Cycling UK Forum

My own experience of hats while cycling is that if you wear a hat of any sort you do at least have the opportunity to doff it to a thoughtful motorists who would not otherwise know how you feel about his driving.

Doffing a hat is a common courtesy of daily life in many parts of the world if not all, and the modern trend toward wearing helmets is only just one feature of it.

Regrettably the cycle helmet wearer canot doff it but the thought is there as far as the motorist or even pedestrian is concerned. The helmet wearer
may of course still touch his forelock as a gesture of friendship and respect, which is as good as it gets.

Nearly all motorists like to see cyclists with helmets on but psychologically they seem to find ANY hat unexceptionable!

The manufacturers and retailers of these overpriced helmets have done their thinking and that is most of it.

Kind Regards,

Gareth Howell

I call them automaton drivers. there areonly a certain number of bodily movements to make on an ordinary road and after that they may go to sleep with their eyes open and still be driving the car.

The problem is not restricted to car drivers and
push bikes, but pedestrians and motor cyclists as well.

MIB is a step in the right direction. I have a claim against them at the moment but I have no info about the driver whatsoever except my own collected memory of the broken leg I was so generously given. by an insane woman driver.

Gareth Howell

Are we comparing like with like?

CTC is a transparent membership organisation run by elected councillors, which has policies and is a constituted body set up to represent bicycle users.

Sustrans is a charity who build things and their constitution doesn't allow them to represent users, any more than an outfit that builds hospitals would claim to represent patients. The Sustrans "supporters" are exactly that, not members, they have no control over the organisation which has apparently only a handful of actual members. You wouldn't be able to learn this from their publicity, but from the Charity Commission.

As some of the posts here make clear, there are conflicts when Sustrans propose things which users may not want. In an ideal world Sustrans proposals and actions would be a response to user groups, eg CTC, but in reality Sustrans are publicly committed to targets of creating a certain number of miles of routes with a certain percentage "traffic free," and to attract funding and publicity they have to appear to meet these targets whatever the costs.

As for planning routes, particularly in urban areas, there is public policy and guidance on this and it sees use of roads as the default position, with shared use schemes as a last resort. Consequently there is an inbuilt conflict between Sustrans targets and public policy and user groups.

There is a regular flow of statistics from Sustrans themselves about their successes, but these are not independent or impartial, and should be seen in the context of a desire to attract funding.

I met somebody on a ride yesterday who did not know how to deal with dogs abroad. Without tempting providence, one has to be prepared to kick aggressive dogs as hard as possible if they seriously threaten abroad , if necessary in the teeth.

I have found there are various ways of avoiding
their attention. In France and Spain most dogs have owners and it is obvious. If they don't,
deal accordingly.

Always be throughly clean evry night or morning.

Always have ANISEED with you, and dog lovers will consider this the best way.
You may not know that dogs lose their sense of smell when confronted with aniseed nd cosnsequently lose their interest in their quarry.
Don't count on it.

Anised balls from the confectioner are useful befor u leave and fisherman's friends have a fine
Aniseed taste to one of their coughish sweets.
how effective the latter are, is arguable. Try it first and see.

Mace is something else and may also be effective. Aniseed may come in perfume bottles too.

Oh! I have always found that the use of perfume however dirty u r, puts off aggressive dogs as well.

Gar

People get really angry sitting alone in their cars because of traffic jams. It is crazy that to go anywhere they have to take a ton of metal and four spare seats with them everywhere - what do they expect ?

They complain about cyclists being too slow but cars occupy pobably 6 X as much road space and spend most of the time parked i.e at a standstill.

My current most loathed vehicle - the Porsche Cayenne.

I've just purchased a Smart Front Lamp which has a single LED (1 watt rated) and good reflector and lens. It is said to give 30 hrs light from 4 AA batteries. The light is powerful (I don't think drivers are going to like it when meeting one one a path to their left). I tried mine out last night on a path beside the A428 and a driver slowed down then accelerated again, he definitely saw it. It cost £19.99 less £1.99 CTC discount.

I've just purchased a Smart Front Lamp which has a single LED (1 watt rated) and good reflector and lens. It is said to give 30 hrs light from 4 AA batteries. The light is powerful (I don't think drivers are going to like it when meeting one one a path to their left. I tried mine out last night on a path beside the A428 and a driver slowed down then accelerated again, he definitely saw it. It cost £19.99 less £1.99 CTC discount.

I read somewhere recently (probably Transport 2000 website) that over the past 3 years traffic on sustrans routes has doubled. Surely this can only be good, whoever's using them? If they're being used by experienced cyclists they're providing a useful route. If they're being used by inexperienced or returninee cyclists they're encouraging people to get out on their bikes. After a while these people will probably gain confidence to ride on the road between routes or realise it's quicker to ride to the start of their nearest old railway line than strap the bike to the roof rack and drive.

Agreed, the routes are often in the wrong places but usually small sections can get round or through awkward places - I regularly use about 200 yards of a national route to avoid a detour due to the one way system but have only ridden further along it out of curiosity. For longer distances the use of old railway lines is great as the compromise between gradients and distance suits cycling very well. Where I live the routes are mostly on road so perhaps I'm just jealous?
In an unfamiliar area it's nice to be able to look at a map and see an easy way to get there, waymarked at junctions and probably suitable for cycling.
Choice of route is a very personal thing, depending on the journey's purpose. Sometimes I want to get somewhere fast, sometimes I want a scenic route, sometimes I'm heavily laden with camping gear and child passenger and want anything without hills!

does anyone have any info or suppliers of orthotics for cycle shoes? They are inserts for people who have arch problems with their feet

Richard B

Cycling is not a dangerous activity. It's as simple as, well, riding a bike.

You say that it is down to the individual to be responsible for their own safety and that's why people are not anti-helmet but are in fact pro-choice. It should be down to the individual to make an informed choice for the type of cycling they are undertaking (a slow meander down a towpath isn't going to be ruined by an out of control canal boat smashing into you at 30mph for example) so there is probably scope for the pros and cons of helmets to be discussed at a cycle training session.

Pwward & Mike6. I agree that road safety needs to be actively campaigned for, but to say that road safety training on it's own is adequate is a bit short sighted. What needs to be made clear is that every-one out there is ultimately responsible for their own safety. The positive encouragement to wear a helmet MUST be part of any road safety awareness training. To exclude it is hypocritical.

I know that cycling (and just about everything else) is supposed to be safe, but the reality is that it is not. Why must we deny this.

I have just replaced 9-speed chain on Shimano Ultegra set-up after 2750 miles of all-year riding. Chain-stretch tool indicated point where new chain needed.
For lubrication I use White Lightening from new in Summer, but resort to a dry-lube spray for Winter where regular cleaning makes White Lightening too pricey.
I reckon to replace the sprockets (plus jockey rollers) for every 3rd new chain, say 8000 miles. Similarly the most used chainrings get replaced for every 2nd or 3rd set of sprockets, say 20,000 miles.
It's not too scientific, but better than folk who never check their chains, and get irate when told by the dealer that the £10 chain job is going to cost £150 for a complete new transmission.

CTC will always have a huge commitment to touring be it the organised trips of CTC Holidays and Tours through to 594 information and touring sheets plus the byways network available to all members. The Information Officers are available by telephone or email (cycling@ctc.org.uk) and what Chris Juden doesn't know about the technical aspect of a touring bike isn't worth knowing.

One of the key differences between the CTC and Sustrans is that the latter is often seen as 'Bicycling for Beginners'.

What Sustrans is offering is a 'serving suggestion'. They are opening up options for the cyclist from the beginner that may want to build confidence up before trying the road to the more experienced cyclist that may want to try something a bit different. CTC is mainly dedicated to on road cycling and campaigns for the right to do so without fear or intimidation. Many CTC members (and staff) are very experienced cyclists who often fail to grasp what Sustrans are trying to achieve as it's difficult to see cycling through the eyes of a novice or think that it's a big conspiracy theory to get cyclists off the road.

If there is any potential for collaboration between the two, the CTC could assist in route development and where it could be better implemented whilst Sustrans could assist CTC in what type of cyclist is using their routes and why.

Well put pinky! Does our CTC (membership No. 7170402) which used to hold 'touring' as it domain, do it that well now? As you point out it is getting so much of the membership detailing from name spelling to logging in to the website so wrong.

As for route compatability whilst it was not the original posters thread as you can see it very quickly became 're-routed' into seriers of comments about the nature and value of Sustrans work. Sustrans have not to my knowledge ever suggested that that there routes are the optimum or only way to travel. As I pointed out earleir (and still waiting that answer) they do by utilising existing features such as old railway beds and such like, create places where those who otherwise would not get on a bike, do now choose to go. To my mind that is a net increase in cycle usage, something the 'road' brigade, of which I count myself as a staunch participant of, often down grade to 'playing' and not 'real cycling'. If you want evidence look at Cyling Plus forum which is where those two quotes came from. By virtue of using existing infrastructures the route is in many ways beyond re-directing without huge cost and more planning, something which would need capital input, input which roads tend to swallow up when looking a councils and their partnerships with Sustrans.

As to the high level contact are not Mssr's Maine and Grimshaw now working together for cycling in Britians interest?

I always look forward to a good debate, but when a few miles of poor surface are extrapolated into the whole of an organisations work being denegrated I find it worthy of comment.

Comparisons with cycling on the continent for me are very much a non starter, in that in comparison the comparitors must be roughly equal to begin with. There is so much which is different about continental roads, their use and in particular the way cyclist and cycling is viewed, participating in and 'lived' which is not found here. My experience comes from eight years of european living. I truely feel there is a profound difference in they way cyclist are viewed through Great Britain and Europe, from my experience I'd rather be their every time.

Good to hear from you.

Marc

Here we go again, so I'm not going to bother being PC. With cycling participation falling and road traffic volume doubling in the last 20 years, where do you propose those who wish to begin cycling should learn?

Now following the comments above if you are not going to directly answer this simple question be so kind as to say so and not go of into the usual "sustrans are segregationalist rubbish".

As a CTC trained cycle trainer my borough Swindon has both borough pedestrain/cycle routes and Sustran Route 45 through it. There are whom we have only gotten to cycle only because of both routes. Those, who if they had as an alternative the old buffers organisation bleating out their "its our right to be here" mantra, would be no more be tempted to get an a bike on the road first than stay off one.

As a final feeling which organisation is expanding both in terms of its members/volunteers, route building and prize winning and which is getting increasingly old in its DA profile, its IT infrastructure, its charging its member to phone it, whose leaders remit to vastly increase membership has yet to be vaguely realised to be contrasted by the others burgeoning profile and measurable increase in cyclists now cycling by virtue of its routes in THEIR eyes being the ONLY comfortable place to cycle.

Marc