Cycling UK Forum

porky wrote:I did this for a couple of years and found the whole experience rather stressful. My journey was from Birmingham New St to Canley (near Coventry).

First there's getting to and from the platform. Getting through a busy station like New St with a bike at rush hour is a challenge. Large groups of moving people adopt a herd mentality and simply try to shove obstacles out of the way. Moving against such a crowd whilst wheeling or carrying a bike can be very difficult. On some occasions the train would arrive at the station and I would be unable to get off because of the crowd of people waiting to get on. It can take some forceful negotiation to clear a path.

On the trains on this route there is one bike space (also for wheelchairs, buggies and large luggage) but it also contains folding seats, so unless you get to it first it will be unavailable. That means putting the bike in a doorway and standing with it, moving it if the train has a stop on that side. Even if you get to the bike space first you can get abuse from other passengers who want those seats, even if there are plent of other seats available.

If the train gets very busy you will get lots of people standing around your bike, leaning on it and occasionally getting chain oil on themselves.

I found that going to work an hour earlier (if that's an option for you) reduced a lot of these problems, so timing is important.

I knew a few people who had a bike at either end. It worked well but the bike at the far end does have to be old and unattractive enough not to interest the theives. Remember to add sufficient time to lock and unlock bikes, I often saw these people miss trains whilst fiddling with U-locks and cables.

People with folders had an easier time, but a folded bike is still a bulky thing to get through a station and can still be awkward to get onto a busy train as trains don't seem to have as much luggage space as they used to.

Work has now moved much nearer home, so I can cycle there with nothing more stressful than Birmingham city centre rush hour traffic to contend with.

niggle wrote:

Edwards wrote:Is a skirt guard required?

Probably not necessary, her skirts are somewhat short

Cunobelin wrote:

meic wrote:If you are unlucky enough to have a crash and some medic sees it as a chance to take advantage of your vulnerable position to push some "faith based" advice.
I would like some short easy to remember comments to politely refute their suggestions and make them think a bit about what they are saying.

I would think two sets of answers, one for accidents involving a head injury and one when it doesnt.

Possibly I could have a comment in reserve for if they fail to mention a helmet if I have a head injury off the cycle?

I would like to know on what grounds they offer this advice, is it from NICE, a health circular, the highway code or the Jeremy Vine show?

We were on a course on of all things putting evidence into practice!

We had a nurse tried this in a coffee break when she saw one of the girls had cycled in without a helmet.

She was being very forceful with the moral blackmail...

My reply was to gently ask
"What evidence are you basing your advice on?

I hope you aren't basing that on Rivara and Thompson, because the Cochrane Collaboration has trashed their paper, and of course there are the BMJ articles by Wardlaw, you have read them haven't you."

Then pointed out that the whole point of the day's course was imrpoving care by basing our clinical practice on the facts and not just trotting out the old fashioned assumptions

For some reason she went quiet and forgot all about helmets, but gave myself and the offending cyclist "looks" for the rest of the day

Geriatrix wrote:

SilverBadge wrote:And don't forget http://newsthump.com too

Thanks for that too...

Geriatrix wrote:I've had my head in the sand. Always been a fan of "The Onion" but wished there was a British version. Thanks...

Si wrote:Get an old helmet with an adjustable plastic 'cradle' as the head contact bit inside it. Bin off all the plastic padding/expanded poly stuff, and just use the adjustable 'cradle' and chin strap as a snug head fitting camera/light mount.