Roads you can ride on, but really shouldn’t

[Hacienda71]

I once inadvertently ended up on the A561 into Liverpool. It was dual carriageway, very fast and scary. I had an accident on it clipping a curb at right angles to the carriageway just over the crest of a hill. I came of the bike. Luckily there was a break in the traffic and I was able to organise myself before anything could hit me.

 

[Hacienda71]

I also cycled along the A57M aka The Mancunian Way. Bikes are normally banned. It was during the Great Manchester Cycle which was a closed road sportive. Wish bike infrastructure was like that. Smooth and wide.😁

 

[DCLane]

I also cycled along the A57M aka The Mancunian Way. Bikes are normally banned. It was during the Great Manchester Cycle which was a closed road sportive. Wish bike infrastructure was like that. Smooth and wide.😁

I did that as well. The event was a bit daft since they had riders of all abilities on the roads together; a very fast front group with a lead motorbike which were going by wobbly, slow riders in the middle of the road. I was in one of those two categories

 

[Hacienda71]

I did that as well. The event was a bit daft since they had riders of all abilities on the roads together; a very fast front group with a lead motorbike which were going by wobbly, slow riders in the middle of the road. I was in one of those two categories

Iirc there was no categorisation other than if you were a BC member, which got you to the front of a pretty massive group. I wasn't and found myself riding past a lot of riders who were pretty slow most of whom had no race craft. Saw a few crashes where inexperienced riders were completely unaware of where people were around them and the concept of holding your line through a corner was non existent.

All that said it was fun riding on a motorway and up roads that are normally packed with cars

 

[DCLane]

@Hacienda71 - as BC member that's why I was at the front. I'd agree that just because someone has BC membership it doesn't mean they can actually ride their bike at speed AND in a bunch. Some of the riding at the 'quick' end was atrocious, so after about 30 minutes I bailed from it for my own personal safety. And yes, I saw a couple of crashes myself.

 

[cougie uk]

I don't generally use dual carriageways, but I will if the alternative is a long diversion and time or energy is short, and then there are also occasions when the navigation goes awry and I end up where I didn't intend to. The Stansted Airport junction on the M11 is an entertaining ride, at nearly half a mile round the loop. You could be forgiven for thinking that this is not a roundabout, but the left turn is the airport exit, straight ahead is the circuit of the roundabout, and the right turn is a three lane shortcut through the middle of the island.

Cycling from Bangor to Chester via the coast and Dee estuary, I got as far as Connah's Quay and then found myself heading over the new Dee bridge by mistake because it wasn't marked on my old map. After I realised, I kept going as far as the crest of the bridge, but when I got there the new road appeared to be heading out across the Wirral towards Birkenhead, so I decided I didn't have time or energy for a wild goose chase, and turned back. That was fine on the walkway as far as the end of the bridge, but then I was cycling in the concrete rain gutter, so I stood in the fast lane lifting a fully laden touring bike over the Armco to get onto the right carriageway.

Like this you mean?
View attachment 716134


The same applies to asking for directions, I quickly learnt never to ask the way unless you want to be sent down the dual carriageway that all the motorists use.

I know that stretch of the A34 between the M3 and M40 far too well. It grips my poo that the narrow hard-shoulder section on the Newbury bypass is designated as a cycle path. It counts towards the stats but you have to have genitals of steel to ride it. I’ve seen one rider since the bypass was built and it was one more than I expected. The r

I don't generally use dual carriageways, but I will if the alternative is a long diversion and time or energy is short, and then there are also occasions when the navigation goes awry and I end up where I didn't intend to. The Stansted Airport junction on the M11 is an entertaining ride, at nearly half a mile round the loop. You could be forgiven for thinking that this is not a roundabout, but the left turn is the airport exit, straight ahead is the circuit of the roundabout, and the right turn is a three lane shortcut through the middle of the island.

Cycling from Bangor to Chester via the coast and Dee estuary, I got as far as Connah's Quay and then found myself heading over the new Dee bridge by mistake because it wasn't marked on my old map. After I realised, I kept going as far as the crest of the bridge, but when I got there the new road appeared to be heading out across the Wirral towards Birkenhead, so I decided I didn't have time or energy for a wild goose chase, and turned back. That was fine on the walkway as far as the end of the bridge, but then I was cycling in the concrete rain gutter, so I stood in the fast lane lifting a fully laden touring bike over the Armco to get onto the right carriageway.

Like this you mean?
View attachment 716134


The same applies to asking for directions, I quickly learnt never to ask the way unless you want to be sent down the dual carriageway that all the motorists use.

If you do the Colwyn Bay Bridge agai if you'd carried on just bit further there's a roundabout. You can go right there and then you're into the back roads that will take you to the Wirral Greenway bike paths.

 

[DRM]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-67758665
This happened on Wednesday, WTAF the cyclist was thinking is utterly beyond me, if they had continued Westbound the M/Way splits for the M1 North & South with no means of escaping fast moving vehicles, other than going M1 South!

 

[DCLane]

@DRM - I've seen people walking alongside Junction 30 Eastbound, partly because they can use it as a shortcut from Ouzelwell Green to the new industrial estate near J30, but it's almost as easy to use the road.

Westbound on a bicycle is crazy, particularly as there's the B6135 Castle Gate that runs alongside the M62. Unless they mis-judged what road it was in the dark? Or doing a stunt?

Either way the coroner / coroners court in Wakefield will come to a conclusion.

 

[DRM]

@DRM - I've seen people walking alongside Junction 30 Eastbound, partly because they can use it as a shortcut from Ouzelwell Green to the new industrial estate near J30, but it's almost as easy to use the road.

Westbound on a bicycle is crazy, particularly as there's the B6135 Castle Gate that runs alongside the M62. Unless they mis-judged what road it was in the dark? Or doing a stunt?

Either way the coroner / coroners court in Wakefield will come to a conclusion.

That's what I don't get, Castlegate does run parallel with the M62 & can get you back to Carlton, Rothwell, or Morley via East Ardsley & Tingley, if you'd dropped a clanger & gone down the slip road to the M62, surely you would just about turn & go back, I wonder if it was a foreign farm worker that didn't realise just what they were getting on to

 

[Sallar55]

There's a half decent cycle lane alone most of the A9 between Perth and Inverness.

Has anyone on here seen the new cycle crossing on the new upgraded section of the A9 just north of Perth.🫢

 

[Slick]

Has anyone on here seen the new cycle crossing on the new upgraded section of the A9 just north of Perth.🫢

Haven't been up that way for a while, is it bad?

 

[albion]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd1v7rr43vvo.amp

It made me wonder how many cyclist skeletons they would find. The alternative route west from Bowes is quite difficult and fairly unsuited for road bikes.
Yet I do no expect any change there from that £1.4billion spend.

They really should make the old rail line from Bowes to Barras usable. It would cost a tiny portion of that billion plus.
When single carriageway it was comparitively safe to ride. Dualling puts too many roads out of bounds to cyclists.

 

[pjd57]

Still see a few on the stretch of road just before it becomes the M8. Mental.

No idea why the last bit of A8 before the M8 isn't restricted.
It's basically a motorway, but since it would cost big money to get rid of the roundabouts it remains A8.
A few restricted road signs wouldn't cost much and it would avoid tourists wandering in as they head towards Glasgow

 

[Electric_Andy]

Dartington to Totnes Road - this was the only road our parents would not let us cycle on. It has 30's and 40's in various places but is largely NSL. Cars and LGVs tend to do close to 60 and it's quite narrow with some blind bends. Quite a few years ago, a lorry with a forklift on the back took a corner a bit wide, at the same time a double decker bus was rounding the corner. The forklift opened the side of the bus up like a tin of sardines. I would not like to ride it now, you can see by the clipped hedges how close larger vehicles have to go to keep in their lane

 

[Slick]

No idea why the last bit of A8 before the M8 isn't restricted.
It's basically a motorway, but since it would cost big money to get rid of the roundabouts it remains A8.
A few restricted road signs wouldn't cost much and it would avoid tourists wandering in as they head towards Glasgow

I hate to be one of these guys, but I've seen a few on there the last few weeks and a couple of different groups chain ganging it, and it always gives me the fear.