Cycling UK Forum

toontra

Carlton green wrote: ↑13 Oct 2024, 1:36pm Whatever, Salmond’s gone and he’s best left to rest in peace.

Unlike the flora and fauna of Aberdeenshire's coastline (once an AONB), decimated by Trump's golf course scheme and forever despoiled, personally sanctioned by Salmond who overruled the statutory planning process in order to appease the orange man-baby.

toontra

In London I now feel more at danger from e-bikes than from cars. I was very nearly wiped out yesterday crossing a junction at green when an e-bike came speeding across my path from a blind corner on the right and missed me by inches. He clearly hadn't even slowed, let alone stopped, at the red light.

This is rapidly becoming a daily occurrence. E-bikes of various sorts now outnumber un-powered bikes by two or three to one in London, and the manner of riding is often frankly abysmal. There are going to be serious accidents and it will be other cyclists and pedestrians who will be the victims.

It also gives motorists fuel to rant about "cyclists'" behaviour, and I have to admit I have a certain amount of sympathy.

toontra

On climbs it's easier to generate power on a larger proportion of the crank rotation if seated - i.e. "360 degree pedalling".

When standing the power is more concentrated on the downstroke - i.e. "stomping".

I suspect it's stomping for show but 360 for dough.

toontra

toontra wrote: ↑5 Oct 2024, 9:15pm As I have suggested upthread, the PO enquiry is at heart an examination of the judicial system rather than an IT system and the same issue is at the core of what went so catastrophically wrong - lack of disclosure of evidence to the defence.

Whether this is also true with Letby, and to what extent, may become apparent down the line, but there are some similarities. A powerful institution laying the blame on a lowly individual. She may well be a mass murderer but there were clearly system failures that allowed it to happen.

Lo and behold - from an article in today's Guardian:

Neither the initial engagement with Hutton (professor of statistics at the University of Warwick) nor the CPS instruction to the police to drop their line of inquiry into the “validity of the statistical evidence in the case” were disclosed to Letby’s defence team, the Guardian understands.

The case against Letby was largely built on statistical "evidence", yet when the expert they approached (Hutton) refused to substantiate their claim that it "proved" her guilt, she was quietly sidelined. Yet none of this was disclosed to Letby's defence.

In the case of the Post Office, their in-house and 3rd party lawyers are almost certainly guilty of non-disclosure (which is why the whole tragedy happened) and will hopefully face disbarment and possibly criminal proceedings. It's a serious offence!

I'm back at the PO enquiry tomorrow to hear the last day of Read's evidence.

toontra

Always used Jet2 for Canaries. Bike + one pannier in a bag costs £35 each way. Other pannier goes as cabin bag. This is for 2 weeks training in Tenerife or Lanza staying in an apartment so not that much gear.

toontra

There was an interview with Chris Mullin on R4 yesterday in which he reflected on the miscarriages of justice he's studied and been involved with over the years - the Birmingham Six, Guilford 4, etc. He said they have one thing common - lack of disclosure of evidence to the defence.

As I have suggested upthread, the PO enquiry is at heart an examination of the judicial system rather than an IT system and the same issue is at the core of what went so catastrophically wrong - lack of disclosure of evidence to the defence.

Whether this is also true with Letby, and to what extent, may become apparent down the line, but there are some similarities. A powerful institution laying the blame on a lowly individual. She may well be a mass murderer but there were clearly system failures that allowed it to happen.

toontra

Jdsk wrote: ↑29 Sep 2024, 10:07am Duffield's problems with the party for which she stood didn't start with anything that has been revealed since the election:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_Duffield

Indeed. The cynic in me suspects that she was happy to be elected under the Labour banner, with all the party support and goodwill from the electorate that that entailed, whilst knowing full well that in all likelihood there would be major ideological differences which would make it impossible for her to stay within the party under Starmer's leadership.

toontra

I had pretty bad sciatica last year. Walking was painful and running was out of the question but I was able to carry on cycling both outdoor and on the trainer, but I avoided high power efforts & intervals until things eased off (which unfortunately took a few months in spite of physio and regular exercises).

toontra

How I approach hills depends entirely on the ride I'm doing. If it's a short hill-based training route I go full-out and will occasionally reach my max HR - mainly seated but standing to get over ramps.

If I'm on an audax, touring or a long training ride then I back off the initial effort until I can judge what's in store and how tired I am from the mileage already covered (and estimating what's to come). On these climbs my HR hovers around 90% max.

toontra

It's pedestrianised in all but name already. It's not possible to cycle without lemming pedestrians continually crossing right in front of you without looking. Not saying that's a bad thing - just the way it is.

toontra

Psamathe wrote: ↑12 Sep 2024, 6:20pmCyclist pulling in to a passing space is obvious to most drivers but gives no instruction to a driver ie anything driver choses to do is entirely drivers responsibility.

Similarly, car indicating left just signals what that car is doing, not what anybody else should do.

Consider scenario where cyclist waves car past then spots pothole or bad road and comes off (as can no longer pull out. As cyclist has waved car past the fall is the cyclists gault (car just doung what yhey were told by cyclist).. But without the wave past anything that happens is the car's responsibility.

Wave s car past and dome cars might be slow in responding to the point where it is no longer safe eg cyclist moves onto rough road or visibility more restricted but wave past having been given responsibility is on cyclist as "car was slow is responding or passing" just highlights poor cyclist assumptions).

Ian

Agreed. The onus is on the overtaking vehicle to establish when it's safe to overtake, not the person being overtaken. If the driver can't see themselves they should hold back. As Ian says, imagine waving a driver past and they dither whilst an oncoming car appears - potential disaster. It's akin to not flashing other drivers to suggest manoeuvres (at least that's what I was told during my lessons and theory test) for exactly that reason.

If a cyclist feels they're holding up traffic they may choose to indicate and safely pull to the side. I do this regularly on single-track roads - I hate the feeling of having a possibly impatient driver behind me.

Also (relevant here) you're always going to have less control and stability with one hand off the bars for however short a period, especially going uphill.

toontra

chrisfarrow64 wrote: ↑12 Sep 2024, 11:43am I had a wee tumble the other day. Nothing major, just sopme bruised ribs and thigh, no damage to the bike. I'm not sure exactly what happened and wondered if any elightenment could be found here....

I was going gently uphill on a very narrow lane and was was aware of a car that had been behind me for a little while. We were approaching a slightly wider bit of road where I would be quite comfortable with the car passing so, as is my habit, I went to wave them past. As I took my right hand off the bars the bike suddenly veered right and then left and then fell over to the right ( at least that is how I remember it, it all happened very quickly). I'm fairly sure I didn't hit anything on the road. I'm no novice but have never had this happen before. Any clues what may have caused it?

Not sure why you fell ( I assume some kind of loss of balance issue), but I never wave cars past as a point of principle. There is no need and it could, in certain circumstances, lead to litigation if an accident ensues.

toontra

Fame at last

toontra

Coincidentally, I found a Fray Bentos pie-in-a-tin in the cupboard of our shared family holiday hut last week. I was puzzled as to who would buy such a thing but on reflection I have my suspicions

Needless to say, despite occasional hunger cravings and an 8-mile ride to the nearest shop it went untouched

toontra

Psamathe wrote: As somebody pointed out the other day, pre internet nobody was suggesting we close down the phone system because criminals organised their crimes over the telephone.

Ian

Not a very good analogy. Since when has the telephone network facilitated mass dissemination of (mis)information.

I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my 21051182G using hovercraft full of eels.

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