Cycling UK Forum

mjr wrote:

reohn2 wrote:If there's a line of traffic behind me and I know there won't be a chance for them to pass for a while,I don't see any problem with pulling over to let it clear.

The problem is that it makes the cyclist's journey slower because few motorists will allow them to pull back out willingly. If we're meant to be encouraging cycling, as a matter of national policy, then surely we shouldn't be making cycling journeys even slower?

I frequently get held up by lines of slow moving cars, strangely I've never had them pull over to let me past

Heltor Chasca wrote:What I like about this thread is that someone had to read the DM (or at least the DM online) to find this story. Everyone I speak to denounces the DM, but they have all somehow read it. Including me when I've browsed through a copy in various waiting rooms or cafés[emoji33]And I'm way too hairy and long haired to 'suit' the DM. Mass denial methinks.

As far as I can make out it's a big seller as far as papers go. I just wish I had the disposable time and income to read papers. But which one would I buy?...b

Oh I freely admit I love reading the DM website, especially the comments pages. It restores my (anti) faith in humanity. (I also read a number of American anti-evolution etc etc websites for the same reason, although that's more for a professional reason)

Maybe too late for the OP but I'll post my experiences here for posterity.
I ride with very minimal padding in my shorts. When I first put a B17 on my bike put it in what looked like the same position as my original saddle and that was it. Comfortable from the off even for long multi-day rides. Got a C17 for my commuter (was going to get left in the wet a lot), tried the same thing and I really struggled, pain in all sorts of places. Persevered with it, adjusting the position and now I think I've got it and it's a great saddle. No problem with clothes wear, sweatiness or anything like that. Most I've done on it is about 50miles so can't comment on long distances but I don't even notice it now.
Of course I may just have been lucky with the B17 but my guess is the cambium just needs a bit more tweaking to get it to work

One in south Cambridgeshire
https://www.scambs.gov.uk/bikebus-explorer/

tatanab wrote:

mjr wrote:A fixie question from me, because I've never ridden fixed (I fear you'd hear my poor knees exploding in London): can people ride a larger or smaller fixed gear than single-speed?

I've never ridden SS but I do not see not would be any different. My size of fixed is the same as my normal rolling road riding gear when on a multi geared machine, about 65". It used to be said that a fixed was worth +/- 10" on a geared machine. i.e the theory is that on my 65" gear I could COMFORTABLY ride where I might use gears in the range 55" to 75" on gears. CliveyT's 48/13 is bigger than anything I ever raced on. Reading other forums which might cater more for modern hipsters, it seems there is a trend among them to commute on much bigger gears these days. 81" seems pretty normal. I can only assume that they don't ride very far.

Pedal hitting the ground - I only ever did that in my early 20s when fooling around.

That's probably the first (and only) time I'll ever be described as a hipster but yes that bike is only for my 8 mile commute with a whole 2 10m contour lines to cross on the whole trip. I'm always slowest away from traffic lights etc but I don't even have to face many of them. As an ex rugby player I guess I'm just an out and out masher

I was thinking of this thread on my way into work this am. Normally quite happy around here on 48/13- I only have one hill on my commute (15m at a massive 1/20). Going up there this am straight into the wind was just not pleasant

Got it slightly wrong this morning (corner, wet manhole cover, too fast). Two cyclists and a car driver stopped to check I was OK and all I was doing was making sure the bike was good.

(It's OK, chain had popped off but I know I need to re-tension that anyway. My nice new cambium is still intact and that's the main thing)

Audax67 wrote:What mig noticed I've seen here too - there always seems to be one ostensibly-tough guy out in shorts in temperatures approaching zero. Dunno what those freezing purple-white-mottled legs are supposed to prove: tendinitis spares nobody.

That would be me-having worked in Finland I can tell you this country doesn't get cold. -10 I might consider for longs, but hardly seems worth it for commuting

While you've all been having fun I've been hard at work. Out at 7.30 to go to Birmingham for a camra meeting. 7 hours in a pub (all essential work to help protect pubs for all you out there) and now I'm wending my (slightly) drunken way home. Life is hell sometimes.

Mick F wrote:It has taken us maybe two years to kick the TV habit, and now we don't miss it in the slightest. In fact if we see TV (say in a pub) we see it for what it is. When we've stayed over in a hotel or B+B, we don't even put the telly on in the room! It's just pointless pap.

I'm the opposite. Been TV free for 15 year or so and yet if I catch sight of one I can easily get trapped by the magic moving pictures. In hotels its annoying now because you have to use the TV to get the radio on, and I definitely couldn't survive without the radio.

At my work (and this is Cambridge University so there are a lot of bikes) it is this multi-pronged approach. Email goes out to say there will be a cull in such and such a time (gives people planning holiday time to make sure their bike is protected). Then bikes that are obviously not mobile are stickered and left for two weeks. If not claimed then they go to a local charity for repair and resale. A very similar arrangement is at the railway station (or at least it was when I used to commute through there).

Our cull is normally around the start of the university year- it's amazing how many students leave their bike outside the department for the summer vacation (and equally how many never come back)
(there is quite a nice Shimano hub dynamo that's looking abandoned- I've got my eye on that one)

I keep a little record of what I hear on my commute, and certainly a lot more have come online as it were in the post week and a half.
So far this year I have (in approximate chronological order)
robin, great tit (no surprise there), dunnock, song thrush, skylark, greenfinch, mistle thrush, wren, greater spotted woodpecker (drumming),yellowhammer and blackbird. Just waiting for chiffchaff now and then I'll know spring is on its way.

As another Cambridge cyclist I would certainly suggest a singlespeed. Maintenance is much simpler and if you're in the city itself then Castle 'hill' and the railway bridges are the only slopes you're going to find. I would also suggest 2nd hand. There are more than enough reputable repair shops selling 2nd hand bikes (and charities- OWL bikes just out of town) that if you look around you'll find what you want. The money you save can go towards a good bike lock and decent tyres (I swear they're gritting the roads with pure flint atm)

iandriver wrote:Can I sing the praises of the slow cooker at this point. It does wonders to cheaper cuts like beef shin and makes the house smell fantastic when you get back from a 6 hour ride with your dinner ready to go.

especially useful if you have solar PV. Cook all day in the sunshine so you don't have to spend money in the dark. Cast iron pot on top of the log burner work well also.

Although if they're right and fuel prices do come down then I might have to rethink my entire recipe collection

PH wrote:Of course the organiser has usually done a great job in designing the route, and for that reason the majority of riders follow it the majority of the time. In the dozens I've done I've deliberately* gone off route maybe 4 times, to use a bike shop, visit a friend, use a better cafe than the control, and avoid icy lanes, all completed within the rules of AUK and I'd resent any implication that they were in any way cheating.

You've missed the most important reason....I always make sure the Good Beer Guide pubs file for my sat nav is up to date before heading off in an area I don't know