Helping Heros

I'll bet most of us can remember our first bike. I can certainly remember mine. It was a Raleigh Speedway. I distinctly remember the racing number plate on the front, and thinking it was really cool.

As I grew up in Erskine, a place with many sheltered paths to cycle on (yes I did cycle on paths...sorry!), I progressed through a couple of bikes. My next was a Trak Trail (big gold bike with heavy front suspension on it...would love to find a picture of that!) and then a Peugeot Racing bike (sky blue).

I happily remember cycling along canal paths up and back to Loch Lomond on my Peugeot bike with my friends. Happy days. Cycling though was not a major passion of mine and as I moved through high school my interest waned and I didn't cycle again until 2005 when I started commuting by bike. When I did do it as a child, it had to compete with playing sodgies (pretend soldiers), computer games, or football (I was bad at football!).

Although cycling didn't become a passion until much, much later I do have one more memory of cycling from my childhood that I can clearly recollect . It wasn't watching the Tour de France, I hadn't heard about that until I started cycling again, it was a battle between two cyclists. I remember being fascinated hearing about an unknown Scottish cyclist, who built a bike out of a washing machine who was trying to cycle further in an hour than an English cyclist riding a multi-million pound bike (yes I know it wasn't multi million, but I was very young...). I found it inspiring that a bloke who built his own bike, could take on the world.

I am of course talking about Graeme Obree and Chris Boardman, two legendary cyclists.

I admire Chris for a number of reasons, not just for his incredible career in cycling, but his continued passion for it after retiring, commentating and more recently campaigning for cycling safety. However, in my eyes there is no greater legend than Graeme.

Graeme's life has been documented and written about extensively, so there is no point in me recounting it here. To summarise, he has broken records, created amazing innovations, he has spent probably the shortest time of any cyclist as a pro rider, he has circumvented rule changes that banned his innovations, he has had battles with mental illness and depression, he has dealt with issues surrounding his sexuality and finally, he has come through it all to be one of the most engaging, intriguing and inspiring people I know and have the pleasure to meet.

Graeme is in my mind the perfect example of a true champion.

So why am I waxing lyrical about Graeme? Firstly, he deserves my thanks as he is a strong supporter of Pedal of Parliament and all it stands for. For that I am very grateful. He even came along and supported POP 2!

However, there is another reason. Graeme needs our help. Graeme has another story to tell (he has many, many stories to tell!). This story is of his battle with a beastie. This time it's not the beasties from within, but with his new innovation, a human powered vehicle called Beastie. Graeme took on another challenge to break a world record with Beastie and his journey along the way has been filmed by David Street, an experienced filmaker and producer.

The problem with Graeme is, that if you aim to film him for 50 hours, he'll talk for 200, and that is exactly what happened! So to tell this story, and to edit the documentary/film, David needs some financial help. Thus he has set up a kickstarter project asking for help to raise the £20,000 needed to tell Graeme's story.

I've committed some of my limited funds to fund this project, and I'm sharing this with you because I really think this is a film that needs to be made. I am absolutely certain that is is something that will amaze, inspire and captivate. So, if you can, help a hero tell a story, in his own words.

Help fund the Kickstarter project here. I suspect we won't be disappointed with the outcome!

Glasgow Starts a Conversation

It's time for a confession. I've been jealous. But it's worse than that. Much worse. I've been jealous of.......I can't barely bring myself to say it......yes, I've been jealous of Edinburgh.

Yes, that is a big thing for a Weegie to say, but it's true. Life isn't perfect on the east coast, and to be honest it's a bit cold and less fun over there, but until now they have had one thing that Glasgow didn't have.

A busy cycling social scene.

Edinburgh has over the years built up a large group of city cyclists who get together, a chat about this and that, and sometimes this and that includes the cycling issues that Edinburgh faces. Sometimes it helps to lead to great things. Whilst POP may have originated from an e-mail I sent two other cyclists, it most certainly couldn't have got anywhere without the cycling social scene of Edinburgh.

These cyclists don't just meet in cafes and pubs. In fact most of the cafe and pub meetings are arranged elsewhere. They are arranged at City Cycling Edinburgh (CCE). CCE is an online forum where people talk about cakes, beers, bikes and occasionally mass demonstrations. It is a place where politicians sometimes frequent, as well as the grass roots cyclists and people who only dream of cycling. It's a place where people share ideas and ideas grow.

Stuff happens because of CCE.

If we are honest, up until now not much has happened in Glasgow. We are miles behind Edinburgh when it comes to cycling. You just have to look at the latest proposals of cycling infrastructure in Glasgow to see that the counsil wants to give us.....more shared use paths, more ASLs and the odd bit of segregation to keep the zealots happy. Oh and that is only if we can find some money from somewhere else...we don't spend out transport budget on cycling.

So, at a recent social gathering of campaign minded cyclists in Siempre recently, a decision was made. The decision was......

City Cycling Glasgow!


Yes, we now have our own forum, and, at the time of writing, less than two days after it going live, we already have 42 members. Well done Darkerside on setting this up!

Yes, it's early days, and yes it will take time to build, but it is and will be what we make it. If we all start talking this could be the start of something big. I've seen it happen. Talk really can lead to action and results.

So come and join us. Say hello, and have some cake. Let us know what you think of cycling in Glasgow.

With your help, we can make Glasgow a safe and more social place to cycle!

Inspiring or Depressing?

Today a fellow cyclist passed me on a link on Sustrans website. It's certainly worth having a look at the article, but pay particular attention to the video.

So what do you think of it? I'm curious.

The cyclist who sent me the link thought that it was a very positive video and indicated that there was hope for the future. I can see where he is coming from. We have a video of a father who, rather than do as the majority do and drive his kid to school, has found a way to get his child to cycle safely to school. This is despite living in a built up area with traffic.

I have to say, that is good. I applaud that cyclist and his conviction.

But wait. (you knew that was coming didn't you).

The article and the video leave me feeling rather depressed. In fact I think this video demonstrates with exceptional clarity exactly what the problem is. Look at it again.

The dad, is not your normal dad. He is a Sustrans Schools Officer who works on the Bike It project. His job is to encourage children to cycle. Therefore, he is highly motivated and highly skilled when it comes to providing on road cycle training. He is in effect, an expert.

The video shows this expert taking his child on some 'relatively' quite suburban roads to his school. During the video you can hear the dad instructing his child what to do at junctions, when to look back, and when it is safe to proceed etc.

Hmmm. I've done similar with my oldest (who's 8) on some roads near us.

Then they come to a busier road and at this point the dad admits defeat and takes his child onto the pavement. Officially this is of course, illegal, but who can blame them. they do of course ride very carefully on the pavement.

They are at school and the video ends.

....we thought it would be a great video blog to share with other parents who are considering riding to school with their children

 Hmmm. This just isn't right. So what is my problem with this?

Everything.

I personally have a lot of respect for Sustrans. I know not everyone does, but I have some insight into the problems they face and I think, when it comes to infrastructure, they do a good job in difficult circumstances. A lot of the infrastructure isn't great, but with better funding and more time I'm sure they would create some great infrastructure.

I think, on this particular blog, they have completely missed the point. Is it inspiring that to get a child to cycle safely to school you need someone who is 'expert' in cycle training? Yes I know others do take their kids on similar routes, but I'll bet the majority of those people are expert in cycling, in some way. This is not something that most parents have the skills, or the time to do, and by that I mean the time and skill to practice cycling on local roads to build up the child courage, especially when many adults themselves don't even have the courage!

What is even more depressing is that this expert dad had to give up at the end. He had to 'give in' to the traffic. What chance do non-expert parents have if even expert parents feel that cycling in some areas on the way to school is too dangerous?

If you want to see inspiring, look at the videos of kids cycling to school in the Netherlands.

There are plenty more like it.

What this video tells me, is that some parents despite the conditions, if they have the skills and time can help their children to cycle most of the way to school legally.

The very fact that cycling organisations think this is an inspiring video, is a wake up call to us all.

ASLs: A SimpleTruth

Oh, here we go again. Magnatom is in the news again. What's he saying this time?...oh, he's called ASLs (or ASZs) the Spawn of Satan......what a muppet he is.....

Yes, it's true. I have made it into today's paper, and you can read the article here. Yes, I did say that ASLs are the Spawn of Satan. As is often the case, though, there's always more to a story than the newspaper suggests. Don't get me wrong, I don't blame the reporter (Alastair Dalton) for writing the article the way it is written. It's fine. The problem is, that in a short article like that you cannot get across the detail behind the assertion.

To learn more about where my assertion comes from, have a read of this blog here.

So I'm going to assume you've now read the article. If you haven't do it now. Go on. I'll wait.


Right. Now that you have definitely read it, I'm hoping that my muppet level rating has reduced a little. My whole argument was based on logic and the fact that it is better not to have infrastructure that encourages dangerous habits in inexperienced cycling road users.

I absolutely stand by everything I say in that blog and I'm happy for anyone to challenge the logic and to tell me I am wrong.

I do though understand the approach that Spokes takes and that they can in certain circumstances be useful, and it is nice to hear about the police taking cycling more seriously. I just think that we need to focus all of our efforts on designing junctions and roads properly.

One of the big issues with ASLs is the conflict it encourages between cycling road users and HGVs. In fact the Netherlands is not immune from this issue either as this (translated) article demonstrates. Luckily the lady involved in this incident survived, and I wish her well.

The reason I have mentioned this particular incident is demonstrated below in the google map of this particular location.


Grotere kaart weergeven

It happened at an ASL with a feeder lane, something that is a rare sight in the Netherlands. The Dutch are in the process of removing ASLs and I suspect that following this incident this one will be removed soon.

So yes, I am against more ASLs, but only because I think we deserve much, much better.

Bus Company Attitude (Henderson Travel)

With recent tragic events in London demonstrating the issues of HGV/bike interactions (or large vehicles generally), it is more critical than ever that companies that own and run such large vehicles take safety very seriously. Any collision, no matter how slight, between a large vehicle and a person riding a bike can result in the bike user being seriously injured or killed. Yes, that means that road users that cycle need to be very wary of large vehicles (we need to be wary of all vehicles!), but the onus of responsibility is, and must be with the person in charge of the large and potentially dangerous vehicle.

Whilst the driver has ultimate responsibility for how the vehicle is driven at that time, the company that runs the vehicle and employs the driver must also take some responsibility. Any responsible company should have safety of other road users as a top priority.

With the above in mind I am personally appalled by the response of a local bus company to an incident I posted on YouTube recently. Here is the incident.

Let me clear up a few misunderstandings about the above incident before I move on.

• I am not complaining about the overtake itself. The driver give me enough lateral space.
• The absolute...ABSOLUTE safe stopping time behind any vehicle is 2 seconds.
• My rear camera has a field of view of 170 degrees. This makes things in the centre of the image look further away than they are.
• Using marks on the road etc I calculated that the bus was (after approaching me) at best  0.5s behind me.
• Just before he overtook me he moved up to 0.2s behind me (1.8m)
• I was travelling at about 20mph here (measured by GPS).

If you happen to have a tape measure, why not measure 1.8m from a wall. Stand there and look back at the wall. Now imaging that the wall is not a wall, but a bus that is accelerating towards you.....

So I wrote the following e-mail to the company:

Unfortunately I am having to write to you with a complaint about the driving standards of one of your drivers.

I am a cyclist who regularly commutes from Torrance to my work at the Southern General Hospital. As part of my journey home I sometimes cycle along Balmore Road between the Auchenhowie roundabout and Torrance itself. It's not my favourite road to cycle on, and I do try and avoid it when I can (taking the back roads), but I do usually use it a couple of times a week. During those commutes I often interact with your 47A (arrives Torrance at 18:17).

Most of the time I have no issues with the driving of that particular bus. However, I have noticed on occasion when the bus has been stuck behind me for a short while, due to oncoming traffic, that it comes too close to my rear. I have on a couple of occasions in the past indicated this to the driver (with a pushing back hand signal).

Unfortunately this Tuesday evening (22/10/13) the driving fell way below the standard that is acceptable.

Due to issues I have faced on the roads in the past I video my commute on two cameras, one on my helmet and one on my bike facing the rear. I post these videos on Youtube for educational purposes and to demonstrate to others what it can be like cycling on Glasgow's roads. I have placed the video pf the incident in question on my site and you can watch it here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-FUDRzdolY). It should be remembered as the camera has a wide angled lens it looks further away than it is. That is why, using references form the road I calculated the gap.

As you may be able to tell from the video I felt very intimidated by the driving in this video. The driver, at best was about 0.5 seconds behind me and at worst 0.2 seconds. During the episode I signalled to the driver that I felt he was too close, and yet he continued to remain close to my back wheel. In fact as he overtook me it felt as though he drove the bus at me to make a point. Of course, I cannot prove this. Nonetheless, driving of that nature was at the very least totally unnecessary and very careless.

I would be very pleased  if you could look into this incident and at the very least remind the driver that driving of that standard is not acceptable.

I am also  a co-organiser of Pedal on Parliament (www.pedalonparliament.org), an organisation pushing for safer roads for cyclists.  In that regard I would be very interested to find out what driver training that you provide you drivers, especially in relation to cyclist interaction. In general bus drivers are excellent. The vast majority of the bus drivers I have interacted with have driven very safely. However, it only takes one driver driving like this to cause a serious accident.

I look forward to your reply.

Two weeks past and I did not receive a reply. Therefore, I wrote again.

It has now been over 2 weeks since I wrote to you with regards to the driving standards of one of you drivers. I have not had anything back from you with regards to this. I would have at the very least expected an acknowledgement. Has this incident been investigated at all?

The next day I received this reply. This reply is copied exactly as it was sent to me.

Good morning David

sorry its been so long getting back to you

however i have viewed the tape attached to your complaint i do not see what our driver has done wrong

looks like he has stayed behind you till the road ahead was clear before making his manouvre to pass you safely

Regards

Tony

  
 

Henderson Travel Operations

visit our website : www.htbuses.com 

I decided to ignore the terrible grammar (yes I know mine isn't great, but I am not writing on behalf of a company in relation to a complaint), the spelling mistakes and the lack of punctuation. This was my reply.

Dear Tony,

Thank you for your reply.

Can I just confirm this, you do not think that driving 0.5 seconds behind me is wrong? You also do not think that driving to within 0.2 seconds of my back wheel before executing the overtake manoeuvre is wrong?

Regards

 My reply was sent about a week ago and I have not been sent a reply. I suspect I am not going to get one (though this blog may elicit a response). It would have been very easy for the company to have sent me a standard response to this incident.  

We are sorry to hear what happened to you.....we will investigate this further and deal with the driver as per our standard procedures.... due to confidentiality issues we cannot disclose the nature of any action taken.....

They chose instead to provide us all with an example of the complete lack of professionalism within the company, and an insight into how seriously they take the safety of other road users.

Well done Henderson Travel. Well done.