Cycling is great but it's true versatility is getting around where its convenient to do so.Lifelong cyclist that I am, I have never been up to much as a distance cyclist. Or going up hills. But for local trips it's fine as long as I'm not carrying much weight on board. I just do not have the joints and muscular strength for such. Like athletics my other forte as a youth, I could never manage short fast sprints but could run 10,000m cross country easily in any lousy weather. Not so easily in hot weather.The irony is not lost on me that what I could do running is the opposite of what I could do on my bike. I could sprint 800m on it but could never do 10,000m effortlessly even on the flat.!Now my joints from such activity from the age of 10 are getting rather prematurely shot. My balance and movement on the bike is still very good but distance, terrain and stamina is becoming a struggle and turning up sweaty and red faced and taking longer to recover, is frankly, not a very good professional image.ILike sport, there's 'horses for courses' and to assume Cycling is a one size fits all means is a mentality purveyed and influenced by fools.To my mind the whole Cycling improvement thing is back to front and inside out with the really useful improvements which would be cheap yet far more effective ( but far less visible and showboat for those with vested interests ) having not happened. Sorting out road potholes and ruts, poor surfaces and bad signage and detritus rotted slime on side streets and above all, no tight reign on proficiency of riders is a serious deficiency.The insane and really poor standards of design and build of cycle routes which seem to have been designed on a beta Sinclair ZX Spectrum with version 0.01 CAD underlines it all. What road vehicle on any amount of wheels, zig- zags at sharp angles? Who came up with sharp edged kerbstones above pedal heights of smaller bikes? They had that right even in the 1920s. Drainage running across routes with no fall, no leaf clearance factored in and two way riding at close proximity with many riders not able to ride on the correct side and 2 abreast.E-Bikes passing both sides at well over 30 MPH, Scooters whizzing past. No use of bells and far too often, no lights.All this has been allowed to happen and quite frankly has made the worst enemy of Cyclists...... cyclists.It was fun and easy with basics being learned and tested and has kept me safe and in good stead but now the unpredictable is not the motorist. Without etiquette of riders themselves its not fun or all that safe at all now.
Raymond Havelock ● 320d