Why be competitive on a ride to work?

[fossyant]

I'm a very naughty boy....

Blasted past a lad on his moped 3 times tonight.

Caught him in traffic at a set of lights, pulled away and followed but he was slow through a few cars so out ran him. He caught and passed me just before the next lights, so I sat right behind him. Lights change, and off we go and I spin upto about 30 on the fixed. He can see me chasing, and instead of going down the outside of the traffic, he pulls in (road very wide and lots of room) so I fly past to the ASL 400 yards down the queue. He eventually pulls up into the ASL next to me.

Lights change and we both set off, knowing there is a hill where he will pass me, I give it beans and drop him. Takes him about 600 yards to catch and pass. Then comes a mile slog, so he's gone. Lights at the top and he's in traffic. Using the fact that I'm narrower, I nip through standing cars and I'm gone once the lights change. Never see him again.

Good bit of exercise that... hard work chasing mopeds on fixed.

 

[400bhp]

Had one tonight. Long stretch of road -I was slowly catching him and overtook him, perhaps 30m before a set of lights. I said hello - he didn't acknowledge (had earphones in). Suddenly he decides he wants to be in front. Fine, I sat on his wheel for all of 100m when he turned off

Clearly his ego is buried in his shorts.

 

[gb155]

Dropped 3 tonight , all with my sheer wind beating awesomeness

 

[BentMikey]

Buses are easy, I beat a car on the flat open road last week:


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXTac9fnqP0

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Buses are easy, I beat a car on the flat open road last week:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=BXTac9fnqP0

When I saw the ''pointless overtake'' title I found myself expecting a car to overtake you when you were pulling up to the car in front.

I wonder what the driver made of being overtaken like that - they're probably still asking themselves what happened

 

[Eurygnomes]

Who are these people who say 'hi' in the morning on the commute? I don't think any of you are on my route. We lot (I'm not sure if I ever see the same person more than once) are just pedal to the metal stop start stop start stop start wipe the bloody blossom and twigs out of the eye I'm crying stupid bus don't do it pedestrian! grrr how annoying are these lights why are there new roadworks right don't get killed argh taxi...

I couldn't care less who passes me (only men on roadies with suicide pedals, at the moment) nor who I pass (ahem, loads of people) because I'm way too intent on not getting killed around Smithfield/Blackfriars/Embankment/Westminster/Victoria Coach Station.

So if I have shared a bit of a ride with you, and not said hi, then I apologise. However, life just edges out courtesy.

 

[Norm]

Who are these people who say 'hi' in the morning on the commute?

Country folk, at a guess.

You should try it sometime, there really is a grand form of life away from the pedestrians, buses, taxis, roadworks, lights etc. You might even find someone says to you.

 

[fimm]

Had a comical bit of SCR (note that the S stands for "silly") this morning - was doing my best into a 'brisk' headwind, downhill in the smallest of the 3 gears on my Brompton, when a guy on a hybrid turns onto the pavement on my right and heads in the same direction. Once he got going he pulled away a little (bigger wheels) but when we got to the roundabout I caught up again because my route on the road was more direct than his route round on the pavement. We were now going uphill, and I have to confess I gave it some oomph (as much as you can on a Brompton) and pulled away . (It was cold and damp and I wanted to get into the nice warm office, honest. Not competative at all, me, no, really, no... ) The comical thing was that all this was at such a slow speed because of the wind!

 

[SquareDaff]

Country folk, at a guess.

You should try it sometime, there really is a grand form of life away from the pedestrians, buses, taxis, roadworks, lights etc. You might even find someone says to you.

I say Hello to everyone I see on my commute and yes, it is relatively quiet and I am from the country (well orignally anyway - stuck in Leeds for my sins now!).

Have noticed I am seeing a lot more cyclists this year than last though. You probably don't notice in London but when you're used to seeing one or two cyclists on your commute suddenly seeing 10-15 is a big difference!

 

[Jonathing]

...a guy on a hybrid turns onto the pavement on my right and heads in the same direction...

I thought SCR rule clearly stated that by riding on the pavement one automatically disqualifies oneself?

 

[MrHappyCyclist]

Who are these people who say 'hi' in the morning on the commute? I don't think any of you are on my route. We lot (I'm not sure if I ever see the same person more than once) are just pedal to the metal stop start stop start stop start wipe the bloody blossom and twigs out of the eye I'm crying stupid bus don't do it pedestrian! grrr how annoying are these lights why are there new roadworks right don't get killed argh taxi...

I couldn't care less who passes me (only men on roadies with suicide pedals, at the moment) nor who I pass (ahem, loads of people) because I'm way too intent on not getting killed around Smithfield/Blackfriars/Embankment/Westminster/Victoria Coach Station.

So if I have shared a bit of a ride with you, and not said hi, then I apologise. However, life just edges out courtesy.

You Lycra lout, you!

 

[Eurygnomes]

You might even find someone says to you.

The surprise may cause my doom...

You probably don't notice in London but when you're used to seeing one or two cyclists on your commute suddenly seeing 10-15 is a big difference!

It's mostly like this:

View: http://vimeo.com/21371050

You Lycra lout, you!

Nonsense. It's spandex!

 

[Hacienda71]

I once overtook a guy on the way home, was about to say good evening as I went past but as I opened my mouth a large fly went straight in so my Evening turned into a hawk spit.

 

[SquareDaff]

It's mostly like this:

View: http://vimeo.com/21371050

If I saw that many people on a commute I'd figure I'd woken up in an alternate reality. There's more people gone past in 1 second than I normally see on a 30min commute.