CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
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CCE is 15years old!
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Before the women's tour they had in England last week, Lizzie Armitstead made a comment about the UK having "heavy roads".
What did she mean? Are UK roads made of different stuff to continental roads?
Or was she alluding to the poor, broken surfaces that make cycling more of a slog?
I wondered that too!
I am privileged to have drunk a small quantity of heavy water. It's exactly like drinking ordinary water, but several hundred times more expensive. Perhaps it's the same with heavy roads?
the surface in general is slower than the continental stuff you find in France IMHO.
I think in general the roads in France take less of a beating weather and traffic wise, but they also seem to be made of slightly smoother tarmac. I noticed a 2mph difference on average riding speed a few years ago on my single speed which I put down to better road surface.
My perception has been that we have rougher roads with more friction because they are wet all the time - even after rain, this far north it can take a long time for a wet raod to dry out. Further south roads spend much less time wet, so can be smoother.
That could all be rubbish, though.
Yes, our roads have a rougher surface, which makes them grippier, causing greater rolling resistance. I assumed it was something to do with the proportion and type of gravel in the tarmac mix, but I could be wrong.
This sounds bad, until you see what happens on the non-heavy roads of Italy when they get a bit of rain on them (cf, the Giro yesterday: mahoosive crash as riders slid out on a roundabout -> procyclists with broken ribs, broken femur, broken thumb, and an awful lot with significantly less skin than they used to have).
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