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.
@unhurt
I am relieved to see your good humour intact after what sounds like a frightening spalshdown. I love that route too, though I do it anti-clockwise, partly to avoid that very descent. Always good to hear of the generosity and kindness of strangers - we're a good species at heart.
Happy to give your bike a proper check if you like.
@unhurt - that sounds scary and painful - I hope you recover ok. Glad they were some good people around to help at the time; as there are on here - I'd be taking IWRATS up on that offer :-)
Speedy recovery @unhurt
Various coats and stuff that were flung on top of unhurt and then given to my pals whose house is nearby have all been returned to their owners by the power of Facebook
Unhurt hope you are not too stiff.
Oh, that's greet - thanks for the update! (And helps with the inevitable guilt!)
CHeers IWRATS - I might take you up on that, though the brother is thinking of riding my bike (he has admitted to looking for an excuse to have a shot...) down to the bike shop in Juniper Green. So depends if he's already had it looked at before I set out on a retrieval mission.
I have formally reported the hole in road to CEC along with a note about its effects.
Unreservedly me.
I mean, I knew what I was doing, was paying attention, knew there was no chance of any harm coming to anyone. I completely failed to consider what it would look like to a driver and her mini-swerve as she very very noticeably jumped probably means she'll go to work with tales of almost hitting an errant cyclist...
(I'd started pulling out of a junction, with two cars on the main road indicating to turn into it. They were coming from the middle lane to do so, so I knew I could pull into the kerbside lane and keep a very VERY close eye on if they were hiding another vehicle behind them that would overtake as they were turning in. There was. I was ready for it. I was going slowly, I stopped in inches. She clearly thought I was coming all the way out. Mea culpa, and no reason for me to have advanced prematurely given the other traffic around the place, I was just taking an unnecessary headstart).
To the person I came out right in front of on Teviot Place today -
Walking into town yesterday afternoon over the meadows, with smallest on a scooter. Sunny day, lots of folk about. Between the fences where the jawbones used to be there's one guy on a bike stuck unable to get out because of the flow of pedestrians, and other guy trying to wedge himself in going North. I point out to this second idiot that there is a lovely segregated bike path only 50m away, but despite his racing bike and MAMILness, he was apparently unable to contemplate this additional distance.
I just find this inexplicable. Why do cyclist put up with grief, pedalling at 2mph, bumping over the grass, etc, etc, for the sake of 50m?
I was coming along Polwarth gardens, turning right onto Harden place, car behind me, but no oncoming traffic at all. Cyclist pulls out of Harden place, turning right onto Polwarth gardens, headphones on, eyes totally glued to his right (where there is no traffic), oblivious to me - turning across his path, and to the car behind me, going where he wants to be. Bizarre.
Me,
This morning.
Been commuting on singlespeed for 3 years but went fixed for the first time ever this morning. I was a nervous wreck and was all over the place trying to stop and start at traffic lights.
Yesterday a cyclist pulled out in front of me on Drumbrae roundabout which I had unfortunate cause to navigate with a tagalong. I was proceeding gingerly to ensure that no vehicles were going to give us any bother when a cyclist proceeded straight out in front of us. She was wearing headphones but did seem to hear what I shouted at her.
I should probably include myself with rubbish navigation leading to taking a loaded tagalong over Drumbrae roundabout.
Me...
I tried a right turn into Meadowbank shopping centre over the toucan crosing thinking it was single stage and nearly got myself side swiped by a chelsea tractor because you need to do it in two.
Oops.
Me, too.
(Lightly) rear-ended a car on South Bridge after the driver stopped to let a bus out (good driving!). No harm done to car or bike, but will definitely remember to keep my distance in the future!
Cheers to the cyclist who was concerned I had hurt myself - only bruised my pride, thankfully. If you're on here, I will definitely be getting those brakes checked :)
Me, three.
Tried to overtake a gaggle of cyclists, only for one of them to continue moving right into my path. Discovered that it is possible to bounce of the side of a cyclist and not fall off even if you are not a pro sprinter. I was so embarrassed that I shot off as fast as I could, thus demonstrating that female roadies can be as rude as the male variety...
Entirely my own fault for not letting people know I was there and asking to come past.
Weirdly, on a shared use path I'd be a lot more courteous, but because it was a road I thought I would just go past. One of the reasons for trying to pass there was that I didn't want to be stuck behind them all the way round the NEPN.
Prescription sunglasses + innocent tunnel = poor cycling choice
Very slow through there today.
The person in the orange T-shirt on what looked like something with 650B wheels but which could just have been the effect of the person being tall and thin. I stayed behind them from Craigleith to Drylaw to establish that they were going generally slower than I would, overtook them before the red bridge but then discovered them inches off my mudguard when I checked behind me before turning off down Chancelot. I hope they hadn't been there the whole time.
Several recent instances of the slightly irritating dual of wheelsucking that is overtaking and then slowing down significantly. This seems to happen most often at junctions where a cyclist turns down the same road from a different direction after you with initially greater speed. Not sure it's rubbish really - I've probably unwittingly done the same but I tend to try to wait a bit to gauge relative speeds before going for an overtake.
wingpig - I'm curious why would it bother you if someone was slipstreaming you ? Especially if you didn't even notice them.
@redmist I like to know that they're there so that I can shout at them to get past or back off.
I occasionally perform curious manoeuvres like slowing down for other things on the path. I prefer people travelling behind me to be far enough back to be able to account for this. Previous mudguard-bothering people's front wheels have interacted with my rear wheel when my slowing down for a clearly-visible slow-down-worthy occurrence took them by surprise.
Although I ride regularly in groups, I agree with Wingpig. People unknown close behind me make me less relaxed - you don't know their standard of cycling and why should you have to worry about them anyway.
Each to their own. If someone wants to take a tow on me for a while it doesn't bother me. It can even be amusing to try and ride them off your back wheel ;-)
Redmist, just don't forget that we all have to make unplanned manoeuvres from time to time. It might be a stop for a phone call, it might be an emergency swerve for a pothole, it might be a moment's inattention on the brakes. With someone right on your back wheel it doesn't bode well for either you or the draftee.
Grauniad article on commuter drafting
Not knowing they're there makes it a little worse in my opinion, because when you're riding on your own you might do things differently. For example on a certain bike rather than riding round potholes I'll bunnyhop them. If I knew someone was behind I'd be a bit more obvious moving round it, and maybe even do the proper hand signal. But bunnyhopping means the person behind may plough into it and come off.
But the big thing is the sudden need to brake. For whatever reason, form people pulling out, to red lights. I'd rather not end up with someone then riding into the back of me because they'd been drafting, and take us both down.
Also there's just basic politeness. Last week I had a guy drafted me for about 2 miles into a headwind, clearly just having a breather, because he then went past (on a straight of about a mile) and just powered away. A little bit of reciprocal help would have been nice.
I had a guy 2 inches off my back wheel for a couple of miles on the canal towpath yesterday. Only knew he was there when he rattled over the cobbles under one of the bridges.
When people do that in cars I start scooshing the washers just to give them a hint, maybe we should carry water pistols on the bike.....
Ok, I see that I'm in the minority ;-) I guess my viewpoint is coloured by the fact that in decades of riding I've never had anyone ride into the back of me nor have I done that to anyone else. You can almost guarantee that it will happen to me on my way home tonight after saying that !
Years ago I had some idiot ride into the back of me when I braked due to a bus pulling out. He had the cheek to blame me so I told him in no uncertain terms that I was not putting my life at risk and he should keep a safe distance.
well - it is getting close to funny season - le tour - so I will be a bit more cautious as already there is tailgating on certain pathways. I hate it and think it is bad mannered when you do not know the cyclist and it does not matter if road or mtb
How far back do you have to be not to be considered a "tailgater"?
Same as driving, you maintain a distance far enough to not hit the vehicle in front if something unexpected were to happen like sharp braking.
Usually quoted for cars as 2s dry, 4s wet, 10s snow/ice.
Personally, I don't think these rules apply as for driving because generally the speeds are quite a bit less and it's much easier on a bike to look ahead and anticipate anything that might result in rapid braking.
Also I think the 2 second/4 second etc rule isn't the best model to follow when driving because braking depends on the square of speed, so best to factor in that a higher speed should suggest a greater distance from the car infront.
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts