commuting smugness



J

Joemarshall

Guest
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

--
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,

--
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".

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

i cant go on! bungle

--
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).

--
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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