Taking the GoPro along on a morning commute with a bit of cycling infrastructure chat along the way (hopefully audible above the traffic noise!).
If you’re a commuting cyclist yourself, how do the road conditions compare with your journey in by bicycle?
**Disclaimer – I’m not trying to model any kind of recommended riding style/behaviour in this video. Don’t ride like I do – ride like you want/need to, and within the law etc.**
Stay safe out there and happy cycling, folks!
36 Comments
My personal Top of the Pops for infrastructure would be Leuven followed by Paris with Leeds, Carlisle, and Sheffield a long way behind.
After seeing the Farsley stretch of the CS-1 SuperHighway and its offshoots a few days ago, I get the impression things are improving.
I stopped 125 miles-in-5 days winter commuting c.2003 and switched to specific turbo training with major gains in race performances.
Big city cycling was too mentally draining for me – losing count of near misses, malicious passes, passengers opening their doors to block 'undertaking' in official cycle lanes etc. It left me needing a mental break from cycling at the weekend, when I could have been doing the good stuff in the Peak.
You have more confidence than most I suspect. Some Bone shaking moments. I've enjoyed watching. Thanks.
Nothing that much wrong with the road so long as there's only me on it
Keir starmer recently answered your question about the roads, saying the public will have to sacrifice having better roads (and other things) so we can spend more on defence. 😡 I don't know how you cope with 25 mm tyres. I have the same bike (Triban) and within a couple of weeks I went up to 32 mm — which was better than the 28's but still a nightmare on some of the roads near me — so then I soon went tubeless (for lower pressure comfort) and bought some 36 mm! That improved things a lot.
Cracking video. You are very well-tempered…or at least were for the video 😂 Commuting is a lottery at best, though nowadays, I tend to do as much off-road as possible even if that means going further. Combination of no cycling infrastructure; abysmally designed infrastructure; zero maintenance – roads get a roadsweeper now and then, but bike paths and footpaths don't so are covered in debris, broken glass etc, and that's before we even contemplate the awful state of some people's driving or their attitude to other road users regardless of the mode of transport.
Great video as usual! ATB, Simon.
The roads your riding on look as rough as the roads in Hull…….
'Ull' east yorkshire.
I only really do an urban route for a change, and it’s often that one, Really don’t like the university section, with (as you say) pedestrians stepping out staring at phones with ear plugs in, but the main issue I have are Delivery Riders on e bikes. Overall very poor infrastructure across GM, Lots of new decent cycle lanes popping up, it’s just they connect to the old ones that are unridable. Take Care out there !
Glad i am not from this neck of the woods loks depressing
I avoid busy roads nowadays and head for off road routes. Feel safer and happier away from the awful drivers 😳😊
That was very interesting but before a couple of minutes I started to wonder where the biggest danger came from, drivers or the dreadful road surface? A slight swerve to avoid one would put you dangerously close to a passing vehicle whose driver may not be aware of the pothole.
I live about 17 miles from the nearest large town, longer by bike but there is a disused railway track that takes you nearly all the way but it does mean adding 4 miles to get on it. Very few French people here cycle commute. In fact i don't know of any. The French are fairly considerate of cyclists but in the 'rush hour' they drive far too fast and on twisty country roads they don't see you until the very last moment.
In the town there are many segregated bike lanes but we do have shared use paths. These can cause problems when the pedestrians are walking in a group.
Nantes is our nearest city and I've cycled there a lot and found a great network of routes but others have said they didn't find any.
I'd be very nervous of riding in Paris having seen the mayhem around the Place de la Concorde although a friend does it every day.
I don't think I could face a commute like yours, I don't have the confidence to weave between the cars at red lights.
On the bike lane that was coloured green, did you or the van have the right of way?
If I was driving I'd have stopped but wonder what the rules are?
Even watching is made me tense.
Looking forward to some countryside rides.
Thanks for the video.
Terrible roads and infastructure would be managable but we just have so many aggressive dangerous reta***d car users who risk killing cyclists just to get to the next red light 2 seconds faster.
Don't get me wrong I'm not having a go at you personally but I think the close pass rule should apply to cyclists too. I don't like being close passed by a car and I would never close pass a car either. We complain when it happens to us then only to weave in and out of traffic close passing cars.
WOW, your a braver man than me,, there’s no way I’d cycle that to get to work. Top marks and full respect ,,
RIDE SAFE.
Well done and that looks horrendous.i have plenty of road craft having a licence since1977 with sports motorbikes and a class one I also cycle so I know the script but really would I cycle your route ? No! Its scruffy the road surface is rough ( as is most of Britain) The fake cycle lanes don’t mean anything as they are not painted red they force you onto the footways which are designed for the general public to walk safely on and then they are painted on the road outside people’s houses and they park the cars on them ( which is fair enough) but not really the way forward . I do really think over the years that the government’s have put the funds in for road repairs only for greedy councils to cream it off ..So to summarise your ride …it’s dangerous, it’s not pleasant, and if you consider percentages what’s the odds of a car pulling out with a driver “ cough” newly arrived floating about or some idiot with headphones on just walking in front of you take care dude and consider the options .
Yep, bad roads, bad drivers I have my fare share of motor uses shouting the odds, all fatties they should do what we do they take the idol option.
Cambridge has got much better for cycling instrastructure in the past few years. There are a few trunk roads where theyve installed some pretty good kerb segregated cycle lanes but as is the way in the UK they dont seem to join up, rather just dropping you off at a busy junction where you have to rejoin the road. Some of the city centre is pedestrianised but its so busy with pedestrians (plus taxis and busses where they're allowed) it's not very pleasant to ride through. Personally I'd like to see the pedestrianised area of the city be expanded and the cycle infrastructure joined up
In general it’s bad road users the roads are everybody’s to share
Wonder if car drivers are aware how much crap is in the cycle area, broken glass, nails,screws, fallen off vehicle bolts etc, so cyclists need to be at least 2 feet out from the curb to avoid the debris, so most of the time we're not in the middle of the road simply to pi-s off vehicles
Well it’s certainly changed as there were no cycle paths when I was cycling around there in my late teens – too long ago!
I’m in Sydney and our infrastructure is patchy though perhaps a step up from some of what Manchester has introduced. Is it just me or have the roads really deteriorated over the past 20 years?
The problem with UK cycle lanes is they're set up for people riding slowly and pootling around not 20mph road bikes. 😢
Most commuter drivers are phoning, texting, attending e-meetings etc. whilst driving. Along with that they will be drinking a coffee, eating breakfast and even smoking. It has been shown that drivers tend to run on ‘auto-pilot’ during the daily commute. (Many of my colleagues would panic halfway through the morning when they suddenly realised they couldn’t remember how they got to work!). The notion that they’d have even the least awareness of bikes – or pedestrians – is pretty far-fetched.
Interesting video. I was nearly taken clean out whilst cycling in the cycle lane on Oxford Street, Manchester. A taxi had pulled up at the curb that separates the road and the cycle lane and the passenger swung the door open into the cycle lane just as I was passing. Please be especially careful along there. The best cycling infrastructure I've experienced was in Geneva. There is a dedicated cycle way almost from the airport to the lakeshore.
I find constantly having to stop where the cycle path crosses the mouth of a side road junction when if on the road you dont, stoping for dogs, pedestrians who will make you completely stop rather than let you slowly pass them at 5mph adds quite a bit of time 40 min commute to over an hour and the light contrled crossings several 2 , 3 and one 5 sets on the return just to cross one road where on the A4171 only one set of lights per junction , not illegal but mad to try it. check it on google maps if you dont believe, Mind you even with all this cycling is still better than driving in Bristol.
I used to commute from Altrincham to Longsight every day on a bike and I purposely avoided that stretch of the curry mile precisely because of the likes of that mini bus pulling out into the cycle lane at 16.31. It’s like that every day around there and even worse once traffic gets busier. The occasional times I have ridden that stretch I just stay on the road. your footage makes it fairly clear that there is a completely inadequate infrastructure for cyclists commuting into Manchester, particularly on the north side of the city,tho’ the south is barely any better.
2:48 biggest problem with cycle paths for me is that they'd always inevitably expect you to return to the road in a way that you'd have to wait for cars to pass before being able to, so you end up slower than if you'd just stayed on the road from the start… It's just shitty design. I moved to the netherlands a couple years ago and would struggle to justify coming back to the UK with how bad the day to day experience of cycling is there
Fair play lad,that is very challenging cycling, narrow road pot holes,cars too close, very brave.🇮🇪
Wow! A sharp contrast to the iydilic Pennines scenery. Even for all year round cyclists like myself in the UK …that journey was one from hell. I'm not sure whether to admire your tenacity or advise you to get checked in with a shrink…. as most people would not chose to put their head down the barrel of a loaded gun.
Never ceases to amaze me how much street furniture is considered acceptable to be placed in the middle of supposed cycle lanes. Carlisle is just as bad, with cyclists expected to thread their way around street lamps, signposts, bus shelters, etc. So dangerous in the dark.
Good to see others commuting by bike in GM.
I think it's certainly one of the more chellenging places I've lived to be a cyclist and definitely took some of the joy out of it for me.
Most of mine has been around Bury/Bolton/Eccles areas, where generally speaking the infrastructure is just painted lanes or nothing at all.
It would be great to see that change one day, but with the general attitude from the motoring world, I can't see elected officials becoming motivated to spend what they need to spend to get the infrastructure where it needs to be, as I believe that would be a net vote loser all in all.
Would love to move back north of the border where I found both infrastructure and driving standards alike to be significantly better.
It looks better than the cycle paths around Leeds. Pretty rubbish too though. My son lives in London and it’s MUCH better.
I only commute 5 miles and last year had one car pull out and another close call
I have driven with friends and they know, almost to the minute, how long it takes them to get somewhere. If something slows them down, they speed and drive really erratically. I have several friends who drive that way, which makes me think that a lot of people drive that way. Makes it "feel" dangerous riding a bike on the road because it is.
In my country Scotland the cars just use our infrastructure as a f car park its ridiculous that police or council does nothing about it , the netherlands infrastructure is awesome.
3 is fair I think. In Manchester in particular. London is so much better, I had to go recently for work and it’s amazing the difference. I’m looking at starting a longer commute. I’ve just started a new job that’s 21 miles away and I’d love to ride there and back. Your video is the first I’ve come across of a long commute. I’d love to hear any tips. Mine will be Wigan to Salford so similar neck of the woods.
I’ve got an arcc converted Brompton 6 speed at the moment which is amazing and helps with the hills. I prefer the upright riding position but I only use it to get to the train and the other side so 6 miles, train, 2 miles. It feels like that’s its limit as a commute id say. I’m in the market for something else but only just getting back to riding my bike so building the fitness. The e-bike has been amazing to get my back on the road, my only fear is potholes on the Brompton. So easy to get thrown off. I tend to go slower where I don’t know a road so I’ve got time to react and can avoid the holes.
Hope you reported the close pass and left hook, that's a 6 pointer.
Great video! Very similar cycle infrastructure to South London and I'm sure other parts of the UK. Let's face it urban cycling and indeed rural cycing infrasructure is pretty crap in the UK for all the reasons you've mentioned. It is a result of many years of neglect, poor planning and maintenance. I regularly cycle in Netherlands and Belgium which has superb infrastructure, giving the cyclist priority. Drivers there have a different mindset towards cyclists giving space and respect, as most of them are probably cyclists themselves. They don't activily try to run you off the road like some here in the UK! Let's face it vehicles are the ones taking all the space up on the roads, not cyclists. They need to re-prioritise road design towards cycling and by people who actually cycle, but it will take forever as they can't even afford to fix pot holes.