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?!

I love cycling off road, but am another one who finds the roads just too scary.

I did a little road cycling when we lived in a large town, although I never felt totally safe and knew quite a few people who'd been knocked off their bikes at one time or another. It was a cheap and sometimes enjoyable way to travel though and, if we lived somewhere similar I'd try it again.

Now we live rurally and there is no way I'd risk most of the country lanes around here. DH wants to cycle to work (18 miles) and although I'd love to save money by dropping to one car, I have been trying to dissuade him. Particularly in the autumn/winter when it's dark or the sun is low in the sky.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine, child trailers are dangerous because:

1). The children inside normally have no helmets on.
2). There is no protection from the back and sides and most of these trailers look like a home made job to me with plastic covers on the sides.
3). Most of them have no straps to lock in the children. (Not that it makes any difference because they're dangerous with or without them.
4). Parents can't see what's happening behind them because almost all cyclists have no side view mirrors attached to their handlebars.
5). (Quite unlikely but...) there is still a chance the trailer could become unattached from the bike. I wouldn't risk it with my children in there.

A bike trailer for children does have a roll bar and straps for the children. Also they are very stable, dh has crashed his bike when pulling our trailer but the trailer stayed upright.

When you are cycling you are quite aware if what is going on around you as you are not surrounded by a great big metal box.

I ride on the road because I enjoy it and it really isn't wise to go 20mph+ on the pavement with pedestrians using it. Roads don't have to be dangerous for cyclists if all road users are sensible. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that but I read an article recently that says mile for mile it is more dangerous to be a pedestrian and that you are not much more likely to have an accident on a bike than in a car.

We often take the kids out on bikes with our youngest in a trailer. However we tend to stick to quiet roads or off road completely. If you want to do this I have found lots of family cycle routes on our council website. Also if we have the kids people don't seem to mind sharing the path with us.

Where else are you supposed to cycle? Here in London they have made a laughable nod to the idea of cycle lanes; a twenty yard stretch at best which suddenly ends for no logical reason depositing you abruptly in the middle of traffic, and then there are the countless half wits who actually park their bloody cars in the middle, forcing cyclists out into the road unneccessarily.
It's actually safer just staying on the road in the first place.

I have used both a bike seat and a trailer. I prefer the trailer as if the bike was to fall the trailer stays upright. It's also easier to keep balanced when towing. The trailers are very sturdy and have safety features in place to prevent them becoming detached from the bike. My child is strapped in and wears a helmet. I am also able to ride and regularly turn round to check my child. If you are driving a car and can't see me on a bike or my orange trailer with flag then you should not be on the road. However we are well aware of how stupid car drivers can be so we tend to stick to off road with the child trailer.

Well I had an accident on my bike on way to work on Tuesday, I fractured my elbow as I'd gone over my handlebars and landed on an outstretched arm. A group of pedestrians just stepped out into the road from behind a parked people carrier at the same split second I was passing and apparently hadn't seen me at all and I ploughed straight into them (obvs I didn't see them either until the crash). I like to think I must have managed to stop my bike sufficiently as no-one bar me was hurt, but that was luck rather than anything.

It's not going to stop me cycling when my arm's better though, although I wish such a thing as an all over airbag existed for when you come off your bike as frankly I could do without this.

I live in London and public transport is cheaper than most places but it's still a lot more expensive than cycling and it's no quicker. With the tube strikes due next week I know that I'm going to be pissed off that I can't just get on my bike. And I enjoy it (when I'm not plumeting through the air and then hitting tarmac). I've been cycling for 12 years in London and this is the first time pedestrians have stepped out at me in this way, although I have been knocked off by someone opening their door on me as I went past (this was over 10 years ago). So basically yes it is dangerous but I think the gains outweigh the dangers (I may change my mind as I get older)

As the death of Mark Shand has proved this week - it's perfectly possible to fall over and kill yourself while just walking on a pavement...

AlpacaLypse - Speed limits only apply to motor vehicles. A bike is a vehicle, but not a motor vehicle.

I regularly cycle past the Police speed camera van at 38mph when all the cars are trundling along at 29mph.

Alpacalypse

"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."

Surely you always check your mirrors properly before moving out for whatever reason, like you always check your mirrors before turning.

If you have seen him in the mirror, you should also have seen at what speed he was going and if it was safe to pull out on him.

You should check your mirrors all the time anyway, so you've an idea of who or what is around, or before you open your car door on something before looking. Probably if you'd ever been a cyclist or motorcyclist you would have done this automatically as you become more aware of other people on the road apart from 4 wheeled things, and how dangerous sudden movements into the middle of the road are for non-car users (please don't ever do a bloody U turn without looking)

And I doubt very much he was going 50mph!!!!!!!! That takes some doing.

AlpacaLypse that sounds incredible. Are you sure you were doing 30mph? Car manufacturers deliberately build in an overreading of 3-4mph in some cars, and if there were parked cars, you might have been hesitating and going slower than this?

I say this because there is a closed round near me with a good surface and no cars on a long, steep hill. In the safest conditions, with my road bike, aero bars and aero helmet, I have never managed to briefly go faster than 38mph. The wind resistance, even if it starts off behind you, slows you down.

Has anyone managed faster? Am I just unusually slow down hills when I think I am fast?

I cycle for several reasons:

I don’t have a car. I can’t afford taxis and the bus takes ages. Cycling is free, fast and gets me door to door.

I enjoy it – it’s good exercise, I keep myself healthy, my weight steady and my mood good.

Lots of my friends cycle. Sometimes we ride together to a pub for dinner. It’s sociable and fun

People are not made to drive. They are made to get around using their legs, hearts and lungs. If more people cycled short distances rather than drove there’d be a greater critical mass, safety in numbers and the roads would in turn become safer.

So you don't like biking. Fine.

I don't really understand why you're so incredulous that other people do.

I hate people riding their bikes in the road, especially A roads where there is a cycle path that they can use. It is clearly marked and the blue circle sign on each lamp post. But no, some people choose to cycle down the road at rush hour so everyone has to drive a 10Mph for the full 4 miles of the road as you cannot overtake due to high volume of traffic.
Would be fine if they were no allowed to use the pavement but they are.

Scottish cyclists! If you'd like to see better provision for cycling, come along to Pedal on Parliament tomorrow (sat 26th April) at noon. Meet at the meadows for a family friendly cycle to the Scottish parliament.

Wantsunshine - that post of yours is sooo riddled with misunderstandings and inauthenticities it's note worthy.

Where else are you supposed to cycle? Here in London they have made a laughable nod to the idea of cycle lanes; a twenty yard stretch at best which suddenly ends for no logical reason depositing you abruptly in the middle of traffic, and then there are the countless half wits who actually park their bloody cars in the middle, forcing cyclists out into the road unneccessarily.
It's actually safer just staying on the road in the first place.

indeed. sometimes taking the whole lane is the best option.

it is laughable. I hate it when cycle lanes just end. there usually isn't even a sign.

hello
for some reason bold isn't working for me.

ooooh, it is. don't get what's up!

I think bold (or any highlighting) works only within a paragraph/line. I think a hard carriage return (tells you my age) breaks the code.