commuting smugness



J

joemarshall

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I'm feeling a smug glow today, cos I've finally broken the 12 mph
barrier on my way to work on my 29er.

It might not seem like much, but there are 39 sets of traffic lights
along the 8.5 miles to work and pretty heavy traffic jams. It's taken me
612 miles since I started recording speeds to beat 12mph. I got caught
by about 10 lights today, but I think none of them for more than 25
seconds or so.

All the traffic lights are great for fitness, stopping at them is kind
of like interval training. You get pretty good variation too, most of
the way they're just random, but there's one 2 mile section where the
lights are timed to work for someone going at about 13mph, which means I
have a really nice sprint to try to catch them all.

Joe


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joemarshall - dumb blonde
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Jeo, is that a 12mph top speed, or a 12mph average speed?

39 sets of lights!? Woah! Thats kinda alot!

Are there many cycles lanes to use, or you got to mingle with the
traffic?

Joe,


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joe - Who needs cranks anyways?

:cool: *www.cool.unicyclist.com* :cool:

'I like to show off in front of people not to show them what I can do,
but to show them what can be done on a unicycle' - Sofa

'SIXSIXONE' (http://www.sixsixone.com)
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Amazing achievement, against which my own are but humble and pathetic.

I saw the article about you in the AA (RAC?)magazine. Do you really
commute in a bowler hat and with brolly and briefcase? If so, it makes
your achievement all the more annoying for us mere mortals.:(


--
Mikefule - Roland Hope School of Unicycling

Some days you're the fly; some days you're the windscreen. When you're
the fly, you get to eat sh*t.
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joemarshall wrote:
> *there's one 2 mile section where the lights are timed to work for
> someone going at about 13mph, which means I have a really nice sprint
> to try to catch them all. *

Many cities have roads where the traffic lights are designed to do that.
I believe it's called a "green wave".


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gkmac - Level 1 + idle
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joemarshall wrote:
> *I'm feeling a smug glow today,
>
> but there's one 2 mile section where the lights are timed to work for
> someone going at about 13mph, which means I have a really nice sprint
> to try to catch them all.
>
> Joe *


A two mile sprint on your unicycle? You should feel SMUG. --chirokid--


--
chirokid - Wolfman 2004: Unicycle Catagory

"Other than that, the best maintenance is to keep riding it as this
helps to keep the eccentric nut on the saddle in optimal condition."
quote by Mikefule

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joemarshall wrote:
> *
> All the traffic lights are great for fitness, stopping at them is kind
> of like interval training.
> Joe *


That's fantastic, I can't think of any other form of transport where red
traffic lights can be considered fun and enjoyable.

Matt


--
Matt.P.Herbert - Muni Hungry Newbie

Two wheels good, Four wheels bad,
One wheel wonderful.
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Cool- that's great going for a 29'er- was that on 125mm cranks?

Makes me want to start commuting to work again- don't have that many
traffic lights though :p. Just lot's bumpy potholes because the council
keep digging up the roads.

Ken


--
GizmoDuck - Adventure unicyclist

o-kO


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It was 12.1mph average speed. I've got 125mm cranks on because I like to
ride it offroad sometimes, which makes it similar to a stock coker. I
guess 110s would be a bit faster, but I'm not in that much of a hurry.
It's pretty much all on major roads, a few of them have bus lanes which
are good for getting past jams. I don't use cycle lanes unless they're
really good shortcuts, because they slow you down and don't make you any
safer.

The lights are insane, but a lot of them are pedestrian crossings, where
you can see if someone is going to press the button and speed up to try
and beat the red light. It's because London as a city was never really
designed, it just sort of happened, so there are loads of junctions and
also because there are a lot of pedestrians about who need to cross
over. Once you've been riding for a bit, you know a lot of the
sequences, so you know if you really need to hurry somewhere or not.

I think I'd previously had a bit of a plateau, where I just couldn't
spin faster than I was, I'm not sure what I've done, but I've got that
little bit more spin going on all of a sudden. It's possibly due to
doing more swimming and being a little bit more flexible in the legs. I
think if you're commuting it's easy to get into a groove, but if you
conciously push yourself a little bit once every couple of days you can
really improve quickly which is nice.

Joe

(ps. I don't actually have a suit or a bowler hat, let alone ride to
work in them)


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joemarshall - dumb blonde
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no suit and bowler? DAMMIT all this time we have been showing that
picture to everyone!!!!!!

i cant go on!
bungle


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BungleBanks - Wooden Chipmunk!

So many people ask me "if i can ride that thing?" and i say "no i just
push it round for fun!"
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Wow, what a coincidence! Today I was waiting for the bus as I was 2
miles and 2 large hills from school, when it hit me that it wasn't going
to come in time. I checked my watch and it said 7:50:23. I had to be at
school by 8:00:00. Any later and I got detention. I decideds to go for
the ride at 7:50:32. I hit the stop watch and went. I hit 5 green lights
out of 7, and the two red were only 15 sec. So, I pant through the doors
into school at 7:59:48, and hit the stopwatch. 9 minutes, 16 seconds! I
too broke the twelve-mph barrier. It helped that I now commute on a
24x3.0 fireball with 158s, so I can simply fly. Also, I was in a mad
rush because I had a dentist appointment right after school, and
couldn't be late because of detention. I love big wheels (can't wait for
a 29er, even if it's about a year off).


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gerblefranklin - Trials Unicyclist

Don't you think it's a cruel irony that acting like a G.I. Joe in the
army can get you a Medal, while playing with one can get you thrown out?
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