Cycling UK Forum

Thank you all for your advice. This is not the first time that I have been knocked off my bike. Last time involved an ambulance and the police and resulted in a new bike, funnily enough the very one I got knocked off of today.

I am interested to know if anyone feels the same way that I do about the personal injury claim culture. I was knocked off my bike this morning, classic SMIDSY. I was hit by a car joining the road that I was cycling along in the daylight with my high viz jacket and helmet cover, and flashing lights. I have a developing bruise on my chin and road rash on my elbow. I got all the details from the driver and he brought my bike home. Another lovely couple who had stopped to make sure I was ok brought me home (he offered me a lift, but I didn't want to get into the car with him). I have reported the incident to the police, but we all know the story there .... My only recourse is to take action through personal injury. Now, I can't stomach these things and I think that they cause a whole lot of misery in all sorts of ways. I just makes me feel like I would want to take several hot showers to get the slime off, so it is unlikely that I will do this. It's also made me realise that the police seem to have handed over the management of and justice for 'minor', i.e. I'm not dead, incidents to the insurance companies. I know that there are plenty of people who will say 'go for it' and 'you must do this'. I just want to know that I am not alone in feeling like this.

Hiya, my husband uses the hot shampoo jet car wash thingies at the local gas station. I'm reluctant to do so, as I feel that it forces water into places that should otherwise remain dry , but he's been doing it for some time now with no evident ill effects. What do others think of this?

I am sorry to hear of your accident and hope that you find it OK to get back on your bike again. I had a similar experience week before last, hit by a car pulling out of a side street, straight case of SMIDSY. I was attended by an ambulance crew and the police and the driver did the favour of admitting fault in front of everyone. I suffered bruising only, but my bike and helmet were both damaged, my helmet had a big crack in it right at my temple Anyway, the driver bought me a new bike (Brompton, to replace the one he'd hit) and helmet the very next day and sent me a bunch of flowers. I am happy with the outcome, and judging by your experiences with the insurance claim, grateful that I didn't have to go through that, although I would have been much happier not to have been hit in the first place. I hope everything works out for you.

Hello, I have taken my bike on the train from Brighton to London. As it happened it was the Monday after the London to Brighton bike ride and while the train conductor was happy to let bikes on (there were quite a few, due to the event) the train driver wasn't so happy, however my stubbornness and train scheduling won the day out and I got home OK. Ordinarily I don't think that it would be a problem. By the way, I assume you will be going Brighton/London/Guilford?

Hello, we booked out tickets by phone and were given a Fast Track ticket number. We then collected our tickets from the Fast Track machine at the train station on the day of our travel (or you could pick them up beforehand from your nominated Fast Track station). Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeezy .

dionherbike if you find the rescue websites torture do not visit, fatal. You will fall in love at first sight with 4 at least and then feel guilty for only selecting one.[/quote]

Sounds like a voice of experience! How did you stop at just one? Di.

There are quite a few good dog training videos on youtube (and some bad ones). One contributor in particular seems to be quite good - tab289. Sadly, I don't have a dog, but would dearly love one. Occasionally I torture myself by watching videos like this and looking at the dog rescue websites until it gets too painful. All the best to you and I am truly envious.

Hiya, My husband and I have just travelled Carlisle to Preston on Virgin Rail and we had a great experience. When we turned up at the station and found our platform, a Virgin Train lady in her big, red, and above all, warm coat ambled over and asked "are you travelling on my train?". The lady was very friendly and directed us to the very end of the platform, describing it as the end of the earth and advised that we should wait in the warm and dry until the last minute (it was a bit, um, wet). When the train arrived a nice man let us on and we had our own little space for our bikes and then the staff were on hand at Preston to let us off, no problem. We also had a long conversation with Virgin Train staff on the platform at Preston about cycling while we waited for our connection. We had booked our bikes by phone onto the train the day before our travel and picked up the bike reservations from the fasttrack machine. It all went smoothly and the Virgin Trains are lovely and cosy, especially on a grey, wet day. I appreciate that not everyone will share this experience and it can quite often depend on the people you encounter on the day, but for us, it couldn't have been better.

BeeKeeper wrote:No walls - just hedges covered in snow. I did slightly simplify the story as he actually escaped by grabbing hold of a lamp post after failing to attract anyone's attention.

Fair enough.

I have the shoe off now, I inserted a screwdriver and levered it out of the binding, having previously loosening the bindings as much as possible. Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I particularly liked yours Redvee, it brightened an otherwise potentially depressing afternoon. I have now tightened the cleats right up, but I'm not brave enough for a ride yet. Lots of practising to do first .

Just be grateful you were not wearing them at the time this happened! I have heard of a case of a cyclist whose shoes froze to the pedals during a very cold/snowy day. He had to cycle backwards and forwards outside his house until he could attract someone's attention to come out and grab him so he could then bend down and undo the laces to dismount.[/quote]

Why didn't he just cycle up to a wall then hold onto the wall with one hand while untying his shoelaces with the other?

First, let me start with this

I had bought a pair of Shimano SPD M324 pedals off t'internet some time ago. I then waited patiently for Aldi's cycle special so that I could get a pair of SPD shoes. As many regular forum users know, this happy event occured on Thursday. I spent a contented evening on Thursday attaching the cleats to the shoes then I attached the pedals to my bike this afternoon. I spent some time practicing clipping in and out, not realising that I hadn't attached the cleats to the shoes tight enough and now the cleats move so much I can't pull the shoe out of the binding. How can I get the *jolly* shoe off?

Actually, if you are a girlie with a good grip on the earth, the size 10 fits quite well. Nice and wide too.

I took my bag down to the local laundrette because they have the big commercial machines. I think that space is one of the important things when washing a down bag. I used Granny's Soap Flakes, bought from the big supermarket that begins with tesk and ends with oh. They are just pure soap. After washing I spun it off more in their special spinning only machine, then dried it in their big dryer on a low setting. No balls involved. The lady in the laundrette said that you could use a medium setting, but I prefer to err on the side of caution. I think it took about 3 hours drying and cost less than 10 squids all up and it came out nice. It was also a lovely time to relax and read my book.

I have read that dogs will chase cyclists because they like the chase, which has been mentioned before. Apparently the best way to deal with the dog is to get off and walk or stop with the bike between you and the dog, then the dog loses interest because there is nothing to chase. I have used this method a few times and found it successful, but only if I 'catch the chase' early or if the dog is reasonably domesticated. One day I actually chased a dog down the street, f-ing and blinding. The dog put its tail down and ears back and just ran for it. It was a great way to get rid of a bad mood and by golly gosh it felt good. I have found the best deterrent to be stick. Both my husband and I carry one each when we are touring. We put it within easy reach so that we can just whip it out and wave it at the dog/s, while making snarling noises of our own. It's also quite effective to whack it against your panniers. They soon back off. In the extreme I guess the stick could be used as a weapon. This is in Romania and Bulgaria by the way where there are many stray dogs.