Looks like I am not going to be commuting. :(

[lip03]

I will let you into a little secret but do not tell everyone - we were all young once! We never had video or internet forums so we learnt by experience and mistakes - sometines painful ones! Neither did we seek peer approval/sympathy and, yes, we did have close overtakes and bad drivers 50 years ago.
Wht do I watch cariad bach's videos? I like comedies, don`t you?

You don't like the guy because you didn't have the internet 50 years ago? Grow up.

 

[mcshroom]

A following wind? How fast ............... ?

Very - although you have to brake as the gusty nature of the the wind means that it's a lot harder to control a bike. Once it lined up perfectly with one of the few flat sections on my commute only time I've ever been able to ride on the flat at over 35mph

 

[Matthew_T]

cariad bach

Why do you keep calling me this? The direct translation is small love. Unless you are trying to tell me something?.....

 

[mr_hippo]

You don't like the guy because you didn't have the internet 50 years ago? Grow up.

Yet another poster to whom English is a foreign language. I have never said in any of my posts that I like or dislike the poster. How did we learn? By cycling, by experimenting, by observation and by making mistakes and that is the only way to do it..
Take the posts where people post maps of roundabouts and ask how to negotiate them. If I posted a map of the A57/M57 roundabout, how could you or anyone else who has no knowledge of the area help me? You do not know the terrain, road surface and camber, traffic flow or density.
"Should I tell the police?" posts - you have spent time editing your video, loading it onto youtube and posting on a forum; if I was so upset then I would be straight round to the nearest police station but you need peer approval and sympathy - why?
Close overtakes - they are always a one-off and cannot be replicated. If you cycle a regular route then you should learn it much in the same way as an F1 driver learns a circuit and this includes pot holes, trafic light sequences, daily traffic flow patterns. If you are aware of the 'danger' points then take extra care.
Beating your best time - why bother? Eventually you will reach an optimum time window - for my bypass route it is between 77 and 80 minutes. I have done it in 75 minutes, 2 seconds and will break the 75 minute barrier one day when conditions are perfect and not before.
So just go out and ride your bike - the best teacher that you can have is your own experience.

 

[Miquel In De Rain]

^^^^^^^^^^

Sorry to crawl but there is a lot of sense in that post.

I do think cars are different and faster now to when I first started commuting in the very early 1980's...The famous video of me almost colliding with the Range Rover in 2010? which was posted on UTube did I ever have any sort of incident then to what I have now?
Within five commutes I had had a close escape with the land rover and also the lorry driving at me.
I really don't think the police would bother doing anything most of the time,it actually has to be a RTA for something to take place.

I think people are less caring and more careless now than what they were then.That's how the driving comes across as sometimes plus the mobile phone/satnav menace.

Beating your best time - why bother? Eventually you will reach an optimum time window

Agreed.

 

[CopperCyclist]

^^^^^^^^^^

Sorry to crawl but there is a lot of sense in that post.

That's the sad point. Most of Mr Hippo's answers, in the actual posts where the questions are asked (and yes, they can get repetitive but that's the nature of the beast) are actually constructive to the question, and therefore useful to the 'asker'.

If I'm not sure of how to negotiate a roundabout and ask advice, a word of caution that some people may never had actually ridden it and can't pick up on the nuances not available to Google Maps may be worthwhile.

Advice that if you feel strongly enough to ask, then it probably is worth reporting could be a point well made.

Advice that says close passes do happen, but here's what I do to minimise their impact is helpful.

And a hint that we aren't Mark Cavendish may be appropriate advice for someone whose trying so hard they are losing the fun.

The problem with Mr Hippo isn't (always) the advice he gives and the points he makes. It's covered succinctly in his last post, where he shows that it actually makes him angry that people are asking questions that, to him, the answers are obvious. If everyone took this point of view, internet forums would die.

Anyway, never mind me, I saw a post appear asking (again) about what bike to buy if you have a grand to spend. I'm off to go reply (again) with my advice, that seems obvious to me, yet others disagree with, but may give the poster something more to consider, cause hey, that's all they want right?

 

[Miquel In De Rain]

I think I may have grown up a bit,I try not to spout on about how long I have been commuting but it still slips out.I can still learn lots on here and am still learning every day.

I don't care how long I have been doing it I could still end up under a lorry,that's why I post videos.If it does happen at least hopefully my videos may help someone somewhere by hopefully making someone else see sense.

...and yes I know im not perfect.

 

[roadrash]

simple ... if people are posting things you dont like ,for whatever reason ,surely the answer is to ignore it ,instead of ranting about how you dissagree with commuting videos or whatever ,after all we will never all agree about everything ,if someone asks a question you dont like then ignore and let someone else answer ..got to be better than a load of grief

 

[Matthew_T]

Why has this thread turned? What is everyone talking about?
In what relation does this all have with my now commuting? This thread is going to turn out blocked if everyone carries on. Please move somewhere else.

 

[SportMonkey]

Well so many people who I am in relation with are against it. I had an assessment today of my needs at HE level and it seems that they have put up a good arguement to not cycling.
Apparently doing 15 miles in the morning and evening along a coastal path with strong winds and heavy rain in the winter is not advised by the majority of people.

I will probably just treat myself to a new road bike and build up my fitness that way. Sigh.

Late to the punch, but seriously, f**k them. It's only 45mins of cycling, wind will mostly be across you.

 

[SportMonkey]

Oh and Matt, when you crash, or get knocked off, and are still riding the bike, this is where kudos is earned.

Got a colleague that crashed his bike on his second day of a French weekend with mates a couple of weeks ago. It was a tumble on a bad road, someone rode over his hand. Anyway, he carried on, did 3 major colls, Gallibier, Telegraphe and The Alpe, came home. Saw his hand last week, looked sore and swollen. He went out this weekend, Wizzard and Swiss Hill, then decided it wasn't going down. A&E..... then

Broke his metatarsal in two places near little finger. Arm in plaster - 6 weeks.

Yay, total Kudos ! PS He isn't a nutter like me though. He is a keen cyclist, but mainly weekends. Bonus points I said to him. Awesome. !!!

The only reason I didn't pick my bike up and carry on cycling after the first time I got hit by a car was the bike was completely screwed. The other car hit, road rager, and the couple of times I've fallen off, I've picked myself up and cycled off. Still got some grit in my arm mind.

Now, Matthew, as to how this makes you appear to the fairer sex. A few days after the second time I got hit I was in the Media Centre for the MotoGP at SIlverstone, I had a rather attractive journalist come up to me and start talking to me because of road rash; now I don't do too badly, but it seems that some women like a man who's hit the gravel and carried on. Much the same last week, I was showing the damage of my recent offing to our security guard and a girl who was in reception overheard and decided to show some interest.

 

[Matthew_T]

Late to the punch, but seriously, f**k them. It's only 45mins of cycling, wind will mostly be across you.

It might be 45 mins for you but it will be 1hr for me.

I practiced the route with a 20mph headwind a few days ago and it took me 1hr 10mins. Factor in normal clothes and a full pannier and you are looking at about 1.20 or 1.30 to get there (not really a problem if I set off early enough).

 

[Matthew_T]

Now, Matthew, as to how this makes you appear to the fairer sex. A few days after the second time I got hit I was in the Media Centre for the MotoGP at SIlverstone, I had a rather attractive journalist come up to me and start talking to me because of road rash; now I don't do too badly, but it seems that some women like a man who's hit the gravel and carried on. Much the same last week, I was showing the damage of my recent offing to our security guard and a girl who was in reception overheard and decided to show some interest.

Get in there!

 

[SportMonkey]

Get in there!

I wish, bit of advice, don't get married too young... I think that 50 is an appropriate age.

 

[classic33]

Yet another poster to whom English is a foreign language. I have never said in any of my posts that I like or dislike the poster. How did we learn? By cycling, by experimenting, by observation and by making mistakes and that is the only way to do it..
Take the posts where people post maps of roundabouts and ask how to negotiate them. If I posted a map of the A57/M57 roundabout, how could you or anyone else who has no knowledge of the area help me? You do not know the terrain, road surface and camber, traffic flow or density.
"Should I tell the police?" posts - you have spent time editing your video, loading it onto youtube and posting on a forum; if I was so upset then I would be straight round to the nearest police station but you need peer approval and sympathy - why?
Close overtakes - they are always a one-off and cannot be replicated. If you cycle a regular route then you should learn it much in the same way as an F1 driver learns a circuit and this includes pot holes, trafic light sequences, daily traffic flow patterns. If you are aware of the 'danger' points then take extra care.
Beating your best time - why bother? Eventually you will reach an optimum time window - for my bypass route it is between 77 and 80 minutes. I have done it in 75 minutes, 2 seconds and will break the 75 minute barrier one day when conditions are perfect and not before.
So just go out and ride your bike - the best teacher that you can have is your own experience.

It appears English is as much an alien language to yourself.

I used to cycle the same 18 1/2 mile route, 5 times a week for just short of a year. First time it was done, as a commute, took 78 minutes. 33 minutes slower than my previous best. Same route into Leeds city centre, only I stopped on the commute in the centre. Same road has had more lights put in place, but its also been made faster at points. I still cycle the same route & I will never claim to know it like an F1 driver. The two are not comparable. Closed circuit racing versus open road.The closed circuit will also mean that most driving round will know exactly where to brake, accelerate & turn. The closed circuit will usually have people who will inform you of such minor things as faster traffic behind, danger on the track in front of you. Open roads lack these minor! but important features. Closed circuits seldom seem to have cars going round when work is taking place. Open roads do. And we have to hope that those around us are aware of the speed they are doing in relation to others.
Circuits normally have all the traffic running in the same direction, turning at the same place, time after time. Year in year out.
The closest I would come to calling anything a regular danger(built in) on an F1 circuit is the manhole cover at Monaco. There for over 50 years & still not been fixed.

You can learn a road easy enough, but when changes are made to that road, you have to re-learn it. Each & every time there is a change made to it.

Not everyone who posts on you tube does so for peer approval. They are simply asking about something they are uncertain about. A major incident to them may be nothing to you or vice versa. Regular occurrence on the trip home on an elevated section of road, 180 foot drop, was with a particular companies lorries. Slowly be squeezed over to the right, as they realised what I knew & they should have, was that they were in the wrong lane. Only the video tape being played back in their local office convinced them that what I was saying was true.

Experience is the best teacher, but it can teach more than one way.