Ooops
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...cing&p=9933665

I'm a 12 to 14 depending on the bike I ride.
They need a calc for size too.
At 350 lbs, I'd probably come in at 20+.

One day, back when I still rode a mountain bike, I saw a roadie out on a ride, and it was on. As I passed the guy, I looked at him and said "It's a race," then sped off. I don't think he believed me.

Yesterday, coming home from work, I caught up with this lady at the light. She was a few points above me in the food chain, and to the nines with spandex, aero bars, a helmet that looked like it cost $200, etc. We had a hill to climb, and then a nice descent. The light turned green, and I was off to the races...! I left her behind, but got caught at the next light, at the top of our hill. Before it turned green, she caught up; I was ready for the light to change, practically standing on my right pedal. Again I left her far behind, but found myself stuck at the next light, where she caught up with me again. This went on at 25 mph for the next few lights, until we reached the bottom of the hill, and both turned left onto different streets. I'd reached the light first, but was never far enough ahead to beat a light that stopped her.

I'd like to count that as a win, but in my heart I know it was a closer to a draw. There were no more lights at this point, and I'm sure I victory would have been unambiguously mine if I'd made the same turn as my competitor, but, alas...

1 last night, but 8 this morning as I rode my fendered fixed gear in regular clothes. But I didn't pass anyone. :(

I passed a couple kitted riders pulling my son in trailer to school yesterday morning and evening. One of them put up a chase for a couple miles.

Not sure how many points that would be worth. A trailer is sort of like a recumbent. Does you son have hairy legs and a beard?

I didn't know anyone had gone so far as to document The Game. That's awesome. I try not the let influence my ride, but you know it does. I see someone in my mirror and push a little harder. Two days ago I saw someone two blocks back. They looked like they were gaining, but then we hit the hill. Don't know what it is about my bike, but it loves to go down hill. I thought I could strengthen my lead there, but he caught up with me shortly after the hill leveled out. We talked for a while as we road together, but by the time we split, I was out of breath from keeping up with him, and he was doing fine. No doubt who won that round.

But a week or two back someone got a head start when I got caught at the light. I thought I might catch them, but they split off my route. Couple of miles later, our routes merged again, but this time I was in front. I may not have the speed, but apparently I have the mapping down better.

And last year I remember feeling badly about passing a fellow on his shiny, light bike, decked out in his gear. I was pounding up the hill on my ancient, steel, two-rack-and-fender-having, over-built Sears bike and went right by the poor guy. If he plays The Game, that must have knocked him right down to the bottom of the food chain. I tried to slow down enough to give him a chance. It didn't seem right to pass him, but I only had one gear, and so I could only go so slow without coming to a stop.

But such victories, if that's what they are, are rare. I ride slow as a rule, and even my newer bike is steel and bring up the rear on most every group ride I attend. I know my place on the food chain, but that doesn't mean I'm not above trying to move up a level every now and then. ;-)

Trailer is +2. That makes me a 5. Fixed gear, harry legs, bike shorts, t shirt.

I was unaware of the game, but I will try to catch anyone I see in front of me. It's like "target acquired", then I'm off. Also, I remember once last year I was stopped at a redlight, and some mtn. bike riding dufus slipped by me on the right, between me and the curb, and sailed through the red light. Startled me. The road grade after was slightly uphill, so I sprinted to catch up to him, then relaxed my appearance just before I passed him back at ~20mph or so.

Okay, here's a story.

I look like a commuter; street clothes, folding bike with 16" wheels, headlights always on (and **** bright, at that). Anyone who sees me coming knows I'm a commuter. Roadies in Central Park do not like to be passed by commuters on folding bikes. So one day maybe a year ago I see a guy in racing gear some way ahead, and I see his pump is not attached right, it's about to fall off. And he sees me approaching, so he puts on a burst of speed. He's not fooling anyone; he was pretty relaxed just moments before, and now he's sprinting. I gained on him pretty well at the uphill by the carousel, and I was on his tail by the time we passed that dog statue. But now I was so out of breath I could barely speak. I had to wait until 68 St before I had recovered enough breath to say "hey, your pump! your pump!" and even then he ignored me for a while. Roadies always ignore guys on folding bikes; it's in The Code. So I had to pass him and say, hey, your pump is falling off! He looked at me like I was speaking Sumerian or something. Then in a flash his face brightened, he said Oh, thanks! and slowed down. I turned off at 72nd St, three blocks out of my way, thinking... I should have just waited until it fell off, and grabbed it. I can always use another pump.

I love "The Game", never knew it was documented though. My FCN varies between 3 and 4, this morning it was 4 since I was wearing my backpack.

SCR this morning of 1. At the beginning of my commute I tracked down and dropped a younger guy that looked to be a similar FCN, +1. A few miles down a dude pulls into my route, full on shaved legs, team kit, no baggage couldn't have been more than a FCN of 1. I stayed on his wheel for about 3 miles until our routes diverged, including a decent 3/4 mile 250' climb, i'll take that as a +1. During the last 1.5 mile stretch some older guy on a touring bike with loaded rack and panniers came out of nowhere and caught me. While he didn't drop me he pulled me along at a respectable 18/19 mph clip. I probably could have overtaken him if I had encountered him earlier but we were rapidly approaching the sketchy section of my commute, passing through a major freeway on/off ramp area with heavy traffic, oh well, -1 for me, i'm sure he was playing and thinking to himself thats 1 point for me, thank you very much :lol:.

All and all a good ride, riding along with RacerX helped me come in below the 43 minute mark, lately i've been around 45 minutes.

I don't know all about these numbers and stuff. But while I don't intentionally try to pass people, I do generally ride as hard as possible - cause its a work out for me. As a result people get passed.
But anyone with a geared bike that knows how to ride can pass me on my single speed.

You learned the same lesson I did on the way home yesterday: race smarter, not (necessarily) harder.

I ride a fixie and score a 7...3 is just the starting point before modifiers.

How much growth is considered a beard?

Yup, that's about right. :D

FCN 8 here. Touring bike with fenders and bags, and SPD pedals. I wear a rodie riding suit in the winter, and baggies in the summer. Not sure if that changes anything.

D

Sooo...I need to actually install the fenders I bought for my touring bike w/panniers and wear my skirt over my lyra shorts & I'll move from a 3 to a 9. I refuse to stop shaving.

Sadly, I have no one to pass.

I did race an 18-wheeler across an intersection once though. He was waiting at the light when I pulled up in the next lane. We both looked at the same time & he gunned his engine & looked at the light. I gave him a nod. When the light turned we both took off. When he caught up to me (2 blocks later) he honked & waved. I laughed the rest of the way to work.

My FCN is a 4. I've been playing this game everyday I commute. Its fun. There's always this one guy that I play with, road bike, panniers, shorts and platform pedals. We've never spoken to each other but we know whats up. Sometimes I let him ahead of me so I can draft. But now that we are keeping score mercy will have to be thrown out the window. ;)

If hair on the legs makes a difference, I think anything beyond a couple day's stubble would count. I have a full beard, so I have no qualms giving myself that point! ;)

I'm either a 13 or a 14 on the FCN: somewhere between a fast hybrid and a MTB w/ skinnies, non-cycling clothing (I assume cargo shorts and a tee-shirt count as non-cycling and not baggies), with panniers, a beard and platform pedals. I aspire to be a 10 (toruing bike w/ mud flaps, baggies, panniers, beard and clipless pedals). Still leaves me pretty low on the food chain.

Like others, I hate to admit that I played the game even before I knew about it... at least a little. I'd feel like I'd had a victory when I passed someone who seemed (in this thread's parlance) to have a lower FCN. Having commuted through the winter, I felt I had some cheap victories for a while as the fair weather cyclists had yet to regain their form. I think the playing field is leveling out now, though, after a month or so of warmer temps.

Can't remember any particularly great "commuter game" moments in the last year or so of commuting, but as time's gone on, I've tended to pass more and more filks up the food chain from me.

I know I am stating the obvious but FCN is more correlated to stereotypes of rider/bike type than degree of difficulty of speed for ride configuration.

Sounds like the way my world goes. I am so happy to see another cyclist I don't care if they are passing me or vice versa. The last time I saw another cyclist, she was headed the other way, was in November, but, then again, I ride year round.
My FCN came out to be 17. At least, that is my best guess. Where does a Xtracycle w/e-assist come in at?

Me too.

Ahh, I remember those days.

Nothing better than hitching 40 or 50 pounds of trailer and kid to a twenty-year-old squeaky Peugeot, wearing clothing too crappy for high-school gym class, then dropping someone in full kit on a carbon fiber bike with disk wheels, going by too fast to even read the brand name of his bike.

Although dropping someone trying to play The Game with you is good, too, when you've developed a slow leak and you're rolling on a flat rear tire. I did that earlier this week. I was on my road bike, not the commuter, but still, it was The Game.

I was rolling along and passed a guy who really didn't like it, so he started hammering and tried to drop me back. After riding about 50 miles with about 7 more to go, I didn't really care, so I just kept spinning away. About this time I noted my rear tire getting mushy. But lo and behold, I started gaining as he ran out of gas and I passed him again, and he redid the hammer-and-pass. Third time I passed him we were going up a slight climb, my tire was almost completely flat (had barely enough air to keep the rim off the pavement) and I dropped him for good. At the top of the climb he was a good 1/4 mile back. With just a couple of miles left in my ride, I figured that was a good time to do a two mile high-tempo interval. Hey, I had to get home before my tire went totally flat. Right? :D

Funny, I had almost the same thing happen to me on the way home tonight. Except that it was the kid's trailer that was losing air. I wish it had been my rear tire since it had been rubbing against the chain stay starting at about mile 30. That's when I noticed it anyway. I'd been passing and getting passed by this same guy through two counties. Finally the tire on trailer just tore completely off and thank god it did. The noise scared the crap out of that Lance wannabe. I took advantage of his momentary confusion and dropped him for good. Junior was crying but heck he'll be proud of Dad once the social services people let him come back home.

haahahahaha