Butser Hill - proposed cyclepath for the missing link

[Bez]

Rode it a couple of weeks ago (just as they were putting in the last of the bollards in the middle of the track—can't have a cycle track without something stuck in the middle of it, eh) and at 7-year-old pace I think it took at about an hour.

I hope the photos in the paper won't end up being full of the usual hi-viz freakiness. If I turn out then my main motivation will be to stand in front of a fluorescent jacket or two

[Bez]

Wait, I just noticed this is a Friday. So, no kids, no families. The publicity photos will be over-representative of retired male cycling enthusiasts.

Who is organising it?

[_aD]

Now now, I'm not retired yet. I did think it a bit of a shame doing it on a workday, as several of my friends would have loved to participate.

[Grandad]

Can't see "VIPS" working on a weekend just to open a cyclepath

[_aD]

Pretty sure Mike Ashton and Robert Sebley would be present on a weekend. They're the most VIPs if you ask me!

[Graham]

Not a bad turn out, bearing in mind the cold and forecast rain.
Probably 60 - 80 people with a good proportion of CTC / Cycling UK persons.
Even a few people under the age of 60 !

Ribbon-cutting & "speech" of mercifully short duration.

Credit to East Hants District Council ( probably ) for clearing the ankle-deep leaves on the northern section, a short time before the ceremonial ride.
( I had reported this a few days before. )

[flat tyre]

Well done for getting the leaves cleared Graham. That's me...third cycle helmet from the back. I had to go and find a few hills after the opening to get warm!

[Bez]

The photos are exactly as I predicted. Either whoever organised this is clueless about public relations around this sort of thing or they're deliberately undermining it by intentionally depicting this investment as being for Those Cyclists, The Men in Weird Clothes.

Numerous families wanted to be there for this. They could have had photos full of kids and normal-looking people of all ages.

I seem to be fairly cross about this. I might see if we can show them what they've missed.

[Graham]

I would guess that the "officials" wanted to do this in their working week. Just another bit of PR / photo opportunity to get out of the way ?

I wasn't best placed to hear the full content of the "speech" but did here mention, several times of "exercise" and "beautiful views".

I resisted the temptation to do my own brief speech highlighting what is really important :-

(1) The new path has resolved a fairly major severance issue, opening up active travel opportunities for many more people, through the Butser Gap.

(2) QE Country Park is now much more easily accessible to those who choose to go there without driving a car on the notorious A3.

[mjr]

Numerous families wanted to be there for this. They could have had photos full of kids and normal-looking people of all ages.

I seem to be fairly cross about this. I might see if we can show them what they've missed.

Go on! Please! It could be a good case study for how councils are wasting good PR opportunities about cycling.

[Bez]

I suspect you're right, just a box to tick rather than an opportunity to show how this actually benefits a wider community rather than just people like us who, as relatively hardy enthusiasts, are quite capable of riding there by other routes anyway (via Buriton into the back of QECP is a low traffic route already, after all). It's a shame that it just continues to portray cycling as a niche activity that people do because they have an unusual fondness for bicycles and strange clothes, not least because that completely fails to dismantle anyone's beliefs that this money has been spent for the benefit of those people and no-one else.

[Bez]

Go on! Please! It could be a good case study for how councils are wasting good PR opportunities about cycling.

I'll see what I can do. I know people who will be up for it. To be honest when I found out about the Fridayness of it last week I was going to organise something for tomorrow while the iron's hot, but our entire household has a chest infection this week so it was kind of bad timing

[HumanOnABike]

Bez

As mentioned elsewhere, please do so. I'm happy to wait until spring, but well aware that's completely loosing momentum on the benefit, but would make it easier on me and my little ones

[CJ]

I suspect you're right, just a box to tick rather than an opportunity to show how this actually benefits a wider community rather than just people like us who, as relatively hardy enthusiasts, are quite capable of riding there by other routes anyway (via Buriton into the back of QECP is a low traffic route already, after all). It's a shame that it just continues to portray cycling as a niche activity that people do because they have an unusual fondness for bicycles and strange clothes, not least because that completely fails to dismantle anyone's beliefs that this money has been spent for the benefit of those people and no-one else.

QECP path opening

Absolutely our feeling too. My wife and I would have attended on our town/trekking bikes and in normal clothes, but on a cold November morning with a hint of rain in the air we reasoned that all anyone would see of us would in any event be a jacket. At least ours are a reasonably tasteful blue and red respectively (rather than what I call plague yellow!) and I hid my helmet (that I wear only on single-figures cold days) for the photos, in which they didn't want bikes anyway!

You'll see in the above photo that there was actually quite a mixture of bike types and not all MAMILS! But like I said, on the group photos you'll see a load of (mostly) yellow jackets and horribly helmeted heads.

Another factor in our choice of cycling-specific gear was that we do not live that near Petersfield. So to get better value out of the journey and take advantage of the afternoon's sunnier forecast, we planned to spend the rest of the day cycling in the Meon valley - a lovely area that is a bit too far away for us to visit except with car or train assistance. Here's a nice picture to finish off with.

Downs at West Meon

[Graham]

I was going to hold back with this one ( hoping that the rain would wash it away ). Alas, I have double angst to report.

On Sunday the trial bikers held an event in the quarry on the northern slope.
The results is that a large area of the path is now covered with a slurry of chalk and clay, carried and spread by the bikes and the support vehicles.
This was foreseeable, but obviously doesn't matter to anyone except those on bicycles . . . for whom the £1.5m path was built ?

Meanwhile, down at the litterby a bin & retaining post have appeared. . . . . . . on the cyclepath. ( I'll get a photo later. )
Previously
Layby : 2.4 metres shared use path : fence
Now
Layby : 1.4 metres of path remaining : bin : fence

Most cyclists will bypass a bin with the maximum space possible to avoid broken glass and other detritus. Thus, our "bi-directional cycle path" has a distinct squeeze-point.

At this rate I'll be back to cycling on the margins of the A3. . . . .