So Many Things To Keep Track of . . .
Today was Day 3 of the BikeAbility instructors’ course I’m on. We did lots of practical stuff, planning lessons, role-playing teaching of the various road manoeuvres for level 2, etc on some quiet roads near North Shields.
Then for the last half hour of the day, we headed out for a group ride, with everyone on their absolute bestest behaviour - as instructors, we have an example to set!
It was kinda strange riding in a group of 12, with everyone well and truly hi-viz’d up. This was especially true when we went down Rose Hill on the A193. As part of my regular commuting route, I know all about this:
- It’s a steep, but short hill that’s about 400 yards down . . . and then up the other side.
- There are two lanes for up-hill traffic, and one for down-hill, segregated by double white lines. Vehicles must not cross these, unless it is to overtake a bicycle, horse, or road maintenance vehicle that is traveling at less than 10mph.
- It’s a steep hill, so a bike goes down with the brakes on to keep it under the 30mph speed limit. But cars overtake anyway. Because as we know, they’re in a hurry, and unlike cyclists, they do pay road tax after all.
- At the bottom, it gets better - there are central refuges to make pedestrian’s life easier when they want to cross. So the road narrows to the point that it’s not safe for a car to overtake the bikes.
- If you ride anything other than 110% assertively, they will try to squeeze past anyway. So basically, from near the top of the hill, you have to take the primary position (i.e. the centre of the lane)
- At the bottom, there’s a junction on the left, approaching at an oblique angle, and drivers find it hard to see bikes coming / fail completely to appreciate their speed.
- And after the junction, there’s another pedestrian refuge narrowing the road.
It’s odd, but usually all this stuff’s just automatic in my head. It’s only when you get to the point that you’ll have to teach it / see people riding it who aren’t familiar with the road’s features that you suddenly realise exactly how much there is to try and keep track of when you’re riding. All this stuff needs to be processed, all the potential hazards evaluated, and the appropriate action decided upon, all in real time.
In part, I want to say that this is just a really grotty road to ride on. For bike friendliness, I’d give it somewhere around three out of ten.. But the other part of me gets a thrill from the mental workout that’s required to ride it safely.
Twisted logic, huh?
I know what you mean about the thrill. I used to be a very keen “traffic jammer”, until I woke up one day and realised how stupid it was.
Such conditions are not the stuff that mass cycling is made of.
Road speed limits apply to bicycles in the UK?
Not around here. But it would be a steep hill indeed to allow a bike to go 30 mph. That’s about 50 km/hr. I don’t think that I’ve ever got my Pashley going that fast. In top gear, I have to stop pedalling at 30 km/hr.
Wow. I’d forgotten how monumentally awful it was in the UK. At least here you get respect when you’re riding in Primary: It’s rare to get any aggression.
David - Agreed!
Kevin - yep. It’s in the Highway Code:
“Rule 69 You MUST obey all traffic signs and traffic light signals. [Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD reg 10(1)]”
Andy - You tend to get respect, as well as some incredulity that you’re riding a bike as if you had every right to be on the road.
Living where I do - with lots of roundabouts (some often crammed into very small areas), I face these sorts of challenges often. One of my commute routes home involves descending (often at the high 20’s mph) towards a roundabout at which I’m heading straight on, and which has a bumpy bit of road on the exit combined with a pedestrian crossing island.
There’s two ways to do this: 1) Slow right down to make it safe, and annoy the drivers behind you (the limit here is 40mph); 2) Keep the speed up and take a “racing line” through the roundabout, hoping there’s no one crossing on the other side.
Both approaches are tricky. I prefer to keep going if I can but it means watching for cars behind, cars coming round the roundabout, AND pedestrians ahead.
Both would be made an awful lot easier if car drivers did the right thing and NOT overtook me on the approach to and traversal of the roundabout. It’s by far my biggest annoyance on the roads and, if I’m gonna get hit by a car one day, I’m sure it’s going to be on a roundabout like this.
Tell all your friends - don’t overtake cyclists at junctions!!!