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Guest
Just got back from my family bike ride.
The good bits first.
It was great fun. The weather held off and we covered about 9km in
total. We did half the outward journey by road but bailed out onto the
off-road route for the remainder and for most of the return trip.
The off road section was interesting. I've never really ridden off
road - or at least not since I did "scrambling" at the age of 9 or so.
It was superbly quiet and scenic but, boy, was it muddy. By the time
we got home both us and our bikes were barely visible under the mud.
The tea room at the nature reserve was open so it was a near perfect
day out. Although the bike racks (5 sheffield stands; 10 bikes) were
full when we arrived - not bad for a grotty October day.
Apart from the bad bits and the reason we left the road, that is.
I have NEVER suffered such inconsiderate and dangerous driving in my
life. Bear in mind this is a road that goes nowhere; whether in a car,
on horseback or on a bike, unless you are farming the only reason for
using it is for leisure. Yet, these Sunday drivers thought their
pleasure to be so vital that they were prepared to overtake with
ridiculous clearances at speeds, I'd guess, of over 50 mph. These were
2 tonne 4x4 pantechnicons passing centimetres from my 6 year old
daughter.
I suppose the fact that I was going slower than usual meant I saw more
of it but there were some classic blind-bend overtakes and two times
when only panic-breaking prevented car-to-car head on collisions. My
daughter learned some new words from me and my wife demonstrated a
hitherto unknown skill of shouting at cars.
I'd have thought the multi-modal nature of the road would have
prevented this sort of driving. From experience (it's our road) and
observation today, there are more people on horseback, bike and foot
than there are cars yet, still, the majority of drivers thought their
behaviour acceptable.
It was a great ride for me and the family but I am still spitting
about the drivers. Apologies for rant; will now go and attempt to
clean my bike in penance.
The good bits first.
It was great fun. The weather held off and we covered about 9km in
total. We did half the outward journey by road but bailed out onto the
off-road route for the remainder and for most of the return trip.
The off road section was interesting. I've never really ridden off
road - or at least not since I did "scrambling" at the age of 9 or so.
It was superbly quiet and scenic but, boy, was it muddy. By the time
we got home both us and our bikes were barely visible under the mud.
The tea room at the nature reserve was open so it was a near perfect
day out. Although the bike racks (5 sheffield stands; 10 bikes) were
full when we arrived - not bad for a grotty October day.
Apart from the bad bits and the reason we left the road, that is.
I have NEVER suffered such inconsiderate and dangerous driving in my
life. Bear in mind this is a road that goes nowhere; whether in a car,
on horseback or on a bike, unless you are farming the only reason for
using it is for leisure. Yet, these Sunday drivers thought their
pleasure to be so vital that they were prepared to overtake with
ridiculous clearances at speeds, I'd guess, of over 50 mph. These were
2 tonne 4x4 pantechnicons passing centimetres from my 6 year old
daughter.
I suppose the fact that I was going slower than usual meant I saw more
of it but there were some classic blind-bend overtakes and two times
when only panic-breaking prevented car-to-car head on collisions. My
daughter learned some new words from me and my wife demonstrated a
hitherto unknown skill of shouting at cars.
I'd have thought the multi-modal nature of the road would have
prevented this sort of driving. From experience (it's our road) and
observation today, there are more people on horseback, bike and foot
than there are cars yet, still, the majority of drivers thought their
behaviour acceptable.
It was a great ride for me and the family but I am still spitting
about the drivers. Apologies for rant; will now go and attempt to
clean my bike in penance.