Cycling UK Forum

On my commute today there was 3 speed camera vans and a further 2 sets of police women with speed guns. Lovely.
Tried my hardest to get done. There was a head wind to be fair.

In the last couple of weeks I have been avoiding ASL's. The reason being that me pulling up in front of queueing traffic seems to antagonise the driver behind me. Instead, I've been taking my place in the queue but making sure I 'take the lane'. My experience to date has been more positive in terms of fewer confrontations. Are ASL's flawed? I used to ALWAYS make a point of using them whenever possible. Life seems much simpler this way.

I am seriously scunnered with impatient and selfish drivers. I sometimes contemplate giving up commuting because one of these days I'm gonna be scraped up off the road. It will be undoubtedly my fault as I wasn't wearing a particular piece of clothing or the driver was blinded by the sun, or... Really depressing. Today I nearly got run over by an X5 as the female driver saw a traffic island at the last second and swerved to avoid it nearly wiping me out. She stopped me further down the road. Rather than the apology I was expecting she told me I was lucky I missed her as I would be paying for the damage. By the way, this idiot could swear for Scotland. No point in taking her number plate as the police wouldn't do anything. Now I hear vehicle pollution is causing heart problems and the acceptable levels in this country are twice those in the US. There was my quite proud of the weight I've lost but god knows the damage I can't see. I love cycling but sometimes wonder why I bother.

Seeing as this post only received 5 other replies, I can officially confirm that I am a Grumpy Old Man. I'm only 49 too. Is this a record?

I would bet money that North Lanarkshire Council spend the least amount of money in all of the UK on cycling. I would also put money on their excuse being we have more mportant areas to spend the money on. I actually worked for them a few years ago and they refused to support the 'Cycle To Work Scheme' because they 'did the figures' and didn't think it cost effective.
Maybe the CTC should publish a list of what councils spend on cycling. It seems councils only react to bad press. Name and shame. I would even give odds on being right. Any takers?

I need to admit that I'm not a fan of the TdF. However i recently saw the film with Lance Armstrong and his so called cheating. They use the word drugs and all of its negative conotations but it seemed to me that it was scientists being clever with improving human performance. They would cycle at altitude which produced blood they would take and later inject back in a race and give an advantage. No drugs. It would give the extra couple of percent that would make a difference.

This accounts for a small percentage of the effort required to win the TdF. It makes a small difference this so called cheating.

After watching the film, rather than despising Armstrong I was impressed at his work ethic.

...we couldn't hop onto the bike and cycle for a couple of hours? World peace is possible if we all cycled.

In Glasgow there seems to be a proliferation of old bikes being used to advertise shops, services or whatever. Thing is, I often have to look for a cycle rack further away because of these things taking up space.I did raise my concerns to the council and was ignored. Is this the same in other cities?

Just a thought, am I turning into Victor Mildrew? I can't believe it!

Vorpal wrote:I don't think that a cyclist jumping a red light reflects on me any more than a motorist jumping a red light does.

Disagree. When it comes to negative reporting on cycling, we are all tarred by the same brush.

I spent 350 on a Mountain jacket. Waterproof, breathable, blah, blah blah.
Funny thing is. I sweat so much that Im often wetter on the inside than out.

Same for gloves. Spent £80 on Pearl Izumi gloves with a guarantee of dry hands.
Aye right!

Methinks this Goretex stuff is not as effective as it promises. Either that or I could sweat sweat for Scotland

My FS A1 Rockhopper gave brilliant service but was needing replaced (She was 20 afterall). Rather then another MTB I decided to get a CX bike. I have never had so much fun in the mud. I got a Genesis Croix De Fer and upgraded to Mavic wheels and Schwalbe CX tyres . Really skinny knobblies seem way better at cutting through the mud. I have not missed the front suspension at all which does surprise me

Cyclists need to have a voice in all things planning. It should be law that someone like the CTC (or similar) have input to everything from roads to town layouts. Right from the start and not an afterthought. My council spent £4m renovating a sports centre and didn't even think about providing cycle spaces. A SPORTS CENTRE!

You kinda get the feeling that if you wear a hi-viz they'll come up with some excuse. I remember reporting an incident to the police and after completing all the paperwork the officer turned over the form and it had a full A4 list of possible excuses for the driver. Was the cyclist visible, wearing hi-viz?, low sun, state of road, and on and on .... i said to the sergent that this looks like an excuse charter and he replied 'better to go over it now than in court' It certainly didn't feel helpful to me.

The police jacket is by far the best idea. Unfortunately a court order prevents me from impersonating an officer ever again. It wasn't my fault i lost the keys to the cuffs

In the past couple of weeks I have noticed an increase in the number of cyclists jumping red lights. They have mostly been younger cyclists but not all. They are definately not helping our cause. Thing is, if I had the chance to dissuade them will it make any difference? So far I have just tutted but what would you do?