Boobytrapping bicycle paths

Willyvan

I am 59 and cycling since i was 5. On average i do about 100 miles a week between my job in Damastown, the house in Riverwood , dance class and cinema in the city center.
I also am an ex Triathlete - won the short Dublin Triathlon in 2001 in Clontarf . Since my youth i used the bike to go everywhere ( including trips of 200 miles per day and a full triathlon)
This is to let you know i am probably one of the most experienced cyclist in Dublin
I also have a Scientific Masters degree and work in IBM as a software engineer.
Now the problems i see
1.- Booby trapping the bicycle paths.
Since a couple of years i notice that the councils in Dublin are putting tiles with ridges lengthwise on bike paths - and across on footpaths.
I noticed that because I fell once and lost my balance a couple of times on these dangerous tiles already.
If the idea is to make bicycle paths dangerous for bicycles, then the success is 100 %.
I wonder why they do that. On the one hand the government is spending money to stimulate the cycling : new bicycle paths, back to work schema - on the other hand they put these dangerous tiles on the bike paths.
I avoid hem all the time now and go on the footpath or on the road - the tiles are just to dodgy.
Other less experienced cyclist in IBM agree with me.

2.- Ridge to get on a bike path
In Dublin 15 ( Ongar, ... ) you have to get off your bike to get on or off a bicycle path - reason : there is no smooth ramp to go from the street to the bike path - or the ramp has a ridge that is 2 or more inches high.
Trying to get on them - even at low speed - will cause punctures, because the tire is squeezed between the rim and the sharp ridge

3.- Glass on the bike paths
I see someone from the county council driving a road sweeper between Mulhuddart and the graveyard beside Tyrelstown several times per week.
But there is glass on the bike paths and that is never cleaned up ( i often do it myself)
I spoke to the driver of a small road sweeper once about it - and of course - what do you expect from a council worker - he said there was nothing he could do about it - he refused to pass the matter on to his superior and said i had to talk to the "council" ... where ever that is ... That guy clearly had no pride in his job.
Some kids see it as a national sports to throw glass on bike paths. They do not realize the misery they cause for cyclists and dogs

petethedrummer

Add them to the list my friend:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=2055429177

Though we have assurances that this is all a legacy of the 90's. Everything they build these days is simply marvellous.

kona

Willyvan wrote: »

2.- Ridge to get on a bike path
In Dublin 15 ( Ongar, ... ) you have to get off your bike to get on or off a bicycle path - reason : there is no smooth ramp to go from the street to the bike path - or the ramp has a ridge that is 2 or more inches high.
Trying to get on them - even at low speed - will cause punctures, because the tire is squeezed between the rim and the sharp ridge

Bunnyhop them, comes in dead handy for the random potholes and glass too.

Willyvan wrote: »

3.- Glass on the bike paths
I see someone from the county council driving a road sweeper between Mulhuddart and the graveyard beside Tyrelstown several times per week.
But there is glass on the bike paths and that is never cleaned up ( i often do it myself)
I spoke to the driver of a small road sweeper once about it - and of course - what do you expect from a council worker - he said there was nothing he could do about it - he refused to pass the matter on to his superior and said i had to talk to the "council" ... where ever that is ... That guy clearly had no pride in his job.
Some kids see it as a national sports to throw glass on bike paths. They do not realize the misery they cause for cyclists and dogs

I hate hate hate hate this, its not fun pulling glass out of your tyres, I find good tyres and High pressure handle all but the large bits of glass.

Council worker havin pride in their job? Doubtful judging by their attempts to repair potholes.

Knasher

Haven't noticed that myself in Cork thankfully. What our council does instead is occasionally put down drainage grates so the wholes in them are lengthwise along the road.

stevie_b

Willyvan wrote: »

I am 59 and cycling since i was 5. On average i do about 100 miles a week between my job in Damastown, the house in Riverwood , dance class and cinema in the city center.
I also am an ex Triathlete - won the short Dublin Triathlon in 2001 in Clontarf . Since my youth i used the bike to go everywhere ( including trips of 200 miles per day and a full triathlon)
This is to let you know i am probably one of the most experienced cyclist in Dublin
I also have a Scientific Masters degree and work in IBM as a software engineer.

"...... i also have many leather-bound books"



sorry, couldn't resist

stevie_b

stevie_b wrote: »

"...... i also have many leather-bound books"

"...and my apartment smells of rich mahogany."

el Bastardo

Knasher wrote: »

Haven't noticed that myself in Cork thankfully. What our council does instead is occasionally put down drainage grates so the wholes in them are lengthwise along the road.

Never seen those, but given that I've seen bike paths with fully grown trees sprouting from the middle of the surface, anything's possible.

Willyvan

They are putting these tiles down right now , on the road between Blanchardstown shopping centre and Ongar.
The surface of the bike paths , that are build in the boom years, are often worse than cobblestone roads. Asif they just threw some tarmac over the dirt. That is very clear when it has rained.
quick job - quick money

Sr. Assumpta

What do you call a bra stretched between two lamposts?











A BoobyTrap.

petethedrummer

Willyvan wrote: »

They are putting these tiles down right now , on the road between Blanchardstown shopping centre and Ongar.

I know, I was being sarcastic earlier. There have been assurances that bike lanes are going to be great from now on. But I don't see any improvement at all myself. We're rubbish at engineering in this country. Well what we're really rubbish at is devising systems to do jobs properly and then sticking to them. Each new job is a blank canvass with nothing learned from the previous one.

We also seem incapable of just copy catting countries which have got it right and insist every time on coming up individually tailored Irish solutions.

studiorat

Willyvan wrote: »

I also have a Scientific Masters degree...

Hey! I have one of them too!!

billy.fish

Masters...

Come back when you have a PhD.

mloc123

PhD? Come back when you have a job

petethedrummer

Job? Come back when your self-employed.

RobertFoster

Are the tiles with ridges so blind people can tell when they're near traffic lights or a junction of some kind? I know there's some paths with a series of ~2cm hemispherical bumps to indicate the edge; I always assumed they were like that for blind people.

TinyExplosions

petethedrummer wrote: »

Job? Come back when your self-employed.

Self employed? Come back when you're independently wealthy and don't need to work

studiorat

petethedrummer wrote: »

Job? Come back when your self-employed.

Been there, rather work for the man, paid holidays!! still can't get over that one.

BostonB

RobertFoster wrote: »

Are the tiles with ridges so blind people can tell when they're near traffic lights or a junction of some kind? I know there's some paths with a series of ~2cm hemispherical bumps to indicate the edge; I always assumed they were like that for blind people.

No idea. Complete lunacy to me. Complete waste of money.

https://picasaweb.google.com/Sparky191/LaurelLodgeCycleLanes?authkey=Gv1sRgCNC53pDeuJGFiQE#5595223354683342418

billy.fish

mloc123 wrote: »

PhD? Come back when you have a job

I've had two before. Got bored of realising that there are better things to do with my life than work.

Sorry I didn't reply earlier, I was out riding my bike....like I get to do every day....and get paid at the same time.

studiorat

billy.fish wrote: »

I've had two before. Got bored of realising that there are better things to do with my life than work.

Sorry I didn't reply earlier, I was out riding my bike....like I get to do every day....and get paid at the same time.

Ah yes! Research!

BostonB wrote: »

No idea. Complete lunacy to me. Complete waste of money.

https://picasaweb.google.com/Sparky191/LaurelLodgeCycleLanes?authkey=Gv1sRgCNC53pDeuJGFiQE#5595223354683342418

No Boston. It's for blind people walking on the pavement, they aren't actually riding bikes.

billy.fish

studiorat wrote: »

Ah yes! Research!

Well I dow work with cyclists....so yeah....research...why not. Just don't ask me to get on a horse..that I cannot do even for research