The Tragic Proliferation of ‘Drive-Cycling’

[Tangled Metal]

We live in a small town just off the busy road through it. To get anywhere we have a canal towpath or the main roads. Towpath leads to main roads so you're only going to ride that if that's your whole ride. So we have busy roads.


Ask any parent of a young cycling child how riding on a busy road feels. It's stressful to say the least. Do we ride bikes to create more stress or to relieve it?

Now if you can tell me how to ride from home along busy roads with a 4/5 year old without feeling stressed please tell me. If you can't think of a reasonable solution to that then do not criticize our choice to drive to somewhere safer to ride.

BTW if you restrict riding to locations unsuitable for riders the result will ultimately be less riders. Less riders doesn't help the critical mass theory for getting authorities to improve facilities for cycling. Just another idea that drive - cyclists are still promoting cycling. It's still positive.

[pwa]

When my wife and I chose our house nearly twenty years ago we chose a slightly shabbier house in a great location in preference to a better house in the nearest town. So we have wonderful rural lanes going off in different directions and most of my leisure cycling is straight from the house with no car use.

But because of where houses are, most people are not going to be so lucky. Any keen cyclist will soon work out the best routes from their home, but there must be some who simply don't have easy access to good cycling nearby. So I have some sympathy with people who stick the bike on a rack.

There are occasions when I do the same myself, if I fancy a change. A trip north to Brecon or Hay on Wye can give us a day's cycling on wonderful roads, quite different in feel to our local lanes. So I think a little bit of that is okay. Once in a while. It is nice, though, to let a couple of days pass without the car moving.

[Bmblbzzz]

Better to cycle without driving but better to drive then ride rather than drive then drive some more.

[PH]

Never mind a bit of driving, what about all those cycle tourists flying off around the world? All those exotic CTC tours?
People out enjoying their cycling is something to celebrate, there's nothing tragic about it at all. It's good for us all, helps break down the them and us and I know several people who have moved from car assisted leisure cycling to commuting.

[PH]

As an aside - Does anyone think these trails would exist without the car parks?
A regular ride for me (From home) includes Carsington Water, the High Peak and Tissington Trails, plenty of facilities, toilets, water, refreshments, cycle businesses, I appreciate them all, so a big thanks to those who make them viable.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Does any one agree with me that it is a thoroughly bad thing that cycling becomes a thing like skiing or kayaking, that you have to go somewhere to do, rather than something you do to go somewhere?

That would indeed be a thoroughly bad thing... but it's not happening, is it?

There's no sense that you "have to" drive to the start of your ride. Some people do, mostly for reasons of safety as explained upthread. But it's a minority, a small minority, and an understandable minority.

Join your local cycle campaign group and campaign for decent infrastructure leading from where people live to the start of the off-road path.

[Bonefishblues]

Similarly Pitsford and the Midlands reservoirs are a family destination, as are various woods and forests with bike hire et al. It's a great day out for a family that wants to cycle together - like mine.

[NUKe]

Phew. I thought this was going to be a rant against the growth in 'park and pedal'.

I think I know what you mean? but are you talking about people who drive part way to work and then ride? If so is this really growing. I would say that would be a real positive.

[PH]

Phew. I thought this was going to be a rant against the growth in 'park and pedal'.

I think I know what you mean? but are you talking about people who drive part way to work and then ride? If so is this really growing. I would say that would be a real positive.

Well a positive for the congested city centres, but possibly a negative depending on where they park and how this effects you.

[mjr]

Phew. I thought this was going to be a rant against the growth in 'park and pedal'.

I think I know what you mean? but are you talking about people who drive part way to work and then ride? If so is this really growing. I would say that would be a real positive.

Can't tell from the measurements yet, but there are some secondary effects like more park and rides offering parking-only tickets or bike sharing docks or corrals, and non-residential edge-of-town roads dead-ended by new roads being used increasingly for free parking during the day.

[Bmblbzzz]

Phew. I thought this was going to be a rant against the growth in 'park and pedal'.

I think I know what you mean? but are you talking about people who drive part way to work and then ride? If so is this really growing. I would say that would be a real positive.

Well a positive for the congested city centres, but possibly a negative depending on where they park and how this effects you.

There is evidence that the existence of Park and Rides encourages some people to drive from outlying villages and smaller towns to the P&R, thus increasing traffic on rural roads. With the massive decline in rural bus services this effect might no longer be significant though.

[Cyril Haearn]

Motor traffic is a curse, there is far too much of it, I hope most forum members agree with me?

I am glad to cycle from home, I don't even use the train, it is not boring but even if it was I would not drive to cycle. Even my own careful legal driving is undesirable. If I lived in a big city I would cycle in parks or by the canal, I would cycle less maybe
If I want variety I go walking instead

The munro baggers and three peaks challengers are even worse and could be dealt with by the introduction of zero-tolerance as discussed elsewhere

Better less motor traffic than more cycling!

[pwa]

Motor traffic is a curse, there is far too much of it, I hope most forum members agree with me?

I am glad to cycle from home, I don't even use the train, it is not boring but even if it was I would not drive to cycle. Even my own careful legal driving is undesirable. If I lived in a big city I would cycle in parks or by the canal, I would cycle less maybe
If I want variety I go walking instead

The munro baggers and three peaks challengers are even worse and could be dealt with by the introduction of zero-tolerance as discussed elsewhere

Better less motor traffic than more cycling!

Have you been mountain biking in the Afan Forest in South Wales? There is a Mountain Bike Centre with extensive graded routes around the surrounding steep slopes. Local businesses provide accommodation for visitors. For former coal mining villages like Glyncorrwg it provides a small but welcome source of local jobs that people don't have to travel for. Yet the visitors come by car. There is no railway. It went decades ago. The rail beds are now cycle tracks, part of the attraction. Would you take that away from the Afan valley?

[Cyril Haearn]

Motor traffic is a curse, there is far too much of it, I hope most forum members agree with me?

I am glad to cycle from home, I don't even use the train, it is not boring but even if it was I would not drive to cycle. Even my own careful legal driving is undesirable. If I lived in a big city I would cycle in parks or by the canal, I would cycle less maybe
If I want variety I go walking instead

The munro baggers and three peaks challengers are even worse and could be dealt with by the introduction of zero-tolerance as discussed elsewhere

Better less motor traffic than more cycling!

Have you been mountain biking in the Afan Forest in South Wales? There is a Mountain Bike Centre with extensive graded routes around the surrounding steep slopes. Local businesses provide accommodation for visitors. For former coal mining villages like Glyncorrwg it provides a small but welcome source of local jobs that people don't have to travel for. Yet the visitors come by car. There is no railway. It went decades ago. The rail beds are now cycle tracks, part of the attraction. Would you take that away from the Afan valley?

No I have not been there
Treherbert Station is not far away, it must be possible to get to Glyncorrwg quite easily without a motor vehicle

[pwa]

Motor traffic is a curse, there is far too much of it, I hope most forum members agree with me?

I am glad to cycle from home, I don't even use the train, it is not boring but even if it was I would not drive to cycle. Even my own careful legal driving is undesirable. If I lived in a big city I would cycle in parks or by the canal, I would cycle less maybe
If I want variety I go walking instead

The munro baggers and three peaks challengers are even worse and could be dealt with by the introduction of zero-tolerance as discussed elsewhere

Better less motor traffic than more cycling!

Have you been mountain biking in the Afan Forest in South Wales? There is a Mountain Bike Centre with extensive graded routes around the surrounding steep slopes. Local businesses provide accommodation for visitors. For former coal mining villages like Glyncorrwg it provides a small but welcome source of local jobs that people don't have to travel for. Yet the visitors come by car. There is no railway. It went decades ago. The rail beds are now cycle tracks, part of the attraction. Would you take that away from the Afan valley?

No I have not been there
Treherbert Station is not far away, it must be possible to get to Glyncorrwg quite easily without a motor vehicle

You certainly have not been there! Yes Treherbert is not far away, by helicopter. Should you cycle the A road from Treherbert to Cymmer (Afan Valley) you pass over the highest stretch of A road in Wales. presumably carrying your clobber. It could be done, and many would enjoy it, but you would not describe it as "not far away" in terms of effort and time. You'd not want to get off a train and embark on that epic climb late in the evening with rain falling and the light fading.