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Thursday July 12, 2007
Thursday August 31, 2006 As the 2nd car sped past me at 60 mph a few inches from my elbow I had this thought..
Lets just change the speed limit units and keep all the existing signs, all we would have to do is buy some 180 kph signs from the continent for motorways and the whole country would be safer - 30 kph is about 20 mph, 60 kph is about 40mph, lets do it tomorrow!
Monday March 20, 2006 This morning I got squeezed by a new grey Saab estate with child onboard approaching the QueensGate roundabout in Farnborough, she moved left into my lane and into my space even though I shouted a warning, she kept going until I had to brake to avoid a crash. Of course she had to stop at the traffic ahead so we had words.
She had to get into my space as she was in the wrong lane ....&**&^^%
The on the way home in Ewshot village by the excellent Windmill pub a 4x4 cut the corner across the junction and nearly hit me head on - thanks.
Oh yes and before I forget Hampshire County Council's response to my complaint about the roundabout outside the Sun camps was that it was difficult and they would think about it some more but in the mean time if I wore something bright drivers would notice me better - very patronising, very helpful. Prompted me to send my MP an email.
I used the find your mp page on the house of common's website but it errored most appropriately with "connection reset by peer" , most amusing.
Thursday March 16, 2006 So as I peddle my way in this morning, a bit late so I caught the end of the rush hour, I had to exit the big roundabout on the A325 by the Queensgate shopping centre in Farnborough. A I passed the apex of the exit bend an old red Ford Mondeo driver by a young lady apexed that curve - she was within inches of my handlebars. I do my normal polite gesture to indicate that they were too close just in case they look in the mirror. She looked, saw my gesture and performed her own gesture. Clearly she was impressed with my skill and was telling me I was the number one best cyclist.
But why do they do this, you give them polite advise that their driving is rubbish and you just get back abuse, roll on the 10 pound a gallon petrol price..
Tuesday March 14, 2006 I have to admit to not having ridden as much as I should of before Xmas, but now I have sold my Smart car I have to ride to get to work. Working from home does not work well in our house as I don't have a separate office so I get distracted, so its ride/walk. I could try the bus, I made it home once on the bus, it took 2 changes, 1 hour and about 4 pounds in fares but it did take me to within a 100 yards of my house.
Back to the point, my winter bike ( the cart horse) had its first puncture last night, a bit dissapointing that it has only done about 800 miles. I wonder if there is a coincidence that I used a bit of tatty cycle path yesterday.
there are some good photos of Cleo and Finn on Alec Muffett's blog
Wednesday March 08, 2006 I reported Rushmoor Rd ( little lane that runs past Rushmoor Arena near Aldershot) to Hampshire County council Hampshire Potholes because it is full of big deep potholes and they rang back to say it is a military road and they can't do anything - didn't know who to contact... Some googling later the folks to contact are the MOD Defence Estates on 0121 311 3869, who were very very helpful.
FYI here is the website to report potholes to Surrey county council.
Report potholes to Surrey CC
Still waiting for a response from Hampshire County council for my question about what they could do to improve the M3 J4a North side roundabout. Motorists coming over the motorway do not seem to expect cyclists to go straight on into the Sun campus so they overtake them and turn sharp left up the Minley Rd, all in one manouver - very dangerous. This is not helped by the road approaching the roundabout being very wide then suddenly having two lanes whitelined a few yards before the junction. I have had people do this even when I have been cycling in the middle of the left lane with my right arm sticking out - am I invisible!!!
It was raining last night as I cycled home but that did not stop half a dozen drivers performing stupid overtaking manouvers, several overtook me on blind lefthand bends even though I occupied the road so they had to use the wrong side. Two overtook over the brow of the hill, and three waited until the road had pedestrian refuges and then overook at the narrowist point - maniacs! To me it seems that speeding is the tip of the iceberg, these drivers had decided that rushing was more important than being safe..
Monday September 26, 2005 Autumn has arrived, its getting dark and windy. I came to put lights on the carbon fibre bike and couldn't do it - a bit like putting a cart behind a race horse. So it was down the bike shop for a cheap and cheerful bike for the winter.
The shopping list was..
The bike I came away with was a TREK 7100FX, the shop fitted mudguards and a rack and I got some change from 300 pounds.
Its easy to ride but feels quite heavy especially with the 700x35 types and full panniers. The riding position is quite upright with wide bars, that make me think the cars are closer which is quite alarming. I haven't fitted a computer as it isn't about getting there fast although one of the old fashioned mileometers would be useful to see how far it has gone.
I fitted last years bike lights in a few minutes, charged them up but the lead acid only held about 30 minutes of charge with the journey being about 35 minutes luckily I also fitted a flashing LED front light to gether with 4 flashing LEDs on the back, I guess I should have paid more attention to the instructions where in red it said " don't charge for more than 10 hours", so there is another 30 pounds gone.
320 pounds out, 20 miles done.
cycling
Monday July 18, 2005 Note to Surrey car drivers...
DONT OVERTAKE AROUND BLIND CORNERS IT IS SUICIDE!
I did 20 miles on Saturday evening as it was a bit cooler and 4 car drivers could not wait 10 seconds and flung themselves and families around corners on the wrong side of the road - gambling, this was more "the deer hunter" than poker. The worst case was a silver mondeo that overtook over the brow of a hill on the narrow Heath lane from Crondall up to Upper Hale - it was just madness especially as a large motorhome came the other way just seconds later.
Tuesday June 21, 2005 Well nearly, on my journey home the council have "tar and chipped" the road and put up loads of big signs saying "20 mph" and a picture of stones shooting out from a tyre. So many cars went past me at the normal 50 mph in that 40 mph that I got hit five times with stones - very painful. A big thank you to the rushing drivers in Surrey!
Wednesday June 15, 2005 It's a well known fact that a cyclist will speed up to catch the cyclist in front no matter how exhausting this is, and once they have caught them they will do their utmost to drop the person having given a bold but cheery "hello". This leads to pairs of exhausted cyclists following each other around.
I have been doing more cycling and less driving and have set my self up for a fall with a replica yellow jersey - will I be the catcher or the caught?
Wednesday May 25, 2005 I've been really lazy, lots of miles in the SMART and only a few on the bike. My May resolution is to stop driving to work. I have a medical due soon so time to drink low alchohol beers to get rid of that extra 7 pounds that have crept on, and do more exercise to get my resting heart rate back into the forties
Saturday April 30, 2005