East Dulwich: new cyclists

[Occamsracer]

Average parking spot in the UK, 2.4m, width of a London bus, 2.52m, so I'd say just shy of five metres from the curb to the centre line.

[first mate]

NewWave Wrote:

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> My partner is a key worker.

> In order to get to and from work (he has been

> doing 11hour plus days during this pandemic)he

> brought a bike and cycles to his place of work I

> really dont understand why people are being anti

> cyclists as long as they dont cycle on the

> pavement and wear the appropriate safety gear.

> The only cyclists I dont approve of are the ones

> (sometimes whole families) who insist on cycling

> on the pavement or the ones who dont wear helmets

> mainly because should they come a cropper they are

> putting more strain on our overstretched NHS and

> A&E depts.

> To be honest I wish I was able to ride a bike

> because its getting pretty damn boring taking my

> daily exercise on foot back and forth to Dulwich

> park or Peckham Rye.

Completely support your partner cycling to work along with any key worker, it totally makes sense. Additionally, short cycle rides for exercise, observing social distancing. We all need to try to keep as much pressure off the NHS as possible. We can all agree on that.

[seenbeen]

jimlad48 Wrote:

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> And please don't ride on the pavements or go

> through red lights on pedestrian crossings - I

> know its scary at times, but please remember those

> of us on foot too!

2 days in a row now I have encountered grown adults on bikes on the pavements.....there is hardly any traffic on the road so there is no excuse

[malumbu]

I was shocked on my daily exercise to see a very dangerous cyclist. He was on this big contraption with a massive wheel at the front and a diddy one at the back. Worse still he wasn't wearing a helmet, rather he was dressed as if it was 100 years ago. Can you imagine the harm he would come to if he fell? I meant to have a go at him about the risks he was taking, but instead gave him a smile and a cheery wave. It was close to Beckenham so best avoid this area. But on the plus point he was so high up it would be easy to social distance.

(note, yes I did see a guy on a penny farthing, breaches, tweed jacket and cap)

[exdulwicher]

malumbu Wrote:

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> (note, yes I did see a guy on a penny farthing,

> breaches, tweed jacket and cap)

Jacob Rees-Mogg out for a shopping trip? ;-)

I know who you mean, I've seen him before and he's a regular at Herne Hill velodrome every time they have a vintage cycling fayre or penny farthing race.

[malumbu]

May have been R-M but as he was proud to announce that he had never changed any of his kids' nappies doubt if he would do the shopping. Hooray, back to the good old days of lampooning politicians.

[Sally Eva]

Sorry to resurrect this old thread but there was a discussion on here about how airborne CV was. Here is some more info

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-coronavirus-spreads-through-the-air-what-we-know-so-far1/

[first mate]

Thanks for that. Interesting. Think the assertion, I am not across the evidence base, that it can also enter through the eyes is worrying.

[bels123]

We?re really enjoying quieter roads and have been able to cycle as a family for the first time. Covered quite some ground with the decent infrastructure closer to London.

Can anyone recommend a good cycle route app - Google maps took us onto main roads this weekend 😬

[exdulwicher]

bels123 Wrote:

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> Can anyone recommend a good cycle route app -

> Google maps took us onto main roads this weekend

> 😬

They all have their pros and cons. Are you just using it off a mobile phone or do you have a cycle GPS device? You can persuade Google to do a cycle option but it's not great.

Strava is very popular - fitness tracking app that will work on mobile phones or on GPS devices, the basic version is free with a whole load of options that you can pay an annual subscription for. It will do routes but it uses an algorithm to steer you towards popular routes. So if you ask to go to SW London, it WILL send you into and around Richmond Park as that's the most popular cycling area locally.

Komoot is another popular one, again phone or GPS. A friend uses that by default, I never really got on with it and have very limited experience.

And the final one is Santander Cycles app. It's really designed for getting you to and from docking stations so less useful in Dulwich where there aren't any but if you ask it to plan a route up in town, it gives you 3 options, Fast, Mixed and Leisure. Fast is predominantly the most direct way, Mixed will use cycle paths if there's any there and Leisure will specifically direct you to towpaths, cycle lanes, parks etc. As I say though, not much good around Dulwich but excellent up in town.

[first mate]

My slight concern is that while people are cycling mostly for leisure it can be pleasant, however I have had two near misses in the last few days with lycra clad cyclists on a speed mission, happily overtaking without any warning whatsoever, one when I was hand signalling to make a right hand turn.

I do wonder how cycling is going to feel once people are using it to get to work in greater numbers? I recall one very active pro cycling person on this forum insisting mobility scooters should not use cycle lanes as it would slow down the preferred 20mph average speed that cycle commuters like him were keen to maintain.

[northernmonkey]

I think that cycling has the capacity to feel very different from how it does now - which will mean a period of adjustment for many. For the few who are used to cycling fast (which is sort of predetermined by the road conditions until now) then they will potentially find it a different experience, whereas with greater numbers perhaps it could just be a form of transport rather than an extreme sport.

We cycled to central London and all around the city at the weekend. It was really easy going. We wore normal clothes - if we'd have stopped somewhere (obviously didn't) we wouldn't have needed to shower before doing something else!

[first mate]

Yes, you are quite right. If people start to cycle in numbers, those wishing to cycle very fast will be unable to.

The other factor is potholes and the state of the roads. I know of at least two people who have sustained serious bone breaks after coming off their bike because of potholes.

[Sally Eva]

bels123 Wrote:

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> We?re really enjoying quieter roads and have been

> able to cycle as a family for the first time.

> Covered quite some ground with the decent

> infrastructure closer to London.

>

> Can anyone recommend a good cycle route app -

> Google maps took us onto main roads this weekend

> 😬

Google maps is so hopeless it's quite funny.

Try cycle.travel. I find it easier to use than cyclestreets https://www.cyclestreets.net/ or Citymapper https://citymapper.com/london?set_region=uk-london (I haven't used this one).

[louisemurray]

I recommend Cyclemaps app - been using it for years. You can set it to show existing cycle paths, and choose fast or quiet routes, amongst many other options.

If you are only looking for easy cycle routes try the Routes on https://www.letsride.co.uk/ huge variety.

[first mate]

Is it possible to get turn by turn narration on Cyclemaps? I have tried and can?t.

[louisemurray]

Yes you can, in settings you have to select voice navigation

[malumbu]

Been on couple of rides into Surrey. Never in many decades of cycling seen such fast traffic. Had an argument with a guy in big car who cut me up near Cator Park. "I'm a cyclist, you should stick to the cycle path" he says. You are a cyclist, you should be ashamed I should have said. Makes it worse when someone tries to justify from their own position. If I drive and I see a cyclist maybe not in the right position I will stay back.

[first mate]

louisemurray Wrote:

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> Yes you can, in settings you have to select voice

> navigation

Thanks Louise, it just won?t work for me. Perhaps a phone or phone software issue. Incredibly annoying though as I am forced to use Google which is not cycle route friendly.

[louisemurray]

Google is positively dangerous!

[louisemurray]

Have you tried contacting the people behind Cyclemaps? they are UK based and very responsive.

[first mate]

Ah, my mistake I was confusing cyclemaps with cyclestreets. That said, from what I can see cyclemaps only works on Apple products not android?

[louisemurray]

Yup. Looks like it, assumed they might have developed one for Android by now, clearly not.

[exdulwicher]

A very recent (one month old) round up here of phone based cycle navigation apps

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/group-tests/best-cycling-apps-143222

It's a constant bugbear of mine that so many apps and cycle GPS computers focus on fitness and speed and assimilating all manner of random data like power and cadence rather than concentrating on actual navigation. For a few years I had a GPS that would quite routinely crash during navigation, come up with all manner of weird re-routes and recalculations, pick random dirt paths over functional roads or go 5 miles out of its way just to ride a 200m section of "cycle path".

But hey, it'd tell you how much power you were putting out while doing all that... Waste of time.

[first mate]

Thanks for that, will take a look.