The Tyne and Wear Commuter Thread

bennett_346

Did anyone else get this leaflet?

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/nor ... te-9023501

UKIP claims cycle lanes discriminate against the elderly because cyclists 'are usually young'

And while Ukip acknowledges that Newcastle has received a £10m government grant for the lanes, it complains: “Just because they receive a government grant they don’t have to spend it.”

The leaflet goes on to complain that cyclists “carry no number plates or insurance” and suggests the council could improve road safety by ordering cyclists to put bells on their bikes.

Initialised

I might have but I value my integrity as a reasonable human being too highly to read any of their bigoted propos.

When there are cameras on every ASL and cycle lane and when there are no signposts of other road furniture in bike lanes and cycleways and there's ample signage on a pedestrian's responsibilities on a cycleway I might concede that using a bell is better than yelling, locking my rear wheel or squealing my brakes and crashing through gears at pedestrians when you need to make your self known on an NCN route with big f*cking signs letting pedestrians know its a cycleway every couple of hundred metres or so.

markhewitt1978

I've often thought that for two way cycleways like the Hadrians Way there should be dashed white lines down the middle. Not only do underline to cyclists using it that they should stay left (it's amazing how many don't!) but also to tell pedestrians using it that this is effectively a road, so bikes shouldn't be a surprise to them!

byke68

Watch out for a dark green Renault Scenic driven by an oldish bloke with glasses in the NE23 area- he doesn't know how to use a roundabout! Luckily I had space to move out of his way.
On the plus side, he can use his indicators.

pessimal

The joys of trying to cycle home.

Forecast is ok, no rain in Newcastle or Sunderland.

Leave Newcastle, going well, finally figuring out how to get out of Newcastle and Gateshead without getting lost/on the wrong side of the road/stuck at pedestrian crossings.

Get to Nissan and it starts to spot with rain, and then buckets it down, well i'm wet now so carry on, get about half a mile from home and pick up a puncture.

Finally get in the house soaked through and cursing the BBC weather forecast for all i'm worth.

Its certainly one way to christen me and my new bike!

byke68

Now I know why it takes me so long to get to & from work: I don't take risks at roundabouts by going into the wrong lane and hoping I can just go straight over instead of waiting in the correct lane! Silly me. :roll:

y33stu

Anyone on here ride through Gosforth? Great north Road? Where they've installed the most mental bike lane bollards I've ever seen, forcing you to ride through a bus stop. It's the most insane bike infrastructure in the world. And massively dangerous. for Bus users, cyclists, pedestrians etc...

Long_Time_Lurker

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19627557#p19627557]y33stu[/url] wrote:

Anyone on here ride through Gosforth? Great north Road? Where they've installed the most mental bike lane bollards I've ever seen, forcing you to ride through a bus stop. It's the most insane bike infrastructure in the world. And massively dangerous. for Bus users, cyclists, pedestrians etc...

Had to ride it last week. It's.....interesting.
Luckily I normally ride an MTB, so I can go through Garden Village and then down the side of the golf course (avoiding GNR altogether).

byke68

First ride into work this week and what a joy it was. No SCR, no nutter motorists just a nice cool ride in. As it should be

andy9964

What was going on at North Shields Fish Quay yesterday??
I passed a load of riders stopped at one of the chip shops, and another 10-15 got off the ferry while I was waiting to board. All wearing the same jersey (couldn't read the lettering) in red/black

Edit. Might have been these http://suncitytri.co.uk/

markhewitt1978

Looking at the forecast for Sunday, and yet again it's going to be raining not just all morning but all day

Sunday morning is the only guaranteed free time I have for cycling, so if it's not then it's a matter of finding an hour (at the most) through the week. I don't want to go out in the rain, I have ridden in the rain enough times to know it turns an otherwise pleasant ride to crap.

Now we're almost into August I think it's fair to say this summer has been absolutely shite. This should be the time of year for clear blue skies, and hot weather but I don't think we've had so much as one day like that.

xbnm

Not wishing for an early start to winter but some temperature consistency during the day would be nice. Full winter gear to cope with 2C and fog on the morning. Followed by 20C and glorious sunshine means carrying 3/4 of the mornings gear home in a rucksack each night.

Snakebite the 2nd

I have been in 'boro for the last couple of days.

Saw a few enthusiastic riders, and thought that generally the conditions around the area were really good.

The roads were nicely laid out.

(And yes, it has been a right mix of temps!)

dinyull

Bitterly cold mornings and then glorious sunny afternoons for the way home. Still, the fog on the tyne has been spectacular this week. Middle of the millennium bridge wed morning you couldn't see either side of the river!

jefflad

Was it me or did it appear to be a good bit brighter this morning? I did leave about 10 minutes late today but was surprised how brighter it felt compared with my last ride in (Monday).

markhewitt1978

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19715595#p19715595]Snakebite the 2nd[/url] wrote:

I have been in 'boro for the last couple of days.

Saw a few enthusiastic riders, and thought that generally the conditions around the area were really good.

The roads were nicely laid out.

(And yes, it has been a right mix of temps!)

They do seem to be ever so slightly more switched on to cycling than Tyne and Wear does. I enjoy walking around the South of Stockton (around Bowesfield / Preston Park area) and see a lot of cyclists out, both serious types and those just using the cycle paths to potter about, often with their kids - which you wouldn't see on busy roads.

andy9964

Anyone heard about a Decathlon store opening at the Metrocentre in early December?

Got told this off one of the lads at work last night, who saw it on a FB group. It's a closed group so I can't confirm

Edit: Just found this https://www.facebook.com/DecathlonNewcastle. 4th December, and not Metrocentre. Looks like it's just west of Newcastle

markhewitt1978

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19719752#p19719752]Andy9964[/url] wrote:

Anyone heard about a Decathlon store opening at the Metrocentre in early December?

Got told this off one of the lads at work last night, who saw it on a FB group. It's a closed group so I can't confirm

Edit: Just found this https://www.facebook.com/DecathlonNewcastle. 4th December, and not Metrocentre. Looks like it's just west of Newcastle

Wasn't the Cestria Cycling Club group by any chance? Although they were saying it was Team Valley, not Newcastle, but the facebook page says otherwise.

andy9964

South Shields Velo is the club he's a member of. He reckons there's a lot of talk about it on their page

y33stu

Anyone else seen these plans for Ncl city centre? https://northnewcastle.commonplace.is/

I'm all for making cycling more accessible, but if the same people who planned Gosforth's recent cycling "infrastructure" are behind these new plans, then I'm just expecting to be killed a whole lot more often on my daily commute.

General consensus seems to be that there are far too many bus lanes, not enough roads for cars. I think Ncl council are edging towards a congestion charge and using this scheme to reduce traffic before applying a CC in future years.

markhewitt1978

Bike lanes look crap, again a complete lack of ambition being dressed up as something radical when it is nothing of the sort.

As always with these videos, there's the odd car here and there; show it with realistic traffic volumes please?

y33stu

Well, after 5 years and god knows how many thousand miles, I had my first off this morning.

Locked up the back wheel on some black ice. Hit the deck, and slid about 10 meters along the lane, up and over a speed hump. Broke the clasp of my new shoe, somehow punctured the tyre, and grew some nice road rash on my left hip/leg. Thankfully all clothing was intact, and bike is fine.

There were even a few pedestrians stopped to ask if I was ok. Which I was. I think I'm finally in the club now, sort of. No broken collar bone yet though. That's still to come.

Stay safe people.

xbnm

Sorry to hear hope the road rash isnt too painful. There seemed to distinct lack of grit on the roads ironically the only places i found ice on the road this morning was in seldom used bus links/lanes.

y33stu

Cheers. Yeah you're right there. The new and awful cycle lanes along Great North Road in Gosforth were pretty dicey. God knows how bad they're going to get in deep winter.

xbnm

Well that was cold wet snowy and slow. 1st time on the marathon winters for a year and you forget how much more effort they are.

mtbcommuter

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19779226#p19779226]XBNM[/url] wrote:

Well that was cold wet snowy and slow. 1st time on the marathon winters for a year and you forget how much more effort they are.

But just think how you'll fly along once back on the standards!

I'm fairly confident that I cycled the journey in half the time it'll have taken the cagers to cover the same distance. Mayhem over a few flakes

By about 10 I was beginning to think it was in for the day but I reckon it'll be gone by home time. Could be worse, apparently there is a touch of frost in Richmond Park...

y33stu

I quite enjoyed that this morning! First time I've ridden in snow for a few years. Decided to swap the 25m slicks to 34m slight nobblies. Probably didnt need to, but made a nice change to the normal routine.

Amazes me how slowly/poorly some people drive in the snow. Almost every junction had queues 4 times longer than usual.... for what!! a few snowflakes? Madness.

andy9964

Thursday morning was brutal....headwind and driving sleet.
Overshoes leaked, allowing water to wick up the inside of my waterproof pants. Water was driven up the top half of my pants and under my jacket, soaking the lower half of the two layers underneath, and down to crotch level. Gloves soaked through, water getting up my sleeves. Neck warmer thing transferred water to upper half of my chest. All in 35 minutes, probably my worst day in 3 years of commuting
On the bright side, the middle section of my legs and upper half of my arms were dry

By comparison, this morning was a veritable summers day, though any cycle "paths" were unusable due to lumpy frozen snow/ice

Initialised

Hi,

Does anyone know how likely it is that I will be able to get a bike onto the Northern Rail service from Newcastle/Metrocentre/Blaydon or Wylam heading west?

I know there's room for two bikes per train but is the 8:24 service usually full? Would I be better getting on at Central, Metrocentre or Wylam?

andy9964

Probably best to get on as early in the journey as possible, in case there's someone further up the line with a bike