I wanted to try something different for this weeks Comment Friday. I want to invite you guys to share your best and worst moments of cycling this week.
I’ll start us off but I’m going to cheat a little as I’ve not been doing any cycling this week while I’m travelling so I’ll refer back to last week.
My best: First coming back from France I was so eager to jump on a bike. The opportunity came when my friend, who only lives less than 10 minutes cycling away, finished his work and invited me over. Hopping on my bike for the first time in over a week felt great. I’m always amazed at how fast it whizzes along on a smooth road surface and I couldn’t resist taking my hands off the bars and pedalling down the empty A road enjoying the cool post-rain breeze. If only all roads in London were as smooth as that one.
My worst: I don’t frequently cycle in rush hour and when I do it’s a very hit and miss experience. This time pedalling over to a meeting in Hyde Park was really not fun. It was one of those days where you get hit by all the red lights and each time a loud motorbike happened to be next to me. I felt like I really had to fight for my place in the road and I was glad to just finally get to the park and relax along the cycle lane and have a drink in the Serpentine Cafe which is one of my new favourite meeting places.
What was your best and worst cycling experiences this week?
See also:
- Insider tips from Boris Bikes pioneers
- What cyclists can be fined for
- London Cycle Hire Scheme – your thoughts?
- Bike lights definitive guide
- What is your uphill cycling strategy?
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As seen on The Guardian, BBC and The Independent.
Best – getting back on my newly repaired bike, 2 weeks after being knocked off by some w*&@#r cycling coming off the pavement straight into my side. Being told my shoulder injury is healing nicely by the physio.
Worst – mistiming a bunny hop and landing my rear wheel hard on the edge of a large hole in the road, not a major deal I know. (Plus innumerable misdemeanours from motorists that I can’t be bothered to get upset about these days).
Best: Making the 7 3/4 mile ride home in less than 30 Minutes on Tuesday
Worst: Altercation with Bus driver yesturday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMyFAjyhnnI
I dunno, that looked kind of fun to me. You seemed to be very calm throughout the altercation. I look forward to updates on how this silly man is dealt with by the authorities (or not, probably).
Blimey. Well handed mate that fella should be taken back to driving school or better still removed from bus driving duties.
Re ad this from TFL – Thank you for your email about some London bus drivers ignoring red traffic lights.
I am sorry you have witnessed drivers passing through red lights. This is dangerous and totally unacceptable.
You will not be surprised to learn that we expect the very highest standards of service from everyone representing London Buses. This is especially true of bus drivers as they are in many ways the face of the organisation. We realise how important it is that drivers operate their buses safely.
Drivers receive comprehensive training to enable them to perform their duties effectively. Safety is central to this training. Clearly, the Highway Code should be observed at all times.
Any report we receive of poor driver behaviour is investigated by the operator concerned. Dependent on the findings of the investigation, drivers can receive remedial action ranging from additional training through to dismissal. If a driver is seen by a police officer passing through a red light they could face criminal proceedings.
We carry out a number of different monitoring exercises. For example, Driver Quality Monitoring is conducted on our behalf by the Driving Standards Agency. The operators also carry out their own observations. Mystery Traveller Surveys and Customer Satisfaction Surveys also help us to identify problem areas.
Should you experience any further examples of drivers passing through red lights, please let me know and I will take them up with the operator concerned. Any information that can be provided – time, date, location, route number, bus registration number – will be gratefully received as this helps us to retrieve CCTV footage from the bus in question and take action with individual drivers.
Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention. I hope my comments help and should you have any further queries, please let me know.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Ackford
Customer Services
Perhaps you could talk to all the bus drivers who jump the red lights at Turnpike Lane to turn right onto Green Lanes. Heartily sick of that.
Best: Using the Boris bikes for the first time to bunk off work for a while to go and listen to a talk by nature sound recordist Chris Watson @ the Tate Modern.
Worst: Seeing cyclists steam through zebra & pelican crossings whilst pedestrians were crossing. Cars & motorbikes sitting in and blocking the advanced zone box. I actually said something to someone who cut me up then sat in the box on their moped and was met with a torrent of abuse, using the straw man argument that it was ok as some cyclists (actually they spewed out a figure of “95% of…”) jump red lights.
As has been said elsewhere in these replies, if Boris really wants cycling to taken up by more people then traffic infringements against cyclists need to be dealt with more seriously and been seen and understood that it will not be tolerated.
Yeah, motorbikes and scooters aren’t allowed in those boxes are they?! they sit there so brazenly I’m unsure!
I think the best was cycling in today and the roads were quiet, all the lights were on my side and it was pretty sunny, I swooshed the ten miles into work.
The worst, cycling home on Wednesday and getting sandwiched between two buses continuously, because of traffic I couldn’t over take or even see to over take!
My best cycling moment this week was rolling across the Golden Gate bridge with some of my really good friends. The bridge is difficult to navigate due to the number of pedestrians and inexperienced cyclists, but my creed was Smile and roll on!
My worst hasn’t happened yet because riding in San Fran is just Awesome.
Best: realising I had hit my first 1000 miles (since I started counting in April) and planning my route for a jaunt to Brighton on the bank holiday.
Worst: getting a quarter of a mile from my house when the heavens opened and dumped a days worth of rain on me and a particularly stressful ride to Brick Lane – 2 miles cut up 5 times, sure it was because I was wearing a skirt. grrrrr
Having waited two weeks to get my bike into the shop for some repairs got it back did 5 miles only to have the same part that was supposed to have been fixed fail again! I was so looking forward to having the stead back in actionaction
best – completing my second session of cycle training UK with a colleague – I was already confident cycling into work but learnt so much. She was v unconfident, but after me cycling in with her and the training is now cycling in on her own and has reduced her commute from 1.5 hrs to just 45 mins. She is soo pleased and I am a better cyclist – wins all round!
Worst….yeah getting a sore throat from traffic fumes, especially as I sing for a hobby : (
Best and worst at the same time today.
Sat on a bus to oxford street, getting frustrated at how slow it was and how i could have done the journey four times quicker on my bike. And then realising how much time and money i am saving while travelling in london now.
BEST: Having a little boy who was running over the crossing in front of me, while I was waiting in a cycle lane at a red light, stop and ask me if it was ok for him to cross. It was cute and restored a little faith that at least some people are teaching their kids how to cross the road responsibly.
WORST: The two ipod wearing cyclists who travel so slow and are in their own little worlds who insist on pushing to the front at traffic lights (before going through them) after you have over taken them, forcing me to overtake them again in heavy traffic. Completely oblivious and totally inconsiderate t*****.
Its all part of the fun
Best: Picked-up my my bike from the mechanic for a tune-up to find that he replaced the worn parts with red anodized ones to match the rest of my bike (cable end crimps caps, chainring, and jockey wheel). PIMP!! Good looking-out, Steve!
D
Worst: Had an egg thrown at me during my 23 mile commute home. Yeah, not-so pimp.
(
Best: technically not this week, but last weekend went on a bike maintenance course at on your bike in london bridge. The day long course was really useful, revived my gears and brakes and best of all i had an annoying clicking noise & sort of tugging feeling as i cycled which i put down (with help from friends) to either the pedal or bottom bracket. I asked the guy running the course and he showed me how to remove the pedals and BB, clean and regrease them. Bike is good as new now
also get a free park tools maintenance book. So all in all for the £75 i think you get a lot for your money – learn how to do a general service yourself, get to ask any questions you like and maybe even fix some problems – that bottom bracket service he showed me would have cost £25 itself.
Worst: going for a ride with my girlfriend and having to go at her pace! So not bad really.
Best – Being on hols and riding places just for pleasure and not just commuting.
Worst – the thoughts of work next week!!
John.
worst: waking up yesterday morning (Sunday) and feeling dazed and a bit dizzy, so unable to go out on the club run
best: our Thursday group ride – 67 miles of superb Cheshire lanes and (just a few) tracks, great company, lovely weather which was better than forecast; icing on the cake – got home at 4pm, by 5pm it was raining!
Guys
All these bad driving vans etc – do you try and take their numberplates? I have to say I’ve only tried it once, and then I got home and looked up the company and the name on the van was far too generic for me to track them down and report their driver.
But if I’ve been given a scare it always gives me satisfaction to cycle wobbily off thinking ‘heh heh I’ll get you when i get home!’.
FYI – there are police on bycicles on Old Street (just west of the roundabout with City road) stopping cyclists who jump the lights this morning. Ironically, they’re mostly having to shoot the lights themselves to catch up.
Best – the weather this morning was lovely for my cycle in of the week.
Worst – losing it completely and screaming like a nutter through the car window of the geezer who shot past me at 40 honking and shouting because I was riding two abreast (for a minute, overtaking), before stopping at a red light a hundred yards on. I feel sorry for his passenger, who was in between us!
Best – Cycling in the dry in the early evening yesterday.
Worst – Dressed for cycling in the rain in the early evening yesterday. I guess I must have sweated off 25 extra calories under the waterproof, so maybe it wasn’t all that bad!
Best: last night, a nice ride from the West End to Ealing
Worst: cars and trucks do my heading
If you’d asked about the previous week, my worst journey was on the Friday from Westminster to Boston Manor where I only went though 4 green lights and 3 pedestrian crossings. I had to stop at all the other lights and crossings, which is annoying and hard work if you’ve had to stop in top gear!
best was the ride in yesterday – just missed the rain then had the best luck with the lights and made it all the way from canning town to watney market without a stop.
worst was someone turning right from the other direction across my path – they hadn’t spotted me and i did a big old swerve to not die. it was close enough that the passenger screamed. took me a few days to stop being off kilter after that one.
Jules
I love this best/worst idea – obviously I’m not the only one.
Best: meeting and riding with the lovely Miss Sarah of the Girls and Bicycles blog.
Worst: having to yell at a jerk for honking at me.
Overall, a fair exchange.
Best: this morning’s commute was lovely, cool and dry, perfect cycling weather. Worst?engaging my dynamo to go home after Tai Chi, only to find a break in the wiring had rendered the lights useless- someone had decided to pull the wire hard enough to snap it. That was a nervous ride home at dusk…
Worst: Late last night, I cycled from Finsbury Park to Redbridge in north-east London where I am house-sitting for the week. I got completely lost after the police closed the junction of Seven Sisters Rd & Green Lanes. After about a mile and a half of cycling the wrong way, I finally gave in and pulled out the iPhone for GPS google maps goodness.
Best: After finding my way again I had a lovely journey at 1AM in the morning cycling all the way through quiet main roads in East London. It seems most of the journey from Finsbury Park to north east London is on a gentle slope so I got some great speeds (avg 20mph on a mile split) and hardly saw another road user. It’s a beautiful hour to be cycling on the road and the temparature was perfect.
I read a lot of comments on this blog complaining about drivers but since I started cycling a few months ago, I really can’t say I’ve had that many problems with drivers. Most drivers in London seem quite aware of cyclists and give you a decent amount of room. Most of my worst moments are from me being an idiot and doing something stupid. I’ve got annoyed at myself for:
not pumping my tyres enough,
not realising one of my rear v-brake arms had slipped out and wondering why i was crawling,
not waking up on time and so being stressed about traffic lights etc.
taking a wrong route for no apparent reason on the commute I ride every day (done this several times!).
wimping out because of the weather forecast only for it to not rain.
I am wondering Andrea what kind of Job do you do?
As of late, running this blog!
good stuff this week got my specialized secteur sport through cycle to work scheme lovin it so far great bike, its my first road bike wish i had got one years ago instead of those heavy mountain bikes, went on london skyride sunday good fun, bad things this week dont have any sorry!
Best: Cycling home from Brixton to Wood Green on Saturday night after a lovely evening with friends. Quiet roads and loads of fun
Worst: Getting stopped by police for waiting ahead of a stop line at a notoriously dangerous junction where my waiting position is the safest by far (16 years of riding through it!) Then getting driven into by a car one minute later as the driver pulled into the curb without indicating or checking her mirrors. Justice?
hi