Cycling UK Forum

Dean wrote:I use the roads - apart from the comparative ease and the fact that I find bikes and cars interact better than bikes and pedestrians, I dislike the idea that we as cyclists require special facilities.

I would tend to agree with you, althouh I note that motor vehicle users already have a large number of very expensive special facilities ("motorways", I think they're called) built for them, and would certainly not object on principle if undertakings on a similar scale targeted at and useful to cyclists were to be mooted. It's only fair.

You could do the "reminding" thing without segretation by painting stick cyclist figures at intervals on the path surface. You could paint stick pedestrians there as well, in fact - then both classes of path user will be reminded they're sharing with the other.

I wonder if I might put forward the view of a third class of "traffic-free" path user: the inline skater. Are you expecting us to use the pedestrian side or the cycle side, and is it wide enough for the purpose?

A skater moving at speed (20mph is quite possible, though more effort than the same speed on a bicycle) may use almost a full vehicle lane's width, though on a shared path ("segregated" or otherwise) I'd expect speeds generally to be lower than that. But encountering lumpy paint or a kerb at the end of one's stride is an unsettling experience that may in some cases lead to accident.

(I don't claim to speak for all skaters in this regard, but wearing my skating hat I prefer unsegregated paths for this reason: if the path is empty one can "spread out" a bit; if there are other path users, and assuming that pedestrians will be on both sides no matter what, it is easier to pass them/go round them avoid them if there aren't bits of metalwork or raised paint or kerbstones in the middle of the road)

kwackers wrote:In fact up until not long ago (and possibly still true now) whilst windows would happily open a basic ascii text file saved with an editor in linux, the opposite wasn't true.

Hmm. I've been opening text files from all over the place in unix for the best part of 20 years. But it's not really my intention to start the Editor Holy Wars, so I will refrain from saying which I use.

I don't know enough about the CTC's IT requirements to say if they'd be met by open source. It's definitely getting more end-user-friendly - our office now runs Ubuntu Linux entirely but for one laptop required to access a particular IE-only web application (which we keep in a DMZ away from the rest of the net), and as IT manager I love this because it means much less worry about spyware, viruses and all that - but as always the golden rule is (1) find the software that meets your requirements, (2) use the OS that it runs on

Works for cyclists and motor vehicles too in the US (obviously, it's right not left over there). It could work just as well here, but will require a mindset shift for some cyclists so that they expect to give way to pedestrians crossing the road they're turning into.

The CM web sites last time I looked at them in any detail were all quite clear about saying "this is not an official web site, this is the personal views of someone or some people who go on CM a lot". It may be that they've changed since then, but as Ben points out the custom is pretty well entrenched now anyway.

I'm no particular fan of CM, to tell the truth, simply because I tried it once and it was tediously slow and to be honest if the goal is just to have fun cycling in London why pick Friday rush hour as a good time to do that? The absence of formal organisation means you get ad-hoc organisation, which amounts to "whoever shouts the loudest wins" and "there is no accountability of decisions made". It's the Tyranny of Structurelessness. But they're riding on public streets, and city streets are not just a way of getting from A to B, they're important social spaces - and you cannot have a sensible discussion of the merits or otherwise of holding parties for cyclists in the middle of them without considering that. There are bigger considerations than impeding traffic flow.

Sorry, but I can't support this as a solution.

Many vehicle drivers put their indicators on when they start to manoeuvre, not as advance warning that they are going to. If I get crushed against the pedestrian railing by a lorry that turns left alongside of me, it will be of small consolation that the last thing I see is a blinking amber light.

As others have said, don't overtake a lorry - on either side - if there's any chance it'll turn across your path before you get past it. This isn't about cowardice or lack of assertion, this is the same kind of prudence as "don't overtake on a blind bend" or "don't overtake on the approach to a zebra crossing". Sure, these vehicles are big and have crap visibility, but people don't choose to drive them because they're aggressive or full of themselves, but because they need to get large amounts of useful Stuff from A to B. I'll cut them the same slack they need to do that as I expect them to cut me when my road positioning is stopping them overtaking at a pinch point.

"I never overtake a lorry"

I do, often. But as with any overtaking manoeuvre, I do it with a significant speed differential (a common situation is when it is stopped at lights and I know the red phase has a while left to run) so that I can get past it safely and resume my place in the normal traffic flow.

mr_hippo wrote:asking for a sub forum based on sexual orientation

I don't think it's fair to have a sub forum created unless there's going to be a dom forum as well. Which still leaves open the issue of where to put the switches, though.

Yes, I met a group of cops on bikes on New Fetter Lane that night, and assumed CM must be somewhere about. Maybe like you they intended to be there but were late getting to the start?

I didn't stop to chat, I had a couple of hundred other rollerskaters following me...

Wikipedia wrote:Many variants exist, including variations which merely change the order of the letters; but LGBT or GLBT are the most common terms and the ones most frequently seen in current usage. [...] It may also include additional Qs for queer and/or questioning (sometimes abbreviated with a question mark) (LGBTQ, LGBTQQ, GLBTQ?). Other variants may add a U for "unsure", an I for intersex, another T for transsexual/transvestite another T (or TS or the numeral 2) for Two-Spirit people, an A or SA for allies, or an A for asexual. Some may also add a P for pansexual or polyamorous, and an O for omnisexual or other. The order of the letters is also not standardized; in addition to the uses that reverse the initial L and G, the extended letters, if used, may appear in almost any order.

And you thought non-ETRO tyre size designations were confusing...

(It's not my intention to diss anyone in of the above groups, so please don't take this the wrong way. I'm more about making fun of wikipedians)

Cunobelin wrote:Perhaps the answer is to dismount at each one?
[ image snipped ]

Threads merge 100 yards: a blue rectangular sign is informational not instructional, no? I can't think offhand why it's so important for users of that path to learn that cyclists get off their bikes (at the end of the journey, for example), but really it's no more harmful than the advice that "police follow this van"

bovlomov wrote:Second: I think they mean 'heart rending' (heart tearing) not 'heart rendering' (which means nothing much. Perhaps heart giving or conveying or something).

Maybe it's rendering as in "rendering down to fat"? Watching your child grow up in a world of hard surfaces will turn your organs to grease or tallow.

Speaking as someone who works for a company with a credit card merchant account ... credit card security has been tightened considerably in the last couple of years with the introduction of PCI DSS (which mandates "best practice" security procedures), and an awful lot of companies - especially the smaller ones - will use a third party transaction service such as Worldpay or epdq (or even Paypal) which means that the card details never go near them. The biggies like Amazon or probably Wiggle are likely to still do it in-house though (I'm guessing, but I don't see why they'd farm it out for a percentage if they have the budget to do it themselves for a flat rate).

The risk of some intermediate getting your card number during an online credit card transaction by snooping your internet traffic is vanishingly low, especially given that the SSL/TLS encryption is reasonably good. The biggest issue is likely to be key loggers/viruses/trojans on your local PC, as the original poster identified, probably followed by poor data security practices from the vendor or the third-party credit card processor - but again, PCI DSS has really pushed up the standard at that end.

I like the Linux live CD suggestion. Be aware that if you have a USB ADSL modem it will be painful, bujt if you have a wireless box or an ethernet connection you can probably be on the net with linux in no time at all. You might even like it enough to install it permanently

Fenix +1 from me. It's about twice as bright as the Cateye EL530, for about the same price

JohnW wrote:what price face to face contact with decent, helpful, honest, honourable people who know you, know cycling, understand your questions and language and answer the telephone when you ring them?

Don't know, but if I ever find one I'll come back to you on that one. I wouldn't describe any of the bike shops around here as unhelpful, but it really is pot luck whether the person you're talking to knows anything about anything.

Seriously, I'm glad your LBS is good, but I usually find I have to research my purchases myself anyway if I'm to get the right thing, and by the time I come to buy there's no point in paying a premium for "advice" from someone who knows less about it than I do and who will probably have to special-order the part anyway.