CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
Girlfriend almost taken out by a low level clothesline between two Fence posts and one guy actually knocked off bike by a head height one. There were logs strewn on the track to distract riders.
Removed and reported to the cops
Rough Location:
Picture of the injured cyclist and clothesline.
Be careful out there.
This is the only bit of unlit track on my GF's commute. Speaking to evening news.
Shocking
That is one of the worst things I have ever seen - potentially lethal. Speechless.
There was a motorcyclist nearly killed on (I think) Nicholson Square a few years back when VHS tape was put across the road. He saw it at the last minute and had the self-preservation sense to fall off his bike and keep his head.
That's absolutely lethal and I assume the police will take this very seriously indeed.
OMG, that's on my commute. I almost went that way tonight but my gut told me to take the lit path instead. Gut was clearly correct.
Unbelievable. Will never take that unlit path in the dark now. Ever. This is awful!
"Will never take that unlit path in the dark now"
It shouldn't be unlit.
Is it still untarmaced?
For years there was a 'dispute' about who owned it - the council or Safeway (yes back then).
The Sustrans route avoided it so it's been 'neglected'.
Supermarkets (especially Tesco) don't really care about people who don't drive to them.
It's about time the council tax on car parks (shops and work) was much higher. Would encourage charging and/or better land use.
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@CllrNormanWork: @CyclingEdin @west_team @EdinCityPolice @LSPaterson @AGShieldsLibDem. That's shocking! Will forward to @CllrJimOrr to get path lit.
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That's absolutely despicable. What kind of animals would want to do that?
I'm staying on the A90 till the nights get lighter.
Aside from the morals of doing that, I often wonder what the kick is out of trying to maim someone like that, or to cause punctures with glass. If I was doing that, I'd want to see the results of it in action but you never see anyone hanging around, so they miss the "kick" of it surely.
I was using the NEPN only last night after 11pm (not that area though) and I was actually very cautious, looking out for anything that might be strung between lamp posts. That was on the way out. On my return, the thought of it had left my mind. Scary in hindsight.
@chdot Yes it's unlit and still gravel/unmade. Wobbly ride through in the morning. Since the clocks went back I've only ventured through once in the dark and it creeped the hell out of me. A dangerous spot indeed.
There's another unlit section at the DM park at the top of the hill. Brings you out at traffic light junction at Queensferry Road. Again, I won't go through it as scary in the dark and no idea who's lurking around in there. Anyone got alt options? I have to go along pavement at QF Road at the moment (I know, BAD) as too terrified to cycle in extremely fast traffic. I get off if I see a ped coming, though... :(
After using the tesco path the first time we ventured out, we worked out that the road to the north is better, even if the toucan crossing is very slow indeed. But obviously this path should be improved for those who want to go to tesco!
I used that part of the path once a few weeks ago in the dark, and vowed never to use it again because it seemed completely unlit and I honestly couldn't see 2 feet in front of me (I was on foot, hence no lights). Even more reason to not use it after this thread. Totally agree too @Focus - can't see the point?
I've heard of this sort of thing happening in disputes over mtb/natural offroad trails in forests and the like. The landowner takes action and builds clothelines, spiked pits, buried nailboards etc. With that the best you can say is at least it's contained to one little-used place and you usually know who done it....
There's really no words for this though. If you were prosecuting the culprit you would have to go for attempted murder surely. It's not some stupid prank, it's a literal deathtrap.
Still I'm sure if the EEN gets hold of this story they and their resident army of trolls will find a way to justify it.
Matthew Paris once recommended this in his Times column to stop cyclists littering. After being condemned by the grauniad and other journals, he published, in an invisible column, a feeble paragraph suggesting it was hyperbole, and not to be taken seriously.
There are some sick mofos out there who hate cyclists. The WOL path used to regularly have logs dumped across it at night.
Take care
Its not the EEN trolls I'd be afraid of, but the copycats!
I don't even think it's a case of these low-lifes hating cyclists, it simply easier to cause a cycling crash than a car crash, at least remotely (i.e. without having to be on the scene to throw bricks, breeze blocks etc). Causing a train to derail takes the effort of lifting heavier objects, causing a plane crash - well you pretty much need to be at the airport and get something through security.
Cyclist = easy target. Chances are most of these idiots have a bike themselves (note the deliberate non-use of "own"!). They may even have cycled there in order to lay the trap :-(
There was a spate of this about 6 or 7 years ago on the NEPN - it was on the lit section, they used to brick a lampost to knock out the light, then rope it and throw branches down at every passing cyclist to distract them and get them (& me) roped. Teenagers, they had a lookout posted on each aproach.
They did this to Maggie Wynne, including bricking her at the same time.
When I reported mine to Drylaw police, they sent a Panda car to drive up the cycle path with lights on, duh!
Looks like the latest crop of teenagers have done all the levels on Assassins Creed V and are looking to get their adrenalin rush low-tech style. Be sure, they are watching from the overpass.
Attempted murder. No different from dropping bricks on cars from bridges. When will the police get get their fingers out ?
I've read of thieves doing this to cyclists in order to get the cyclist's phone/purse/wallet off them while they are on the ground...
Just avoid this stretch of path completely and take the official Sustrans route a little further to the north along Cramond Road South. Far safer, and at least lit and surfaced properly.
There will be some press on this later today. I think that it's better to make people aware and careful and make the little barstewards aware that people are looking out for it, and therefore less likely to try it again.
Hopefully as well this will increase police presence on bikes on these paths - something that I imagine many people would welcome.
@crowriver - fair point however it's a shame that this should happen at all - it;'s a path that is marked on cycling maps (checked last night) and people have the right to be there.
Just had a call from an EEN journalist who is interested to talk to any one who has experienced such attacks while riding in Edinburgh. I have heard a number of similar stories over the years, has any one here been directly involved?
Of course the shrinking police resources following the formation of Police Scotland, means that it is going to be harder for the police to commit to on going patrols.
Just had a call from an EEN journalist who is interested to talk to any one who has experienced such attacks while riding in Edinburgh.
What's his headline going to be?
"Evening News Anti-Cylist Campaign A Success!"
Or does he not think there's a connection between their hate pieces and attacks on cyclists?
Agree with Crowriver, I use this route every day, but avoid the that section and go round Cramond Road South and through the houses by JSmarts offices, straight to the pedestrian crossing. Also sure they would be watching from the bridge.
@gibbo - I doubt there's a connection. My guess is that the perpetrators of this are younger than we might think and don't read the EEN. They are doing this for kicks and because it's an easy target rather than from any considered hatred of cyclists.
The frothing commentators on the EEN site are a different constituency: they spend so long in front of their PCs writing inane vitriol that they won't have time to go and string up clothes lines.
@Kim A couple of weeks ago I noticed that someone had scattered large tacks all over the access ramp to the Union Canal from Allan Park Road. I can only assume this was by someone who objected to the pace some people cycle up that ramp from the canal.
Not really worthy of talking to anyone in the EEN about and I'm not sure I'd want to help them out since they seem to have taken an anti cycling stance in the past months/year.
I removed a roadblock of logs and bricks from that section of path (Tesco D Mains) as I passed through a few weeks ago - fortunately in broad daylight, so no harm done. So it's been going on for a while.
You can always trust "Irritatingly Intelligent Chauvinist" to make light of a serious injury or incident involving cyclists. The chipwrapper should never have allowed comments on the article.
Be careful if you see the piles of wet leaves on the path, the ones that are normally left when it's not been cleared sufficiently (like right now) - I've discovered bricks concealed in them before. Do not ride through those leaves!
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