off.road.cc adventures: Elan Valley bikepacking bothy trip

Or more accurately, it's a cheap, low attack on Starmer - active travel is just catching strays.

@steve1968smith I wondered why it was so busy. Well done for organising the event. As you say, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. It really lifted my spirits. It seems to me that as long as the Stewards have been trained to appreciate the dangers and give priority to cyclists there will not be a problem but the concerns were raised because, as far as I can tell, there was no requirement for Stewards in the planning application and that is my concern. I have also been impressed with the number of cyclists using the route for commuting. It could be the weather but if the pattern continues over the winter then the aims of the project will be fulfilled. I also know of a number of families with small children who are using the path to get them on their bikes which bodes well for the future. Almost every non cyclist I have talked to in the past has told me that no one will use the cycle path. I hope that they witness the nunber of users for themselves and eat humble pie.

He is just a careerist we have to remember. He doesn’t give a shite about anything other than his career (like Farage doesn’t care about anything other than making money for himself) I understand why idiots vote for Reform, (other than because they are racist); they see politicians say anything to play the crowd. The problem is Farage is the epitome of a snake oil salesman. Streeting’s Daily Mail friendly comment is just a cheap, low and insidious attack on active travel, again. Even if he doesn’t mean it to be - cycle lanes are blamed for closing the high street, causing congestion, increasing pollution, busting the NHS and now, if it wasn’t for active travel, Blighty would still have an armed force to rule the waves. Fkn pathetic

@Pub bike - well, off-road (ICE) motorbikes have been available for decades, so you're right about the proposed law being too narrow. I've seen scrotes riding them in parks and on the roads, but they're much less common than the newer e-motorbikes.

@hawkinspeter I think my point buried in there somewhere is that the law being devised is too narrowly focused around electric bikes/motorbikes and it should encompass the sale of any kind of motorbike. The wording talks about "electrically assisted" which would seem to exclude throttle controlled bikes. The bikes I saw that had no pedals - and therefore the electricity does not assist but is the sole source of propulsion - would fall outside of this legislation, so already there is a loophole. It would probably help to have some technical input to this bill by people that actually understand the differences between bicycles, e-bikes, EAPCs and motorbikes before it goes too far.

The Streeting Rule is, Cycling and Walking tomorrow and Cycling and Walking yesterday, but never Cycling and Walking today.

It’s a nuanced proposition, for sure. I did start the article with “There are few hills I’m truly up for dying on, but kickstands on bikes is one of them” - and no comment here has changed my mind 😎

@ hawkinspeter you are absolutely right. But of course there is little enforcement, the police don't have the resources etc etc.

@jackcycles - no it reflects the reality that most folk are scared to cycle because of inconsiderate and dangerous drivers. Cycling numbers markedly increase when it is made safe to do so.

"Kickstands make every bike ride better" Can't think of any of my rides in the last few weeks that would have been "better" with a kickstand; a few that *might* possibly have been a bit more of a pain with one (especially with the amount of plant growth at the moment in the South West of the UK), but none it would have improved. So there we go, nice easy proof by contradiction.