Best cycling words and phrases

[Phil Hears A Who]

Both phrases are synonymous with going 'eyeballs out' with the second particularly applying into a headwind.

See also: breathing through one's eyeballs

[Despuech]

Kwak (Vlaams)

That twitch in the pace line that gets more and more exaggerated as it is transmitted back through the group.

Result is often a massive valpartij

Ouch

[Paul]

Souplesse (as opposed to soupless).

Sticky bottles!

[Tomsk]

"Front" and "Back"

There's too much regional variation to describing on road traffic direction when riding in groups.
No one has ever misunderstood either of the above. #heresy

'Front' and 'Back' are the British Cycling recommended terms, I think.

'Up' and 'Down' are easily misconstrued. In Olde Essex cyclist's slang up is the direction you're travelling, others may mean up (at the front - ie against you). 'Oil' (= motor), 'Big Oil' (= lorry/bus etc), from the early days of motoring when steam vehicles were fairly common and presented different hazards. Still use those terms habitually ...

I like 'Nose' and 'Tail' - from my days riding with Ayrshire CTC.

[T42]

Suceur de roue = wheelsucker: the bastard who slipstreams you so closely that you can smell him, and stays there without ever moving up front and doing some work.

[vorsprung]

From the P@nd3m1c Pr0duckt10nz™^® Tour de France Bingo Card (pat. pending)

Super happy   
Super hard   
Super strong   
Super good   
Full gas   
For sure   
Incredible    
Crazy   
There is still a long way to go   
We will see   
Anything can happen    
A dream   
yeh   
On the limit   
Good legs   
Great team   
No easy days   
Wind!   
Iconic   
Looking forward to Paris Nice

Sean Kelly edition

On the limit
On the rivet
Cup of tea
As we say, in cycling terms
My postman could go faster than that
Too much weight
Too lean
I'm not sure of the tactic

[Cudzoziemiec]

Freewheeling
Downhill
Tailwind
Smooth tarmac
Scenic mild trail
Free cake
Hot tea
Dry bus shelter
Sunny day
Warm night
Home
Far away

[SoreTween]

Oh look, a pub. Pint?

[Ian H]

Chaingang
Through and off
Follow a wheel
Sit in
Sit up
Club-run winner
Engine

[T42]

Pothole
Chip'n'seal
Road rash
Black-enamel bastard (probably not common coin but it's how a school chum of mine referred to the peeler who gave him a dressing-down for riding through an orange-red light)

[finch]

From the P@nd3m1c Pr0duckt10nz™^® Tour de France Bingo Card (pat. pending)

Super happy   
Super hard   
Super strong   
Super good   
Full gas   
For sure   
Incredible    
Crazy   
There is still a long way to go   
We will see   
Anything can happen    
A dream   
yeh   
On the limit   
Good legs   
Great team   
No easy days   
Wind!   
Iconic   
Looking forward to Paris Nice

Sean Kelly edition

On the limit
On the rivet
Cup of tea
As we say, in cycling terms
My postman could go faster than that
Too much weight
Too lean
I'm not sure of the tactic

Yes well
Classement
Pog a charr

[spesh]

The weather's just reminded me that it's not officially autumn until Kim's mentioned "chutney".

IIRC, it's the slippery mess you get when fallen leaves are soaked by heavy rainfall, and rather conducive to code brown moments when your bike tries swapping ends beneath you.

[cygnet]

'Front' and 'Back' are the British Cycling recommended terms, I think.

I did not know that. They do a pretty rubbish job of promoting it since I've heard very few people use both. Did they "adopt" it from me?
Just to anedotalise that: In the BC club I raced in (who shall not be named) it was Up and Back, unless I'm on the Front....

I do like to hear "Oil", though I don't recall every hearing "Big Oil" though. (Although quite possibly my brain contracts that in the same way it will instinctively make me classify everything as "Car")

[cygnet]

Unrelated to the above^

Diesel
Puncheur

[Blodwyn Pig]

When slogging up a 1 in 4 , thinking you’ve reached the top with a hairpin bend, but no, it goes on…..’FNUK’’

[vorsprung]

"Front" and "Back"

There's too much regional variation to describing on road traffic direction when riding in groups.
No one has ever misunderstood either of the above. #heresy

'Front' and 'Back' are the British Cycling recommended terms, I think.

'Up' and 'Down' are easily misconstrued. In Olde Essex cyclist's slang up is the direction you're travelling, others may mean up (at the front - ie against you). 'Oil' (= motor), 'Big Oil' (= lorry/bus etc), from the early days of motoring when steam vehicles were fairly common and presented different hazards. Still use those terms habitually ...

I like 'Nose' and 'Tail' - from my days riding with Ayrshire CTC.

Front and Back are just wrong!!!!

It's down and up!!

[orienteer]

"Car up" and "car down", but some confuse the direction; I remember it as up your ass or down your throat.

[peter simplex]

Lest we forget...
"to take a packet"  - nothing to do with performance-enhancing supplements.   The equivalent of  "blowing up".  Take your pick [or packet]
An old timer once told me that "bonk rations" were also known as "nutty". I'm not sure how universal that was.

[Salvatore]

"Tuggo"
I have no idea where this word came from, but it was in common usage in Northamptonshire in the 1950s/60s.
It was a somewhat derogatory term for a cyclist who was not a "Clubman".
As in "Oh, it's just a tuggo"
What we would now term a utility cyclist, going to work, shopping, allotment etc.
Has anyone else heard/used the term, and can anyone shed light on it's origins?

This forum has a former member called Tuggo but I don't know if the above usage was where his name came from. It's a joke he would maybe use about himself.

I was wondering about this myself. It occurred to me that it might be the influence of Chris Davies, who was versed in all matters of cycling lore. Postie would know.

[tatanab]

I was wondering about this myself. It occurred to me that it might be the influence of Chris Davies, who was versed in all matters of cycling lore. Postie would know.

From the same geographical area, we used Tuggo to describe a utility rider back in the 60s and more recently.  I remember our own "Tuggo" starting riding, and indeed "Postie".  Last met Tuggo in France in 2012.

Oil up and down were usual terms.  Car back or front is an American import I think.  I had never heard it until I lived in the USA in the late 90s.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

One of the tour commentators used to say of a cyclist 'he's got a big diesel'.  Haven't heard it lately.

[Mr Larrington]

One of the tour commentators used to say of a cyclist 'he's got a big diesel'.  Haven't heard it lately.

IIRC this was a favourite of poor dead Paul Sherwen.  This may be why it’s fallen out of favour.

Well, that and *** and Super Dave taking over.

[grams]

Talk of who is and isn't "more of a diesel engine" is still a staple of the long hours of the live coverage whenever someone is riding a bicycle quite fast for quite a long time.

The droning white guys are all an indistinguishable mulch. The suggestion they have names and faces and families and dreams of their own seems fanciful.

[Ian H]

Engine used to refer to the big bloke with no sense of tactics, who'd tow the bunch all day until the everyone went past him for the sprint finish.

[JennyB]

One of the tour commentators used to say of a cyclist 'he's got a big diesel'.  Haven't heard it lately.

As opposed to 'now you're sucking diesel!' which is tractor-speak for going well after a bad patch.