Surrey Hills - I get it
Simmo72
Posts: 262
I haven't been over to the surrey hills area for a couple of years but on riding there this weekend I do get why some of the locals aren't too keen on us lycra clad loons.
The volume of riders was significant, which is a good thing, the more riders on the road, the more drivers will learn to adapt and the majority were behaving themselves. However in one ride to see
Littering
Riding 3 a breast with cars behind them
Pulling out with little regard for other road users.
it doesn't give a good impression
Please, use the roads, but have some respect otherwise you give us all a bad name
The ride was finally ruined by one of the many gravel strewn potholes catching me out and resulted in a clavicle separation and a broken rib, my worst injury in decades of cycling, but at least I got some friendly assistance from a couple of kind motorists who stopped to help (many, many thanks). Keep up the respect or this may too vanish.
The volume of riders was significant, which is a good thing, the more riders on the road, the more drivers will learn to adapt and the majority were behaving themselves. However in one ride to see
Littering
Riding 3 a breast with cars behind them
Pulling out with little regard for other road users.
it doesn't give a good impression
Please, use the roads, but have some respect otherwise you give us all a bad name
The ride was finally ruined by one of the many gravel strewn potholes catching me out and resulted in a clavicle separation and a broken rib, my worst injury in decades of cycling, but at least I got some friendly assistance from a couple of kind motorists who stopped to help (many, many thanks). Keep up the respect or this may too vanish.
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Hardly any time off the bike, turbo first and then I just took my time and avoided hills for a while.
I do agree that we should set a high standard for this reason but an illogical hatred of cycling is of course illogical.
The ambulance seemed to take an age to come.
Blame the cyclists riding three abreast for that!
No excuse for going round a hairpin on the wrong side of the road, you wouldn't do it in a car so why on a bike
Mike - will you not be racing off the front of the bunch, showing off your Cornish hill climbing prowess?
There are a few knobs around typically those who ride in club gear and large groups cause the biggest problem, but as a local I really think the issue is over hyped.
Personally I love having the roads packed with cyclists it makes it much more fun when there is someone in front to try to catch. All the summer riders will have packed off for the season in another 6-8 weeks and we'll have the roads back to normal again.
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Cyclists are a minority group, an 'out' group is what I think they call it. Literally nothing you do will stop people having and spreading negative opinions about us. If 100% of cyclists rode perfectly legally and sensibly on the roads then they'll dig up road tax (abolished 85 years ago, only ran for 10-15 years before that) or something else. Half want cyclists off the road and on the pavement and half attack cyclists for riding on the pavement.
So there's no solution, just take responsibility for your own ride and chill out a bit...unless you also go on car forums and attack them for speeding/mobile phone use/not looking/million other things.
I wouldn't call cyclists a minority group in the Surrey Hills!
And there's no pavement around here so I've never heard that argument.
My missus is terrified to go out in the car at weekends and despite being a cyclist myself I feel the same. I've seen them stop in the middle of the road on blind bends, ride up to 5 abreast, descend like pro's at 40mph+ on single track roads etc..I see something idiotic literally every time I go out on a weekend. Yet I've never seen a car driver do any of the things you mention in the Surrey Hills. We're all driving on tenterhooks scared cyclists are going to come flying down the hill into our windscreen!
I didn't know about the Box Hill incident mentioned earlier and someone posted in the commuting chat forum about how they went into a car whilst descending on Leith Hill, also last weekend. That exact scenario is why lots of drivers are scared to go out on weekends. It really isn't negative opinions for no reason at all.
I do agree with your last sentence though. There is no solution. These arrow roads were here long before cars and this new cycling revolution, they're just not designed for what the cyclists are using them for and cars together.
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I do still cycle up Box Hill and around the Surrey Hills regularly- on weekdays. I try to avoid the area on nice weekends because of the cyclists.
Yes me too.
Went up last Sunday morning & it was like Picadilly Circus - I almost got taken out by the NT cafe at the top by a woman on a bike emerging from the cafe and trying to join her friends (who were 20m down the road) - she just wobbled out directly in front of me without so much as a glance in my direction - no idea how I didn't end up riding into her - then she gets indignant because I shouted out in alarm and sugegsted that she looked before she moved next time.....
Don't get me wrong, it's brilliant to see so many people enjoying cycling (though most of them will disappear as soon as the clocks change/it gets a bit cold) and in the majority of cases they ride considerately and sensibly - just the odd [email protected] that is blisfully unaware that they are riding like a tool or that their actions tarnish all of us. In concentrated areas like Box Hill you can understand how frustrations build. That said, the "reports" of angry ant-cycling locals are greatly exaggerated (I live locally and ride in the SH a lot) and mostly stem from recent road closures for Olympics / Ride London etc - the frustrations of the minority are then projected onto any cyclist riding a road bike and wearing lycra shorts (ie proper cycling attire) because clearly we are all then "racing" - they seem to equate club runs with sportives and sportives as being UCI classified events....
Once you get out into the SH proper it's still good riding and there aren't so many bikes that you can't move, but we now seem to outnumber cars a lot of the time. The bonus here is that it forces some drivers to slow down, think a bit more carefully, and overtake more safely (the windy roads weren't designed for modern cars to drive quickly down either!).
In congested areas like Box Hill at peak times you just need to adapt to your surroundings, shoulder check a lot more and accept that even though you want to ride twice as fast as the nodders in front, at times you just can't. Similarly, we're on open roads so taking racing lines round blind bends (particularly ones you don't know well) is just stupid. There's a time and a place & all that.
Surrey Hills
What's a Zwift?
I didnt say cyclist were a minority on the surrey hills.
If you've never seen a car driver speeding or 'any of the things I've mentioned' then you're blind or dont drive, ever. I'm not defending idiot cyclists as they get on my nerves too in london but seriously get a grip - motorists break far more rules on a daily basis, but it's utterly accepted, totally ignored and basically normalised. I actually felt worried on my vespa the other day when I was trying to stick to the new 20mph limit in the city. Seriously I trust car drivers so little to stick to speed limits (30mph also) I have to really force myself not to speed up (and get them off my a*se).
I do sympathise with your overall situation though, maybe things are geting out of hand, it's just that idiot drivers breaking rules gets zero coverage anymore yet cyclists are the real menace...2000 dead and 20,000 seriously injured nationally by motorists tells me a different story (1 dead, couple dozen seriously injured by bike btw...on a bad year)
It's great to see, although I rarely see it as I choose to get a lap in super early on Sundays or mid-week. It's nice out there at the moment with no school run!
Can't really see what the attraction is - apart from the fantastic road surface. Its a very average hill packed to the rafters. The hills around the Sevenoaks / weald area offer a bigger challenge and in my opinion more breathtaking views - please don't tell anyone
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Yeh, I like it for the same reason - its a nice consistent kind of hill, excellent surface and can quite easily gauge fitness by the speed I set. Crocknorth can go good or bad in the first few meters as it ramps up straight from the off.
Coldhabour Lane up Leith Hill is another good climb - nice and long with a steeper section in the middle, then a sting in the tail once you've gone round the top part just past Tanhurst.
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did that last year, went all along the A25 which is such a horrible surface by the time I got there I was worn out. Didn't help that when I got to Box Hill there is no actual sign saying where it is so missed the turning !!
I prefer the Toys Hill area but to be honest that's more because it's where I live. It's like anywhere round here people may bang on about Toys, Yorks and Ide Hill but there are plenty of others with less riders on that could be better
We took in a route out via lingfield via country lanes and only took in about 5 miles on A25, so it was not too bad.
Agreed you are always going to be sweet on your own area. we have a wealth of great climbs and routes in our part of the world - i mentioned toys and ide hill as examples - but not the best
Rain - Winter - Wilier - xp izoard "petacchi"
Classic - 1999 De Rosa - Planet - Aluminio
Got yr stats a bit wrong there - nearer 200 killed, 3000 seriously injured, and 16,000 slightly injured.
Think we need to start a Kent Hills thread one day. There's quite a few round the area I've either never riden, not heard of, or just plain can't actually find where they are