Lately I have had some very good times cycling to work. On Thursday I broke my record from 34 minutes to 33. Any way as I had yesterday off (have to work Monday instead), and it being a Sunday when the shops aren't open, the roads should be quieter than normal. Anyway I bombed it all the way and got there in 28 minutes knocking five minutes off my previous best. 27min 18s on the computer averaging 18.5 mph.
Anyway I arrived at work to be offered a half day holiday, which I took, so I took the scenic route home, back to Bristol along the railway path, down the A4 to Avonmouth, across the Avonmouth bridge, back into Bristol along the A369 and across the suspension bridge. (I missed the turning for the pill river path back to Bristol).
On the railway path there was a lot of other cyclists including family groups, I would estimate less than a third were wearing polystyrene head insulation.
I'm all for a bit of speed out the country, but bombing it in traffic is not a great idea. I've commuted by bike all my life but I ride slowly in town traffic. I've seen bad accidents caused by flying cyclists.
I'm all for a bit of speed out the country, but bombing it in traffic is not a great idea. I've commuted by bike all my life but I ride slowly in town traffic. I've seen bad accidents caused by flying cyclists.
The route I took, the only places where the rest of the traffic was going slower than me was on the approach to two of three red traffic lights, which I never jump. The third set of traffic lights I was the only one there when I arrived. The traffic today was lighter than most Sundays.
As for riding in town centres, I feel that the safest speed is the same speed as the rest of the traffic, if I can manage it (or the traffic is not crawling).
"Martin Dann" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Lately I have had some very good times cycling to work. On Thursday I broke my record from 34 minutes to 33. Any way as I had yesterday off (have to work Monday instead), and it being a Sunday when the shops aren't open, the roads should be quieter than normal. Anyway I bombed it all the way and got there in 28 minutes knocking five minutes off my previous best. 27min 18s on the computer averaging 18.5 mph.
Anyway I arrived at work to be offered a half day holiday, which I took, so I took the scenic route home, back to Bristol along the railway path, down the A4 to Avonmouth, across the Avonmouth bridge, back into Bristol along the A369 and across the suspension bridge. (I missed the turning for the pill river path back to Bristol).
On the railway path there was a lot of other cyclists including family groups, I would estimate less than a third were wearing polystyrene head insulation.
I don't think I would be interested in insulating my polystyrene head!
I'm all for a bit of speed out the country, but bombing it in traffic is not a great idea. I've commuted by bike all my life but I ride slowly in town traffic. I've seen bad accidents caused by flying cyclists.
I feel safer as part of the traffic flow, but there is a temptation to maintain momentum at the expense of safety.
I'm all for a bit of speed out the country, but bombing it in traffic is not a great idea. I've commuted by bike all my life but I ride slowly in town traffic. I've seen bad accidents caused by flying cyclists.
The route I took, the only places where the rest of the traffic was going slower than me was on the approach to two of three red traffic lights, which I never jump. The third set of traffic lights I was the only one there when I arrived. The traffic today was lighter than most Sundays.
As for riding in town centres, I feel that the safest speed is the same speed as the rest of the traffic, if I can manage it (or the traffic is not crawling).
The danger is flying down between lines of stopped cars. NOT a good idea.
And as they say in the aircraft industry, a good landing is any one you can walk away from ;-)
They say in the RAF that the landing's okay, If the pilot can get up and walk away! But in the Fleet Air Arm the chances are slim, If the landing's [censored]-poor, and the pilot can't swim! -- These opinions might not even be mine ... Let alone connected with my employer ...
And as they say in the aircraft industry, a good landing is any one you can walk away from ;-)
They say in the RAF that the landing's okay, If the pilot can get up and walk away! But in the Fleet Air Arm the chances are slim, If the landing's [censored]-poor, and the pilot can't swim!
And in the airline industry the cabin crew have been known to comment after a hard landing:
"That was quite a bump and I know what you are all thinking. I'm here to tell you it wasn't the airline's fault; it wasn't the pilot's fault; it wasn't the flight attendant's fault; it was the asphalt."
-- Tony
"The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way." - Bertrand Russell
In article <[email hidden]>, Garry from Cork [email hidden] says...
Quoted message said:
I'm all for a bit of speed out the country, but bombing it in traffic is not a great idea. I've commuted by bike all my life but I ride slowly in town traffic.
The faster you go the harder it is for them to hit you[1]. :-)
[1] And the easier it is for you to hit them. At least you usually see them coming.
I'm all for a bit of speed out the country, but bombing it in traffic is not a great idea. I've commuted by bike all my life but I ride slowly in town traffic. I've seen bad accidents caused by flying cyclists.
When I got my first cycle computer nearly 20 years ago, I made the decision very early on never to have it displaying trip time or average speed when I got into town (Cambridge). I found the temptation was just too great when there was a choice between tucking in behind a car which *might* have been about to accelerate, and swerving round it in the hope of keeping the average speed at 18.0 rather than 17.9 mph, or making it to work in a record time. I like to think I'm normally fairly level-headed, but common sense certainly went out of the window alarmingly quickly. That's not to say that it applies to everyone, and let's face it, everyone posting here has survived so far :-)
I'm all for a bit of speed out the country, but bombing it in traffic is not a great idea. I've commuted by bike all my life but I ride slowly in town traffic. I've seen bad accidents caused by flying cyclists.
Strongly disagree. The closer you can ride to the mean speed of the traffic around you, the safer you will be in my experience.
I'm all for a bit of speed out the country, but bombing it in traffic is not a great idea. I've commuted by bike all my life but I ride slowly in town traffic. I've seen bad accidents caused by flying cyclists.
Strongly disagree. The closer you can ride to the mean speed of the traffic around you, the safer you will be in my experience.
In congested town traffic sticking to average traffic speed could well be consistent with riding slowly.
I'm all for a bit of speed out the country, but bombing it in traffic is not a great idea. I've commuted by bike all my life but I ride slowly in town traffic. I've seen bad accidents caused by flying cyclists.
Strongly disagree. The closer you can ride to the mean speed of the traffic around you, the safer you will be in my experience.
In congested town traffic sticking to average traffic speed could well be consistent with riding slowly.
I'm all for maintaining as high a speed as possible at all times on a bike - I find that if you slow people assume you will avoid them and do stupid things, if you're flying they take more notice of you. Just my experience though, and you do have to be wary that you can stop if someone pulls out.
The danger is NOT in speeding at the same rate as traffic, though going through junctions it can be, but in flying down between rows of stopped cars.
Indeed. An acquaintance has just told me of the value of his plastic hat when he hit a ped walking between queued cars. It was, he said, the ped's fault because she was reading the bus timetable rather than looking where she was going.
I try and teach my cycle training classes to avoid the crash, rather than try and mitigate its effects with polystyrene packaging.
