Dom's On The Case

girv73

I was off work yesterday and caught a bit of “Dom’s On The Case” on daytime TV. Dom Littlewood was investigating why our roads are so clogged up, and as part of it he challenged a cyclist to a commuting race along a six mile stretch of the busy A38 in Birmingham.

Richard Trantor, described as a “semi professional” cyclist, cyclocross competitor and bike shop owner, was challenged to beat Dom along one of Birmingham’s busiest commuting routes into the city centre using a bike, with Dom in the car. All rules of the road had to be obeyed, so no speeding, red light jumping or pavement hopping were allowed (for either competitor).

The result, as you may have guessed, was that the cyclist beat the car, with a margin of six minutes over the six mile, 20 minute course. Richard bought the coffees, but Dom’s was cold by the time he pulled up!

The programme is on iPlayer for the next 9 days:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... itish_Jam/

Do you find it faster by bike?

CiB

No. 20 miles is 35 mins in the car, 1h+ on the bike plus recovery, changing time & fending off the 'you must be a nutter' comments.

sarajoy

If I went up the Bristol part of the A38 (the route I cycle) in my car, I would most certainly lose to a bicycle doing the same. In the rush hour periods anyway, not if it was quiet.

Thing is my driving route skips all that and barely takes 20 mins some days - given that the cycle taking 45 mins minimum, I'm not doing it for the time-saving

soy_sauce

for me its won't be the case if i can't pavement hopping, because i don't do filtering..... dont' feel safe enough to do so. :oops:

downfader

Ahh cool I'll watch that soon, as they turned up here in southampton. I definately get around faster by bike - even walking in some cases, over the shorter milage than others I know who use the car..

...and thats even now with me not being as fit as I was last year.

So if they did it all legal was the cyclist allowed to dismount and walk any? That often cuts out the lights safely without needing to risk an rlj imo

girv73

I guess the cyclist could have dismounted, but they didn't show him doing it. He just filtered on by the traffic as you normally would. He looked pretty quick on the flat though.

biondino

henry_ho_yin wrote:

for me its won't be the case if i can't pavement hopping, because i don't do filtering..... dont' feel safe enough to do so. :oops:

You don't filter but pavement hop instead? Omg fella, you're the enemy!! Prefer for lashing of unquenchable vengeance...

FyPunK

My 6.5 mile commute is not that much slower by bike. I once went from our practice in Lytham to our practice in Cleveleys, a journey of around 12.5 miles, avg speed was 19mph (tail wind most of the way) and was 1 minute slower than a chap in the car. The route was along Blackpool prom at 2pm on a saturday afternoon in summer.

soy_sauce

biondino wrote:

henry_ho_yin wrote:

for me its won't be the case if i can't pavement hopping, because i don't do filtering..... dont' feel safe enough to do so. :oops:

You don't filter but pavement hop instead? Omg fella, you're the enemy!! Prefer for lashing of unquenchable vengeance...

well, i guess the word "hop" is abit mis-leading here as i can't hop onto the pavement yet but i do cycle on the pavement when a) in dual carriageway b) there is a non-moving tranfic.

il_principe

henry_ho_yin wrote:

biondino wrote:

henry_ho_yin wrote:

for me its won't be the case if i can't pavement hopping, because i don't do filtering..... dont' feel safe enough to do so. :oops:

You don't filter but pavement hop instead? Omg fella, you're the enemy!! Prefer for lashing of unquenchable vengeance...

well, i guess the word "hop" is abit mis-leading here as i can't hop onto the pavement yet but i do cycle on the pavement when a) in dual carriageway b) there is a non-moving tranfic.

You ride a Rockhopper anyway, so surely you have to hop!

Specialized Rockhopper:





:shock:

soy_sauce

jashburnham wrote:

henry_ho_yin wrote:

biondino wrote:

henry_ho_yin wrote:

for me its won't be the case if i can't pavement hopping, because i don't do filtering..... dont' feel safe enough to do so. :oops:

You don't filter but pavement hop instead? Omg fella, you're the enemy!! Prefer for lashing of unquenchable vengeance...

well, i guess the word "hop" is abit mis-leading here as i can't hop onto the pavement yet but i do cycle on the pavement when a) in dual carriageway b) there is a non-moving tranfic.

You ride a Rockhopper anyway, so surely you have to hop!

Specialized Rockhopper:





:shock:

same model but mine is in blue.

whyamihere

The first spot of traffic he hits (where you can see a Sainsburys) is Selly Oak. About a mile further up the road is Birmingham University. From the city centre to the university along the A38 is the end part of my commute.

In the rush hour, getting from the university out to the other side of the city centre is at least 45 minutes faster on a bike.

tardington

To be honest, I am wondering a LOT about the 'tranfic'


;-)

andy83

the route they took can be a nightmare for cars going through selly oak.

in rush hour i get to town quicker on bike than car, and any time of the day i can beat the bus journey

Richard came acorss as ok on the show, but i found him to be VERY rude when i visited his shop, forced me to find a different not so lbs but much better service

rhext

I guess it's about break-even for me. I have a 12 mile commute, the first 6 of which are along a free-flowing section of the A6 north of Derby, the last 6 of which are through Derby city centre. It takes about 50 minutes on the bike, anything between 40 minutes and 70 minutes in the car. By the time I've locked the bike, showered and changed, i'm probably a few minutes later to my desk than I would be in the car most days. But the key thing about the bike is that it's pretty much 100% predictable. A couple of minutes either way depending on weather and how I feel, but I know when I leave the house what time I'm going to be starting work. In the car it's anyone's guess. Plus I never get stressed on the bike because I'm always moving - unlike sitting in the car in yet another jam thinking 'going to be late for the first meeting'!