Overtake To Victory
Discussion
You know how it is. It's a nice morning out in sunny countryside, sparsely populated NSL roads, you're making decent progress and joy of joys, you come across some old duffer doing way under the limit. A little bit of traffic and the odd junction prevent you passing, but then the road opens out and this might well be your chance. You hang back and go wide to have a look. It's on! You drop a cog or two and accelerate hard, get past in no time, move back left with a glance and congratulate yourself on a job well done as Major Slowcoach fades gently into the memories behind.
When you get home, you paint the outline of a Volkswagen Polo on the seatpost.
When you get home, you paint the outline of a Volkswagen Polo on the seatpost.
He was doing about 15 mph, I could barely believe it. Maybe he was dead. Shortly after that I got to pass a tractor doing 12. Must be the definition of indignity to be passed by a pushbike. Good times!
Anyway, the thread: what have you managed to overtake? Must have an engine and be free moving - no traffic jams! In the last four years I can only remember a bobcat, and weirdly, an Austin Sprite.
Anyway, the thread: what have you managed to overtake? Must have an engine and be free moving - no traffic jams! In the last four years I can only remember a bobcat, and weirdly, an Austin Sprite.
My personal best was coming South-West out of Dartmoor (I think B3357 could be wrong) with full panniers on my penultimate day of my John O'Groats to Lands End ride last summer. It was an England world cup football match on telly so I was hustling myself down the hill to get to Tavistock to get a seat in a pub to see the game. I clocked over 53mph and overtook 2 cars winding down the hill.
I was a hero for those few minutes before the road flattened out and the cars re-passed me.
I was a hero for those few minutes before the road flattened out and the cars re-passed me.
I overtake free-flowing cars pretty much every morning on my commute to work, as I have a 1/2 mile downhill stretch with speed bumps.
I don't mind overtaking the ones who feel the need to slow down for speed bumps that I can happily take at 25, but I get absolutely f
king furious at the cocks who insist on speeding up to 35-40 to get back past me, only to slow down to 15mph again for the next speed bump.
My record to date is overtaking the same car three times in the same half mile stretch.
I don't mind overtaking the ones who feel the need to slow down for speed bumps that I can happily take at 25, but I get absolutely f
king furious at the cocks who insist on speeding up to 35-40 to get back past me, only to slow down to 15mph again for the next speed bump.My record to date is overtaking the same car three times in the same half mile stretch.
My (departed and dearly missed) Dad sad he overtook a line of cars going down the hill into Torquey sometime around the late 1950s/early 1960s. He said he knew how fast he was going by looking at the speedos of the cars he was passing. He reckoned over 30mph which wasn't bad considering he'd actually ridden from home (Midlands) that same day and he was fully panniered-up.
He was fitter than I ever have been.
He was fitter than I ever have been.
Dudd said:
My personal best was coming South-West out of Dartmoor (I think B3357 could be wrong) with full panniers on my penultimate day of my John O'Groats to Lands End ride last summer. It was an England world cup football match on telly so I was hustling myself down the hill to get to Tavistock to get a seat in a pub to see the game. I clocked over 53mph and overtook 2 cars winding down the hill.
I was a hero for those few minutes before the road flattened out and the cars re-passed me.
53mph! You're still a hero to me, mate.I was a hero for those few minutes before the road flattened out and the cars re-passed me.
thanetspeedshop said:
Passed two geezers on mobility scooters doing about 10mph coming out of st Austell, got re-passed by them still going exactly the same speed on the looong 15% climb on the way to Fowey ferry...
I got the bus recently, itself an indignity, but to compound the misery, over about three miles we lost to a mobility scooter doing v-max on the pavement. We weren't exactly stuck in traffic either. Fair play to them!
riding round a town centre (but with no queues or lights), one learner (nearly two), and two scooters down. Brilliant feeling. Well worth the price of a decent road/track bike IMO.trashbat said:
53mph! You're still a hero to me, mate.
To me as well - fastest I've ever managed was an indicated 46mph downhill on a bike with a 53t big ring. I didn't manage to go faster 'cause I 'bottled' it after bits (clip-on wheel reflectors) started to part company with the bike. At that speed I couldn't see what was flying off, and feared it might be something more vital. I've always held back a little on that hill ever since.As far as the OP's question goes, a Nissan Micra on the same hill, and the overtake was forced after the numpty driver (silver hair/flat cap) pulled out from a side turn in front of me - no chance of stopping in time, and lucky that there was no-one coming uphill on the other side at the time.
Brilliant. You've answered a question I've held a long time... whether they'd stand higher speeds. Always thought they looked like an accident in waiting.To be honest, I don't think the actual speed was the issue. If the roads were silky smooth and utterly without flaw, they would have probably stayed put just fine. The reflectors came off as I rode over a small seam in the tarmac, you know, the poured sealant type joints between sections of tarmac. Still, it would be true to say that if I'd been going slower they would probably have remained in place over the same surface. The thread brought back memories of the hill, which I haven't ridden in ages. Maybe it's time to revisit the route now that I'm riding a compact chainset, just to see how it would compare?
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