Oldgit, try that routine near me you'd get a run for your money 😉

EDIT hell, how competitive am I? I must get out for some road races.

The Wentworth Lights?

Tim, that's no excuse.

I am now tutting.

:o)

I get it every day- every Ethiopian on a bike has to overtake the ferenji…

tootallpaul – Member
I get it every day- every Ethiopian on a bike has to overtake the ferenji…

What's their FCN? +6 for some wicker sandals and a 1980s Liverpool shirt?

Tiger6791 – Member
The Wentworth Lights?

Yes. Damned inconvenient…

+ another 5 for no tyres or brakes.

Tiger6791 – Member
The Wentworth Lights?

Yes. Damned inconvenient…

In which case you should have just gone for a tactical pint at the Wheatsheaf. Thus proving not only can drop him but your gonna have a pint of beer as well! or turned right and gone up Callow Hill.

Exactly.

For instance, if say, you are going along the road, on your BMX, perhaps on the way to the BMX track, and you happen to see a group of roadies, all in team kit, pelting along in the same direction, then it is your duty to attack. And if you pull it off, you get 4 billion points.

I remember when I was going up the peyresourde, only about 2km to go. I had already died horribly, and I was just dragging myself to the top. My dad was riding comfortably along beside me – he was still feeling fine. And then an italian, in full white lycra, with a full carbon white bike came past. Didn't matter how I felt, my brain wouldn't let that fly. I responded, and held him for 1.9km, at which point my body took over and I nearly fell off. My dad managed to sprint him and take him about 2 meters from the top though, so it was ok.

Someone mentioned catching, it's not just about catching. I've been caught by 'boys' but there's more to it than that.
Firstly never go out to catch someone, if you're good that'll happen anyway.
It's more to do with how you despatch the other rider. A smooth transition between passing another rider and being a mile ahead without shifting body or gears is where it's at.
So very childish, but what's the harm when your out there for hours on your own?

FCN calculator.

I can't figure out why, if the OP's blue klingon is so good, would he sit on behind? Perhaps a case of ATGNI.

If you want to ride with then make it sociable. If you're playing The Game then f..k off past and make a proper job of it.

nice story RealMan, sounds like your dad had it properly measured.

take it easy, stay with you, be sociable.
get passed by the eye-tye
let you chase him down
jump for glory at the finish.

Me and a mate when we were in college used to claim roadie scalps on the way back from the woods. One time we saw two fairly brisk guys and we buried ourselves to beat them back to the next town (where I lived). We did it, but my blood sugar went so low I was in a bit of a bad way. This before I knew anything about nutrition whilst riding 🙂

Girl Roadie, shaved legs,
At lights she waits, poised, ready
Oh no! is a man!

nice story RealMan, sounds like your dad had it properly measured.

Yeah, he's very experienced, and I was quite new to road riding at that time. I can have him 95% of the time now though..

let you chase him down
jump for glory at the finish.

..but he still tries it on now and then.

I went to Holand last year and on the last day hired a town bike to see a bit more of the area. So dressed in casual/smart gear and boots i was pootling about when this lycra'd up chap on an Mtb cruised past. Well it was hard to resist so i gave chase, sadly i lost but i remember the look of dibelief on his face as this single speed town bike gave chase and gained over about 800m unlti the gear span out. It was the way he kept looking back though, you had to be there but it was funny. 😉
Do i get points for trying?

Where do we stand on the nod/'morning' as you go past? Straightforward friendliness or final-humiliation-patronising?

I think the most childish one I did was when I was drafting home behind one of the LBS staff, he on a tatty old hack bike, me on a mountain bike. We were catching up with a bloke in full trade team colours, and the LBS guy told me that he was often in the shop being a bit of a dick. As we closed in the final few metres near the bottom of a climb LBS guy muttered go on, overtake him on the inside . So simultaneously he overtook on road, and I overtook on the adjacent grass verge. Of course once you've done that you can't ease off, you can't look back and you can't look like you're struggling either. I felt completely destroyed when I got home, and had one of those nice exercise induced coughs for the rest of the evening 🙂

stever – Member
Where do we stand on the nod/'morning' as you go past? Straightforward friendliness or final-humiliation-patronising?

It's obviously the second masquerading as the first.

Actually, come to think of it, I had breezed past another roadie in some godawful fluoro green/yellow kit earlier in the the ride, and lobbed a cheery "Nice day for it!" at him as I went past. Perhaps that was the karmic starting point…

There has to be a "morning" to show you are not out of breath.

A slight nod and an 'alright' from me.
Though even I wind it in if it's looking too embarassing. ie like on a long three mile flat stretch and catching up with a guy in full Triathlon position whilst I was on the tops, I was looking down on him as well quite literally. I just said 'bit of a head wind' and sailed past, I had hoped he would have stayed on my wheel, but he wasn't there when we got to the end of the road and there were no turnings 😥

If you're going up some ridiculously steep hill, and you see someone really struggling up ahead, you have to go past them fast (sitting down of course), and say something like "this ones a bit tough, huh?". At normal speaking volume, with no sign that you're breathing hard, or even trying. Works well if they're at the point where saying something back would cause them to go unconscious.

I've always wanted to record myself whistling for half an hour, then playing it full blast through my ipod when sitting on some ones back wheel.

Hopefully loud enough to hide my huffing and grunting.

I've always wanted to record myself whistling for half an hour, then playing it full blast through my ipod when sitting on some ones back wheel.

Hopefully loud enough to hide my huffing and grunting.

😆

Don't know if it would work, what happens if they look round and you're stuffing gels into your mouth, whilst still "whistling" the theme to some tv show?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jf55VDSi-E#t=0m37s

oooh he's just a blur!

I've always wanted to record myself whistling for half an hour, then playing it full blast through my ipod when sitting on some ones back wheel.

Give wolf whistling a try, the result may go either way

Is that another geetee reference?

Threads like this always make me wonder who is actually fast and who just thinks they are? And does it really matter anyway?

Thats not humiliation! You had fun tyring to lose him right?
Good training ride 😀

Don't mind people hogging on my rear wheel-nice to have the company 😛

I'm fast

I know I'm not that fast. That's what makes it all the sweeter on the rare occasions when I can find some poor soul that I can sail blithely past, especially going up a hill. The roadier, the better.

I was out with a mate on my mtb with slicks on and my 4 year old in a baby seat .When a guy on a bling Colnago came past without replying to our hello!.We chased him up a hill with me hanging on to my mates roadie back wheel and passed him on a small hill whilst repeating our greeting .We dropped him by about a hundred yards but dived into a pub carpark to hide as I was knackered!

Lots of extra points for an occupied child seat, more so the older the child.

Not long ago I passed two (admittedly somewhat less-than-peak-condition) guys on tasty road bikes going up the Dukes Pass at Aberfoyle with Tyred Jr Jr on the back of the SS. We were racing Mrs Tyred and Tyred Jr over to Loch Katrine (them in the car) so I was proper going for it at the time. Naturally I was delighted and kept going on about my epic victory until Mrs Tyred made snoring noises.

Wacky racing on the commute is all good fun I reckon, makes what's often a dull ride much more interesting. I spent a fair bit of time on the road bit of my way home yesterday trying to close down a roadie (I ride a fixed so almost a fair fight) but couldn't get near the LIGHT-JUMPING QUEUE-FILTERING CHEAT. Not that anyone takes this sort of thing in any way seriously y'understand.

I think after reading this I am glad I only venture out on the road with my slick-shod Inbred with baggy clothing & (generally) a rucsack…..

Reading through this thread though has made me realise that quite often when overtaken by roadies, they tend to fly past & then it takes them ages to actually increase the gap. So, I suspect their turn of speed as they overtake is not sustainable and they shortly have to slow down…..

Must get fitter & give them a run for their money on the Barry White!

Funnily enough, got overtaken by a roadie on the way home, on what looked like a carbon Spesh. He turned and said 'alright', I said 'alright' and off he went. That was it really.
Judging by what's been said on here, either I should've been humiliated by his 'alright' or he would have been annoyed that I didn't tag onto his wheel so that he could humiliate me. I don't believe either was the case.

For the record, I don't mean humiliation. I mean humility, as in "to feel humble"

The main thing with it is to feign complete indifference. If you are passed you must NEVER try and catch him back/sit on his wheel. You are above that sort of childish behaviour and are simply out bedding in your new cycling shoes or making final adjustments to the bike and will not respond to the passers pettyness.

On the other hand if you've done the passing (which obviously is the main reason for going riding), it must be done effortlessy, with a slight nod or greeting, even if you've had to nail it for 15 minutes to catch up.

🙂

strange all these comments. cos I just go out on my roadbike and do long(ish) rides and the other roadies I see just ignore me or say hello or whatever, but I don't give a toss, cos , strangely, I'm not riding my bike for other peoples approvement or anything, I just ride for me!

I'm too unfit/occupied to join a club, and I dunno if I want to.

Mister P – Member
Threads like this always make me wonder who is actually fast and who just thinks they are? And does it really matter anyway?

It matters.

haha why are some people so arsey about all this, its a bit of fun, personally i think its hilarious, even tho im probably the guy who gets scalped more often than not (thankfully not many riders around here so slim pickings :D) I just have to dedicate a few hours hiding in a hedge row to spring out behind some unsuspecting guy and give him a run for his money 😀 if he knows it or not!

Thanks for that post whippersnapper 🙂

When I was a teenager I was finishing a longish loop with three mates on some crappy old hardtail, final couple of miles is tarmac, gradient slightly in favour. I got left behind, put some effort in and over 1 mile gradually reeled in a scooter. When he saw me in the mirrors his head went down to the bars and elbows came up, still managed to get past and he didn't catch me either 🙂 Might have lost a point for raising my arm in celebration as I left him behind?!

And in actual fact, in some circumstances being draughted can actually aid the lead vehicle, moreso in large vehicles though.

It has been known on club rides for two of the waif like girlies to draft me while riding 2 abreast. Before blasting past at the first sign of an incline. I'm glad to know they were helping me now, as opposed to taking the piss.