Sparked by another thread, there seems a general dislike of the concept of people taking bikes in/on the car to places that they will then go cycling. I can understand that for many there's a 'why drive there when you can just cycle' attitude, and for most of us here that's entirely right, but I'm going to speak up in favour of the practice.
Simple fact of the matter is, as many threads on here testify, and as PoP's existence gives credence to, many many people find the roads simply too dangerous to ride on. It may be misguided (or it may be based on things like the 'rubbish driving' threads here - I've been banned from telling my other half of any close calls on my commute). But if we don't have somewhere where people can gain that confidence first then they may not ever make that jump onto the road.
My other half had got into the habit of cycling to work with me, and had moved on to riding home often on her own, then one morning an eejit in a Saxo deliberately tried to ram me, and gone was her confidence on the roads (or rather in the drivers on the roads). The missing links in provision from Porty Prom to her work a little off Gt Junction St saw the bike left in the garage. Then she broke her leg walking, and the habit of the bike at weekends was lost as well.
But. New bike (cheers @thebikechain!), and we've been out a couple of times now. The latest was driving to Cousland and taking the Sustrans route as far as West Saltoun. Cousland is only 7 miles from the house, but on main and fast roads, with big hills for someone who hasn't been cycling much at all in the last 18 months. The off-road route means she can concentrate on getting back used to the bike with no worry of any traffic.
And think of how many families there are out there who simply won't take their kids out onto the roads. It's one of PoP's stated aims, to make cycling safe for 8(?) year olds. Without, at the moment, traffic-free off road routes those kids might not get out on bikes at all - whereas again the off-road routes allow them to gain confidence, as well as necessary bike-handling skills. It can create a cycling 'habit'.
And none of this is at the expense of calls for safer cycling on the roads - but we don't have that yet for many many novices, and it will take time to implement.
As it happens some of the missing links for cycling to Mel's work have been filled. It's not entirely off-road, but the road sections are the easier ones to negotiate, and some more route-planning (even though I wish it wasn't necessary to have to think that hard about it) takes a slightly looping, but altogether pleasant, direction - meaning, weather willing, while I'm off on Easter Monday we should be trying the commute again.
That's all a bit rambling - but in essence, I'm not going to chastise anyone for driving somewhere to go for a cycle.
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