Is recreational cycling becoming less popular (excluding London commuting)

[mjr]

and it has got very busy, just far too many cars

Essex is awful. The highways department have still not got a grip on feral motoring or provided decent cycle routes. And I don't mean just that they've not built many London-style roadside routes, but they've not even attempted to deter motorists from minor roads as much as Suffolk has (which hasn't always succeeded and I don't like as much as good trails but at least they seemed to try). Essex is still summed up by that high kerb across NCN51 greeting cyclists disembarking from the ferry from the Netherlands which is followed by a glass-strewn stretch with sunken skiddy metal rails and a long lumpy needless detour around the headland. Essex just isn't a welcoming county for cycling yet. It rivals Poshshire (Northants).

Rider numbers fairly good still in Norfolk. The touring clubs will ride all winter but the racing clubs are already hiding indoors.

 

[123456789]

I opened up my browser just now and got this...someone is watching

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/oth...1&cvid=1847b90f450b48bfba845841cd87e85a&ei=15

 

[Dogtrousers]

My complaint about Essex is the A127. It just barges across the landscape West to East (or E-W) and is a barrier that's hard to cross when heading North (or S)

Lanes that were running N-S before it was built? Just cut them. No one is using them anyway.

I'm guessing that if this was a motorway they might have been obliged to provide over or under bridges. It looks like it was done on the cheap.

 

[Oldhippy]

There are quite a few cyclists on Viking Trail, NCN 1, 15 and 16 in these parts. The racy types are a bit of a pain on the sea wall section sometimes as they go way too fast and expect everyone to get out of their way.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Back from a morning ride. Saw 13 cyclists over a period of an hour.

 

[grldtnr]

My complaint about Essex is the A127. It just barges across the landscape West to East (or E-W) and is a barrier that's hard to cross when heading North (or S)

Lanes that were running N-S before it was built? Just cut them. No one is using them anyway.

I'm guessing that if this was a motorway they might have been obliged to provide over or under bridges. It looks like it was done on the cheap.

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You can say the same of the A13 too, , both roads were built in the '30's and hardly been altered since, actually vast sums have been spent on the A13, but not to help Cyclists. At least when the A127 WAS Built there was a cycle track built alongside, it's in a deplorable state now, and in the Sarfend bit, unusable as cars park along it.....it's too late to change things now, as the relevant authorities dont have the funds, or inclination to do anything.

 

[Dogtrousers]

You can say the same of the A13 too, , both roads were built in the '30's and hardly been altered since, actually vast sums have been spent on the A13, but not to help Cyclists. At least when the A127 WAS Built there was a cycle track built alongside, it's in a deplorable state now, and in the Sarfend bit, unusable as cars park along it.....it's too late to change things now, as the relevant authorities dont have the funds, or inclination to do anything.

I hadn't realised it was that old. I bet when they opened it those junctions weren't impassable, and they've since had the dual carriageways and Armco installed

 

[grldtnr]

I hadn't realised it was that old. I bet when they opened it those junctions weren't impassable, and they've since had the dual carriageways and Armco installed

A127 duelled from inception, my dear old Ma used to ride Tandem with my Gramps from Walthamstow ,there and back! I'm my 60's, she was a young lass back then, but then most people cycled back then., she showed me a pic of her riding stoker, i think she Was secretly pleased when I started serious riding.

 

[Chief Broom]

On my rides around the Brora area i see mainly e-bikes, a ratio of something like 3 to 1 pedal bike. Unusually today on my ride over the hills a tandem, a rare species!