CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years 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.
To be expected I guess. But the roads seemed mostly dry and clear, so I blithely assumed the Innocent would be as well.
Rode down to it and found that the snow of yesterday hadn't quite cleared, and the tyre tracks through that had frozen overnight, so it was a rutted nightmare (at least for the 100 or so yards I could see). I've come off on that before, so just carried on through an underpass to Craigmillar and went on a longer road ride to the office.
Yes, I optimistically went down it today. I remained on the bike from the tunnel to Craigmillar but it was hairy. The approach to the tunnel through those flats was dodgy as well.
I knew it would be bad - it never even occurred to me to try it. The temperature is well below freezing and it's still too early in the year for the sun to make it to big sections of the path, so the ice just won't melt. We need a couple of mild days with heavy rain, unfortunately.
Unfortunately there is more snow on the way...
Went for a look at lunchtime.
Rideable with care (was riding slicks - didn't lose traction but skittered a bit), downhill might be more of a challenge.
BUT it really shouldn't be like this -
It's a key commuter route.
What's North Edinburgh like?
I avoided it altogether again this morning. It was almost exactly this time last year that I came off cos of the ruts created by half-melted then frozen snow. I 'aint gonna repeat that - sticking to the roads for the time being.
Personally I'd like one of two things to happen: either the council actually starts delivering when it says it wants a 'model cycling city' and looks to models elsewhere in the world (those Dutch roadworks bridges would be a good place to start) and actually makes it seem more like genuine belief and less like something you say to calm people down; or ditches the idea completely and spends the money that would have been spent on 'facilities' (i.e. painted lines on the road) filling in the potholes instead and simply admits that it's really not all that bothered about increasing cycling in the city at all.
At least the second option would be more honest than what we receive at the moment.
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Well said Anth!
On a more positive note Middle Meadow Walk was gritted yesterday (after 07:50 and before 18:45). It was quite icy in the morning and I crossed a couple of quite icy looking bits rather gingerly.
I suspect Anth's second proposal is close to the truth. Until cycling in all its forms is treated as an equal (if not leading) transport option in the city, two things will continue: separate departments maintaining and developing incompatible policies, and consequent underbudgeting for what we, the cyclists, see as essential projects. And unless there is a sufficient stick for reneging on commitments and failing to meet targets - even interim targets ... no-one will ever care.
What we do see is a Council that has left its own road and path network to rot for decades and, while blowing its budget out of the water to build a modern form of transport that will serve only a minor segment of the population, is trying to make up that lack of attention. But with those most changeable aspects of local government: money and rules, having changed, we see neither the financial willingness nor the upholding of quality.
I noticed during my commute this morning that the sun-sheltered footpath alongside my local school was very icy - and all it took was two days of snow. The grit bin at one end still had plenty to go round, but I wondered if no-one would dare to spread it for fear of somehow breaking the law.
MUCH worse problem in Cambridge
Sorry. Technique, bike, ice all wrong.
That was never going to work... never
Would have been all right if the ice was thicker.
I may do a recumbent canal trial when the ice returns to a proper thickness ...
note word 'trial'
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