Using cycle paths

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Mick F
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Re: Using cycle paths

Post by Mick F »

ukdodger wrote:Been on that path several times.
Back in the old days, the verge was overgrown with weeds and gorse, and some EU money came along soon after Kit Hill was donated to the community by the Duke of Cornwall.

No names, no packdrill, but I know who for and why that path was installed, and it had nowt to do with cyclists. :wink:

The path is a continuation of a route from Callington town centre via pavements and new pathways. They cut all the gorse away and cleared the bank to build the path. It runs up Moss Side to the Kit Hill road, and from the other direction from St Ann's Chapel it uses a pavement and new paths but crosses the main road at the worst place possible at Southover. There have been numerous accidents there at the service station entrances/exits. Maybe one accident a month?
Note the Dragon's Teeth and they expect cyclist to cross there! :lol:
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=callin ... 94.39,,0,0

The main part of the path is fine for walkers, dogs and horses, and it's fine if you're going slowly uphill on a bike. Heading down though is foolhardy to say the least. The surface is "undulating" tarmac, strewn with dog poo, glass, litter, and dead grass and leaves.

I must say I used it once coming up the hill when I was dog tired, but generally I go through Harrowbarrow and come back out onto the main road at Drakewalls.
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Mick F. Cornwall
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Re: Using cycle paths

Post by Bicycler »

I liked this bit Mick http://goo.gl/maps/F6RY6

What's the minimum width possible for a shared use path?
Mark1978
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Re: Using cycle paths

Post by Mark1978 »

Which is why as discussed in the other thread we must have minimum standards before anything can be designated a cycle path.
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Mick F
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Re: Using cycle paths

Post by Mick F »

Bicycler wrote:I liked this bit Mick http://goo.gl/maps/F6RY6
What's the minimum width possible for a shared use path?
The path used to be quite wide!
That's at the bottom of Florence Road to the left at the crossroads of Moss Side A390 looking east (locally known as Long Hill) and Fullaford Road to Harrowbarrow to the right.
Nasty spot. :shock:

Every now and again, the path is strimmed(?) and the debris is left on the path. Very slowly, the grass and weeds have encroached onto the tarmac making it narrow. Maybe 4ft now, whereas it was probably 8ft+ when originally made.
Mick F. Cornwall
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Tigerbiten
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Re: Using cycle paths

Post by Tigerbiten »

ukdodger wrote:
Tigerbiten wrote:I tend not to use cycle paths as I don't trust that I can on and off one safely where I want to and I can also get from one end to other on one without getting blocked by anti-cycling barriers/a post/ a narrow place/ etc/ etc.
My trouble is I ride something that's as non-standard as you can get, a recumbent trike towing a trailer behind it so it's 3 meters long and almost a meter wide.
The main time I do use them is going uphill when I'm going sub 5 mph, but I need to be able to get on it on the way up as I drop below 10 mph and leave it at the top safely as I pick up speed. so unless I ridden past the stretch and I know I can do that, I'll not use it unless I'm wanting to go slow.


Are you sure those barriers aren't for motorcyclists. I've not seen one for cyclists.

If they stop me cycling, then they are anti-cycling barriers.
Most of the barriers I've seen are only really designed for standard DF bikes/MTB in mind.
So anyone on something non-standard (tandem, trike, DF with panniers/trailer, etc, etc) can/will have trouble with some/all of them.
It's not my fault that I'm got about the most non-standard rig out, the only rig more non-standard than mine that I've seen was a Greenspeed recumbent tandem trike and trailer on tour .......... :D
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: Using cycle paths

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
binsted wrote:Ive given up on cycle paths UK, they are either a bad surface or covered in rubbish, leaves and overgrown hedges, add to that you have to contend with walkers and loose dogs and when they are tethered its usually on extender leads.

The roads are less of a hazard.

YES this is the point is'nt it.
If only those approving and posing for the local press would use the facilties they build their empires on.

Fact is it is'nt a law to cycle on the cycle paths when they are there instead of the highway so until the council bylaws say so, as the government will not waste time on the petty rambling of road users unless someone blocks the road and inconvienences another group that wont happen.

SO stay calm stay on line and when their actions endanger you stop and phone the police with thier number, but make sure you have twenty minutes of credit...............

I have on numerous occasions just kept on line as they then become a hazard to other road users comming the other way............
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: Using cycle paths

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
Mark1978 wrote:Which is why as discussed in the other thread we must have minimum standards before anything can be designated a cycle path.

But councils seem to to like using a bad footpath (pavement) and then eject you onto a busy road, I have had numerous problems with cyclist joining pavements when I am cycling on the road, pity that cyclist to get in the way of a car instead of me :roll:

And its your old inexperienced cyclist who have taken up the pastime and will follow the cycle path to the letter without a thought for its dangers.

One day soon a cyclist will be killed exiting / entering a pavement path and councils will retire from the promotion, through fear of law suits.
Contraflow cycle lanes on the road :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: Torbay Council.
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reohn2
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Re: Using cycle paths

Post by reohn2 »

ukdodger wrote:
Tigerbiten wrote:I tend not to use cycle paths as I don't trust that I can on and off one safely where I want to and I can also get from one end to other on one without getting blocked by anti-cycling barriers/a post/ a narrow place/ etc/ etc.
My trouble is I ride something that's as non-standard as you can get, a recumbent trike towing a trailer behind it so it's 3 meters long and almost a meter wide.
The main time I do use them is going uphill when I'm going sub 5 mph, but I need to be able to get on it on the way up as I drop below 10 mph and leave it at the top safely as I pick up speed. so unless I ridden past the stretch and I know I can do that, I'll not use it unless I'm wanting to go slow.


Are you sure those barriers arent for motocyclists. I've not seen one for cyclists.


I'm not sure of the actual barriers in question but some that I/we've come across,you've a job to get a tandem through let alone a trike!
Whether they're for motorcycles or not,the effect is to stop anyone who's bike doesn't fit the neat little narrow package the 'designers' :? envisaged :twisted:
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reohn2
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Re: Using cycle paths

Post by reohn2 »

Bicycler wrote:Personally I think usage is a good test of cycle path quality. Cyclists will use whatever they feel is most convenient and safest. If cyclists don't use a piece of infrastructure, you need to question that infrastructure not the cyclists.


Agreed.
There are one or two cyclepaths locally that I have no problem with using because they're upto spec and more often than not clear of debris,just the occasional twig/small tree branch.
There is also one footpath,(by the side of a very busy A road)that I use which isn't a cyclepath but IMO should be as I've yet to see anyone walking on it,in over twenty years.

I've yet to see anyone motioning/gesticulating for me to get off the road onto a cyclepath.
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reohn2
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Re: Using cycle paths

Post by reohn2 »

Mick F wrote:..........Note the Dragon's Teeth and they expect cyclist to cross there! :lol:
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?........


I can understand the path not being upto spec for fast cycling but the crossing point is on a straight stretch of road,where anyone can see clearly both ways to cross when the road's clear enough to do so.
Unless I'm missing something :?
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ukdodger
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Re: Using cycle paths

Post by ukdodger »

snibgo wrote:
Bicycler wrote:If cyclists don't use a piece of infrastructure, you need to question that infrastructure not the cyclists.

Yes.

I've never seen a road that wasn't used by motorists. This is because roads are built and maintained to reasonable standards: priority over side roads, vegetation is kept at bay, the surface is adequate for motoring, and so on.

If cyclepaths were as good as roads, I'd happily use them.


In fairness not all cycle paths are unusable. It'll take time to get them to the condition of say Germany. Even so I'd ride on almost any surface to get round a roundabout. Big roundabouts during rush hours, and sometimes not, are voluntary euthanasia.
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Re: Using cycle paths

Post by Mistik-ka »

reohn2 wrote:I'm not sure of the actual barriers in question but some that I/we've come across,you've a job to get a tandem through


Last year Mrs. M-k and I did our first tandem tour in England — five weeks from Oxford to Carlisle and back. Having rambled over much of the country on foot in past years we were prepared for the weather … but not for the tandem-proof barriers on the designated cycle paths, especially on National Cycle Routes. These were, without a doubt, the worst part of an otherwise splendid trip; I thought it appalling that Sustrans hasn't at least posted a warning about them for poor ignorant foreigners such as us.

We're planning another tandem expedition for next spring. This time we are carefully laying out a route that avoids cycle paths — especially along canal towpaths — where there is no easily accessible on-road alternative. We shed too many tears, disseminated too much profanity, and acquired too many bruises and scrapes lifting a heavy tandem over and around the "tandem traps" last time. The cycle paths could be a wonderful draw for tourist dollars … but for us they discourage cycle touring more than they encourage it :? .
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Mick F
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Re: Using cycle paths

Post by Mick F »

reohn2 wrote:
Mick F wrote:..........Note the Dragon's Teeth and they expect cyclist to cross there! :lol:
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?........


I can understand the path not being upto spec for fast cycling but the crossing point is on a straight stretch of road,where anyone can see clearly both ways to cross when the road's clear enough to do so.
Unless I'm missing something :?
Yes, you are missing something.

Note the Dragon's Teeth.
They are there, because there's a problem.

There's a service station - Central Motors - and it's at the crown of the hill and there are accidents there almost monthly - though less frequently nowadays - as cars turn in and out. They've recently moved the 40mph limit to warn drivers of the hazard as they leave the unrestricted A390.

If they designers of the path could have left the path on the opposite side for a few hundred yards further, the road would be clearer and away from the crown of the hill, and despite the faster traffic the cyclists/pedestrians would see far far far better.

Nobody asked me about it. :lol:
Mick F. Cornwall
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Re: Using cycle paths

Post by ukdodger »

reohn2 wrote:
ukdodger wrote:
Tigerbiten wrote:I tend not to use cycle paths as I don't trust that I can on and off one safely where I want to and I can also get from one end to other on one without getting blocked by anti-cycling barriers/a post/ a narrow place/ etc/ etc.
My trouble is I ride something that's as non-standard as you can get, a recumbent trike towing a trailer behind it so it's 3 meters long and almost a meter wide.
The main time I do use them is going uphill when I'm going sub 5 mph, but I need to be able to get on it on the way up as I drop below 10 mph and leave it at the top safely as I pick up speed. so unless I ridden past the stretch and I know I can do that, I'll not use it unless I'm wanting to go slow.


Are you sure those barriers arent for motocyclists. I've not seen one for cyclists.


I'm not sure of the actual barriers in question but some that I/we've come across,you've a job to get a tandem through let alone a trike!
Whether they're for motorcycles or not,the effect is to stop anyone who's bike doesn't fit the neat little narrow package the 'designers' :? envisaged :twisted:


Those I've seen (there are lots on the C2C routes) are certainly for M/C's some have signs saying so. Everyone cant be pleased I guess and I'd hate to see scramble bikes hurtling around on them.
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Re: Using cycle paths

Post by reohn2 »

It mustn't be as clear as the google 'picture' paints it :?
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