Nigelnaturist
Guru
- Location
- Pontefract
I try not to hate anyone, though some peoples actions make it a little difficult..
I personally don't at the moment, but the O.H. does on her car, nieces husband does, so that two lots in this household, I have driven or ridden most forms of transport, including flat bed wagons that needed to be roped and sheeted, no quick ratchet straps and curtainsider's. Most people are considerate even if you want to stereo type a driver the white van man, you get dicks in all forms of transports, what we have to do is understand what is going on around us (yea I get it wrong too) try and be understanding because mistakes happen, and shoot the arrogant ones.I've never got this cyclist v driver thing anyway. I have a car as well as a bike so when you hear people say "bloody cyclists, they don't even pay road tax!" it's a load of crap cos I do lol! Even before I got on the bike I've always been of the mindset that cyclists have just as much right to the road as much as I (as a driver) do. I guess it's the same in all walks of life, there's normal people and there's a**eholes.
Another thing about Road Tax, I believe (though may stand to be corrected) that most of the road tax goes to maintaining and improving major road/works and that local government funds a lot of the local roads (local B roads ect).
Just looked this up
"For trunk routes, Central Government pays 100% of their maintenance costs. For roads maintained by local authorities, Central Government will pay 50% of the costs for A-roads and 30% for B-roads, with the remaining cost of these (and the entire cost of unclassified roads) met by the local authority itself."
so as most cyclist wont be using trunk roads i.e. motorways or certain parts of the major A roads, one it's illegal, the others whilst in a lot of cases not illegal (A roads, unless prohibited at a local level ), extremely dangerous on some.
As for the rest A, B and unclassified are covered by local government, yes the cyclist does pay toward funding of those roads, through council tax, as these are the vast majority of roads cyclist ride on.
Next time someone says you dont pay road tax, just either explain this.
So the cyclist has every right to be on the road, (not cycle path) and to use that area around him/her to make progress in a safe manner, and if this includes closing down the road so you dont get squeezed than so be it.
and rode apprrox 45 Km today my longest yet without a stop over !! the last hill got me though, just before home i had to walk up, so thats my next challenge. i should sleep well tonight
Still using the MTB and pavements where possible at the moment until I get the hang of it but maybe next week I get the roadie out and see some speed comparison between the bikes at the same hart rate.
What a bunch ... Good thing I have two bikes 
