Jaysus cycling! (8 Viewers)

[Space]

pat kenny is creaming his keks at the thought of this.

Italian cyclists gear up for a row over number plates

Cyclists in Italy will be forced to pay for insurance and fit number plates and indicators under controversial plans to boost road safety.

www.thetimes.co.uk

That'll definitely sort out the italian drivers.

 

[ann post]

Finally carved out a bit of time to get back on the bike the past few weeks. Life is better. I'm not as slow as I was expecting to be going back.

 

[pete]

Nearly hit a grown man who decided to take a sharp left turn on the footpath and cycled across the pedestrian crossing without stopping.

Pedestrian crossing, lads. For pedestrians. The clue is in the name. Pedestrian.

 

[magicbastarder]

was he on a fixie, with an obligatory haircut?

 

[pete]

And when I say “nearly hit” I mean he nearly crashed into the side of my car. Because I didn’t stop at the pedestrian crossing, because there were no pedestrians approaching the pedestrian crossing.

 

[pete]

was he on a fixie, with an obligatory haircut?

Possibly. I was too busy driving past going WHAT THE FUCK?

 

[seanc]

Nearly hit a grown man who decided to take a sharp left turn on the footpath and cycled across the pedestrian crossing without stopping.

Pedestrian crossing, lads. For pedestrians. The clue is in the name. Pedestrian.

I used to do that manoeuvre all the time. Especially at big roundabouts. It seems safer to me, if you're paying attention.

 

[pete]

Thing is if he’d actually paused and checked it was safe to cross - like pedestrians do - I’d have seen him and stopped. Maybe. STILL NOT A PEDESTRIAN.

 

[Deadmanposting]

Thing is if he’d actually paused and checked it was safe to cross - like pedestrians do - I’d have seen him and stopped. Maybe. STILL NOT A PEDESTRIAN.

I swing the leg over so I'm side-saddle and scoot along the crossing with one leg on the ground, one on the bike.
Technically a pedestrian

I hope you have good insurance

 

[Deadmanposting]

the AA made a video about how long it takes to get through dublin at rush hour; from their offices on or near south william street to whitehall church. the differences between the modes of transport were even more pronounced than i'd have expected:

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motorbike: 19m30s
e-bike: 20m30s
runner: 29m
bus: 34m
car: 45m (and the driver stated he thought the traffic was very light)
walking: 55m.

That runner is five minute quicker in the morning on a run into town from Whitehall

I could definitely do that bike ride faster than that e-bike. But I am not the world's greatest respecter of traffic lights

 

[magicbastarder]

but would you be a bit sweaty after?
i could beat that time too, but would need a shower. it's uphill all the way from the tolka to the church.

 

[Deadmanposting]

but would you be a bit sweaty after?
i could beat that time too, but would need a shower. it's uphill all the way from the tolka to the church.

If I was biking, a change of t-shirt is good enough in the summer
I wear the absolute minimum of layers while biking,

Bike in in a tee or shirtless - like who cares?
Smear some deodorant on after, pull on a clean tee. Job done.

 

[magicbastarder]

The medical context doesn’t exclude the health benefits of cycling though. In fact, the general consensus would be that cycling is fucking great (a technical term). But in terms of landscapes, the reality is that cycling is largely done on roads shared with large, powerful machines which have a tendency to be driven by careless people. And let’s face it, accidents happen on your own - my only two bad spills were both completely solo endeavours and I got a head injury out of one of them. Guess what I wasn’t wearing because I was only spinning around the corner in a quiet estate?

However, I do agree that putting the onus on cyclists to “be safer” is wrong though, I’ve said here before that as a society we need to hold drivers far more culpable for their actions than we do. And in terms of the thing most people say to me when I say I cycle, it’s not that they hope I wear a helmet but that they could never cycle in Dublin, it’s too scary and dangerous. To me, that’s on cars, driver behaviour, and city planning - not on cyclists not being safe enough as a group.

more of the stuff i was referring to; irish physicians who see one specific part of the puzzle calling for helmets to be made mandatory.

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[magicbastarder]

the boards evil was on today. poor bastards had a rough start weather wise, i think seven people started it.
it's what happened when someone on boards years ago decided that the wicklow 200 wasn't tough enough (which usually has 200km and between 2,000m to 2,500m climbing), so they tacked on an extra 2,000m of climbing. i've never attempted it, let alone been insane enough to even contemplate it.

this is what one of the lads there came home with.



to place that into context - the climb from howth village to the summit pub is i think 116m. so that chap did the equivalent of that climb 40 times.

 

[seanc]

Do you have the route?

I'd never do that, nut i went on a couple spins with that lot years ago. We may have met IRL actually.

 

[magicbastarder]

i've met a few boardsies, but only ever been on a spin with a couple of them (and that was before i joined boards). one of the people is now a mad audaxer; by the looks of it she's ireland's leading female audaxer.

 

[Space]

My mate did the TWA again this year, managed to come in in sixth place.

 

[seanc]

https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2023-06-18/cyclist-in-60s-dies-during-annual-london-to-brighton-bike-ride

I do know a couple of people who are on this ride, but I don't think it's anyone I know. Still though.

 

[Anthony]

Went for a spin last night. Forgot to hit "start" on strava. I mean, WHAT'S THE POINT?

 

[Anthony]

Also I wasn't in me gear so I attempted a few cycle paths in the town. Holy fuck total rubbish, starting and stopping in random places. No way to get on or off them with out getting off and getting up or down a huge kerb.