Bike 'convoys' into London begin

[gaz]

i would love to come up on the back of this on my commute, and just bomb it past them. I take it they won't be going faster than 14mph avg.. in which case CYA!

Great idea to get people on the road though, hopefully it does boosts peoples confidence out there and they can see that some cyclists are nice.

 

[Origamist]

i would love to come up on the back of this on my commute, and just bomb it past them. I take it they won't be going faster than 14mph avg.. in which case CYA!

I'd slow down and chat to them - each to the their own, I guess...

 

[Jake]

ooo i can see beardy guy in the 2nd pic, on his recumbant thingy.

leave too late to join in, or to overtake them.

 

[Origamist]

When they did Bike Tube, the numbers were up to about 20 IIRC - it looks similar on the twitpics. I can't imagine they would want groups to be much larger, unless they had more helpers.

I recognise the guy on the recumbent...

I saw the Brixton convoy this morning in Kennington - it was approx 35 riders strong, with a number of cycle instructors leading/tail-ending the group.

 

[u9ge]

These are to encourage people to cycle and get their confidence up, the idea is to get more people commuting on their own, not a critical commute. So I wouldn't expect people to do more than a couple before doing it themselves.

Also the idea being for beginners, it's pretty unlikely anyone here would have been on one.

G

 

[CotterPin]

this is the thing, if there is a big convoy of bikes and its cut in half due to traffic lights, what happens, people are morely likely to go right through them. tHis happened when we drove/come across some chairty bike ride in fulham a few sundays back. none of them obeyed traffic laws and just traveled on mss. a bit like the CM thing on fridays,

With well trained, confident (and enough) leaders and marshalls who are constantly communicating with each other and reading the road, it shouldn't be a problem. When the TdF came to London I helped lead more than a hundred from Highbury to Marble Arch (and that included kids!).

 

[MacB]

I'd slow down and chat to them - each to the their own, I guess...

I think Gaz may be too busy chatting to, and admiring himself, and his awesome prowess, coz you can be darn sure no-one else notices

 

[Origamist]

Cycle Friday - positive newbie opinions:


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC6CoQdRETs

 

[dellzeqq]

Any one actually join one of these rides and give us the actual low down?

what a ridiculous question!

 

[gaz]

I think Gaz may be too busy chatting to, and admiring himself, and his awesome prowess, coz you can be darn sure no-one else notices

No chatting, just signing.
If i could play the guitar, i would be strumming a tune and signing whilst cycling along.

At the end of the day, i will talk to people at lights etc.. when stopped, but if i'm going faster or they are going faster than my self, i am going to make no effot to slow down or speed up just for a chat.

 

[Jonathan M]

The road to hell... etc.

What's Chris Rea got to do with things? Is he a cyclist?

 

[Wheeledweenie]

A colleague new to cycling used the Bike Tube during the strike and thought it was fab. For people who've never gone into London before it's a Godsend.

I'm 'Bike buddying' someone at the moment who freely admits that she'd never have cycled to work if she hadn't had someone to go with her the first few times. She's soloing for the first time tonight though. Fingers crossed!

It's easy to forget how scary it can be when you're a new cyclist in a large city with busy roads and anything to encourage the wary should be welcomed I reckon.

 

[marooncat]

I would describe myself as a relatively confident cyclist but having been down in London this weekend and watching the traffic and cyclists I really would not feel 100% confident cycling there myself so how on earth anyone is brave enough to try it for the first time I do not know. Therefore anything like this is a good idea (saw a few ads for it in the tube when we were travelling around)

 

[Matt James Brown]

Boris on Cycle Friday tomorrow

Just to let you know, Boris will be taking part in Cycle Friday tomorrow, riding the Finsbury Park to City route.

I rode it myself a couple of weeks ago and recorded the youtube vox pops with people taking part. They really are a nice bunch.

Why not come down tomorrow - and chat to Boris about your ideas for cycling.

 

[handsome joe]

I feel the more segregation between Cyclists and motor vehicles the better. 'Convoys', Cycle training etc are fine but not everyone is able / wants to become a very safe cyclist. I live in London and have cycled many years but i still make mistakes or been in sticky situations (close overtaking). We all know there are a lot of very bad drivers out there and no cycle training is going help people anticipate them or the situations they cause. I believe that motor vehicles and bicycles shouldn't share the same road space. When i cycle i have to be really aware of safety at all times and confident in my abilities to be seen and understood by the drivers of cars, buses, Lorries etc. To build up this amount of experience takes a long time and frankly a lot of enjoyment out of cycling. I know some people enjoy commuting like this everyday but for most people, including me, this is not enjoyable or a very safe way of cycling. In Europe (particularly Holland & Denmark) almost anyone can hop on a bike and be 99% sure that their road space will be respected and they will be safe. This is total cycling.