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Soggy bottoms*

by Leviathan
Mon, Nov 04, 2013 18:16
10

So perhaps a bit off topic, I noticed that October was really wet. And although it has taken a turn to the cold the rain hasn't stopped

Philip Eden, who pops upon Radio5Live occasionally to review the months weather has these stats:
http://www.climate-uk.com/page2.html
147.8mm rain for Eng/Wales compared to average 103.4mm typical, also temperature anomalies for the whole British Isles between +0.4 and +1.4C.

I would really love to cycle down the gutter (David Millar style) but it isn't exactly paved well and covered in leaf mulch and giant puddles. I wonder when was the last time I saw a road sweeper van? The underside of my bike resembles a grow bag, it isn't just regular mud, it is the finest freshly ground leaf litter. Cars just displace the leaves leaving a slippy, potholed, network of hidden bumps and mini fords. Instead I cycle about 2m from the roadside when I can. Oh yeah and the parked cars in the cycle lane (yes you Upper Chorlton Road) don't help either.

Perhaps some dry cool weather or paying the people I though we paid anyway to clean the side of the road might help.

*Bake Off reference, cake and cycling work well together 4 Moan over.

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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10 comments

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Al__S | 11 years ago
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I'd rather people were paid a living wage to keep roads clear than use borderline slave labour...

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ajmarshal1 replied to Al__S | 11 years ago
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Al__S wrote:

I'd rather people were paid a living wage to keep roads clear than use borderline slave labour...

I wouldn't, capitalism keeps me in nice bikes.

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jollygoodvelo replied to ajmarshal1 | 11 years ago
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ajmarshal1 wrote:
Al__S wrote:

I'd rather people were paid a living wage to keep roads clear than use borderline slave labour...

I wouldn't, capitalism keeps me in nice bikes.

I have sympathy for the less-able and the unemployed, don't get me wrong.

But as someone once said, in order to have a functioning democracy it is necessary for someone to sweep the streets.

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jollygoodvelo | 11 years ago
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Seeing as the government are going to be making people on Jobseekers' do some work in exchange for it soon, perhaps there will be an increase in street sweeping?

Yeah, I know, cloud cuckoo land.

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Leviathan | 11 years ago
0 likes

Right, it isn't a bike lane if it has cars parked in it let alone some leaves. The whole 'Victorian infrastructure' argument is so worn out. It doesn't take 110 years to build some parking spaces or paint some new lines on the road.

As usual here the solution is always n+1 bikes, no wonder people with n-1 parking spaces park on the street.

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Bedfordshire Clanger replied to Leviathan | 11 years ago
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bikeboy76 wrote:

Right, it isn't a bike lane if it has cars parked in it let alone some leaves. The whole 'Victorian infrastructure' argument is so worn out. It doesn't take 110 years to build some parking spaces or paint some new lines on the road.

As usual here the solution is always n+1 bikes, no wonder people with n-1 parking spaces park on the street.

What's wrong with n+1, may I ask? And when are you buying that Canyon?

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Leviathan replied to Bedfordshire Clanger | 11 years ago
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Bedfordshire Clanger wrote:

What's wrong with n+1, may I ask? And when are you buying that Canyon?

Ooh, ooh you [pointy finger] taunting me with my own aspirations. When will I buy it? When I have the money which could be almost never. This is the problem with N+1 solutions, they are so easy to suggest and involve spending someone else's money and not solving the actual problem. Every one have a bike they want.
Even with the Canyon, my current bike would still be the winter bike; doesn't move the leave puddles or cars.

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Argos74 | 11 years ago
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bikeboy76 wrote:

(yes you Upper Chorlton Road)

Found 14 of the buggers on Upper Lloyd Street the other week. One more idiot and you'd have a rugby team. And if I see many more in the cycle lane outside the Christie on Palatine Road, I'm setting up a cigarette concession stand in the car park.

We need a tank. With some kind of raiseable road sweeper thing at the front.

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sm | 11 years ago
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Aye, my anecdotal evidence says its been pretty dry down here in the south. In 2012 I seemed to be permanently cycling in the rain. Much better this year. My answer? Buy a winter bike and stick some big tyres on it. Amazing how little you notice debris on the road after such a move!

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Al__S | 11 years ago
0 likes

Move to Cambridge. We get less rain here. If you don't like rain, Manchester is hardly ideal? 21

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