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Richard1982 wrote:

 I live in North Yorkshire and was out cycling at the weekend. I stopped at a small shop in Glaisdale to buy some water/snacks and just after handing the money over the lady started telling me how cyclists should be banned as they ride too quickly and are going to kill someone, block the roads, etc. Madness given that I was giving her my custom!

What a sad individual. The boost in popularity in cycling in North Yorkshire (as elsewhere I expect) has been a huge boon to the local economy, particularly for cafés. I regularly stop at cafés for tea and cake, usually with my club, and they are packed with cyclists. It makes you wonder what would happen to them if they didn't have cyclists - I reckon most of them would go out of business. I also have to say that they generally are very welcoming and clearly value the business. 

I also cycled up to the Tan Hill Inn where at least half of the people buying food and drinks were cyclists, most of the other motorcyclists. 

Beecho wrote:

Can I blame Thatcher for all of this? Can I, can I?

Yes. Yes you can.

Didn't she come up with the quote:

Maggie wrote:

Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides.

I'm wondering why we don't get more collisions if vehicles are always overlapping the central line.
 

Pilot Pete wrote:

Ian

I sympathise with your situation - my mum lives in Harrogate and I know it well. What you have to realise is that town councils are responsible for parks and dog shit, and... that’s it!

They have virtually no powers, little budget and regularly pass or deny proposals through votes only to be over-ruled by county councils which hold all the power and budgets.

How do I know this? Because my wife is Mayor of our town and extremely pro cycling, doing everything she can to raise the issues and improve the infrastructure, uptake and health and well-being generally in our town.

Would you believe the county council’s Cycling Champion wasn’t a cyclist and didn’t back our proposal to get the Tour of Britain Stage 3 in 2016 (incidentally the most successful stage of the ToB EVER according to the organisers Sweetspot). Did the county council build on the success (£3.5m net spend in the county on the day!)? Did they hell- Sweetspot were desperate to come back due to the huge crowds that turned out and we even proposed trying to get the start of the Vuelta in 2019 - they backed out claiming they couldn’t get enough sponsors to cover the costs, fact is they never tried...

PP

I have a good friend who heads up Zero Carbon Harrogate, very pro cycling, and as such is very involved in local transport issues. She attended a meeting of the local Chamber of Comerce last week with regard to the World Cycling Championships coming to Harrogate next year. Would you believe that they were moaning about how much business they were going to loose because of all the raod closures! These people have no idea what a business oportunity this is. In September 2019 for eight days Harrogate will be the centre of the cycling world. Towns in France pay a fortune to get the Tour de France to spend one night there because of the financial benefits. Makes you want to weep!

iandusud wrote:

I live in North Yorkshire in Harrrogate. I was cycling in Swaledale this weekend and saw these signs for the fisrt time and commented to my wife that they were worrying. 

The attitude of this coucillor is sadly typical of N Yorkshire county council. They are currently trying to push through a relief road through part of Harrogate, the Nidd Gorge, that is an incredibly beautiful and unspoilt area that benefits from a segregated cycle route. North Yorkshire CC spent a fortune on a study, by a group of independent consultants, which concluded that 93% of the traffic on the part of the A59 that the relief road would bypass is local traffic and would therefore not use the bypass. The study propossed a number of courses of action, one of which was to not build a relief road but rather to invest in infrastructure for cycling, pedestrians and public transport. NYCC asked Harrogate council to deliberate on the matter and at meeting of the council they voted almost unanimously to reject all options for a relief road and to adopt the option for cycling, pedestrains and public transport. NYCC chose to totally ignore this and are still pursuing their plan to build a relief road! Personally I think that Harrogate Council should have resigned en masse. What is the point of refering the matter to an elected body only ignore their decision when you don't like it! 

Absolutely disgusting that county hall should ignore evidence and the thinking of the district council and the people that live there. Should have been a legal challenge as that is the only way to get these matters resolved but that means money. However that would be far less than what county would spend on slimy types to draw pretty pictures/computer graphics and all the rest of the bullshit to promote their idea as being great.

It's the same everywhere, currently there's a hundred million being ploughed into a road going through the city of Hull to get traffic to go faster off the A63 to the docks, basically forcing cyclists off the road completely because it'll be a pseudo motorway and the cycle lane they promised on the last upgrade never happened nor will it for this. The previous upgrade also didn't actually decrease travel times that much, a few seconds but that was only because local roads had less traffic on them so that was actually the deciding factor. A total fucking waste of £70M!

The new plan includes a shitty bridge that has a lift at either end for wheelchair users to get from one side to the other and a shared path over the bridge that in no way is suitable for people on bikes to use with pedestrians. There's just that one bridge in about 1/2 mile, basically cutting off the other side of the river front of the city unless you drive.

Whilst a lot of traffic using the road is from outside the locality as it goes to the docks how do they think local workers get to the docks and the industrial units in that area, well  not by bike because there's no fucking safe place to cycle or it's disjointed/goes the long way.

Hull even until 1989 had 22% of people going to work by bike, I think it's around 6% at the moment and as a consequence the city gets gridlocked at rush hour, the population hasn't even risen ffs!

Innerlube wrote:

Surprised hawksinpeter didnt send her any squirrel pics, but otherwise a comprehensive response

She doesn't deserve any squirrel pics.

@bike.owner - I just hurriedly grabbed a suitable looking pic from tinternet and it wasn't intended as a joke. I'll find a better pic next time I try to make that point as you're right about that corner.

I got a similar reply to PilotPete's, so I'm glad I didn't spend too much effort on my email.

Pilot Pete wrote:

Maybe direct some educating comments towards the good councillor? You can contact her here https://democracy.hambleton.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=119

I am going to, but I would suggest you keep them respectful as they let be getting more ammunition...

PP

Nice.

Here's what I just emailed to her:

Hi,
I was concerned to read this morning about the installation of anti-cycling signs: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/07/17/tour-de-yorkshire-routes-cou...
Now I understand that motorists are a loud and vocal majority, but I am wondering if you have any evidence or statistics to back up this policy as it seems to be against the general transport policy of encouraging as many people as possible to cycle.
As a cyclist myself, I find that a small minority of motorists are abusive towards cyclists (e.g. shouting about non-existent road tax) and installing these signs would seem to encourage this anti-cycling stance.
Now there are extremely good and logical reasons why cyclists would want to cycle two-abreast and one of these reasons is that it is safer and easier for motorists to overtake. This would seem completely at odds with what you are trying to achieve, so I am puzzled by your approach.
I don't mean to belittle your ability to be well informed, but just in case you are clueless about overtaking cyclists, here's a little diagram:

For more information, I can heartily recommend Chris Boardman as a sane and balanced information source.

I look forward to any comments or questions you may have,
 

PRSboy wrote:

All councillors do is talk bollocks and waste taxpayers money.  They hold up local businesses with silly rules and bureaucracy, and I've seen as many as thee or four abreast in a room talking bollocks.

Is funny *and* true.

asdfqwerty wrote:

If cyclists are speeding, why are the cars overtaking them?

From spending most of my cycling time in North Yorkshire I can say the motorists which have a problem with cyclists and hills are the same sort that are ALWAYS in the wrong gear for hills and for passing. These idiots will sit behind you in 5th gear and then when the road clears, overtake you at 23mph (closely but slowly) for the next 15 seconds.

Be ready to pass, not start your thought process about which gear you should be in. Then again these are also the same people as the guy that mowed the cyclists down.

The thing that really annoys me about people complaining about cyclits is they are also the people holding ME up when I'm driving, doing 35 in 60. But somehow then going slow is 'safe' and cycling at 20 is speeding. Twats. Need to calm down.

Yorkshire wallet wrote:

asdfqwerty wrote:

If cyclists are speeding, why are the cars overtaking them?

From spending most of my cycling time in North Yorkshire I can say the motorists which have a problem with cyclists and hills are the same sort that are ALWAYS in the wrong gear for hills and for passing. These idiots will sit behind you in 5th gear and then when the road clears, overtake you at 23mph (closely but slowly) for the next 15 seconds.

Be ready to pass, not start your thought process about which gear you should be in. Then again these are also the same people as the guy that mowed the cyclists down.

The thing that really annoys me about people complaining about cyclits is they are also the people holding ME up when I'm driving, doing 35 in 60. But somehow then going slow is 'safe' and cycling at 20 is speeding. Twats. Need to calm down.

I live in Wensleydale now. After a few months I’ve come to the conclusion that the locals are fine, patient drivers. It’s the visitors who bring their close passing, impatient, intolerant attitudes with them. 

The next 6 weeks is going to be interesting!...

Sub4 wrote:

I live in Wensleydale now. After a few months I’ve come to the conclusion that the locals are fine, patient drivers. It’s the visitors who bring their close passing, impatient, intolerant attitudes with them. 

The next 6 weeks is going to be interesting!...

The times Ive cycled around the Lake District, the impatient drivers are non-locals. The locals have the knowledge of passing places and are in no rush to get places (certainly not at the risk of injuring others)