UK and Europe · Public discussion

Tractor racing

Just Zis Guy · 2003-06-25T22:31:20+00:00

It was a nice sunny evening so I thought I'd ride home slowly on the sunny route. And there I was trundling along at a stately 21mph when a tractor pulled out of a side turning and began to follow me. It was catching me up. "I'm not having that!" thinks I, so I put a bit of effort in and started pulling away. I'd gained about 50 yards on him when disaster struck in the shape of a small hill. With a superhuman effort I managed to lose only ten yerds of gap, and then the road flattened out and went downhill. Hurrah! 32mph briefly, and the tractor dwindling in the mirror, but it's an all-important stretch because round the bend is Another Hill! Grunted up that, and accelerated away again. Along the top of the ridge with the tractor just about keeping pace (he went past the farm where I though he lived) and then a short uphill followed by a stretch with a slight uphill gradient. Help! He's gaining again! Hit the top and a fast switchback, 35mph downhill and a 90 degree left-hander under full power (no risk of pedal strike), followed by a short sharp climb. Now it's getting personal - the tractor wobbles round the corner and is gaining on me up the hill. 100 yards - 50 yards - 25 yards - and holding, more power on, round the left hander, still climbing gently, and then - Span Hill! So it's into the sharp right hander at the top, and rapidly up the sprockets while the Flying Banana accelerates to Grin Factor Nine (41mph) as we hurtle down towards the Flowing Spring. The tractor is... that little dot in the mirror! With nothing more to prove I cruise down the hill and ease off gently as I approach Playhatch Roundabout; for once there is no circulating traffic and I cross the roundabout at a brisk 26mph. Victory is mine! Can't wait to get some Stelvios on that bike :-D Guy === ** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony. http://www.chapmancentral.com Advance notice: ADSL service in process of transfer to a new ISP. Obviously there will be a week of downtime between the engineer removing the BT service and the same engineer connecting the same equipment on the same line in the same exchange and billing it to the new ISP.

Started by Just Zis Guy · 25 June 2003 · Last activity 14 August 2003 · 7 posts · 937 views

← Back to UK and Europe

This thread is locked and is currently read-only.

Thread navigation

Jump through the discussion

Go to the original post, the replies on this page, or the latest preserved contribution.

01 / Original postTractor racingJust Zis Guy · 25 Jun 2003 02 / This pagePosts 1–7Page 1 of 1 · chronological order 03 / Latest replyPost #7Gary Knighton · 14 Aug 2003

Thread details

What we know about this thread

Original section: UK and Europe
Published: 25 June 2003
Last activity: 14 August 2003
Original author: Just Zis Guy
Posts: 7
Discussion status: Public discussion
Total views: 937
Views / 30 days: 0

The navigation and discussion metadata provide context. Posts remain in their original chronological order.

Original post
Just Zis Guy
Archived post

25 June 2003, 22:31 UTC #1

It was a nice sunny evening so I thought I'd ride home slowly on the sunny route. And there I was
trundling along at a stately 21mph when a tractor pulled out of a side turning and began to follow
me. It was catching me up. "I'm not having that!" thinks I, so I put a bit of effort in and
started pulling away. I'd gained about 50 yards on him when disaster struck in the shape of a
small hill. With a superhuman effort I managed to lose only ten yerds of gap, and then the road
flattened out and went downhill. Hurrah! 32mph briefly, and the tractor dwindling in the mirror,
but it's an all-important stretch because round the bend is Another Hill! Grunted up that, and
accelerated away again.
Along the top of the ridge with the tractor just about keeping pace (he went past the farm where I
though he lived) and then a short uphill followed by a stretch with a slight uphill gradient. Help!
He's gaining again! Hit the top and a fast switchback, 35mph downhill and a 90 degree left-hander
under full power (no risk of pedal strike), followed by a short sharp climb. Now it's getting
personal - the tractor wobbles round the corner and is gaining on me up the hill. 100 yards - 50
yards - 25 yards - and holding, more power on, round the left hander, still climbing gently, and
then - Span Hill!
So it's into the sharp right hander at the top, and rapidly up the sprockets while the Flying Banana
accelerates to Grin Factor Nine (41mph) as we hurtle down towards the Flowing Spring. The tractor
is... that little dot in the mirror! With nothing more to prove I cruise down the hill and ease off
gently as I approach Playhatch Roundabout; for once there is no circulating traffic and I cross
the roundabout at a brisk 26mph.
Victory is mine! Can't wait to get some Stelvios on that bike :-D
Guy
===
** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony. chapmancentral.comchapmancentral.com Advance
notice: ADSL service in process of transfer to a new ISP. Obviously there will be a week of downtime
between the engineer removing the BT service and the same engineer connecting the same equipment on
the same line in the same exchange and billing it to the new ISP.

Report
Tony W
Archived post

25 June 2003, 22:31 UTC #2

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
snip
Quoted message said:

Victory is mine! Can't wait to get some Stelvios on that bike :-D
Nah -- he obviously wasn't trying.

Report
Peter B
Archived post

25 June 2003, 22:31 UTC #3

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
<snipped nightmare pursuit story>
Jeepers Guy, reminded me of that film with Dennis Weaver being pursued by a tanker truck! Scarey:-)
Pete

Report
James Hodson
Archived post

26 June 2003, 06:01 UTC #4

you know? said:
Victory is mine!
By which time you were 27.327196 miles past your intended destination.
James
--
homepage.ntlworld.comDscf0632.jpg

Report
Not Me
Archived post

26 June 2003, 13:00 UTC #5

Just zis Guy, you know? deftly scribbled:
Quoted message said:
Victory is mine!
Heheheh, and to the victor the spoils .. er .. did you get anything for it ?
Other than perhaps the biggest grin this side of a Basil Brush gag 😉
--
Digweed

Report
Wafflydirtycatl
Archived post

26 June 2003, 21:30 UTC #6

Quoted message said:
By which time you were 27.327196 miles past your intended destination.
Nice one :-)
Cheers, helen s
~~~~~~~~~~
This is sent from a redundant email Mail sent to it is dumped My correct one can be gleaned from
h$**$*$el$**e$n$**$d$**$o$*$t**$$s$**$im$mo$ns*@a$**o$l.c$$*o$*m*$ by getting rid of the
overdependence on money and fame
~~~~~~~~~~

Report
Gary Knighton
Archived post

14 August 2003, 11:45 UTC #7

On Wed, 25 Jun 2003 22:02:18 +0100, contributor You know? Just zis Guy had scribed:
Quoted message said:
The tractor
is... that little dot in the mirror!
Reminds me of the occasion when some of the CTC section decided to go to the coast (about 45-50
miles away depending on which bit of coast) at short notice, so took some annual leave and away we
went. A good following wind and the Yorkshire Wolds section of the A166, like a lumpy plateau, we
were pacing a tractor at about 40 mph before passing
it. Those were the days (when I was fitter)!
Gary - catching up on newsgroup reading!
--
The email address is for newsgroups purposes only and therefore unlikely to be read.
For contact via email use my real name with an underscore separator at the domain of CompuServe.

Report

Active in the last 60 minutes

Active in this thread

0 users · 0 guests ·0 bots ·0 total

No signed-in users are active right now.

No known search crawlers active right now.

Jump through the discussion

What we know about this thread

Continue through CyclingForums

Active in this thread