Tour de France inspires Britons to get on their bikes, says Sustrans

Shay - such anger.
Don't forget I cycle too, when I've got time to do it.
I think it's entirely reasonable for people to get upset when they are held up for no good reason. When I'm on my bike I'm always pulling over to let people pass. Walkers are in general very polite and very good at letting vehicles pass. I guess I'm asking for people to show a bit more consideration. What if the person you're delaying has a timetable to keep - a District Nurse for example? Or if it's someone who really shouldn't be delayed, like a midwife? How can you tell? - you can't. Probably better to just be a bit less pedantic about who should be doing what on the roads.
As far as the tractor incident goes, he was pulling a muck spreader which is a big machine designed to err... Spread muck. If you'd ever watched one in action ( entertainment being a bit sparse in'T Dales) you'd realise that they do a pretty fair job but they are a tad indiscriminate. Ok you shouldn't have muck on your indicators but if you had to shift 20-30 loads in a morning I think you might not check your lights etc between each load. I could see the indicator flashing and the cars that sounded their horns could clearly tell what was going on. Also I'm pretty sure that The Highway Code says something about not overtaking at road junctions.
As for tired and bored I agree that nobody should operate machinery of any sort if they're not up to it for whatever reason. I meant tired of doing the same thing over and over (you must have had jobs like that?) you've just got to get on and do it if you want to keep your job.
If you know you've got to get a load of work done in a given time it is quite understandable that you get frustrated when people slow you down. By the way caravans are far more annoying than cyclists.
So I guess what I'm saying is please come to this lovely part of the world, enjoy the place that we're lucky enough to live in, breath in lots of fresh air (not too close to the muck spreader) and have a great time spending your money in our pubs, shops and tea rooms. While you are enjoying yourselves please don't forget that it's not an ideal world where all rules are followed scrupulously, some of the locals may be in a hurry for whatever reason. And a bit of give and take doesn't cost anything.

So one one hand we have the Tour de France making people wanting to get on their bikes and on the other, we have infrastructure that physically forces them to get off their bikes in order to navigate the obstacles/gates/blockages/narrowings that Sustrans themselves have built and put in place on their paths.

Just about sums it all up really.

It was fantastic to see the TDF in Yorkshire, and see the positive effect it has had on promoting both cycling and Yorkshire.
However... As someone who lives right in the middle of TDF central I'd like to share some less positive aspects.
For weeks before and after the TDF this area has experienced a large influx of cyclist of varying degrees of competence. Most are absolutely fine, riding safely and considerately. As always there are is a small minority who let the side down. The Dales are not a playground, they are a working environment and the people who live here have to get to work, get to the shops, run errands etc and it's easy for them to get annoyed when they are forced to travel behind a cyclist ascending a long steep hill (We have lots of these) at snails pace.
A mere two days after the tour came through, we had the Great Yorkshire Show. 3 More days of road closures, diversions and delays and frustrated people.
I have freinds who run businesses, shops and a restaraunt. In spite of the local council telling us how much money the tour was going to bring to the area, all of my freinds found it had a negative effect on their businesses (the resteraunteur's takings were down more that 50% over the TDF weekend).
Lastly the TDF is now over and the roads are no longer closed. Days after the tour I saw a cyclist overtake a tractor towing a muck spreader (the tractor not the cyclist ) as the tractor turned right (that being the reason the driver had slowed right down). The indicators on a tractor are high up and often covered in muck, and the driver should have been checking his mirrors etc etc anyhow he didn't and it was the few cars who could see this disaster unfolding and sounded their horns that prevented something really nasty from happening. The cyclist seemed completely oblivious and sailed serenely through the middle of the junction without appearing to even notice.
A day or so later I was driving a 4x4 up a very steep almost single track road, for work, and I met a cyclist, head down and clearly "going for it" coming down the hill in the middle of the road. I stopped with no problem ( good brakes and tyres plus I had gravity helping). I don't know how he didn't hit me head on, locked back wheel etc. That was pretty shocking but what shocked me more was the torrent of abuse that I got.
Ok so get to the point - when we're out having fun and exercise don't forget it's a working landscape populated by often tired, bored frustrated people with jobs to do.
Take care be safe.

Despite being mad keen for cycle sport in general and the Tour in particular, I'm afraid that I don't rate it much for positive effects on creating more cycling as a form of TRANsport, rather than sport.

Not only is there little in the way of evidence to support this idea, there are things about cycle sport which put people off from everyday cycling.

See here http://rdrf.org.uk/2014/07/04/will-the-tour-de-france-be-good-for-cyclin... and here http://rdrf.org.uk/2014/07/11/will-the-tour-de-france-be-good-for-cyclin...

Tour de France inspires Britons to get on their bikes, says Sustrans

I'd be more impressed if it had inspired LAs and the DfT to build more and better infrastructure for cycling on...

Not unlike when I used to play tennis. The courts were deserted from March through to June, but come Wimbledon you couldn't get to them for the Volvos parked outside. And then, come mid-August...

I will wait to see it, but I shan't be surprised if they drift away bit by bit, or - like some car drivers I know, who still manage not to arrive at work even when I have cycled through snowdrifts - with the first hint of bad weather they get off the bike and find another method of transport.

Its the can't make it to work thing that tells me car drivers are all namby pambys and bike riders are built of sterner stuff.

This feels like one of those bogus beauty or cat food product surveys.

It does feel like there are more people getting about on bikes. Only a very few are using them as transport though.

Most seem to be strapping bikes to to roofracks so they could be ridden at the local park on a Sunday.

More people though cycling full stop is good, as it makes cycling slightly less of an out-group. I have noticed more consideration from drivers over the last few weeks. Fewer close passes, more letting me across junctions and crossing points. But I suspect more of that is down to the barrage of news and TV programmes about driving which is making more people think.

It'll all be crap when the dark nights come again

Yebbut come first week in October when it's cold, wet and windy they will all have given up. Ha-ha.

So, this was a survey of 500 people, online, conducted on Friday. I can't see any mention of it in terms of an invitation which makes me wonder how they selected their respondents. I also can't find any raw response data.

But then, why bother looking for it? These are meaningless figures. They tell us nothing: there's no analysis, just a summary of two presumably multiple-choice questions.

At best, they tell us that 30% of whoever these people are think that the stuff that Sustrans has been influencing the design of for decades, is the very stuff that is preventing them from cycling.

Perhaps that should be the takeaway message.