Eat This MacBludge - Quadruple Scalp!

[Wigsie]

Impressed by Macbludgeons tales of a double scalp I have been itching to get a double scalp on my commute. It is 18.4 miles, but mostly the busy A20 so no one is stupid enough to ride on it.

So I left my house this morning about 40 minutes earlier as I have had some time off and didnt want to rush things and there were cyclists everywhere!! Riding through the initial urban stretch I past a paper boy (he wasnt delivering as his bag was empty), I then dustedoff an old boy on a hybrid who proceeded to jump a blatant red light and got ahead of me so I overtook him again (in interests of fairness I have only counted that once).

A few minutes later I was following a guy for a few hundred yards and when I got next to him I glanced across and he was wearing a full face ballaclava!! so I accelerated off faster than usual untill I couldnt see him anymore then i felt the burn and took it easy for a few miles. Just as I was coming back into town before i get to work was the best, I overtook a 30 something on a Giant (looked Carbon, was black with yellow writing) road bike! My first actual roadie scalp! ok she was tiny and it was down hill so I had gravity and about 10stone more on my side but still awesome ride in.

I think I must have been leaving too late to have the commuting races everyone else enjoys! Awesome ride in today, cant wait for home time as its 80% downhill!!

 

[HelenD123]

I was doing 16mph (fast for me) and still had a bloke cruise effortlessly past me this morning. I was on my hybrid and he was on a Bob Jackson roadbike but still

 

[Wigsie]

At 16 mph (just under my average for journey two work) there is probably few everyday joes on here (myself included) that could comfortably overtake and dissappear into the distance without stopping to dry heave as soon as we get out of eyesight.

 

[HelenD123]

Thanks. I feel much better now!

 

[MacB]

Ah Wigsie, I'm proud of you, and a bit jealous as usual, fine scalps, especially the roadie. You need to get yourself to one of the social rides, quite an interesting experience. Ignoring how much faster they all were than me in general, I couldn't believe how fast they went downhill. Sounds like you get more practice at that than I do, but my bottle goes around 35mph. When the new commuter's finished I'm going to put some skinnier tyres on the Giant and remove some bits. See if I can't keep up a bit better on fun rides.

I have an ambition to properly scalp a roadie whilst using butterfly bars

 

[Wigsie]

I would like to join a fun ride at some point but with the kids its hard to plan anything more than a day or two in advance. Like you my nerve gets me at 35 ish (well top speed on speedo is 34.5mph), I am just trying to gain a bit of fitness again, Done pretty much nothing but eat pizza, curry and drink beer the last 3 weeks its amazing how quick you lose any kind of base fitness.

My next goal is a Male roadie (under 70) on the flat or uphill.... but I am sure I will be in for a spot of dry heaving after that!

Good luck with your new bike!

 

[4F]

I have an ambition to properly scalp a roadie whilst using butterfly bars

 

[MacB]

Wigsie, I fancy doing Peters Hampshire route again sometime, maybe several times. I'll let you, and anyone else interested, know when I'm doing it and you can pop along if time is available. I'm also going to try a more formal CC run using the route later in the year, I'll post up a thread on it.

 

[Tynan]

I'm slogged with kids and nonsense too

the night rides are an option, set off at midnight and home early morning on Sat, no bother to anyone other than yourself, damn good fun too

 

[MacB]

recipe for a child free day:-

step 1 - take one household with children and select an onerous, repetitive and never ending task. Volunteer to complete said task indefinitely and amass browny points. For me this is all washing and ironing for the 5 of us, even colour co-ordinated my wifes wardrobe for her

step 2 - never make a murmur if asked to babysit(they are your kids after all), even suggest days out to your partner to get some alone adult time. Make sure that on these days you do something energetic with the children so that they're worn out for the evening/next day.

step 3 - broach subject of your alone/adult time and see how easy it becomes all of a sudden.

Yep, you have to put in a bit more effort but, after a short time, you don't even notice it.

 

[Wigsie]

Your not Married to a Crazy South African are you?

Already cook, clean and bath kids when I get home after work, Weekends are described as her days without kids as i get days without them whilst at work!

I have discovere that the best thing is to give her £100 and send her off to the Garden centre with her mum. 4-5 hours (no exaggeration) later she will come home, i will fake irritation (i enjoy time with the kids) so she then feels guilty and encourages me to get out on the bike the next day for a good few hours.

Unfortunately this does require that you can afford to spend £400 a month on flowers (not me!) and it rely's on her feeling suitably guilty in the morning.

Thus planned weekend rides = difficult!

 

[mr_cellophane]

I did the whole comute 16 miles and never passed or was passed by anyone. There just weren't any cyclist going my way

 

[MacB]

I did the whole comute 16 miles and never passed or was passed by anyone. There just weren't any cyclist going my way

have you not got any close friends that can be honest with you about personal hygiene?

 

[mr_cellophane]

have you not got any close friends that can be honest with you about personal hygiene?

Didn't need telling today.

Still passed 5 on the way home although I had worn myself out by the last one and he sailed passed me as soon as I hit a slight incline.

 

[HelenD123]

No one to scalp on the way home. Shame as I was really flying and did it in record time.