CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 14years 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.
https://cyclefridays.wordpress.com
With much help from lots of CCEers.
'Beta' status for the next week so you can point out mistakes and omissions.
Key points are that people don't have to cycle every day
AND
that everyone has to start ONE day.
AND
that Friday might be the best day.
Excellent. Thanks to those who have created it.
Like others, I'll spend some time looking through this for snagging.
Immediate thought: could we have a pdf for a poster to publicise this? I'm thinking that this would be a great thing to advertise in workplaces when "Cycle2Work voucher" season comes around, or in the Edinburgh LBS.
(From a purely egotistical point of view, the link to my story on the "experiences" page doesn't work)
@Stickman
Thanks for comments.
Ironic that first person to look found a non-working link of their 'own'!
Fixed - was a double http.
Routes page: "Barlerno" typo
Also, NEPN and other abbreviations like OSM used without explanation.
Edit: sorry, I see the OSM disambiguation further up the page.
Interesting idea, @chdot - well done.
May I suggest a bit of pruning on the text? There are rather a lot of /, () and ' ', which can reduce readability. Short, snappy sentences are key. Something like "Clearly many people can only afford/justify/store one bike." could become "Many people only have the money or space for one bike."
Otherwise good stuff, and I did like the hidden CCE motto;
'They are unusual but completely normal.'
Yes
Last paragraph in Q&A is missing a word.
"don’t forget you can your bike in most taxis"
Maybe a description of N+1 such as this I stole from "Bike Forum"
N = your current number of bicycles.
+1 = the number you need to have a happy fulfilled life.
So, we are always striving to have that happy fulfilled life by searching out the perfect +1. Sadly, once we get that +1, the formula still applies, and we go searching again. Some call it an addiction. We call it normal.
Also, (So) (Many) (Brackets)
I like this. I agree there are probably too many brackets. I would also change the sentence on the home page that states:
"Since then an unknown number of people have been encouraged to cycle"
to
"Since then many people have been encouraged to cycle"
Seems more positive, while still being suitably vague.
For the weather page, @greenroofer is a big fan of the metoffice website http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/climate which if you click on the averages map and select rainfall shows that Edinburgh is an 'anti-oasis' with only 1 in 3 days getting any noiceable rainfall.
Given you aren't cycling all day helps show that it is rare to be caught cycling in the rain.
A great site. Well done.
On the bikes page can we have a reference to low-maintenance bikes with enclosed gears/chains etc.? I certainly skimped on regular services when I started out & before I took classes. Sit-up-and-beg types with practical mudguards, racks/baskets, dynamo lights are making a comeback but appear to be targeted at women exclusively (cue available in [insert silly colour here]) even though a dress guard on a rear wheel can protect the tails of any gender's coat and stepping through a frame can be useful when sporting good suit trousers (I assume).
Another idea would be to include advice to check on a bike's provenance when buying secondhand so as to discourage the stolen bike trade.
A great site. I'll certainly publicise it around my work.
Under the traffic section, would perhaps be better to focus on how you can avoid it (plentiful off-road routes, minor roads, walking short sections, etc) than the negatives, e.g. how awful it is and so on.
A link to the new site from CCE?
Just if CCE is where people land from an internet search, it could help. Apologies if I'm just being dim and have missed it somewhere.
Looks super. I will certainly publicise it from my work too once it goes live.
I might expand the "clothes" section a little as maybe not everyone will want to read the thread, especially if it grows with publicity. You could say that some people may not need any cycle specific clothing at all? It is all about what is best for you, no need to try and fit in with other peoples expectations?
Thanks for comments (working through them adding/changing.)
'()' cull may take a little longer.
Good stuff. I hope the long term plan is to take some of the linked to CCE discussions and start to expand them somewhat so the site carries its own content.
You might want to explain why the asterisks in p*nct*re...
"Under the traffic section, would perhaps be better to focus on how you can avoid it (plentiful off-road routes, minor roads, walking short sections, etc) than the negatives, e.g. how awful it is and so on."
This is a difficult one.
It's true that there are paths/route that many people don't know about, but there's no point in pretending that they will take most people to most places they want to go to.
I presume people on CCE don't simply think 'it's traffic get used to it', but blanket advice on how to get confident enough to deal with it is a challenge!
"I hope the long term plan is to take some of the linked to CCE discussions and start to expand them somewhat so the site carries its own content."
That is currently an open question.
I don't want http://cyclefridays.wordpress.com to be static, and there are definitely things that need to be added, but generally in needs to be fairly concise to actually encourage people to read and START.
It depends, partly, on whether people start asking questions in the comment boxes, also to what extent they join CCE ask specific things here.
There is a link to a PDF of a whole book (Cycling to Work a beginner's guide), but I would be surprised if many people read it all.
This is where some of the match funded £500k could be spent? Getting the hive mind to work a route as we all know of cut throughs and quieter routes to make the commute better. E.g. Going. Up St Mary's St from Cowgate, I will often take a right turn that takes you back out on to the canon gait via the alley next to the white horse pub. Avoids the right turn lights at the top of St Mary's St. Let's you jump a good junk of queued traffic without causing anyone any bother. There are lots of these little helpful bike shortcuts around.
People would probably only learn about them by exploring on their own, or being shown them by someone in the know. A new commuter would also benefit from having a person more experienced ride their route with them?
gembo's posts sometimes need footnotes and references...
"This is where some of the match funded £500k could be spent?"
New Smarter Choices, Smarter Places project
If you think it might be useful, I'm happy to write a short section on rules of the road, legal requirements etc.
I like the idea, and site is a good start.
I'd expand on the No Bike section, specifically the difference between buying a second hand bike from the shops linked compared with going the ebay/gumtree route. Someone starting out is likely to be unable to gauge how well a bike has been looked after, what condition it's in or whether it's running well, whether it's the right fit, and how much work/cost would be required to get it running well.
I'm a strong believer that the experience of riding a well - maintained, properly fitting bike is far more likely to get someone hooked on cycling than a badly fitting and/or poorly maintained and inefficient bike. Buying new or second hand from a shop ensures the former.
Also....on the way home last night I passed a girl struggling slowly up the road (slight uphill). As I passed I saw that she was grinding away in the biggest gear possible. From her attire I think it's unlikely she was doing this intentionally to build leg muscle as part of her training regime. I don't think this is that uncommon and as well as putting people off cyling it's also far more likely that people will end up at their destination pouring with sweat. I know I would! Forgive me if I missed it but IMO a layman's explanation on cadence and using your gears properly could be helpful in achieving the goal of the site.
"specifically the difference between buying a second hand bike from the shops linked compared with going the ebay/gumtree route. Someone starting out is likely to be unable to gauge how well a bike has been looked after"
Good point, will expand.
"a layman's explanation on cadence and using your gears properly could be helpful in achieving the goal of the site"
OK!
Anyone want to write bits?
@morningsider I think that would be a good idea.
I only passed my driving test in my late 20's, and the difference in how safe and confident I felt cycling on the road was night and day. I can understand why cyclists who don't drive feel nervous on the road and may unintentionally behave dangerously.
Perhaps this section could include descriptions of e g. What drivers can actually see, how likely they are to have looked, that you shouldn't presume they have. Thinking about it, I guess this is basically defensive driving.
@chdot I have actually written something I could adapt on gearing/cadence. This was for a friend who has commuted for years and is planning to do the TOB this year....and it turned out didn't know how to use her gears properly! :P
The entire family is laid out with pestilence this weekend so it would likely be middle of next week before I'd get a chance.
Going the new bike route a zero bull section on what is and isn't worth paying for might be good as well. May be hard to reach a consensus though I guess ;-)
"If you think it might be useful, I'm happy to write a short section on rules of the road, legal requirements etc."
Yes please!
"would likely be middle of next week before I'd get a chance"
That would be fine.
A few more thoughts. It's been a few days since I looked through the site so apologies if any of this is covered:
What will wear out on a bike and when it's likely to do so (e.g. depending on how far and often you're commuting etc...). Also, consequences of neglecting, even if it's just a loss in efficiency. I've ridden for years but it was only relatively recently that I realised a bike could run as new for as long as if properly maintained (but obviously that's a choice and not necessary).
Someone from my old work bought a second hand bike that the rims were bulging they were so worn. He had no idea it was a ticking time bomb.
People often don't realise a chain is a consumable (and how cheap it is to replace even getting a bike shop to do it)
Puncture section: another option is to take it to the nearest bike shop and see if they have time to fix it?
Braking: your front brake is the safest and most efficient way to brake- you can't go over your handlebars providing you're bracing and you don't have arms like limp spaghetti. It is however very easy to skid the back wheel using the back brake. (One of my scariest experiences was trying to stop the bike with just my back break when the front failed going downhill in traffic at considerable speed)
The Bike Station fix your own bike sessions mentioned anywhere?
I suppose I was thinking along the lines of:Making a bike move is simple but here are some pointers to make it more enjoyable and/or safe.
...and the maintenance stuff is more around keeping people riding rather than getting them to start.
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