F***ing potholes!

baldwin471

Apologies for the French, but I'm just getting fed up now. First of all, i live in High Wycombe (Albeit Involuntarily) and the pothole situation is getting worse by the day it seems. The worst for me is a stretch of road that i travel on every day, to and from the gym and work. I'll post the strava link to this mornings ride (To the gym) -

http://app.strava.com/rides/10196486

Now you're probably thinking that 17 minutes for 4.7km is pretty poor, but remember why I'm posting this. GOD DAMN POTHOLES. That stretch of road is riddled with them. And mainly the are on the left hand side of the road, by the curb, where cyclists are supposed to bloody ride. It's really off-putting to keep having to slow right down and wait for a car to go past so i can go around a massive hole. And it's not just holes, the councils pathetic attempts to fill in holes are sometimes worse than the holes themselves. It's a shame really. I've just got back from Jacksonville Florda (Not riding, just a holiday) and the roads are unbelievably smooth. Not a hole in sight, and you've got to remember that these roads see a lot more cars and trucks than the roads in Wycombe, yet the gulf in quality is just astounding.

Anyone else getting fed up with potholes in their area?

upperoilcan

I know your route and that road from Flackwell Heath to Dawes Hill is a disgrace,so much so that i wont even drive it in the car unless its a necessity..

slowondefy2

Have you reported them?

I use an iPhone app which makes it pretty easy ( http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/iphone ). Around here they're usually filled within a couple of weeks, albeit with repairs of poor quality.

baldwin471

slowondefy2 wrote:

Have you reported them?

I use an iPhone app which makes it pretty easy ( http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/iphone ). Around here they're usually filled within a couple of weeks, albeit with repairs of poor quality.

Many times. As have lot as of others. The problem is that most of the time when they repair it they do a half ass job of it. What they need to is close the entire stretch of road and resurface it completely, then let it set for a week. Never going to happen though. Unfortunately.

daviesee

This Country is broken

slowondefy2

baldwin471 wrote:

slowondefy2 wrote:

Have you reported them?

I use an iPhone app which makes it pretty easy ( http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/iphone ). Around here they're usually filled within a couple of weeks, albeit with repairs of poor quality.

Many times. As have lot as of others. The problem is that most of the time when they repair it they do a half ass job of it. What they need to is close the entire stretch of road and resurface it completely, then let it set for a week. Never going to happen though. Unfortunately.

I can sympathise with that

Still, it encourages you to keep your head up

thistle_

baldwin471 wrote:

And mainly the are on the left hand side of the road, by the curb, where cyclists are supposed to bloody ride.

How far out from the kerb? You should be able to ride between the kerb and just over a metre out without getting too much grief from cars, you just need to hold your ground.

Have you suffered buckled wheels or punctures from the potholes? Sometimes a letter to the council asking them to reimburse your costs gets someone out doing repairs, just make sure you mention they have been repaired previously but repaired badly.

mr_goo

I was in Wycombe a month ago for work and could not believe how bad the roads are, glad I don't cycle round there. Four wheel drives must be selling quite well in the area.

upperoilcan

Mr Goo wrote:

I was in Wycombe a month ago for work and could not believe how bad the roads are, glad I don't cycle round there. Four wheel drives must be selling quite well in the area.

I also have the misfortune of working in High Wycombe and your quite right about the state of the roads,the main road in from the Motorway at Loudwater is a right mess,and a lot of it is from previous potholes that were repaired badly after all the snow from the previous year..

Big Jim1

Have never understood why we are so behind countries like Denmark and Holland with regards to bike lanes (ones that are in good condition).

Have alway thought that the investment in bike lanes will reap rewards in savings in the NHS (Or at least allow for further expenditure on research and meds).

baldwin471

Big Jim1 wrote:

Have never understood why we are so behind countries like Denmark and Holland with regards to bike lanes (ones that are in good condition).

Have alway thought that the investment in bike lanes will reap rewards in savings in the NHS (Or at least allow for further expenditure on research and meds).

I know it's pretty pathetic really. I was in Lanzarote recently and the roads even there are better than here. And it's a bloody volcanic island. You make a good point, surely reducing the number of potholes and bad roads will reduce the number of cyclists and other road users being involved in accidents, thus less resources need by the NHS. This is the conservatives we are talking about though :roll:

raymondo60

It also depends on where you are in the UK. My local roads in Surrey are generally really poor, but a recent weekend riding up in Rutland, Northants, was a real pleasure, as were the roads in and around the North Essex coast, Maldon, Burnham etc.

CharlesM505

I agree, I'm very nearby and in the village of Sarratt, the council have re surfaced the road, yet the brain less fools have just put the new surface over the old one, and not filled in the old holes, so the old holes, are in the new road, utter waste of money, after all if they are going to repair it, do it properly

Rigga

Potholes are the one thing that puts me off buying a road bike. F**king disgrace our roads!

phreak

I ride through Peckham on the way to/from work and I don't think they could make it bumpier if they tried. I used to live with a guy that worked in this sort of thing and he said that usually councils tell utility companies to get in, do their thing and get out again as quickly as possible, and that the council will then go round and make the road smooth again.

Suffice to say this latter part seldom ever happens, hence the awful state of our roads. Riding on the continent really does show up the roads here. To think we're one of the wealthiest nations on the planet it really is incredible how they can make such an awful job of it.

rhext

Getting to the point where if someone bought out decent a quality full-suspension hybrid with about 50mm travel, I reckon they might get some traction in the commuter market.....

billysmeg

baldwin471 wrote:

slowondefy2 wrote:

Have you reported them?

I use an iPhone app which makes it pretty easy ( http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/iphone ). Around here they're usually filled within a couple of weeks, albeit with repairs of poor quality.

Many times. As have lot as of others. The problem is that most of the time when they repair it they do a half ass job of it. What they need to is close the entire stretch of road and resurface it completely, then let it set for a week. Never going to happen though. Unfortunately.

How would you get to work/gym if they closed the road for a week?

Cleat Eastwood

yes top 8 take that pinarello.

naz1

iv been riding for 3 months now, recently sold my sirrus comp which had 38's tyres. now got a BMC with 23's. i have to dodge the potholes. even worse when it's raining as the car's go past they go in the potholes and splash me.

the oil around them makes it lethal. allmost as bad as grid's :shock:

baldwin471

billysmeg wrote:

baldwin471 wrote:

slowondefy2 wrote:

Have you reported them?

I use an iPhone app which makes it pretty easy ( http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/iphone ). Around here they're usually filled within a couple of weeks, albeit with repairs of poor quality.

Many times. As have lot as of others. The problem is that most of the time when they repair it they do a half ass job of it. What they need to is close the entire stretch of road and resurface it completely, then let it set for a week. Never going to happen though. Unfortunately.

How would you get to work/gym if they closed the road for a week?

There is a long way round, but it involves a big ass hill and it's not good for work or the gym getting there and being too knackered to do anything.

upperoilcan

I would love to see the before and after shots of the Olympic Road race route...

Because they must have had to resurface the whole route rather than doing a qiuck fix like everywhere else...

Time will tell.

NWLondoner

The rain for the past few weeks hasn't helped either.

The lanes around Ridge and Shenley in Herts are terrible.

The amount of not only holes appearing but the amount of gravel is shocking

Packhorse Lane now has a large trench that is almost 8 feet long a 1 foot deep :shock:

Some a**hole HGV driver or Tractor must have ploughed on regardless and ripped up the road :x

Galley Lane also has been ruined by all the HGV's building a new bloody 9 hole golf course!!!!!

baldwin471

NWLondoner wrote:

The rain for the past few weeks hasn't helped either.

The lanes around Ridge and Shenley in Herts are terrible.

The amount of not only holes appearing but the amount of gravel is shocking

Packhorse Lane now has a large trench that is almost 8 feet long a 1 foot deep :shock:

Some a**hole HGV driver or Tractor must have ploughed on regardless and ripped up the road :x

Galley Lane also has been ruined by all the HGV's building a new bloody 9 hole golf course!!!!!

The council must've read this post, they redone the entire road a couple of days back! Haha. Problem is, like i knew they would, they only closed it for a day. This is the problem, they don't close it for long enough and cars start driving on it when it isn't fully settled. Now it's better as there are not any holes, but there is gravel the whole way across. Why can't they just close it for a few days, tell whining motorists to go the other way around and let it settle properly? That way they won't have to redo it every other month as it will be done properly for once.

baldwin471

Still gravel everywhere. Pathetic, just as predicted.

chickench

Living in Windsor and mainly riding the roads of Surrey, Berks, Bucks and Oxon I can completely understand and empathise. I reckon to true at least 1 wheel every 2-3K miles and around a third of my punctures are caused by pinch flats each year. Last year was, if anything, worse than this I think partly due to the rubbish winter weather. I even had an 'off' 3 weeks ago after hitting a particularly well hidden hole coming out of a round-about.

The responsibility for the local roads is the down to the local council and not central government (so you can't really pin this one directly on Cameron's lot!) and my work brings me in contact with the heads of finance for the big local authorities and a lot the problems come from the fact that many of our local authorities are on the verge of going bust. The Head of Finance for Surrey actually asked the question that had been causing Surrey CC a serious problem; "do we mend the roads or pay for the old peoples home?"
I'm sure I wasn't alone in having that brief thought of lots of old people out on the streets and great roads before i parked that particular thought and remembered that i'll be me dribbling into my soup one day!

StefanP

I have to say, potholes are sodding awful, anywhere in greater London, and to be honest, speed humps don't help it at all, as no-one seems to want to slow down for them, or have cars with low clearance (around here anyway). The ones that get me though are the potholes that run adjacent to the direction of the road which are strife around here, they start out as just little cracks, and then widen and widen and eventually you have an inverted speedhump. Anyway, I've built me up some Mavic A319 bombproof rims and now I bunny hop them, they are heavy as hell though.