Do you drive as well as cycle?

[al_yrpal]

I ride a bike for fitness and leisure but own two cars, a Eurobox and a Classic. My love is bicycle touring, just for a day, a few days a week or longer. I also like Classic motor car events, particularly things like the Goodwood revival. If I go to the local big town I go by bus (free on my bus pass), I dont feel that a bike is particularly convenient or safe. If I am going to the supermarket I cannot carry it all on the bike so it has to be the Eurobox, and if its fine weather, the Classic.
I dont evangelise for bike use. I use my bike for longer errands around the village, but for a pint of milk, I walk. I also like walking in the countryside for leisure. My fitness rides are 12 , 24 , or perhaps 30 miles with a pub stop thrown in. When touring I aim for 45 miles a day or anything between 40 and 65. I like to stop, see and appreciate good views, nice places, nice towns or buildings.
I think that percentage wise there are just as many idiots riding bikes as there are driving vehicles. Lots of cyclists appear to be bitter, disillusioned and self riteous. I think that what you give out you get back. So I always try to be kind, courteous and pleasant on my bike, an ambassador for cyclists.

Al

[crossroads]

I ride a bike for fitness and leisure but own two cars, a Eurobox and a Classic. My love is bicycle touring, just for a day, a few days a week or longer. I also like Classic motor car events, particularly things like the Goodwood revival. If I go to the local big town I go by bus (free on my bus pass), I dont feel that a bike is particularly convenient or safe. If I am going to the supermarket I cannot carry it all on the bike so it has to be the Eurobox, and if its fine weather, the Classic.
I dont evangelise for bike use. I use my bike for longer errands around the village, but for a pint of milk, I walk. I also like walking in the countryside for leisure. My fitness rides are 12 , 24 , or perhaps 30 miles with a pub stop thrown in. When touring I aim for 45 miles a day or anything between 40 and 65. I like to stop, see and appreciate good views, nice places, nice towns or buildings.
I think that percentage wise there are just as many idiots riding bikes as there are driving vehicles. Lots of cyclists appear to be bitter, disillusioned and self riteous. I think that what you give out you get back. So I always try to be kind, courteous and pleasant on my bike, an ambassador for cyclists.

Al

Very well put and very similar to how I feel in much of what you say..

[NUKe]

I drive when I have to, much prefer 2 or 3 wheels powered or un powered. Although I sold the BMW outfit a couple of years back so now its either cycle or drive. The car is mainly used as a taxi for the kids. I cycle to work to shops except Lidl where we tend to buy a lot of drinks and its at the bottom of the hill

I drive when I have to. I cycle because I want to

[Ayesha]

I ride a bike for fitness and leisure but own two cars, a Eurobox and a Classic. My love is bicycle touring, just for a day, a few days a week or longer. I also like Classic motor car events, particularly things like the Goodwood revival. If I go to the local big town I go by bus (free on my bus pass), I dont feel that a bike is particularly convenient or safe. If I am going to the supermarket I cannot carry it all on the bike so it has to be the Eurobox, and if its fine weather, the Classic.
I dont evangelise for bike use. I use my bike for longer errands around the village, but for a pint of milk, I walk. I also like walking in the countryside for leisure. My fitness rides are 12 , 24 , or perhaps 30 miles with a pub stop thrown in. When touring I aim for 45 miles a day or anything between 40 and 65. I like to stop, see and appreciate good views, nice places, nice towns or buildings.
I think that percentage wise there are just as many idiots riding bikes as there are driving vehicles. Lots of cyclists appear to be bitter, disillusioned and self riteous. I think that what you give out you get back. So I always try to be kind, courteous and pleasant on my bike, an ambassador for cyclists.

Al

My girlfriend's a Countess,
She keeps a snow white cat.
She drives to the shops in a Jensen,
wearing Holly Golightly's hat.

Jag Al?

[al_yrpal]

Jag Al?

Not a Jag... a Stag, a great Grand Tourer, room for a couple of suitcases. Just love it! This was taken in Normandy, a favourite place by bike and car.


Stag at Camp Paton by Alyrpal, on Flickr

But, I do love my bikes too, particularly the MTB which gets you to some fantastic places.

Al

[Ivorcadaver]

I have a car that sits on the drive 5 or 6 days a week and cycle to and from work every day into Manchester (13 miles each way). Until I took up a new job a year ago I was commuting by car 50 miles each way (which was madness) so I would class myself as an experienced cyclist and car driver. The us and them attitude is an inevitable state of mind that results from grinding along the A6 out of Manchester on a dark Autumn evening battling with the gradual incline, rain and headwinds when some idiot in an Audi (yes it always seems to be an Audi, usually black) overtakes with only the thickness of the paint separating me from 2 tonnes of finest German engineering.
Being a car driver gives me an excellent appreciation on how to behave on a bike e.g. not placing yourself in driver’s blind spots in standing traffic, not jumping red lights and generally being clear and assertive about what you are doing. I have even been known to slow down going up a hill and wave a following HGV past. Unfortunately, so few drivers ride a bike so have no appreciation of the cyclists perspective misjudging the cyclists speed and distance etc..
For the record I am a white middle aged male, have been cycling for 40 years and I am kind to children and animals.

[Coffee]

Yes, well, motorcycle. But I do love dumping all drivers into a "you lot" category in a cycle/roads/car discussion. When someone asks me what I mean by it I say, "you known, your lot, all you mobile phone driving, disabled cash point parking, speeding, boy racer, pavement parking, amber gambler, 4x4 nazis you know...YOUR lot"
But usually only after my lot are all RLJing, pavement riding & ninjas.

[Mark1978]

I have a car that sits on the drive 5 or 6 days a week and cycle to and from work every day into Manchester (13 miles each way). Until I took up a new job a year ago I was commuting by car 50 miles each way (which was madness) so I would class myself as an experienced cyclist and car driver. The us and them attitude is an inevitable state of mind that results from grinding along the A6 out of Manchester on a dark Autumn evening battling with the gradual incline, rain and headwinds when some idiot in an Audi (yes it always seems to be an Audi, usually black) overtakes with only the thickness of the paint separating me from 2 tonnes of finest German engineering.
Being a car driver gives me an excellent appreciation on how to behave on a bike e.g. not placing yourself in driver’s blind spots in standing traffic, not jumping red lights and generally being clear and assertive about what you are doing. I have even been known to slow down going up a hill and wave a following HGV past. Unfortunately, so few drivers ride a bike so have no appreciation of the cyclists perspective misjudging the cyclists speed and distance etc..
For the record I am a white middle aged male, have been cycling for 40 years and I am kind to children and animals.

That's what it's all about isn't it, not some 'war', but give and take from all road users.

[MartinC]

My aim is to drive as well as I cycle. Not sure how I'm doing.

[clanton]

I currently drive and cycle - I work freelance so it depends on commuting distance and available facilities.

I came relatively late to cycling - late 20's and so had been driving for some time before cycling and initially I rode mtb's only with road cycling and eventually commuting and finally touring creeping in later.

I for one have become a more aware and considerate driver as a result of cycling on the roads (getting older probably helped too!)

There are probably as many impatient cyclists as drivers but I think their behaviour is tempered (well in the self aware anyway!) by their vulnerability.

[binsted]

(Having observed several incompetent large 4x4 maneuvers recently, am wondering if a separate 'light truck' category, requiring an additional practical driving test, is needed )

Probably not 4x4s but I would like a separate test for the large horse boxes driven on car licenses.

[meic]

In a way, I think that you have got what you asked for.

The number of those of us who can drive such things on the basis of our car test is dwindling. I think that you need a different licence/test now and may have done so for fifteen years or so.

I could be misunderstanding the change but when my wife got a UK licence issued in place of her German one, the groups which I will describe as "large vans" and "minibuses" were set to expire on reaching 45 yrs but the car and motorcycle remained until the normal old age.

On my licence all groups remain until I am old.

[Ayesha]

Jag Al?

Not a Jag... a Stag, a great Grand Tourer, room for a couple of suitcases. Just love it! This was taken in Normandy, a favourite place by bike and car.


Stag at Camp Paton by Alyrpal, on Flickr

But, I do love my bikes too, particularly the MTB which gets you to some fantastic places.

Al

I wasn't joking.

[al_yrpal]

Aargh.. Jensen!

My old boss used to have one of those... gas guzzler! Very comfy though, you were surrounded by BMC bits a pieces which rather tarnished the upmarket image of the exterior. I still have my original vinyl seats, but lack sideboards and loon pants

Al

[mjr]

When sometimes reading posts it seems to come across that a lot of the regular posters (and perhaps not so regular posters) only cycle and don't drive or own a car - using terms such as 'them' or 'they' meaning drivers of cars, motorbikes etc.
I am interested in hearing if this is true or if its simply a case of sometimes having the cycling hat on rather that the driving hat (if you know what I mean)

Well, I've got a bike and a car. I described where I live in viewtopic.php?p=718969#p718969 but most of my trips are into a town where it's usually slower and more expensive by car than bicycle. The nearest cities are Ely and Cambridge, connected by trains that you can often take bikes on. I find both fairly fun to use if it's a good route, but the bike seems cheaper and/or easier for many journeys.

The car gets used if the weather is really nasty (but not so icy the roads are blocked), if there's anything far too big/heavy to carry (although a recent ladder fitted on the bike but not in the car) or if we're going to places with rubbish mass transport links. I'm always surprised how much cars fail if you don't use them much. They've nearly all got things like alarms which drain the same battery that is needed to start them up!

The National Travel Survey statistics, 2010, said that 80% of riders also drive cars sometimes and 20% of car drivers also ride at least monthly. That 20% may well have gone up.