Peds giving advice

spasypaddy

This morning there was severe traffic on the only road i can use to get to the roundabout near my office (there is no way to cut through on the side roads which is annoying). The whole road was blocked and as a result i sat in the traffic, i couldn't over or under take the vehicles as it was rammed both ways (its caused by parked cars).

On two separate occasions this morning peds came over tapped me on the shoulder and said 'Why don't i use the pavement?' To which i said 'Its illegal and dangerous'

What would you have done? (i was already running late for work so a few extra minutes didnt make a huge amount of difference so i just sat and waited for the traffic to clear)

Also did anyone else find it rather cold this morning?

ChrisLS

...got off and walked?...yeah it was a bit nippy...

spasypaddy

i couldn't be arsed to walk! like i said i was already running late so it wasnt a major rush!

mrchrispy

I dont think ive ever seen a junction so rammed I couldnt pick a line through.
that must have been frustrating

homercles

Probably sat it out with the traffic - some days luck's with you, some days it's not.

Chilly but not crazy - still just the base layer and jersey over that. And shorts!

Totalnewbie

Sometimes I sit it out, sometimes I get off and walk the bike along the pavement. I also had an old man tell me to ride on the pavement, and laugh at me and tell me I was 'so English' when I said no (there were lots of peds, it would have been impossible anyway).

DavidTQ

No way I would have been cycling on the pavement thats for sure... I would far rather take primary and sit in the traffic, if its really bad Id get off and push if that looked faster to me.

spasypaddy

Chilly but not crazy - still just the base layer and jersey over that. And shorts!

with you on that! My arms were cold but they soon warmed up!

I picked my way as far forward as i could get but then it was just blocked:
car parked
bus in queue going my way
van in queue the other way
car parked

Literally no room! and it was like that all the way, eventually the bus managed to squeeze through as someone saw that it was blocking the whole road and let him out!

Didnt help that a dump truck had broken down as well, god knows what would of happened had the fire station on that road needed to get to an emergency

SBothwell

spasypaddy wrote:

Also did anyone else find it rather cold this morning?

A bracing 0 degrees when I set out here in sunny Dundee, according to Metcheck. Looks like London was basking at around 6 or 7 - wheres the problem? 8)

xio

I tend to find that where I take a short cut across a pavement or through a red light (on foot, pushing the bike) that I tend to get viewed the same as if I'd been riding it anyway and trying to mow people down

fossyant

Sods law, you'd have cycled on the pavement and either got collared by a copper, or had abuse shouted at you.

I have one 20 foot section of pavement I sometimes jump on near home but it is indicated as shared use, despite being narrow - just check that no-one is on it and just trundle past the heavily jammed section, and back onto 10 foot of cycle path before the lights.

Black Keith

where the hell is this place??

I've only encountered total meltdown once where I actually shouldered the bike to get through a tiny gap, onto the pavement, then back on to the road to remount where I got some jovial banter from some council employees stuck in the jam in their truck. "that's the way to do it!"
and "it's better than a car innit!"

awesome.

but, I'd not been there before, If it was regular, I'd avoid or find a line earlier. it was the type of mexican stand-off where cars and trucks get themselves into an impossible stalemate, and traffic just backs up all around them.

this is what makes riding a bike so much fun.

Random Vince

ChrisLS wrote:

...got off and walked?...yeah it was a bit nippy...

its very hard to walk in cleats when you're not used to them, almost like heels i guess

BentMikey

I nearly went A over T three times in Boots this afternoon on my Looks, and I was walking slowly and carefully.

dazzawazza

I would love to use a more efficient system when actually moving. But the fact of the matter is commuting requires being off the bike and walking some times.
That's why I have SPD on both my bikes, because I quite often have to walk somewhere.
Quite often when I'm doing laps of RP and have numb foot I want otherwise.

spasypaddy

where the hell is this place??

church street in edmonton. Its got schools and shit down there (another reason not to jump on the pavement!)

i commute in mountain bike shoes so my cleats are recessed so there would be no problem walking! Its just not appropriate!

Today i saw the traffic was tailing back even further than yesterday so i went down the north circular instead

Cyclegent

I will always get off and walk if it saves time, but usually it doesn't save a great deal of time unless it's to avoid a big detour in a one-way system or something. If I'm stuck in a jam I find little time is gained by getting off and walking, because you can't always get back on the road easily. I also don't see much point in weaving and wobbling through traffic light queues just to get to the front, as you can lose your road space and become less visible.