We really need to get people out of cars, they bring out the worst in people. You never see the levels of aggression on the Tube, train or walking the streets, that you see in cars.

started to try to do me for dangerous cycling

We’re screwed really aren’t we, when even the Police aren’t well enough educated about the needs of people riding bikes

None on my regular commute but given the general ignorance of the Highway Code, lack of respect for speed limits/priorities and general antipathy towards cyclists which is the normal culture for driving in the UK I’m not too sure they’re a good idea.

If people knew what they were for and drove accordingly I’m sure they’d be fine

The bus driver decided to ‘teach her a lesson’ by swerving into her,

I assume you reported him? We had a van driver have a go at taking out every one of our club group on Saturday. We badly need some kind of psychological assessment in the driving test so that people so easily angered can’t get behind the wheel. Especially as a ‘professional’ driver as that means they’re on the road 7-8 hours a day – an awful lot of opportunity to kill a cyclist!

Core strength for a healthy back, climbing and power
Stretches for conditioning and keeping injury at bay

+1 for Pumptrack if you have one. You get a great upper body workout and improved technique and it’s far more fun than the gym

brooess
The idea of taking a risk is seen as stupid and dangerous, which means people try and avoid risk, rather than accepting it as a fact of life and working out ways to manage it.

I wouldn’t say that, although I wouldn’t say people as a whole take too much risk.

Have you never had people tell you they think you’re mad for mountain biking cos it’s ‘too dangerous’?

I think there’s a generally pretty poor understanding of risk assessment across the population as a whole – not just in transport but health as well.

The idea of taking a risk is seen as stupid and dangerous, which means people try and avoid risk, rather than accepting it as a fact of life and working out ways to manage it.

Tribalising it and suggesting it’s just one group that has the problem (whether it’s cyclists, drivers, pedestrians) just makes it harder for society as a whole to have a debate about all of us just taking more responsibility for our behaviour…

😯 There’s some worrying stuff in that Facebook page…

IME people I’ve known who hold racist views (or were anti any minority) have usually had significant personal issues to deal with – low self esteem, insecurity, anger issues, difficulty coping with change etc – they’re rarely thoughtful, pleasant people in the first place… usually just projecting their own problems on the easily persecuted minority…

The increase in this kind of talk at the moment is just people struggling to cope with the 2008 shock and the realisation that we’re not going to stay a prosperous country without significant change and hard work – globalisation has brought us a lot of competition from the developing world. Racism has always been rife at times of economic hardship – see 1930s Germany…

The Economist makes an interesting observation about the impact of immigration on economic growth. The overall UK % of White British in the population is 90%. In London it’s 50%, which is also the richest part of the UK.

Go figure…

You are Gussie Fink-Nottle and I claim my five pounds!

Strava is great for baiting the local roadies that target every segment. I purposely set one up at work that finishes 20 metres inside our main gate, past the security box, it’s funny as **** when you see someone bursting their erse up the hill then having to hammer the anchors on!.

😯

So you’ll be taking responsibility then, when someone hurts themselves? I take it you’ll be happy to pay their medical bills or compensation if they come off?

Do yourself a favour and take the segment down before you hurt someone…

I find I ride more if the bike is pleasureable and efficient to ride.

A proper road bike just rolls along in comparison to a slicked-up MTB – thinner tyres, lighter wheels, more efficiently-sized wheels, more efficient position, frame better designed for putting the power down.

So if you want to maintain fitness through winter, get a bike you’ll enjoy riding, and then you’ll ride it more.

But as above, don’t spank a load of cash, winter bikes have to deal with a lot of grime which can take it’s toll

If mountain bikes are fit for purpose for road riding, how come road bikes still exist, years after mountain bikes were invented? 😀

The amount of asshats I see on my commute clad in black, racing their way along the Etape du Embankment with pathetic (or no) lights is truly depressing.

Simple
Club riding, maybe leave the lights off. As a group you’re pretty visible anyway.
Commuting: do your best impression of an Xmas tree… and keep your eyes out for some ropey driving

Find it amusing/ridiculous the amount of roadies around who are on expensive bikes with expensive clothing/garmin etc. but seem to begrudge paying more than £0.49 for a rear light. Perhaps a proper light would ruin the weight distribution or aerodynamics of the bike…

Modern super-bright lights on a club ride would blind the guy behind you…

Isn’t the UK in a shed-load of debt (and adding to it, even under a Tory government). Or are we not supposed to talk about that!

I was run off the road on Sunday (riding single file)… my clubmates went and had a word. Apparently the driver couldn’t see what was wrong about it.
If they’d not been a layby to ride into, I’d have been knocked off. The mind boggles at the lack of empathy that seems to result when people are isolated in metal boxes. Even as bad as the Tube can get, you don’t get people physically assaulting each other.

Unluckily for the guy on Sunday I think we have his reg number so I’m sending the Police round for a word… funnily enough it was around Sevenoaks too!

Edit: signed the petition but it really doesn’t go far enough. It’s the daily abuse and harrassment that seems to be acceptable behaviour that needs to be stamped out – that’s what’s putting off the new riders. And some of the anti-stuff on national and social media surely could be charged as intent to cause harm?

It’s the nasty prejudice we need to get on top of…It seems we can have a cyclehatred Twitter feed but not a blackpeople or homosexualhatred Twitter feed…

I think that prices are definitely rising fast in the more affordable areas.

Here’s my theory based on a quick comparison on Rightmove between Sydenham/Forest Hill (lower down the scale of desirability) compared with Dulwich and Streatham (SW postcode, which does seem to count in London Village!)

Prices in the nicer areas are now so high that people are looking at the less desirable areas. This high demand for limited supply is pushing up prices in areas which were previously cheap.

The more ‘mature’ areas are not rising at the same rate as people can’t afford it. But shortly, the ‘cheaper’ areas will soon be at the same level…

The Overground links Forest Hill/Sydenham with the City which is means people with higher incomes are now willing to live there.

These people are forgetting to look at the more mature areas and don’t realise they’re paying the same to live in the ‘cheaper’ areas…

I’m concerned that this didn’t put you off before.

Have you even looked at alternatives?

It has.
I thought I’d get a valuation to see what the likely price would be. Having seen such an absurd price I’m looking wider, and what I can get for £300 is vastly superior in what I’d deem better areas – Dulwich + Streatham

They think I’m a ‘hot buyer’ because I’ve said I like the flat and I’d like to buy it:

But now I’ve seen what they expect for it, add in the monthly service charge/ground rent of £190pcm (which as well as making it less affordable for me, will also make it harder for me to sell in the future), and what else I can get priced at £300k (both here and in nicer parts of S London, I’ve pretty much walked into the freezer…

The mind boggles that anyone thinks people have that much money for a small 2 bed flat in far from the best area!

This country needs to chill out. Hugely. Way too much aggro about what are basically first world problems…

This is what 😯 was invented for 🙂

Prince – what a poseur 🙂

Personally I’m surprised, but some people have very little curiosity and don’t do anything much to find out stuff for themselves – so if it wasn’t included his school curriculum then maybe he really does know nothing.

For e.g. I was never taught about Mao or Stalin and I’m still shocked that given the numbers they killed were massively higher then the Holocaust, that they’re not given the same profile in our national conversation.

But ignorance is a funny thing. Most (59% of women and 69% of men IIRC) people in the UK are overweight and obese but don’t appear to be aware of the damage they’re doing to themselves, despite massive amounts of information and education…

The lawyers will get involved whichever way it goes tomorrow… sadly

I did it for a while a couple of years ago – it’s great. But I would recommend going to a class so you can get taught, rather than self-teaching. Everyone has to start somewhere and every class I went to had mixed ability. It was great after a couple of months where I started to be able to do stuff I couldn’t when I first started

After 4 weeks it’s getting less painful. Certainly sorts out sore muscles

Sub 38 10k run. Just required focus and effort with a bit of belief.
tbh most barriers to success are in the mind/self-created. Glad you got through your barriers, takes courage IMO

I had panniers and a rack for a while. Couldn’t get on with them and the effect the weight had on riding. BUT – massive caveat – this was a very stop/start commute across London. On the bits where I had a clear run it was fine and carrying the weight became unnoticeable.

This anti-cycling angle taken by parts of the media and the public is so childish… ‘you don’t want to play my game so I’m going to bully you and call you names’ I’m not sure they realise how immature they look…

And the best part of it, they’ve lost the argument!

Two knighthoods last year, massively improved public profile of the professionals, massive public support for ToB, Boris Bikes and Ride London, and increasing numbers of people cycling…

There are a lot of factors driving down car usage all across the developed nations, not least the fact that it’s generally a rotten experience, as well as expensive.

The haters can whinge, petition, lie and manipulate as much as they like but they’re not going to reverse a long-term trend…

Just hope I can ride unscathed in the meantime…

The comments on the Telegraph article are hilarious… I like social media 🙂

I like the fact the models are named after the years he won TdF. He’s the only American who can do that 🙂

IIRC the front triangle is Time, the rear are Greg’s design.

It’s not the strongest idea really is it? It’s a bit worrying that it seems to be being presented as a flagship policy…

The whole UK economy is facing strong headwinds in terms of current and future sources of growth. We’re fighting to adjust to globalisation and the increased competition and change in balance of power this is bringing, capitalism clearly needs closer management to tame the swing from boom and bust…

The Tories are not exactly showering themselves with glory in what is supposed to be their strength – managing the economy…

And this is the strongest reason Milliband has given so far to convince us to vote labour…

My monthly outgoings are c£2.5k. The main component of that is my rent at £1k. My gas and electricity combined is £50… so holding down energy prices will save me what, £10-20 at most? I could save that my going out one night less a month…

So even as a populist vote winner it’s hardly the strongest idea is it?

The mind boggles about the discussions these guys are having about how to deliver stable economic growth and stable living standards…

Things I’ve only just realized: in large organisations, being good at what you do isn’t the secret to success.

This. Plus working hard to do a good job is also not the secret to success in the corporate environment. <although it seems pretty effective in most other situations!>

Also, how unutterably manipulative and dishonest people can be when they feel threatened.

My life got a whole lot better when I finally accepted these 3 things!

40 and a half here and hardtail only.
Don’t ride MTB so much as road these days but still love my Soul and no intention of changing it for anything else. I can’t imagine finding a nicer ride tbh, and for Surrey Hills I find a hardtail is more fun than full suss. I do lots of core work so my back can take it aok

Maidenhead to Shenfield via Crossrail.
That’s Numberwang!

Hope that helps.

Boo.

<flounces>

Across Trafalgar Cross to Charing Square, swapping between Covent Court Road and Tottenham Garden.
Without deviation, hesitation or repetition

Striking a diagonal to Harlesden.

Doesn’t meet the 1688 French crochet requirements (v3.8.92). I call foul.

Overtaking without checking there’s space to do so seems to be on the increase.
Number of times when I’m driving I’ve found myself head on to another car which has pulled out past a bus or line of parked cars into my lane… I’m in big silver box, did you not see me?

Happens all the time on club rides – cars nearly driving into traffic calming measures, nearly having head-on collisions… God only knows quite what’s going on in their heads!

My very favourite was a car overtaking us on a country lane last year, pulled out and had to stop dead so they’d didn’t have a head-on with the car coming the other way. Cue two drivers staring at each other on one side of the road while we just carried on and the overtaker was back where they started…

The ‘antis’ are bitter because they realise they’ve lost the argument. The crowds of new riders and the crowds out to watch ToB demonstrate this.

The wiser business owners e.g. Peaslake Village Stores are creaming it in

The antis noticeably accuse cyclists of all kinds of evils which are prevalent in car drivers just as much, and interestingly seem to miss the basic physics that demonstrate that a car driven poorly will do far more damage to the human body and the general environment than a bike ever could… maybe they should get some counselling to deal with their anger issues instead of persecuting a minority group