Conference noted::bicycle

I thought about taking a bike over when I worked for a few months in Brussels,
but I decided it wasn't worth it. One, I was there in winter, and two, they
have trams. Tramlines scare me. You could hardly imagine a better method for
dumping an unwary cyclist in the road.

That said, I was surprised how few cyclists I saw. Whenever I returned to
Reading it seemed full of cyclists. No-one has ever called Reading a
cyclists' paradise!


Rod

>That said, I was surprised how few cyclists I saw. Whenever I returned to
>Reading it seemed full of cyclists. No-one has ever called Reading a
>cyclists' paradise!
    
    Even I have taken up cycling (since June). Each day I commute 11-12
    miles through Reading's overcrowded roads, battling for survival
    against earth work tippers, skip lorries, buses and brain-dead drivers.
    Despite all that, I actually quite enjoy the trip.
    
    Richard.

>> Tramlines scare me
    
    They scare me too. And cobblestones don't inspire a lot of confidence
    either.
    
    I used to commute with a racing bike, but that was conveniently stolen
    so now I use a mountain bike - much safer and more comfortable. But now
    I have no chance dragging off those silly little scooters that abound
    around here.
    
    I'm interested to know what other commuting cyclists wear when it's wet.
    
    
    Phil

Hi Richard! You've got to fight fire with fire, or to put it another way,
you've got to be a brain-dead cyclist to cope with brain-dead drivers...
But I used to enjoy my commute too, despite occasional angry moments.


Rod

    Hi Rod, I think really ought to buy that crash hat my Mum keeps going
    on about. There is a school of thought that says that if you look
    silly , motorists will notice you and make a sincere effort to avoid
    you.
    
    Richard.

    
    Richard,
    
    Isn't that called the sympathy factor?
    
    Graham.
    

    Hello,                                                         
    
    I am a Dutch student who is working for Digital in Valbonne (France)
    for five months. I took my racing bike with me, since I wanted to 
    continue training. Besides I also use my bike to go to work.
    
    Before I got here, I thought that there would be many people going to
    work on their bikes at the Cote d'azur. France does have a reputation
    of being a cyclist nation. Just as in Brussels however, all the Digital
    bosses, clerks (and other car addicts) etc. jump in their BMW's to go to
    work. The road to my work is thus full of cars. 
    
    The roads here at the Cote d'azur are realy bad (as a Dutchman I am
    spoiled with cycling paths), there are lots of flints, holes and other tyre
    unfriendly objects. I always pray that nothing will happen to my bike.
    
    Just this morning however, disaster has struck! A lunatic French
    car driver forced me into the gutter. Just at this point of the gutter,
    some French road workers had decided not to close a hole in the road (Why 
    should they,  no car will ever drive near the right side of the road).
    Result: rear weal is now useless.
    
    Fortunately there are also some positive points about cycling at the 
    Cote d'azur. The mountains just north of the coast are a real cyclist's
    paradise. You therefore see many cyclists in the weekends just north of
    where I live.
    
    Wout

re .7
Be careful about generalisations.  Do you mean "a lunatic driving a French car"?
There are as many non-French living here as real French.  Most real French are
more careful to keep away from cyclists, especially ones looking like
enthusiasts, firstly because they respect them and their commitment and secondly
because they know the car driver is always held to be wrong (at first anyway).

That being said, the person most likely to be driving with no respect for anyone
else is a harassed French woman trying to get her kids to school, her husband's
petit dejeuner, make her herself look chic, and also prove she is not a mere
woman at the wheel, - all at the same time.

The closest shave I had in 3 years while out on the bike was from a bloody fool
English tourist ........of course he could also have been a "lunatic French
driver" temporarily back here from UK. 

Re .8

I have only been here one month, but the driving style of the French (here I
mean the native French, not the fake, imported French) already seems a bit
agressive to me (understatement). The only way to take part as a cyclist is
to be agressive yourself. Driving into Antibes or Cannes is completely
different than cycling in Holland (even though I live in a large city).

By the way IDEFIX::HEMMINGS, you seem like a local one. Do you know a good
shop where I can buy 'French road proof' wheels? I am not looking for very
expensive ones, on these roads even the best wheels will last only one season
I guess (??). 

Wout

     

I'm still not convinced you can tell they are French by looking at their cars,
but never mind it's a rat-hole anyway.....

I'm 78 kg and ride 32 spoke CD4's with Michelin Hi-lite 20 & 22 mm - they don't
cause problems generally but I guess you need to consider a rebuild when they
get flats in them.  I ride mainly on the roads around Pont du Loup, Tourettes,
Vence and Gattieres with excursions into the back country as far as Entrevaux
and I don't find the roads too bad.  Mind you, perhaps you should try "Les Trois
Thermes"........

Anyway I go mostly to Fusberti's in Antibes - Antipolis Cycles, Bd Dugommier and
get on very well with them.  If you go to Nice, then La Roue Libre and Urago
seem to have good names but I have no experience of them.

    I would say the French are agressive, the best description that I heard
    was from a friend:
    
    ``If they are overtaking a bike, they will force the oncoming traffic
      into a ditch rather than cut you too close.''
    
    I have noted that this is regional tho some areas being better than
    others.
    
    
    As for the surfaces, well my current wheels which had survived a season 
    in France survived about 4 weeks in England (sic, although scotland
    hasn't been much better).  But I'll not re-open than debate.... :-)

    Wout, unfortunately you've gotta face the facts, when you're used to
    riding in Holland, every other country is going to seem bad. 
    
    In Australia, where I come from, the general standard of driving is
    quite good but as a cyclist you're treated like a moving target. In
    Brussels the driving is generally abysmal, but as a cyclist I'm treated
    very well. Perhaps it's the same as France, if somebody flattens me then
    the onus is on them to prove I was in the wrong, or perhaps they think 
    I'm the next Eddy Merckx (ha! ha!).
    
    But unfortunately you're never going to get it as good as you do in
    Holland.

    
    While agreeing with the others' (Robin's, Rod's, et al.) comments
    on French driving, and of course admitting that Holland is one of
    the nicest places for a bicyclist, remember that you are in a coastal
    resort tourist region - a bad combination anywhere on the earth.
    
    Cannes and Nice should not be taken as the sanest examples of
    road-life in France.  When I sojourned there (in Sophia-Antipolis,
    residing in Antibes), I went through Nice or Cannes, etc., only
    on my way into the mountains, as Robin suggests and as you've
    pointed out, or up to L'Esterel or the Grande Corniche...
    
    Bonne route ...
    -john

    
    	Some folk don't know that they're born. There's Wout with all
    that sun, sea and sand and he's the nerve to complain about the
    drivers. :*)
    
    Graham.