CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
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RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
not a support questionMy dislike of the ASZ chdot and Nelly are talking about is such that I'll stay out of it unless I'm the only person there.
I prefer to have a vehicle go first, since the sight of me keeping pace with it suppresses that overriding MUSTPASSCYCLIST reflex that afflicts some drivers.
We were in London for the weekend and the shoaling made the memsahib a bit nervous. Luckily she wasn't driving.
If number one son insists on staying in the east end Apache territory then I'll need to carry a map or get a less stupid phone. Using the car sat nav on a Brompton doesn't work all that well as you can't stop your pockets touching the screen. I had no idea people lived in docklands. It's was just starting when I stayed down there.
2nd post in a row I've read on here mentioning wfb's pockets. At least these ones aren't secret. They sounded a bit dodgy to be honest.
That ASZ at the foot of Ashley Terrace is a tricky one. If you're coming at it from Robby Av you can generally get to it in the right hand lane. If coming from Slateford Road then I do the left hand lane then nip in at the last 2nd thing.
Sometimes I end up merging into the right hand lane if it starts moving. In those cases I usually go wide and slow at the corner to let any amber-gamblers past me (on the basis that I reckon they will potentially be upset with me for 'slowing them up').
I do find it slightly odd when people arrive in an ASL with no-one in it and sit right at the back
I do this for the simple reason that it stops the taxi behind* from driving right up into the ASL behind me. Often other riders will then be able to enter the ASL and their presence shields me from a drag race as I zoom off into the blue yonder. (I could say it's so the ASL is clear for them to enjoy, but that would be fake altruism).
* other vehicles are potentially available
Pockets are one of the great benefits of blokeness. We don't need to fuss over a handbag. Everything we need can fit in a pocket. When I was younger I was often surprised that my sister was happy to leave the house with no pockets whatsoever. Now I'm not quite so young and need specs for reading I get folding ones which fit easily into a pocket.
Blokeness is no longer restricted to blokes. Ladies can share in blokeness and have pockets too these days.
It's quite possible, although perhaps not attractive, to carry tyre repair kit in your shirt pockets. I tend not to put it in trousers as there is some reasonable mass in steel tools which you don't want to be moving up and down hundreds of times on your journey.
OTOH some of the ladies seem to enjoy handbags.
"Blokeness is no longer restricted to blokes. Ladies can share in blokeness and have pockets too these days"
Equally blokes can have bags. I'm generally in the pocket brigade, but I've got a lovely manbag that can fit loads of stuff, including my camera, and generally comes with me when we go out, unless we're going out for a meal or something in which case I'll rever to the pockets in my jacket and troos.
I presume the invention of a sporran was because a chap one day remarked that he had no pockets in his kilt...
@WC
Surely any dapper gent should have not one but several man bags, appropriate for different occasions and uses? I have a few that I'm immensely fond of. One of which my wife now seems to have appropriated for herself as she also likes it. (Does it still qualify as a man bag? Or has it gone through some kind of gender reassignment operation?)
@Stickman
Glad to know I';m not the only one - bags of the men unite!
I call mine courier bags.
I've got four.
I don't carry a big camera anymore. I'm mostly just taking photos of my kids so it's more important to have a wee camera which is always with me than a big Carlos Fandango lens. They either go in a shirt pocket or I've got a couple of Lowe Pro pouches which Velcro on to your trouser belt.
Sporrans have a major flaw. You need to move them to the side when dancing. It's not a mistake you make twice.
I have a manbag too, use it when I get the train. My lunch, and iPad fit in it just nicely. Looks better than my 'sport' specific hillwalking rucksack too.
"I do find it slightly odd when people arrive in an ASL with no-one in it and sit right at the back"
I do this because it means I can get a rolling start while the lights are at red/amber; when they turn green, I'm still (just) in the ASL, but I'm already moving.
@ Wilmington's Cow
"I do find it slightly odd when people arrive in an ASL with no-one in it and sit right at the back"
I'm with Dave and weiss on this one. I sometimes wait at the back if I'm first to arrive in the ASZ to stop motorised creeping, and also to get that extra bit of momentum. It's based on knowing the particular behaviour at that ASL most times, rather than something I do every time. Usually those are quiet ASLs (at least when I use them) but I'd move forwards if other riders arrived.
This mornings slight worry was watching this chap that I kept ending up behind as I was taking a more meandering route through cramond and granton. His saddle was WAY too high. He was perched right at the front of the saddle. All his weight on his arms and he looked uncomfortable. My bits frankly hurt in sympathy.
I wasn't going to say anything because fair enough he'd a big boy, but we ended up walking around the roadworks at Granton and I got my chance to say "errrrm I don't want to be weird or anything..." and explain. He was pretty good about it and said "I'd rather someone said something than get an injury" Which is I guess what I did.
Would you guys say anything in that situation? How do you approach it without sounding like a creep or a know it all?
How do you approach it without sounding like a creep or a know it all?
I'll mention anything dangerous in as matter-of-fact a way as I can. Recently, that's been an invisible rear light and a wheel on the point of collapse.
I never mention bike fit. You see all sorts heaving their pelvises (pelvi?) up and down because their saddles are too high. I am right, but silent, about saddles. Pain and discomfort are their business, safety at least partly mine.
Pelves?
Fair point. I guess that the range of movement that he was displaying plus the clear fact he looked uncomfortable forced my hand. Sort of agree that bike fit is each to their own - although having been refitted to my bike recently (completely different fit this time to a year ago when I was doing more long distance and weighed less) I think that it's worth a check every now and again!
@ARC
Sorry, didn't mean to sound judgemental. My approach is totally illogical - I try to spare the pain of accidents but not the pain of ill-adjusted equipment. If I could find a form of words that would allow me to suggest adjustment I would...
I built a bike for Madame IWRATS. I fully expected to be tweaking it for months after she had taken posession, but she seems to regard any expression of discomfort as an act of disloyalty. Given that it's based on a men's MTB frame I can't believe I got the bars and saddle in the right place by serendipity alone...
Can sometimes be a case of not knowing - Madame IWRATS might not know a different bike fit might be any better than her current set up? Also distance and effort can be factors, as in an all out blast over a longer distance probably won't manifest the same issues as a gentle pootle home from town.
A guy overtoook me and my better half on the Silverknowes path last night. He was steaming along (not in an irresponsible way, I should add) with his knees out and putting so much effort into his pedal strokes that it looked like he was trying to squeeze his saddle up his fundament.
If I knew the guy I'd certainly have offered him some bike fit observations, but as a stranger, even had I been riding the same speed as him, I wouldn't have raised it unless I was well into a conversation about cycling.
You just don't know how people are going to take that sort of advice and my unconscious bias assumes that blokes of a certain age are more likely than not to react badly to anything that might be perceived (even incorrectly) as a criticism.
@PS that was my fear but it went down ok.
Saw another chap near haymarket with a king in his down stroking right knee that made my ligaments hurt. HE turned off before I was close enough to see who he was though (was in full TdF team kit - Garmin I think)
@MeepMeep
I think that's the nail firmly struck on the head.
Having missed this post 8 months ago, I am now embarrassed to see that I am a protagonist in @chdot's "bit of a race" triptych, though I am the one with the red top, rather than on the green/white bike. FWIW IMO it's better to be very much in primary going down the brae as there are too many cars (and motorbikes, video posted previously) poking out from the streets on the left. Also the road surface is terrible in secondary.
Without wanting to start thread creep, can the panel recommend a good place to get a bike fitting on an existing bike? Cheap is good too.
I also think about telling people that their saddle is too low etc, but never actually do it.
the new planet x do a bike fitting but I've no idea how much it costs now.
So as I left Sainsburys last night there was a Spanish family outside - mama, papa and two kids - all on bicycles. Great to see.
I cast an eye over their steeds and noted that the forks on mama's bike were on back to front. This is a clear safety issue (no caster effect to stabilise the steering) so I had a word with them. Papa had the best English and asked me to show him what I meant, which I did. I'd have been ashamed just to walk past.
"noted that the forks on mama's bike were on back to front"
A Halfords special?
Evans too. Noticed it with a colleague's C2W bike delivered to the office. Although, in their defence, that's how it fits in the box and should be maybe be highlighted to the user.
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