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Live blog: Alex Dowsett’s top tips for a rapid commute, three riders taking on Britain’s 100 best climbs (and riding between them) in 29 days, driver ‘forgets’ he’s not a bike + more

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I'll counter that by saying the Bryton 750se I have drives me nuts at times. Inconsistantly picks up on routes created on Komoot and the app re-syncs every few seconds when trying to set up the device and sends me back to the home screen. The most infuriating one is that I turned live track on. Once. It now won't turn off and repeatedly flags up the live track is starting, and then disconnecting every few seconds whilst riding. I haven't timed it but it wouldn't suprise me if 10-20% of the time the the screen is covered with an error message. That's been about 6 weeks now. Other than that it's great :/
RE: Police launch road safety operation... by clamping down on cyclists using footbridge Meanwhile in Glasgow, Police Scotland are riding their motorbikes over the pedestrian and cyclists only bridge. https://x.com/FietserGlasgow/status/2065106152917012523?s=20
@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.
5 thoughts on “Live blog: Alex Dowsett’s top tips for a rapid commute, three riders taking on Britain’s 100 best climbs (and riding between them) in 29 days, driver ‘forgets’ he’s not a bike + more”
To be fair the vast majority
To be fair the vast majority of the overtakes I get are of this variety. I can definitely recommend the thumbs up and wave also. If you commute or otherwise travel the same route at the same time a lot, over time you can help build the goodwill in the local area. Also I think if there is a line of cars and the first overtakes well, some highly visible thanks can encourge those following to do the same.
Morgoth985 wrote:
Completely agree!
Morgoth985 wrote:
This is true, and most overtakes are at least reasonable, but the problem is that it only takes one bad overtaker to kill you, and there are still a lot of them out there. If you are a novice cyclist, and you get passed badly at least once every ride, you are likely to give up and go back to the car.
The reverse of what you say about good passing being copied by the following drivers is also true of bad passes. I’ve lost count of the number of times the first driver in a convoy passes me dangerously close, to be followed by the other five.
While I take your point about most drivers being not too bad at passing, we need all of them to be good, so that cyclists don’t feel their lives are threatened on every ride.
Burt, I don’t disagree with
Burt, I don’t disagree with any of that, and I’m conscious that I might just be lucky in having a slightly lower density of nutcases in my area than elsewhere. I’ve still had enough close passes that I don’t minimise the issue by any means. I’m just saying that positive reinforcement of good behaviour is one tool among several that we can adopt to change attitudes.
Alex Dowsett in not having a
Alex Dowsett in not having a clue about safe cycling shocker.
Advising that cycling right behind someone in their slipstream and then shoot out quickly only to then count to three and simply pull back in front of them is a good idea is fucking bullshit. You don’t know the person in front, slipstream if you are in a chaingang or you’ve asked for a tow and they’ve ok’d it, optherwise stay the fuck off someone elses back wheel, it’s not wanted and it’s dangerous.
Sorry but advice like that comes from a cretin with no idea whatsoever about safe cycling, stick to what you know because safe commuter cycling isn’t one of them!