I'm getting faster, and if I choose to up the pace a bit, it's good exercise. And if, along the way, I get to have a singger at someone who thought they were saving time by breaking the law, that makes me feel superior, and I prove a point.

You're quite new here, so you won't know that I am much more famed for leading rides with multiple cafe stops and tea than I am for anything competitive...

 

[jmaccyd]

Still, I over took several other people, although many of them had their saddles too low.

The number of cyclists with their saddles set too low is amazing - simply drives me nuts!

 

[GrasB]

There is always someone who's fitter, more powerful & faster then you out there & just because they have a child on the back of their bike doesn't mean they're slow. I'm getting to that point where I can't find riders slow enough for me to chase down but fast enough to stretch me & it's driving me nuts.

 

[Arch]

I know, and it's not all yoofs on trails bikes and BMXs (I understand the reasoning behind that, you don't want a high saddle when you're bounching about on ramps).

I've never been bothered enough to tell anyone as I pass them. And of course, sometimes, they pass me...