Must commuters race each other?

[Ian Johnson]

Decided to head towards Manchester on my ride tonight for a change and ended up riding along the busy wilmslow road through fallowfield,I was taking it easy in the headwind, got overtaken by a roadie in baggie shorts,decided to up the speed a bit and put a little sprint on and flew past him again,mainly to get through a set of lights before they changed. Caught up with a bus accelerating from a stop and was slipstreaming it about 6 or 7 metres from the back of it for some while (maybee half a mile)speed was over 30 mph,the other rider was left way behind. Is this cheating However I needed to save energy for the ride back....to Hindley

 

[beanzontoast]

There's clearly a recurring element of 'it makes the commute more fun' in a lot of these posts. I have a better idea now of why this happens.

Interesting that people react very differently to being overtaken though. Another illustration from earlier this month on the way home on a really hot sunny day...

Me in shorts and cycling shirt on the drop-bar tourer avec pannier, waiting about 5 vehicles back in a queue of cars at the lights. Guy on an mtb (who had gone through the previous red I had waited at, only for me to overtake him further along the road) squeezes past me, jiggling his bike this way and that to get between the cars, almost taking out a wing mirror in the process and gets as far down the queue as he can - about 2 cars in front of me. Now this guy's in normal clothes and way overdressed for the weather: long trousers, shirt, jumper, quilted 3/4 length coat. He's clearly sweating buckets from catching me up. Lights change, off he goes. Now we're on a slight upward hill. He stays in a way too small gear, legs a blur, in and out of his saddle, obviously determined to get as far in front of me as possible. Equally obviously, me not being overweight, being fitter (on years of 2 hours a day exercise of one form or another) and riding in a better gear, overtakes him again - and this time I couldn't resist a look over the shoulder. It's true - a face really can be as red as a beetroot!

So, I wasn't racing... though he probably thought I was! You just can't win!

 

[dellzeqq]

on my own it's 'Avenging Angel of Death' time enlivened by having to chase down and pass RLJers, thus negating their cheating advantage and proving beyond doubt that they are Spawn of Satan.

with the Babe in tow it's 'my, look at that Ionic pilaster' while all kinds of odds and sods think 'coo, I've overtaken a Colnago'. You can see them looking at you in a kind of furtive way not quite believing their luck. Happily I am far too mature and secure in my own sexuality to allow this to trouble me. As the deeply impressed fingerprints in my bar tape testify....

 

[Jake]

I had a guy that I'd passed a short while earlier jump me at lights yesterday.


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBCxCoKxqM8


Pointless and slightly dangerous.

ah my route, what time was that. ps it wasnt me, if it was, all you would have seen was my back

 

[summerdays]

It doesn't normally bother me if I am overtaken - especially on a hill, but equally I do enjoy the small ting of satisfaction if I overtake someone (especially if they look as though they should be overtaking me instead), I seem to get more joy out of overtaking men than women

 

[benborp]

ah my route, what time was that. ps it wasnt me, if it was, all you would have seen was my back

And so it begins...

That was at around 8pm. If you let me know what you're on I'll hunt you down er.. say hi.

 

[redjedi]

Today was the day that I decided I needed to start using my large ring (53) for most of my rides (this would give me a lower ring, 39, to use on the hills)

I was getting a bit bored, and as I hadn't seen any cyclists yet, I set myself a new target....a white car which was following a skip truck.

The road I was on has a very slight slope, was in good condition and these were the only vehicles in front of me. I was finding the higher gears quite easy so started to reel them in. I was soon hitting 30mph (by far the fastest I had done on this stretch of road), in the bus lane and cruised past them both

When I got to the top of Kew bridge, I had to slow down because of traffic, and my hamstrings were letting me know that they needed a break.

But by far the most satisfying scalps so far, how many points do I get for that?

 

[Toshiba Boy]

Due to my job, haven't been able to commute by bike for some years.

However, in commuting days gone by, have occasionally used some of the old racing tricks when riding behind/about to overtake another rider who has "annoyed" me , i.e. overtaken me through red light etc., namely, waiting for a suitable rise, or better still a fully fledged climb, and then gently close up to his back wheel, whistling away and "clicking" my brake levers, before powering past and giving a loud "lovely day" accompanied by as pain free a smile as possible, before going eyeballs out

So childish, but soooo much fun

 

[Ian Johnson]

I wonder if people who commute by foot (walking) have the same mentality . If your pass someone who is also walking fast as they can to get home or too work,is this scalping too , without breaking into a jog/run

 

[Bodhbh]

I wonder if people who commute by foot (walking) have the same mentality . If your pass someone who is also walking fast as they can to get home or too work,is this scalping too , without breaking into a jog/run

It's possible. When I walked in I used it as a work out, was doing a bit of hillwalking/backpacking at the time and all good training. I don't ahve a car so would do 10-20mile a day pretty easy just going about my business. So I was -probably doing something like 4-4.5mph. There was another guy who regularly walked a portion of the commute with a similar pace, with inevitable testosterone-induced consiquences...

Dunno if it's the TdF but seems to be silly season. I rarely see other cyclists on the road going in, but have had a few clashes this week. It is pretty daft, but I'd be lying if I said I was above it all.

 

[Jake]

And so it begins...

That was at around 8pm. If you let me know what you're on I'll hunt you down er.. say hi.

no i'm a bit earlier, about 19.30/40 on average i guess. Its a bad junction in that when you pull up to the ASL, all the motorbikes flood it and go over the white line, and there are busses scrabmling for position (often see cyclists trying to go up the inside of them when they start to pull away, even when so close to the curb). Then as soon as the lights change, its a drag race to the next set of lights with all kinds of shunting going on

 

[beanzontoast]

on my own it's 'Avenging Angel of Death' time enlivened by having to chase down and pass RLJers, thus negating their cheating advantage and proving beyond doubt that they are Spawn of Satan.

Have to admit, having questioned 'why' it happens in the first place, what you describe so well is the main exception IMO: the one thing that does make me feel like giving chase sometimes. They're not just RLJ-ing - they're also trying to get one over on people who do stop for the lights.

 

[4F]

My favourite is to scalp the cyclist in front just as they are scalping the one in front of them, two for the price of one

 

[benborp]

A double scalp?

From yesterday also:


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHpT63G1yfs

 

[swee'pea99]

My favourite is to scalp the cyclist in front just as they are scalping the one in front of them, two for the price of one

Or watching two likely lads giving it everything, neck & neck over a hundred metres before you cruise past the pair of them and away...