We should always be allowed to do this!

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[XAP]Bob
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We should always be allowed to do this!

Post by [XAP]Bob »

A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
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Mick F
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Re: We should always be allowed to do this!

Post by Mick F »

Wow!

I've rode through the Clyde Tunnel many many many times, but it isn't as far .............. or as iconic.
Mick F. Cornwall
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661-Pete
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Re: We should always be allowed to do this!

Post by 661-Pete »

Most of the road tunnels hereabouts - cyclists aren't allowed into anyway. Not sure I'd fancy a ride through 31 miles of totally monotonous tunnel though - especially since it would take me 3 times as long as Froome!
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iandriver
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Re: We should always be allowed to do this!

Post by iandriver »

Can you do the downhill bit then get the train? I love the Greenwich foot tunnel for reasons I can't explain, no cycling allowed though.
Supporter of the A10 corridor cycling campaign serving Royston to Cambridge http://a10corridorcycle.com. Never knew gardening secateurs were an essential part of the on bike tool kit until I took up campaigning.....
Mark1978
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Re: We should always be allowed to do this!

Post by Mark1978 »

661-Pete wrote:Most of the road tunnels hereabouts - cyclists aren't allowed into anyway. Not sure I'd fancy a ride through 31 miles of totally monotonous tunnel though - especially since it would take me 3 times as long as Froome!


Once you've done the first mile the next thirty are identical. Would be one of the worst rides imaginable.

On the subject of cycle tunnels we have one on Tyneside but it's closed until the middle of 2015.
reohn2
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Re: We should always be allowed to do this!

Post by reohn2 »

In answer to the thread title,who would want to?
Yes there'd initially be an influx of ''I've ridden through the channel tunnel'' list tickers,then what?
It's a publicity stunt for a high end car maker/media mogul.
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: We should always be allowed to do this!

Post by [XAP]Bob »

I'd rather tour through northern France without spending time on a ferry...
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
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NUKe
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Re: We should always be allowed to do this!

Post by NUKe »

I'd love to do it, I find tunnels facinating in their own right.
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: We should always be allowed to do this!

Post by [XAP]Bob »

NUKe wrote:I'd love to do it, I find tunnels facinating in their own right.

And bridges (Despite not dealing well with heights)
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
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Mr. Viking
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Re: We should always be allowed to do this!

Post by Mr. Viking »

Mick F wrote:Wow!

I've rode through the Clyde Tunnel many many many times, but it isn't as far .............. or as iconic.

Clyde Tunnel is great fun. Not sure if it still is,but at one point it was the steepest tunnel in the world
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Mick F
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Re: We should always be allowed to do this!

Post by Mick F »

Yes, I remember it well, and I remember my first time through it.
It's sort of banana shaped and you ride though the banana. Steep at either end, and you can't see very far because of the curve "upwards". Eye-line is a hundred yards away on the ceiling. I imagined being able to see the far end, but all you can see is an upwardly curving road.
Mick F. Cornwall
LollyKat
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Re: We should always be allowed to do this!

Post by LollyKat »

There is also quite a sharp chicane near each end, presumably to slow riders down. A friend of mine once hit the wall and broke her collarbone.
iviehoff
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Re: We should always be allowed to do this!

Post by iviehoff »

I wonder what the longest tunnel you can cycle through without special permission. I've been through the longest tunnel in Iceland which is called Vestfjarðagöng and is near Isafjordur in the Westfjords, and it is 9km long. For added amusement, it is a single track tunnel with passing places, and has a T-junction in the middle. 9km is the total length of all three arms, it's only about 7km between the furthest two portals.

I rode a bicycle along a section of the Large Hadron Collider tunnel back in the mid 80s, before it was filled with kit. But it wasn't very interesting, and you couldn't go all the way around to say you'd done it, so we only cycled a couple of km. The local who took me down there said it was quite normal for the people working there to get around it by bike while you still could.
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Mick F
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Re: We should always be allowed to do this!

Post by Mick F »

I cycled through the tunnel through the Rock of Gibraltar from the Royal Dockyard to the east of the Rock via a communications centre. The tunnel is MOD only, even now. Last time I was there was 1989. :shock:
Perhaps a mile long.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiralty_Tunnel
Mick F. Cornwall
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