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.
@ SRD
Interesting observation. I've typically found them more likely to be either "stereotypical" commuters (cycling-specific jackets, panniers etc ) or sometimes MTB riders who don't acknowledge there are times and places for big lights and urban cycle paths aren't those times.
Never knowingly been blinded by a female rider though ;-) Perhaps big lights (like over-powered cars) are predominately a big boys toys thing!
Lycra blokes, like MTBers, are more likely to be cycling out of town wihtout street lighting, and at speeds or in conditions that require a lot more lux than your average punter, so they are more likely to have blown cash on bright lights?
@[b]Focus
I reckon that was me mate, that Sainsbury's junction has always been known to me as the 5 way junction. I believe you said something like "that's a bit bright mate." I have heard friends take much worse criticism for this, so gent stands. I know how annoying it is.
To be honest my first thought was, well it works then, but I jumped off under the little bridge that takes you to the Holiday Inn and paced away, when I turned to view it I thought it was dawn it was so bright. Sorry again if it was you!
yes, you're right, it makes sense for certain types of riders to have different/more lights. perhaps I should have said 'why are the rude ones always the MAMILs'? (which is different from saying 'why are mamils always rude?' which I know is not true!)
but honestly, I did get the feeling that the blokes liked powering down narrow little NMW and forcing me to pull over / slow down when they blew past.
"Never knowingly been blinded by a female rider though ;-) "
I have been.
It's important to avoid falling in the trap of extrapolating conclusions about the wider population from our own limited experiences.
For example, I saw two examples of what I considered to be more risky cycling today - both from female cyclists without roadie clothing on.
I've seen lots of female cyclists do stupid/dangerous stuff, but it does tend to be of a different kind than the blokes with lights pushing past on narrow paths (but yes, that is just my limited experience on a limited range of paths and routes)
"...perhaps I should have said 'why are the rude ones always the MAMILs'? (which is different from saying 'why are mamils always rude?' which I know is not true!)"
I thought we were having a go at NWC for re-inforcing stereotypes, but there appears to be a bit of that here?
I've come across plenty of rude cyclists whether they're roadies, mtb'rs, commuters not to mention peds, drivers et al!
I'll step forward as the owner of two extremely bright lights (Cree XML T6 based). They are for unlit country roads and the odd spot of offroad nightriding. Also great for night running sessions up the Pentlands. Bar mounted one has a diffuser lens and is dipped down so it's more like a car beam rather than a spotlight of which half goes upwards to light up nearby clouds. Second one is on the helmet and is a spotlight but it's also angled down.
Needless to say they are always off in town as I can switch to the commuter lights. They are still fairly bright (3 Watts) and are also dipped down. The handlebars get pretty silly in winter - think barends, then grips, then brake levers, then shifters, then computer, then reflector, then 2 small light mounts, then a space for the big light with the battery slung under the stem and the cabling all over the place.
I have to say I've not seen any truly dazzling lights out there yet but then the Autumn is either very young or not begun yet.
I'm going to make prediction of what the bikes along the canal will be like in a few months:
1/4 with either bright lights dipped or reasonable non-dazzling lights forward
1/4 with laser beams/miniature suns/welding torches blinding and dazzling all in their path
1/4 with barely visible minimal lights and little to no reflectives. Also counts for people with good lights with dead batteries that only produce the faintest of glows. Seen this an awful lot with people who have cable tied lights to racks so presumably the 10 seconds involved in replacing the batteries is too much to ask.
1/4 completely unlit.
Tonight at the Craigleith/Drylaw/Maidencraig junction
“I don't need told how to use a cyclepath”
“Well obviously you do !”
This exchange of pleasantries followed on from myself approaching the junction from the south signalling Left and realising that a lady cyclist coming out of same junction was well over to her right, forcing me to abort my turn and go past her, on her left to enable my turn.
To which my comment was “if we all keep left its all good!”
The only good thing was she had stopped.
This morning just after diggers,young woman came on to the cycle lane without shoulder checking, I had to really slow down and wait behind her untll clear. I was heartened to see that she could shoulder check as she did so at the scary slip road to WAR. I quietly pointed out that she pushed on in front of me without checking. Just a bit rubbish really.
And today's bruising encounter...
Whatever you do, don't give any cheery helpful tips on the operation of toucan crossings to folk waiting at them - you'll just get dead-eyed cold hostility. Still somewhat stunned at the sheer nastiness.
Today's rubbish loitering. What were they not doing/doing wrong on it?
Nobody was really doing anything wrong, I just pointed out, in a cheery way I thought, that the crossing would change quicker if someone pressed the button. Just got nastiness back for it though.
You'd think after all these years I'd have learned that in Edinburgh one does not speak to strangers :)
I actually shouted at a cyclist yesterday after he almost got hit by a van coming around onto forrest road as he mounted the island to cross over to doctors and ride down the pavement towards bristo place.
IT really boiled my blood frankly as it's exactly the sort of thing that'll get him killed and make cyclists look terrible at the same time. HE shook his head and looked exasperated at me, I dont think he realised I was a cyclist despite I had cycling gear on (post ride pint)
CC - spooky:
@Coxy wow thanks :)
@ ARobComp - I know the feeling. This morning, heading west on Ferry Road through Drylaw, there was a cyclist ahead of me who decided to overtake the two buses stopped at the bus stop, in full-on primary position on the wrong side of the road while a bus was attempting to go straight ahead (coming towards him). The bus driver had to come to a complete halt to wait for the bicycle to slowly complete his manoeuvre, after which the bus driver sat there stationary for a full 10 seconds in complete amazement at what had just happened. As he pulled forward, I attempted to shake my head and shrug my shoulders to attempt to empathise. It's that kind of cycling that doesn't do us cyclists any favours.
@ Dunny
It definitely was me then! :-) I'm glad I came under your definition of "gent" in that case. FYI, your lights were by no means the worst I've encountered but I could only just make out the path in front of me (and beside you) - if I'd been on a path I didn't know, I would probably have needed to stop or at least slow to a crawl till I could make out the route again.
Hey, as long as the message was taken as intended and the problem sorted, it's all good. I'm sure the majority of people blinding others don't intend doing so (though I'm sure some think temporarily blinding motorists is a good idea). If only everyone could give and take "too bright" info in the we we both did, everyone would feel a lot happier in those situations :-)
What an example we set @Focus!
I'm sure we will cross paths again, you'll see the result of our wee encounter :-)
:-)
@ dunny and focus
If only this pleasant tale of advice given and received was a typical example.
Please dip your light to the left
FU
Your light is blindingly bright (designed for night time in the hills, not in town)
I know, great isn't it
I can't see because of your cheap bright Chinese light
I don't care
Me this morning.
I was quietly winding my way up Middle Meadow Walk, listening to birds singing, reflecting gently on the state of the world, and somehow it was all so peaceful that I forgot to signal before turning right for George Square, and totally failed to look behind me before making the move. So cannoned straight into a man who was overtaking me at the time. We both went sprawling. Oops. We both got a few grazes. Thankfully he was really nice about it and we both went on our way. Sorry, whoever you were.
Was the lady cycling on the pavement on her electric bicycle straight at me and my friends pushing our prams who shouted to 'get out of her way or she was going to hit us'. She then pretended not to hear me telling her to get off the pavement and to cycle on the road.
These are the incidents people remember - not the 15 cyclists who have gone past on the road incident free.
@Lezzles
I find a well-timed dip of the shoulder as the miscreant passes generally delivers a suitable lesson without being obviously deliberate.
Best not done alongside too busy a road as this has the potential to take the lesson a little too far.
Wasnae me. It was the numpty with headphones on that decided to come up my inside as I was approaching a roundabout, following about four vehicles going slowly, and taking a positive position in the road, thus leaving about four foot between me and the pavement, clearly an opportune moment to commit possibly the biggest cycling faux pas, undertaking another cyclist. I almost took him out when I indicated that I was turning left, and must have missed cracking him in the jaw by a matter of inches. I am in no doubt whatsoever that he heard me quite clearly shouting at him, eejit. Furthermore he did not turn left like I did but must have gone straight on at the roundabout because he was not behind me. Please note for any of those tempted to do so, you would not come up on someone's inside if you were a car driver, so why as a cyclist think that it is acceptable to do it to another cyclist. Clearly the man knew nothing about primary and secondary road positioning either, so it begs the question....how much does he know about roadcraft and the Highway Code? Not a lot I suspect.
...was an awful lot of bikes on the road last night c8pm with no lights. Plus one idiot, presumably heading canalwards who came through from tarvit with what appeared to be a motorbike headlamp on his handlebars.
Two cyclists this morning collared by several police officers at the corner of the Au Bar at the west end, presumably getting a fixed penalty notice for attempting the (VERY) clearly marked one-way street?
As I hopped off the bike to walk around the corner at the Au Bar, initially I thought there had been an accident as a huge HGV was sitting parked at the side of the road and the bloke cyclist was very animated. Then I heard that he was arguing over the road signage, so I figured they'd both been caught negotiating the road the wrong way. I could be wrong, but that's what it looked like :(
Actually bike parking, yesterday evening. Someone had shackled their bike to the railings on the inside of the curve on the Restalrig path just down from the new bridge over Seafield Place, as you curve down to Leith Links by the Children's Orchard. I couldn't see it on the way down, so as I took the inside line (not speeding but it is downhill) I was immediately confronted with a bike sticking out at the apex, necessitating a quick readjustment of line.
This is one place where there should be a legal cycle cut through (contra flow cycle lane).
Presume someone complained as it's not exactly 'safe' if there is motor traffic coming (legitimately) the other way.
Nice to see the police doing a bit of enforcing. Of course this is so much easier than hanging around traffic lights looking for drivers in ASL boxes.
I hope they were warned rather than given an instant ticket, but...
UPDATE I assume Claire's post means Canning Street coming from Rutland Square.
@chdot - That's the spot exactly. I've been passing that way for about six months and it's gone back and forward from two-way, single way and no entry several times.
I did feel sorry for the cyclists - the cops could maybe find something a bit more important to deal with like the endless lines of cars that sit in ASLs all the time (ARGH!). But equally the signage was beyond blatant and we need to be law-abiding and all that jazz. I got off the bike, no reason they couldn't either. It's a 30 second walk to where you can hop back on again. Hopefully the two of them just got their knuckles rapped.
Saying that, I was pushed off the bike by a van driver a few weeks ago after I was accidentally going the wrong way down a one-way street just off Queensferry Street. The van driver gave me a mouthful and awhin after forcing me off. It's pretty unfortunate there was no signage to denote the street as being one-way, hence my bafflement that gave way to anger and dirty looks when he forced past me and pushed me off the bike onto the pavement. I duly informed Clarence to put the correct signage up so it doesn't happen again. Still, what a van driving numpty. No need for that behaviour!
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