Why SCR isn't always a good thing

[BenM]

@tynan - the reason he was riding badly was because he was SCRing...

I have just looked at my GPS trace... when I joined the road from the cyclepath I was doing 20mph. I don't know how fast he was going but I suspect a bit quicker. 50 yards before we were probably doing 25-30 coming down a narrow steep tarmac path with poor visibility and previous to that just below 30ish on the shared use path

Very very Silly Commuter Racing

I have spoken to his colleagues and understand that he "got away" with whiplash type injuries (nothing broken) - he is apparently still in A&E being checked over; on a sadder note his bike is/was only 3 weeks old

B.

 

[BSRU]

Surely SCR cannot occur on shared paths, personally I slow right down on shared paths so SCR is a no,no.

 

[Browser]

This thread is suffering from TLA and the odd FLA overuse. One must be careful how many TLA's oneuses in a thread, otherwise FFM's won't have TFI what the JSF you are GOA

 

[fimm]

I was going up a hill the other day when I spotted a chap on a MTB type thing coming past me very slowly... so when I picked up speed I very slowly passed him again (some roadie came flying past us both)... he only came past and moved away when we the road flattened out, and then I went right and he went straight on... the thing is, I was running up the hill... and I shouldn't have SCRed him as I now have a sore knee and I think that's when I did it.

 

[Linford]

This thread is suffering from TLA and the odd FLA overuse. One must be careful how many TLA's oneuses in a thread, otherwise FFM's won't have TFI what the JSF you are GOA

I have no idea what that meant, but it sounded impressive

 

[martint235]

Surely SCR cannot occur on shared paths, personally I slow right down on shared paths so SCR is a no,no.

SCR seems to occur anywhere. I tend not to play but I do have a couple of stretches on my commute where it will appear that I'm in SCR as I go flat out for half a mile or so. However, I'd be going flat out if there were no other bikes there as these are the only places I feel I can sprint safely (in a bus lane, no traffic joining etc) although you've still got to be aware of what's around you.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Surely SCR cannot occur on shared paths, personally I slow right down on shared paths so SCR is a no,no.

Yup



"All passing on open road ONLY" http://www.itsnotarace.org/scr-rules

 

[Bicycle]

I am one of many who have got unhelpfully 'into the zone' when commuting competitively.

I face two different sorts of this temptation:

1. London - It's all about becoming a motorcycle courier again in my mind. Elbows, knees, dives into space, prime position off the lights and straight over anything that isn't bright, bright red. This is potentially suicidal and middle age has mellowed me, but when I smell the fumes of an FX4, something happens to my head. Even the walk up the ramp onto Praed Street is like pushing a race bike onto the grid at Brands. I wish I were too big for these things, but I'm not.

2. Rural - I rarely see anyone and when I do it's either a lycra missile or Mrs Dobson going to feed someone's dog. Neither rides at my speed. Once in seven blue moons I find someone at my level of physical decrepitude and we swap places for a few miles. I hate to admit it, but it's distilled joy.

I can't take a moral stance on what people call SCR, because I am not immune to a go myself. What does tickle me is when someone posts one of those (bizarrely frequent) pieces of SCR ego-puffery:

"I was only on my hybrid and some fat lump thought he's have a go off the lights. Don't know why he bothered - sneer, sneer. I caught him every time he wheezed past me - sneer sneer..."

I know it can be irritating to have a slower rider continually pass you and then relent, but those posts do sometimes read as if they've been typed from half a yard up the poster's backside. Was that a rant? Bugger! Sorry.

 

[Dan B]

I don't know the road in question, but would suggest that 20mph is usually somewhere around the upper end of acceptable speed for a shared use path. As others have said, the rules of silly commuter racing are quite sensible - it's the stupid commuter racing that's silly

 

[wiggydiggy]

<SNIP>

I can't take a moral stance on what people call SCR, because I am not immune to a go myself. What does tickle me is when someone posts one of those (bizarrely frequent) pieces of SCR ego-puffery:

"I was only on my hybrid and some fat lump thought he's have a go off the lights. Don't know why he bothered - sneer, sneer. I caught him every time he wheezed past me - sneer sneer..."

I know it can be irritating to have a slower rider continually pass you and then relent, but those posts do sometimes read as if they've been typed from half a yard up the posters backside. Was that a rant? Bugger! Sorry.

I think thats why I used to react with such derision of anyone that dared to mention SCR on here, the way that a lot of time its inevitable that someone will pop up with an amusing yarn of how they jogged past someone on a bike and it counts as SCRing or some other such feat of wonder.

I thought the whole idea was you don't talk about it outside the privacy of your own head?

 

[BSRU]

I don't know the road in question, but would suggest that 20mph is usually somewhere around the upper end of acceptable speed for a shared use path. As others have said, the rules of silly commuter racing are quite sensible - it's the stupid commuter racing that's silly

The guidelines states if you are cycling at or above 18mph then you should be on the road, but it is not the law.
Personally 18mph is way too fast to be on a shared path with pedestrians generally travelling at speeds of between 0 and 4 mph.

 

[martint235]

The other thing about SCR is that riding a road bike while wearing lycra (although not team kit unless the Fridays jersey counts) I'm unlikely to score points off anyone anyway.

 

[GrasB]

I still think that traveling fast enough not to have cars overtake you in traffic on uncongested roads should give you 1 point every 2.5min

 

[BSRU]

The other thing about SCR is that riding a road bike while wearing lycra (although not team kit unless the Fridays jersey counts) I'm unlikely to score points off anyone anyway.

You could always grow a beard

 

[wiggydiggy]

You could always grow a beard

I dont get that one lol I was relatively pleased to see I'm worth one less point to someone just because of the old face garden!