Journalism and Cycling 2: the difficult second album

Cycling every road in your 5km radius (Melbourne)

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/54626043

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

6 cars completely on the footpaths outside my house now that are double yellow lined. I can't figure out how they get there without driving on the footpaths though, maybe someone airlifts them in while I'm asleep.

Entitlement, pure and simple. That's how they get there.

I've knocked in to neighbours who, short on space in their own driveway apparently think it's fine to park their tanks sticking out the end of the driveway right across the footpath, forcing kids, parents with buggys etc out on the road. When I've asked, they have moved it but they look at me like i'm some sort of crank - and they carry on doing it.

On a related note, when I hear the charges of entitlement being levelled at cyclists, usually in the form of "they think they own the road" type comments, it really boils my p**s.

Why? Because if you insist on putting cyclists and motorists into groups, there's only one of those groups whose "members" you consistently hear claiming greater entitlement over the road than the other group, usually in the form of road tax BS, and it's not the two wheeled one.

buffalo wrote: »

Is this real? :eek:

NamelessPhil wrote: »

In the leafy suburbs of South Dublin, my biggest enemy to filling in the map will be gated communities.

Anyway, I'm a middle-aged female and my invisibility is an asset at this stage.

Have you tried high-vis : )

https://wandrer.earth/dashboard

This might help. It keeps a record of all the unique miles you've cycled

mollser wrote:

Cul de sacs everywhere so constantly going up dead ends, very frustrating!

Really shows a planning deficit... Sure why would someone walk/cycle 20m to an adjoining estate/busstop etc when they can drive a 1km loop to get there instead...

haha, been working on this myself for the past while. I call it colouring....except I do it running..

I've completed every road in my 2km, and only have a small bit left on the 5km radius. But the problem now is I need to run 10km (5 there and back) just to colour even a metre of new road.

The cul de sacs are annoying alright, especially pushing a buggy. The attached gives an idea of what a finished area looks like. :-)

In other news, article in the IT today about the bollards around Fitzwilliam Square:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/dublin-residents-seek-removal-of-distasteful-cycle-bollards-1.4388601

my "favourite" quote:

These plastic bollards are visual pollutants and are creating a racetrack for cyclists and should be removed.

inappropriate in the city’s premier Georgian conservation area

Unlike ye olde Georgian autocarraiges

magicbastarder wrote: »

i keep hearing complaints about the visual impact of wands. people who are happy to have the streets cluttered with parked cars sure don't like wands as an alternative.

It astounds me sometimes just how selective people can be in their convictions.

Like those that don't bat an eyelid about hundreds of kms of heavy duty motorway grade road being laid through nature, but as soon as a light-scale path project mentions the word "cycling" somehow suddenly they're uber-environmentalists.

Weepsie wrote: »

Fitzwilliam street is a glorified car park. The whole area is. Any suggestion that they are visual pollutants while there are a couple of hundred cars semi permanently parked there should be thrown right into the bin.

The road is in absolute rag order too from the constant works being done in the area and the many, many trucks

Reminds me of a real "back in your box, peasant" moment I had cycling there one morning on my old commute.

I was cycling my €250 Decathlon bike along from Leeson st towards Merrion sq and a purple Porsche 911 GT3 RS (about €250k) pulls up alongside so I start admiring it as I was peddling alongside, just as I was staring it hits a gigantic pothole full of water and soaks me from head to toe. Genuine mistake by the driver but yea, never felt poorer!

s1ippy wrote: »

My favourite is the bit about residents having difficulty accessing their cars?? Just how immobile are they?

“Mr Burns said he felt having to access his car “in the middle of the road instead of from the footpath” was inherently unsafe.”

i.e.

“I don’t feel safe out on the road. Make those bicycle people go out there instead.”

Breezer wrote: »

“Mr Burns said he felt having to access his car “in the middle of the road instead of from the footpath” was inherently unsafe.”

i.e.

“I don’t feel safe out on the road. Make those bicycle people go out there instead.”