I Got a New Life

So, you are wondering why I have suddenly posted a blog after many years of silence and are also wondering why I have started with a YouTube video of the Barden Bellas. You are probably wondering why I have posted such a vidoe on a cycling blog and what has it got to do with cycling?

Now, I am wondering where I am going with the blog….

Well in 2019, I only cycled 1900 miles. By far my worst total in the last 10 years

It gets even worse when you look at the monthly breakdown for 2019

You will notice that I didn’t cycle at all in December and in some months didn’t reach 100 miles. That is truly pathetic. My excuse was I had an accident in January and tore the tendon in my shoulder and it restricted my movement in my arm. The reality is I lost my mojo and became lazy.

The accident did not involve a car, but involved a cyclist falling off in front of me and me going over him. I was in a segregated cycle land and going relatively slowly when cyclist overtook me, unclipped accidentally and lost his balance.

That accident became my excuse to be lazy and not ride as much as I should. I didn’t ride the 2019 UK Police Unity Tour and instead drove a support vehicle. Partly because they were short of support drivers, and partly because I was in a state of apathy.

Of course, not cycling and being lazy resulted in me putting lots of weight on. By the end of 2019, I was getting mistaken for the Michelin Man. I had to do something about it. The images below were taken Christmas 2019. The first one on 25 December 2019 and the second on 27 December 2019.

I was my heaviest in at least 17 years. I resolved to do something about it, so on 1st January 2020, I weighed myself and resolved to lose weight. January 1st 202, I weighed myself ( probably needed a weighbridge) and I weighed 276 lbs or 19 stone 10 lbs. For someone who is only 5’10” tall, I resembled an unfit hippopotamus. I signed up to the MyFitnessPal App to track my food intake and resolved to try to exercise more.

At around this time, I saw an advert for a fitness/ diet group to be run by Leyton Orient called Fit O’s. The group was to be for males 35-65 who wanted to lose weight. It was being run by the Leyton Orient Community Trust. I thought, nothing ventured nothing gained, so applied for it and was luck to be one of the 30 or so Orient supporters to be offered a place. I had no idea what to expect.

The first meeting explained a bit more, it was a 12 week course where we met on a Wednesday night for 2 hours, one hour being gentle exercise and one hour being classroom based learning re diet/ health etc. The first week, we were weighed, measured etc and did a gentle walk around the Orient Ground. The aim being to get people being more active. Some of the group had underlying health problems, others like me were just greedy and lazy.

The group seemed good. Most of us needed to lose weight and did not do enough exercise. After the first week of walking, subsequent weeks involved, playing handball, basketball, football, badminton etc. I was not able to take part in all the exercises because of underlying knee problem following a cycling accident in 2009. I was encouraged to do what I could and at least take part in the warm up exercises. The group was very inclusive.

Going to the group also encouraged me to get cycling more. You can see that in February I did more cycling than in January. I was cycling to work more often, then Corona Virus hit….

Since the 16th March I have been forced to work from home. I live alone, so I made an effort to get out on my bike most days for exercise, and when not cycling, I went for a walk. This was my way of keeping my sanity and seeing life existed outside of the four walls of my prison cell house. Working from home was not something I wanted and would not have been my choice. However, I took it as an opportunity. You will notice that in March 2020 the distance I cycled rocketed from 300 miles in February to 900 miles in January.

Working at home gave me a chance to make work fit around my life choices. Since March I have averaged over 1000 miles per month. That is 33 or so miles every day. This has been done on a variety of bikes, from touring bikes, road bikes, fixed wheel bikes and most shockingly on a mountain bikes

I have recorded what I have eaten everyday this year, and all my exercise. MyFitnessPal is a great app that makes it easy to record food intake, You can use the bar codes on food to add it to your record. This has helped me track my food intake. I have not cut any foods out and am simply reducing/ monitoring my food intake rather than banning any foods. Alcohol is not off limits either, which is just as well as the half bottle of vodka tonight demonstrates ( and explains all the typos in this).

The chart below shows the weight has steadily come off, although as you will notice there are blips along the way, as tomorrow will demonstrate after a vodka and kebab social with my neighbour tonight.

So, to try to bring this story to a conclusion, rather than it be a Ronnie Corbett tale. By 18 July 2020, I have cycled more miles than in any year since 2011, apart from 2017, but I expect to over take that by the end of August.

I have lost as at today’s date, 5 stones 7 lbs ( 77lbs). I am wearing jeans that are 10″ smaller than I was wearing at the start of the year. I had to go to court last week ( I am a lawyer, not the defendant). I found I had nothing to wear that fitted me! I also had to buy some new underwear recently and went to Tesco and found that for the first time since I went to University that I could fit into medium sized clothing!

Even more amazing, I went to visit my father in Durham 10 days ago on his 82nd birthday and he offered me his cycling kit as he hasn’t ridden for a few years. Amazingly, the kit he wore when he was the Veteran’s World & National Champion fitted me. That was a very proud moment for me. I never dreamed I would ever be thin enough to wear his old kit or to ride his ultra light racing bikes.

The image below was me a week ago.

You will perhaps now understand the video clip at the start of this blog post. I’ve got a new life, you’d hardly recognise me!

Lockdown has been a fantastic opportunity for me to exercise more and to drink less and get myself fitter.

So, where do I go from here? Well, I am hoping to ride the Trans Pennine Trail on my mountain bike next month, lockdown restrictions permitting and perhaps in 2021 to ride LEJoG again.

A year ago, none of this was possible. So, what has changed? Well, I have been determined to do something about my health, and also, I have been lucky to have has the Fit O’s group come along at the right time, and then as the Fit o’s was coming to an end, the Newcastle football lads i have known for years decided to have a 12 week sponsored weight loss competition called Nee More Eating, being a play on the name of the group in the early 1980s, the infamous Newcastle Mainline Express (NME). A great group of lads who I have the pleasure of calling friends, as well as in many cases previous clients. Lads who have put their desire to lose weight to a good use to raise funds for the NHS charities. Why not donate a few £££s to the cause to recognise their efforts.

So, nearly 7 months into 2020, 4 months of lockdown and no football, and I am 77 lbs lighter than at the start of the year, but have expanded my bike stable to 7 bikes now ( I am a devotee of the N+1 philosophy as dictated by Rule 12 from the Velominarti!)

I am still a fat bloke on a bike cycling round slowly, but am now merely overweight ( according to my BMI) as opposed to being morbidly obese or even just obese. I am at a weight I have not been since before I was married some 27+ years ago.

Where do I go from here? Well bed now and out on my bike in the morning.


PS, I might as well admit as you will have no doubt gathered from the video that another obsession from the lockdown has been TikTok, hence the Youtube clip

2016 UK Police Unity Tour

So today was the first day of the UK Police Unity Tour 2016.  Approximately 120 riders set off from 5 locations heading towards the National  Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. 

It is great to see the number of rides increasing every year.  I rode with Chapter 1 from the National Police Memorial in London.  Our destination today was Milton Keynes.  

There were around discrimination 50 riders who left London Estate opted by the Met Police Motorbikes.  We were honoured to be joined by riders from Chapter 1, 8 and 37 from the USA Police Unity Tour and 2 Survivors. 

We completed just short of 86bm8les today,  including 3000 feet of climbing.  We had rain,  torrential rain,  heat,  cold,  sun.  You name it we had it.  

There were 6 riders today who have taken part in all 4 UK Police Unity Tour rides. I am honoured to be one of them. 

Every rider wears a wristband engraved with the name of a fallen officer. We will be presenting the band to the family of our officer on Sunday when we complete the ride. 

The ride is to raise funds for COPS,  the charity who support families of police officers killed in the line of duty.  You can sponsor me at http://www.justgiving.com/Peter-Bennett666 

It is a great charity.  Please donate a few quid. The price of a pint of beer can make a huge difference to this charity.  If I can,  a very fat git,   cycle 160 miles for this charity,  you can give a few quid to the cause

Tour De Tendering

Source: Garmin Connect

Here’s my location, courtesy of Glympse

Hey, look where I am!

Click for a Glympse of my location: http://glympse.com/097S-4JS1

Holiday Madness

So, its a bank holiday weekend. I am in London at a loose end as I am not seeing Michelle this weekend. (why you may ask- well I cocked up on my dates, thats why. Sorry again Michelle!)

So, what to do on a Bank Holiday Sunday?
Recover from the night before?
Go to the seaside?
Go to the pub for a sunday session?
Clean the house?
Clean & fettle my bike(s)
Have a lazy day?

Well sensible people might do one of the above or something similar.

So, I chose to do the most stupid thing I could thing of and decided to visit my parents who were staying with my godfather and his wife in Norfolk and have lunch / dinner with them.

I know that doesn’t sound too stupid. In fact some people would say that its the sort of thing a dutiful son should do.

Even if I told you my godfather lived 86 miles away? What’s that you say, 86 miles won’t take long in a powerful car like yours. If you left home at 10 am you could be there before lunchtime.

All this is very true. However, the stupid thing was I decided to make the trip by bicycle. Let that sink in. I decided to cycle 86 miles today. That is longest ride I have had in well over a year. Indeed in the last year I have only done 2 rides of over 50 miles.

Now add into the mix I was meeting people for lunch. Thus it’s not 86 miles in a day but instead its 86 miles before lunch! Madness

Hence why I was up at 5am on a Sunday morning preparing to leave the house @ 0600.

Setting off wearing new cycling shoes is not a good idea on a long ride. I really should have broken them in & checked the cleat position in advance!

0600 was 1 minute after sunrise & a great time to be out cycling. The roads were empty. The air so still and calm and fresh. Perfect cycling conditions except the earliness of the hour.

Riding through Essex & Suffolk to Norfolk should be a flat ride? Well I rode using my sat nav as guidance and for the first 15 or so miles every road seemed to have the word hill in it! I had ridden most of these hills before, but they seemed harder than I remember. Clearly I was less fit than I thought. Either that or the rear brake was rubbing on the wheel because I hadn’t checked it. Guess which option was the correct one.

It was a glorious ride through the Essex lanes, being so early there was little traffic on the roads. I used to often go out with Tom, my son at this sort of time when he was little. It’s great to ride without the traffic to worry about. The only problem was that as it was just after sunrise, the sun was very low in the sky. As I was heading in an east/ north-east direction I was riding into the sun. At times it was impossible to see in front of me and it was a chilling reminder of how easily it would be for a motorist to fail to see me.

My plan was to ride about 20- 25 miles and stop for a cuppa and then do another 20-25 miles and stop again. Plodding along at the speed I do, being overtaken by tortoises, it would mean a stop every couple of hours. That sounds like a sensible idea? Well, it would be if I had started at a sensible time. How many cafe’s are open at 0800 on a Sunday morning? Answer is none I passed.

I knew there was a cafe in Halstead open from 0900, but as I got into Halstead my GPS told me there was a “big” hill on leaving Halstead. I didn’t fancy doing a hill immediately after a cafe stop, so I rode through Halstead without stopping. The “big” hill? well, it was a small incline. I had the graph on my GPS set up to make the hills look steeper than they were! D’oh – I’ll learn from my mistake. I missed a cafe stop.

So, no cafe open, it meant keep plodding on until i found a cafe. Well, I did find one in Sudbury after about 55 miles. I was due to meet my father and another there. It was now just after 10am. I checked my phone and there was a message from my father saying they had only just set off to ride the 25 miles to meet me. So I decided to carry on and meet them further up the road.

I rode onto Lavenham which is a pretty little town/ village with lots of expensive tea rooms. Still there was one there with lots of cyclists in. That must be the cheapest one. A couple of texts to my father and they came to Lavenham to join me. This stop after some 62 miles was my first food / drink of the day. I don’t recommend riding on empty. It’s the 2nd time I’ve done it in just over a month – its not big and its not clever.

From Lavenham we deviated off my planned route and went the route suggested by our local guide. It meant we did an extra 5 or so miles, but all on wonderfully quiet country lanes.

Finally arriving in Walsham le Willows after some 86+ miles. Tired but ready for the cold beer my host had ready. It is only around 36 years since I was in Walsham le Willows – not much has changed!

After a light lunch my godfather took up all down the local pub for a couple of welcome beers. I think it was brave of him as I had no other clothes so had to go to the pub in my cycling kit – not a pleasant sight. After this, we returned to his house for a great bbq before I had to dash off to get my train back to London.

Yes, I took the easy route home. 86 miles is enough for one day.

The train home was interesting. Firstly a 2 carriage train from Bury St Edmunds to Cambridge. For some reason they thought it necessary to tell passengers that at one of the intermediate stations the could only alight from the front 2 carriages! I’d be more impressed if anyone tried to alight from any other carriage.

Then on the train from Cambridge to London, the blonde female who was using the toilet was rather embarrassed when she realised that she had not locked the door and someone opened it giving the whole carriage a view of her on the loo. Sadly, I was too slow with my camera.

Eventually I ended up home at around 11pm, shattered but happy. It was worth the ride to spend some time with my parents. If they won’t come to me, I’ll have to stalk them. I think they thought they were far enough from London to be safe from me!- That’ll teach them.

Bring Back The Recession– Its a Life Saver

One of the good things to come out of the economic crash in 2007 was the almost overnight disappearance of the boy racer and other associated crap drivers.

Suddenly people did not have the money to waste on fuel to speed from the traffic lights to the traffic jam 30 yards up the road. The boy racers no longer raced up and down the residential roads where I live.

Even the rush hour traffic was lighter as people either had no jobs to go to or saved money by using public transport, walking or even cycling to work.

Life as a cyclist was good. Those who remained on the road tended to be those for whom driving was important and who valued their licence.

Sadly over the last 12 months there has been an increase in the number of boy racers, drivers racing from the lights, people driving badly in clapped out bangers (and other vehicles). Cars racing up and down the streets etc.

Forget all the highly paid economists and the economic data gathering, just cycle around and you can gauge the state of the economy by the volume and type of traffic on the roads.

As if to prove this, I have been knocked off my bike twice in the past week by other traffic. And add to this the road rage from a motorist who couldn’t drive at high speed to the traffic queue 30 yards ahead because I was in front of him.

It has been a long time since I have felt as unsafe whilst cycling as I have in the last few weeks.

It started a couple of weeks ago as I approached the queue of traffic on Bow Flyover. The approach to this is a 2 lane road where the left lane is a filter lane to the roundabout below and the right hand lane is to the flyover. The traffic was queuing on the flyover some 30 yards ahead. I was in the right hand lane as I was going over the flyover. When behind me I hear the revving of a car engine and the blaring of a horn as Mr Toad wanted to speed to the back of the queue. As he passed me he shouted lots of abuse and insisted I should be in the left hand lane as I am apparently not allowed in the right hand lane.

The idiot did not realise that 30 yards ahead he would be stationary in the traffic queue and we could discuss the matter in detail. So, I opened the near side door of his car and had a “chat” with him. He was telling me that I am not allowed in the right hand lane on the road and if I was there he would run me down. This by the way was an Asian male in his 50’s, not a young boy racer.

After this threat, I decided the best thing to do was to delay him whilst I left the scene. So I removed his nice iPhone from the passenger seat of his car, and road off leaving his passenger door open. As I had no intention of stealing his phone, I left it at the road side as I rode off. (It seems I was mistaken in thinking the phone would bounce as I let go of it- my mistake).

I did invite him to discuss the matter with me at Bow Police Station as I rode off, but he did not join me there. I watched as he drove past me outside the police station shouting threats at me, not about his phone but about being in the right hand lane. Clearly he has enough money to waste fuel by trying to accelerate from traffic lights to traffic queue.

Then last week, I was a mile from home when a car decided to overtake me and turn across my path, knocking me to the ground and then proceeded to drive off. Fortunately I had anticipated the manoeuvre and had hit the brakes and so was not badly hurt. The reaction of the driver? was to try to drive away from the scene. Fortunately, I was able to remount and chase her as she tried to drive into a residential street. Her escape was blocked by a car coming the other way.

When I caught up with the car, I told her in no uncertain terms to get out of her car. She seemed shocked and got out of the car and started saying words to the effect of “I’m sorry officer, I never realised you were a police officer” and other such phrases. I realised that she had seen my UK POLICE UNITY TOUR cycling top and clearly thought I was a police officer. I decided not to say that I was a police officer, nor did I say I was not a police officer. I pointed out to her the offences she had committed and the penalties for such offences. She seemed rather shocked to learn that dangerous driving carries imprisonment as did her leaving the scene of the accident. She was also a little bit shocked to be told the matter was being recorded on my helmet camera and that the footage could be used in any proceedings taken against her.

Then yesterday on Upper Thames Street in London, a private hire driver decided he would just urn into the cycle lane ( marked with solid white line, so a compulsory cycle lane) which was also on a red route. So, somewhere where no stopping was allowed and where he was not allowed to be. Apparently it was ok though because he was just dropping off a fare. The fact he caused me to take emergency action to avoid his car was apparently irrelevant as he was dropping off his fare.

Its scary how little appreciation these motorists seem to have for the potential harm they can cause by their impatience, carelessness and downright selfish behaviour. An example of this is highlighted by the story in the newspaper today about the Polish lorry driver in Wales who killed a cyclist whilst taking photographs of cars as he drove his lorry.

It not just motorists, tonight I was knocked off my bike by a female pedestrian who ran across the road and into my bike as I cycled along the Embankment. There was a pedestrian crossing not 20 yards away, but that was clearly too much for miss stupid selfish pedestrian. As I picked myself up, I said what do you think you’re doing. She walked away saying, what is your problem!

Welcome to my world!

 

Incidentally, I do have helmet camera footage of all these incidents, which I have watched back several times to try to identify what I could have done better.

We Rode for Those Who Died

Well, the observant amongst you will have noticed that I didn’t post a blog about Day 2 of the Police Unity Tour 2014. Don’t worry, I did complete it, and also Day 3 as well.

I’m now safely back home and resting tired limbs and still buzzing from a great 3 days.

So, back to the ride. Day 2 started (not so) bright and early as we rolled out of Milton Keynes heading for a day largely spent on the A5 towards Tamworth. Negotiating a series of roundabouts before eventually escaping from Milton Keynes. The one thing missing from the stay in Milton Keynes was seeing those concrete cows! Still I think I can cope with the disappointment.

So we set off up the A5. The weather was a complete contrast from the day before. The baking heat and the sunshine were replaced by heavy skies that threatened rain. The biggest decision for most riders was rain jacket or not. I chose no rain jacket, but was sensible enough to wear my overshoes. If it rained at least I had a fighting change of dryish feet.

The A5 takes us through Pottersbury and the Rudolph Steiner School there. I have visited that place a number of times in the past as my brother attended the school for a time. I have to say they looked after him very well.

Shortly after Pottersbury, we rolled into the pretty little town of Towcester. This signified the first refreshment stop of the day which was at the local police station, with lots of juice, tea and coffee and home made cakes. The station staff had done us proud.

One thing did happen during this stop. The rains started. They were to remain with us most of the morning! Riding in the wet with 70+ other cyclists in a tight group, none of whom has mudguards is a challenge . The spray is difficult to avoid getting in the face.

So after Towcester Police Station we rode along the fast rolling terrain of the A5. Regular layby stops to allow the traffic to pass meant we could also take on board more drinks. Despite the rain it was still very warm today.

We got as far as Rugby services where we stopped for a toilet and refreshment break and to stop long enough for the heaviest rain of the day to catch up with us as we set off again.

Being such a formidable squad of riders, we rode ourselves ahead of the rain, so we stopped to let the rain catch up with us and soak us again. Once the rain had got sufficiently far ahead we set off again to catch it up again.

After 48 miles we reached our lunch stops at the Hinckley Island Hotel. This was a special stop. It is the hotel used by the COPS Charity for their survivors weekend. We had a buffet lunch with the survivors. Hearing their stories and listening to their gratitude to us was very moving. I struggle to understand why those whose loved ones made the ultimate sacrifice are so grateful to me for riding my bike. They are the ones doing something difficult. I am just enjoying myself riding my bike with some great company. To raise funds for COPS is an honour and pleasure.

After lunch it was a short 16 – 17 miles to Tamworth. This was much flatter than the morning sector, but it did have one hill near the end. This brought a sight that to me summed up the ride. We ride 2 by 2, and I was in the third row on the road. In front were 2 female survivors and 2 experienced cyclists. As the ladies strained on the hills, the 2 male riders gently pushed the ladies up the hill with one hand as they rode. A gesture of the Unity this ride is all about. Lee & Rob, take a bow. The footage below is a poor attempt at capturing that display of Unity.

Showing Unity

 

After arriving at the Holiday Inn Express we checked into our hotel. Our room was interesting as it initially had no power at all. no lights, no TV no air conditioning etc. This was worrying as we had to shower quickly and get down to a Chapter meeting and awards ceremony. Fortunately the staff at the hotel were very efficient and fixed the problem.

A couple of swift beers then into the awards ceremony where everyone got a medal and certificate for their achievements. Other awards were made to honour those who went over and beyond the cause of duty.

Then it was time to go back to the bar before heading out to for a curry with a group of us going to the restaurant recommended by one of our riders from last year. It seemed to be not the best decision. For some the service was a cause for complaint, for others it was the food. Me, I just kept drinking – for some reason I got an extra beer each round. It seemed whoever was ordering the beer had got an extra pint, so I wasn’t complaining.

At dinner I got talking to a fellow rider who was originally from the North East. It was fascinating to know we had lots of mutual acquaintances and had been to lots of the same matches. I am certain we must have met at matches in the past. Its a small world, especially when a mutual acquaintance texted me whilst I was talking to the officer!

Back to the hotel and I was going for an early night. Yeah, right… was its about 1:30 when I finally had an empty glass and an empty wallet. So off to bed it was to disrupt my room mates sleep with my snoring and other noises! I really should not drink bitter when sharing a room!

That was Day two finally over.

Day three started before 0600 when my room mate is up and heading for a shower before breakfast. Awake, it was up and down for breakfast after a quick shower, then time to get set for the last day of the Tour. The ride was only supposed to be 10 miles (11+ after a detour – more about that later), but it is a very emotional day, riding into the memorial to be greeted by the crowds of senior police officers and families of survivors and then after the emotionally charged memorial service, it is time to meet the family of the officer I was riding in memory of.

The ride itself today was relatively easy with only one real climb and that was short. However, somehow we went a different route and took in a 1/2 mile climb before realising the ride was going the wrong way and turning back. There was still time for another crash before we got to the memorial. We had a 50 minute wait  before riding into the memorial

The Ride Into The memorial

 

At the end of the ride, we presented a cheque for £40,000 to COPS. Thanks to those who have donated. If you have not already done so, you still have time to donate via my just giving page

After the memorial service, I went to the Northumbria memorial and met Caroline Caroll the widow of Joe Carroll who was killed in 2006 near Corbridge. An accident scene I pass every time I am in the North East. It was lovely to meet Carol and Joe’s sisters, and their partners. It was a sad occasion as well as being uplifting if that is not a contradiction in terms. I was truly honoured to do the ride in his memory. I was incredibly touched when one of Joe’s sister made a very generous donation to the COPS charity. This is incredibly generous and much appreciated if unexpected.

Finally it was time to say hello and goodbye to my parents and brother who had come down to the memorial. Sadly I had to rush to get my train to London. Getting the 13:35 train from Lichfield, I eventually got home at 19:00 after a slow train journey, a wait of well over an hour for the bikes to return to New Scotland Yard and a delayed / diverted train journey home afterwards.

 

I have had a fantastic 3 days with a great bunch raising money for a great charity and having a blast at the same time. 24th July 2015 is when we should be rolling again. I can’t wait!

RIDE STATISTICS

UK Unity Tour 2014 Day 1

UK Unity Tour 2014 Day 2

UK Police Unity Tour 2014 Day 3

So it all begins…thunder, lightning, heroes & incredible heat….oh & some cycling

Incredibly, its 12 months since the last UK Police Unity Tour and today was the first day of the 2ndUK event.
Its somewhat ironic that at the end of the first day of an event to remember the fallen, I received several texts from friends to tell me of the sad death of 2 fellow Newcastle fans yesterday on the Malaysian plane shot down over the Ukraine. RIP John (aka the Undertaker) and Liam.

The event started last night with a pretty ride briefing at New Scotland Yard followed by a quick pint and a chat. I got home and as it was such a nice night and forecast to be warm and dry overnight, I put some washing on the line intending to get it in before I set off for the ride. Big mistake. There were 2 I credible thunderstorms accompanied by heavy rain. These meant I got very little sleep before getting up at 0430. My clothes on the line were wetter than before I had hung them out. A problem for when I get home.

So up at 0430 to start packing my bags for the ride. All packed and I set off at 0600 for the station, forgetting my camera and my sunscreen. Down to the station only to find my train is now running 20 mins late,which is interesting as trains are supposed to run every 10 mins! Panic as I was going to be late. Not a good start for a member of the board!

Eventually I got to NSY where we had a send off ceremony and then wreath laying at the Police Memorial on the Mall. We (75 riders) then set off down The Mall passed Buckingham Palace and up Constitution Hill escorted by the Met Police Mounted section and motorbike outriders.

The first stop of the day was due at the Police Social Club in Bushey. This was only 16 miles into the ride, but was preceded by what was the worst hill last year. Sadly this year the hill seemed steeper and longer. It almost broke me, but those who know me will agree I am stubborn. Nil illegitimae carborundum. I made it to Bushey.

After a quick pitstop we headed of via more hills to St Albans and then to Luton where watched by the family of the deceased officer we laid a rose at the memorial to his death in the High Street.

Off again and we rode to our lunchspot at Sainsbury’s in Biggleswade (after a brief stop and cakes provided by Sainsbury’s in Luton. We reached lunch at 3pm! The going was very slow partly because of the need for liquid refreshment stops as temperatures in the sun were being recorded of 95+Fahrenheit.

We eventually reached Milton Keynes after 6pm tired, dehydrated and suffering hear exhaustion.

Today I have drank well in excess of 10 litres of water and was despite this unable to pass urine whilst at rest stops. Normally I rarely take on board any fluids when riding.

The 85.5 miles ridden were gruelling and it was one of the hardest days riding I have ever done. We rode lots of hills, some very steep. The Sag wagon was full most of the day.

2 bananas and a couple of pieces of cake was not enough fuel for this ride! I will remember to have breakfast tomorrow before our 75 or so miles to Tamworth. We will be having lunch with the survivors on Saturday. This will be a special event for everyone involved.

Then on Sunday I get to meet the widow and sisters of PC Joe Carroll, and present them with the band of honour I am carrying to the National Memorial Arboretum.

Improving Road Safety

Cyclists and road safety is rather topical at the moment. Sadly it has taken the deaths of 6 cyclists in London in 13 days to get many people looking at road safety. Tonight for example, the BBC1’s The One Show had a lengthy feature on cyclists safety. That was probably as a result of the political opportunism of the Labour Party today with its road safety proposals.

Also tonight, there is an article in the London Evening Standard by Mary Creagh, the Labour Shadow Transport Minister.

I have linked to that article and would urge you to read it. There are also cycling proposals by the Mayor of London which I have also linked to.

So, what of these proposals?

Well I have to say that all the proposals in my view start from the wrong point. They all seem to try to treat the symptoms rather than the causes of the problems.

BANNING HGV’s FROM CENTRAL LONDON IN RUSH HOUR

This is a common call from some cyclists but in my view is mistaken and selfish.

Firstly, of the 14 cyclists killed in London this year, I understand that only 2 were killed in accidents involving HGV’s during rush hour. Thus HGV’s in rush hour are not the main cause of cyclists deaths.

Secondly, banning HGVs at rush hour only displaces the problem and makes the roads more dangerous for cyclists outside of rush hour. For example if 240 HGVs use a road per day, this is an average of 10 per hour. If you banned HGVs for say 3 hours at morning rush hour and 3 hours at evening rush hour, then these 240 vehicle movements are now compressed into 18 hours, an average of 13.3  per hour. Thus for any cyclist on the road outside of rush hour, they are having to face 1/3 more vehicles than they would do without the ban.

SEGREGATED CYCLE LANES

There are calls from many people and groups for completely segregated cycle lanes. IN my view these calls are again mistaken and treat the symptoms (badly) not the causes.

The streets of London are too crowded and compact to enable there to be segregated cycle lanes on all routes. If there are segregated cycle lanes, motorists will inevitably object to cyclists using the main carriageway. Cyclists will be familiar with the aggression and hatred shown towards them now by motorists who demand they ride (illegally) on the pavements. Imagine how much worse it will be from those ignorant motorists when they see money being spent on cycling facilities and find cyclists on the road still? So what are cyclists to do when there is no segregated cycle lane going where they want to go to?

There is a recently introduced section of segregated cycle superhighway from Stratford to Bow as part of Cycle Superhighway 2. So what are my problems with this?

Well, firstly, it is not all bad and I do not want you to think I am anti these per se. The problem comes at every junction, because you are segregated from the motor traffic, vehicle drivers do not notice you as you are in a separate lane. Now, imagine if you will what happens at a junction with a motorist wanting to turn left….Yes, you have guessed it, the motorist turns without across the cycle lane without thinking about cyclists coming along the cycle lane. Thus every junction becomes more deadly for cyclists. (This problem could have been reduced by using a raised kerb/ speed bump to separate the cycle lane from the main carriageway at junctions. This would force the motorist to go over a slightly raised kerb and draw attention to the fact they were turning cross a cycle lane.)

On this particular route, there is another issue. The segregated  lane forces cyclists away from the flyover and forces them to use the roundabout. The flyover has seen 0 cyclists killed in the last 13 years. The roundabout has seen 3 cyclists killed in the last 2 years alone.   

Thus the segregated lane is forcing cyclists to take a less safe route.

Then there is the problem that people do not observe the cycle lane. Just look at where this police car parked within days of the segregated route opening. Not only do they park on the cycle lane, but it is also within the zig zag lines of a pedestrian crossing

So, as you can see segregated cycle lanes are not THE answer.

These proposals do not treat the underlying problems, they merely treat the symptoms and in my view actually make matters worse in the long term.

Banning HGVs at rush hour makes the roads more dangerous to cyclists outside of those hours by increasing the number of HGVs on the roads then. We should not be introducing policies that will increase the danger for other road users.

So instead of being negative, what can be done?

Well, firstly I would say that cycling is not in itself inherently that dangerous. We need firstly to put the risk into perspective. Figures can be spun to make cycling seem safer or more dangerous depending how you present those pictures.

I cycle to work in central London most days and am horrified by the standard of cycling I see from some cyclists. To be honest, I am amazed there are not more accidents. Whether it is people swerving across lanes without looking or signalling, riding up the inside of vehicles indicating to turn left or even riding without lights at night.

Many cyclists will object to me saying this, but as cyclists we must take more care for our safety. It does not matter who is to blame in an accident, there is no point in being DEAD right. Similarly, some cyclists ride too fast for the conditions, especially in heavy traffic. It is better to be late in this world than dead early in the next.

One of the issues with the cyclists I am referring to in the 3 paragraphs above is also an issue with other road users, whether, motorists, pedestrian or other. That is to much thinking of only themselves and not thinking about others. Whether it is the motorist trying to force his way past or forcing his way out of a junction because he is in a hurry, or whether it is the pedestrian crossing the road on a red light, or without even looking. This is the same as the cyclists who ride through red lights, up the inside of left turning vehicles etc.

There is a distinct lack of consideration for other road users these days. How do we tackle this?

Well, I would argue that we need to look both long and short term at solutions:

SHORT TERM – we need to prosecute road users for driving/ riding without due consideration for other road users. The legislation is already there and it needs to be enforced. We need to reverse the frankly barmy policies of successive governments of downgrading road traffic offences. There were 1754 people killed on the roads in Great Britain in 2012 a. Compare this to 146 people killed by guns in 2011 in Great Britain ^b. We have very strict gun laws, yet despite roads being the location of more than 10 times as many deaths we treat road traffic offences are minor matters and the Governments are downgrading their seriousness. For example, the Crown Prosecution Service no longer include road traffic offences in their figures of successful and lost cases (fro start of the current business year).

This is not about persecuting motorists, it is about prosecuting properly those road users who use the roads without consideration for others.

I have always thought our US friends were wrong to have laws criminalising jay walking etc. by pedestrians, but having observed the dangerous and selfish behaviour of some pedestrians, I am moving towards the view that we need similar offences here to deal with those selfish few pedestrians.

This would help provide a level framework of consideration being required from all road users.

We should be forcing all HGVs to have proper mirrors that can enable drivers to see cyclists. There are proposals for this, but they are regularly delayed on the grounds of cost. I understand the cost is under £400 per HGV vehicle. A small price to pay to save lives

LONGER TERM – one of the things I have noticed in recent weeks is the behaviour of parents taking their children to school. The number of parents who encourage / drag their children across the road without looking and/or ignoring the red light as pedestrian crossings. What message is this is sending out to children? I would suggest it is sending out the message that all that matters is the individual and that there is no need to think about how your actions affect others.

Similarly, we see the same with motorists. You have all seen the parents that stop to drop their children off at school on pedestrian crossings or the yellow no parking lines outside a school. Again, what message does that send out to children?

We need to ensure that we are sending out the correct message to future adults

This is not just a problem limited to road users. It happens on public transport. indeed the behaviour at rush hour on public transport is incredible. You regularly see people trying to force their way onto trains/ tubes before those on board have been able to alight. Not only is it bad manners, but it is stupid as they are trying to force their way onto packed trains without allowing people off the train, thus making the trains less packed.

Too often we make excuses for bad behaviour. We repeatedly talk about our “rights”, without a thought to how the exercising of those “rights” affect others.

We need to educate society at large that for every action there is an effect.

Spare a thought how your actions affect others, no matter what you are doing

 

a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reported_Road_Casualties_Great_Britain

b http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-kingdom

Cycle Super Highways or Parking for Lazy Police Officers?

This week marks Road Safety Week. It is sadly rather aptly timed this year coming after 2 week when 6 cyclists were killed on London’s roads and a number of other cyclists killed around the country.

Road Safety Week is an initiative launched by BRAKE who state on their website

Road Safety Week is a UK-wide event organised annually by Brake, the road safety charity. It’s a community involvement event that involves thousands of schools, employers, emergency services and community groups each year. Brake also uses the Week to launch a national and regional media campaign to promote road safety awareness and safer road use, tied in with that year’s theme.

This week also marked the start of a big operation at various locations across London to promote road safety. Their website has the following self congratulating article

Road safety operation across London

19 November 2013

Over 70 lorries were stopped and checked by MPS Traffic Command officers on Vauxhall Bridge Road, Whitechapel Road and Albert Embankment in a road safety operation today (18 November).

In addition around 100 cyclists were stopped and given safety advice by officers from the MPS Safer Transport Command, where there were concerns about their behaviour – for instance cutting corners and wearing headphones while riding.

“Our message is do everything within your power to be safe on the roads.”

The operation began at 0700hrs and concluded at around 1100hrs. It saw 15 fixed penalty notices totalling £2,300 being issued to lorry drivers for 15 offences, including driving more hours than they are legally permitted to without break and having vehicles that are not fit for the roads. In one instance a lorry stopped on Vauxhall Bridge Road was found to have a dangerously over-inflated tyre that left it unfit to continue its journey.

Cars were also pulled over where necessary and drivers issued with fixed penalty notices for offences such as crossing advanced stop lines illegally, having tyres not fit for the road and having defective brakes.

Cyclists who were stopped were advised of a range of safety measures they can take, such as wearing helmets and high visibility jackets. Bikes must be fitted with white front and red rear lights, and with a red rear reflector.

On Vauxhall Bridge Road, many cyclists were stopped as they attempted to cut across the pavement to enter the busy flow of traffic rather than a designated cycle entry point at traffic lights.

This morning’s operation is part of the MPS’s ongoing efforts to help make all road users safer on the roads, and falls on the first day of national Road Safety Week.

Chief Superintendent Glyn Jones, of the MPS Traffic Command, said: “We held this operation in busy areas where lots of cyclists and lorries share the roads during rush hour. This is a combination which has the potential to result in collisions if road users don’t take adequate care. Our objective today was to raise people’s awareness of the safety measures and to check that lorries and their drivers were fit to be on the roads.

“While today’s operation focussed on cyclists and lorry drivers, our overall message goes to pedestrians and other drivers too. Our message is do everything within your power to be safe on the roads.

“We are not looking to blame one particular road user; we are here to urge everyone on the road to take the very best of care for the sake of themselves and others.”

My route too and from work includes a section from Stratford to Aldgate which is known as Cycle Super Highway 2.  The section between Stratford and Bow was only launched 2 or so weeks ago by the Mayor of London. This includes segregated sections to keep cyclists safe from the traffic. (I will come back to this and the police approach to it later).

Now this morning, the weather was cold and damp, but surprisingly the traffic was flowing freely. The non segregated section of Cycle Super Highway between Bow and Aldgate was free of obstructions. At various points along the route their were police officers, mainly at traffic lights mainly for red light jumping cyclists. They would radio ahead to other officers to get them to stop said offenders.

I should say that I support this campaign. The behaviour of some people on bikes is appalling and they not only endanger themselves, but also other road users.

So, given this week is about Road Safety and the Metropolitan Police are running this campaign to promote cyclists safety, I would expect that if a lazy selfish motorist parked his vehicle on a Red Route (no stopping allowed) which is also part of the cycle superhighway.

Well seemingly although all are equal, some are more equal than others and can get away with this. (The footage shows a forward facing view from head cam – right half of screen, and rear facing footage – left half of screen).

The officer was part of the team aiming to improve road safety. I’m not sure how parking illegally and blocking the cycle superhighway forcing cyclists out into the middle of the traffic is going to improve road safety. Remember this is the same police force who are stopping cyclists and telling them to wear hi viz clothing ( no legal requirement to wear this by the way), to improve their road safety. A bigger improvement to road safety would be to stop forcing cyclists to swerve out of the cycle super highway into the path of motorised traffic.

When I got to work today, I was telling people about this stupid/ selfish act by a police officer and thought I might be able to make a blog post about it.

As I rode home tonight, it got even worse. After Bow, when riding on the segregated bit of the cycle superhighway, I saw the following in a gap in the segregated bit to allow pedestrians to cross at the Greenway junction. (Apologise for the poor quality footage, but it was dark.)

Yes, that’s right  not only is the police car parked on the cycle superhighway, it is also parked within the zigzag lines of the pelican crossing. You will also note the road itself is exceptionally busy as this is at rush hour.

The selfish and illegal parking by the police officer forces cyclists to swerve around the car into the path of the traffic. Thus having to perform a dangerous manoeuvre to get round this awful piece of car abandoning.

Interestingly as I was taking the above pictures, the 2 police officers wandered back up the street, in no seeming hurry to move tier dangerously parked car. They approached me and tried to justify their illegal parking by saying they were investigating a call about people misbehaving. No seeming emergency, and there was no sign of anything happening.

The reality of the matter is the officers could not be bothered to park in a safe place a little further away and walk to the area. They were justifying their dangerous parking on the basis it made their job easier. Strangely if you justify your dangerous parking when questioned by the police, by saying it makes your tasks more convenient, the police don’t accept that as a good excuse.

Given :

1. the cycle superhighway extension opened 2 weeks ago and
2. is designed to promote cycling by improving cyclist safety by keeping cyclists and traffic separated
3. this is Road Safety Week
4. the Metropolitan Police are running a road safety campaign this week

You may question what sort of lesson this is giving to the public. If members of the public took the view that the blue paint on the road is an appropriate place to park, then that would not be surprising.

Metropolitan Police Road Safety Campaign? They’re having a laugh at the expense of the public.

For the benefit of any police officers who read this, the blue paint on the road denotes it is a cycle superhighway, it is not a blue line to indicate police parking spaces.