2008-05-09 - Rider Down, Regents Park Outer Circle

One of a group of three roadies doing laps this evening, hit by a car on the east side of Regent's Park heading North. Police and ambulance were there when I passed. The rider was out cold on his back in the road, his head by the read wheel of the car.

Fingers crossed he's ok, and that it wasn't any of you. Ride safe people .

was just talking with some roadies at the bike shop about how they tend to get hit while training, hope that guy is ok.

ouch.

whilst waiting to meet cornelius last friday night i met a super sweet old old guy on a vintage and insanely big geared track bike. he was going to the park to laps of the outer circle. can't remember what the bike was (he did tell me) but he must have been 70+. very cool bloke. he had litle round glases on and a tea-tray sized chainring. sorry, wrong thread. sort of.

weird to get hit in the park. it's usually pretty quiet compared to the surrounding roads. it's like a little oasis of calm in my commute. bad luck indeed.

it's crazy that he was hit. It is the widest, straightest, quietest stretch of road in central London.

Damn ! I ride the East side Outer Circle and going North most days, hope the bloke is ok.

it's crazy that he was hit. It is the widest, straightest, quietest stretch of road in central London.

+1

Great for driving really fast on or zoning out on and changing cd's or lighting a ciggie.. :(

Don't forget the Satnav.

oh shit man, that's my daily commute !! :O i didn't see anything though. hope he's ok.

it's crazy that he was hit. It is the widest, straightest, quietest stretch of road in central London.

never seen anything close to a crash!

that whole outer circle is a death trap, especially if you're going clockwise. Monster 4wd on nanny runs or smoking cigars. Hope that guy's ok.
Lapped Robert Elms there this morning. Black Rapha gear and a 'Roberts' bike.

Death trap is a bit over the top. It's shitloads better than most of the roads I ride on.

true. perhaps lulled into false sense of security, then plough into idiot turning right without looking, would be a better description from my own experience. Nowhere better in central london.

There are some car skid marks heading into one of the traffic island pinch points on the east side. They have a little cycle lanes painted so maybe that's the dangerous bit since the rest is so wide.

I used to use that stretch when a courier as a shortcut, no red-lights ride up to Camden, quiet maybe, safe no, it's relatively traffic free and straight which seems to encourage speeding and attention loss from drivers...

used to fly past guys "training" in all the gear on carbon bikes often with (can't see where I'm going) aero bars on that stretch of road, with my filthy Veto, full bag and upright position...would always give them a cheerful tinkle from my bell as I did so.....

Beware kamikaze junior squirrels who've yet to get their road sense, iPod joggers, and rich dog-walking women who are obviously anaesthatized by their over-application of expensive crushed beetle juice.

And those fucking pinch-points.

Why 'o' fucking why won't they let cyclists go down the broadwalk, it's about 60ft wide for god's sake - surely the queen can afford to paint off a cycle lane for her lowly subjects. (It's a royal park, get caught on your bike in the park and the £300 yes 300 hundred fucking pounds goes to the queens coffers).

They opened it up last summer as an experiment (without telling anyone) and then at the end of the experiment some months later handed out forms at the North end for pedestrians and cyclists to fill in and say whether they thought the idea of a cycle path was successful or not.

Of course there were no cyclists to fill out the forms as they didn't tell anyone what was happening and anyone who has cycled in London for a few years doesn't bother to attempt the broadwalk as they don't want to pay £300 for the privilege. So I expect the experiment was deemed to have a low uptake.

London hates bikes.

Beware kamikaze junior squirrels who've yet to get their road sense, iPod joggers, and rich dog-walking women who are obviously anaesthatized by their over-application of expensive crushed beetle juice.

And those fucking pinch-points.

If cars are meant to not drive into the bike lane stretches along side the pinch points why don't they curb off that stretch ?

£300 is probably the most that driver will get fined, if they materialize, and it's proved they were at fault.

I assume you don't mean this. What's the Broadwalk?

I don't suppose there's enough room to lay another section of kerb. And if they'd done it that way in the first place (made the pinch point next to the bike lane, it would've forced traffic dangerously close to the white line marking the road centre.

I can't see the sense of those things anyway. Were they introduced to stop people trying to overtake on that wide stretch of road?

possibly to slow people down?

oh shit is ti really 300 quid? i often ride through there, thinking i'll get a stern look or a slap on the wrists... what bastards.

the boardwalk is the big path that runs right through the middle of the park. not only did they not tell anyone when cyclists were allowed on it, but they also didnt tell anyone when they forbade it again. cue loads of people getting warnings and fines at the end of last summer. wankers

I assume you don't mean this. What's the Broadwalk?

It's the long and very very wide and very smooth path that runs from Euston Road up to Camden / Primrose Hill that runs right trough Regent's Park: