The Bugle | Blast 297

Friday 18th August 2017
 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
 

BICYCLIST OF THE WEEK

Is it the man or the goat? Or would you prefer two sheep? Watch some crazy videos of what some cyclists manage to carry precariously here: http://road.cc/content/news/221169-videos-13-weirdest-things-carried-bikes

 

BICYCLE OF THE WEEK

Not quite. It is turbo trainer of the week. A friend of Pete S has looking for a good home for it.  Cycleops Mag+ trainer, currently on sale at Evans for £139. One owner, only done a few hours, spending the rest of the time unused in a garage. 

£25 to Whiz Kids charity and it's yours! (Bike not included).

BIKES ARE LETHAL

You may or may not be following the trial this week of cyclist Charlie Alliston. In February 2016 Charlie (then 18) is alleged to have hit and killed 44 year old Kim Briggs on Old Street, London.

Cyclists killing pedestrians is a very rare event. Less than one per year in the UK but that is not why this incident is notable. What took me and many cyclists aback was that Charlie was riding at 18 mph (pretty fast for a busy London Street) on a track bike. A bike with the front brake removed. That is the only braking is through the pedals to the rear wheel.

And as we all know rear wheel braking is only marginally better than no braking at all. In emergency it will skid and you won't be in control.

And he says the pedestrian was to blame. Both at the scene and later online. 

The facts are disputed in court. The prosecution alleges she was crossing with a green light. He says he wouldn't have had time to brake if he had one and he had shouted out warnings twice. (Two shouts seems a lot of time to start braking?)

The point I would make is that we expect vehicles to have a duty of care towards us as vulnerable cyclists and we get pretty mad when they don't. If you believe in the hierarchy of the road then cyclists have a duty of care towards pedestrians. Just because someone steps out in the road without looking with a mobile doesn't surely exonerate us from blame if we don't try and avoid or mitigate a collision and are equipped to do so. 

Brakes are pretty fundamental to that. If your front brakes fail - do you bowl along at full speed or do you pick your way gingerly around hazards? Charlie said he didn't know that not having a front brake on the road was illegal. Yet he was a professional courier. And do you need a policeman to tell you its dangerous?

The bottom line is to remember  when we are bowling along at 20 mph we are on a potentially lethal weapon. We get angry when car drivers forget. Nor should we.

This is the latest report (as of Thursday): https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/17/charlie-alliston-london-cyclist-front-brake-collision-kim-briggs-old-bailey

This is the alleged Planet-X track bike:

RECENT RIDE REPORTS

Sunday Ride 13th August: Tom takes us South past Sevenoaks to Knole Park, Deery me: https://anerleybc.org/sunday-ride-13th-august-2017/

Tuesday Ride 15th August: Des does a history lesson on Crockham Hill. The Anerley wasn't the first to Bugle across the Weald of Kent for cake: https://anerleybc.org/tuesday-ridel-15th-august-2017/

UPCOMING RIDES

Saturday Ride 19th August: Pete S is unavailable. No ride unless someone steps in. 

Sunday Ride 20th August: 09:00 Shurguard/501 Brighton Road: Tom V leads to High Beeches, Handcross and returning via The Plough, Dormansland

Tuesday Ride 22nd August: Hoping to go to Bites Café which is a fairly long ride, circa 50 miles? The café is in a woodland setting at Ockham, but as the seating is outside we do need good weather!
If the weather is not suited to this location I will have to come up with another tea stop better suited (location and distance), to the prevailing conditions. So perhaps the Tuesday riders could be advised to look out for any updating  emails if circumstances should dictate a change of plan.
P.S If members want to know more about Bites in the woods see: https://anerleybc.org/tuesday-ride-16-august-2016/
'A' Ride [12mph] 09:30 Shurguard/501 Brighton Road: Tom V 
'B' Ride [10mph] 10:00 Shurguard/501 Brighton Road: Des D

Thursday Ride: 24th August: 09:30 Shurguard/501 Brighton Road: Mark H leads  to the anchor at Yalding again its a 40 mile ride there, and 40 miles back so about 5 plus hours of riding,nearly 80 miles.planing on getting to the pub at 12.30 leaving at 1.30 and getting back in Purley for 4.30pm.

CAKE 

More cake here: https://www.instagram.com/bakedbybecks/

 

FINALLY - LIDL CYCLING ACCESSORIES WEEK!

https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/Non-Food-Offers.htm?id=311&week=1



Happy Cycling!