Strava in spotlight again as Preston's Guild Wheel creator says "poser" cyclists endanger others using shared path

I _do_ think that the existence of Strava is 'sort-of, kinda, partly' to blame, as it gives the irresponsible an incentive to be inconsiderate.

But once the internet and GPS came into existence, something like Strava was absolutely inevitable so it seems pointless to get annoyed at this particular version of the concept.

Surprised there isn't a Strava for runners/pedestrians (or is there?). And I hope to God there isn't and won't be an equivalent for drivers.

Anyway, the more fundamental problem is the reliance on dubious 'shared paths' for cycle infrastructure.

Yet another example of individuals pursuing their own agenda without any real consideration for other legitimate users of the facility.
Sign up to the following E-Petition:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/57804

It's designed to get people thinking of the consequences of their actions........Nothing more. It's not out to stigmatise anyone just to emphasise the fact that these are "shared" facilities, and not for dominance by those who operate bigger/faster machines.

Safe and Happy Cycling
Peter

I have ridden the guild wheel 50time + and havent come across any racers or anybody clashing with pedestrians, it is a good route for all class of cyclist

Interesting idea mentioned above - cycle only routes. Leicester has "New Walk" - a road where only walking is allowed. I think Milton Keynes and Stevenage have cycle only routes - can't think of them anywhere else.

Selling Wardy short describing him as a first cat rider. He was a whisker away from being National road champion.

I've done the wheel about 10 times now with my kids. Never seen anyone really going for it though. As for averaging 25mph or more I doubt that its possible. The authors comments about the crematorium road don't ring quite true either - I've yet to see anyone or any other vehicle on that stretch in all the times I've ridden it. The only time I've seen riders going a bit too quick was when I've been down in Avenham Park for the weekly park run. Lots of runners and a few riders passing a bit too quickly - certainly not over 20mph though. It is however, sign posted as a 5mph limit for cyclists, of course most of the runners will be going quicker than this! Bit of a storm in a tea cup - maybe a few riders giving cyclists a bad name, so nothing new.

Strava is great for competing against *yourself*.
Not against *others*.
This is what racing is for.

I cycle the wheel regularly and parts of it as my daily commute an think it's a great ride. I also use Strava, mainly as a means to track my ongoing mileage.

I agree fully with the common sense messages above about tolerance & sharing the space (be it shared paths or the road)with others and wish that some pedestrians/motorist/other cyclists would also share this approach - for the record and to avoid generalisation there are also pedestrians/motorists and other cyclists who do.

Given the changing surfaces, blind corners, hills, roundabouts and gates the wheel is never going to make a great flat out ride (1:08 is a heck of a time). There are times when parts of the wheel is mobbed, which is great because often these are kids out riding with their parents and this can only be good as these could be future cyclists/commuters etc.

There are also times when we have met nobody when riding it and of course the time taken to get round reduces significantly. This doesn't mean we are racing, it just means we haven't encountered traffic or pedestrians.

For what it's worth whilst commuting & enjoying the wheel/shared paths I've made more use of my bell than I ever thought I would when I added it to the bike a couple of years ago. Although we do still get 'how dare you ride along here' looks from some, for the most part the bell (along with a 'Thanks you' after passing) gets a better response that 'Excuse me' ever did.

There will always people who need to somehow arrange a common sense transplant and strava itself is not the problem. I find it a useful training/analysis tool but if you use it at the expense of your judgement then you will end up paying a heavy price.
For what it's worth, shared use paths should be flagged as they are not the place to drop the hammer.

I use strava and I also use shared paths.

As others state, Strava is just a tool. I use it to monitor my fitness over time.

Yea I do put the foot down on empty paths, but only ever when the path I can see is empty. As soon as I see someone I slow down and move over, and give pedestrians time to move. If the path is narrow I hold back.

The key here is just being responsible. As ever there are a handful which aren't regardless.

I am sick of this public infighting and people within the cycling community attacking other cyclists in this manner. We need to present a public united front as there are enough cycling-haters out there as it is.

I use Strava, I started when I was raising money to buy my disabled son a special bike, it was the easiest way to show my miles to my sponsors.
As I upped my mileage & bought a better bike, it was a great way to monitor my fitness and see my own improvements.
I never set out to get QOMs, but am quite chuffed when one pops up, if I lose them I don't go out & try to retake them.
But one thing I have noticed around where I live, there are some QOM/KOMs that are AMAZING!
Some I have had serious doubts over, knowing the roads & cycle paths they are on I cannot see how they could have been done at that speed without running redlights or playing dodgems with other cyclists & pedestrians.
At a recent meeting of cyclists I overheard a chap bragging of his latest KOM, so out of curiosty I looked it up when I got home..It appears he holds many of the local ones, and all with a huge gap between his times & the next rider - He goes out at 3-5am, when there is no-one on the paths, little traffic on the roads & he admitted that as there is no traffic he doesn't stop for lights
Ok that's his perogative, but by setting these amazing times, I know of others that are going out to try beat him, and they won't be out at 5am, they'll be at a time when there are people on the paths, cars on the road, they will be endangering themselves & others to try and beat times that is pretty much impossible.
..... Call me a spoilsport, but I flagged several of his segments, simply because I felt they were encouraging others to speed along them & posing a danger to anyone else using them.

If I have to use to the road for segments does this mean the slow 5mph nobbers who cycle dangerously slow (usually covered head to toe in HiViz and dozens of cheap lights) can be banned from the road and be forced onto cycle routes?

Rock n roll

' It's simply a tool, as are most of the segment chasing muppets.'

Applause.

I really can see the arguments for both sides...drivers are nutters and no-one gives a toss when a cyclist is killed so why do cyclists have to be different around people vulnerable to them as well as the more noble and higher moral stance of setting an example we hope drivers will someday follow around cyclists.

To my mind all of this is something of a distraction. Ultimately if cyclists weren't treated as legitimate vehicle fodder by society, the courts and your MP, people would be happier to use their share of the road in peace, free of the continual worry of being hit by a road tax shouting lout on the phone navigating with Google glasses and checking Facebook.

Whilst government continues to sit on its hands watching the slaughter of innocents we're faced with using what are essentially still glorified footpaths, given the fact that we have to share them with pedestrians and dogs.

Quite how cycling on a pavement in town is frowned upon but considered ok on an equivalent space with a special name is beyond me...the factors of pedestrians and cyclists potentially colliding are essentially identical.

Given that government is quite happy to throw millions of pounds per kilometre into motorways (purely for motorised traffic, not pedestrians) I have always felt on safety and equality grounds that cyclists should be extended the same opportunity with provision of cycling only roads forming a properly usable network between towns and cities that actually enable you to go training in peace.

These sustrans routes along tow paths and retail parks on glorified gravelways are all well and good but how is anyone supposed to enjoy a hard ride on them?

245,000 miles of roads on the UK network but can I find a single traffic free segment to train on with any level of security from the ever present threat of a car or truck? Absolutely not. Unfortunately we are dealing with double standards at the highest level.

Cars and trucks kill and maim cyclists in the thousands and its our fault for having the gall to venture into roads we supposedly haven't paid for. Cyclists scare a few pedestrians and on a very rare occasion in comparison to the freak show figures of the motorised brigade actually kill anyone and the whole town comes out to voice their 'absolute disgust' whilst demanding these lycra louts are heavily dealt with.

Until that disparity is addressed and we can pull the splinter out of the eye of government and show them the continental sized forest beyond this imbalance will persist, fueled no doubt by the likes of the Daily Mail and its obese pals.

If government for just one year allocated even a tiny percentage of the highways budget into laying dedicated cycle roads across the country we could perhaps see an end to shared path safety issues. Until then it will be business as usual.

A cyclist will injure a pedestrian and be lambasted for it on the front page of the local rag whilst yet another victim of a car 'accident' will go unnoticed back on page 16 amongst a Harvester Restaurant voucher and a dull story about the benefits of getting your cat injected with an ID chip at the local veterinary surgery.

Nothing will change, this sort of thing will drag on for years.

Precisely why I don't use Strava, I could not give a rat's ass about leaderboards when I'm out riding.

Shared paths are fundamentally not for use for time-trialling, they're intended for ordinary cyclists just trying to get to work or school, or for families out riding for leisure (let alone the multitude of reasons why pedestrians are there). None of these people are there to be intimidated by others blasting past at 25mph, regardless of the time of day.

If you want to go chasing records, keep it to the road, or to properly-organised events.

No doubt there is the occasional 'speeding poser' on the Guild Wheel. They get everywhere after all. But there is not a single mention of any problem caused by inconsiderate cycling anywhere in the LEP article. Not one parent, pensioner, dogwalker, PCSO, teacher has been quoted with a tale of their terrifying near miss with a Lycra lout.

It's like someone said to Peter Ward "did you know this fella rode the wheel in 1hr 8mins? Look, it's right here on Strava". He replies "What's Strava?" and suddenly we have this crap in the LEP.

Shared path no -no's

1) horses, never.
2) long leads or no leads on dogs
3) cycling above 10mph or so within 50 yards of other users

I avoid them unless I am with kids.

Use your 52 on the road guys, let the youngsters learn to wobble on the paths.

1 hour and 8 minutes......I reckon I could get close to that! (Goes off to check the segment out)

It's shocking, but not surprising, that none of the segments have been flagged. But I am surprised that pedestrians haven't realised that knobbling Strava in this way could actually be very easy. There's an awful lot of social media savvy pensioners around these days, you know, so word would soon get round

But here's an idea. What if flags had a timing window such that, for instance, the first Sunday in each month saw the flag lifted for the day? It should be fairly easy to set up Strava in this way, I imagine. It's only because no-one's thought of it that it hasn't happened. If you're reading this, you Strava developer guys, how about it?

The reason why I think this might work is because, when I was a student, living in a shared house, there was always conflict with the neighbours, as you might expect. But a deal was struck - every fourth Saturday was a serious party night, where things were sometimes so crazy it was difficult at times to know who was doing what, and to whom. But on other weekends we had to go elsewhere to get our kicks, leaving the neighbours to sleep peacefully in their feather beds.

In other words, local dog walkers and others intent on a gentle stroll might reasonably be expected to concede to giving priority to cyclists on that day, in exchange for a Strava free existence for the rest of the month.

In fact, the more one thinks about it, the more the idea of "flag lift" days, attracting hundreds of riders all turning up to ride the same route simultaneously, appeals. Those hard pressed locals would probably come out to cheer you fast boys round, sell you soup and stuff, and put the Wheel on the map, as it were.

Bicycles aren't allowed on motorways so why are pedestrians allowed on cycleways?

Quote:

Ottawa paths have a posted 25-kph speed limit and occasionally the police set up speed traps.

...and if I was riding without a bike computer, how would I know if I was speeding?!

Cyclists who try to set PB's on shared-use paths are a pet peeve of mine -- I have had to stop and help after 1 head-on collision and another cyclist v. pedestrian incident. The worst are the ones on TT bikes riding on a busy path in the aero position.

Ottawa paths have a posted 25-kph speed limit and occasionally the police set up speed traps.