Some roads just shouldn't be ridden...

Bustacapp

...and the East Lancs road is one of them.

Driving along from Manchester to Liverpool in rush hour I was stunned to see all the traffic ahead in my lane swerving. It soon became apparent that some complete helmet was riding along almost in the centre of the left hand lane, completely oblivious to all the traffic flying past him, some at speeds well in excess of 70mph. The road is basically a motorway. Lots of articulated trucks were just kicking up dust and turbulence into his gormless bespectacled face.
. And the worse bit about it? There was a perfect cycle lane to the left of the road and I'm sure the gimp had headphones in too.

theslowone

I am sure that post will raise some debate!
cyclists have every right to ride on the road that is a given, however for me I will only ride roads where I feel safe.
as a general rule if you do not feel safe then you are prob not. you are correct that some cyclists don't help themselves but the same can be said of car drivers. Also it is worth mentioning that if I ride for pleasure I will tend to stick to the roads that are enjoyable to ride and a very busy main road just is'nt.
Personally I do not tend to use cycle lanes unless I feel the need to bail out for my own saftey often the cycle lane can be more dangerous than the road itself. I will not however judge other cyclists any different than any other road user, some are bad, some are good. Where people choose to ride is upto them.

sloppyschleckonds

Seems like trolling or flaming post to me. Was obviously a made up event.

peat

It does make you wonder sometimes. I certainly have a blacklist of roads i will not go on again or even try.

It amuses/angers me that that clunky British Cycling mapping tool (that, i know, just uses the standard google algorithm) merrily routes rides along rural dual carriageways. Some naiver users can take the routes given verbatim. I know this because i went on a ride planned (i use the term loosely) by someone who had done just that.

rolf_f

Lets see -

wearing headphones; tick
not riding on a cyclepath; tick
wearing glasses (!); tick

Ahhh, you forgot to mention that he wasn't wearing a helmet.....

Personally, I think he should be made to pay road tax.

Bustacapp

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Seems like trolling or flaming post to me. Was obviously a made up event.

What makes you think that?

Bustacapp

Rolf F wrote:

Lets see -

wearing headphones; tick
not riding on a cyclepath; tick
wearing glasses (!); tick

Ahhh, you forgot to mention that he wasn't wearing a helmet.....

Personally, I think he should be made to pay road tax.

This post is about the flagrant disregard for personal safety by riding on roads that are basically motorways.

seanoconn

Bustacapp wrote:

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Seems like trolling or flaming post to me. Was obviously a made up event.

What makes you think that?

I think they're onto you Bustacapp

goonz

I accidently joined motorways on my way to Brighton which luckily I managed to get off pretty quickly and also in France on my way to Pairs where the dual carriageway simply joined straight onto the motorway with no warning whatsoever!

All of a sudden all these French drivers are tooting me theres me thinking they are giving me encouragement until one of them wound down his window and let me know I was on a motorway! Doh!

Strith

Rolf F wrote:

Lets see -

wearing headphones; tick
not riding on a cyclepath; tick
wearing glasses (!); tick

Ahhh, you forgot to mention that he wasn't wearing a helmet.....

Personally, I think he should be made to pay road tax.

You forgot gormless.

We all know ugly people shouldn't be allowed on bikes becuse they're the most dangerous of them all.

smidsy

goonz wrote:

All of a sudden all these French drivers are tooting me theres me thinking they are giving me encouragement until one of them wound down his window and let me know I was on a motorway! Doh!

Hmmm, normally the three lanes and hard shoulder layout give it away

team47b

Bustacapp wrote:

I was stunned to see all the traffic ahead in my lane swerving. There was a perfect cycle lane to the left of the road

so you were not using the cycle lane either :roll:

Oh come on it was you, you were that gimp, this is a 'I have this friend' type story

goonz

smidsy wrote:

goonz wrote:

All of a sudden all these French drivers are tooting me theres me thinking they are giving me encouragement until one of them wound down his window and let me know I was on a motorway! Doh!

Hmmm, normally the three lanes and hard shoulder layout give it away

Picture this scene, group of 10-12 riders about 50 miles out from Paris, I decide enough is enough and broke away (not sure why it was a damn group ride, but I thought it was now a straight route all the way to Paris).

Anyway cycling away I had built up a good 10 mins lead and all of a sudden the heavens opened, all my rain gear is in the support vehicle with the group and I am miles away from them. I am hardly looking up just cycling straight on at a fair pace and all of a sudden im getting honked by random cars. It must have been such a sight this lone cyclist in the rain in lycra shorts and jersey miles away from anywhere. Comical.

Bustacapp

team47b wrote:

so you were not using the cycle lane either :roll:

in a car?

smidsy

@ Goonz - apparently it is not only your location that is Barking :-)

goonz

smidsy wrote:

@ Goonz - apparently it is not only your location that is Barking :-)

Mate that was some of the most fun I have had on a bike, tough but so worth it. Great ride.

farrina

theslowone wrote:

I am sure that post will raise some debate!
cyclists have every right to ride on the road that is a given, however for me I will only ride roads where I feel safe.
as a general rule if you do not feel safe then you are prob not. you are correct that some cyclists don't help themselves but the same can be said of car drivers..

<shudder>

I am quite hard nosed about exercising my rights to ride on the main road (cycle paths are a pain as they are frequently not maintained and there are often pedestrians to "suffer". That said riding down the East Lancs IMHO a cyclist would need their head examining especially as parts of the cyclepath are not do bad (down towards Windle Island)

Hate to say it but sometimes self preservation comes into it .....

theslowone

Don't get me wrong. I am do not know the road in question and it sounds like I would also avoid it.
My point is that some people do things that they feel safe doing, which I would consider to be stupid. I just don,t think we should judge them beyond a shake of the head.
Fact is this cyclist maybe has a death wish, but riding like a twunt is not necessarily against the law. Some people drive in a stupid manner and IMO they are far more dangerous because they have a greater capability to hurt others.

Bustacapp

theslowone wrote:

Don't get me wrong. I am do not know the road in question and it sounds like I would also avoid it.
My point is that some people do things that they feel safe doing, which I would consider to be stupid. I just don,t think we should judge them beyond a shake of the head.
Fact is this cyclist maybe has a death wish, but riding like a twunt is not necessarily against the law. Some people drive in a stupid manner and IMO they are far more dangerous because they have a greater capability to hurt others.

I never implied the guy has no legal right to be on the road. The A19 in North Yorkshire is another one. Every year in summer there appears to be a race going on up & down that road. It seems very dangerous to me.

SpainSte

theslowone wrote:

Fact is this cyclist maybe has a death wish, but riding like a twunt is not necessarily against the law. Some people drive in a stupid manner and IMO they are far more dangerous because they have a greater capability to hurt others.

It may not be against the law, but if you knew the road in question you would most definately NOT be riding on it. I used to travel down that road twice a day every day for 5 years. I would NEVER cycle down there.

Just because you have a 'right' to do something doesnt mean that its the wisest thing to do.

mike6

Bustacapp wrote:

theslowone wrote:

Don't get me wrong. I am do not know the road in question and it sounds like I would also avoid it.
My point is that some people do things that they feel safe doing, which I would consider to be stupid. I just don,t think we should judge them beyond a shake of the head.
Fact is this cyclist maybe has a death wish, but riding like a twunt is not necessarily against the law. Some people drive in a stupid manner and IMO they are far more dangerous because they have a greater capability to hurt others.

I never implied the guy has no legal right to be on the road. The A19 in North Yorkshire is another one. Every year in summer there appears to be a race going on up & down that road. It seems very dangerous to me.

You would be surprised how often the A19 is used for testing. Not that long ago the old A1 was a favorite. Ha.Madness.

ThatBikeGuy

Yeah, the A19 at Kirklevington is a 10M TT course. Done it a few times myself isn't that bad, depends on time of day of course...