The Velotard Thread.

[EpsomWolf]

And don’t get me started on the cycle clubs insistence on riding 15 riders , three abreast through the country roads approaching Cambridge. Unnecessary.
Final moan is the 0730 Sunday morning peloton of about 10 riders who sail through the village sounding like a Dom Jolly phone sketch waking up the whole village. Insensitive yabbering at high volume when many want a lie in.

Do you mind if I ask where you are?

Sunday morning in the likes of The Shelfords, Newton, Whittlesford is like the Tour de France. Big, big cycling club territory. Big all over in fact but the south side particularly so.

Haven’t been out on the road bike for ages as get a bit anxious these days with motorists passing your right elbow at 60 mph so prefer to get on the mountain bike and nail the Roman Road dirt track from the hospital to Haverhill, or head north Quy/Lode and through the fens to Wicken. Love the solace of both of those rides too.

Must make more of an effort because ditching the town bike for e-scooter journeys is becoming a lazy bad habit too

 

[MARKakaJIM]

It's a bigger discussion than simply car v bike, I'd like to drive less but cycling is rarely going to be a viable alternative to much of my driving. Improvements in integrated public transport could hopefully remove the amount of car journeys in built up areas, which would then improve things for cyclists too with less vehicles on the roads.

 

[machin05]

Is it journey distance that prevents you from cycling as a realistic alternative to driving?

It's a bigger discussion than simply car v bike, I'd like to drive less but cycling is rarely going to be a viable alternative to much of my driving. Improvements in integrated public transport could hopefully remove the amount of car journeys in built up areas, which would then improve things for cyclists too with less vehicles on the roads.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

For me it is general fitness. I’m fifty soon and I’m not fit at all. I’ll watch cycling on the telly until they put me in a box but participating? No chance.

 

[Johnny75]

For me it is general fitness. I’m fifty soon and I’m not fit at all. I’ll watch cycling on the telly until they put me in a box but participating? No chance.

If I can do it Paddy, you can.

 

[machin05]

E-bikes are a superb option too.

 

[Tredman]

For me it is general fitness. I’m fifty soon and I’m not fit at all. I’ll watch cycling on the telly until they put me in a box but participating? No chance.

What Johnny said.

 

[Keef]

For me it is general fitness. I’m fifty soon and I’m not fit at all. I’ll watch cycling on the telly until they put me in a box but participating? No chance.

Dunno if we met when I turned up pre match the once at the Royal London, but if me a fat lad can do 4000 odd miles around Eastern Europe with no training, a bit of cycling round the neighbourhood is easily possible pad, as someone else has said E bikes are worth a look, you have to pedal them but the motors there to help on the hills and stuff.
Come on out on a bike, and you'll be another cyclist to annoy Cambridge Wolf thats got to be worth getting a bike

 

[EpsomWolf]

E-bikes are a superb option too.

They really are and as discussed in previous pages felt they (along with e-scooters (hire or private)) will be the catalyst that opens up cycling as a realistic urban transportation option for the masses.

One thing that the cycling keen often overlook though is the cost. Many feel their version of a basic bike starts at around £500 and think nothing of spending £1000’s, but that is a huge amount of money to a lot of people. God only knows what a decent e-bike would cost too.

It might be great wafting about on some lightweight carbon job, but riding uphill into a headwind on a second hand bike with a knackered bottom bracket ain’t a lot of fun. Doesn’t seem that long ago I was doing that but that’s the reality for many and unsustainable. You wouldn’t wish that on anybody.

 

[machin05]

I get what you're saying, but you could make back the £500 in saved costs in no time of you were doing decent journeys, commutes etc.
Or, the other side of the coin is the sub 3 mile journeys. Most people will do that in a car, but they are exactly the type of journey that can be done on a cheap 2nd hand bike if the infrastructure was there to be used.
We'll get a lot further with reducing motor vehicle traffic targeting those types of journeys.

 

[EpsomWolf]

Come on out on a bike, and you'll be another cyclist to annoy Cambridge Wolf thats got to be worth getting a bike

Haha, nooooo, I was a commuter cyclist for 12 years. Seriously, I hate the divide, there are f*cking morons on all sides.

You really have to look at this place for the vicious manifestation of cyclists v motorists. It’s dangerous and no good for anyone. Others have stated on here this evening the importance of recognising we are all road users, and need to work together and accept its individuals that are dangerous irrespective of their mode of transport.

This place might be a model of investment and cycling infrastructure, but the road wars are a clear sign something is wrong and we need to look into the psychology behind that before ploughing ahead on the same model path nationwide.

 

[EpsomWolf]

Or, the other side of the coin is the sub 3 mile journeys. Most people will do that in a car, but they are exactly the type of journey that can be done on a cheap 2nd hand bike if the infrastructure was there to be used.
We'll get a lot further with reducing motor vehicle traffic targeting those types of journeys.

Agreed. When my wife was working at Addenbrookes there was a no onsite parking policy for staff that lived within 3 miles. The congestion and cost of parking was enough to get most on a bike anyway, but the 3 mile policy definitely forced the ‘can’t be bothered’ lot onto bikes too.
Carrot and stick. Thing is, whether we like it or not these changes are coming rapidly to a town near you.

 

[Johnny75]

I get what you're saying, but you could make back the £500 in saved costs in no time of you were doing decent journeys, commutes etc.
Or, the other side of the coin is the sub 3 mile journeys. Most people will do that in a car, but they are exactly the type of journey that can be done on a cheap 2nd hand bike if the infrastructure was there to be used.
We'll get a lot further with reducing motor vehicle traffic targeting those types of journeys.

Thing is most families would still need a car as well as a bike just for practicality.

 

[machin05]

Thing is most families would still need a car as well as a bike just for practicality.

Oh yeah, of course. I'm not deluded enough to think cars are going to be made redundant because of a few eBikes!
School runs and commuting are a great place to start tho.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Is it journey distance that prevents you from cycling as a realistic alternative to driving?

It's about 8 miles each way to work at the moment, would be longer by bike I think as the A38 isn't an option under pedal power. Terrain would make it a taxing journey too though, and lack of facilities at work would mean sharing an office with my smelly cycling clothes whilst hoping no-one nicked my bike from outside. I'm often lugging a laptop and loads of crap around too because I spend some days on site, so becomes even more of a pain to take all that along with a change of clothes and everything else I need.

 

[lemonjelly]

For me it is general fitness. I’m fifty soon and I’m not fit at all. I’ll watch cycling on the telly until they put me in a box but participating? No chance.

there's only a year or 2 in between us, and I have been commuter cycling for the past 8+ years now, after not cycling since being a child.
Sure, first few attempts were exhausting, but actually it is awesome how quickly you build up the stamina!
You can do it if you want to. I started after realising how sedentary my life was becoming. sit in a car to get to work. sit at a desk all day. come home and sit watching telly or reading. Plus, all that time not in traffic!

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I’m on my feet for 10 1/2 hours every shift. I literally don’t sit down!

 

[lemonjelly]

then you should have good leg muscles to enable you to start cycling...

 

[Throbber3]

So you're pissed off at people talking on their bikes?

If they'd been walking would you have been equally pissed off?

Sounds like a really pretty thing to be pissed off about tbh.

No but 730 on a Sunday morning it’s not a great noise to get woken up with .

 

[Throbber3]

Do you mind if I ask where you are?

Sunday morning in the likes of The Shelfords, Newton, Whittlesford is like the Tour de France. Big, big cycling club territory. Big all over in fact but the south side particularly so.

Haven’t been out on the road bike for ages as get a bit anxious these days with motorists passing your right elbow at 60 mph so prefer to get on the mountain bike and nail the Roman Road dirt track from the hospital to Haverhill, or head north Quy/Lode and through the fens to Wicken. Love the solace of both of those rides too.

Must make more of an effort because ditching the town bike for e-scooter journeys is becoming a lazy bad habit too

Little village between Arrington and Bourn. Roads not single track but not much bigger especially towards toft and Comberton. Lots of trees and blind corners yet starting at toft right through Comberton and Barton is a cycle path recently widened so you can go all the way to Cambridge without going on the carriage way. Except too many don’t .