The Real Thing

Seen recently in the store where 'every little helps'. 

I thought at first someone had taken advantage of the display to leave their Bike Shaped Object (BSO) for a quick shop but no. Apparently the famous purveyor of sugar laden pop has now branched out into bicycles! 

The Cola Bike = The Real Thing?

A Trip To The Movies Cinema

Following on from my recent post about the Outwood Trail, its possible resurfacing and the fact while this new surface will be welcome, it will not magically change it into cycling infrastructure fit for everyday use, I decided to film a cycle trip using said route. I wanted to show a typical journey using it for a normal activity...so chose to do a trip to the Movies cinema.

I live in Prestwich and the nearest cinema is four miles away by road in Bury. The National Cycle Network (NCN) can be joined within a mile or so of my house and there are dedicated cycle lanes and bridleways to use as well, so I thought why not try to make the journey as car free and safe as possible and use these and some quiet roads to make my way to the silver screen. It didn't matter it was more than double the road distance, I got very wet and muddy (despite mudguards) and could have broken my neck and not been found for hours - this is cycling provision in the UK and I wanted to show it in all its glory.

The Garmin detail and map are here. The fall was genuine. I could have avoided it by walking or riding down the steps using my MTB but hey, where's the fun in that? Not everyone has a choice of bikes and I decided to use my everyday workhorse for the trip - the Santos Travelmaster equipped with Schwalbe Marathon Supreme tyres and touring ratio Rohloff gearing. Probably more capable than the average bike and able to carry a pannier with a change of clothing and tools in case I needed them...which I did!

Cycling The Wrong Way

One way streets. Some locales have lots and others few. Many force longer journeys on the road user to get from A to B but may be required due to street design, the need to limit traffic flow or access. The extra distance is often of little concern to a motorist but could be a significant extra distance, as a proportion of short urban journeys for the cyclist. This could conceivably be seen as a barrier to such journeys.

It has been argued one of the attractions of cycling in an urban environment is the permeability it allows to move through a built up area in comparison to motorised vehicles. This can be met in a number of ways; dedicated cycle lanes and paths, shared use paths and spaces and traffic calmed street with barriers to other traffic for example. A further method, widely used in other countries with good results, is to allow cyclists to travel the 'wrong way' along one way streets using a contraflow system. This has been used in the UK in a limited number of areas with some success but is not widespread. 

Some cyclists may well choose to ignore the current law and take 'illegal' short cuts via one way streets anyway, recognising the benefit of a shorter more direct route. While being understandable this cannot be condoned in my view as it will do the image of cyclists no favours and would be very hard to defend in the event of an accident. Luckily, there may be an extension of the cycling contraflow streets coming soon.

The Department for Transport (DfT) document - Signing the Way (Oct 2011) - will give councils the powers, or rather will relax the hoops to jump through, to make such changes possible. There are also some other changes which are designed to aid cycling such as: allowing easier official entry to ASL's, being able to cycle over Zebra crossings along certain routes and the use of pre signals at traffic lights permitting cyclists to start before other traffic. The full details are on pages 33-37 of the PDF document.

While councils will have this new power, it does not put any duty on them to make such changes. So what can be done if such measures would bring cycling benefit to a locale? Easy. Get in touch with your local councillor, cycling forum or council cycling officer and make the case for change known. It may not happen overnight but the more pressure there is the harder it will be to ignore.

Good luck and good campaigning!

The Making Of A Champion

Boris by Mark Baker (click picture to visit site)

Whatever your political persuasion and whatever your views on Cycle Supehighways, Blackfriars Bridge, Bow Roundabout and the like - and this Guardian reading, cycle loving, Amnesty subscribing, recycling friendly, republican leaning, global warming believing, atheist espousing, public sector health care worker will remain totally impartial on the matter - there is one certain thing you can say about Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and the 'Boris Bikes'; he has never insisted helmets were a part of the cycle hire experience, unlike Ken Livingstone who was set to make them a requirement, according to this report, before he was ousted by his frazzle haired, public school educated, nemesis who has been quoted saying: "...there are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters".

So, Boris Johnson; the cyclists champion? Discuss.

It Ain't Dutch!

I've written before about the UK National Cycle Network. 'National' really is a misnomer though as these routes lack any central planning and monies instead relying on piecemeal funding and voluntary rangers while making use of existing roads and trails of various types. They can be circuitous, dirty, muddy, poorly signed and strewn with barriers of various types. They can also be fun and enjoyable, traffic lite routes but as a network they fall far short of perfect in my opinion. They are good for leisure cycling but have limited appeal to the utility cyclist.

Route 6 is the one nearest me and it will run from London to Keswick when complete. I sometimes use the off road section to travel from Prestwich to Bury. It is a longer journey than by road at almost 8 miles compared to just over 4. I do it rarely, usually when the weather is pleasant, I fancy a change of scenery and have some spare time. I've also taken the Golden Child along it on her tagalong to Radcliffe, something I would definitely not do along the busy A roads. 

I use my tourer or MTB which are more than adequate but any skinny tyred road machine would not fare very well. Even on the right bike, in the wet the rider will be mud spattered despite full length, close fitting mudguards (I've done it. It's true!). Not really what you want on the way to/from work/shopping.

View Cycle Route 6: Prestwich to Bury in a larger map

The section south of the M60 has recently been cleaned up and the paths upgraded as part of the 'Prestwich Forest Park' regeneration scheme. It is more than usable in most weathers for the majority of cycles/cyclists, although it has no lighting at all which limits its use for dark time commuting, unless you enjoy cycle lighting like me and Mr C.

North of the M60 the route becomes The Outwood Trail and follows an old railway line. Immediately on leaving the bridge crossing the motorway the quality of the path is very much subject to the prevailing weather - being either dry and rutted or muddy and bepuddled. It is also very overgrown along sections. 

As the route approaches Radcliffe it does improve somewhat before sending the rider on a short but poorly signed road section, up an essentially pedestrian ramp into a car park where you are left to guess how to proceed. When the point to cross the road is finally located the route follows a canal towpath for a while. This is asphalted but is narrow with several 'cyclist dismount' suggestions at low bridges. The route then goes via a car park, along a brick filled farm track before joining another old railway line (asphalted) for the short leg into Bury.

So why I am bringing this up? Well news reaches me the Outwood Trail section may be due for some work to improve the surface. This is one of four projects currently awaiting funding in the Bury area from a bid to the Greater Manchester Local Sustainable Transport Fund. Now, nothing is definite, particularly in these choppy financial times, but it might come to pass, at some point in the future, there will be *gasp* some hard packed gravel or maybe even asphalt along this section. 

This would be nice but it still doesn't make it part of a well planned National Cycle Network, meeting any serious comparison to cycle paths in more enlightened countries and a challenge to the lure of the internal combustion engine. Still, its a nice day out!