Pinarello unveil bike fit for a (World TT) champ; Bahrain-McLaren bike and kit; Tyre dust biggest ocean plastic polluter, says Cycling UK; Freeman ‘too upset’ to attend tribunal; Shanghai Marathon runner caught cycling + more on the live blog

FrankH wrote:

Getting from "57% of car journeys made in Britain are five miles or less" to "With 57% of car trips made in Great Britain easily feasible by bike or on foot" is a mightily impressive leap.

But it's the kind of leap we need to make,my grandparents never owned a car and managed to do all their weekly shopping in shops over 2miles from where they lived, so it is possible it takes more planning for sure, but it crazes me to see people drive such short distances and then complain about traffic congestion

Awavey wrote:

FrankH wrote:

Getting from "57% of car journeys made in Britain are five miles or less" to "With 57% of car trips made in Great Britain easily feasible by bike or on foot" is a mightily impressive leap.

But it's the kind of leap we need to make,my grandparents never owned a car and managed to do all their weekly shopping in shops over 2miles from where they lived, so it is possible it takes more planning for sure, but it crazes me to see people drive such short distances and then complain about traffic congestion

Yep..climate change and pollution in general has massively increased since WW2; think of how few chemicals were used prior,no nuclear prior,the proliferation of motor vehicles and airline flights since..

FrankH wrote:

Getting from "57% of car journeys made in Britain are five miles or less" to "With 57% of car trips made in Great Britain easily feasible by bike or on foot" is a mightily impressive leap.

I travel 5 miles into town for the weekly grocery shopping. I suppose if I did three or four trips I could do it on a bike. Or I could walk but I wouldn't fancy dragging a loaded shopping trolley 5 miles home. And that's just one example, there are lots more.

Some of that 57% could be done by bike or on foot but certainly not all.

Just don't do such a huge shop.  Do smaller shops, more frequently.

brooksby wrote:

FrankH wrote:

Getting from "57% of car journeys made in Britain are five miles or less" to "With 57% of car trips made in Great Britain easily feasible by bike or on foot" is a mightily impressive leap.

I travel 5 miles into town for the weekly grocery shopping. I suppose if I did three or four trips I could do it on a bike. Or I could walk but I wouldn't fancy dragging a loaded shopping trolley 5 miles home. And that's just one example, there are lots more.

Some of that 57% could be done by bike or on foot but certainly not all.

Just don't do such a huge shop.  Do smaller shops, more frequently.

More frequent smaller shops works well if you can combine them with a commute that you have to do anyway, but few people will want an extra 5 mile each way bike ride for shopping several times a week instead of one drive.

Another option is to have heavy bulky predictable stuff ordered online and delivered,  and have a smaller shop to carry yourself (delivery will usually be by motor vehicle, but one that is carrying shopping for several people, so typically more efficient on average).

Or use a trailer:  https://road.cc/content/news/5936-oxfordshire-gets-new-waitrose-bike-tra...

Or just recognise that some weekly trips that are less than five miles but not feasible are balanced by numerous trips that are more than five miles but still feasible.

FrankH wrote:

Getting from "57% of car journeys made in Britain are five miles or less" to "With 57% of car trips made in Great Britain easily feasible by bike or on foot" is a mightily impressive leap.

I travel 5 miles into town for the weekly grocery shopping. I suppose if I did three or four trips I could do it on a bike. Or I could walk but I wouldn't fancy dragging a loaded shopping trolley 5 miles home. And that's just one example, there are lots more.

Some of that 57% could be done by bike or on foot but certainly not all.

Sounds like good training pulling along a trailer or carrying a heavy rucksack to me.

Maybe supermarkets should start hiring jobless youths to deliver shopping on cargo bikes - you do your shopping as normal and hand over your trolley to the delivery person who'd deliver it later on (presumably combining several deliveries in your area). That would reduce the number of motorised vehicles, improve air quality and maybe increase activity levels.

FrankH wrote:

Getting from "57% of car journeys made in Britain are five miles or less" to "With 57% of car trips made in Great Britain easily feasible by bike or on foot" is a mightily impressive leap.

I travel 5 miles into town for the weekly grocery shopping. I suppose if I did three or four trips I could do it on a bike. Or I could walk but I wouldn't fancy dragging a loaded shopping trolley 5 miles home. And that's just one example, there are lots more.

Some of that 57% could be done by bike or on foot but certainly not all.

I have gone from driving 12,000km annually to less than 5,000km thanks largely to the cargo bike. That’s almost 60 percent. Carrying a week’s shopping is no problem. There are other alternatives of course, an Andersen Shopper combined with a coupler so you can tow it with a regular bike might suffice.

Its very easy to come up with excuses why something can’t be done. Making a lifestyle change requires making a commitment, and breaking old habits. If you’re not prepared to make changes, nothing will. Conversely, you don’t realise how much unnecessary driving you do until you commit to a change.

FrankH wrote:

Getting from "57% of car journeys made in Britain are five miles or less" to "With 57% of car trips made in Great Britain easily feasible by bike or on foot" is a mightily impressive leap.

I travel 5 miles into town for the weekly grocery shopping. I suppose if I did three or four trips I could do it on a bike. Or I could walk but I wouldn't fancy dragging a loaded shopping trolley 5 miles home. And that's just one example, there are lots more.

Some of that 57% could be done by bike or on foot but certainly not all.

I can get a weeks groceries in the pannier bags no problem, however I pass the shops on the way back from work, much as many people who drive short distances do so you don't have to go out of your way very much for the vast majority of these people who are doing the short journeys

FrankH wrote:

Some of that 57% could be done by bike or on foot but certainly not all.

By posting on here, I assume you're familiar with this thing called the internet.

People use it for shopping. Yep - groceries, bikes, cars, books, flowers, taxis, just about anything you can think of. Even my 80 year old Mum taught herself to do her weekly grocery shopping online. Supermarkets will deliver your order at any time of day until 10 or 11pm, every day of the week. Might be worth a look.

My kids rode 3 miles each way to school from the age of 11. They are not athletes, it was just that I cycled to work and they knew they could do the same (and walking would take an hour or more each way, not an appealling prospect for either of them). Most kids are driven to school in cars and the school run causes significant congestion and pollution. Once children get to ride to school they are able to make other trips by bike. It's hugely liberating and, given the chance, they'll be far more likely to cycle throughout their lives. It also has huge physical and mental health implications.

Rick_Rude wrote:

Why the extinction rebellion news all the time? Most of the activity is just disruption related not cycling related.

To give you something to moan about instead of trans people.

benbrangwyn wrote:

Truck driver wasn't wearing a belt and was thrown to the right-hand side of the cab, whereas the wheel is on the left - no wonder he couldn't save the lorry from tipping over. Musta felt 100% impotent.

Another Russian 'why do I have to follow road rules' video..Indian and Chinese road crash video's depicting similar cavalier attitudes to safe driving are also plentiful on u-tube.

PRSboy wrote:

Blimey... that video with the car, truck and cyclist near miss.  Lucky fella.  And kudos for him getting up and going to help the truck driver!

'help' the truck driver

ktache wrote:

Now I would never dispute that the motor car is a massive contributor towards polluting this planet of ours, and that most short journeys made by car could be made using other forms of transport.

But, and I also know that it takes a fair bit keeping up to a two tonne vehicle on the road and stopping it, don't I, on my little old bicycle, generate tyre and brake particles?

Perhaps several orders of magnitude less, but I do wear out tyres and brakes.

And indeed rubber/plastic shoe soles.

Goverrnments allow farmers to spray poisons - herbicides,pesticides,fungicides,etc., on food crops; I think we need to stop that before worrying about the pollution from bicycle tyre wear..although that wear can be dramatically reduced by using hard compound tyres but then they don't grip so well.