The fact that your husband’s helmet was scraped on impact doesn’t mean a great deal. The human brain is in fact quite well protected by nature, and nineteen head-whacks out of twenty do no lasting damage at all. In any case, unlike motorcycle helmets pushbike helmets aren’t very solidly constructed, so any blow powerful enough to crush the helmet will probably crush the skull beneath it as well. In 2011 two professional racing cyclists died of head injuries despite wearing helmets.

I lived in the Bay Area in California for two years and found that drivers would always yield to pedestrians at junctions. Some people said it was because of the strict liability law that means a car driver is always at fault if there’s a car-pedestrian collision at a crossing point or junction.

So why the yellow flags, do you think?

I had a airzound horn for a while (for imagined safety reasons, and because I liked the way it was powered by compressed air from a bike pump) I ended up giving it away though as it seemed rather OTT and frankly I realised how rude it could appear. Not that I remember ever using it after the first month anyway. Have thankfully avoided the scenario I feared where it would have been most legitimately put into service.

Antonia

Nice to hear you getting back to bicycle touring on the podcastm thanks!

Dave

Pictures on my blog

http://audaxing.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/carradice-care/

no imagine doing this to California.

My name is Con Griffin Go to http://www.congriffin.com

It led me to finally pick up a copy of Johnny Green’s book, which is also a treat. It is similar in style to Ned Boulting’s more recent ‘How I Won the Yellow Jumper’ but even more irreverent. Consequently it is even more insightful (of the culture surrounding Le Tour, if not the technical aspects of the sport.) As well as the passages quoted in the interview, the following description of Jan Ullrich at the 2004 Tour (written years before he was linked with Dr. Fuentes) is a prime example of Mr. Green’s perspicacity:

“Jan Ullrich, supposedly a number two, had been riding for days like a turkey. Now he looked like one. Every day he would announce how powerful he felt. Every day he’d come in behind Armstrong. He was a fat German boy. He supposedly loved the Californian high life. His taste was for choux pastry. Someway down my list of decadence. I had taken to edging close to him as he slowed down over the line. In the crush of press, I would say, rather than shout, ‘Ullrich, you wánker.’ Not that I was after a fight, it just needed saying and no one else was. Earl said I’d bottled it. He was right. I wanted to hang on to my pass. In the yards of column inches, Ullrich was daily talked up as a serious contender, but … nah. For my own honour and peace of mind, the word ‘wánker’ had to be spoken aloud.”

Parts work best if you know the personalities in the ITV / British coverage, but I can’t recall *too* much of that, and I think they stand pretty well as anecdotes without that knowledge. It’s a warm, humourous book, and I really enjoyed it.

On BikeSnob’s book, I prefer it to his blog – more of his enthusiasm for cycling comes across than does in his online pieces. The hardback edition I have is a lovely thing in its own right too, the design is wonderful.

If I can cycle Avenue Verte to Paris in 2012 on my Moulton I’ll be delighted.

Beach Barbie
After the junior ride last month ” beach barbie reccie”. The main event has arrived, once again with a four am start.
With about 15 of us, we meet at Shoreditch Grind at 4 am. On this morning Steve has bought cold Ricard to start the day, very French. Flasks and shot glasses put away, we head to the river. At this time of year it’s quite light, as we make our way to Westminster Bridge.
London early morning is very quite, and perfect for cycling. As we head East the Sun starts to rise in our eyes. Many of the group commented on how beautiful London and the Thames is on this sunny morning. At just after 5 we reach Billingsgate and already it’s packed. I don’t think there is another place in London with this concentration of nationalities, it’s one of the things you love about London, the cosmopolitan atmosphere.
Leaving the fish market with our catch, we cycle back to our beach by the OXO tower. Where we are meet by Sue and Jenny. The girls had in the car all the cooking paraphernalia and barbie stuff for the beach. What a golden sand of a beach it is. At 7am we are getting the fire going, (I’ll put the menu at the bottom) and cooking with drinking started. By the time the first course was finished thirty people had gathered. A great time was had by all, with the Thames holding back that little bit extra to allow us to finish and clear away.
The group cycled off to Broadway Market for Vietnamese milky coffee and Guinness. A fabulous end to a fabulous day, and not even tea time when we headed home. Although a couple of us shouldn’t have cycled home.

Best ride next year; more of the Scottish coast, or along the Baltic coast of Lithuania via the Russian enclave of Kallingrad to Poland?

Next year I’m most excited about the 1,100km tour from Bordeaux, France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain….I’ve just booked my flights!

2012: Maybe the Rhine Valley, using Eurostar and Thalys trains to get to the start.

I’m hoping to be cycle touring the Western Isles around Mid-April, which is really setting the pulse racing. Wild camping, big skies, distilleries. Bliss.

The Natchez Trace it runs from Nashville Tennessee to Natchez Mississippi 444 miles miles without a stop sign or red light.
No commercial vehiles allowed and it has water and rest room facilities every 20 miles. One of the top rides in South East USA.

At Carradice the ‘boss’ and the ‘owner’ are one and the same man: David Chadwick. He has a strong family commitment to the firm and the people who work there. And no shareholders or other investors (besides his wife). I think that accounts for a lot of what’s good about the company.

Having said that, Brooks’s revival only really came when Selle Italia took them over and started marketing them properly. So it can work both ways.

I guess being small, and catering to a niche, helps avoid the attention of corporate raiders, or the pressure to extract every last penny of short-term profit which having shareholders demands.

BTW, Jack, if you rode from Sheffield to Nelson, you must have come close to the little village of Thurstonland, near Holmfirth.

A very pertinent comment was about the cumulative impact of the closure of other firms in the area. Staff cannot move between firms to further their careers, the market is too small to support tool makers and wholesalers etc.

Having used their saddlebags for a good while as part of my commuting setup, they transcend the current vogue for things with a touch of vintage (like the Tweed Run, fine event that it is).

I’m using a bike with an Easton carbon fibre fork, a Brooks leather saddle and a Carradice Nelson bag. Each of those things do their job extremely well. Just because something is an old design doesn’t mean it’s not the best design!

It’s extremely difficult to be aware of the ever changing situation through all one’s mirrors simultaneously, especially when one hgv driver’s caution can become a tempting invitation for following cyclists to “take a chance”.

But there is one thing that cyclists should know.

Rightly or wrongly, lorry drivers are accustomed to look out for hi vis vests or jackets (day and night); it’s what they see around them all the time and they’re incredibly noticeable when you checkl your mirrors. One becomes used to noticing them almost subconsiously.

And of course, the more cyclists who wear them, the less visible you become if you don’t.

Personally, I’ve got three different sizes and just choose the right one comensurate with whatever I’m wearing at the time, so there’s very little drag.

It’s not the perfect solution, but it certainly helps. Just ask anyone working in a hazardous environment.

As well as taxi/light & heavy commercial/bus traffic running on diesel, don’t forget that the proportion of private diesel fuelled cars compared to petrol has increased substantially in the last 15 years or so.

I was responding to your moan about cyclists and pedestrians ‘who wear dark clothes’. And if you read what I wrote, you’ll notice it includes the statement: “Cyclists should always have good lights”.

Obviously, the cyclist you say you observed nearly colliding with a lorry was at fault. It’s very unwise for a cyclist to run a red light when the road is not clear ahead. Shows very poor judgment.

As for cyclists and pedestrians who listen to music, it’s unwise to listen at a volume that reduces your awareness of the world around you. I could say the same about driving with a car stereo on and the windows wound up.

It’s my experience that cyclists are more attuned to what’s happening around them, from what they hear and also from what they can see. Cyclists are not confined in boxes and generally have better all-round visibility.

You’re absolutely correct. I don’t think cyclists and pedestrians have very much to answer for in terms of road danger. This is well worth a read.

You are simply judging me on the fact that as I drive I must loathe anyone else on the road or sidewalk. You are wrong, but clearly you head is so far up your backside you can’t see that I’m merely pointing out that everyone using the road has a duty to do so with care, looking out for other road users and being aware of what is happening around them.

Finally, to illustrate the red light jumping point, I saw a cyclist blatantly jump a red light going over a junction only to almost be hit by a lorry coming from the left (as their lights were green). Now, I’m sure you’d consider that the cyclists fault, when in fact the lorry was using the road legally and it was the cyclist who had endangered not only his own life, but also that of the lorry driver.

I can’t help but get the feeling that you see cyclists and pedestrians as an irritant, annoying things that gets in your way as a driver. If you can’t be confident of being able to see who is on the road ahead, you really need to slow down and/or visit an optician.

Always remember that cyclists and pedestrians and horse riders have an absolute freedom on the roads, reflecting their fundamentally benign nature. By contrast, drivers of motor vehicles are only free to use the road ‘under license’, reflecting their far greater capacity to cause harm, to themselves and to others.

It is principally the driver’s responsibility to see pedestrians and cyclists and slow down when visibility is poor or at night. Though cyclists and pedestrians are free to wear whatever they care to wear, including high viz gear, it is not principally their responsibility to sparkle like Christmas trees for the convenience of drivers. Cyclists should always have good lights, not least to be visible to pedestrians. I feel we have come to a sorry state of affairs when school children are not allowed to walk to school without wearing high viz tabards, helmets and flashing arm bands.

Remember, when motor vehicles were first introduced to the roads, it was a requirement to have someone walk some yards in front of the vehicle waving a red flag, to warn other road users. Back in those days they had a better idea about the balance of responsibility among different road users.

So, it’s not about being smug or even about being right or jealous, it’s simply about ALL road users taking notice of the law.

Andrew, thanks for stopping by.

You didn’t say those words but I take that to be the clear thrust of your comments. In your opening remarks you say you are “not asking for digging up the all roads and replacing them with in cycle lanes… because it’s just not practical to do that” (around 25 minutes in). Nobody, not even Jenny Jones, is asking for cycle lanes to be put on all the roads in London. In Amsterdam, Berlin and Copenhagen most residential side streets don’t have cycle lanes. But, unlike London, the major arterial roads and busy thoroughfares do have separated, protected cycle lanes.

This is what sets you apart from the Mayor of Copenhagen, who I interviewed here, and asked what is the most important thing that can be done for cyclists in cities. He said, without hesitation, to take space away from car parking and give it to cyclists as protected, separated space where they don’t have to duck and dive among fast moving cars and heavy goods vehicles.

If you visit Amsterdam, Berlin or Copenhagen you will find cities where the government has done exactly what you dismiss as not practical – they have dug up main roads and put in cycle lanes. This, more than anything else, is what distinguishes these cities as cycling cities, and sets them apart from London. Michael Bloomberg is emulating them by putting cycle lanes all over New York City. And they’ve done the same in Seville. But it seems to me that you’re saying London is different. It’s not practical to do that. It’s too expensive. I call that swimming against the tide of city governments who are inviting and encouraging cycling with real infrastructure, not token splashes of paint. City governments are discovering, one by one, the truth about good cycle infrastructure: build it and they will come. Sadly, in the UK, councils have been discovered the corresponding truth about crap cycle lanes: build them but they won’t come.

In your comments, which I believe to be well intentioned, you say “it’s not so much the engineering works but the guidance for cyclists when they hit a junction” that is the problem and argue for giving cyclists “basic guidance for a recommended route”. You say cyclists need to ride with the assumption that everyone on the road is trying to kill them. Yes, ‘defensive cycling’ is important, as is ‘assertive cycling’, but I think London needs much more than paint and paranoia.

No matter how much paint is thrown down or ‘guidance’ is offered, we will never see bicycling mums with kids following behind on the school run descending into the Euston Road underpass or going around the Elephant & Castle roundabout, no matter how many wits they have about them, to quote the Mayor’s memorable phrase.

Specifically on junctions, you say “I’m not saying they’re dangerous, I’m saying they’re confusing”. I am saying they are dangerous and need to be made less dangerous. The design of most of the major junctions in London introduce an unacceptable level of conflict between different road users going in different directions and at different speeds. It is invariably the cyclist and the pedestrian that comes off worst in any collision. Cycling is not dangerous in and of itself. It becomes hazardous when cyclists are required to cross multiple lanes of motor traffic to make right turns, or are shoved into the gutter or railings by HGVs. Planners should always bear in mind who causing the harm to whom and be sure that roads are designed so that the first priority is to reduce road danger at source rather than maximising motor vehicle throughput, which appears to be Transport for London’s top priority.

You ride a bike, I ride a bike, the Mayor rides a bike, Jenny Jones rides a bike. But if London is to become a cycling city like Amsterdam, Berlin or Copenhagen, then we are going to have to entice a whole swathe of people who currently don’t ride bikes to do so. This isn’t about persuading the weekend warriors to commute to work or the young fit folk who use the gym. Much more ambition is needed to if cycling is to be an everyday mode of transport used for at least a quarter of journeys, as it is in the big northern European cyclopolises, rather than fewer than 2 per cent of journeys, as it is now. Your statements on Thursday suggest to me that you don’t have the ambition and imagination necessary to bring the level of cycling in London up to the level of Amsterdam, Berlin or Copenhagen.

Can I have my tenner?

As for the ‘war’ about segregation versus integration, I think the London Cycling Campaign’s membership voting overwhelmingly for “Go Dutch” as the theme for the LCC’s 2012 mayoral election campaign shows us where London cyclists stand. Finally, while I’m not sure I understand what you mean by ‘notional cycle lanes’, your points on the future Heygate masterplan’s lack of through cycle lanes and Hackney Council’s work on filtered permeability are well made.

I still worry that even your occasional light jumping means others will mimic you but without the necessary care. I also maintain that even if you’re at pains to steer well clear of pedestrians, this cumulative impression that cyclists cannot be relied upon to stop at red lights is intimidatory. That’s a real problem and it’s one that no light jumper has properly addressed, at least to me.

As for the view of drivers – of course, you’re right, some people will use any excuse to demean or dismiss cyclists. The difference is that when they’re talking about routine law-flouting they’ve got a point. It is difficult for us, as cyclists, to simultaneously claim equal rights on the road and ignore the responsibilities that go with it. It’s the point that gets raised almost every time I have a chat with non-cycling Londoners. Road tax, helmets and the like are barely mentioned. In cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen so many of the battles we’re still fighting have been won, so it’s less of an issue. It’s also worth mentioning that there are plenty of people in both cities who’d take issue with the “nobody cares” notion.

It annoys me so much not because I’m anti-cycling but because I’m so pro-cycling, and this sort of behaviour undermines the things I care about.

I share your concern about habitual red light jumpers. They’re not doing themselves any favours. Some of London’s bike messengers (and emulators) are the worst on this score, they appear to take it as a challenge to stay moving all day. I wish they’d follow Patrick Field’s lead and see junctions as the best place to show off their track-standing abilities.

Speaking for myself, I’m by no means a habitual red light jumper. I’ll only pass through a red light when it can be done safely and courteously. That certainly means being at great pains not to intimidate anyone. I always stop at zebra crossings when someone is looking to walk across, even if this sometimes causes them embarrassment for having required me to stop. A smile and a cheery ‘after you’ is all it takes to show them that I don’t mind stopping.

When I’m at a red light with a bus or large vehicle pulled up behind me, and it’s safe to move ahead into the junction or to execute a left turn, I’ll do so. This does make me safer and more visible.

Where I completely reject your argument is that it not stopping obediently at every light somehow ‘diminishes cyclists’ in the eyes of others and encourages others to play fast and loose with our safety. I bet you hear just as many comments from people saying “‘Why should I worry about bikes when you don’t obey the law wear a helmet / pay road tax / have insurance / [insert your own anti-cycling jibe]?’

Those kinds of people will have a go at you whatever you do, until you give up and drive a car like them.

When I ride down a busy street people on foot are always walking out right without looking, pushing prams in front of them, or with phones glued to their ears, or in the middle of sending a text message. I don’t get agitated and upset about them. They’re just people. I take it upon myself to anticipate give them a wide berth. I don’t say they’re giving pedestrians a bad name. I prefer to save my ire for those who have the potential to do serious harm on the roads. And that is not cyclists or pedestrians, even the slack or careless ones.

Go to cycling cities like Berlin, Copenhagen, Amsterdam. People ride through red lights when it’s safe and can be done courteously and nobody cares less about it. We have a prevailing cultural undercurrent that is anti cycling. Don’t get tricked into internalising it yourself.

As ‘Buffalo’ Bill Chidley memorably said many years ago on the radio show, ‘people hate cyclists and nobody hates cyclists more than cyclists hate cyclists.’ Don’t become that cyclist-hating cyclist.

- Statistically, you’re not a grave danger to pedestrians, but you are intimidating. Pedestrians are more vulnerable than you; as car drivers should be very wary of cyclists, so should we of them. It’s not enough to say, ‘Oh, it’s fine – I give them plenty of room.’ Pedestrians in London now have the expectation that bikes won’t stop for them at lights. I know a few elderly neighbours who are terrified about being knocked down by bikes. When I’m pushing my son around in his pram I get very skittish at bikes zooming past us on reds, and I’ve been rising in London for 20 years-plus. I realise it’s not likely to happen, but it scares me. That should be enough.

- It becomes the norm. While you might only jump reds when there’s no one around other, less experienced cyclists, copy the habit and do it when it’s not safe. I realise this is pure anecdote, but I’ve seen two bike commuters nearly crash into prams pushed across pedestrian lights at the last moment. When I stop at a red these days I have to look behind me to make sure a similar idiot isn’t about to roll into my back wheel.

- It makes all cyclists, even non-jumpers, less safe. It might be unpalatable (and unfair) but every time a car driver sees a cyclist blatantly ignore a road rule it diminishes in their minds our status as equal road users and makes them less likely to think sympathetically about our safety. I’ve lost count of the number of drivers who’ve told me, after I’ve questioned them about a rash maneouvre, ‘Why should I worry about bikes when you don’t obey the law?’.

- It’s nonsense to suggest it’s ‘safer’ to habitually jump lights. I can foresee a few situations – for example, not screeching to a sudden halt on amber when there’s lots of fast-moving traffic behind you – but for the most part the safety gains are imaginary. It’s just a moral fig leaf for wanting to get somewhere faster and/or expend less effort and/or pretend you’re a courier.

Just try and have some intellectual honesty about this. It’s pure selfishness, and it impacts on other people. The consequences might be far less severe than someone in a car jumping a red, but the mental denial is identical.

I love cycling but these days I find myself more aghast and annoyed at my fellow cyclists than I do drivers. I really never thought that would be the case.

The law is there to protect peoples lives, and in this case is certainly not an ass. By you running a red light, you endanger others, as if you misjudge it at all, or are taken unawares then you could endanger others lives. But clearly that doesn’t bother you, just so long as you can get to your destination quicker, and arrive feeling smug in your lycra.

Mostly obedient and polite majority, well that’s clearly not true of you as being ‘obedient’ means you actually stay within the legal guidelines that are imposed as a way to ensure everyone’s safety, not just that of a few cyclists who seem to think that they are above the law!

Shame you don’t give that consideration to the pedestrians who lose their lives at the wheels of idiots like you.

I just don’t buy the argument that running red lights is giving cycling a bad name. It’s just a pretext used by people who don’t like cyclists and it’s a great shame that as a cyclist you’ve bought into it. If it weren’t jumping red lights, it’d be not paying ‘road tax’, wearing lycra or looking smug.

There are some terrible drivers out there – how else do 2000+ people die on the roads each year? – but that doesn’t translate as ‘all motorists are killers’. Likewise there are a few wild cyclists (though they don’t kill many people!) but a mostly obedient and polite majority, which includes those who run red lights when they can do so safely and courteously.

I am a cyclist, but I never jump red lights. If I want to get to my destination, I dismount, cross the road at the pedestrian crossing and mount the other side to continue my journey.

If you say I’m jealous or have a petty attitude, it just shows how ignorant you are. Many cyclists have no problem obeying the law (that is there for ALL road users) but many also break it, completely disregarding other road users and pedestrians. There is no excuse for it and if you make one then you clearly don’t care about anyone else on the road, which shows how smallminded you are.

You are talking rubbish when you refer to the car as fast moving, as in the context of this post it is rare that the car will get any speed up as it is stationary at the lights. I ensure I am considerate of cyclists, its just a shame that a few (like you) seemingly think it makes no difference as to the driver we are all inconsiderate in our driving.

In my experience, the majority of cyclists (including those who go through red lights safely) do respect other road users. As unprotected road users it is in our own interests to let motorists know where we are, where we are going, to make sure we can be seen. We are the ones who stand to get hurt most in a collision.

Yet it is not the bicyclist that is the source of road danger.

The burden of responsibility on the road must fall heaviest on those with the greatest ability to cause harm to others. By getting behind the wheel the motorist must take on more responsibility because his or her large, hard, fast-moving vehicle is inherently more dangerous to others than a light, slow-moving bicycle.

On the rare occasions when I drive a car I am extremely conscious of the potential of a motor vehicle to cause harm to others. It is a great shame that with habitual car use this awareness fades. That might explain why we see in excess of two thousand people killed by motor vehicles in the UK each year.

I suspect that deep down, the reason you don’t like cyclists going through red lights is that you are jealous. While you are sitting seething in your stationary metal box the cyclist is getting to his or her destination. That looks like a very petty attitude to take. Why not look at the cyclist and say, ‘Good luck to them, they’re on their bike, taking up less space than if they were in a car, that is helping reduce congestion and pollution’. Just think how much more full the roads would be like if every cyclist drove a car instead.

Even better, why not try riding a bike and enjoy the freedom cycling brings. The experience may work wonders dealing with your ‘increasing anger’.

It goes without saying that the courteous cyclists running a red light will only do so when it’s safe and there are no pedestrians (or motor vehicles!) crossing at the same time. I thought that would be obvious!

The official statistics for the UK over the last 10 years show that motor vehicles killed 7,600 pedestrians while cyclists killed 29. Motor vehicles injured 364,000 pedestrians, cyclists injured 2,600.

As a pedestrian, you are 263 times more likely to be killed by a motorist than by a cyclist and 140 times more likely to be injured by a motorist than a cyclist.

define poncey?
a pompous tosser who thinks their value is higher than it is actually worth

[from: urban dictionary]

I look forward to another in the new year and have asked Santa for a copy of TimeOut’s ‘Cycle London’.

I recorded my ride on my iPhone with Cyclemeter and here are the GPS Trails

There…

…and back again!

Cheers

Denis

thanks Jack and thanks to Patrick – I got separated on the Holloway Rd so was unable to thank him in person

More next year please

Alan

A rather forlorn

Bruno Pearson

Regards

To avoid this in the long term cyclists and pedestrians have to get a path that’s seperated from the road by something more than a 10cm curb. Follow what Holland has done and have grass and trees seperating the cycle path and the road.

Even though I wasn’t riding, it was a great experience being part of such a huge event – seeing up close the incredible strength and stamina of the ‘vedettes’ such as Chris, and also all the guys we saw battling through the tiredness and some pretty hard conditions.

P-B-P has a certain allure to it and is one of those ‘once in a lifetime’ rides, and I have a sneaking suspicion we’ll see Jack doing it in four years time – no doubt on a Moulton!

For others interested in a cycling Study Tour, please see the website. Previous tours have been summarized on the blog.

The Autumn leaves don’t last too long here. In order to protect the breast-feeding and other cyclists of Assen, they’re swept away.

Therefore we are obligated to obey traffic signals and signs. As a long time cyclist I get really pissed when i see riders blow through occupied cross walks, stop signs and red lights. If you want the respect of motorists ride accordingly.

Fantastic work Jack!

Chris

Had a listen to the podcast this morning – many congratulations to y’both & a tandem from Stockport – what a way to travel :>D

But I did smile when I heard hills in London being mentioned during the piece on Blue Door Cycles. Hearing some cyclists in the capital bang on about hills, they’d cry if they joined me on my commute

when are these expected to be sent out ?

Though to be honest, none of them look right, doing day to day things, like riding a bike! haha

Please, please don’t tell me that this is the level of debate that the London Assembly is having. Shut down every single road? Stop every single car? Is that the best that the pro-car lobby can come up with? The politics of fear against the politics of hope. How depressing. How defeatist.

I missed the end of the tour, so I would very much like to hear your comments, be the file seems to be missing, there is no way to listen to the show…

It’s really unfortunate that the demo left a powerful impression of reckless and discourteous cycling by some of the demonstrators. Ignoring traffic regulations – cycling through red traffic lights, on the wrong side of the road and on the pavements – does nothing but harm; it re-enforces the negative stereotype of cyclist as antisocial hooligan.

And a message to those pavement cyclists: it is wrong of you to aggressively harass pedestrians who you say ‘get in your way’. The pavement is for pedestrians. If you’re too scared to use the road, don’t cycle, take the bus.

Just found out about this way cool jersey, will you offer it again for sale?

Thanks, keep up the great work…

John

Living in ground zero of VCDom can sometimes be a bit frustrating, but I feel very positive toward the future because I know my vision for the future will become a reality one day

It continues to bewilder me

A friend in Lyon carries stickers like that. Any time he sees someone parked in an antisocial manner, they get one slapped in the middle of the driver’s side of their windscreen.

I built the set I toured Belgium on using that book (and Roger’s plans for a truing jig and dishing gauge) and despite several km of cobbles, and daily potholed commuting, they’re still true. You need time to do it, but it’s not as hard as you think – have a go!

Thanks!

The link was correct. You just needed to read down the Rough Stuff Fellowship webpage. The file itself is a 2mb powerpoint. I have now linked to the ppt file directly.

Good internet etiquette is not to force the user to open new windows or tabs when clicking on links. You should be able to right-click on the link to decide for yourself to open in a new tab.

Good show!

http://mqt.london.gov.uk/mqt/public/question.do?id=35891

Still, it’s more than Ken ever managed with his chauffeur-driven limo.

Highway Code: “You MUST NOT drive or park in a cycle lane marked by a solid white line during its times of operation. Do not drive or park in a cycle lane marked by a broken white line unless it is unavoidable.”

But then again…

There lies a problem, which I guess from the pictures, nobody is doing anything to tackle.

Isn’t a mandatory lane as good as a double yellow line???

Also, the geek inside me would have like a full spec of the bike as an appendix to his book.

And – dare I say it – as someone who writes and blogs about cycle chic and ordinary riding, RichMich’s kit is pretty damn cool. Ssssh. Don’t tell anyone.

My only crib with what Jenny Jones said was that since Advanced Stop Lines are not enforced by the police, what hope do we hold out for the same police to enforce any new or existing cycling infrastructure?

The Vicious Velos Jersey;
http://viciousvelo.blogspot.com/2010/12/heres-our-jersey-will-anyone-notice-us.html

(I’m assuming everyone knows the others featured).

I guess I could have posted this picture of Obama as well or instead:

Duffield is possibly right about the close relationship between the cycling press and sportive organisers – he was at one time a marketing man himself, for Britain’s biggest cycle retailer. However, I can’t say I see the decline in audax participation he does.

Although membership numbers did drop slightly in 2008 and 2009 this was nothing significant. The then record membership of 2007 is anomalous, as it reflects the traditional spike associated with Paris Brest Paris. In 2010 membership bounced back to a new record level which seems likely to be exceeded again this year – another Paris Brest Paris year.

There has also been very little decline in total distances ridden in audax events; merely a levelling off over the last few years corresponding to the slower membership growth.

It could be said that perhaps there is a natural cap on the growth of an organisation promoting events that some may consider to be on the extreme fringes of the sport – not everyone who runs a marathon wants to go on and run ultra-marathons. There are some vociferous members of AudaxUK who view this lack of growth as the thin end of the wedge and predict an imminent demise. They eye the turnout and publicity garnered by sportive events with envy and blame the lack of visibility of audax rides on the marketing prowess of the sportive competition. Of course, I’m sure they are equally motivated by a desire to attract new cyclists to that niche of the sport they themselves feel most passionately about.

As a former organiser I’m not sure event size is of great importance. I was always happy with the numbers my two audax events attracted – over 100 for each event. I would not have wanted more as the infrastructure would not have been able to cope. There were other clubs that ran events in the same area over a three week period attracting similar, if not larger, numbers of participants. So, between three clubs around 400 riders on the road, riding audaxes of varying distances -comparable to sportives in level of participation, just not all crammed on to the road at the same time rushing round to record a personal best.

Yes, sportives do play a role in getting people into the cycling habit. I’m not entirely au fait with sportive organisation but do know many are put on by cycling clubs and many by independent organisers. I think the key thing you and other respondents hit on is that money generated from club organised events supports other club events and promotes cycle sport at the local level.?

Having ridden all of said PUNCHEURs since it’s first encarnation 3 years ago, and as a club rider for my local club the Bayeux Landscapes CC, i’d like to say that i think sportives have done a lot of good for cycling in the UK by opening the world of cycling up to a wider and perhaps less race/audax/touring aware audience.

A lot of people i chat to either when i ride this event [as it tends to be my only sportive each year as its a good early season leg test] or out on the road, seem to have the idea of a cycling club as something that is going to take all of their time, and that they will HAVE to go on EVERY club run and race all the time. Once i explain this not to be the case people seem surprised and perhaps look into it, but cycling clubs have and often will rely on the small amount of people that are bitten by the cycling bug and want to hunt out how to get into racing themselves. As a Sussex resident I had to search pretty hard for the right club round my way. Often peoples only encounter with the local club is a speeding pack of riders in the same kit, whizzing past you on a Sunday morning, and this can be pretty intimidating to a novice rider just starting out, and certainly not immediately inviting.

This means the Sportive is perfect for a guy who has three kids and can only get out once a week when his wife lets him [for example.] He has a goal for a 100km or so ride in the summer, which he knows that he can attend and only worry about getting round in a time he plans.

I guess cost is always a stickler, and its one of the reasons i dont do many Sportives a year, as the cost mounts up. Guys i ride with are often not to impressed about having to spend £20 on a ride we could do for nothing, but each to their own, if it brings more people out on their bikes then i’m all for it.

I’m taking an odd approach with this comment and as a club man and racing cyclist i guess i should be all for what Jack has written about in his post, and for the most of it I am. I do agree that audax rides and the ctc generally could do with an image update, for me it seems to represent the old guard of cycling clubs run by to many committee members not being able to decide on whether they need an extra stripe on their jersey this season or not… I cant help it, it’s just what it conjours up, perhaps it’s ignorance slightly on my part, and one day i would love to give an audax a go to be proved wrong. However the march of the ever conquering Sportive market is one we can do little to change, as the rise of the MAMIL continues their growth in popularity will only increase.

Events such as the Dunwich Dynamo [which i think looks truly inspiring] are the way forward as you suggest, and hopefully an even balance can be struck between the two sorts of rides so that both can live side by side happily…

The post was a really interesting read, thanks Jack.

Personally I’m on the ‘why bother?’ side of the argument!

I wrote about the value of clubs recently on my blog (in-the-saddle.com – Why join a club? – a lot of people riding sportives aren’t involved in clubs at all, which seems odd considering the massive benefits you get for a meagre £30 annual fee (a bargain when you consider a certain SW London bike shop and tours company is offering supported ‘Club Runs’ for £25 a pop).

The amateur racing scene really relies on the club system and volunteering of its membership for putting on events and races (including time trials). So I’d urge anyone doing such sportives to think about joining up to a club – anything you give (and it needn’t cost much in terms of time or money) will go back into the sport we all love.

For the beginner, the sportive is probably less daunting too – no route finding, just worry about being able to cover the miles!

I had hoped that its looming failure would be a wake up call, but it doesn’t seem to be getting through yet. They have even put in helmet vending machines to sell $5 helmets for the bike scheme.

They do, really. BBs represent a successful public/private partnership with millions of £s invested. The numbers here speak louder thasn words, I think.

No clear evidence from countries that have enforced the wearing of helmets British Medical Journal 2006.

Another argument is that cyclists live longer. If helmet complulsion or helmet campaigns reduce cycling or inhibit growth in cycling, they are counter-productive.

All-cause mortality associated with physical activity during leisure time, work, sports, and cycling to work. Archives of Internal Medicine June 2000

Do The Health Benefits Of Cycling Outweigh The Risks? Environmental Health Perspectives August 2010

I wear a helmet 20-30 hours a week due to laws in Australia… without the laws I’d still wear it for maybe half that

People can be trusted to make good decisions for themselves

In 1992 Australia lost about half of it’s cyclists… three quarters of women

If however, you would like to reduce the risk cyclists face without counter productive effects, then you will need to address the source of the harm – being hit by a car or HGV.

The problem with helmet laws is that, like banning cycling, they don’t address the source of the problem. Instead they achieve their ‘safety’ effects by reducing the number of people cycling. A better approach is to stop being being hit by cars in the first place – separated infrastructure and strict liability for dangerous motorists.

If you still believe that helmet laws make cycling safer (note I’m not saying helmets don’t work), then please explain why they safest places in the world to cycle are the ones with the lowest helmet usage.

If helmet laws worked, then Australia would have much safer cycling than say Denmark. Only problem is that riding helmetless in Copenhagen is over 20 times safer than riding with a helmet in Sydney.

Dave

One thing which never seems to get mentioned is that, as far as I am aware, bike helmets are designed to protect the cyclists head in a fall from a bike and not as the result of an impact from a motor vehicle.

Sure, it’d be great if London like a northern European style cyclist’s utopia, but that’s not going to happen in a hurry (ever). Until then, it seems completely reasonable to have a law that makes cyclists safer – like motorists wearing seatbelts.

I just can’t buy the argument that cyclists should deliberately appear as vulnerable as possibel in order to get car and lorry drivers to drive more safely around them!

And what is this ‘urban warrior’ crap? Since when did London have a reputation for being polite?

@Adam – I don’t think my analysis will give you a definitive answer though the section on unbalanced docking stations might offer some clues.

Where I live now, we are the only family with a single car – most houseolds run two, and a few run three or more. My previous neighbours had a total of five personal cars, and a taxi! They could fit three on their drive, and parked the rest wherever they could, to the chagrin of the people living around them. To borrow a phrase, “We can’t go on like this”. A balance, yes, but surely it has to start from the knowledge that the private car user has been unfairly favoured, to the detriment of pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport users.

“Polite Notice”

http://bit.ly/iklyCW

@MusingUrbanist