"I do remember posting about a first ride on here"
http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=952&page=2#post-158647
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
Do you remember your FIRST cycle commute
(43 posts)-
Posted 8 years ago #
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Thread bump.
There may be some people who want to tell a tale.
Even if not, there are some great stories on the previous page to remind us of some of our ‘early days’ we might have forgotten.
Posted 3 years ago # -
I should update that the Ultitrec on the 1km stretch of the WoL path from Waulkmill Loan to Currie has not completely disintegrated though this is its hardest winter.
Went in I think April 2018 but there was a bad spell of weather at that time too.
Still my favourite bit of the route as the path was also drained on either side so is never muddy really. There is a bit where a stream comes across that was not there before, the stream I mean.
Before it at Nether Currie, the new village built on the flood plain has encroached on the path. Not nicking it as such just crowding.
McDonald Road office is Russian flats. Objectors produced the best objection papers ever, photoshop of naked man looking into school playground etc. there is a thread here somewhere. Swung the vote in bravura performance only for the developers to revert to the Scottish govt, the builder’s friend.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Wishaw to Newhouse Industrial Estate, circa 1990. Would be hard to cram the myriad delights of cycling through urban Lanarkshire into one wee post, so you're just going to have to take my word for it. The sights, smells and sounds of quaint North Lanarkshire villages such as Cleland and Newarthill transcend mere words.
The now wonderfully named Caledonian Proteins was a rendering plant out back of Cleland. I'd often be passed by one of their wagons, hooves sticking out the top and a smell that literally made we retch and my eyes water.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Anyone wishing to see Cleland’s delights can do so from the slow train from Edinburgh to Glasgow via Shotts. Best to marvel though from the observation car of the train (where they hang the bikes) rather than alight.
Posted 3 years ago # -
“
Just a year ago I was someone who resented cyclists in London. I never imagined that I could ever be one of them.
Now, city cycling is one of the best parts of my life.
Here’s what helped me change my mind:
“
Thread -
https://mobile.twitter.com/SarahJ_Berry/status/1358461390302949376
Posted 3 years ago # -
First commute. Work experience aged 16ish on a hot June day wearing my brother's thick woollen suit & trying not to pedal much, but running late so arriving in a sweaty mess.
Posted 3 years ago # -
@hankchief, on a balmy Cotswolds summer’s day, I feel for you.
Arrived at school up the Kingsknowe brae and they asked, ooh, is it raining outside. BAck was very sweaty. From that point would change into shirt after arriving. You live and learn.
Posted 3 years ago # -
@gembo. Indeed. My entire memory of work experience was the itchy suit / sweaty cycle combo. Well that and the absolute thrill of checking the long string of numbers you've just punched into a calculator against the receipt-like printout that rolled out the back and getting it spot on. Happy days :-)
Posted 3 years ago # -
Memorable
@hankchiefI had a summer job selling deckchairs down Ayr Beach I cycled to each morning. Some days were quite wintry We would put the paraffin heater on and climb up to the top of the piles of deckchairs and nurse our hangovers. Though other days it was the most glorious days of summer. The weegees would take Ayr County Council deckchairs home to their slums. Bringing a bit of cheer to the back greens (please note I haVe confused eras) there was some theft of deckchairs in the late 80s but once back in the high rises I cannot see these deckchairs remaining a good idea.
After our day of graft we would cycle to the pub and down about four pints. The pub was a good way from our homes but the traffic was light in those horse and carriage days. I was known as Herman in those days and had a rather nifty Dawes five speed, late nicked from the stairwell in hill head st as m6 then girlfriend who used it to cycle to the vet school believed in humanity and did not lock it. My comrade was called Booboo and he had a Raleigh shopper. He surprised us all by turning in to a bit of a toff and taking up a commission in the Royal Navy. It transpired he had been slumming it.
Posted 3 years ago # -
I had a brief job with Oxford City Council when I was 16 - between other more exciting jobs. They had set aside a week for me to deliver informational leaflets and maps to all the colleges and various other places - quite a reasonable distance away some. Turned up on my Claud Butler touring bike, and finished all the deliveries before lunch. I was then consigned to the equivalent of sorting left handed and right handed screwdrivers for the rest of the week. Always cycled to every pub job I ever had - for fairly obvious reasons. Worked the bar at one of the colleges where Sir Patrick Mayhew, Bertie Aherne and Michael Mates (Among others) were drinking. Locked the gates to where my bike was at silly O'Clock in the morning so we climbed them to get out (electronic sensor on the way out to the street) - particularly stupid with a heavy armed Police presence. Had to get my bike though.
Posted 3 years ago # -
I used to cycle along Queensferry Rd in rush hour
- wouldn't do that now!Posted 3 years ago # -
Excluding paper rounds or short seasonal jobs my first cycle commute was over Corstorphine Hill. Although I don't recall if I used that route from the very first trip or not.
If you include seasonal work then I rode from Prestonpans to Lowes Fruit Farm near Dalkeith for a summer of fruit picking.
Posted 3 years ago #
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