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I'm not London based so I don't lurk around here that often but women's rides or issues do grab my attention.

Unlike DFGSS, LFGSS is huge and lucky enough to have sufficient numbers of women on the forum for it to be viable to give a women's subforum a shot.

As the suggested subforum does not seek to be exclusive to women but rather to focus on issues relevant and important to women (that some men might find boring, trivial, pointless, irrelevant etc) I've come a whole 180degrees from initially thinking it counter-productive to believe it has the potential to achieve great things for women and for the forum.

I would love to see threads moved or linked into the subforum such as the one on choice of women's saddles etc. It could be a great resource and reference for women in cycling, and getting women into cycling and upping their level of knowledge, ability and enjoyment not to mention the obvious social aspect and the benefits of the dynamic of women working together.

Any men that don't like it can ignore whilst women will still post elsewhere on the forum.

Sounds like a laugh and I should be able to make it this Wednesday - woohoo!

Shit, so who fucked up the bridge then? Honestly, if you didn't want to ride that far you only had to say so!

How long you here for Rosmal? Where are you stayin? Have you really seen no fixed gears about town yet?!

Flickerx, if you guys are out for a spin tomorrow night you could do worse than taking a look-in at the track from 7ish - the league has ended but I'm told there may be wine and "friendly" races as well as the league results. Or Thursday night and/or Sunday morning you could rock along to grass polo in the Phoenix Park..

Don't reckon you'll find many other dublin forumengers at either event though maybe they can be coaxed out to a pub ;0 welcome to Dublin!

I know the name and the skate park where he can often be found if it's the same guy..

Do they come in waves?

A bunch of new folk come on and they are all about posting silly questions without doing some research first, then they all catch on and the next wave of new kids DO utfs, but they don't notice when things have been posted.

Can we study this so that we can predict the patterns?
How about a warning message before anyone in the nursery is allowed to post?

"Wait! Make sure you really want to send this comment. Do you think this is something that someone else might have already asked multiple times? If so, don't post about it again or you will have an angry deaf bob jackson enthusiest grumbling at you.
Have you checked the date on the thread your posting to? If your inquiring about something that was offered for sale more than six months ago, you might want to wait and send a PM (when you are out of the nursery) addressing the fact that you doubt the seller has it anymore, but you thought it was worth a go anyways. Do this or you will have a cranky American woman taking the piss out of you.
If you are certain that the post you are about to submit will not cause people to create tags about you or ridicule you unduly, then post away!"

Meh!

I did notice the date of the thread before posting ... but I still thought it worth asking as there didn't seem to be much interest at the time and it kind of sounded to me like the bike might be forgotten about in storage somewhere, especially with it being vintage and more of an upright style and also from the way the OP phrased details of its whereabouts and the fact that the thread wasn't closed. I considered sending a pm but thought the more thoughtful thing to do would be to post on-thread cos maybe others might be interested to know the update with this particular bike and at least an update would close the thread.

Sorry if anyone thinks I got it wrong and feels inconvenienced by my outrageous eleven word past post dredge!

At the risk of irritating you further I might add that I didn't actually UTFS to find this thread - it just caught my eye under the 'similar posts' bit at the bottom of the screen...oh and I graduated nursery back in 2008 - just been keeping a relatively low profile since!

Guess I may be in for a load more grief now .. ;p

Pencilling that into my virtual diary now!

[QUOTE=winston;170655]Winspar discover this beautiful, ancient Raleigh fixed wheel bike....we know where it is if you're interested.

Hi RSGE and welcome - nice to have another girl on here!

I must get a pic on here at some stage but not really needed I guess - I'm usually on a green langster (riding it fixed with drops and rocking two brakes) or sometimes my old black geared trek 1200.

Will keep an eye out trying to spot you and say hi!

Okay so, the main point would be to cycle 120k overnight and see the sunrise at the coast.

Have a kip then if you want. Return whenever and however you want. (on the Dunwich Dynamo they organise a coach and bike transport back to London and people just chill until it arrives. Others will cycle to train stations, and some even cycle all the way back to London apparently.

I've no problem doing this during the day for this year though, in fact I'd probably prefer it for the first one, getting really lost in the dark and cold and rain is not fun.

Now that's an interesting idea..a sort of Dublin version of London's Dunwich Dynamo - sweet!

Shame we've missed the longest day of this year but we could reccie a route and ride it again next year on the same night as the DD...

Also, as Ireland tends to deal in kilometers rather then miles like the Brits I reckon we should do 120k (around 75 miles) as opposed to the DD's 120m. That way it'd be possible to ride back again...

Can anyone suggest a suitable destination, preferably coastal, that has some sort of place that will feed and water us early in the morning?

Thanks Oliver!

I used to be adamant that I'd never ride fixed/single speed as I loved my gears so much but when I came across grass bike polo late last summer in Dublin I tentatively took up the offer to have a go on one of their bikes - fixed wheel, really light gear, no brakes, flat pedals...I found it scarey, particularly the flat pedals, but manageable as the gear was so light.

As the game was so much fun I started playing regularly but even as the weeks passed and my confidence grew somewhat (and fearful shrieking subsided!) I never really felt particularly in control on the bike I was allocated so I began to think that if I got myself a fixer for the road it might improve my confidence and handling.

Eventually that little thought grew into such a strong desire that it could no longer be ignored and towards the end of April this year I got my first fg (Langster from a lfgssforumenger) and what a joy and revelation it has been! Finally the penny drops and I get what people have been trying to tell me over the past decade or so!

I'm totally loving the new bike, though it is otp and alu and the bb is too low for a proper velodrome (a dedicated road fixie would make more sense in steel imho) but it was a bargain, is very light and almost a joy to clean, really can't complain!

The trade-off for me in losing the freewheel is that I don't yet have the confidence/skills to take all the gaps that I would on the geared, or to hop over potholes and the like. Also I'm not yet particularly comfortable with trackstanding in traffic but I'm sure with enough hours in the saddle these things will come. Incidentally, since learning to trackstand fixed I seem to be losing the ability to do so freewheel..anybody else had this problem?

On the plus side speed is much more easily controlled and a calm cadence is actually enjoyable, (geared I tend to feel the need to spin like a madwoman!) and I'm enjoying arriving at my destination reasonably composed as opposed to far too hot and sweaty! Also as I didn't think it was possible to look further ahead on the road, I am pleasantly surprised to find myself doing this.

Now I ride fixed whenever I can, and rather unbelievably rode in the Irish Track Nationals this summer!

This is a excuse for the good people of this forum to go off for a group ride and weekend piss-up in one, why are more people not jumping on this?

For me the Devil is in the details:

I'd need a ticket, a tent, a carrier rack, and to retrieve my panniers which are currently on loan.

Also, not sure about 120k fixed in one day, and not sure what kind of pace people would want to cycle, how often to stop for food and a rest etc. I'd never make 120k cycling at Stein's pace, how about the rest of you?

And, I'm not a fan of public transport so I'd prefer to cycle back but not sure if I'd be feeling up to it after the festivities and sleeping in a tent!

I'm in Cork for the bike polo exhibition game at UCC on Saturday but if I'm in Dublin and any fit state on Sunday afternoon I reckon I'll deffinitely roll in for a look - it looks promising - have you been before?

Kind of tempted by the music in St Anne's Park too. I haven't been to that park since I was a kid!

I have a tt on monday.. If I can physically cycle into you I will.

Btw anyone up for a nice 40k tt on monday? Its a boards thing but we need to "big up" the fixed gears hah.

Gotta say it's a bit tempting - but 20k is the furthest I've done on the fixed so far without stopping (racing or leisure!) and it hurt...

(That was the Global Gutz race and it did involve some nasty climbing which was not expected. At one point, on an easy flat bit, I distinctly remember wanting to coast and straighten my legs so badly, even for just like 5 seconds, but had to ride it out instead trying to stop the cramps in my calves from kicking in properly and also trying to crank up the pace cos I wanted to be 1st girl back!)

...so now I'm thinking - all that pain again but DOUBLE and with no one to try to catch for inspiration to go faster - and no cash prize at the end but instead the distinct possibility of posting the slowest time of the day - ouch!

I have a good excuse to not do it as it clashes with my usual Monday night track training!

I'm so there if this happens again.

+1!

Geri and I rocked up in the afternoon after the rain had forced an early end to our track racing. I think I was one of the last to leave. Was really pleased to pick up bargains there on an 18 and a 15 sprocket and a handmade cap too! Shame I didn't see you there bluebike...

I think I mentioned it in some other thread, maybe it was on the temporaldoom forum, but I was thinking we could organise the screening in the rothar.ie workshop, give them the admission cash as a donation, and it would be a good way to raise awareness of their premises/work. Its hard to tell from the photo though of their workshop if it would be suitable for a projector, screen, and chairs. I'll have a poke around the place and talk to them about it when I get back.
And yeah there's always La Cathedral studios just off Thomas Street which fits your criteria scaryeire.

@Flickerx nice idea but I reckon Rothar's workshop is not at all suitable and way too small. It is not like the photo unfortunately...maybe one day though, it's very early days for them yet!

Would be nice to give them a bit of a plug anyway but fixed isn't their thing.

I reckon Rothar is a great place to pick up a refurbished bike for a kid or a commuter - they've got some old steel road bikes (especially step thru frames), plenty of mountain bikes, a couple of cool looking kid's cruiser bikes, and choppers.

@stein - I can't wait to see the tandem races - for the first time ever! Then I will really have lived!

i ride 49 x 15 all time. I cant understand why people ride such easy gears

...42x16... I've always liked to spin, and by good fortune it turns out to be good for training and agility too - so a win win situation I'd say. *You don't know what you're missing imho!*

... if people don't know my gearing history maybe they shouldn't tell me that0i don't know what i'm missing.

Sorry if that came across to you as some sort of personal attack @scary - I wasn't intending to ruffle your feathers.

That said, I opine that if one doesn't get, or have any interest in, the whole spinning thing then one won't get what I'm on about so imho one couldn't possibly know what one would be missing - simple - no gearing history needed!

Is that a rhetorical question? Also, my crystal ball doesn't seem to capture your gear ratio history...did I miss something?

I'm on the fence really, when I got my first fixed a few years ago it was a Paddy Wagon straight off the shelf, I knew nothing about chain wheel sizes or cogs really, it was a 42-16, I rode it with a front break. I think they're fine for learning or around town, mind you, slightly siding with Scary here- I rode my Beater conversion earlier, I hadn't been on it for a while and I'd been too lazy to change it over from 42, fuckin will now though, rode home on the N11 from stillorgan to town, going downhill brakeless on this was scary, felt quite out of control with no breaks to be honest, the spare 46 ring i have's going on tomorrow

Maybe just stick a front brake on instead and have some fun going downhill? If you change the ring will you then have 2 brakeless fixed wheel bikes ... with the same gearing on each?

Caz as a temporary solution you could take the freewheel off and loctite and rotafix a cog onto the ss threads, I have a spare 18 that you could borrow but you would have to use it on the fixed side since it is a miche adapted cog.
I would give you my 15 but I do actually plan to take some saturday morning off work and go racing.

Stein - nice one thanks - It'd be great to borrow your 18 for a bit to try it out to see is it too silly or serious fun!

BTW - On a Saturday you'd be doing accreditation more so than racing - racing is Wednesday. But this Saturday is an international (apparently 8 girls from Holland coming over) and - get this - includes tandem racing.

Maybe you all know what this is - I was fucking amazed to find out today - seriously - fixed gear tandem bike races!!! Can't wait to see that!

i ride 49 x 15 all time. I cant understand why people ride such easy gears

I will happily train on 49x16 at the track (hopefully racing on 49x15) but there's something so nice about going back to 42x16 for the journey home. It doesn't feel slow and is plenty fast enough for the road. But then I've always liked to spin, and by good fortune it turns out to be good for training and agility too - so a win win situation I'd say. You don't know what you're missing imho!