Pedal for Scotland 2010

[Mad Doug Biker]

Guess you just had a bad day

Ever since the ride my 'problem' got worse, I had a temperature and starting to be sick too (not only that, I started to bleed 'at both ends' as it were - I had never puked bits of blood before!! ).

To set the scene, I was sitting on the bog with the laptop feeling like death warmed up at the time!!

I now have medication for it, and am ready feeling a bit better! (and I have started to eat a little bit again).

 

[GlasgowGaryH]

Get well soon Mad

 

[JimG]

First post folks and my first organised event.

yes, a great days cycling was had by all (7849 reporting). A nice wee stop at Kirkliston for a snowball and a nice cuppa, missed the other stops except a banana at drumpellier park. End of the ride and bike was on a lorry and I was on a bus back to Glasgow in a jiffy.

Can't believe there are so many cyclists who don't know the ettiquette involved, including some macho fools who give cyclists a bad name. Folk riding in the middle of the road instead of using the left hand side, riders riding 3 abreast when they could move over and let people by, assuming its OK to veer from one side of the road to the other without consideration for cyclists behind.

And finally the fools who can't wait in a "Q" at lights and feel the need to overtake waiting cars and crash red lights.

I will look out for more events next year, at least I will be more inclined to participate.

 

[GlasgowGaryH]

I will look out for more events next year, at least I will be more inclined to participate.

Maybe the 100 miler?

 

[Coco]

Sorry to hear about your ills MDB. Hope you get better soon.

 

[ACS]

I will look out for more events next year, at least I will be more inclined to participate.

Welcome to the forum.

Take a peek at this thread. https://www.cyclechat.net/

 

[Scoosh]

First post folks and my first organised event.

Can't believe there are so many cyclists who don't know the etiquette involved, including some macho fools who give cyclists a bad name. Folk riding in the middle of the road instead of using the left hand side, riders riding 3 abreast when they could move over and let people by, assuming its OK to veer from one side of the road to the other without consideration for cyclists behind.

And finally the fools who can't wait in a "Q" at lights and feel the need to overtake waiting cars and crash red lights.

I will look out for more events next year, at least I will be more inclined to participate.

JimG and to CycleChat !


You have well identified the reasons why many of us older more seasoned/experienced CC riders didn't do the PfS this year - too many numpties doodling along as if they owned the roads and there is no one else around.

I was down in Viccy Park in the afternoon on Sunday and was chatting to a guy - with a very nice Kinesis Racelight Tk - and he had seen the Police pulling over a number of riders for jumping red lights.


I reckon the event is a bit of a victim of its own success:
- there are many 'non-riders' doing it - which is great
- BUT they are not being adequately briefed/instructed/policed with regard to the Highway Code, let alone cycling etiquette

Glad to hear the buses/trucks were better sorted this year too .....


Concerning your "more events", why wait till next year ? Keep an eye on the 'CC and informal Rides, Clubs and Events' section and come and join us on a CC Ecosse Forum Ride . We usually have a monthly ride in the better weather , then in the winter we resort to a 'Rendez-vous' (RV) ride, where we agree to meet at a certain cafe and you chose your own route to and from there.

There are a couple of essential rules to which we adhere:

1 - no one gets left behind

2 - any bike, tyres, gears, clothing, speed etc is fine - you can't be too fast nor too slow. Someone will keep you company if you are struggling up (or down ) a hill.

3 - there are frequent pauses/stops for everyone to regroup, have a drink, feed etc, so no one goes away off the front, never to be seen again (we should be so lucky ).


Hope to see you on a ride soon !

 

[top-tube]

After similar concerns as Jim G on the behaviour of other cyclists last year, I did the sportive event this year, my first 100, and followed cycling from Edin to Glasgow on the Forth & Clyde canal on the previous day.

The sportive was much more civilised in that this event was for more serious cyclists (some possibly over serious), who clearly exercised much more road sense. My only complaint on the behaviour of others was the apparent discarding of gel wrappers on the roadside in places.

I found this event to be well organised, and went through some stunning remote countryside. 3 well stocked feed stops, with sandwiches for lunch in Carnwath. I managed to get to Victoria Park for 15.30, but disappointingly reviewing the results in yesterday's Sun, I was listed as DNF, so I was not impressed with the timing chip technology. My riding partner's time was listed, but seemed to be the time he got to Roseburn rather than Victoria Park.

I think PfS is a great starter event to get people hooked on cycling, and the Sportive has me hooked on longer events, but I may now look to ones organised by cycling clubs.

 

[zizou]

In some respects i liked seeing cyclists taking over the road, just a shame it wasn't a more regular occurrence


Seriously though i didnt find the behaviour of the cyclists that bad. Only saw one instance of a red light being jumped and while there was alot of novices giving them enough room meant any unexpected swerves could be accounted for. In my experience while their speed and endurance is far better than novice level many more 'serious' roadies (say those in clubs) bike handling skills leave alot to be desired too - and i include myself in that criticism. Although my speed and endurance are pretty crap too though!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Actually, the most annoying thing is on the SKYride local runs - Cyclists going along, 2, 3 abreast, and there is a car waiting behind them to get past. You try saying it to them though and they just ignore you (and the same happened on the PDF) as if it somehow the rules don't apply to them, or they pretend they don't understand what you are saying.

Of course, with the PDF, there were FAR more riders, so sometimes you'd find yourself more than 2 abreast purely because of the volume of riders, which must have been just as annoying to the following drivers as the ignorant zarks on the Skyride locals.

I have to admit that I didn't blatantly go through red lights, but there were a couple of occasssions when the lights had just started to change and I couldn't unclip in time.

Just three 'oops' moments, right at the end, purely because I was so knackered and feeling like s**t:

1. I was going along on the cycletrack into Edinburgh, and I heard a bell riging behind me. I somehow, just couldn't move over properly (partly because I had already been forced to ride 2 abreast, but there WAS still plenty of space). After a few calls ffrom behind, I eventually managed to get far enough over/the people behind lost patience.

2. Then, the inevatable happenend and I fell over at some lights becuase of my pedals. Right into the path of traffic. It wasn't anything major and oddly enough, I just sort of 'bounced'.

3. Lastly, I had put my CC hat on at Drumpellier park to sheild my eyes from the sun, and on the approach to Edinburgh, I was going along the path, head down (so that the hat was covering my view) not really thinking about about anyone coming towards me, I then just happened to glance up and I saw a guy SPEEDING towards me, and not even making any attempt to do anything about.

What was he expecting?? that because he had already finished and hence, going the WRONG way, that he didn't have to do anything??

It was only through some hasty action by myself that a head on crash was avoided!

What an idiot!! he didn't even flinch and a second or two later and it would have ended up painfully!

 

[AndyMacD]

I spent 4 hours taking photos just outside Kirkliston (I was the guy jumping out of the bushes at the top of the hill past the railway bridge). Managed to photograph about a third of all the participants (basically if you got to Kirkliston by 1:40 I probably photographed you) but my arms were hanging off me by the end - a camera is surprisingly heavy to hold up for all that time!

Have a look at my website (PhotoForMyWall.com) if you want to see if I took your pic. JimG I can't see your number in the right folder, you might want to try the unreadable bibs gallery.

I guess if I rode in this next year I would be one of the newbie numpties, but it did look fun, everyone was smiling (or clenching their teeth). How do you suggest i get into this? I have a hybrid bike but it looks awfully heavy compared to some of the more pro guys that went whizzing along and 've not cycled more than about 5 miles in years!

Andy

 

[primalgeek]

What was he expecting?? that because he had already finished and hence, going the WRONG way, that he didn't have to do anything??

How could he be going the WRONG way on a shared use (cycle)path? Was there a no entry sign coming from his direction? We were told on numerous occassions that we were cycling on an OPEN route.

It was only through some hasty action by myself that a head on crash was avoided!

Or from reading your post another way to describe this near collision: "It's only because I couldn't see properly and wasn't really thinking about people coming towards me that I nearly caused a head on crash" (I'm ofcourse assuming that he was cycling on the left)

I saw a guy SPEEDING towards me

What an idiot!! he didn't even flinch and a second or two later and it would have ended up painfully!

mmm... I don't think either one of you are blameless here. You for not being considerate to people coming the other way and being unsighted by your cap and him for "speeding".

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

How could he be going the WRONG way on a shared use (cycle)path? Was there a no entry sign coming from his direction? We were told on numerous occassions that we were cycling on an OPEN route.

If you read all the bumf it was advised against cycling back as there would still be riders coming. Seemed to make enough sense to me when on those narrow paths - I was able to react in time, but what if they DID crash into anyone, a child perhaps?? what then hmmm?

Put it another way, you wouldn't run a marathon the wrong way, would you??

Now, normally I don't slavishly and rigidly follow rules (I hate being treated like some sort of kid/criminal, bloody H&SE etc etc), but the aforementioned bit of advise given should have been abundantly clear to anyone with even half a brain, especially when the particular stretch in question was seen!

Like I say, would you run a race the wrong way round?

It's not exactly rocket science.

Or from reading your post another way to describe this near collision: "It's only because I couldn't see properly and wasn't really thinking about people coming towards me that I nearly caused a head on crash" (I'm ofcourse assuming that he was cycling on the left)

Purely from what it all was, no, quite frankly I wasn't really thinking about anyone coming the other way.

mmm... I don't think either one of you are blameless here. You for not being considerate to people coming the other way and being unsighted by your cap and him for "speeding".

Thing Is, I never said I was blameless, I mentioned the hat, et al. I think I was more just taken aback by his lack of response, when quite clearly, he was being a danger to himself and others.

 

[primalgeek]

If you read all the bumf it was advised against cycling back as there would still be riders coming. Seemed to make enough sense to me when on those narrow paths - I was able to react in time, but what if they DID crash into anyone, a child perhaps?? what then hmmm?

Put it another way, you wouldn't run a marathon the wrong way, would you??

Now, normally I don't slavishly and rigidly follow rules (I hate being treated like some sort of kid/criminal, bloody H&SE etc etc), but the aforementioned bit of advise given should have been abundantly clear to anyone with even half a brain, especially when the particular stretch in question was seen!

Like I say, would you run a race the wrong way round?

It's not exactly rocket science.



Purely from what it all was, no, quite frankly I wasn't really thinking about anyone coming the other way.




Thing Is, I never said I was blameless, I mentioned the hat, et al. I think I was more just taken aback by his lack of response, when quite clearly, he was being a danger to himself and others.

I think that all this just proves that taking 9000 cyclists down a shared use cyclepath that is still open to the public is not a very bright idea!

Although I did enjoy the day (it being my first cycling event), I'm not sure I'll be doing it again. Apart from the slightly crazy route at the end, the number of people on the route who didn't know how to cycling on the roads or even look over their right shoulder before veering out was a bit mind boggling.

Already set my sights on the Etape Caledonia tho

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Yes at first I thought the path was quite nice and secure.... until I quickly realised it wasn't actually big enough.

The problem is that there probably isn't an abundance of suitable routes, short of going on the road.