Road cycling in UK

How many here are road cyclists? Question I have is about close passes etc. I live in a quiet rural/coastal area but I'd say I get a dangerous close pass at least once a week, often more. I'd hate to ride in a busy city, some of the clips on Youtube are mental.
Anyway, these days I record all my rides on a Gopro fixed to bike and any dangerous driving etc I send in to Operation Snap. Out of around 20 clips I've sent in only one was deemed no action(I've only been recording rides last few months).
It doesn't prevent some moron killing me but a bit of justice quite nice and maybe in time motorists wil finally get message to be careful around vunerable road users.
For clarity, I also drive a car so see both sides and yes there are morons on bikes as well but they are usually a danger to themselves.

A thread all to myself, excellent.

Anyway, planned to get out for 60+miles this morning but far too hot. Hit 29C by 10:00 on one climb!
Did 36miles and glad to be home again.

Another hot one and the usual homicidal motorists.

After a couple of days of much needed rain for my garden, a lovely day so headed out to climb some local hills.
Most enjoyable especially as listening to TMS on the ear phones.
Can't beat it.

Just back after a week in Mallorca doing some bucket list rides, Cap de Formentor, Sa Calobra etc. Simply awesome!

Apologies-have just spotted this thread.....I do a training ride twice a week-averaging 30 to 40KM in the winter, then increase from Spring and also do a few sportives in my area (Surrey Hills)-I like long ones-166KM/100mls-and as hilly as possible! When I worked I regularly (av. 3/4 days a week) did a 16KM each way ride on dangerous roads in south London; having retired three years ago the training days are the main activity, though I'm on a bike most days-don't drive much.

I've also done 17 Etapes since 2004, a Marmotte and a Maratona. I LIKE mountains, am less effective churning out a big gear on long flats.

Agree with your comments about motorists. In my experience it's the cars that will get you-they are so careless, and can get quite aggressive even when they are in the wrong. "Professional" drivers in lorries, vans are usually OK, unless you do something silly like going up the inside when they're turning left. COURTESY IS IMPORTANT, EYE CONTACT, THANK-YOUS and SMILING! I had a fairly charmed life until a car driver got me in February this year-he slowed at Give Way lines on a big roundabout, then drove out into my left side as I was going round. Result-3+ fractured ribs, damaged shoulder, bruised hip, left side of face inc. eye black 'n' blue, head injury...I was incapacitated for 2 months, couldn't drive, needed help to get in/out of bed....but was back on my garage exercise bike after 2 weeks and back on the road by May, did two big sportives in May and the Etape in July. Still have shoulder ache/pain, but was very lucky (was on an old bike, just gone out for 20 minutes, no helmet!).

Have a Claims co, acting for me-have had CT and MRI scans, X-rays, two consultations-doubt it'll be settled before year end-these things drag on and on. Am claiming for a replacement bike-minimal cost-the other party are lucky I wasn't on one of my Colnagos-no idea what I'm going to get for the injuries, or the total amount, but it's "free money" so to speak.

Be safe (but they will "get" you at some point)!

Finally someone else actually rides! During TdF a lot post on threads there so I assumed must be cyclists but seems not.

Same as you I like hills/mountains, well I say like it's a case of needs must given it's not flat where I live and ride.

As for the cars, yep it's not good. As I mentioned previously I live in a quiet area yet I get a close pass on average once a week at least.
I tend to ride 3 times a week, only use turbo if I absolutely cannot get outside due to horrendous weather.
I'm definitely courteous to drivers who respect me and my safety, shame so many are not.

I do ride but it's difficult this time of year. Cycle my daughter to school but otherwise the nights are to dark and weekends don't offer a lot of opportunity what with sports clubs and kids parties.

Managed a Gravel X sportive in March (amidst the snow and mud), a back injury put paid to the hope of a summer sportive but I did manage one in September in the Cotswolds with a friend who was doing his first. Great day out.

I prefer the terrain rolling as opposed to outright hilly as I weigh in closer to 90kg than 80kg. Looking forward to a few more sportives next year.

Drivers are a nightmare but generally seem to be better than they used to be. Vans are lethal round here as they always seem to be in a rush. Thankfully only been taken off the bike once coming home from work and it was the front wheel take out by a distracted driver with the backpack and helmet saving me.

Regarding close passes etc, get a camera and record your rides and submit any dangerous incidents to Operation Snap. All police areas have a link for it, just google Operation Snap.

Over last 12months riding on average 3 times a week I submit at least 1 clip a week and out of around 40(yes really) submitted all but 2 were acted on by the police. This is a quiet rural/coastal area which is nuts really but goes to show the issue with drivers is still there.

I had work colleagues who wore cameras, but I've always resisted going that route. One chap I well recall was always getting into scraps with motorists-every time I met him parking our bikes at the works' racks he recounted the latest incident. I always suspected that he went out almost looking for "aggro" (he was a rather aggressive fellow).

I'm not suggesting that present company fall into that category!

I have GoPro mounted on bike so it's not on my helmet etc (which apart from being top heavy looks really bad I think). Most of close passes I've experienced the car has passed me and gone so no opportunity to confront driver even if I wanted to. There have been occasions when I've caught up with car due to traffic lights etc but it's far better to resist temptation to call out driver as that can lead to a potentially violent incident. I've certainly been known to swear at driver as they go past and gesticulate shall we say! That's hard to resist sometimes.
Far better to just record it and submit clip to Op Snap.

There's no question there are d*ckheads who ride bikes, we've all seen them, jumping red lights, riding on pavements, weaving dangerously through busy traffic cutting up cars etc. It's human nature, there will always be idiots using every kind of transport. The difference is if I cycle like a clown I'm more likely to injury/kill myself whereas a bad driver likely to kill someone else.

Yes-in essence, we are so vulnerable that if we thought too much about it we'd never leave home!

Azabache wrote:Yes-in essence, we are so vulnerable that if we thought too much about it we'd never leave home!

If you spent your life worrying like that you'd never do anything.

The positive impact of exercise on your mental and physical health hugely outweighs the minor risks associated with leaving the house.

I definitely need to enter some sort of event for next year to motivate training through this cold winter though.

"UK Cycling Events" advertised their 2024 sportives back in October-there used to be much more choice, but I think the Covid years put the kibosh on many organisations. There are, however, many local ones run by clubs, charities....

There's talk amongst some of the people I work with of doing a Triathlon in May. Gravel X have got a couple of fun looking rides out of Bakewell in mid June which might be nice, I did one of theirs in March this year which was a good event though the weather was less than favourable (snow all week), I'd like to have a go with something warmer.

Just need a long sportive around the Midlands sometime as well.

I do a couple of sportives a year which are fun but mostly I ride on own or with club on Saturdays. Motivation has rarely been an issue for me with regards getting out and doing sport, even in crappy weather. Decades of surfing through British winters has made sure of that! Biggest issue though is on a road bike with skinny tyres in winter on pot holed, wet, leaf strewn roads can be dodgy let alone the homicidal drivers.

As it happens today is looking half decent weather wise so I'm planning on a ride, no great shakes probably 25-30miles with a few climbs thrown in.

Anyway, shortest day in a couple weeks then only a few months until spring! Ha, have to stay positive.  

It was so vile here in Surrey I again just did an hour on the garage exercise bike-most spent in highest setting to simulate climbing.

Ventured out on old "hack" bike after to get a mag. from the shops-half mile each way-nearly went over on a cambered corner covered with wet leaves!

I'm definitely a fair weather cyclist though, if it's raining I'll only do a club ride otherwise an hour on turbo will suffice. I got out yesterday and did 25miles, lovely sunny afternoon although roads wet and flooded in places. Needless to say I carried bike over where those people are walking, I didn't risk riding through that!

Ditto. I also have a rule now (since retirement and those 20 years riding to and from work in sometimes near zero temperatures) not to go out when it's under 8 degrees C. It's just not worth it-your extremities never warm up, the further you go the colder you get, and there's little benefit health/fitness-wise. It's very rare in this country for these nasty weather snaps to last more than a few days, a couple of weeks at the very worst; if you're fit-and I'm assuming that all contributors here are-you can quickly get back to peak again...

I will go out in the cold, last week I went out couple times and it was around 2C which was pretty chilly but was dry and sunny so was fine. Tuesday(day of photo) it was 6C so comparatively mild. These days I suffer badly with hands and feet so I make sure those are warm enough otherwise I suffer big time. I did a ride last winter and gloves weren't up to it and I was in so much pain it was grim.
If it's icy I won't go, not worth risk. I also don't go if raining unless it's Saturday social ride with club.

I actually got out on a training run last Saturday-first time for about 3 weeks-due to either heavy rain or other commitments whenever I had a free spot. Did just under 40 (hilly) KM-was dry but roads were filthy and I was very careful going down some known dicey descents.

Tuesday we were back with downpours-back on the exercise bike for an hour! Wednesday was dry and I did 17KM each way to Croydon on my "hack" bike on vile urban roads (my old work commute route); at least it was mild.

This seems to be the pattern so far this winter....

I did regular club social ride last Saturday and weather was atrocious! Mega windy and very wet.
Today though much better, still windy but dry and even roads were dry. Only issue was rubbing front brake which repeated fettling didn't sort. I'll need to give it a good service and once over.

I got out today (Sat.)-quite mild down here but a very strong W. wind meant you still needed some winter gear, and lower ratios than normal on key sections! Just under 40KM, mostly hilly inc. three climbs exceeding 3KM with ramps over 8%-nothing compared to the Continental ones but what else can one do? The average speed of 20.3KM/hour was nothing special but acceptable for this season and a base to build on for later on...

I have always used miles and feet rather than KMs. I know cyclists tradtionally use kms but for me it's always imperial measurements.

Yesterdays ride was 27miles and 2800feet of climbing so a hilly one. Where I live (Pembs) it's v hilly although not many long climbs but a lot of short steep stuff, in the 15%+ range.

For me I think any ride where I gain 1000ft per 10 miles is hilly. I'm sure those who regularly cycle alps, etc might dffer but 1000ft/10miles is good enough for me.

I have used KMs for years ever since I started doing Continental sportives; my two bike computers are set up for KMs.

However, I transfer my stats after each training ride onto an Excel spreadsheet (am on the 87th sheet!) and have columns for miles' equivalents. The formula is x 0.621-e.g. 40KM x 0.621 = 24.84 miles.

Years ago I was told that "all" one had to do to achieve a Gold on Etapes etc. was to exceed 24KM/hr.-i.e. 14.9 miles/hr. Ha, ha-challenging enough on a typical long UK sportive, but on an Etape of typically 160+ KMs with climbs like the Tourmalet of 18+ KM @ nearly 8% av. gradient (with horrible ramps much steeper)? All hacks like us can hope for is to get round ahead of the Broom Wagon.

I've always used miles. Don't know why. I suspect that when I first set up my Garmin it asked for height and weight and I knew that in imperial but not metric and it just continued from there.

Actually managed to get out for a spin this morning. I'm in Charnwood so the hills tend to be rolling. Nothing particularly long but you can find some steep stuff if you want, tends to be short and sharp. I took it pretty easy though.

I managed to get out for a quick 20 miles yesterday, amazingly dry roads and no wind. Bit different today! Could be turbo for next week or so looking at forecast.

Was going to ride down to Worthing on Boxing Day (45 miles e/w.) to see my brother as originally no family cars available, but fortunately I was able to drive it-just as well as doing that trip on the A24 would have been hairy. Today (27th) of course the weather was foul so back on the garage exercise bike for an hour 15 mins.

This winter pattern prevails!

Broke my Retirement rule of not going out when it's below 8 degreesC. Despite having four layers the N. wind cut through to my chest on descents. Feet and hands were bearable, but I decided to shorten my intended ride today and did instead 30KM (19 miles), albeit testing in the Surrey Hills.

Quite a surprising number of riders about; I guess everyone is fed up with this long spell of wet weather and desperate to get out.

(The roads were absolutely foul of course, with many sections of surface completely covered with compressed leaves and other matter-will be fun when the frost arrives!)

I did my regular club social ride yesterday, nice day and dry although as with you roads pretty crappy. Not too cold around 6C and light wind here.
Forecast for coming week in looking good finally, dry and bright so hopefully get a few rides in.

I think I'm being given a message to take up another hobby. 4 punctures in 2 weeks! In fairness 3 were last week in Mallorca and I think it was dodgy front wheel on hire bike(once changed was fine) but had another yesterday riding own bike at home.

Might be time to check to see if wife has taken out life insurance on me and is aiming to cash in....

mountain man wrote:I think I'm being given a message to take up another hobby. 4 punctures in 2 weeks! In fairness 3 were last week in Mallorca and I think it was dodgy front wheel on hire bike(once changed was fine) but had another yesterday riding own bike at home.

Might be time to check to see if wife has taken out life insurance on me and is aiming to cash in....

Time to go tubeless?

Maybe, I'd always thought not worth the faff on the road. For a gravel bike possibly. It's thought of trying to put a tube in if the puncture doesn't self seal or if a "worm" doesn't do job. Horrendous mess and tricky to boot. I've seen it.

In fairness, it's years since I last had a puncture so maybe just unlucky recently. I think the 3 in a row I had in Mallorca must have been due to a dodgy wheel as all on front and no damage to tyre. I was lucky with first one as I was decending a steep twisty road and a front puncture was a twitchy moment or two!

Yeah puncture on the down hill is less than comfortable.

I switched to tubeless on the road a few years back. It's slightly more comfortable and I haven't had a puncture since. Well one that I've noticed. I never really got many with tubes either to be fair. It's slightly more comfortable. It's supposed to be quicker as well but me at 90kgs aren't the one to demonstrate that.

Got out on the open roads for the first time in ages tonight. The turbo training really hasn't been a good substitute. Hopefully with some better weather and lighter nights I'll get some of the fitness back.

The Murphy/B*ggeration/Sod's Law is that once you've had one (usually after a long trouble-free period) you'll get three.....The most bizarre puncture I had many moons ago was when a stone flipped onto the rear wheel, got carried round and jammed against the plastic mudguard, the wheel jammed, a skid resulted, the mudguard shattered and a shard went right through the side wall just at the join of the Kevlar tread! This all took just a few seconds.

I had a flat last week on my "hack" bike-fortunately found at home-I was really pleased that it wouldn't take a pump-up so a tube change was necessary; that tyre used to need a slight pump-up every week-I'd taken the tube out once and done a water bucket test without finding the problem; on changing it I discovered a slight tear at the valve base-I guess it had suddenly got worse-maybe caused by hitting one of the awful potholes we're all familiar with.

I've never tried tubeless, so can't comment. I tried that green "gunk" once-a messy nightmare-never again! My conclusion for what it's worth is to buy the best tyres you can afford -my current main bike won't take my favoured Continental Grand Prix, so the shop recommended Vittoria Rubino Pros-I haven't had a puncture in a year with over 2,500 kms on that bike. Famous last words of course!

Important to keep 'em at near max. recommended pressures (to avoid impact "snake bite" punctures).

A slight side rub against a fork/stay can cause a hot spot that can explode on a long descent.

One other mention (bitter experience again)-remember to check your rim tapes if you mysteriously hit problems; I had a run of punctures some years ago-almost every other day-at my wits' end I eventually discovered a slightly misaligned tape that was causing punctures on that side of the tube. Happy days!

It was odd as one I had other day was a snake bite, two parallel slits butI'd checked pressure before ride so unless valve gave out etc I don't know why it was caused. Tyre is new and Continental GP5000 which I've always found to be good.

Rim tape good call but it's fine as new wheels and I checked. That was the issue I had last spate of punctures which was several years ago on my old wheels. New tape sorted that.

As for pressure, I use the silca site :
https://silca.cc/pages/pro-tire-pressure-calculator

It's surprising how low the recommended pressure is. It's the one GCN recommend I think.

Anyway, I'm planning a ride today so I'll see what happens!

Yeah I've had bad experiences with those inner tubes with the gunk in before as well. Seemed to puncture easily and then just fill the tire with the gunk making a change messy.

That pressure guide is interesting. I actually run my tires slightly lower than they recommend without issue since going tubeless. I've hit some potholes as well but thankfully the setup has held up well so far.

Interesting Silca guide-after entering all the required info. it came up with 7bar/100PSI which is what I always maintain at.

Some years ago on an Etape trip a fellow Brit swore that around 90PSI was OK for him, and he'd reduce pressure to 70/75 if it were rainy. I wouldn't do that personally.

Azabache wrote:Interesting Silca guide-after entering all the required info. it came up with 7bar/100PSI which is what I always maintain at.

Some years ago on an Etape trip a fellow Brit swore that around 90PSI was OK for him, and he'd reduce pressure to 70/75 if it were rainy. I wouldn't do that personally.

100psi! What size tyres and total weight do you have for it to come out with such a high figure?

I went out yesterday and had repaired tube and put back onto front wheel. That tube I'd previously repaired so now has 2 patches but did a lumpy 36mile ride and all good. It's tempting to bin a punctured tube but if I can I repair and re-use. I'll always carry a brand new tube with me and pack of instant patches in case of multiple punctures during a ride.

100psi is high. I'm just 80psi. Prefer a tiny bit of give to smooth out the roads.

I did a very quick guesstimate-assumed 15KG for my Colnago C60, 25mm tyres,allowed 60KG for yours truly.

But I've always ridden at around 100PSI/7BAR even on my hack bike. I remember advice from an old rider years ago-"you want the flints to ping off the tyres..."!