potsy
Rambler
- Location
- My Armchair
They're obviously a bit 'backwards' down there
Got to love Cambridge..
- Thread starter magnatom
- Start date
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kevin_cambs_uk
Guru
- Location
- Near Cambridge
I love cycling home and its through Cambridge, cyclists are everywhere, plenty of scalps !
wafflycat
New Member
- Location
- middle of Norfolk
Cambridge is a cycling oddity. Yes, there are loads of cyclists, but it has lots of those cycling folk who are complete idiots on the road. Whether I'm cycling, walking or driving in Cambridge you've got to have eyes in the back of your head and have the spider-sense on full to avoid crazy cycling stunts. The red light on the front is something I've come across before in Cambridge. Scary. Cycling in the city can be fun and when I've done it relatively hassle-free from motorists. Where the problems tended to start was as soon as I got out of the city - it was as if too many motorists, having been held up to a snails pace and stationary in the city, as soon as they hit the 'burbs and out on the edge of the fens, they floor the throttle... and entirely different kind of scary.
GrasB
Veteran
- Location
- Nr Cambridge
Oddly I find the opposite to wc, if I'm in cambridge & trying to make reasonable progress I get no space & cut up all the time. Once out of the town I can make good progress with very little hassle from motorists.
jonesy
Guru
One of the factors affecting cycling skills in Cambridge (Oxford is similar) is that lots of students are coming there from places that don't have a cycling culture and the students themselves have very little experience of cycling in traffic before they get there. Unfortunately, once they get there they do all sorts of bonkers things, and often don't have a great experience of cycling, so when they leave again they don't bring the cycling culture with them. There's a massive missed opportunity there, not least because Oxbridge students end up in lots of influential positions all over the country and if they graduated with a positive experience of cycling it could make a big difference.
My dad, a keen cyclist all his life, lives in Cambridge; and is now very concerned about cyclists using the pavement. He's getting a bit too old to want to be knocked over by one.
The road he lives in is off the beaten track and very quiet, I learned to cycle on it and it's no worse for traffic now than it was 40 years ago, but still people ride (at speed) on the footpath instead of the road.
The road he lives in is off the beaten track and very quiet, I learned to cycle on it and it's no worse for traffic now than it was 40 years ago, but still people ride (at speed) on the footpath instead of the road.
That's me back now. Had a great time in Cambridge (very good course) and some lovely weather....if only I had a chance to be out in it!
In all honesty, cyclists in the centre and surrounding area were pretty poor at keeping to the rules. I was leaving on Sunday and there was a running race about to start as I was walking to the station. (I had a very heavy suitcase and the handle had just snapped!!
. Anyway, on the way to the station nearly every cyclist I saw was jumping onto the pavement. Yes there was a queue of traffic, but they could have got past that quite easily on the other side of the cars.
But, as others have said, Cambridge/Oxford are unusual cases, in that there are lots of students from elsewhere etc. Still, I can almost understand how others could grow to dislike the cyclists there.
On an unrelated note, I was staying in Downing College. Very nice. They don't actually use that for student accommodation do they? Far too nice!!
In all honesty, cyclists in the centre and surrounding area were pretty poor at keeping to the rules. I was leaving on Sunday and there was a running race about to start as I was walking to the station. (I had a very heavy suitcase and the handle had just snapped!!
. Anyway, on the way to the station nearly every cyclist I saw was jumping onto the pavement. Yes there was a queue of traffic, but they could have got past that quite easily on the other side of the cars. But, as others have said, Cambridge/Oxford are unusual cases, in that there are lots of students from elsewhere etc. Still, I can almost understand how others could grow to dislike the cyclists there.
On an unrelated note, I was staying in Downing College. Very nice. They don't actually use that for student accommodation do they? Far too nice!!
wafflycat
New Member
- Location
- middle of Norfolk
If you're down to parts East Anglian again - let me know and we can meet for a coffee? I'm often in Cambridge with MrWC on business as several clients there.
