London Skyride on sunday

snooks

Got back an hour ago. Did one lap, then had to get home.

Got my bike security marked by the police. Good to cycle around and look around.

Still the constant threat of small children swiping into you, no matter how much room you give them. Then there are people who just stop, get off their bike in the middle of the road and push it at 90 degrees to the flock of cyclist bearing down on them. Also a jobsworth with a stop sign round by mansion house who seemed to think he was there to do the job of the traffic light when there was no one to cross. I don't think he understood whatever briefing was given to him as he was the only guy doing this.

All in all a bit of fun, though I really don't know why you get people trying to race around it

itboffin

It's pissing down here that and a late night karaoke session put paid to any chance of me making it.

More coffee and a lay down I think :?

notsoblue

Just got back and it was fun! Something about so many people on bikes that just eases a smile onto everyone's faces. I especially liked the "Caution, Incline Ahead" bit with the cheer squad for the col du Tower Hill

Sooooo slow though! I was strangely glad to be back on the main road with cars and buses and able to go at a decent speed. I put it down to a form of Stockholm syndrome :P

desweller

notsoblue wrote:

Just got back and it was fun! Something about so many people on bikes that just eases a smile onto everyone's faces. I especially liked the "Caution, Incline Ahead" bit with the cheer squad for the col du Tower Hill

What he said! Didn't think it was possible to have fun on a bike at that speed (although is it prescient of what London would be like if all the cars were bikes? <shudder>). Especially amused by the two little lads on their junior road bikes in HTC kit, weaving through the gridlock like something out of a Lucas Brunelle film.

spen666

Got to say that I thought the whole thing was a bad idea.

Why?

1. Much of the route was slower than walking pace
2. Selfish behaviour of many riders- eg riding at 3 mph 4 and 5 abreast so no one could pass;
3. no one taking observations before dramatically changing their direction and taking others down;
4. riders riding far too fast in congested areas and weaving dangerously in and out of cycle traffic causing others to take evasive action;
5.The ride was used today to encourage people to cycle to work during this week's strikes - if people ride like today we will have many serious injuries;
6. Riders with no sense of lane discipline

i'm sure other people have other views, but I for one will not attend it again. However, if it encourages people to cycle, then it could be a good thing.

What could have made it better?
a) Riders thinking of others;
b) Riders being instructed/ encouraged to ride on the left and pass on the right;
c) Riders being encouraged to take proper observations before changing direction - I did hear one announcer mention this
d) If there could have been less stopping of the cycle traffic for people to cross the road - however, I'm not sure how this would have worked.
e) me not being so grumpy?

Its not for me, but as I said, if it encourages others to cycle responsibly, then I would support it.

Me, I was much happier back out of the route, mixing with the motorised traffic. I felt much safer and had more idea what those around were going to do.

notsoblue

spen666 wrote:

e) me not being so grumpy?

This...

spen666 wrote:

Its not for me, but as I said, if it encourages others to cycle responsibly, then I would support it.

Me, I was much happier back out of the route, mixing with the motorised traffic. I felt much safer and had more idea what those around were going to do.

And this

Everyone seemed pretty happy to be on their bikes, but this was mainly because they could ride with no cars about and in the real world that never happens.

snooks

I also felt happier on the road, I could go as fast as I wanted and a least cars don't do 90 degree turns at the flick of a switch like a child on a bike.

I went because I like the idea and felt that supporting would do no harm.

I would have liked to see a basic cyclecraft stylee info email sent out so that people would at least look behind them before stopping/overtaking/slowing etc

I did think that it might have been good for slow riders to keep left. But then this might have caused other accidents, as speedy mamils would try to beat each other. And having lots of cyclist around gave me a chance to look around and take in London. It wasn't a race inspite of a few twats thinking it was.

Maybe advising children to keep left would be good idea for next year so their parents can ride on the outside and keep the out of danger of the weavers. Even in bumble mode the threat of a wayward mini cyclist was ever present

deptfordmarmoset

Blimey, that was busy! So many people, so little spatial awareness! And lots of forced stops. But I love seeing kids having a good time on their bikes in central London - many of the younger ones will have had the ride of their lives. I didn't see many people trying to be racers, I think there were just too many people for that.

I was meant to marshal back to Grove Park but there were only 3 and they didn't fancy the hill in Greenwich Park so they phoned dad for a lift.

WesternWay

spen666 wrote:

Got to say that I thought the whole thing was a bad idea.

Why?
Its not for me

You answered your own question. You cycle in London already, you are not worried about traffic, you ride quickly.

I was there, with my children. They were very good at cycling in a straight line, and stopping only when those in front stopped, but they are children and sometimes behave childishly.

Did I cycle 5 abreast at 4mph? Yup. That is what I went for. We cycled along, chatting away. Did we hold people up? Yup, I don't doubt it... Were we frequently held up? Yup.

My impressions: It was OK but not great.... There were indeed too many stops, it was a victim of its own success; the embankment was indeed very, very busy and difficult to ride down. The stuff in St James' park could have been better. I am glad it happenned and I am glad that we attended.

Anonymous

I've also just got back, went with my two daughters and other half.

Everyone loved it. Did two laps, one slow with the girls early afternoon. Took us 2 nearly 2 hours to get round at a very leisurely pace. Was very busy and it definitely more of a family event, than a event for adults to have a blat round traffic free London.

Having said that latter on in the day I did the second lap on my own, and whilst it was still busy and you did have to be very careful, there was space to get up speed and safely pass others. Did the second lap in about 35 mins.

All in all a good day, but it's more a good way to go cycling with your children than anything else. That's not a bad thing though.

It would be pretty good if they opened up a bit earlier, just for adults. Not sure if/how this would work.

Also a bit miffed I didn't get to meat Chris Hoy, or Borris. Never mind.

clairelc

I've seen one report saying that there were over 85k people there today. that's about 20k more people than last year, in the same amount of space - it was always going to be crowded.

I got there at about 11.45 and did my first lap - quite slow and very stop/start with the pedestrian crossings. Took about an hour to do that lap, before stopping in St. James park for a picnic lunch. Set off on the second lap about 2, and there was a very definite opening up on the roads - whether it was people stopping for lunch, or just having done their lap and going home, i don't know, but I was able to get a bit of space and hold a steady reasonable pace too, and less stopping for pedestrians helped as well.

My only real gripe is that around the parliament square area it was very congested at all times with only a narrow amount of space compared to other sections of the ride. It caused a few bottlenecks and would have been faster walking!

It was a great day out though and definitely more people than last year, which is only a good thing for cycling in London.

deptfordmarmoset

clairelc wrote:

I've seen one report saying that there were over 85k people there today. that's about 20k more people than last year, in the same amount of space - it was always going to be crowded.
(...)
It was a great day out though and definitely more people than last year, which is only a good thing for cycling in London.

I wouldn't be surprised if the figure of 20K more this year than last year were true. It was definitely busier than last year and, in terms of route length, it was slightly longer (if you did the Cannon Street loop).

Anonymous

clairelc wrote:

My only real gripe is that around the parliament square area it was very congested at all times with only a narrow amount of space compared to other sections of the ride. It caused a few bottlenecks and would have been faster walking!

I agree with you there. Though to be fair there wasn't too much they could have done about it without closing additional roads. But, yes, was a pain.

dondare

Now all those people who were going to beat the strike tomorrow are going to have sore bums and tired legs and won't feel like cyclling.

spen666

dondare wrote:

Now all those people who were going to beat the strike tomorrow are going to have sore bums and tired legs and won't feel like cyclling.

The NHS will be breathing a sigh of relief after seeing the lack of road skills and awareness of people today.

If people rode tomorrow like today, there would be carnage on our roads.

EKE_38BPM

I didn't go to the Skyride because I assumed it would be crowded and very stop/start. Not what you want in SPD-SLs.

Events to increase cycling amongst the general population is a very good thing, but they can become victims of their own success. They are not really aimed at the people who post on this forum (unless they are taking their nippers and/or other half out for a ride) so I'm not complaining and I don't think other posters should bemoan not being able to do full speed laps. If thats what you want, go to Richmond Park or find a velodrome.

I hope they keep on organising things like this, but don't expect to see me on any of them. Even London to Brighton is overcrowded and for the first half it was more like the London to Brighton bike walk. I prefer less organisation on my bike rides (Dunwich Dynamo) or (on very rare occasions) Critical Mass. CM doesn't do cyclists any favours in terms of PR with car drivers, but it can be kinda fun.

hmbadger

RichardSwt wrote:

Also a bit miffed I didn't get to meat Chris Hoy, or Borris. Never mind.

Pfft. When I went to the Manchester one, I didn;t bother finding out what was on when. Missed autograph / piccy with Victoria P by 5 mins

Bassjunkieuk

Did the ride, was great fun and it was really good fun. The new route meant I got to point out a few extra landmarks to the eldest and i was thoroughly impressed with how well the younger one (7) did with the distance. It was easily the furthest she's ridden in one day and given the difference in gearing between hers and her older sisters bike she was certainly the one leading :-) She even managed to perform a small rear wheel slide round one of the sharp corners up near St Pauls (after the marshal shouted SLOW DOWN!)

As others have said tho it was a victim of it's own success, the same route alterations that gave us better views also meant sending us down roads completely unsuitable for that volume of bike traffic and the system to get back into St Jame's Park was ridiculous as we waiting about 5-10 minutes literally walking the bike along penned in by the barriers when we had a massive clear path next to us. Was anyone else fortunate enough to see the massive distraction on the westbound Loud Zone (aka BF tunnel?) some rather scantily clad ladies dancing around :-)

One of my personal highlights was crossing the road just after visiting the 3D cycling cinema. I found myself alongside someone who looked rather familiar with a VIP lanyard on and a blue/blank Pinarello Dogma......I couldn't place the name to start with but after a bit of google-fu on the phone I realized it was Edvald Boassan Hagen of Team Sky :-) Unfortunately I had the kids with me and we where both walking so no chance of a race......

bigmat

EKE_38BPM wrote:

I didn't go to the Skyride because I assumed it would be crowded and very stop/start. Not what you want in SPD-SLs.

Events to increase cycling amongst the general population is a very good thing, but they can become victims of their own success. They are not really aimed at the people who post on this forum (unless they are taking their nippers and/or other half out for a ride) so I'm not complaining and I don't think other posters should bemoan not being able to do full speed laps. If thats what you want, go to Richmond Park or find a velodrome.

I hope they keep on organising things like this, but don't expect to see me on any of them. Even London to Brighton is overcrowded and for the first half it was more like the London to Brighton bike walk. I prefer less organisation on my bike rides (Dunwich Dynamo) or (on very rare occasions) Critical Mass. CM doesn't do cyclists any favours in terms of PR with car drivers, but it can be kinda fun.

Cycling standards in RP seem to be equally dire - some numpty turned right across me to go into Robin Hood Gate car park yesterday, just as I was in the process of overtaking him at somewhere over 25mph ( :oops: ). No shoulder check, no signal, didn't even start to drift across, just a hard right at the worst possible moment. Had to slam on the brakes and jerk the steering right into the line of oncoming traffic to avoid hitting him, lost the front end, smacked my left shin into the bars / top tube / to be honest I don't know what, managed to get my left foot down and skidded to a halt centimetres in front of an advancing BMW who fortunately had been paying attention and had almost come to a halt ( he probably had to slam on the brakes for suicide biker himself). God knows how I managed to stay on the bike :x

Sounds like it was for the best I avoided the Skyride...

prj45

Practically all individuality was squashed under the yellow Sky gilets!

Also, proof positive that cyclists can actually cause congestion too! Although I would like to see what would happen if they held a version for cars and tried to fit that many people on the course at a single occupancy ratio of 8 out of 10 vehicles.

mroli

I wonder if that rider is somewhere on BimbleRadar going "Some nutter breaking the speed limit in RP nearly ran into me..."

Skyride was fine - enjoyed the longer loop more than last year, but coping with nos was hard for them - very slow round Westminster Bridge.

As for the kids out on their bikes weaving all over the shop - you were a kid once and rode like that too. The Skyride isn't a race, its a chance to have a bimble around, a chat on the bike, take the family out and enjoy yourself! I thought it was great to see so many kids riding around, the range of bikes from BSOs to Christiana bikes, to a guy being pulled around by huskys, to a clown on a tricycle, to someone doing it on unicycle.

Yes, you couldn't put your foot down - but I'd far rather see 85,000 people having fun on bikes. Mind you, judging by the crowds of cars round the private school near me this morning, there is some way to go before attitudes change completely!

spasypaddy

i didnt get down there in the end. i drank too much saturday night and had to be in work sunday morning so my before ride plans were scuppered :oops:

lardboy

I headed in with the missus yesterday morning and arrived at Parliament Sq bang on half past 9, the official start time. We headed straight into a lap, and pootled comfortably around the "long" course, grabbing a free Gatorade by St Pauls, then back around to St James, where I headed off to Old St for the Look Mum No Hands jumble sale and she wandered around the stalls in the park.

We didn't speed around the course, mostly for safety reasons; there were lots of small children on tiny bikes, making very tight and unpredictable turns, lots of new cyclists who were unsure of themselves, and many groups of people who wanted to ride round en-masse. To be fair, that's exactly who should be there. Experienced, confident cyclists don't need the roads closed off for them to ride around, even though it is nice for a change. Getting people onto bikes who would never have considered it, allowing them to realise that it can be great fun to get the family out for an afternoon, probably resulting in the kids collapsing as soon as they get home, after exhausting themselves. The benefits of families exercising together are huge, and if it can be done in an environmentally friendly way, even better.

Word to the wise: The roads are still closed for a long time after the official end. After the jumble, I got onto the Embankment at Blackfriars about 5.15 and after negotiating the van removing the barriers, and had a completely clear run to Westmister, with only about 10 other bikes on the whole route. Lovely!

Also, it's hard work lugging around about 8kg of bike bits all the way around the course, including 3 sets of drops, 4 saddles, and a bunch of other bike box spares.

DonDaddyD

spen666 wrote:

Got to say that I thought the whole thing was a bad idea.

more moaing......

A little bit more moaning...........

Some more.....

I might have gone if I could arrive there as early as possible (like get onto the route a minute before it opens) nail two or three blistering laps and then gone home. This is exactly the same as doing the London to Brighton (You really want to start at 5.50am even though it starts at 6am).

I didn't go to this years London Sky ride because when I went last year I realised that with an ever increasing number of people taking up cycling this event would be more congested, slow and not really for me when I'm on my own. I also didn't want to wipe out any children again (2 years ago i ploughed into three at 17mph, went over my bars and they were just standing there completely fine! The cheek of it. Snooks never scalped me, its impossible for that to happen!)

Had I been acompanied by family, group of friends, Ms DDD etc and were in it for a pleasent ride (which isn't fun on Karen) then sure I'd have gone.

Bassjunkieuk

DonDaddyD wrote:

Had I been acompanied by family, group of friends, Ms DDD etc and were in it for a pleasent ride (which isn't fun on Karen) then sure I'd have gone.

Well you know what to do now? Target yourself for the 2012 Skyride and that gives you about 2 years to have some buck wild ***, produce a mini-DDD and fit a rack and Co-Pilot to Karen :-D

Whilst I'll admit it was fun being able to tear round with you guys 2 years back it was great to just take it easy for a change and admire the views. Having said that thanks to a fortunate stop for pedestrians me and the mini-BJUK's got a fairly clear run off Tower Hill - I let them race off ahead before showing them some proper speed :-)

StanwaySteve62

I went and was on the whole worth doing, but yea SOME parents could have marshalled the tiny kids a lot better and not rely on others to take evasive action even at walking pace.
I also cant beleive some people stopping mid corner to see where their friends etc were causing all sorts of problems
Anybody do the wattbike challenge?

Bassjunkieuk

StanwaySteve62 wrote:

I went and was on the whole worth doing, but yea SOME parents could have marshalled the tiny kids a lot better and not rely on others to take evasive action even at walking pace.
I also cant beleive some people stopping mid corner to see where their friends etc were causing all sorts of problems
Anybody do the wattbike challenge?

My eldest wanted to do the Wattbike thing and TBH I'd have given it a go but I was wanting to make a quick getaway to avoid the bike boarding passes on the train. Mind you if I keep making this a annual outing in about 5-6 years I'll be able to do my own group ride into town so not have to rely on Southern trains.

I spent most of the route a few yards behind or alongside my 2 and can only remember a couple of near misses and the only off was caused when we got back to The Mall and they touched wheels, having not managed to knock each other off the first time they did it :-)

spen666

Interesting that everyone seems to take my comments about people with no road sense and weaving across the road/ changing direction as being about children. It was not, I was referring to the adult riders.

Children need to be taught and I always expect the unexpected when seeing children ridring/ skating etc.

More bums on bike saddles per se is not a good thing.

more bums on bike saddles where those attached to the bums ride sensible and considerately is a good thing.

What the skyride did was to encopurage people onto bikes with no consideration of how their riding affects others or for their own safety.

The event is only 50% there in my view. We have the people on the bike. We need to be reminding them both before the event and with the PA system at the event to : -
a) ride considerately
b) take proper observations before changing directions and or stopping
c) Ride on the left side of the road, ie leaving space for others to overtake if they so wish.
d) be aware of the dangers they pose to others, riders, pedestrians (&r even motorised road users)

The two go together.

Encouraging people to ride without consideration and road sense is worse than them not riding at all.

snooks

spen666 wrote:

Interesting that everyone seems to take my comments about people with no road sense and weaving across the road/ changing direction as being about children. It was not, I was referring to the adult riders.
8< Snip >8

Encouraging people to ride without consideration and road sense is worse than them not riding at all.

Yer not the only one who wrote on this 'ere thread you know!

A few others inc myself commented on children changing direction in a random stylee and also fools trying to weave

There was Safety info on the skyride website, but you had to look for it. Why not tag it onto one of the Emails Skyride sent out before the event?

But having looked at the photos later on in the day of total gridlock it seems that actually cycling seemed to be a luxury at that point.

Hopefully some of the cyclists that will be hit by the tube strike this week now have at least seen a bike within a year, rather than if Skyride hadn't happened, and they had to dig it out of the shed this morning!

deptfordmarmoset

spen666 wrote:

Interesting that everyone seems to take my comments about people with no road sense and weaving across the road/ changing direction as being about children. It was not, I was referring to the adult riders.

Children need to be taught and I always expect the unexpected when seeing children ridring/ skating etc.

More bums on bike saddles per se is not a good thing.

more bums on bike saddles where those attached to the bums ride sensible and considerately is a good thing.

What the skyride did was to encopurage people onto bikes with no consideration of how their riding affects others or for their own safety.

The event is only 50% there in my view. We have the people on the bike. We need to be reminding them both before the event and with the PA system at the event to : -
a) ride considerately
b) take proper observations before changing directions and or stopping
c) Ride on the left side of the road, ie leaving space for others to overtake if they so wish.
d) be aware of the dangers they pose to others, riders, pedestrians (&r even motorised road users)

The two go together.

Encouraging people to ride without consideration and road sense is worse than them not riding at all.

Just looking at the traffic-free part of the ride is misleading. I think many kids and parents learned a lot on the feeder rides on busy roads with just a little guidance/protection from the marshals. Most people, newcomers or not, began on the roads and ended on the roads. The Skyride itself is a bit of a free-for-all in the middle but the feeder rides are anything but.