If there's one thing that makes me want to hurl my bike into the hedge in despair, it's road design intended to make cycling slower. Slower? Cycling is already a very slow form of transport. The paltry speeds most cyclists achieve are powered by nothing more than breakfast and a pair of legs. The thought that there are planners out there intent on turning my hard-won momentum into brake heat is depressing.
Like the new chicane fence at the end of Barnton Avenue, where the road joins the newly resurfaced path. Why? What's the point? And at the far end of the path, several groups of rumble strips. Again, why? Or those gates and bumps along the canal towpath at Polwarth. Why, oh why?
These design features seem to reflect a suspicion that cyclists don't know how to ride safely; that they can't modify their behaviour according to whether a path is empty, or has three children and six dogs on it. Or, maybe these things are there to pacify the concerns of local pedestrians who fear that cyclists won't be courteous and ride safely. Like the 'SLOW' signs painted on one of the widest shared paths in Edinburgh - through Murrayfield Park. Has any research been done to find out whether these things actually work? Rumble strips don't slow me down; they simply invite me to let go of the handlebars, to avoid wrist damage. I can't brake at the same time.
Then there's the environmental impact. Lovely leafy paths that once had a 'forgotten' feel, acquire a 'suburban park' look when paths are over-managed in this way. That's true at the foot of Barnton Avenue where a great shiny metal fence draws an ugly line under the end of the path, as if it's a spelling mistake. And it's true of those (sorry) ridiculous fences on the tow path.
Asking cyclists to go more slowly is absurd, especially when you compare the injury rate between pedestrians colliding with cars and pedestrians colliding with bikes. I wonder if some of the people who lobby for these 'improvements' are the drivers who sometimes treat the narrow streets around me as a rat run, passing cyclists by a whisker at speed. No one is making them slow down to 10mph.