That there Londinium

Kieran_Burns

Having spent two days walking 3/4 mile through the London Streets (Farringdon Rd to Hatton Gardens) I consider myself an expert on London cycling.

You lot are mental. :shock:

I genuinely saw more cyclists waiting at a junction than I see in a week of my normal commute. They're bloody everywhere. The speed I saw some people getting up to while sailing inside / outside / alongside traffic was really eye-opening, but the one hill I saw opposite the hotel had everyone suddenly slow to a crawl :P

Red light jumping was in fact rather rare, and there were flocks of cyclists sat at lights waiting... the acceleration launching them away from the motorised traffic quite easily. What I was shocked at was the number of people without lights :? I saw one guy remonstrating with a Policeman (motorbike cop) who, when the policeman left, calmly got back on his unlit bike and cycled off.

To be honest, the cyclists were really well behaved given the intensity of the traffic I saw (King Cross / St P junctions were madhouses) and the biggest pain were the motorbikes.

I did confuse a few folks with my polite waves and thank yous though (for slowing / stopping at zebra crossings)

Koncordski

Next time you come down, we'll lend you a spare and you can get on the racetrack. Just be careful, Taxi's have the same mass as a cow but they change direction faster. :shock:

DrLex

Must have been market day...

Kieran_Burns

I was also slightly aghast at some of the nutty manoeuvres being used just so people didn't have to stop or put their foot down, plus a couple of really odd ideas: to turn right you cycle straight over the junction then perform a 90 degree turn at the other side, cutting directly across everyone trying to go straight on.

roger_merriman

Next time head SW to Bushy/Richmond park if you haven't nearly collided with 40 stone of pumped up horny deer in a dark park, well sir you haven't lived!

slowbike

My trip up to see Ugo & CSheep for the MuddyFest(2) was an eye opener - the sheer volume in lycra going around RP no faster than my little niece was astounding ...

markhewitt1978

Underlines how different London is from the rest of the UK.

willy b

Great post KB.

Ride hard

Welcome to the jungle Mr Burns.

That was one of my regular routes for two years up until recently and has always been like a circus there (the hipsters of shoreditch and 'acknay live just down t'road).

If you really want to see some interesting, next time you're down head a mile or two east to Old Street, Columbia Road and Broadway market areas. There you will see stealth riders and RLJers a plenty, a guy riding a penny farthing on Regents Canal towpath :shock: and the strange phenomenon of people cycling whilst wheeling along another bike with one hand (I used to see this almost every other day).

chilling

Ride hard wrote:

and the strange phenomenon of people cycling whilst wheeling along another bike with one hand (I used to see this almost every other day).

You mean thieves.

Ride hard

Hard to tell as most people doing it didn't look like archetypal social deviants (it was young male and female hipster types), but then again, it is Hackney.

spasypaddy

chilling wrote:

Ride hard wrote:

and the strange phenomenon of people cycling whilst wheeling along another bike with one hand (I used to see this almost every other day).

You mean thieves.

ghost riding is incredibly impressive tbf whether they are thieves or not

markhewitt1978

Haven't seen that in the UK but I saw it a lot in Mallorca. I assumed it was bike hire people moving their bikes around between branches / customer locations. Could have been thieves but you would think they would be better served striking on foot?

Colinthecop

Ride hard wrote:

and the strange phenomenon of people cycling whilst wheeling along another bike with one hand (I used to see this almost every other day).

Along with the people in lycra wearing a helmet but standing at a bus stop with no bike.


That always made me wonder.... :shock:

mpatts

Ride hard wrote:

the strange phenomenon of people cycling whilst wheeling along another bike with one hand (I used to see this almost every other day).

I do that quite regularly, helps to keep the other bikes fit without them putting on too much weight. Cuts down the time required to keep them fit/hack them out. I sometimes do it with two*


*Note, I might be getting confused with Polo.

raymondo60

It IS weird to think that we London cyclists/commuters take all that stuff for granted. Not in the sense that we don't appreciate how mad and dangerous it can be - we forget that at our peril. We do just tend to get on with it though. I had a brief chat with another biker at Tooting High Street last night; the traffic was insane, pedestrians flying everywhere, roadworks narrowing down to one lane southbound - real gridlock stuff. We just looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and said 'Take care mate' and rode off into the moonlight...............

Kieran_Burns

I forgot to mention, but the comment above about ghost riding reminded me of the very first bike I did see when stepping out of St Pancras was a ghost bike

On a lighter note: the wind!

Sweet Mother. At least up here and out in the country if you have wind it comes from one bloody direction. It was like moving along a conveyor belt of little tornadoes! Couple of single speed guys belting along suddenly slowing to a crawl when this vortex shifted and they suddenly went from a 20mph tailwind into this wall of air blowing straight at 'em.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Ride hard wrote:

the strange phenomenon of people cycling whilst wheeling along another bike with one hand (I used to see this almost every other day).

At the Marmotte this year, around the third to last hairpin on Alpe d'Huez, I saw a guy doing this.

Heading down the Alpe. :shock:

Anonymous

chilling wrote:

Ride hard wrote:

and the strange phenomenon of people cycling whilst wheeling along another bike with one hand (I used to see this almost every other day).

You mean thieves.

I did it when I bought a new bike. Cycled there, wheeled t'other back

Guanajuato

Kieran_Burns wrote:

On a lighter note: the wind!

Sweet Mother. At least up here and out in the country if you have wind it comes from one bloody direction.

Never cycled in the Lakes then. I can do a 40 mile loop and be into a headwind the whole way, or so it feels. I've been blown to a stop going DOWN a 20% hill seconds after getting a hefty shove from a tailwind.

Guanajuato

Meant to post a link to this:
Met Commissioner 'would not cycle' in London
Well, maybe if you tried it you'd understand what needs doing to make it safer!

Kieran_Burns

Guanajuato wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

On a lighter note: the wind!

Sweet Mother. At least up here and out in the country if you have wind it comes from one bloody direction.

Never cycled in the Lakes then. I can do a 40 mile loop and be into a headwind the whole way, or so it feels. I've been blown to a stop going DOWN a 20% hill seconds after getting a hefty shove from a tailwind.

Done similar... I remember one fateful ride where I did 30 miles into the headwind and the bloody depression shifted past as I got to the turn around point... 30 miles back into the same headwind.

However, this was happening within feet - it was the air swirling between the buildings. If you went from a clear areas (post office lorry area) to the 3 storey buildings next to it...

Cool skyline from the office in Hatton Place- St Pauls framing The Shard

rjsterry

<Leans out of window and waves>

mtb-idle

Raymondo60 wrote:

It IS weird to think that we London cyclists/commuters take all that stuff for granted. Not in the sense that we don't appreciate how mad and dangerous it can be - we forget that at our peril. We do just tend to get on with it though. I had a brief chat with another biker at Tooting High Street last night; the traffic was insane, pedestrians flying everywhere, roadworks narrowing down to one lane southbound - real gridlock stuff. We just looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and said 'Take care mate' and rode off into the moonlight...............

I pulled up at a set of traffic lights yesterday just past south wimbledon and stopped behind a guy on a Wilier. you dont see too many of those around and he had a matching brand jacket too although rather incongruously he also had non cycling trousers tucked into socks.

He felt my presence (ooh err missus) and turned around. Alright mate? i said. Yes he replied and then added 'where am i?'

You are heading towards Morden I replied, where do you want to go? to which the strange answer he gave was 'anywhere'.

Well, you are heading in the right direction then!

to KB, welcome to the big smoke. you should have at least grabbed a Boris bike and chanced yer arm. Cycle in Lahndahhhhnnn for a while and you will find yourself redefining the notion of a close pass.

Ride hard

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Guanajuato wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

On a lighter note: the wind!

Sweet Mother. At least up here and out in the country if you have wind it comes from one bloody direction.

Never cycled in the Lakes then. I can do a 40 mile loop and be into a headwind the whole way, or so it feels. I've been blown to a stop going DOWN a 20% hill seconds after getting a hefty shove from a tailwind.

Done similar... I remember one fateful ride where I did 30 miles into the headwind and the bloody depression shifted past as I got to the turn around point... 30 miles back into the same headwind.

However, this was happening within feet - it was the air swirling between the buildings. If you went from a clear areas (post office lorry area) to the 3 storey buildings next to it...

Cool skyline from the office in Hatton Place- St Pauls framing The Shard

And you guys call us southern softies. Now you see what we have to deal with.

Colinthecop

Guanajuato wrote:

Meant to post a link to this:
Met Commissioner 'would not cycle' in London
Well, maybe if you tried it you'd understand what needs doing to make it safer!

Although those below him generally except he is a complete censored who knows little ablout little.

Kieran_Burns

MTB-Idle wrote:

to KB, welcome to the big smoke. you should have at least grabbed a Boris bike and chanced yer arm. Cycle in Lahndahhhhnnn for a while and you will find yourself redefining the notion of a close pass.

Oh I think I know all about them:

http://youtu.be/V9a_D-B6hFw

Only when you're in the countryside they're generally doing over 50....

raymondo60

MTB-Idle wrote:

I pulled up at a set of traffic lights yesterday just past south wimbledon and stopped behind a guy on a Wilier. you dont see too many of those around and he had a matching brand jacket too although rather incongruously he also had non cycling trousers tucked into socks.

He felt my presence (ooh err missus) and turned around. Alright mate? i said. Yes he replied and then added 'where am i?'

You are heading towards Morden I replied, where do you want to go? to which the strange answer he gave was 'anywhere'.

Well, you are heading in the right direction then!

Aha - the myth of the 'Wandering Wilier'! I'll look out for him tonight - he may still be out there on his way to 'anywhere'.....

johngti

Kieran_Burns wrote:

MTB-Idle wrote:

to KB, welcome to the big smoke. you should have at least grabbed a Boris bike and chanced yer arm. Cycle in Lahndahhhhnnn for a while and you will find yourself redefining the notion of a close pass.

Oh I think I know all about them:

http://youtu.be/V9a_D-B6hFw

Only when you're in the countryside they're generally doing over 50....

Did you get anywhere with the complaint? That was a bit too close :-|

hegyestomi

Ride hard wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Guanajuato wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

On a lighter note: the wind!

Sweet Mother. At least up here and out in the country if you have wind it comes from one bloody direction.

Never cycled in the Lakes then. I can do a 40 mile loop and be into a headwind the whole way, or so it feels. I've been blown to a stop going DOWN a 20% hill seconds after getting a hefty shove from a tailwind.

Done similar... I remember one fateful ride where I did 30 miles into the headwind and the bloody depression shifted past as I got to the turn around point... 30 miles back into the same headwind.

However, this was happening within feet - it was the air swirling between the buildings. If you went from a clear areas (post office lorry area) to the 3 storey buildings next to it...

Cool skyline from the office in Hatton Place- St Pauls framing The Shard

And you guys call us southern softies. Now you see what we have to deal with.

Get down to Canary Wharf: open waterfront and tall box buildings tunneling the wind like nothing I've ever seen.
I remember once put a foot off from my line by on gust.

rolf_f

MTB-Idle wrote:

to KB, welcome to the big smoke. you should have at least grabbed a Boris bike and chanced yer arm. Cycle in Lahndahhhhnnn for a while and you will find yourself redefining the notion of a close pass.

Indeed. It's great sport out accelerating the trendy hipsters on their fixies with a Boris Bike!

Underlines how slow the cycling is in London. Even on the Embankment it's easy enough to keep up with the cycle traffic on a Boris bike. It's fun a few times a year but it would drive me nuts on a regular basis.