CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting

Today's rubbish canal cycling

(144 posts)
  • Started 11 years ago by pixelmix
  • Latest reply from I were right about that saddle

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123…5

  1. Kirst
    Member

    I find that if I ting my bell well in advance, when I'm still quite a long way away, as long as people hear it, when they look round they realise that I'm so far away that I'm tinging to announce my presence rather than to barge past them. Of course, not everybody hears. Maybe I should have a troop of semi-naked well-oiled men with trumpets heralding my presence instead.

    I do like the idea of cowbells or something similar. I might just have a look on amazon and see what there is. People hear me coming on the Innocent in the morning anyway because I'm generally "singing" along with whatever's on my mp3 player, unless I know that there's somebody near enough to hear me. I wouldn't deliberately inflict that on anyone. I generally have my mp3 player set to "random" so my soundtrack is very eclectic.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  2. sallyhinch
    Member

    can you get the semi-naked well-oiled men on Amazon too? I did get some vouchers for my birthday but I was going to squander them on books...

    Posted 11 years ago #

  3. Greenroofer
    Member

    You can get semi-naked well-oiled men on Lothian Road on a Saturday night, but I assume it's not that kind of 'well-oiled' that you have in mind. I assume you're thinking loincloth rather than Burberry.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  4. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Semi-naked well-oiled men? Sounds like a Right Said Fred music video to me.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  5. Smudge
    Member

    Moving away from the semi naked oiled men diversion(!)
    I find a bit of freewheeling on a Hope hub is a tactful way of alerting all but the terminally inattentive to my presence :-)

    Of course I also have a lovely brass bell, my voice, or if people need/deserve it the airzound* as other options :->

    *It should be pointed out that I have not yet felt the need to use the airzound on the canal towpath, I have used the other three though.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  6. BikeFan
    Member

    Airzound is great for approaching the narrows at bridges. I still slow down, but find if there's anyone on the other side they definitely wait to see what's coming through.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  7. Kenny
    Member

    Re: the 6mph limit thing - I am not sure whether that's a speed limit on the path or in the canal. I'm not a fast runner, but my average pace is still above 6mph so it seems unlikely that it's for the path? And clearly, if you can only cycle @ 6mph, then it's pretty pointless as I'd rather jab forks into my face than cycle at that speed.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  8. chdot
    Admin

    "I recently found out at the canal celebration event that it IS 6mph for cyclists..."

    http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3812#post-40089

    (Many other threads are available)

    Posted 11 years ago #

  9. TonyJ
    Member

    A different slant on this. As a canal user (the wet bit!) I get a bit twitchy when I see bikes riding past on the cobbles over the Almondell aquaduct when the wide bodied barge (steel hull, 55 ft long) has less 1 foot clearance each side and takes a fair bit of stopping even from <4mph. If anyone went into the water close to the barge they would have to shift to get out before being scrunched. This would apply at bridges where there might be more likelihood as someone going in when encountering an oncoming pedestrian or bike.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  10. Smudge
    Member

    The limit is 6mph, but of course the waterways rules also forbid riding at night... so no commuting in the wintertime then!

    Posted 11 years ago #

  11. splitshift
    Member

    wintertime commuting, not allowed ? not on the towpath, but with suitable navigation lights, surely a cold winter will provide thick ice ? :)besides, pedestrians have more room to scuttle away as you aproach, sideways, sliding nearly out if control, bells ringing or pinging !
    I dislike walking on the canal because of those pesky cyclists ! the ones with no bells, no freewheel, no voice, but wide elbows, a fear of the wet side of the path and a surly grimmace as they attempt to speed past ! A very loud, "your welcome" after the non existant thank you can produce some strange looks !
    scott

    Posted 11 years ago #

  12. Greenroofer
    Member

    Yesterday's rubbish cycling was from the two chaps on singlespeeds (I suspect also fixies, given that they didn't ever stop pedalling).

    <rant>So listen chaps, while you may think your bikes are quite cool, it is definitely not cool to go hammering under bridges and past pedestrians at 18mph (I know, I was trailing you with a speedo on my bike) when you don't appear to have either a bell or brakes. This isn't New York, and you're not bike couriers: it was 5.30pm and the towpath was busy with other bikes and pedestrians.

    Whistling when you approach a blind bridge is not the same as ringing a bell or shouting an intelligble warning. Cutting close to people at the kind of speed you were doing is not acceptable, and if you are going to do it, you could at least have the manners to say 'Thank you' as you pass people.

    I trailed along behind you ringing my bell and thanking people and generally trying to repair some of the damage you were doing to the reputation of cyclists.
    </rant>

    Posted 11 years ago #

  13. gembo
    Member

    I was watchingnsomemskinny jean skinny bike boys today cutting up traffic and riding on the pavement around ardmillan at 14.30, maybe they are a gang?

    Posted 11 years ago #

  14. Greenroofer
    Member

    There was three of them: the one in front of me had drop bars with no bar tape. As you say, skinny jeans with one rolled up leg.

    Some kind of Masonic group, perhaps...

    Posted 11 years ago #

  15. gembo
    Member

    Yep same m. o. As the three I saw tape and jean leg wise. But it might just be the trend, I will look out

    Posted 11 years ago #

  16. Dave
    Member

    (I know, I was trailing you with a speedo on my bike)

    Does make it sound like you were going at the same speed... or were you catching up in between the busy bits?

    Posted 11 years ago #

  17. Greenroofer
    Member

    @Dave - On all the blind bends, narrow bits and past all the people I slowed down as I always do. With three years of daily towpath commuting between Meggetland and Riccarton, my brakes seem to come on automatically at all the hazards! On the long straight wide bits with no people I put some effort into catching up with them, mainly out of morbid interest in what horrors they committed.

    Annoyingly, I had the whole ride on video, but deleted it last night because the camera was full and I'd forgotten that I might want to refer to it...

    Posted 11 years ago #

  18. Dave
    Member

    That's like headcam rule 2 (the first being, if you don't wear it, someone will crash into you) :D

    Posted 11 years ago #

  19. chdot
    Admin

    " 'New' towpath conduct plan"

    http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=9845

    Posted 11 years ago #

  20. SRD
    Moderator

    Not sure this shows at all well.

    [+] Embed the video | Video DownloadGet the Video Plugins

    Basically, we're booting it along the canal on the tandem, watching out for peds, when this bloke comes along, overtakes the girl on scooter, forcing us to come to a stop (when i look behind me to make sure there's no one about to rear-end us).

    Posted 10 years ago #

  21. wee folding bike
    Member

    This video is private.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  22. SRD
    Moderator

    fixed. sorry 'bout that.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  23. davidsonsdave
    Member

    Although I am only on the canal for 300m, out of my 10 mile morning commute, it is the worst part of my journey for conflict with other cyclists.

    On Thursday, a turnip travelling too close behind me skidded as he jammed on his brakes as I slowed to wait for a gap to pass a jogger - something that was easy to anticipate.

    This morning, a prize turnip on a two-tone blue-white Raleigh road bike was so close behind me, he actually had a good sized overlap on my back wheel as we were both waiting for a gap to pass a pedestrian. My calls for him to back-off fell on headphone-deaf ears or he was choosing to ignore me. He shot past me at the first opportunity weaving close at speed past other canal users, including a very small boy on the leamington lift bridge.

    Without any additional effort on my part, I caught up with the prize turnip at the junction at the King's Theatre, again at North Meadow Walk spur and I wasn't far behind when he got to the junction at Forrest Road, it's just that I slowed down for the 4 trucks, tractor and grass cutter all driving along North Meadow Walk this morning.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  24. SRD
    Moderator

    "the 4 trucks, tractor and grass cutter all driving along North Meadow Walk this morning"

    ... you must have been right behind/in front of Andrew burns and me....

    Posted 8 years ago #

  25. jdanielp
    Member

    Hmm, it looks like I could have usefully posted a lot of my "Today's rubbish cycling" concerns within this thread which appears to have eluded me in the past (although I remember having previously watched SRD's tandem video).

    I would agree that the towpath is quite bad for conflict with other cyclists, especially between Leamington Lift Bridge and Slateford Aqueduct, but I generally find that far preferable to potential conflict with motor vehicles.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  26. davidsonsdave
    Member

    As a cyclist, I prefer my short jaunt along the canal to being on the road, but I can't see how the current situation will be allowed to continue, certainly when the new School opens it's doors. Unless the towpath can be widened, I predict cycling will be banned there.

    After my experience with two-tone Raleigh Turnip on my way to work, my return journey saw me being overtaken by a spanner with a grey-top on a mountain bike as I slowed behind a lady pushing a pram, to wait for a couple coming the opposite way to pass.

    By the time he shot past me, the couple were already at the pram and replaying the incident in my mind, I still can't quite believe that he got past them all without connecting as there was no gap - he was incredibly close to the pram. All to turn off down Gibson Terrace seconds later.

    I actually apologised to the lady with the pram as I passed her.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  27. jdanielp
    Member

    This morning was quite depressing on the towpath between Viewforth and Harrison Park... I'm not sure if the wind and light rain was contributing to the general mood, but the majority of cyclists approaching pedestrians (all of whom were keeping left) from behind whilst I was cycling towards them just decided to overtake anyway despite my presence, leaving me with no option other than to slow right down repeatedly to let them pass safely, and even come to a complete stop for one train of three cyclists.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  28. friskiffla
    Member

    Before anyone else puts me on this thread, I would just like to say it was my turn to do rubbish canal cycling this morning, to the extent that I ended up in the water. No-one else was involved... I was stupid all by myself. Thanks to the guy who fished my bike out if you are on here. Also to the lady who stopped and gave me top tips on how to salvage my electronics. People are nice.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  29. jdanielp
    Member

    @friskiffla hope you're ok? Dare we ask what happened? I ended up in the reed bed in between the towpath and the water near the Calder Road bridge after underestimating the robustness of a protruding bush a few summers ago...

    Posted 8 years ago #

  30. friskiffla
    Member

    I veered slightly off the towpath onto the grassy bank of the canal when I wasn't concentrating. Then I felt the bike slip a bit, so I braked hard, and flew off. Silly me.

    I am fine. Actually I found it hilarious, although I was quite grumpy an hour later wandering around M&S soaked through and cold, unable to find anything but bikinis and t-shirts to buy grrrr.

    Posted 8 years ago #

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