Cyclists at work

"elyob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Anyway, that's my current story ... any others want to share there
current employment situation in relation to cycling and others at
work?

I could write a book about my experiences :-) About having to shop my
employers to an independent ombudsman for banning my cycle lights from our
chemical works, security guards forcing me to use the wheelbenders instead
of the fence, when 6 bikes had been stolen from them. I warned them I'd do
them for harassment and bullying as well, so they laid off. Still, the fat,
middle aged men who are behind this can see my revenge in our works mag here
as they waddle to their 4x4s in the car park. :-))

http://www.swldxer.co.uk/zmag.jpg

--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net

elyob said:

Anyway, that's my current story ... any others want to share there
current employment situation in relation to cycling and others at
work?

I work from home. It's great in many respects, but it doesn't afford
the same exercise opportunities (and I know I could go for a ride before
work, but I always feel vaguely guilty about doing anything fun before
having got a few hours toil out of the way first)

-dan

elyob said:

Anyway, that's my current story ... any others want to share there
current employment situation in relation to cycling and others at
work?

Previous job was five miles of Surrey countryside roads to an office
where I was the only year-round cyclist, but there was a pool of about
half-a-dozen that cycled occasionally in the summer.

Current job (actually same job, but we've moved the office) is six
miles of hellish traffic - much more of it and much more aggressive.
It's bizarre how different the traffic on notionally similar roads
(both A-roads, both within a few miles of each other) can be. I've
already had more aggressive motorists in a year than I had in over
ten years of the previous commute, plus been deliberately rammed off
my bike.

However, now we are strongly encouraging cyclists so we have a locker
room with shower and changing cubicles, anchor points to lock bikes up
in the underground car-park, an almost as generous as it can be
(without credit licence) cycle-to-work bike purchase scheme (the
company keeps the NI it saves, but otherwise no restriction on
purchase, the employee gets all the rest of the savings, the company
pension payments etc remain based upon the without-sacrifice salary),
and it is proposed that people will soon be able to sell their
parking-space 'entitlement' back to the company each year.

We now have four full-time year-round commuters, one 4-day-a-week year
-round and many more occasional and fine weather cyclists. We average
seven or eight cyclists most days in the summer.

The next hurdle is that thus far the bikes fit in around the (limited)
car-parking spaces in the underground car-park, but in the summer
we run out of spaces. I'm going to try and get one of the car-parking
spaces dedicated to bikes, with a set of sheffield stands in the
middle of it. That will be a fight - we already have fewer spaces
than we want and buy season tickets for the council car-parks and
lease some spaces from a golf course 100yds down the road.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

Quoted message said:

Anyway, that's my current story ... any others want to share there
current employment situation in relation to cycling and others at
work?

Nick

Both my current and previous employers have been pretty good in terms
of providing adequate secured bike sheds, showers, changing rooms and
lockers, etc. If I've noticed one change, it's the introduction of
cycle to work schemes for half price bikes. Current employer even
went so far to award cyclists with a free lunch voucher from the
canteen during a cycle to work week. It was rumored to become
permanent but... looks like there's no such thing as a free lunch
after all. Good while it lasted though.

Regards,

Duncan

elyob said:

Anyway, that's my current story ... any others want to share there
current employment situation in relation to cycling and others at
work?

There's usually about 4 or 5 bikes out of perhaps ~100 people (and also
about the same number of motorcycles). We don't have any specific
parking place, some park their bikes just inside the back door, I park
mine with the motorcycles under a roof overhang near the back door.

We also have a shower, which is nice.

My ride is a 25 mile round trip on rural roads. Not much traffic, but
too much of the traffic is carelessly driven.

--
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.
Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute: http://oolite-linux.berlios.de

Simon Mason said:

them for harassment and bullying as well, so they laid off. Still, the fat,
middle aged men who are behind this can see my revenge in our works mag here
as they waddle to their 4x4s in the car park. :-))

I have to wonder if some of the spite from drivers is because while they
sit in a hot, stinking traffic jam, paying for the privilege - unable to
eat the foods that they like because it goes straight to full fat man
fold over - that they just hate people on bikes because they realise
people on bikes are having more fun, and can get home and eat a tub of
ice cream with no adverse consequences?

--
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.
Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute: http://oolite-linux.berlios.de

"Dylan Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Simon Mason said:

them for harassment and bullying as well, so they laid off. Still, the
fat,
middle aged men who are behind this can see my revenge in our works mag
here
as they waddle to their 4x4s in the car park. :-))

I have to wonder if some of the spite from drivers is because while they
sit in a hot, stinking traffic jam, paying for the privilege - unable to
eat the foods that they like because it goes straight to full fat man
fold over - that they just hate people on bikes because they realise
people on bikes are having more fun, and can get home and eat a tub of
ice cream with no adverse consequences?

There is a bit of that I suppose, but it's mainly that the people who
decided these things are usually company car drivers who view anyone on a
lower grade than them, especially on a bike, as a load of oiks who aren't
worth bothering with. Things have changed a bit since we have a new cycling
Works GM who has denounced our wheel benders as no good so the site fitters
have knocked up a couple of dozen Sheffield stands, so there is some
progress, but even then it was done on the cheap.

Whereas the smokers have had a brand new bus shelter put in on site and
there is now even a scheduled bus service that brings them from all over the
site to this shelter so they can smoke!

--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net

"Simon Mason" <[email hidden]> wrote:
| Things have changed a bit since we have a new cycling
| Works GM who has denounced our wheel benders as no good so the site fitters
| have knocked up a couple of dozen Sheffield stands, so there is some
| progress, but even then it was done on the cheap.

We've got a real problem here with superannuated cycle stands not being
removed when new ones are fitted. That, and an administrator who thinks
that if you can get the stand in, it doesn't matter whether you can get
a bike into it afterwards. I'm having a great deal of fun [TM] trying to
find convincing standards for how far apart bike stands have to be.

| Whereas the smokers have had a brand new bus shelter put in on site and
| there is now even a scheduled bus service that brings them from all over the
| site to this shelter so they can smoke!

Ah. Have you noticed all the "new" man-and-a-van companies that have
rebranded their conservatory installation operations as "smoking
solutions"? Why didn't I spot that business opportunity?

In article <[email hidden]>, Daniel Barlow
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

I work from home. It's great in many respects, but it doesn't afford
the same exercise opportunities (and I know I could go for a ride
before work, but I always feel vaguely guilty about doing anything fun
before having got a few hours toil out of the way first)

I work from home as well, but about three or four mornings a week I get
up around 6.30 and cycle to my local swimming pool.

It's less than two miles each way, and I realised yesterday how little
it was doing for me when I cycled about 5 or so miles into the City and
back again. I felt quite sweaty during the ride and drained afterward,
possibly because it was very warm and I was on my Brompton, which isn't
as efficient as my FW Evans.

I need to regularly do longer distances to maintain my bike fitness.
--
congokid
Eating out in London? Read my tips...
http://congokid.com

On Sep 6, 10:24 am, "Simon Mason" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

There is a bit of that I suppose, but it's mainly that the people who
decided these things are usually company car drivers who view anyone on a
lower grade than them, especially on a bike, as a load of oiks who aren't
worth bothering with.

There appears to be a strict hierarchy amongst company car users based
on precisely which year and model of car they have. So much so that
the real nerds know exactly where they stand in the pecking order just
by getting a glimpse in the rear view mirror.

They can't do that with bikes. It's the legs, not the bike that confer
status. And you can't buy legs. So all their social status criteria
are mixed up. And then you can pass them in traffic and it really
messes with the psyche.

Quoted message said:

Things have changed a bit since we have a new cycling
Works GM who has denounced our wheel benders as no good so the site fitters
have knocked up a couple of dozen Sheffield stands, so there is some
progress, but even then it was done on the cheap.

We have a very pro-cycling employer. From a university department of
about 6-700 there are about >20% who walk, and the bike sheds have
about 50-60 bikes in on a summers day. Including senior members of
staff. The proportion of cycling professors is probably higher than
anywhere outside Oxbridge and Dundee is not a flat place.

As Pete has pointed out, we don't yet have a bike to work scheme. But
we do have good facilities.
...d

"David Martin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

They can't do that with bikes. It's the legs, not the bike that confer
status. And you can't buy legs. So all their social status criteria
are mixed up. And then you can pass them in traffic and it really
messes with the psyche.

Yes. They only look flash with £50k's worth of metal around them, once they
waddle out of it, they aren't so clever. My last gaffer, who was probably
the worst one I've ever had, went to great lengths to put me down as a
cyclist. He called me lycra lout in front of everybody else, tried to put me
off at every opportunity like saying the weather looked really bad outside.
He also warned me off shopping his mates to he Ombudsman when I challenged
their bike light ban, which is a highly serious misdemeanour in itself. I
think it boiled down to the fact that he was one year older than me but
looked about 70.

--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net

[email hidden] (Geraint

Jones) said:

I'm having a great deal of fun [TM] trying to
find convincing standards for how far apart bike stands have to be.

Try

http://www.laws.sandwell.gov.uk/ccm/cms-service/download/asset/?asset_id=511716

(p56 of the pdf).

or
http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/open/infrastructuredesign/consultationpaper
pp 56-7.

Brendan
--
Brendan Halpin, Department of Sociology, University of Limerick, Ireland
Tel: w +353-61-213147 f +353-61-202569 h +353-61-338562; Room F2-025 x 3147
[email hidden] http://www.ul.ie/sociology/brendan.halpin.html

On Thu, 6 Sep 2007 09:50:17 +0000 (UTC) someone who may be
[email hidden] (Geraint
Jones) wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

I'm having a great deal of fun [TM] trying to
find convincing standards for how far apart bike stands have to be.

Here I would point to the various documents from various arms of
government. Is there not something similar in your country?

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

David (remove SEND and NO and SPAM to reply by e-mail) Hansen [email hidden] wrote:
| On Thu, 6 Sep 2007 09:50:17 +0000 (UTC) someone who may be
| [email hidden] (Geraint
| Jones) wrote this:-
|
| >I'm having a great deal of fun [TM] trying to
| >find convincing standards for how far apart bike stands have to be.
|
| Here I would point to the various documents from various arms of
| government. Is there not something similar in your country?

In my country, I do not know. Here in England there are many such
documents from various bits of local and less local government. Oddly,
though, they seem both to disagree and to concentrate on some dimensions
to the exclusion of others.

In particular, everyone wants to tell me how far apart adjacent bars
should be, and how far they should be from the nearest wall, or even
the nearest kerb, but nobody seems to have a standard for how much
room you need at the other end to get the bike in and out.

There is some common sense that is so obvious that it has not yet made
it into standards documents: the aim is to get the greatest number of
usable bike spaces, rather than the greatest number of installed loops.
Nobody seems to have written down anywhere that I can point Him at
that it does not make sense to put sets of racks at right angles to
each other, exactly a bike length apart. There are bits of our front
yard that would be candidates for the Warrington Monthly.

elyob said:

Anyway, that's my current story ... any others want to share there
current employment situation in relation to cycling and others at
work?

My ride is 24 miles each way, which, now that I've mostly recovered
from my recent broken collar bone, I'm back to doing twice a week.
This is more down to the logistics of liftsharing twice a week and
not wanting to carry change of kit with me. If I could change
liftshare days, I'd ride to work three times a week.

I don't know how many others ride to work as I don't use the bike
sheds, which are insecure and located in a low traffic area at the
back of the factory. They used to be by the factory main entrance,
where the clockcard machines, locker rooms and main toilets are
located, but they were shifted because they were also close to the
Head Office entrance and looked unsightly. Head Office has now
relocated to Germany, but the bike shed still languishes in what I
have already pointed out to the Plant Manager is a largely unusable
spot.

I lock my old Holdsworth 531 Professional up outside my office window,
where I can keep an eye on it. It is not locked to anything, just
itself, as there is nothing near to lock it up to. I just have to
content myself with the thought that I would be out there like a shot,
if someone was mucking around with it.

David Lloyd (at work)

In article said:

| Whereas the smokers have had a brand new bus shelter put in on site and
| there is now even a scheduled bus service that brings them from all over the
| site to this shelter so they can smoke!

Ah. Have you noticed all the "new" man-and-a-van companies that have
rebranded their conservatory installation operations as "smoking
solutions"?

I hadn't, but I did cycle past a pub this morning with a huge banner
saying "New facilities for smokers and non-smokers".

Quoted message said:

| >I'm having a great deal of fun [TM] trying to
| >find convincing standards for how far apart bike stands have to be.
|
| Here I would point to the various documents from various arms of
| government. Is there not something similar in your country?

In my country, I do not know.

As you claim to have an e-mail address in wolfson.ox.ac.uk I think,
for the purposes of this discussion, your country is England.

Quoted message said:

In particular, everyone wants to tell me how far apart adjacent bars
should be, and how far they should be from the nearest wall, or even
the nearest kerb, but nobody seems to have a standard for how much
room you need at the other end to get the bike in and out.

Here http://www.scottishexecutive.gov.uk/library2/cbd/cbd-26.asp
gives guidance. They have fudged the dimension you seek to,
"Adequate space should be provided at either end of the stand to
enable cycles to be easily removed. (Desirable minimum 500mm)."
11.19

I would argue that 0.5m may be just about adequate for one or two
stands, but certainly isn't adequate to allow easy removal of a
vehicle 1.8m long from the middle of a set of racks with another
line of racks beyond.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

David Hansen said:

I would argue that 0.5m may be just about adequate for one or two
stands, but certainly isn't adequate to allow easy removal of a
vehicle 1.8m long from the middle of a set of racks with another
line of racks beyond.

To quote the second of my links above (p58):

A bike length of clear space in front of the stand is required
to enable cyclists to wheel their bikes into place.

which is more reasonable than 0.5m.

Brendan
--
Brendan Halpin, Department of Sociology, University of Limerick, Ireland
Tel: w +353-61-213147 f +353-61-202569 h +353-61-338562; Room F2-025 x 3147
[email hidden] http://www.ul.ie/sociology/brendan.halpin.html

David Hansen said:

Quoted message said:

| >I'm having a great deal of fun [TM] trying to
| >find convincing standards for how far apart bike stands have to be.
|
| Here I would point to the various documents from various arms of
| government. Is there not something similar in your country?

In my country, I do not know.

As you claim to have an e-mail address in wolfson.ox.ac.uk I think,
for the purposes of this discussion, your country is England.

No, that's the country he residing in.
I would suggest the name is a bit of a giveaway about which country is his?