CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 16years 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.
From one of the BBC Editor's Picks comments:
Most walking paths are dirt, and too slippery for use half the year. Pavements are uneven, unsafe in the dark, and dangerous when icy.
We need more dedicated cycle and walking paths that are protected from cars and usable in all weather
Too slippery for half the year?
And how much more protection is needed for a walking path than being a kerbed pavement? And 'usable in all weather'? Little roof on all pavements?
It is odd the lengths people will go to justify using the car, some people just need to admit to them selves they are lazy. Step one is admitting you have a problem!
I think I have too many bikes
"Little roof on all pavements?"
It's the future (perhaps!)
Nampypampyness and joking aside -
I think there is a case for 'outside roofs' in some places - eg from Waverley to the bus station or around some of the 'bus interchanges' - Lothian Road, Haymarket, Elm Row/ Gayfield Square etc.
Much better than individual bus 'shelters' which are never big enough and block the pavement.
Might even be able to make them look "iconic" - and attract more people to use public transport.
"
I think I have too many bikes
I know I have too many bikes.
Just sold one and bought another 1 1/2.
OT
I just love some of the comments on the BBC story. Full of reasons why people couldn't possibly cycle or walk anywhere!
It would be nice to have the time to do that. Its not so easy when you are out of the door at 7.30, and not back till 6.00 in the evening, and living 2 miles from the nearest shop makes it awkward too. Must be nice to have so much spare time on your hands.
In winter, you'd be cycling or walking in the dark outside working hours. Not safe on most roads. Most walking paths are dirt, and too slippery for use half the year. Pavements are uneven, unsafe in the dark, and dangerous when icy.
We need more dedicated cycle and walking paths that are protected from cars and usable in all weathers. Until then, I'll stick to the car, and swim for exercise.
EDIT - beaten to it by WC and steveo!
I live in a rural area with unlit roads, many of them with no pavements. If NICE want me to walk or cycle anywhere they'll have to have a word with their friends in the Dept responsible for road safety.
I'll keep using my car until such time.
As a lifelong cyclist I now put the bike in the car and drive to an area I consider safe in order to go cycling. Until the government is prepared to enforce the traffic laws I would strongly advise against cycling in urban areas. In my lifetime five of my friends have been killed while cycling. Death does not improve your health.
So, to sum up:
- 2 miles to the shops is too far.
- Cycling or walking in the countryside is too dangerous.
- Cycling in urban areas is too dangerous.
Until the government is prepared to do something about the situation, just give up and take the car!
Pathetic. Don't these people realise they are part of the problem?
"Don't these people realise they are part of the problem?"
NO.
Excuses, excuses and more excuses!
Aye, the only thing worse than a bunch of whingeing cyclists is a mob of moaning motorists! Insufferable! They should all pull themselves together!
2 miles on a bike, at a town and city average of 13.5mph is about 8 minutes 45 seconds.
Really, I'm surprised a lot of people who live in town and drive to work have the time to commute by car!
For a noob I'd suggest an average closer to 10mph, which is still only 12 minutes (though factor in traffic light stopped time and so on as well, and car queue time for a non-liking-filtering-noob).
My stock 'car is quicker' story is from a tv show a couple of years back trying to change habits. Woman would drive two kids a mile to school, taking half an hour each way. She was shown it only took 15-20 minutes walking. Went back a month later, she was in the car, when asked why she said, "We were running late, so were in a hurry"
Logic. Fail.
I find non-cyclists easily accept that the bike is quicker than the bus, but quicker than a car takes more persuasion than mere clocks can provide.
When the after school club goes full time during holidays, it takes the sproglets on half-day trips once a week and I'll often meet them at the location after my morning work is done. On the way back I usually get there a few minutes before they do on the hired coach, although I do admit I'm not pootling.
Any parents who want to collect early get this look of horror on their face when I arrive first, because obviously the only possible way a cyclist could outpace a coach across a 2-3 mile journey is if it's had a terror accident of doom and their precious offspring are right now being convected into Edinburgh's upper atmosphere above the inferno that has just carbonised them and all their friends.
The non-cyclists, that is. The cyclist ones are too busy talking bike with me.
If my understanding of roughly where my colleague lives is correct, it would take me 20 minutes brisk walking to get there, on the nice route round the back that involves a short section of very muddy path to get you onto a nice path away from traffic. He can probably drive it in 5 (this is Livingston, an industrial estate in the middle of nowhere, not central Edinburgh).
The more direct walking route has a section of straight wide road with a 40mph speed limit and no pavement. There's a perfectly good pavement right outside the office, but it does not connect to anything else. Don't ask me what the council or whoever approved that were thinking about.
It's all too easy to take for granted how easy it is to ride a bicycle, once you've acquired a certain level of fitness. A reasonable level of fitness can be achieved in a few weeks, but getting over that hurdle is a blocking point for many to take up cycling.
I recently started running. After 6km I was an exhausted, sweaty mess. It took me a couple of days to recover each time. I imagine this is how people feel when they start cycling for the first time!
@chdot Just sold one and bought another 1 1/2.
The Pug plus something else?
@chdot
Just sold one and bought another 1 1/2.
& which half - front or back
"
It's all too easy to take for granted how easy it is to ride a bicycle, once you've aquired a certain level of fitness. A reasonable level of fitness can be achieved in a few weeks, but getting over that hurdle is a blocking point for many to take up cycling.
"
This is very true.
In some ways it's surprising how many uncyclists start (or return to) cycling.
It's not just 'fitness'. Plenty of normally fit people will find that they are using different muscles - not helped by a tendency to have the saddle too low for 'safety' reasons.
And the hills, weather, dark, motorists, potholes etc.
So if you know anyone who has started cycling recently encourage them.
And don't say they are wimping out if they take a break over the winter - maybe encourage a bit of weekend riding on some of the sunny windless days we do get, or ask if they are 'ready to start again' sometime next spring.
1 + frame.
It's a project...
Or two projects.
Or...
In some ways it's surprising how many uncyclists start (or return to) cycling.
I know i spent a few weeks on the turbo before my grand return after an abortive return a few years earlier.
"I think there is a case for 'outside roofs' in some places"
I've always wondered why Edinburgh (or the UK in general) doesn't have more covered arcades along the front of buldings...
"Which really is more deadly: cycling or sitting down watching TV?"
Along with the time factor failure of taking the car on these short trips is the fact that people are not doing their cars any good whatsoever:-
- The engine doesn't get up to temperature
- Condensation gets into where it shouldn't
- The combustion is not efficient, lots of corrosive material is going down the exhaust manifolds
- The brakes don't get properly warmed up
- The gearbox oil is thick
- The engine management will invariably be running in "enrichment mode".
- Particulate filters will get clogged.
- .....
As a car lover I could never subject a vehicle to this - you're basically systematically destroying it!
That's a particularly good article. I especially like this quote:
"There are two interventions that we know increase walking and cycling: living in the Netherlands and living in Denmark."
Somebody should pass that one on to whichever-politician-it-was...
It's not just 'fitness'. Plenty of normally fit people will find that they are using different muscles - not helped by a tendency to have the saddle too low for 'safety' reasons.
Fitness is a surprisingly specific animal. I found I was unfit on geared bikes after an extended period of riding fixed/single.
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