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Dreeeddge.

I'm moving to Toronto for a year or so leaving around the September/October time, simply because I didn't want to regret passing up the opportunity.

As such I don't have many plans in place yet, but I was wondering if anyone is able to tell me about what it is like to cycle around there on a day-to-day basis? I plan on getting a bike at the earliest opportunity, however I understand that some of the cycle infrastructure was removed a while back? (I did google but can't really find anything much with any decent detail) Whilst I'm looking for work I'll also look to get involved volunteering with bike kitchens, I figure it won't be a bad way to meet people as well!

Any chance you'd be able to post the Modalo levers (only down to Kent)? I'm not in a position to travel at the moment. Willing to pay additional for the postage of course!

Awesome link! Just spent a happy half hour browsing through the catalogue.

Mine is taken from the short story [Message Contains No Recognisable Symbols] by Bill Hibbard about a technological singularity.

Basically I'm a hipster Wintermute.

[INDENT]----Pilgrims Hospice Cycle Challenge----[/INDENT]

Hi All.

I thought I'd throw this up here in case anyone is interested in a little ride in May to help prepare for the Dunwich Dynamo!

It's a great ride with lots of up and down bits, there are four main refreshment points at the three hospices (Ashford, Canterbury, Thanet and BikeTart in Barham) which are well supplied with food, drink and onsite mechanical assistance.

The registration fee is £25 until the 1st of May when it goes up to £30.

Maps of the route haven't gone up yet, but will be available from the website at least a week beforehand.

Pilgrims Hospice Cycle Challenges

Doesn't look like it's got a great deal of support for strapping stuff to it, but have you tried threading the jacket arms through/around the webbing and then tying them together? At the very least it'd stop the jacket falling out all together.

All of the above + get yourself down to A&E or the doctors ASAP.

Scroll down and look at the 'Satisfied Customer' bit on the right hand side.

Nice little WTF there!

accidentclaims.org/

P.S. You might need to fullscreen the window to see it.

P.P.S. Not my feedback!

Did the black ice shuffle twice this morning, my heavy Monday morning bag didn't help. Not bad falls by any sense of the word, though my shins do look like their dressing up to attend a Star Trek convention.

I wish my local council would grit the paths as well as the roads. :( Letters being sent to my councillors today.

I have done this on occasion... Do you do it every day?

Yeah, pretty much. Midday napping means I can fit more things in when I'm not at the boredom factory.

When I tell my colleagues that I'm going for a walk at lunch I actually go downstairs to build myself a nest of my cycling clothes on the shower (single shower room) floor and go to sleep for an hour.

The door is lockable, I'm the only person that uses the showers at the moment and nobody knows where I am. Bliss.

I have seen quite a few cyclists (in dark clothing at night) around our part of the world that are appear to be going out of their way to disguise themselves as a bush swaying in the breeze. My anticipation of what a bush is likely to do and what a cyclist is likely to do are quite different, so knowing that the dark shape ahead of me is a cyclist and not a bush is quite helpful.

If you are coming towards me, it is useful to know if you are cyclist or a pedestrian, cos if you are a pedestrian you are unlikely to reach me as quickly as if you are a cyclist.

If you are going in the same direction as me, if you are a pedestrian, unless you slip and fall into the road or dash out into the road, its unlikely that I'm going to have to change course. If its a cyclist, I'm going to need to move over to give you room, and I would like as much time as possible to see if this is going to be possible at the time I'm likely to reach you, or whether I need to be modifying my speed etc etc.

Identifying what something is is essential to anticipating the things actions or lack thereof, and making a decision as to what I am going to do.

One example that comes to mind: I was driving at night on a dual carriageway with 2 lanes on either side, up way ahead was a single flashing red light on the left, and the cars ahead of me were changing from the left lane to the right. Because the single flashing red light said "probably cyclist" to me I knew why we were all changing lanes. This seemed like win. I'm not saying I would have clattered into him had his light not been flashing, but surely more information about what's happening ahead is a good thing.

My point is that regardless of whether you do identify a cyclist, pedestrian or bush once you* see it you should be slowing down in anticipation of 'something'. Take your dual carriageway example. Upon seeing the single flashing red light did you carry on at 60/70mph until you decided it was a cyclist and action could be taken?

It always sounds to me that the focus on identification is about minimizing any delay to the affected persons rather than ensuring safe passing or safety in general. If a cyclist/pedestrian/kate bush is identified early then any moderation of speed or heading is lessened.

Now I know this probably isn't what you mean when you say "I would like as much time as possible to see if this is going to be possible at the time I'm likely to reach you, or whether I need to be modifying my speed etc etc." And I know that this isn't what my family and friends mean when they say roughly the same thing. But it really is how it comes across to me.

The selfish primary position bit also winds me up a little because there seems to be a presumption that you as a driver know when it is safe to overtake or not, regardless of whether the cyclist in front of you believes it is safe. Things like diesel spills, smaller potholes and general road-crappiness may not be obvious from your car, but can make a huge amount of difference to a cyclist to the extent where it may not be safe for you to pass, even if it isn't obvious.

The mirrors/van thing is also interesting because it is by no means a cyclist only issue, pretty much every road user seems to have very little idea of how much of a blind spot vans & lorries have at the rear, I've certainly been surprised before by a smart car that has pulled up almost directly behind my van and disappearing from my view. :(

In regards to the whole attacking/picking apart thing. Personally for me it's in part because I never get any recourse from drivers (I don't live in London and everyone is faster than me. :C ) All of the "Why did you do that?" questions can never be answered because they've beeped and gone, leaving me with a sour taste in my mouth and a soggy backside. Basically it's cathartic!

*I don't actually mean you you, but rather every driver including myself.

On visibility

[]I can identify cyclists in bright/reflective clothing at a much greater distance than cyclists in dark clothing. The further away you are when I first notice you the better for us all.
[]One dim light on the front and rear of your bike means that I am a lot closer to you when it becomes apparent that you are a cyclist. Flashing front and rear lights with a decent amount of brightness immediately trigger the 'cyclist' response in my head

I'm interested by these points and have been wondering about this for a little while now myself. Why is it so important to 'identify' cyclists (or any other road user for that matter.). I'd certainly never argue against good lights and light coloured clothes, but the insistence on identification over 'mere' observation and anticipation seems really strange, is it only once something has been identified ("That's a tree in the road!") that action can be taken? Do people not slow down if they don't know what that thing in front of them is?

Anecdotally I've found it to be a common complaint, that it's hard to tell if a blinky red light is a cyclist or not. I have to wonder why it matters though, if you see something and have to think "What's that?" you should be slowing down or taking steps to mitigate any potential issue that may arise. It doesn't matter if that light is a cyclist, pedestrian or simply nailed to a piece of wood on someone's drive. (I regularly slow down whilst driving on country lanes for lights that turn out to be security lights or similar.)

If I am driving down a country lane and a single headlight heads towards us, do we wait until we recognise it as a motorbike or a broken light on a car before moderating my driving?!

Sorry to dredge this topic up but I figured it fitted well here.

Three weeks ago I was involved in a SMIDSY. Easily the worst accident that I've had, even though I got off extremely lightly in the scheme of things. The responses from family and friends has been pretty much uniformly sympathetic, but I keep on getting this:

"Weren't you wearing fluorescents?"

Which just makes me want to scream and rage, or at least gesticulate wildly at my walls in mute aggression. It always smacks of me being blamed for having the temerity to be hit by a car. I know in my heart of hearts that they don't mean it in this way but still, seriously!? I hate feeling like I'm somehow 'fair game' if I don't wear my Mr.Noddy's First Fluorescent Gimp Suit (weekend wear only).

As a note with my accident I was hit whilst in primary, approaching a roundabout to turn right on a well lit dual carriageway A road (the only way to get to my location, natch) wearing a light on my bag and with a secondary light on my bike.

Good: Getting to the path along the river Stour and saying good morning to all the magpies.
Bad: The 'no other option' dual carriageway I have to ride along to get to that point.

Anyone else been looking at Greenlight on steam? Some nice stuff on there, just checked out Project: Zomboid and NEO Scavenger, plus The Stanley Parable is getting a HD Remix! Sweeet!

(If you have not played The Stanley Parable it is now available on steam and you should 100% play it now.

"Nobody liked Stanley, because he was ugly and smelled.")

Minor update: Have spoken to some people and been advised that as my quote may not be over the needed amount for a Personal injury claim (Relatively cheap bike and no major injuries right now) I've been advised to wait a week or two and see how I am. If I'm physically ok at that point I'll be calling the drivers insurance company to make a claim.

No wonder everyone finds this kind of thing frustrating, I hate feeling like I'm sitting on my hands.

Got my bike back. Not pretty but nice of the police to drop it round. Pictures taken etc.

The nice policeman reminded me he'd put all the drivers details in my wallet while I was lazing about at the hospital. So I have name, address, car and insurance details. Will be knowledging up fully in the morning.

I'm not in London, down in sleepy Kent.

I wasn't in a position to get the drivers details at the scene as I was laid up on the road until the Ambulance stretchered me off. The police were in attendance though and I'll be meeting the officer who spoke to me at the hospital in about half an hour or so.

Thanks for the kind responses though guys, :)

Wow, never thought I'd be posting in this thread.

Just got back from hospital after being rear-ended on a dual carriageway. Thankfully I'm merely banged-up rather than broken but I'm going to be sore in the morning!

Pretty simple accident really (I think?! I'm doing my "What to do in the event of an accident." research now). I was coming up to a roundabout so checked, saw there were two cars in each lane behind me which were a safe distance away, indicated and moved into primary position on the inside lane (roughly at the 100 yrds mark I think.) Couple of seconds later the person in my lane goes straight into the back of me, I go up his bonnet and then down onto the ground again, where I get to have a nice lay in the rain.

The nice policeman is sorting out bringing my mangled wreck of a bike back home now :'( I'll have a nice chat with him.

Of course, I had to be cycling off to a volunteer thing. Oh Karma, wherefore art thou?!

Ha, this topic re-surfacing is timely! This Wednesday I was surprised by a blue and white Suzuki coming down a multi-use path which is not near any roads at all. Came round a blind, sharp S-Bend (admittedly not fast) but freaked me out somewhat!

...and immediately had to add some blue bling...

What lights are those? They look really nice.

I've had good experiences with SportsPursuit. They do pop-up sales for pretty much anything sports related but have recently done several cycling gear ones.

Pros: The sales tend to be pretty good value (I still do the google double check though), the only time I had a problem they were quick to sort it out and pleasant to deal with.

Cons: Usually a two week odd delivery time. In fairness they are up-front about this and I'm pretty sure it's their business model or something, but don't order if you are in a rush.

Currently they have Helly Hansen base layers, SRAM Cassettes, Catlike accessories, Vaude Cycle clothing, Niterider Cycling lights and running/snowboarding gear sales as well.

*Cough cough if you sign up using this link then I get money off my next purchase. *

Signed - Thanks for brining it up! :D

Black Mesa made it on to the BBC as well!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19463712