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.
A friend suggested that I should do a 100 mile ride next Sunday.
Is for Action Medical
Not expecting sponsorship - but of course if anyone wants to pledge money they can pm me.
(Quite aware that charities are a personal choice)
Been so busy at film fest work that I've not had chance to look at route. Should be nice and hilly...
Trikes have some very low gears..
Post some pics of yer trike please.
We should have some action pics by next week. Or maybe some excuses on how 100 miles was just too far....
Maybe see you there Laidback. I've got my name down for it but I might do the Lepra Edinburgh - St. Andrews (or Musselburgh - Crail) instead if the weather forecast is better for Saturday.
Might see you both there then. I'll look out for trikes. It could be my first cce "spot", though I think I know who one of you is.
Good luck to Laidback and Cyclingmollie. Looks like being a nice weekend.
Good luck to all of you! Hope you have a great ride.
Thanks for that all of you. I've done the St Andrews Ride a couple of times. St Andrews really is the original bike charity ride - no doubt chdot has a vintage shot he could post. Done back in the days when car ownership was lower and charity rides were less common.
Busy weekend - I think there are three rides on...
cyclingmollie / amir I think you'll spot us - other rider is not forumer. Be good to catch up. Mind you the departures will be in small batches I think so might not overlap.
amir and Min - thanks for that. The weather forecast looks good and I'm really looking forward to it.
LaidBack - you should be easy spot if you are on trikes but I've met you often enough before to be able to recognise you. I spoke to someone who did this ride last year and he said that there were three well stocked food stops on the way round.
Superb organisation by Action Medical. Great signing, loads of marshalls, three food stops with friendly helpers and a great welcome back in Stirling. Chapeau to the guy doing the 100 mile route on a hand cycle. Highly recommended.
Was well signed and catered for. Despite that we were still very slow... not the last but close to the end.
A lot of 'elite' riders with road club colours. The trikes were exactly the wrong thing to keep up with them. Then again it wasn't a race for us.
Scenery and around Loch Katrine was glorious.
The guy on the handcycle had to quit out at Lennoxtown we heard. Some effort though.
Cool, well done guys! Sounds like a great day. Hope you are getting some well earned rest now.
Some pictures courtesy of Chris Chapman.
First stop was at 29 miles at Loch Katrine. Then we did lovely traffic free around loch. View over loch looking towards Stronachlachar - pier for the Sir Walter Scott steamer.
Total height climbed over 100 miles was around 1600m I'm told.
Looks fabulous. I don't think I'd want to do it on a trike though. :-o
It wouldn't happen again if some people had their way... some 'edited' feedback from a 'keen cyclist'. The views expressed are fairly generic and would probably be supported by over half the drivers inconvenienced by the event so not at all surprising. Cycling is not popular. Cycling 'en masse' less so.
"I very much hope that your event today, in Central Scotland, passed without a serious accident. I am a keen cyclist...
I witnessed a number of near accidents and was shocked you chose to hold an event at this time of year, on those roads at that time of day.
I am very much a supporter of such events but please, please don't put peoples lives at risk by holding this event in this format again."
Should it then be held on a snowy tuesday in February to allow Sunday drivers to remain asleep at the wheel? ;-)
Of course it may well be that the cyclists he saw were riding two abreast in packs of 12.
Meaning of feedback "Roads are dangerous and meant for cars only"
I only saw more than occasional cars on the bit south of Aberfoyle. I saw no incidents with cars or heard any beeping. In fact the only accidents I saw were flats (perhaps due to the potholes) and one poor unfortunate whose derailleur exploded. (Is there a problem with compact gear systems? - I have seen a lot of mischanges recently).
It was obviously an ideal time for such an event - light, early start, Sunday, in the middle of nowhere (nearly).
There is an unfortunate attitude about cyclists being lower on the priority list.
I only saw one incident. A car driver came past at speed shouting at us to get into single file. It's odd that drivers' concern for our safety is so often expressed in expletives.
Chris and I were tooted and gestured at by Earth Angel's (high speed landscape gardening!) van. Twice. I did ask the owner if she could have a word with her guys as it seems like a bad type of promotion for your business...!
This is her reply.
I have pointed out in return that we weren't riding trikes two abreast on road near Strathblane (!). By time we were there (3pm) we had plenty of luxury cars with personalised number plates making road too busy for that kind of riding. We were not cycling in the gutter though.
For some people it seems that too many bikes on a primary route is somehow 'wrong'. (I also note how they always cite a cyclist's view).
That's a pretty poor response really. Is it really a breach of road traffic regulations to ride two abreast? The driver who shouted at the group I was in was in an oncoming car. He must have seen dozens of cyclists before he met us and yet didn't bother to even slow down. I was nearly in the gutter later on where the road really was narrow when an oncoming car left me almost no room. So sometimes even single-file is one file too many for motorists.
I appreciate that getting held up by cyclists might be annoying but a) they knew it was happening - and if they didn't they would have seen signs at every junction and b) it's only one day a year and a Sunday morning too.
Not according to the high way code not that means any thing to your average driver.
Rule 66
66
You should
* keep both hands on the handlebars except when signalling or changing gear
* keep both feet on the pedals
* never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends
* not ride close behind another vehicle
* not carry anything which will affect your balance or may get tangled up with your wheels or chain
* be considerate of other road users, particularly blind and partially sighted pedestrians. Let them know you are there when necessary, for example, by ringing your bell if you have one. It is recommended that a bell be fitted
Though i suppose it depends on how one defines busy as i've ridden two abreast along St. Johns road at 0800 before...
@Laidback, that Chappers of Scottish Commonwealth Squad erm fame?
It sounds as if some people have deliberately gone out of their way to be inconvenienced. They really need to get out more.
"They really need to get out more."
Less...
"In his attempted defence of the incident, he did however point out that riding 2 bikes or trikes side by side in breach of road traffic regulations, which was confirmed by a friend who is a competition cyclist who regularly trains on the road."
This is wrong, and the misconception is something cyclists as a group should try to address (although I don't suppose it's worth sending an extra letter to correct it in this instance).
First, and as pointed out above, you are free in law to cycle as many abreast as you desire. "Road traffic regulations" (laws) are silent on the subject, and the HC rule is advisory only, and in any case it explicitly allows for riding two abreast as quite a normal thing to do. (Gasp)
Certainly if you have not built up a long queue behind there is no reason to switch to single file (and if there is a long queue, you should pull over even if you *are* in single file).
But as a general rule there will rarely be enough space on the road to pass a cyclist safely without using the oncoming lane. This being the case, the only difference between passing a line of riders VS a double line is that the driver can pass the double line in half the time, i.e. with half the danger (they do have to move the steering wheel slightly further over though).
The only reason drivers complain about riding two abreast is that it prevents them overtaking dangerously into oncoming traffic, which is not something we should overly worry about. They have been very successful though in making even cyclists feel they should be strictly in line astern, for no good reason than their own desires.
Dave A good analysis - your right about conditioning.
Steveo No he's not 'Chappers' of Commonwealth Squad... AFAIK.
I often ride two abreast but prefer to be on the inside. I think it quite polite to pull in on occasion to let cars past as they go a bit faster than me. I go with this advice from above:-
never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends
It is sensible
Photos from this event are at http://sportivephoto.thirdlight.com/viewdir.tlx?albumid=273266&home=1
I am not going to buy mine (#350)cos I look too fat and tired - not enough energy left to suck in my paunch. Another advantage of a recumbant?
"I go with this advice from above:- never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends"
The problem is, drivers consider any road too narrow to pass you while an HGV is coming the other way to be "narrow" and any road busy enough such that you meet a vehicle to be "busy" - while any bit of road which is not perfectly straight is technically a "bend" - so when can you ride two abreast?
It's all the more silly when you consider that either a trailer or a trike will basically require you to take up the same amount of room as a pair two abreast, but you can quite legally ride that at rush hour on a bypass (well, not our bypass, but almost all others).
It's a silly rule, as there is already an actual law against unduly obstructing traffic so they'd be as well to use that and simply reference it in a comment on all riding styles. As it is, drivers feel justified in punishing riders and many cyclists don't feel comfortable at all riding side by side, when there is no real reason not to.
A few times commuting out on the A90 I rode side-by-side with another rider, to much anguish from the drivers. But when I rode on my own, I adopted a position which required them to wait for the overtaking lane to be free before passing anyway, so there was no difference in delay. But suddenly they were all quite content...
"Photos from this event are at http://sportivephoto.thirdlight.com/viewdir.tlx?albumid=273266&home=1"
It says I don't have access which is a bit rubbish.
Dave: "But suddenly they were all quite content... "
The whole problem is that cars are too wide. This is because car occupants seem to demand to be able to sit two abreast. If cars were produced with everyone sitting in line astern none of these problems with passing cyclists would ever happen.
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts