Commuter Cup Racing

[g-boaf]

If I'm doing a commute ride, I don't want to be drafting anyone (I'll keep a safe distance away from others) and I also prefer not to have anyone drafting me.

Particularly when covid lockdowns were in place, the cycleways were crazy with people newly experiencing the local area for the first time (not possible any other time) so it's good not having someone following really closely behind you in case you have to stop suddenly for someone doing unexpected U-turns or the like.

I'm not commuting anymore so it doesn't matter.

[Retrobyte]

Had a strange one yesterday on my ride home from work. Heard a very loud shout of "riders back" behind me when approaching a bend on the path so I stuck left waiting for a group to overtake. Next bend, and the same shout, this time right on my wheel. I'm a 95kg old bloke on a aluminium gravel bike with a rack, mudguards and heavy bag, so I'm not breaking any speed records. Next bend, same thing happens - he's shouting "riders back" again very loudly although not in an angry way at all. The path straightens out and then one rider overtakes me - no bunch was behind me at all. Commuter wearing a backpack on a roadie.

[trailgumby]

The path straightens out and then one rider overtakes me - no bunch was behind me at all. Commuter wearing a backpack on a roadie.

Evidently, you dropped them all. Where do we give kudos?

[Retrobyte]

The path straightens out and then one rider overtakes me - no bunch was behind me at all. Commuter wearing a backpack on a roadie.

Evidently, you dropped them all. Where do we give kudos?

[nickobec]

Will take my win any way


Was cruising along, recovering from an effort, young rider came past, so I sat behind him couple metres back 30cm to a side, for a few kms as it was a section of bike path, I don't ride hard on, too many pedestrians and too many corners. It sounded like he wanted to drop the old bloke dressed in rapha, he was riding hard, I was not. He was pushing through corners, I was not, backing off and catching back up. Was going to go to the front a couple of hundreds metres after the corner, because I do use that section for intervals.

[Retrobyte]

Will take my win any way


Was cruising along, recovering from an effort, young rider came past, so I sat behind him couple metres back 30cm to a side, for a few kms as it was a section of bike path, I don't ride hard on, too many pedestrians and too many corners. It sounded like he wanted to drop the old bloke dressed in rapha, he was riding hard, I was not. He was pushing through corners, I was not, backing off and catching back up. Was going to go to the front a couple of hundreds metres after the corner, because I do use that section for intervals.

[Mr Purple]

Will take my win any way


Was cruising along, recovering from an effort, young rider came past, so I sat behind him couple metres back 30cm to a side, for a few kms as it was a section of bike path, I don't ride hard on, too many pedestrians and too many corners. It sounded like he wanted to drop the old bloke dressed in rapha, he was riding hard, I was not. He was pushing through corners, I was not, backing off and catching back up. Was going to go to the front a couple of hundreds metres after the corner, because I do use that section for intervals.

I fell off about three times watching that video. Way too fast for the conditions for me, especially with what looks like an extra slippery painted bikeway!

I've led off a couple of commuter pelotons by accident recently. You can get some crazy speeds up southbound on the V1, which is also pretty hilly. Ended up giving a fair group a tow home a couple of months back - 9:21 at 35.2km/hr and 252W average. The worst bit is when you're pushing hard and thinking it's just one fast guy on your wheel, only to realise it's a rolling peloton of about 15.

Also once I sent a bunch of PBs because the guy I thought was following had long dropped off and I was trying to outrun my own rear derailleur noise. Whatever motivates you I guess!

[P!N20]

Way too fast for the conditions for me, especially with what looks like an extra slippery painted bikeway!

Seems odd that what appears to be a dedicated bike/walking path is painted emerald green. I mean, bike lanes on the road are painted to make them visible (I assume) - doesn't make sense off road.

[nickobec]

Way too fast for the conditions for me, especially with what looks like an extra slippery painted bikeway!

Way too fast in any conditions, you get a blind 90 degree corner, followed by another blind 90 degree corner with oncoming traffic and the occasional fisherperson under the bridge together with sand across the path.

The green painted section is only part of the 75km bike path (which is uninterrupted ie no roads to cross) that is painted that colour. It could be to give extra traction when wet, as it often flooded. The pooling of water in the video was fairly minor compared to flooding it gets in winter. I find the green section to offer extra grip over the other sections of the path.

Once you clear the bridge, you get a little over 4km to the next bridge, that is flat, with good line of sight and a good place for efforts. The Strava KOM is held by a former world tour pro at over 55kph. That is where you get trains, I was riding that section with a friend on his TT bike, I was just able to hold his wheel and I thought we picked one or two riders, when we hit the next bridge I turn round to find 10 riders behind me and most looked worse for wear.

[Mr Purple]

It's amazing what speeds you can get up to in a group on a bikeway. I've seen well over 50km/hr on the flat on some sections on the back of a group with a slight tailwind, and I'm not an overly powerful rider.

Makes doing well on the segments a bit of a problem for me. I often wonder why my 5W/kg is not particularly fast compared so some of the others, to have a look at their ride and see 'with 15 others'. The problem is not so much a lack of power, but a lack of friends!