Quickly deleted road tax poll doesn’t go to plan (+ cycle lane petition); Bernal: I had 95% chance of becoming paraplegic; Wiggoception; Bet your brake pads aren’t as worn as Dan Martin’s; G’s lovely day in ‘Tenby’ + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Quickly deleted road tax poll doesn't go to plan
Not really going the way Susan wanted it to eh? pic.twitter.com/nEkAfD8yBn
— CyclingInASkirt (@CyclingInASkirt) January 31, 2022
Road tax, eh. I imagine we’ll still be talking about it on the live blog in 2050…
By that point technology will probably be so advanced we’ll upload the blog directly to your minds (it’ll save you having to read my ramblings) and yet someone out there will almost certainly still be spouting about cyclists paying road tax…
Today’s instance is more amusing than the usual angry keyboard warrior replying to an outrageous police tweet telling them to look out for cyclists. It involves a poll, because if there’s one thing Britain loves, it’s a yes/no vote…
Susan reckoned she’d put it to the people — ‘As cyclists are given more of a priority on the roads. I’m asking, should they pay a road tax or at least some sort insurance? (This would be for public roads only, not country parks or similar).’
Now, you’ve probably already seen the result of said poll above, but for some reason we don’t think it quite went the way Susan was expecting. I say that because it has now been deleted and her account set to private…
The result? 7 per cent in favour of a road tax for cyclists or some sort of insurance, 92 per cent against it, and 1 per cent for only a road tax or unsure.
Maybe there’ll be a second vote…
Time for some reaction…Tim gets us underway with an old favourite…
Road damage is 4th power of wheel load. If I pay £2 a year road levy for my bike, proportional levy for a small hatchback is £20,000. Bring it on.
— Tim Altham 🇪🇺 💙 (@TimAltham) January 31, 2022
— Adam Fry (@Adski11892) January 31, 2022
Tired of carrying spares in your back pocket?
Syncros has revealed its new iS storage line-up which is designed to provide a safe, sleek and integrated way of carrying ride essentials.
“Our integrated Storage concept considers ride essentials as, well, essential,” Syncros says. “Meaning you should have them on every ride, long or short, whether you need them or not.”
The iS Coupe Cage is the version for road riders. The 10 function multi-tool is housed behind the bottle and Syncros says it features a special finish for higher resistance to corrosion.
A CO2 inflator or a high-pressure mini-pump can also be added. “The valve is protected to avoid accidental engagement and our design allows you to easily control the rate and flow of CO2.”
G's lovely day in 'Tenby'...
Getting half wheeled by Cam… so I dropped him 👌 Lovely day out in Tenby pic.twitter.com/fxPWnDbaLi
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) January 31, 2022
Okay, G. We’ve finally worked it out the joke…
You’re not actually training in Wales. Very good. At least it snared a few more of his followers, eager to get out and meet their hero on local roads. ‘Strange, they must have repainted the road lines yellow’…
Tired of carrying spares in your back pocket? The sequel...
Silca has launched a bigger version of its Mattone seat bag with a BOA Closure system which is claimed to be 15 times stronger than velcro options. The brand says that this ensures the new Mattone Grande (priced at £55) “remains ‘high and tight’ under your saddle until you need to access it… no swinging, swaying or rattling… ever!”
According to Silca, the bag can carry up to three road tubes along with two CO2 cartridges, two tyre levers and a multi-tool. An internal pocket can also be used for storing a credit card or cash.
The pack has a water resistant exterior and is closed with a water resistant YKK zipper.
"Having had a 95 per cent chance of becoming a paraplegic and nearly losing my life doing what I love to do most": Egan Bernal statement on crash injuries
Egan Bernal has thanked the specialists at Clínica Universidad de La Sabana hospital in Bogotá, revealing he had a 95 per cent chance of becoming a paraplegic after crashing while training in Colombia.
He wrote on Instagram: “Having had a 95 per cent chance of becoming a paraplegic and nearly losing my life doing what I love to do most. Today I want to thank God, and all the specialists at Clínica Universidad de La Sabana for doing the impossible, my family, my partner, friends and all of you for your wishes.
“I’m still in the ICU waiting for more surgeries but trusting in God everything will be fine. With the unconditional support of Ineos Grenadiers and Xabier Artetxe [Bernal’s coach].”
Bet your brake pads aren't as worn as Dan Martin's
Pfff. Raise you pic.twitter.com/bdfB9Pi1Ev
— Dan Martin (@DanMartin86) February 1, 2022
Anyone managed to take a pair of disc pads further than this? (Not that we’d recommend it)…
Don't all sign at once...
We received this in our inbox this morning… nice of them to think of us…
There’s a 38 Degrees petition asking for it to be mandatory for cyclists to use cycle lanes…and it has a whopping 11 signatures on it…
The whole point of the new Highway Code is to make it safer for cyclist’s (sic). Surely its safer if they have there own cycling path to use then ride on the road. That’s why it should be mandatory to use one if it’s been provided.
Why is this important?
The amount of tax payers’ money that has been spent to create safe cycling lanes. It should be mandatory to use them instead of cycling on the road
Comment of the day: Wiggoception
Yesterday’s Near Miss of the Day happened on Wiggins Lane in Lancashire where another road.cc reader had a memorable encounter of their own…
No dangerous driving, just a Wiggins on Wiggins…
'Learn the new Highway Code and you could save lives': Is the message from Autoexpress's longest-serving columnist
After all the hysteria of last week’s Highway Code columns in the Mail, Telegraph and Spectator, Autoexpresses’ longest-serving reporter Mike Rutherford has penned an opinion piece titled ‘Learn the new Highway Code and you could save lives’…
In the piece, Rutherford urges motorists to buy a physical copy of the 2022 Highway Code and afterwards invest £25 in a one-hour session with a driving instructor to “appraise your driving”…”you’ll learn an awful lot about your good and bad habits.”
For the overwhelming majority of us, the most dangerous thing we’ll do today is drive a car, walk on or cross a road, or ride a bike on a public highway.
A driver can invest a paltry £50 right now to significantly reduce his or her chances of being involved in a prang at this most risky time of year. Read what follows and you might just save a life – possibly your own.
All his other top tips can read here…
If a UCI 2.1 race happens in the desert but nobody's there to see it, did it really happen?
There’s an actual bike race happening today (remember them)…stage one of the Saudi Tour is underway…
Although you wouldn’t know it from the TV pictures, which have been…well, non-existent so far…
All’s good though. They’ve wheeled out a peloton of the local kids for a finish line crit. Who’s your money on?
Which reminds us, L’Équipe has won the best headline of 2022 prize already…
Hors catégorie headline from @lequipe pic.twitter.com/5bdVvLKclW
— Daniel Friebe (@friebos) February 1, 2022
Caleb, you won! First race, first win for Lotto Soudal sprinter in 2022
.@CalebEwan venceu a etapa 01 do #SaudiTour pic.twitter.com/CfH9xKuD4g
— País do Ciclismo (@DoCiclismo) February 1, 2022
This could be a very familiar sight in 2022 — Caleb Ewan’s Lotto Soudal sprint train setting the Australian sprinter up for victory.
It turns out the plane necessary for the TV pictures to be broadcast (don’t ask me how it works) wasn’t allowed to take off, so all we got were finish line shots. When the kids cleared off and the peloton rounded the final bend Ewan, led by Jasper De Buyst was well in control, winning easily on the first day of term.
Brit Dan McLay just missed out on the top 10. To think by the end of the year, if all goes exactly to plan, Ewan may well have won Milan-San Remo, Giro stages, Tour stages, and a rainbow jersey at a home world championships…
Something tells me a January win in Saudi Arabia wasn’t too high on his wishlist in the grand scheme of things, but hey, no win’s a bad win…
Cyclocross concussion probe after Belgian rider "didn't even know that the race was over. I thought I still had five more laps"
🇧🇪 Vincent Baestaens has a concussion as a result of his early crash in CX Worlds. He continued his race and finished 32nd. “I didn’t even know that the race was over. I thought that I still had to do five more laps. Apparently I’ve ridden on autopilot.”https://t.co/nB5bWeaLmS
— Cyclocross24.com (@cyclocross24) January 31, 2022
Contrary to the tweet above Belgian rider Vincent Baestaens finished 31st at Sunday’s ‘cross worlds after crashing on the opening lap. But worryingly, the 32-year-old did so without realising he was racing.
“I didn’t even know the race was over,” he told Wielerflits. “I thought it was about five more laps. They had to get me off the bike. But apparently I rode the World Championships on autopilot, without realising much of it. I don’t remember anything about my fall either.
“Unfortunately, the doctor Kris Van Der Mieren only saw the images of my fall later and said that he should never have allowed me to continue.”
Baestaens was taken to hospital post-race and was diagnosed with a serious concussion.
“It turns out I did not make the right decision to continue racing,” he concluded.
Road-hogging two abreasters...according to the Daily Mail
“Two cyclists are pictured taking up less than 25% of the road width by someone in a car that takes up 50% of the road width.
— Simon (@BarryShawkins) February 1, 2022
A reminder of how one Mail columnist, living in Florida, interpreted last week’s Highway Code changes…
London Cycling Campaign's Urban Hill Climb returns for 2022
After a two year hiatus the Urban Hill Climb, organised by the London Cycling Campaign is back. The charity and membership organisation working to make cycling in London safe, accessible and enjoyable for everyone runs the popular hill climb up Swain’s Lane, a short but steep climb in Highgate averaging 8 per cent, with a 20 per cent maximum.
We’ll bring you all the details closer to the time…
Matteo Trentin: Every time you step out your door going for training in the morning you never know which side you're going to come back on
Former European champion Matteo Trentin believes the roads are getting more dangerous for cyclists. In an interview with Cycling Weekly off the back of Egan Bernal and Imogen Cotter’s crashes last week, Trentin said cyclists are forced to “take more and more care on the roads” due to the dangers.
“It’s more of a jungle than a proper training environment. That’s what we have to deal with every single day, everybody knows it,” Trentin suggested.
“Every time you step out your door going for training in the morning you never know which side you’re going to come back on. Whether it’s upright, or laid down in some kind of ambulance. We have to take more and more care on the roads.
“There’s more traffic, people are getting more nervous. I cannot even count how many times a car passed me and then straight away turned right. Or a car has passed me and then stopped on a speed bump ten metres after. It happened already today. People get stressed for nothing. Then you put someone who’s cycling in danger.”
TURN IT DOWN!!!
🎼 Astana Is My Team – Cycling Rap Music Video!
The path to big goals is best started by rallying together as united and motivated team!
Today we are setting the tone for the whole season, which, we are sure, will be successful!#AstanaQazaqstanTeam pic.twitter.com/B13l6JA4gr— Astana Qazaqstan Team (@AstanaQazTeam) February 1, 2022
My most sincere apologies for what you are about to hear…
Astana, Vincenzo and Vino decided the best way to hype up their new season was dropping…a rap track. Thoughts…
Vinokourov has to be the next Bond villain. End of discussion. From Kazakhstan with Love, Cat 2 Licence to Kill, Team Skyfall, The World Championships Is Not Enough etc etc…
Joe Dombrowski definitely spent his 90s/00s childhood learning all the words to Eminem verses…
As far as bars go…”Our job is to win, Astana is my team, we’re riding to win and it will be done”…is right down there fighting relegation…rhymning team with Kazakhstan seems dubious too…
If only it was a Miguel Ángel López Movistar diss track…
1 February 2022, 08:55
1 February 2022, 08:55
1 February 2022, 08:55
1 February 2022, 08:55
1 February 2022, 08:55
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Latest Comments
@Paul J Van Schip certainly seems a bit of a dick, but he's a European and multiple World Champion on the track, pretty sure you don't get there without having some talent in your legs.
Poor Vincent cannot get over the simple fact that given the choice people prefer dedicated cycling spaces, rather than pretending to be cars like vehicular cyclists.
What is the point of the fancy air sensor if it can't account for changing weather conditions?? If all you care about is a delayed approximation of aerodynamic watts in steady conditions, you don't need any special sensors for that. Just your speed on a decently flat course is enough to approximate rolling resistance and drivetrain losses. And the rest must be aero. If you assume a less aero body position at the same watts, your speed will drop while rolling resistance also drops, which means approximated aero watts goes up. And that's enough to demonstrate what you've shown in your testing protocol ("I sat upright and the number went up a little while later").
Your correction is accurate - it's almost always been "the (lack of) thought that (doesn't) count". "Massive" - less than a billion a year spent on active travel (trying to catch up / building a network across the entire country) Not massive - 6 billion every year (2026-2030) spent on road *maintenance* of existing "already built, goes everywhere, very convenient" road network for inactive travel Ultimately the reason "cycle infra" is *needed* is those unbelievably colossal amounts spent every year (and for more than a century now) on making mass motoring not just viable but apparently the "best choice" for most journeys. As the Dutch and others have shown, the majority of people *are* prepared to cycle and even mix with very light, slow local motor traffic *if* cycling is also made safe and convenient for the whole of their journey (including secure parking at both ends). (The history of the financial drivers of the current situation are a complex topic but note that while people complain about "crumbling roads" and underfunded motor infra - with some reason - by us continuing the fuel duty escalator freeze (for example) we're actually helping motorists pay *even less* for that activity / subsidising more of the cost of driving than ever.)
yes, but people will still object - which was my point.
So ' Priority of Road Users' and 1.5 metre clearance at 30mph has been been reduced to 'sharing'? NCN route 2 here in South Hams is an absolute scream with white vans, tractors and total idiots who refuse,or are totally incapable,to reverse on high Devon banked lanes ...means you have to get off and pedal back to a passing place....could be at that all day...so I don't bother...
@MaxiMinimalist Agreed. The big problem I see now is today's parents grew up being driven to their schools, and therefore, see private motor vehicles as the only viable form of transport. The vast majority of UK infant and primary schools have a catchment area that is within easy walking distance from home to school. Yet, the traffic caused by pupils being driven to/from school is astonishing. Banishing the "School Run" should be a priority for all schools.
When I was a kid (that was during the previous millenium when phones were connected to a plug in the wall), I rode my bicycle to school, music academy, sport grounds, parties even during the winter. The government didn't have to spend, correct that, didn't have to think of spending massive amounts of money to build cycling specific infrastructures. Over the past 3 or 4 decades, cars have grown bigger, taller, safer (for their drivers) and faster. Meanwhile, motorists have become abusive, aggressive, hypersensitive to people moving on two wheels, aka cyclists. Spending billions upon billions on new infrastructure won't address the crux of the matter. Sadly.
Obree had some actual talent in his legs though, in addition to his bike/aero engineering talent.
Малко като опит за доказване е излязло... Никой няма нужда от толкова голям въртящ момент и мощност на шосеен велосипед с тънки гуми, които дори трудно ще предават тази мощност върху пътя. А ако има и ограничение от 25 км/час е още по-безмислено.
61 thoughts on “Quickly deleted road tax poll doesn’t go to plan (+ cycle lane petition); Bernal: I had 95% chance of becoming paraplegic; Wiggoception; Bet your brake pads aren’t as worn as Dan Martin’s; G’s lovely day in ‘Tenby’ + more on the live blog”
I’d love to know what Susan
I’d love to know what Susan means by “More of a priority”
At a guess she means ‘I don’t
At a guess she means ‘I don’t like cyclists, I perceive them as less than human and if they die it’s all their fault, I have no logical reasons for this other than rising rage in my lizard brain when I perceive them to be in my way. I’m gonna use lazy internet shorthand to find my tribe to validate me’
The great irony of Susan’s
The great irony of Susan’s poll, which is clearly designed to give her affirmation and likes in a pile-on from the anti-cycling community, is that when I saw it yesterday and glanced at her timeline on Twitter it is full of “everybody should be kind to each other” and “Isn’t it a shame that people are so nasty on the Internet” quotes.
I loved the delicious ‘missed
I loved the delicious ‘missed-the-point’ detail in parenthesis, just to clarify how precisely wrong she is and how unworkable these nonsense ideas are.
This would be public roads only – not country parks.
(as though she’s mid-draft as we speak)
Of course… except a path or road in a country park that’s open to the public is a public road, for the purposes of Road Traffic/Highways Acts.
I wouldn’t worry, coz it’s
I wouldn’t worry, coz it’s more deleted now.
bennettkaru wrote:
She had, immediately prior to this, commented along the lines of “Very good article!” on a MSN piece entitled “‘Make them pay road levy and insurance!’ Fury at ‘ridiculous’ new rules for cyclists in UK”.
Presumably, she thought she was onto a winner.
I wonder how she feels about
I wonder how she feels about EVs, given that they also do not pay VED (and yet add to congestion and wear’n’tear on road surfaces way more than bicycles…).
brooksby wrote:
Her profile mentions that she’s a long-boat owner/enthusiast so if she lives in a long-boat, she might well not pay council tax and thus contribute to the roads that way (not that who does or does not contribute is in any way relevant).
Personally, I would love paying a bicycle road tax if car owners then had to pay upwards of £10,000 a year to drive around (i.e. taxation proportionate to road damge – 4th power of axle weight).
hawkinspeter wrote:
Yikes – can we expect pillaging raids on popular local cycle routes?
hawkinspeter wrote:
Haha… narrowboat… can’t picture Rosie & Jim marauding the coast of the British Isles.
IF we paid a cycle tax (don’t
IF we paid a cycle tax (don’t want trikes & unicycles to miss out), would we then be able to cause lots of death & carnage, but just claim the sun was in our eyes, or we just happened to be looking the other way & whatever it was came out of nowhere & wasn’t in hiviz? (!)
No, that would never happen
No, that would never happen because if we had a right to cycle (because we have a licence and passed a test and pay tax and are insured and have number plates) every cyclist would know that those were just stories blown wildly out of proportion by angry entitled motorists. Or if that does happen it’s only a few criminals doing that – and what has that got to do with me? That doesn’t reflect on my lawful, careful cycling. Oh, well, yes – very rarely people make a mistake. Accidents happen. You can’t be expected to watch out for every squirrel. Sad, but that child just ran straight out in front of them and there was nothing the poor cyclist could do.
I love my bike wrote:
Quite right. We don’t want any TERBs* around here thank you very much….
*Trike Exclusionary Radical Bicyclists
Oi!
Oi!
2 wheels bad 3 wheels good.
“There have been a number of
“There have been a number of accusations recently that boaters do not pay Council Tax and so should not benefit from local services. This is incorrect. British Waterways pays the Government a composite levy in respect of Council Tax and Business Rates. This is collected centrally and the income is used to offset general central Government payments to local authorities through the Rate Support Grant. Therefore, anyone who pays a boat licence fee to BW contributes to this composite levy in respect of Council Tax.”
Not as direct as cyclists paying council tax towards the local roads maintained by their relevant highways dept.
hirsute wrote:
Thanks – good to know. I’ve got nothing against boaters (apart from those that have old polluting diesel generators) and it wouldn’t bother me if they didn’t contribute to roads. The mouthy ones could do with shutting up on Twitter about cyclists, though.
hirsute wrote:
apparently about £1200 p.a. for a narrow boat, so comparable to council tax. Of course as this is paid to central government it’s questionable how much reaches the correct local authority.
That figure seems to come
That figure seems to come from here https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/refresh/media/thumbnail/43152-long-term-boat-licence-fee-table-for-2021-2022.pdf
in which case, some of the fee will be paying for the upkeep of the canals and rivers and not paying for local services. Council Tax is cheap round your way !
hawkinspeter wrote:
I made a similar point to someone on another message board last week, asking what he thought would be the fairest way of taxing my 13kg bike and my neighbours 2,000kg SUV.
His reply, ‘the contact patch of your tyre assuming 1″ x 2″ = 2″ and a total weight of 110kgwhen ridden is 55kg per square inch of pressure on the road.
The neighbour’s car at 2000kg but with tyres contact are 9″ x 4 = 36″ is he equivalent of 55kg per square inch on the road. You are both doing the same amount of damage to the road”.
Kapelmuur wrote:
Next he’ll tell you that people wearing high heels do as much damage the road as an elephant……
Captain Badger wrote:
To be fair, I haven’t seen much elephant damage on the roads, so he could be right
The arithmetic may be correct
The arithmetic may be correct, but it doesn’t seem to describe the physics hence the generally accepted 4th power guideline.
hirsute wrote:
Quite. The pressure on the road is equivalent, but we’re not talking about that – we’re talking about load (aka axle weight), which is of course proportional to the absolute mass of the vehicle.
Even if you accepted the
Even if you accepted the maths, and the idea that the pressure is the sole relevant factor, it leaves out that you’re not applying that pressure statically to a single patch – you’re applying it to the track of the wheels. Assuming, for simplicity’s sake, that both front and back wheels follow the same track, that’s one strip of road 1″ wide for the bike, and two strips of road 9″ wide for the car – therefore the car is 18 times as bad.
hirsute wrote:
Indeed – and it does seem to be the “heavy vehicles” although cars are blurring that line by getting heavier.
Well there’s a folk method (I’m sure the only kind many complainants would follow) for them to check. Go and compare the road surfaces with the cycle path surfaces. We’re looking for cracking, crazing, rutting and waves going across the road. Bus stops round me are great for this – it looks like someone dropped the bus from above into really wet asphalt. That’s even for roads resurfaced in the last couple of years.
For fairness you’ll want to correct for the numbers of bicycles / motor vehicles – but the argument will have either ceased at this point or moved on to “what about…”.
Oh – wait – lots of the cycle paths have crap surfaces too. Did I lose the argument? Or could this be that they were shoddily built (repurposed footway or former road) or in some cases that motor vehicles still drive on / over them?
chrisonatrike wrote:
This damage is more to do with leaking diesel (mainly fuel lines and joints) which acts as a solvent on the tarmac. McGills vehicles over here in Renfrewshire have really stuffed the road at a lot of bus stops.
Good point! But but what
Good point! But but what about all those snot rockets?
Surely they would serve as
Surely they would serve as filling material if sent the right direction ?
IANA civil engineer, but
IANA civil engineer, but (agreeing with you) wouldn’t the pressure of his motor vehicle tyre be repeated multiple times for each press of a cycle tyre on a given patch of road, so it’ll take cycles a lot longer to damage the road to an equal degree? Plus isn’t he neglecting additional forces (pressure = force/area not weight/area) from e.g. bouncing up and down and engine/braking acceleration/deceleration, that are going to be much greater for larger masses?
I wish I had done A level
I wish I had done A level physics but clearly the rotational forces involved are more important that static. More than happy to defer to an engineer though !
Kapelmuur wrote:
Follow up question – can we do an experiment? First I will ride my bicycle over a part of your body, and we will look for damage. Then I will repeat with your car and compare the results.
The static pressure only really matters when stationary. It is the acceleration and braking of vehicles that damage the road surface most (roads are always more worn on the approach to roundabouts, traffic lights etc. because of this).
SimoninSpalding wrote:
As long as I can wear a helmet to prevent all damage.
I know people who drive EVs
I know people who drive EVs who still bang on about there should be road tax for cyclists, some people just are anti cyclist.
Awavey wrote:
By “some” people you mean all non cyclists?
No, there are plenty of
No, there are plenty of cyclists too who often crop up on those road tax debates who seem to hate other cyclists on the road as much as the non cyclists.
it’s just as common if I ride near to MTB centres to be close passed by someone with a bike strapped to their car as it is people just out for a drive in the country.
Awavey wrote:
No surprise, wasn’t someone busted for moaning about cyclists and road tax exposed for not having paid his VED on his own car.
How about this for nmotd ?
How about this for nmotd ?
https://twitter.com/righttobikeit/status/1488168069134438407
He did well to stay upright.
That was very nasty. And
That was very nasty. And could have been much worse…
You missed a few ‘sic’s in
You missed a few ‘sic’s in that cycle lane item.
And possibly a ‘sick’ or two as well.
Interesting tip in that Auto
Interesting tip in that Auto Express article: “Carry a small thermostat in your car and aim for an interior temp of around 180C. Any hotter and drivers can get lethargic (unsafe). Much lower and they may be irritable (ditto).”
andy_d_t wrote:
Now we know. All those motorists driving round in too-cold cars.
It would be great if we could
It would be great if we could all take Mike Rutherford’s advice and actually buy a hard copy of the Highway Code, except it isn’t available until April!
I guess that makes sense, judging by the distinct lack of official public awareness campaign from either the DfT or the DVSA over the updated HC. It seems as if they kinda forgot that it was happening, and thus left it to all the tabloids and random social media outlets to fill the educational void with misinformation and vitriol.
Maybe just maybe a proper coordinated PR campaign could’ve announced the changes, and perhaps educated many of those now even angrier road users at the same time.
Dicklexic wrote:
Totally!
“Cyclists must use the cycle
“Cyclists must use the cycle lane if one is provided”.
Alright – but only if motorists must use a motorway if there’s one close to their route.
I mean, we paid for those motorist-dedicated routes out of our taxes, and cyclists aren’t allowed to use them.
(I’d like to see Portishead residents going M5-M4-M32 into the centre of Bristol instead of the A369 (where thirty cars passed in front of me before there was a gap for me to cross to the centre refuge near Abbots Leigh, and then another ten to get to the other side, this morning…)).
Also if a journey is less
Also if a journey is less than say 3 miles and a pavement/cycle path is provided then it should be mandatory that people use active travel rather than drive. Given the new HC it’s much safer and if they don’t why the hell have we spent all that taxpayers money on providing them.
Most Many people would rather
MostMany people would rather get in their car to drive any distance at all than walk it.Asking many people to walk three miles would be like asking them to go to the South Pole on foot…
My phone says its six miles door to door from my home to my office. When I’ve said that to people, they act as if I say I’m doing a hundred miler or something…
I suspect that you would
I suspect in the town where I live that you would struggle to find a house more than a mile from one of the two supermarkets and 3 convenience stores. Yet people will still routinely drive (and complain about parking).
On one cycle, one of my neighbours followed me out of my road, barged passed me coming to the first roundabout despite the fact we were both turning right. I then followed her down the hill across another roundabout to see her turning into Sainsburys. This journey involved turning right twice and by far the shorter route was walking (at least half the distance).
The point is that they would argue that time…. or convienience…. or safety…. and yet that doesn’t enter in to their heads when it comes to cyclist choosing roads over cycle paths.
Not pads, but I once replaced
Not pads, but I once replaced some pads on a bike, but couldn’t get the wheel out because the disc was worn so much on the inside diameter that the thicker outside diameter wouldn’t pass the pads. When I measured it, the worn section was 1mm compared to the 1.6mm original thickness. The customer declined to have the disc replaced.
Not all cyclists are geniuses like what we is here.
Quote:
Exactly.
Most cars are at least as wide as two cyclists side by side and yet there’s (usually) only one occupant.
This will probably make all
This will probably make all of you cringe. The backer on the pad on my winter bike corroded so much that the pad material popped off.
andystow wrote:
Now there’s someone who likes to get their money’s worth
hawkinspeter wrote:
I wish I’d got my money’s worth. Look at all that pad material that I didn’t get to use!
Just as France has banned
Just as France has banned short flights when a reasonable train alternative exists, I propose banning motoring journeys on A roads and B roads where a reasonable motorway route exists. Those motorways were built at great public expense to keep motor traffic off the local roads.
Glad to hear that the Urban
Glad to hear that the Urban Hill Climb is returning. I’ve ridden up Swain’s Lane a few times and it’s a real brute: well worth seeking out for those into that sort of thing, and in a lovely part of London.
‘Few times’? Nothing! I did
‘Few times’? Nothing! I did it every day for 10 years when I lived in that part of London. 🙂 It never got any easier.
Lukas wrote:
But you got faster … right?
captain_slog wrote:
Had my best ever excursion there on Sunday: my mate is suffering knee problems so we had coffee in the cafe at the bottom and rode home again!
It is a stonking climb though and, as you say, lovely environs.
The Bristol Post has picked
The Bristol Post has picked up that mad Ticktokker woman from the other day.
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/new-highway-code-rules-bristol-6583536
and claims that Jeremy Vine also picked up on it…
Always good to joke about
Always good to joke about hitting people whilst swearing copiously.
LICENCE
It works for Rod Liddle,
It works for Rod Liddle, Matthew Parris, et al…
Susan Potter:
Susan Potter:
“Should we just burn asylum seekers for heat, now that gas is so expensive? Just asking… >:|”
Later after deleting and hiding behind protected tweets:
“Don’t hate on me for tweets you dont agree with. :(“
These people honestly…