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.
not resolved"Just not sure of you can have a foot in both camps"
Yes you can, or perhaps more correctly a foot in one / toe in the other.
While I applaud anyone who can do everything by bike / public transport - its not feasible for everyone, including me.
A lot of people on this forum have similar outlook - i.e. cyclists who occasionally drive, as opposed to drivers who occasionally drag a rusty bike out the shed.
I'm a cyclist who isn't going to let himself drive on grounds of Idiot, but I still took a lift in my sister's car rather than public transport it home.
I would lose a most teeny ecological footprint contest with someone who had taken the train and bus, but that someone would lose an argument to someone who had biked all the way, and that person would lose to someone who walked, and that person would in principle have lost to someone who didn't boot up his or her computer to intenetularly argue about it in the first place(although from this point on we'd not know about it), and that person would lose to someone who was living in a wood hut clad in furs, and that someone would lose to someone who lived in a cave clad in moss, and that person would lose to someone who instantly committed suicide by burying him or herself at the roots of a tree.
@uberuce , quite !
I didnt realise that this cycling forum was actually a down with cars forum !(actually sometimes it is !)minds are like parachutes, they work best open !
Anyone else got a mental image of a bunch of parachutists climbing onto a plane with intercranial fluid dribbling out their soggily cerebrum-filled backpacks and the pilot going: "Urm...no, guys. It's just a metaphor."
nope, just you me an Joseph Heller !
I have both feet in all camps . Bikes are great but they are rubbish for transporting heavy bulky stuff around Edinburgh I find a van is the best tool for the job. As for the soul cycles guy arriving in a van maybe he took time out of his busy day to attend the protest but had to continue his working day straight away and in doing so required his van. You just don't know. Maybe you should ask him. I often keep a bike in my van when i'm on a job so I can nip off and get stuff and keep my parking space.
@ Instography from a long time ago. Yes, there is "an AA for bikes". The Environmental Transport Association has a cycle rescue policy: http://www.eta.co.uk/breakdown/bicycle
I looked at it once and decided it wasn't worth it for me as I don't venture outside the city limits, but if I were doing a really long trip via places I didn't know (LEJOG?), it's certainly something I'd consider.
*freewheelin
"Just not sure of you can have a foot in both camps."
Not that I think of them of camps. But then I don't think of my transport as a moral choice. More of a practical or exercise one. But sure you can. I ride a bike for some journeys but not all. Maybe the balance would be different if I lived in Edinburgh but then maybe I'd live in Edinburgh if I cared more about the morality of getting about. Maybe that's hypocritical of me. But I never claimed my cycling was anything other than transport. I'm not trying to save the earth or even save any money (all my Scotrail money is going to Brooks).
You know, I even know some Greens who, you won't believe this, <whispers> sometimes hire a car </whispers>. Don't tell anyone.
@splitshift Then we're in good company. We;re still on for being naked on the parade ground at 0630 claiming to be insane, right?
@Instography - I think VeloVision also ran an article on a York based AA for bikes.
They essentially were a trailer with basic tools, fixed minor things on the roadside and otherwise trailered the bike off to the LBS, providing a folder for the poor unfortunate to get to wherever they were going.
It was based on a monthly membership charge, but I've no idea if they survived - the article was several years old, although they were talking of expanding at that time.
@freewheelin - I've fortunately never claimed to be a bike or green evangelist! I'm just a cycle commuter that enjoys chatting on forums.
I also advocate good stewardship, both of the family finances and the world in general - it's not ours to keep, but ours to husband and enjoy in the meantime, and I'll have to give an account of my stewardship one day.
We're a broad church here, and minds have been changed in the debate, so feel free to present a car-free position!
Robert
"Andy was running Bike Rescue an AA service for cyclists"
I'm often reminded of my chemistry teacher telling us in the mid-90's that when we were just a little older than him, we'd have our grandkids asking for stories of buying stuff and then hushed child voice throwing the bag away.
I would bet, ooh, nine cakes that there are very few on this forum who drive their cars with four empty seats and almost nothing in the boot, in constrast to whatever the percentage is of non-cyclist car journeys that are single occupant. I forget what that percentage is, but if it'd ever been the class's average for our Chem exams, Mr Macdonald would have given us one of those brilliant days where he tossed the H&S book out the window and we got to do something that today would get him automatically double fired; that is where not only are you fired, but they take back all the money they ever paid you.
Head of Chemistry at Liberton High School early eighties told me that 'Pie Suppers are good for you'.
I think he was trying to teach us about how we need many things in a balanced diet - including fats and carbohydrates.............but all I heard was "scotch pies are great" and lived by that mantra for some time.
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