My commute is a 3 mile each way trip along a quiet route. I do it twice a week and is mostly uneventful. Despite riding through a council estate, the most I have had is a youth shouting "nice bike" sarcastically (it is an old tourer). I once told off someone for riding on the wrong side so a couple of times I have heard "[censored]" come from him.
Unfortunately tonight I arrived at one junction just as an ambulance was leaving and police were packing up. A bike was lying on the pavement and a car parked right on the junction. The ambulance left without blue lights so one hopes it was nothing serious.
Part of my route is an official cycle way. I was crossing a main road by waiting on a central island next to a roundabout. A WVM saw me and stopped. Unfortunately the road opens out to two lanes at that point and I had to wave him to continue. Thank you sir, please don't think I am ungrateful, I really did appreciate your gesture but I really couldn't see if anything was coming up your inside. I didn't want the ambulance to make a return trip.
To cap it all, before I left work I dropped my front lamp which made a battery terminal intermittant.
"DavidR" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
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My commute is a 3 mile each way trip along a quiet route. I do it twice a week and is mostly uneventful. Despite riding through a council estate, the most I have had is a youth shouting "nice bike" sarcastically (it is an old tourer).
Almost certainly a much better bike than the Y-frame junker he probably rides then.
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Unfortunately tonight I arrived at one junction just as an ambulance was leaving and police were packing up. A bike was lying on the pavement and a car parked right on the junction. The ambulance left without blue lights so one hopes it was nothing serious.
Part of my route is an official cycle way.
A lot of these back roads and cycle routes are IMO orders of magnitude more dangerous than the main road, particularly during the rush hours. Much of the motor traffic you encounter there is rat-running, and vehicles are driven too fast through small gaps with no consideration at all for cyclist or pedestrian safety.
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To cap it all, before I left work I dropped my front lamp which made a battery terminal intermittant.
My commute is a 3 mile each way trip along a quiet route. I do it twice a week and is mostly uneventful. Despite riding through a council estate, the most I have had is a youth shouting "nice bike" sarcastically (it is an old tourer). I once told off someone for riding on the wrong side so a couple of times I have heard "[censored]" come from him.
A couple of days ago in H*lf*rds I picked up a copy of the NCN guide for the Birmingham route. I looked which parts of Birmingham it led through and immediately put the map back on the shelf.
"Richard Bates" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
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DavidR said:
My commute is a 3 mile each way trip along a quiet route. I do it twice a week and is mostly uneventful. Despite riding through a council estate,
the
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most I have had is a youth shouting "nice bike" sarcastically (it is an
old
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tourer). I once told off someone for riding on the wrong side so a couple
of
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times I have heard "[censored]" come from him.
A couple of days ago in H*lf*rds I picked up a copy of the NCN guide for the Birmingham route. I looked which parts of Birmingham it led through and immediately put the map back on the shelf.
Love and common sense from Rich x
I attended a swimming teachers course last week in Brownhills. Took great delight in the fact that I could have 3 days of 1 hour round trip to the site and back. Did a test ride on the Monday to make sure that it was both do-able and I wouldn't be late. On the way there noticed signposts for NCN route 5 ( I think). On the way back decided to try it. Due to the fact that it contained copious amounts of broken glass, hawthorn hedge trimmings, tree root damaged tarmac and very poor / none lighting through a dodgy area, coupled with the fact that a couple of hundred yards away was a nice quiet well tarmaced, well lit road, I chose to use the road rather than the cycle route. Can't help feeling that they're just a job creation scheme and something that someone somewhere can point at and say 'Look, we are trying!!'. Save the money, invest it in making the first 3ft of road from the kerb nice and smooove and I'd be happier. Cheers, Dave.
A couple of days ago in H*lf*rds I picked up a copy of the NCN guide for the Birmingham route. I looked which parts of Birmingham it led through and immediately put the map back on the shelf.
Oh come on, Cheddar Road [1] is fascinating at night!
[1] for those unfamiliar with Birmingham, it's the hub of the red light district: every other front window has a middle-aged woman sitting in front of a fireglow bulb, wearing fancy underwear
My commute is a 3 mile each way trip along a quiet route.
Part of my route is an official cycle way.
A lot of these back roads and cycle routes are IMO orders of magnitude more dangerous than the main road,
Fortunately this path is genuinely quite good apart from the broken glass. It is about 1/2 a mile but is a direct route connecting quiet residential roads. I am not in a hurry so only go about 10-12mph and slow down for walkers. When my utility bike develops an overnight flat and I have to use my weekend bike, the glass free route cuts 4 minutes off my journey. But it means I have to change my shirt.
"DavidR" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
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<snip> The ambulance left without blue lights so one hopes it was nothing serious.
Ambulances only use the blue lights when it is imperative that they get to a hospital quickly. The accident may have been trivial or immediately terminal - blue lights would not be needed in either case.
"Zog The Undeniable" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
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Richard Bates said:
A couple of days ago in H*lf*rds I picked up a copy of the NCN guide for the Birmingham route. I looked which parts of Birmingham it led through and immediately put the map back on the shelf.
Oh come on, Cheddar Road [1] is fascinating at night!
[1] for those unfamiliar with Birmingham, it's the hub of the red light district: every other front window has a middle-aged woman sitting in front of a fireglow bulb, wearing fancy underwear
"Tony W" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
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"Zog The Undeniable" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
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Oh come on, Cheddar Road [1] is fascinating at night!
[1] for those unfamiliar with Birmingham, it's the hub of the red light district: every other front window has a middle-aged woman sitting in front of a fireglow bulb, wearing fancy underwear
