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CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".

IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
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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.

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CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Events, rides etc.

1. Wilmington's Cow
   Member

   Right, just been reminded of this on the Innocent Tunnel Game thread - let's just set a date and do this. I'm proposing the wee small hours of Saturday 23rd June. Exactly how wee and small is up for discussion - 4am? 5am?

   My plan would be (as well as to film the whole thing for a wee fun YouTubey thingy) to bring along a camping stove and have a fry-up by the Docks at the end (will require more than one stove dependant on numbers).

   Exact route planning will need precision, plus plans of action for various light-controlled junctions.

   Posted 12 years ago #

2. chdot
   Admin

   Might need 'sacrificial' people cycling ahead to get lights to change - or is that against 'chance/skill' spirit??

   Posted 12 years ago #

3. chdot
   Admin

   Or is it about strategic track standing on slopes before lights?

   Posted 12 years ago #

4. Wilmington's Cow
   Member

   Route planning (Royal Mile/North Bridge/Leith Street/Leith Walk) thus far gives pretty gopod sightlines to adjust speed, but it might need a little planning to work out light timings so that we can adjust speed properly on the fly so as not to lose too much momentum.

   Posted 12 years ago #

5. steveo
   Member

   Sounds like a job for an e-bike... or is that cheating :D

   Posted 12 years ago #

6. cb
   Member

   Perhaps one of the 57% should be the nominated 'one' so that we can cheat at the lights withough affecting cyclist RLJing stats.

   Posted 12 years ago #

7. wingpig
   Member

   The first lights across G4B don't give east-west traffic much time so might need some clever timing. The N/S Bridge set are more generous but it's a while since I've been the only vehicle approaching them to know if they detect oncomers. Lights over to the Leith Street/Waterloo Place filter are easy to anticipate as they follow the left-turn filter and the next set onto Leith Street itself switch a couple of seconds after the North Bridge set. The ped crossings on Leith Street ought not to be a problem at that time. The two roundabouts should be fairly empty, but the various sets down Leith Walk can spend a lot of time on red when they try. Leith Walk - Constitution Street are fairly regular but there's not much slope on the approach to them if we have to wait. Across Charlotte Street favours north/south traffic but the final one across to the north bit of constitution street is non-detecting and heavily biased towards east-west traffic.

   Posted 12 years ago #

8. steveo
   Member

   Maybe a slight modification to count the number for pedal strokes required to make the target?

   Posted 12 years ago #

9. Uberuce
   Member

   This is where my oft-hypothesised IR front light would come in handy. If the sensors work high enough up the IR spectrum, then you might not need to put that much near IR out to trip them.

   If they're down at the heaty end, then it's time to go older school and jury rig a reflector onto a camping stove...

   Posted 12 years ago #

10. Uberuce
    Member

    This is where my oft-hypothesised IR front light would come in handy. If the sensors work high enough up the IR spectrum, then you might not need to put that much near IR out to trip them.

    If they're down at the heaty end, then it's time to go older school and jury rig a reflector onto a camping stove...

    Posted 12 years ago #

11. chdot
    Admin

    Don't suppose there are any CEC Signals people here...

    Presumably there is someone in a traffic control centre somewhere (24 hours a day) who may or may not be able to change lights??

    Posted 12 years ago #

12. wingpig
    Member

    We could each carry a spare wheel mounted on a hinged pole attached to the handlebars, transfer some of the front wheel's momentum to them before braking and then re-use the same energy to give ourselves a wee push off in case we get trapped somewhere too unslopey.

    Posted 12 years ago #

13. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    "Presumably there is someone in a traffic control centre somewhere (24 hours a day) who may or may not be able to change lights??"

    How fab would that be?

    Posted 12 years ago #

14. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Or is it about strategic track standing on slopes before lights?

    Trikers need not apply. ;-) Or can they use hands-on-front-wheels if that doesn't count as pedalling?

    Anth, might be good to put this in as an event for Bike Week. I will most likely be at the York cycle show that weekend though.

    Posted 12 years ago #

15. chdot
    Admin

    "might be good to put this in as an event for Bike Week"

    Don't forget anyone can organise anything for Bike Week (doesn't even need to be precisely within those dates) and get free insurance - as long as they register properly.

    Posted 12 years ago #

16. slowcoach
    Member

    - Uberuce: "If the sensors work high enough up the IR spectrum ..."
    I think most traffic signal vehicle detectors used to be microwave radar or inductive loop type, although there are "PIR detectors used in Siemens traffic control systems ... They detect IR radiation within the wavelength band 8 to 14 μm (distant infrared)."
    I'm not a signals person or CEC so how much flexibility there is in the signal control equipment to adjust timings for individual vehicle detections is unknown to me.

    Posted 12 years ago #

17. wingpig
    Member

    If the best trackstander goes ahead of the main group they could roll right up to the stop lines and wait to tell the traffic signals to change. When the main group rolls past the heaviest people can give the trackstanding advance warning unit a wee push/pull if there's not enough slope for them to roll through the junction from a trackstanding start.

    Posted 12 years ago #

18. steveo
    Member

    "They detect IR radiation within the wavelength band 8 to 14 μm"

    That probably scuppers LED's I think IR-LED's top out about 770 nm.

    Posted 12 years ago #

19. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    "might be good to put this in as an event for Bike Week"

    Aye, but then anyone can join in can't they? Gets publicly listed? (more people probably leads to more chance you'll have folk willing to run the reds).

    Think I need to ride the route and time all the light changes and see how they interact!

    Posted 12 years ago #

20. chdot
    Admin

    "Aye, but then anyone can join in can't they? Gets publicly listed?"

    Haven't looked this year but always used to be that you could organise 'closed' events.

    Made it easier for 'works outings' to be organised and insurance issues sorted.

    Posted 12 years ago #

21. cb
    Member

    Pedalling is clearly not allowed, but to me it would be more satisying if the route could be completed without stopping either.

    It would be nice to do a full speed version to maximise the distance. That was the whole 'point' after all, was it not?

    Posted 12 years ago #

22. kaputnik
    Moderator

    you know me. I'm always up for these kinds of things. I've also got stove / camping frying gear etc. Perhaps out by the Gormley statue would work for breakfast. Or head along to Porty for the sand?

    Posted 12 years ago #

23. Uberuce
    Member

    Well duh. It's just occurred to me I can do this on black fruity by taking the chain off at the Castle and returning it at the Docks.

    Posted 12 years ago #

24. chdot
    Admin

    Optimist...

    Posted 12 years ago #

25. Uberuce
    Member

    If you're going to fail, then fail so hard it's almost win.

    Posted 12 years ago #

26. chdot
    Admin

    No, I meant getting all the way with a stop!

    Posted 12 years ago #

27. ruggtomcat
    Member

    I think if you get stopped you should turn around and try again... :)

    I may come to regret this post.

    Posted 12 years ago #

28. wingpig
    Member

    *bump*

    ...or, on the Lawnmarket, *bumpbumpbumpbumpBUMPbumpbump*

    Posted 12 years ago #

29. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Ah yes, had forgotten the date that I myself had set... Given the weather I believe this will be a 'put off until it actually appears to be summer' event.

    Now, must start working out the great washing machine challenge...

    Posted 12 years ago #

30. Uberuce
    Member

    Have trailer, will be challenged.

    Posted 12 years ago #

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