To not get why anyone would want to cycle on roads?

[superstarheartbreaker]

It's so dangerous. I find it even weirder when people take their kids on bikes on the road.
Tbh I don't really get the cycling thing full stop. Ok I know it's great exercise better for the environment etc which I am all for but I have been mountain biking and it is a pita when you get to a style and have to lug the whole damn thing over it.
I feel like I am missing out though when I see families go off cycling together. I'm thinking maybe I should get a bike and go on a path with dd as she loves it. As I have no garage I have no idea where to store the thing! Am I missing out? Really?!

Try being stuck behind an old man on a duel carriage way on Easter Sunday!!

Could not believe my eyes when I realised what the hold up was AND he flicked us the V when we went past

Um, because cycling on pavements is illegal?

And no, I haven't read the whole thread. As someone who uses cycling as the major mode of transport for myself and my DC (we don't own a car), I am quite surprised that anyone would need to ask such an ignorant question.

My city is very cycling-friendly though.

Many people have to cycle on the roads to get to work.

As many of the pensioners said on the OAP bus pass thread, they expect younger people that are priced out of busses to cycle hours a day to work. Of course roads were safer 50 years ago and people traveled shorter distances to work, so this argument is flawed.

I cycle in inner city London every day.

The only accident I had was just me falling off. I'm very sensible, use good road positioning and don't undertake buses.

I also had this Cycle Confident training which is free for many London boroughs and well worth it.

It makes me thinner, it soaks up excess adrenaline which means I am less anxious, it's lots of fun (genuinely) and I always know how long it will take me to get to work in the mornings. It's also pretty much free and is better for the environment and my own equilibrium than sitting on a farty, steamed-up bus full of mouth-breathers.

I got completely mauled on a thread once for suggesting that it might be helpful for cyclists on a busy fairly narrow road near me to use to perfectly suitable designated separate cycle path. It was quite astonishing. One basis for complaint from some of the cyclists responding was that they prefer to go faster than the speed limit on the cycle path, despite the fact that by cycling on the road instead, they were preventing queues of traffic from even reaching the speed limit.

On the subject of paths alongside busy roads, they can sometimes be quite difficult to identify if you're not familiar with the area. Often there's just a small sign on a post 8ft up marking it as a shared use footpath, and if you miss that, there's no way to tell that it's not just a normal pavement, and cycling on it could get you fined.

Sometimes I've been cycling in unfamiliar areas and not seen or been able to get to the bike path as it's so poorly signposted and the planners haven't put in dropped kerbs. Then half the time you'll get someone shouting at you that it's a pavement even when you can use it, so you can't win. After all, do you really want fast cyclists on a pavement with buggies and kids and old people? What we really need is a good continuous network of cycle paths like they have in Holland, rather than the substandard rubbish we have here. That would benefit everyone - drivers, cyclists and walkers - and there would be much less conflict because everyone would have their own space.

to get from A to B.

cycling on the pavement (unless designated a cycleway) is illegal.

do let me know if this is too complex.

Its just something you need to get used to OP. If you are keen, you could try with a very quiet road first. I was encouraged to cycle and be out and about active on my own from a young age. I see people driving to the local off road cycle path near me and tootling along for a mile or so then back and I must admit it seems pointless to me (at least they are taking exercise though), especially as the surface of the cycle path is deeper and more effort to pedal through.

What we really need is a good continuous network of cycle paths like they have in Holland, rather than the substandard rubbish we have here

Yep. Better road design in general, e.g. boxing of dangerous junctions for cars too rather than just painting a few silly lines. Whats going on here, why don't they just get it sorted out?

And oh goodness yes it does make you thinner too *trainerandaches. I find it absolutely failsafe that if I cycle a reasonably strenuous 40 minutes a day ie preferably with a longish hill in it, or do one long (e.g. 4 hours) cycle ride a week, I don't have to worry at all about what I eat. And I'm meaning fairly high chocolate and cupcake consumption. Its infallible.

I cycle for fitness on local country lanes. I avoid the busier roads & would never cycle into town or try to commute on the bike. A lot of keeping safe is to do with cycling confidently & maintaining a dominant position in your lane, giving clear signals etc. Of course a cyclist is vulnerable whatever, but you can take steps to reduce your vulnerability.

Ok I know it's great exercise better for the environment etc which I am all for but I have been mountain biking and it is a pita when you get to a style and have to lug the whole damn thing over it.
I feel like I am missing out though when I see families go off cycling together. I'm thinking maybe I should get a bike and go on a path with dd as she loves it.

Um. it sounds like you do get it. Those are some reasons why people cycle.

A few more reasons. Transport isn't cheap. In London, you can't really drive to work if you work in Zone 1. Cycling is by far the fastest way to work for me.

Yeah, it's a bit harrowing. But as for street vs pavement, the street is safer. People are ready and looking for fast moving vehicles on the street, but not the pavement.

Cycling is great, but like all exercise is hard work at first. You need a decent bike (probably a hybrid to start with) with nice well-pumped up tyres (amazing how many folk drag along on flat tyres), and no suspension or bouncy bits, a decent saddle to start with, and to persevere with it. Yes, hills are hard at first (and later on too) but it's great for pootling about.

Don't be scared of getting a road bike too with the clipped in foot thingies (blokes love to put women off these) - I'm not in a club or anything, and don't go out in a group (my friends say I cycle like a granny) but I still feel great whizzing along in the sun (and stopping for a beer tea and cake)

Haggis - I live in the flatlands so never really had to go up a hill. There's the odd railway bridge I have to go over and that's bad enough. I'm off to the Peak District in June for a cycling holiday and am dreading the hills.

I do think though that its true that if you perservere you get "bent" legs. When I first got mine I struggled to do 7 miles on it, though I could happily do 35 on an upright. I can go 25 miles no problem now and am building up.

Viva - my dh seeks out hills on his 2 wheeler road bike (and has lost 3 stone since November through cycling / diet) - I don't think there's any way I could keep up with him on a recumbent - but they are so comfy (and fast!) on the flat! Good luck with your cycling holiday.

I live in London where cycling is the cheapest, fastest and most fun way of getting to work and back. I also go out into the Kent countryside at the weekends for 50 miles or so of wind in my hair, joyous exercise.

Some people choose to exercise in gyms, under artificial light and surrounded by other sweaty people. That's really weird.

You are v right on the cleats Kaizen - there seems to be a huge amount of testosterone around cycling, and all the stories about how you fall off loads when first wearing cleats. DH bought me some and showed me how you adjust the grip so they are easy to undo. No probs

Loads of road cyclists round here, and since dh and I started cycling for fitness people have been v friendly. The road race team all shout encouragement at ds(7) when we are out together and ds is struggling up a hill.

Why are child trailers dangerous?

I got back on my bike last year as a way of getting to work. We could afford another car (DH drives to work) but I don't really want one. Congestion is terrible in my city, and it's a pita to find parking for a car, much easier to find space to lock up a bike.

I ride on the roads because as other have said it's illegal to ride on pavements. I ride on cycle paths where they exist too.

I've never experienced joy when driving/riding the bus to work, I have on the bike...

Oh, and I have great legs

Dear cyclists, please remember road speed limits apply to you too.

I got a horrible surprise the other day, going downhill I was virtuously at the thirty limit when a lycra clad Bradley Wiggins wannabee shot past me. He'd clearly picked up speed coming down the long hill. I was about to move out to avoid some parked cars, the gap between seeing a flash of high speed fluorescent yellow in the mirror and the man being beside me was far too short for me to have avoided him if he'd been only a few feet further along the road.

I estimate he was pulling away from me at not less than 20 miles extra per hour, and if I was caught doing that in a thirty limit I'd be getting points on my licence.

Oh and those of you who haven't got bells, please fit them, and those who have, please use them. Especially on motor-traffic free paths where you can see someone walking a dog off the lead up ahead. I will be very happy to put my dog on the lead so you can pass safely, but I can't stop her from barking at you and chasing you if the first we know of you is when you shoot past us.

Rant over, as you were!

Mmmm, I actually don't think speed limits do apply.

It's not the law to have a speedo fitted on your bike so how could you be done for speeding when you have no way of telling how fast you're going?

I really don't get why anyone would want to exercise inside rather than outside but each to their own. Maybe I should start a thread about how I just can't understand gyms, what with all the electricity they use, all the extra congestion from cars going there, all the money they cost etc?

People cycle on roads in the same way as they pay for goods in shops, and refrain from taking a dump on the pavement. Because it's what you are supposed to do.

I agree OP. Personally I cycle 15 feet above the road.