Documentary looking for bike commuters

NathanSTV

Hi everyone,

I'm working on a Channel 5 documentary series about 'extreme commuting', we've been looking at people who fly, drive, get a train, and my thoughts have recently turned to the bike! Does anyone on here do a very long / interesting dare I say it ........... Extreme! Bike journey to work everyday? Do you cross the South Downs? Brave endless gales and downpours? Perhaps you cross a mountain to get somewhere regularly? Or do you just cycle a LONG way to get to work?

I'd love to hear from you, and the bike a place in our series, probably looking for UK / Western Europe only at this point.

roadsandcommutes@stv.tv

Many thanks,

Nathan Lomax-Cooke
Assistant Producer - STV London

dhope

Here you go, last TV person to ask
viewtopic.php?f=40012&t=12955963

NathanSTV

Ahhhhhhhhhhh .... Thanks.

guinea

I cycle through Hackney, Leyton and Epping Forrest on my daily 33 mile commute in all weather.

The distance isn't too hard, it's the absolutely crazy road planners, drivers and pedestrians that make it completely mental every day.

crossborderreiver

Getting an error message when using that linked e-mail address

NathanSTV

crossborderreiver wrote:

Getting an error message when using that linked e-mail address

Hi,

it's roadsandcommutes@stv.tv

That should do the trick?

NathanSTV

Or use my personal one nathan.lomax-cooke@stv.tv

NathanSTV

guinea wrote:

I cycle through Hackney, Leyton and Epping Forrest on my daily 33 mile commute in all weather.

The distance isn't too hard, it's the absolutely crazy road planners, drivers and pedestrians that make it completely mental every day.

Drop us a line? Sounds mental, the road planning aspect would link in well with some other things we're looking at. I'm cycling through Oxford Street for work at the mo, it's horrific! :evil:

EKE_38BPM

What are the chances of a sensationalist programme showing all of the (thankfully) rare bad parts of cycling rather than the much more common commutes we all have, which are great, fun and safe.
Things on the roads could be better, but most TV shows will focus only on the negative aspects.

A show about people riding safely to work and nothing much happening would be boring and therefore wouldn't be made.
A(nother) show about confrontations, collisions and near misses is good for viewing figures, but thats it. There is nothing good for cycling and cyclists in most of these programmes.

Steer clear of this unless you want to be the reason people don't take up cycling and thus make cycling less safe than it currently is (which is pretty safe) as there is safety in numbers, so the more cyclsts on the road, the safer we all are.

meanredspider

As I said on the other thread, a better programme would be to show how common these "crazy" commutes are and maybe make people think "Blimey - if those guys are all doing that, maybe I could do the X miles to work on my bike too"

Last winter I was doing 35-mile round trips north of Inverness in temperatures down to -8C (as cold as it got) on a mountain bike with ice tyres. That's also pretty much how I started too (just an older bike, crappier tyres, and I was a lot less fit). Some people would think that was extreme but only because they haven't tried it.

Kieran_Burns

NathanSTV wrote:

guinea wrote:

I cycle through Hackney, Leyton and Epping Forrest on my daily 33 mile commute in all weather.

The distance isn't too hard, it's the absolutely crazy road planners, drivers and pedestrians that make it completely mental every day.

Drop us a line? Sounds mental, the road planning aspect would link in well with some other things we're looking at. I'm cycling through Oxford Street for work at the mo, it's horrific! :evil:

I wonder if any TV company would ever show a commute to work can be as 'crazy' as this?

http://youtu.be/GCtHmrDU8YE

The appalling surface near the end was almost too much

dhope

NathanSTV wrote:

guinea wrote:

I cycle through Hackney, Leyton and Epping Forrest on my daily 33 mile commute in all weather.

The distance isn't too hard, it's the absolutely crazy road planners, drivers and pedestrians that make it completely mental every day.

Drop us a line? Sounds mental, the road planning aspect would link in well with some other things we're looking at. I'm cycling through Oxford Street for work at the mo, it's horrific! :evil:

As has been said elsewhere. The notion than a 33 mile round trip on roads in London is mental is a problem in itself.
16.5 miles is quite a long commute. Yep.
In London, which is a bit busier than normal.

It's not mental, it's just a way of getting to work. 16.5 miles over a mountain each day would be mental. Or a 16.5 mile run each way. But an hour of cycling? Mental is sitting in the car and doing half that distance in the same time :roll:

meanredspider

Kieran_Burns wrote:

NathanSTV wrote:

guinea wrote:

I cycle through Hackney, Leyton and Epping Forrest on my daily 33 mile commute in all weather.

The distance isn't too hard, it's the absolutely crazy road planners, drivers and pedestrians that make it completely mental every day.

Drop us a line? Sounds mental, the road planning aspect would link in well with some other things we're looking at. I'm cycling through Oxford Street for work at the mo, it's horrific! :evil:

I wonder if any TV company would ever show a commute to work can be as 'crazy' as this?

http://youtu.be/GCtHmrDU8YE

The appalling surface near the end was almost too much

Getting back on topic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOZ4xWH4IbU

8)

Agent57

meanredspider wrote:

Getting back on topic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOZ4xWH4IbU

8)

Me too!

Riding on ice in Lancaster

I commute on my bike whatever the weather. Feh to these fair-weather cyclists who take the car if it's a bit wet or a tad chilly!

daxplusplus

meanredspider wrote:

As I said on the other thread, a better programme would be to show how common these "crazy" commutes are and maybe make people think "Blimey - if those guys are all doing that, maybe I could do the X miles to work on my bike too"

+1

Initialised

DaxPlusPlus wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

As I said on the other thread, a better programme would be to show how common these "crazy" commutes are and maybe make people think "Blimey - if those guys are all doing that, maybe I could do the X miles to work on my bike too"

+1

Really? You want it to become mainstream so everyone and their mum, wife and kids are blocking the already too narrow cycle-lane, or the government actually take notice and we all have to spend the entire ride on paved, well thought out, segregated routes with ample communication with existing highways which are designed for riding at 10-15 mph all the while dodging nodders, breeder chariots and plodders as well as the occasional untrained dog and it's user.

Where's the fun in a commute that's not likely to kill you or make you feel #rule5'd?

JFK wrote:

"We do not do these things because we think they are easy..."

Kieran_Burns

Agent57 wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

Getting back on topic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOZ4xWH4IbU

8)

Me too!

Riding on ice in Lancaster

I commute on my bike whatever the weather. Feh to these fair-weather cyclists who take the car if it's a bit wet or a tad chilly!

Errr.....?

This video contains content from columbia, who has blocked it on copyright grounds.

COLUMBIA? :shock:

graham.

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Agent57 wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

Getting back on topic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOZ4xWH4IbU

8) [/quo

Riding on ice in Lancaster

I commute on my bike whatever the weather. Feh to these fair-weather cyclists who take the car if it's a bit wet or a tad chilly!

Errr.....?

This video contains content from columbia, who has blocked it on copyright grounds.

COLUMBIA? :shock:

Me too.

Agent57

Kieran_Burns wrote:

This video contains content from columbia, who has blocked it on copyright grounds.

COLUMBIA? :shock:

Hrm, Columbia records I assume. The background music is "No Fear of Falling" by "I am Kloot":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A88N8CVcnR8

It hadn't appeared alongside my video as a copyright strike though, and it had got about 700 views. I just checked and now it seems there was a strike. I've acknowledged it, so hopefully it'll be available again at some point...

Actually, thinking about it, I'm pretty sure this is an audio track I added through the YouTube interface, 'cause I don't even have a copy... The original music was the theme from the TV series Monkey!

Agent57

Or I'll just change the music. So, Riding on ice in Lancaster is available again. The backing track's nowhere near as good as the previous one though. Dunno why YouTube would allow copyright strikes against music from their own audio replacement catalogue though...