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 strictly OT, but SCOTLAND’S main train operator is seeking a new supplier to deliver 48 million litres of diesel a year – by road.
The £31 million ScotRail contract, involving some 1,500 tanker movements, comes despite ministers urging further reductions in the environmental impact of railways.
Not strictly "news" because it's been this way since the days of BR, but it kind of makes you stop and think! Grangemouth Refinery is actively connected to the rail network for freight purposes.
Crazy. Just how difficult is it for Scotrail to use trains to move their fuel? I suppose it's 'cheaper' by road: no track access chrges for a start. Economics of the madhouse though to transport fuel by road from Grangemouth to Haymarket depot or Portobello junction...
One of my dad's previous jobs as an emergency planner occasionally involved considering what might happen if any of the potentially-hazardous cargoes transported in bulk by train through Lincoln (through the city centre, across the level crossing over the high street) had their hazardousness exploited.
Up until the late 80s, Texaco had a small refinery or fuel storage depot or something at Granton, connected to the railway. It was on the "wrong" side of the road, so the train would run down what is now the North Path network, through Trinity station, across the now demolished bridge, along the now levelled embankment through Wardie and then had to cross Granton Square and West Harbour Road (there's still some rails embedded in the ground here outside the Len Lothian storage place).
There wasn't a gated level crossing, so the regulations stipulated that the train slowed to walking pace and a man walked infront of it waving a red flag. There are some photos here and here.
Compared to petrol, kerosene and diesel have higher flashpoints and are not as liable to explode. Diesel in particular.
The line is currently cut back to Powderhall for the bin train. With any luck it will be lifted completely and surfaced for bicycles when the new mega-depot is built at Millerhill.
Important we get a good turnout for this, to show that it's still an issue... I think there are plans for flyering bikes to spread the word.
I'm posting this 'for info'.
As SRD is slightly indisposed, it would be good if a person/people (eg PoP flyerers) wanted to help/co-ordinate.
Some people here were at the SCCS event which Keith Brown spoke at.
That was also a weekday lunchtime so numbers are bound to be fairly small.
This was one of the reasons for organising the first PoP at the weekend.
"
I can print them off if folk are able to flyer. If willing volunteers just want to get in touch with me directly to let me know roughly how many flyers they need and we can arrange how I get the flyers to them.
"
Latest POP post http://pedalonparliament.org/why-we-need-to-see-double-it-works/
4 x A6 flyers for DIY printing -
http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/sites/default/files/WantToSeeDouble-poster4up.pdf
Tomorrow
St. A Ho 1 - 1:30
I shall have to do that multimodal thing and get the bike on the train.
Realised I will have same jacket and quite possibly same shirt (it's been washed) on as last time
I was tempted to wear the same sweater, but I couldn't find it in the 20 seconds I alloted before I gave up and dropped the base. Into the pannier. Wubwub.
I don't think I noticed your shirt and jacket as I'd been wondering how you'd avoided toe-strike on your front wheel with those shoes.
I'll have on the same top and shorts as last time. I think my handlebars are different.
Starts in an hour.
[tougueInCheek]With all this 'traffic' on clothing, is there some sort of dress code? I'd hate to be turned away due to inproper cycling clothing...[/tougueInCheek]
I'd been wondering how you'd avoided toe-strike on your front wheel with those shoes
Only cycling in straight lines...
Actually bike has particularly poor front clearance so you get used to positioning your feets in a certain manner depending on direction and tightness of turn.
Not the biggest of turnouts it must be said
Couple of suits smirking from behind a window
About 200.
I couldn't make this one as I was attending a meeting.....of my son's primary school Eco Group. The irony is not lost on me.
view from lurking at the back... nice to meet CCE folk there.
@ i
The problem with that article is that for many regular cyclists, specialist clothing is normal clothing. I never go out on my bike wearing jeans (for example) unless it's a race to get to the post box before the collection time.
I just wear what's comfortable and practical for me. You could argu that cycling possibly has many more clothing styles that any other activity. Motor racing aside, driving had almost no specialist clothing (gloves aside), and the same goes for (urban) walking unless you're dressed for an event you're going to.
Knocking cycling-specific glasses is getting a bit silly. I always wear a helmet when cycling so I'm not about to stop just because it's a low-speed event - it might even be easier to have a tumble when lots of people are tottering along at < 5mph! Most of my cycling jackets are hi-viz because when the weather gets foul, it's hardly surprising that I also want to be more visible..
But back to my point, the majority of keen cyclists wear some form of cycling-specific clothing, whether that's lycra, mtb gear, "courier-chic", caps and woolly jumpers or whatever, so I think any photograph of cyclists en masse or illustrating an article is likely to create or embrace one stereotype or another.
That article even suggests changing into "ordinary clothes" once you get to a protest etc. Apart from finding somewhere to change, you then accept a stereotype that the cyclist will have panniers or a backpack. Can't win! :-D
I sometimes wonder whether people who seem to be claiming that helmets and cycling gear put 'normal' people off from cycling are actually just showing their own prejudices. If you are inordinately sensitive to people wearing helmets then a gathering of people wearing helmets is a BIG DEAL, but I suspect most people would just think 'that's a bunch of cyclists'.
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