CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
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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.
As the weather improves, I've been noticing a LOT more bikes on the road. My commutes are slightly after the main rush hour, but still, I've found myself in big groups of cyclists at ASLs etc.
Let's hope this year sees a big increase in the number of bikes about town.
I'm a little bit later than most colleagues (I get in at 9 for a 920ish start, whereas most start at 9) and I rarely get a rack remotely near the changing rooms, the closest 30 are regularly packed full. Which has never been the case.
I was just remarking this morning on the number of new faces on the NEPN and also that coming in from Fife there's always been at least, if not two cyclists in view (and that's at 6.30am). Definitely busier.
At least two brand new Evans own-brand hybrids on the canal in yesterday's glorious sunshine.
2014 the year of the linux desktop edinburgh cycling revolution.
As good a chance of Debian replacing windows in every corporation in the UK.
I always count the number of ladies on bikes on my commute in the morning as we're usually desperately outnumbered by the blokes.
But definitely more folk on the paths and absolutely more women cycling. Must be the change in the weather :)
Number of bikes in our work bike park over the winter 70-80. Number in at the start of last week 106. Number yesterday 97. 'Nuff said.
There was a bit of dip in the rubbish weather last week, though...
"we're usually desperately outnumbered by the blokes"
By the blokes, perhaps. But not by the gentlemen. No gentleman would ever outnumber a lady.
@I were right - I am still very disappointed I haven't seen a gentleman in tweed doing his morning commute yet... :(
"I haven't seen a gentleman in tweed doing his morning commute"
There used to be a fully fledged Chap on a 1910 three-speed at Tollcross of a morning. Rod brakes with leather blocks, hub gears, sprung saddle, canvas tool roll and....oil lamps! He actually lit his bicycle lights with a match come sundown. I was in awe.
At least two brand new Evans own-brand hybrids on the canal
"on", not "in", I hope!
What a legend!
"on", not "in"
Well, I reckon it's just a matter of time....there you are balanced on a pair of wheels, bouncing over stray dog infested rough cobbles at fifteen miles an hour inches away from a waist-deep trough of barely-diluted freezing duck poop....if I make it through my year of commuting out here without a ducking I'll count myself lucky.
There was a tweed-clad human male on a folder sometimes spotted around Picardy Place of a morning several years ago...
I think I've seen the odd tweed-kitted rider around the Uni, but yet to spot one whizzing down the Roseburn path of a morning. Would make my day!
Think this tweed is a bit pricey though ;-)
Considering the protection you get from the rear of the garment, it's a bargain!:
(Personally, the claimed link between their design and armour seems pretty tenuous. It has a bit of a medieval look about it, but not one of armour)
Back on topic (sorry to ruin the CCE tradition of leaving a thread to lapse into unconciousness in a state grossly diverged from its initial purpose)...
Kaputnik - even at 07:30 the bike racks are noticeably busier than they've been before. Not all are brand new shiny C2W bikes either: a fair number of 'new' bikes I've noticed in the racks seem to indicate that people are perhaps dusting off bikes that have been kicking around and are commuting on what they've got.
Unfortunately, out at the Gyle it is still far too easy to find somewhere to abandon your car for the day (no matter whether its a residential estate or a gated wasteground entry bay) so, along with patchy infrastructure across the estate, there's no real impetus for people to start commuting by bike.
When I travel closer to the city centre, I'm always pleased to see a prevalence of everyday-Joes/Jos going about their day-to-day business, clearly just using bikes as a way of getting from A to B.
"even at 07:30 the bike racks are noticeably busier than they've been before"
Following on from the Spokes meeting on Monday where it was said that cycling to work had doubled in 8 years (I think) and that it could/should/might double again by 2020 -
how would/could your place of employment 'cope'?
(A question for anyone on here).
More racks? Showers? Space for stuff? Better management attitude etc. etc.
I was puttering through town at a non-commuting time yesterday morning and saw some of this everyday-business stuff, which appears the same as commuting but with fewer people wearing dayglo/team kit (even not in the immediate vicinity of a bit of a university) and fewer cars.
"how would/could your place of employment 'cope'?"
Racks are at about 80% occupancy at the moment (helped by the twenty-thirty extra spaces added a year or so ago), with some other-side-of-rack spaces blocked by things like helmets, tabards and coats hanging off handlebars. Even as late as late autumn last year there were frequently more bikes than official racks. Changing-room floorspace (but not shower-capacity) was doubled a couple of years ago but is still tight at peak times and way too tight on damp days when everyone wants to hang something somewhere.
Notably more bikes on the last part of my commute from Dreghorn to Gorgie, but no change yet on the preceding part over Castlelaw and Allermuir... only me. :) I wonder how much longer that'll last?
"I wonder how much longer that'll last?"
Is that a challenge??
"Is that a challenge??"
Definitely not! I love the 'tranquil' part of my route... it's sort of the lull before the (human-mechanical) storm!
@slug
Actually over the summits of Castlelaw and Allermuir? Hell's teeth, that is some cycle commute. I run that way regularly, but don't actually think I'd be physically capable of cycling a bike up there. I've cyled over a few of the cleughs and even that would look a bit daunting at the end of a week's work.
I doff my polystyrene bicycle hat to you.
Last night at 5pm the NEPN was absolutely packed with cyclists. Joining it at the Roseburn slalom I found myself at the tail of a fairly substantial peleton, and on my journey to the Fiveways I passed 74 people cycling in the opposite direction (to put that in perspective, the most I have ever counted before in the height of summer was 52 people at 16:30. And yes, I can't help but count...)
On the downside the new rumble strips are in at the Craigleith junction and they are truly, truly awful. But that's for a different thread.
"I doff my polystyrene bicycle hat to you."
Thanks, but it's 'over' on the way into work, but normally 'around' on my way home, via Fairmilehead and Hillend. It's hard work on the way up, but worth the effort when you get to the top and see the views, (sometimes) including the near-static lines of cars on the 702 and the bypass. And from Allermuir, it's downhill all the way to Gorgie! :)
Always a big surge around the clocks going forward. Perhaps not so much dropping off each winter? Good to see numbers increasing. We have 150 racks underneath waverely court, pretty full by 9 am except on a Friday.
I am not on the flexi system but I was observing some interesting behaviour by a couple of cyclists who appeared to be counting the time it took them to change into cycling gear, get lights switched on etc as being in company time, not swiping the card until the last minute. Presume they clock in and then get changed in the morning too. I am not saying this is wrong, just observing different approaches and perhaps these minutes accumulate over the piece. What do smokers do now? Is the fag break in their own time? When I started work several colleagues used to smoke at their desks, you could smoke on the bus, in the cinema etc. now they have to walk well away from the building.
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