A rant about MK cyclists (and peds, for that matter)

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CharlieB

Junior Walker and the Allstars
I haven't posted on here for a few months, but really needed to get this off my chest and see if anyone in the Milton Keynes locality has similar or opposing views. I am sure that this doesn't apply to anyone of the CC 'family', but here goes.
I've been working in MK for the last nine weeks. The office is about 3½ miles NE of CMK, I could get a bus but choose to cycle it.
Up to a year ago, I used to commute 11m from Harrow into Regent's Park, C. London through a real mix of busy, quiet, fast and congested suburban streets and A roads. I did this for about six years.
Compared to that, this little eight mile round trip from the train station to work is the scariest thing on a daily basis I've ever done.
Much of it is along a designated cycle path - I understand it's called the Red Way locally. The problem is, I think, in comparison to a road-based London commute, that a whole different set of expectations exists among the local users.
No-one has any concept of sticking to a particular side of the path (there's plenty of room), everyone's wearing headphones, no-one's using lights or hi-vis, and there's a complete ignorance of the numerous blind bends on the route.
Three times I've nearly been taken out by someone coming in the opposite direction on the side I'm on -they're not looking ahead, because they're too busy texting.
None of this is an exaggeration, believe me.
I tried modifying the route last week so that more of it was on roads, but that has just seemed to attract criticism from the motorists, who think that the cyclists should be on the paths.
As for the pedestrians, some of the path is shared, and we all know that no-one on foot looks where they're going any more, so in themselves, they are an additional hazard.
I think in short is that because in MK there are lots of well used CPs there's a general lack of roadcraft among the local cyclists, as they don't or haven't had to use public roads in the rush hour to a similar degree that others have.
I just wondered if anyone else commuting in MK had any views or experiences they could share?
Or am I just being really patronising and rude?
 
When in Rome...
 

Noru

Well-Known Member
I think MK's particularly awful to get around whatever your mode of transport.

I sincerely apologise to anyone from MK who I have offended but it's my opinion the city planning/road layout/transport system is terrible. I'm sure there's a lovely vibe to MK once you live there it's just not for me. Sorry.
 
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Drago

Legendary Member
I had a maisonette there for a couple of years (on Willen), though I never really lived there as I was away with the Army for most of it. The Redways are far from perfect, and the guidance re their use from the council ridiculous. However, some perspective is in order. Compare your experiences of cycling around CMK with those of our brethren who endure inner and central central London roads - I found the almost homicidal every-man-for-himself attitude of road users and pedestrians quite fraught in comparison when dating a lass in Hammersmith. Give me a few numpties with headphones any day.

Autumn is the perfect time of year for a ride along the Railway Walk from Newport Parnell to Wolverton, where you get to ride through a nice portion of history and some pleasant and well established urban landscaping.

It's like complaining about having a sniffle when your friend has Ebola.
 
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steveindenmark

Legendary Member
I was a policeman in MK and never had any trouble driving my car on the grid system or riding my bike on the Redways.

Sorry. Ive just seen you are visiting from London. That explains it.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
What years were you a bobby over there Stevie? You likely know a few that I know.
 
I've done a bit of cycling around MK on the Redways. I'd agree with @CharlieB that there's little sense of treating like a "road" for cyclists. However some of this is that there just isn't the same sense of commuting you're used to in London, with known traffic flows of cyclists. People in MK are often utility cyclists, they'll meander around, so you just have to accept you can't go fast and may have to respond quickly.

Don't forget it's perfectly likely some of the cyclists are from other parts of Europe, and so are used to cycling on the other side anyway, so you'll just have to expect the unexpected.

Use your bright lights.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
If you want to go faster on redways, there are more direct ones alongside some (mostly even-numbered) grid roads, added in the 1990s. The original network was designed as a meandering secondary network for local journeys and is difficult to use quickly, with a few exceptions like the Newport Nobby railway route.

As for cycle tracks and sides, I think there's a recent thread called something like "undertaking on cycle paths" from somewhere other than MK.
 
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