Cycling UK Forum

I live in the New Forest and there is a very vituperative campaign at the moment against cyclists - mainly because of some big sportive events on the roads which horse riders and some residents don't like. For the past couple of months the local paper - the good old Lymington Times - has been full of letters castigating cycling and cyclists. I am going to write to them pointing out some of the benefits, but also our shared heritage of bike building and cycling. The other week I was talking to some members of the Veteran Cycle Club who spoke eloquently about how different it was in the 50s and 60s - when everyone seemed to have a bike because cars were a luxury. I wasn't around in the 50s - but if anyone has memories of what it was like on the roads then, for cyclists or motorists, I'd be interested to hear.

How long have you got?

Well, I'm on holiday until Wednesday...

thirdcrank wrote:How long have you got?

Longer than you and I have, Thirdcrank, since we were around in the '50's and he wasn't ……

Here's a pic of me as a yound cyclotourist in 1958

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=10796&start=135#p83316

Scroll forward to p 8 on that thread and there's an even better one of groveller.

Here's something from another source

http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... SPLAY=FULL

(Read the user comments after the pic.)


Mistik-ka

Don't remind me.

Can't open the picture link! Could you try again?

Sorry I can't, because I don't know how to do it. I'll seek advice.

There's a thread "Where were you in 1973" which ended up with some earlier stuff.

I was reading today about some cycle speedway history. Nowadays a city has a club/team which is part of a league, in the past there were so many clubs that cities had their own league for their city.

I know, one of the Veteran club members I was talking to said there were frame builders in most big towns - all making their own bikes. He had a Major Nichols - a lovely looking bike. I looked it up and learned about Major Nichols and his shop in West Bromwich - strange to think how such good quality was available so close to home. I know we talk about progress but I wonder sometimes if what we have lost is not worth more than what we have gained.

Rabbit: there are plenty of sources on the web and in old photo books like Frith to look at. But what I would say is that for me roads in the 50s, 60s and 70s were a joy to travel along as they were still basically the old turnpikes with asphalt and white lines. Of course motorways had been invented but the real destruction of the A road system didn't get going until the 70s and 80s. I hitch-hiked most of it and it was just a dream - through villages and towns, past country pubs and inns, over old stone bridges, crossroads, roundabouts, landmarks, old roadside cottages: the history and landscape just spilled out and washed over you. The rolling English road was indeed England's greatest historical asset - and travelling along it meant you had a ring side seat at the greatest show on earth. When the sun set and the flow of cars subsided I would just put up my tent at the side of the road or find a youth hostel for the night. You can still cycle along them - some of the roads are still there as well as the minor roads of course but you cannot any longer drive (or indeed cycle) contiguously through the towns; in any case the government has hopes to destroy the rest. I feel desperately sorry for the generation that cannot experience this past - a monotonous, homogenised dual-carriageway with predictable service areas is the fate of young people in the back seat of cars today and a DVD to look at in place of the world around them. Few will be on bicycles. As for the motorists who wished for this soul-less tarmac hell, well they can rot on their by-passes to oblivion - there is a very hard shoulder to cry on if they want it

This may give you a flavour of the time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP1KxPjh4RM

I believe that there is still a large slice of that rural idyl still there. If you plan your journeys carefully you can find quiet backroads which are a pleasure to cycle on or drive distances on. The greatest modern invention is the sat nav. It guides the majority onto those motorways and dual carriageways leaving the byways clearer. I have routes from my house leading in all directions like that, its slower to use them, but much more of a pleasure to travel.
We have a similar problem to the new forest with continual events making getting around more difficult at weekends. But on weekdays there is no problem. I do have some sympathy for the residents. It will reach such proportions that the number of events will inevitably be curbed.

Al

I've just fixed my eight year old grandson's bike for him (flat tyres and rusty chain!) and am sorry that he cannot enjoy the freedom of the road as I could when I was his age. I was born in 1950 so learned to cycle in that decade and have been on two wheels ever since. Back then very few people had cars. We could play football in the street without fear of hitting a car with the ball or having the game interupted by passing vehicles. It was safe for my friends and me to go off on our bikes all day along roads that are now choaked with traffic. Life was slower and a whole lot quieter back then too.

I live in a street that has a main road at either end of it and sometimes it can take an age to get out of the street into the traffic - especially if turning right. The noise is so bad it's very difficult to carry on a normal conversation while walking along the footpath. I saw a bit of the TV programme "Location, Location..." today and a couple wanted a house where you could not hear any passing traffic. It did not bother them that they would be causing other people traffic noise as they drove past on their way to and from their country idle!

We really need to get away from car-centric highways. I own a car which I use for longer journeys as I live just a ten minute walk from work. My 14 year old Micra spends most of its life sitting outside my house - last year I drove 1747 miles between MOTs! Some people just cannot see past their steering wheels. Handy tho' cars are, they are destroying communities and preventing youngsters like my grandson from enjoying the freedom and adventures that I had. There were things wrong in the 50s and 60s but heavy traffic and ill manners wern't part of the scene.

If you talk to people who were adults in the 40s and 50s, even 60s, you will hear tales of huge distances ridden. The reason they were able to do this is because the A roads of the time had very little traffic and were more like many of our modern B roads with only sporadic dual carriageway. So a Sunday club run might spend the first hour or more ploughing straight down an A road to get to the area they were aiming for. This was still true in the 60s when I started and even well into the 70s, if I wanted to go the 70 miles to London I would simply go straight along the A1/2/3/4 for example. Not these days where these roads are motorways in all but name and we spend our time picking our way along the more minor roads which adds distance and time to a trip. Of course when riding for pleasure we spend (and spent) time in the little lanes, but for making progress to get somewhere for a reason is a slower process these days.

Rabbit wrote:I live in the New Forest and there is a very vituperative campaign at the moment against cyclists

They are generally against anyone who wants to enjoy any activity in their area, cyclists are just the latest flavour this month.