Middlewood St Update - WTF?

This is what Salford's flagship cycle route, featured on many TfGM leaflets, looks like today...



If proof were needed that Salford Council and it's contractors couldn't give a shit about cycling, then this is it!



Sot armadillos, these pieces of recycled plastic have served their purpose (which was to avoid putting in good quality cycle infrastructure). Now that lie has been accepted by the DfT Salford Council have allowed a developer to wipe out this cycle route without any care for cycling safety.



The priority here is not cycle safety - that was last year.



Now it is all about handing over road space and pavements to developers who couldn't care less.



After all if the occasional person gets killed by an HGV or tipper truck then that is presumably an acceptable price to pay?



Who gives a shit anymore round here?

Do council officers believe that we can all cycle through trees?

You come across many weird and idiotic belief systems in this world, but some of the weirdest things are believed by council officers who install the UK's cycle routes.

Here is the 1990's classic pavement cycle route on Coronation Road in Bristol that made me realise that the old Avon Cycle Project Team were not quite of this planet and believed that we "cyclists" could magically ride our bikes straight through trees.




This was taken back in 2001.

Bristol Traffic has a more recent update on it's progress... and a video




Of course if you cycle in the UK you will know that council officers believe we can cycle through other objects as well.

This is the road sign which Croydon Council thought we could cycle through. It inspired my Crap Cycle Lanes of Croydon blog and got me onto page 3 of the local newspaper.



And here is another version of the same mad belief system, this time from the officers of Trafford council.



and another from a Manchester Council officer...



Another common belief is that people who ride bikes are quite slim. Very slim in fact. One Salford council officer seems to believe that we are only 20cm wide, but then this may just be a bad joke...



If you are a fan of the weird and wonderful things that council officers believe cyclists can do then I recommend following Warrington Cycle Campaign's Cycle Facility of the Month and other blogs like this one.

You never know when such bonkers beliefs may turn into the next big religion and some people might start believing something really dangerous like silly little pieces of plastic can protect us against articulated lorries!

Horrifying Halloween Critical Mass

With an epic thunderstorm and torrential rain at around five o'clock, everyone was beginning to worry that the Halloween Critical Mass would be a washout. However, the pedal powered party people of Manchester are made of sterner stuff, had spent far to long on the costumes and own sufficient waterproofs to not be put off by rain on a warm autumnal evening. Besides, I'd spent far too long sorting out a music mix for the ride so I wasn't going to let the effort go to waste. In the end between 150 and 200 people turned out, which last year would have been a good turnout on a dry day!

And the costumes really were good.



The ride was colourful if somewhat wet.



Some had painted faces,



others had gone to town on the outfits.



The orange devil with trident was the full works,



whilst little more than bandages were used to horrifying effect.



The ride was pretty wet at times but that just seemed to add to the atmosphere.

The ride ended at Platts Field Park, for the pedal powered film night.



The boat house was dressed with lanterns providing a wonderfully warm welcome, and the interior was even better.



A big thanks to Anna & co for organising the film night.

Mad Hatter's Alley Cat

The final day of the Spokes North West Velo Fest saw an Alice in Wonderland themed alley cat ride kick off outside Bicycle Boutique.

The riders are brought into some sort of order...



and they're off!



Clearly somebody is taking this far too seriously - Kieran!



Others are much more in the spirit of the event.



And this pair depart at a sedate pace.



Needless to say Kieran Evans won the event...

Congratulations to the Spokes for a wonderful week of cycling fun.

When Cycle Tracks End...

The A56 Chester Road/Bridgewater Viaduct heading north east towards Deansgate has a two way cycle track on the right hand side. for people cycling south east it is ok, just so long as you watch out for traffic at the junctions.

However, if you are using it to cycle north west you are in for a nasty shock...

It is tricky to cross junctions on the wrong side of the road, and here at the junction with Great Jackson Street the road eats into your space making curved give way lines.



Carrying on it doesn't seem too bad,



but if you are aiming to go north up towards Deansgate then the most obvious thing to do is take this left turn.



However, as these two lads find, you are simply dumped into the path of oncoming traffic.



The large raised traffic island then gets in your way, making things even more dangerous.



From here on it is anyone's guess, one of them goes straight on to the pavement whilst the other dives left across the road.



He did make it across safely, leaving his mate going up the pavement on the other side of the road.



This is one of the worst examples of dangerous cycling half-measures in Manchester, that I have found. I know of one person who was hit by a car here 10 years ago, and I am sure there have been more. I think this was a facility that was unfinished, rather than designed to be this dangerous, but either way round it should never have been left like this.

I find it far safer to stick to the road going north east on Chester Road, and avoid this track altogether.


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Pedal Power on Parade

There were lots of pedal powered machines on show at the Manchester Day Parade.



And the occasional city councillor...



Some had fewer wheels than others.





























By the end of the day some people looked knackered!



Whilst the clean up operation joined in the spirit.



Whilst the machines were mostly pedal powered, the sound systems etc were battery powered - some people were clearly not aware of the dangers of exposed battery terminals!