How was your cycle commute?

[ChrisFilter]

managed to lose my bike lock whilst drinking in a park last weekend. Anyone had any experience with Evans Cycles price matching?

would rather pick up a new one in-store, more so if i can get it for this price

They've price matched everything I've ever thrown at them. Normally about half the price on Wiggle or CRC.

 

[Geri]

I find it's best to wear as little as possible in warm rainy weather. Let your flesh get wet, rather than clothes

Good idea. Maybe I should buy a bikini.

 

[Orang Utan]

A thong is all you need

 

[Orang Utan]

Another fatality this morning at Archway apparently. HGV involved again. Shit news.

And a non-fatal but serious encounter with a bus on Dog Kennel Hill in East Dulwich

 

[gentlegreen]

David Hembrow - the Dutch Cycling guru posted this video the other day :-

"Klaus sent this to me together with a comment "England is a COMPLETE DISASTER as far as Cycling is concerned. This video confirms it all too clearly"

It's just wrong.

Not just the cycling angle - but the whole thing.

I don't know how you guys do it.
I feel so lucky that I don't have to mix it with that industrial scale throughput of steel and rubber.
Bristol feels like a market town in comparison.

Blue fucking paint Boris.
They should make him ride all of it - and not on a Sunday when the cars have been kicked off.

 

[Orang Utan]

They should never have bothered with that blue paint.
I may be wrong, but I don't like riding on it as it seems to have less grip than tarmac.
We need to stay on the roads and work out some way to accommodate ALL traffic.
We can't have it like they do on the continent. There's no room.
They are spending shitloads on a new and totally pointless cycle superhighway from New Cross to Camberwell. The road isn't really wide enough for a cycle lane all the way. It's gonna cause more delays and more resentment from motorists

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

but I don't like riding on it as it seems to have less grip than tarmac.

It has less grip than tarmac. Its grippy paint, but it is still paint. If you want blue and grip you have to make blue tarmac.

 

[gentlegreen]

Feeling low generally at the moment - and it doesn't help to see other people cycling insane distances - even Boris managed 100 miles - anyone know what his time was ?

EDIT - 8 hours apparently - it would have taken me 10 - though I've never cycled more than 70 miles in a day ..

I've been pushing it a bit recently with cold muscles and haven't been getting out for long rides, so my elderly back is tying itself in knots at the moment trying to channel my core strength when sprinting - I clearly need to find pleasure in disco dancing again ... or start bench pressing ... or find some sports massage - such a shame all those places just down the road from me offer the wrong sort.

I met another 50-something once who managed to become a sports science test subject - and told me I should start eating red meat.

My imitation Brooks saddle seems as rigid as when I first fitted it, so it may be proving that it's me adjusting to it - rather than the other way around. The Brooks was like a hammock in comparison.
Brooks have offered to repair it for £30 once they're back from their summer shut-down, but I'm still very tempted to buy a rivet setter and do it myself - the problem being I don't have a proper workbench and vice - but it would be "empowering" and I end up with a B17 "special" with copper rivets - well almost - as I'd be buying a standard frame with black paint rather than plating.

 

[Orang Utan]

Another cyclist hit on Bethal Green Road. Looked bad, but alive at least. Saw someone get killed very near there a few years ago. Lots of sidestreets that drivers don't check properly. Road is very narrow too and drivers still think it's fine for them to overtake cyclists.
Eta: think they might be dead actually. Ambulance isn't going anywhere.

Eta again:
Not dead
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co....collision_with_car_in_bethnal_green_1_2323120

 

[pissflaps]

again - 'cyclists hits car' and not 'driver hits cyclists'

why not report on what make of bike the victim was riding?

fucking bollocks

/edited - ah ok. it was a 'boris bike'
//the only commenter on that 'article' wants a fucking shoeing as well

 

[DownwardDog]

The new Garmin Vector power meter pedals look interesting. It would be much cheaper to use these with a regular Dura Ace crank than go the SRM/Dura Ace route. I might get a set of Look pedals just to see if I can get make the change from SPD-SL cleats.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/garmin-vector-power-meter-pedals-available-now

I've always wanted pedals with USB upgradable firmware.

 

[Crispy]

What the what

 

[Onket]

They look like a bargain.

 

[Geri]

A lot of people were going to the mosque, so there quite a few people along my route - normally it's deserted at 7.30 in the morning.

 

[pissflaps]

muslim christmas, innit.

 

[gentlegreen]

Check out the cunt at 8:06 :-



Roger Lawson - Alliance of British Drivers.

I wonder if he lives in a suiotable place for a special Critical Mass demo.

 

[gentlegreen]

A lot of people were going to the mosque, so there quite a few people along my route - normally it's deserted at 7.30 in the morning.

I wondered why it was so busy on Fishponds Road during the school holidays.

 

[Private Storm]

Check out the cunt at 8:06 :-



Roger Lawson - Alliance of British Drivers.

I wonder if he lives in a suiotable place for a special Critical Mass demo.

Holy fuck, what an absolute cunt that doddery piss-stain is. Just imagine if everyone did as he suggested and swapped bike journeys for car journeys - the traffic would be FAR worse for all concerned. What a moronic bellend.

 

[T & P]

The new Garmin Vector power meter pedals look interesting. It would be much cheaper to use these with a regular Dura Ace crank than go the SRM/Dura Ace route. I might get a set of Look pedals just to see if I can get make the change from SPD-SL cleats.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/garmin-vector-power-meter-pedals-available-now

I've always wanted pedals with USB upgradable firmware.

Sorry for the dumb question, but what are they actually for?

 

[gentlegreen]

Holy fuck, what an absolute cunt that doddery piss-stain is. Just imagine if everyone did as he suggested and swapped bike journeys for car journeys - the traffic would be FAR worse for all concerned. What a moronic bellend.

There is speculation abroad that he was deliberately chosen to make even the most ardent Clarksonites cringe.

 

[gentlegreen]

Sorry for the dumb question, but what are they actually for?

Doesn't every cyclist need i-pedals ?

 

[Dogsauce]

There is speculation abroad that he was deliberately chosen to make even the most ardent Clarksonites cringe.

Someone on Twitter challenged the Newsnight presenter about why they had them on (pointing out they were the 'motoring equivalent of the BNP') and the response was that the 'BBC has a duty to present a diverse range of opinions'. For fuck's fucking sake, BBC.

I look forward to the day when 'thought for the day' is done by a Pastafarian then.

*sighs*

 

[DownwardDog]

Sorry for the dumb question, but what are they actually for?

Measuring and recording power output. Previously this is either done by iPhone app/cycle computer via GPS which isn't that accurate or by wildly expensive crank/bottom bracket based power meters.

 

[Geri]

I wondered why it was so busy on Fishponds Road during the school holidays.

Yeah, it's Eid.

 

[pissflaps]

No, Johnson, it's not about 'culture' or 'mentality', it's about INFRASTRUCTURE. but i guess those first two don't make as much of a dent in your budget, do they?

 

[Orang Utan]

Measuring and recording power output. Previously this is either done by iPhone app/cycle computer via GPS which isn't that accurate or by wildly expensive crank/bottom bracket based power meters.

Why would you want to measure and record power output?

 

[Orang Utan]

No, Johnson, it's not about 'culture' or 'mentality', it's about INFRASTRUCTURE. but i guess those first two don't make as much of a dent in your budget, do they?

He rides a bike you know. He thinks that's enough

 

[DownwardDog]

Why would you want to measure and record power output?

For post sportif discussion in the coffee shop.

 

[Orang Utan]

I don't even understand what you mean by power output? How hard you have cycled? why is that important that you need dear pedals?

 

[plurker]

It has less grip than tarmac. Its grippy paint, but it is still paint. If you want blue and grip you have to make blue tarmac.

Yep, this. It's less grippy and way more slippery in the wet as rain can't dissipate between cracks, so you get more surface water; I very rarely use the blue on CS7, I'll be the one riding primary in the bus lane thanks.

Last night and today were revelatory for my riding. I decided to ride in one lower gear than usual, so with a higher cadence, and broke 12 segment PBs on two commutes.
I'm still KOM on one short section, having a nice little battle with the guy who'd held it for ages at 1.12, then I took it to 1.05, he to 1.04 etc, knocking it down a second at a time. We're both now on 0.59s...