They don't even pay road tax Joe. **Off topic thread**

manafana

bazermc wrote: »

Talk about total disrespect for the bike lane.

yesterday near the end of canal by grand canal plaza i take it?

seamus

bazermc wrote: »

Talk about total disrespect for the bike lane.

Yeah, saw that at Baggot St yesterday. My question really was WTF a horse was doing there in the first place?

lennymc

maybe it wasnt a horse

tomasrojo

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

What's shonet?

A hot drink of milk curdled with wine or ale, often spiced.
EDIT: no, that's posset.

RobFowl

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

What's shonet?

Cloud computing apparently !
http://www.sho-net.co.uk/

tomasrojo

I wonder whether someone quietly suggested adding the hyphen when they were shopping around for domain names.

Bit like Pen Island and Powergen Italia should have, back in the day. Not to mention Therapist Online.

(Some, if not all of these turned out to be spoofs.)

Idleater

tomasrojo wrote: »

I wonder whether someone quietly suggested adding the hyphen when they were shopping around for domain names.

Bit like Pen Island and Powergen Italia should have, back in the day. Not to mention Therapist Online.

(Some, if not all of these turned out to be spoofs.)

Experts-exchange was another expensive hyphen

tomasrojo

smacl

tomasrojo wrote: »

I wonder whether someone quietly suggested adding the hyphen when they were shopping around for domain names.

Bit like Pen Island and Powergen Italia should have, back in the day. Not to mention Therapist Online.

(Some, if not all of these turned out to be spoofs.)

Or the hashtag used by Susan Boyle for the party celebrating the release of her first album #Susanalbumparty

daragh_

smacl wrote: »

Or the hashtag used by Susan Boyle for the party celebrating the release of her first album #Susanalbumparty

A night to remember.

link_2007

daragh_ wrote: »

A night to remember.

For all the wrong reasons

Brian

King of the mountain for your feet!



http://www.size.co.uk/product/nike-roshe-one-nm-qs-polkadot-pack/197352/

Qualitymark

In St Petersburg, cyclists protest poor infrastructure with nighttime mass cycles

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/16/st-petersburg-cycling-night-rides-pin-mix

buffalo

Anyone know what a "bike meter" might be? It's not like a powermeter just falls off your bike in the carpark...

Eamonnator

I lost a Garmin 800, bike meter, in the carpark. It's mine. May I have it back, please.
It just fell off my bike.

Qualitymark

Cyclists' group talk to Garda Síochána about new fines, and their safety concerns:

http://cyclist.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/GardaFCNMeeting-15-07-15_D%C3%93T-CR.pdf

Eamonnator

Qualitymark wrote: »

Cyclists' group talk to Garda Síochána about new fines, and their safety concerns:

http://cyclist.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/GardaFCNMeeting-15-07-15_D%C3%93T-CR.pdf

I got as far as paragraph 2, where cyclist.ie talks about "proposed legislation"
I have to admit, I lost interest at that point.
This is way beyond "proposed Legislation"
Sloppy!

Qualitymark

You didn't get to this paragraph?

We tried to impress on them the real safety issue of dangerous overtaking of cyclists and how drivers were skimming past riders in bus lanes and general vehicle lanes but the response was that it’s the given space we all have to operate in and drivers have to go about their business even if it meant squeezing dangerously past us. They maintained that this problem is the responsibility of the design engineers in road authorities.

CramCycle

buffalo wrote: »

Anyone know what a "bike meter" might be? It's not like a powermeter just falls off your bike in the carpark...[/url]

I presume its either a cateye/garmin or it could be one of those tickers you stick to your wheels so you could count meters travelled.

Eamonnator wrote: »

I got as far as paragraph 2, where cyclist.ie talks about "proposed legislation"
I have to admit, I lost interest at that point.
This is way beyond "proposed Legislation"
Sloppy!

I really hope that the Garda press office treats these people as some sort of representative of general cyclists. It's unnecessarily aggressive and poorly put together. It reads like something George Hook or Jeremy Clarkson would put into a tabloid column if they were pro cycling.

buffalo

Perhaps these posts belong in the FCN thread...

We raised the #Freethecyclelanes campaign and the online response to it, showing the
hundreds of instances weekly of illegal parking. An Garda seems to be unwilling to target
drivers who fly-park because the drivers are trying to make the city work economically -
deliveries, etc. and An Garda gets a lot of complaints from businesses, business associations,
HGV drivers, taxis and transport companies about strict enforcement of this regulation

The logic here is hilarious. If I'm on my way to work on my bike and go through a red light (without causing any danger), am I trying to make the city work economically? When did economy trump society?

That said, I wonder what was actually stated by An Garda - these minutes seem quite victimised, and I don't know how biased they are.

tomasrojo

buffalo wrote: »

The logic here is hilarious. If I'm on my way to work on my bike and go through a red light (without causing any danger), am I trying to make the city work economically?

Thought that was odd too. Also, if a company blocks cycle tracks, it makes cycling less attractive. There is an assumption among decision makers in Ireland that cycling has no economic benefit, apart from a nebulous notion of "helping the environment".

smacl

Got through a hernia op and home in one piece. While sore and tender, also doped up to the eyeballs and will actually get to watch a stage of the TdF live lying on the couch, when I should be working. Feel a bit like Ferris Bueller

CramCycle

tomasrojo wrote: »

Thought that was odd too. Also, if a company blocks cycle tracks, it makes cycling less attractive. There is an assumption among decision makers in Ireland that cycling has no economic benefit, apart from a nebulous notion of "helping the environment".

Even though every study from other cities has shown the money used to lay down proper cycling infrastructure, gives back many fold to the economy.

Admittedly, the poor cycle infrastructure in some parts of Dublin may in fact do the opposite but for the most part, I see it as beneficial.

For example, the canal path near grand canal dock, while I complain about its faults, it is exceptional compared to most irish cycling infrastructure, it is packed to near capacity with commuters most mornings, many I imagine who did not cycle to work a few years ago, all hugely beneficial.

Dublin bikes has also been hugely beneficial in terms of traffic management and business.

smacl

lennymc wrote: »

maybe it wasnt a horse

Maybe it was a pony apple

Qualitymark

CramCycle wrote: »

Even though every study from other cities has shown the money used to lay down proper cycling infrastructure, gives back many fold to the economy.

Not to mention to the mammies. Every mammy and grandma I know spends half her time ferrying around children from school to extramural classes to sailing to grinds. If there were a good, safe, separated cycle network, these kids would be on their bikes, fitter and more creative.

And a lot fewer driving miles would be using up the world's precious fossil fuel.

Qualitymark

8th Avenue New York, before and after rejigging of cycling lane to separate it from cars:

smacl

Qualitymark wrote: »

Not to mention to the mammies. Every mammy and grandma I know spends half her time ferrying around children from school to extramural classes to sailing to grinds. If there were a good, safe, separated cycle network, these kids would be on their bikes, fitter and more creative.

I agree but also think it would benefit the mammy taxis to use a bike a bit more themselves to get some perspective on what is and isn't safe, and how effective cycling can be as a form of transport. IMHO there's a bit of a chicken and egg argument, where people are using a weak infrastructure as an excuse to procrastinate. Its worth remembering the yummy mummies taxiing their sprogs to school, play dates, and other activities actually represent part of the danger to cyclists too, not least to younger cyclists going to and from school.

I'd suggest the message should be 'cycle now using the existing infrastructure' as this will create the demand for better infrastructure.

Qualitymark

smacl wrote: »

I'd suggest the message should be 'cycle now using the existing infrastructure' as this will create the demand for better infrastructure.

Quite true.

Not gonna happen.

(Incidentally, when you're talking about "yummy mummies", I'm talking about parents and grandparents who are working people, but take what time they can by scheduling and rescheduling to get an hour in the day to drive the kids.)

rollingscone

Saw a newish Giant TCR with full 105 "locked" in town this morning with a cheap cable lock and a yale type padlock.

The wrongness of it...

smacl

Qualitymark wrote: »

Quite true.

Not gonna happen.

(Incidentally, when you're talking about "yummy mummies", I'm talking about parents and grandparents who are working people, but take what time they can by scheduling and rescheduling to get an hour in the day to drive the kids.)

Its certainly not going to happen if the message going out there is that the current infrastructure is such that it is not safe for you and your children to cycle. And I don't doubt that there are trips and routes where this is the case, but similarly, their are numerous others where it is not yet people are getting the same message. If the Mom&Pop Taxi firm were to curtail its services, there would be many more safe routes for children to cycle safely and autonomously.

As for the yummy mummy comment, my apologies if you find the stereotype offensive, but I do seem to see a lot of women in SUVs parked outside schools (often in cycle lanes) taxiing their wee darlings to and fro. This suggests to me in many cases, dear old dad also has another gas guzzler somewhere outside the immediate picture. Yes, they're working people, they'd have to be to afford to keep that much metal rolling up and down the road.

I think the issue is at least as much attitude as infrastructure, where the former is cheaper but much harder to change.

smacl

rollingscone wrote: »

Saw a newish Giant TCR with full 105 "locked" in town this morning with a cheap cable lock and a yale type padlock.

The wrongness of it...

Certainly the downside of having good bikes is you don't want to leave them unattended in bad places, no matter how well locked. The city hack will remain an underloved but much used part of the stable for years to come.

Qualitymark

smacl wrote: »

As for the yummy mummy comment, my apologies if you find the stereotype offensive, but I do seem to see a lot of women in SUVs parked outside schools (often in cycle lanes) taxiing their wee darlings to and fro.

You do indeed.

In my suburban Dublin road, in the surrounding 30 houses, 3 women cycle regularly. My neighbours often tell me how brave they think me to dare to cycle on the dangerous roads.

Scolding people for not wanting to do something that frightens them isn't going to make them want to do it. The fools.

Lumen

smacl wrote: »

As for the yummy mummy comment, my apologies if you find the stereotype offensive, but I do seem to see a lot of women in SUVs parked outside schools (often in cycle lanes) taxiing their wee darlings to and fro. This suggests to me in many cases, dear old dad also has another gas guzzler somewhere outside the immediate picture. Yes, they're working people, they'd have to be to afford to keep that much metal rolling up and down the road.

Whatever about probable sexism (Gadetra?) your stereotype is a bit weak.

The archetypal "yummy mummy" is yummy because she works neither in the home (yes, that's a job) or out of the home. She has staff for housekeeping, thus freeing her time whilst kids are in school to maintain her physique, clothing and body/face paintjobs, and an affair with her fitness instructor to dull the emotional pain of marriage to an absent fugly-but-loaded husband who she suspects of sleeping with his PA.

Your average actual working mother doesn't have any free seconds to devote to yummyness, what with having to do about three jobs (paid employment, housekeeping and supplemental teaching) whilst avoiding accusations of not being terribly committed to any of them and lacking the ambition of "lean in", "Will To Lead" etc. She might accidentally achieve yummyness, or be granted honorary yummyness on account of managing to do absolutely bloody everything.

smacl

Qualitymark wrote: »

You do indeed.

In my suburban Dublin road, in the surrounding 30 houses, 3 women cycle regularly. My neighbours often tell me how brave they think me to dare to cycle on the dangerous roads.

Scolding people for not wanting to do something that frightens them isn't going to make them want to do it. The fools.

But by doing it you've showed them it can be done, and the longer you continue to do so they may even notice that contrary to their misperceived danger, you're neither dead, maimed, and may even be looking somewhat trimmer than they are, which may just encourage a few of them to break ranks and join you. Seeing is believing, so more power to your elbow.

CramCycle

While I was for many years against SUV style vehicles seeing them as uneconomical and wastes of space.

Having a child who at the age of two is taller than all of his 3 and 4 year old cousins, I can appreciate the benefits of not having to bend down as far to put him into his child seat.

Looking at fuel usage, it is more economical than the last 1.4L tiny car, in fact my mother in laws 2.4L monster is one of the most fuel efficient cars I have ever driven.

Most of these yummy parents of either sex, are well dressed as they are presumably on their way to work, I am not well dressed on the way to work as I change into my yummy parent clothes when there.

While i think there choice of transport is idiotic for the situation (rush hour traffic) its their choice, the only thing that annoys me about them now is the parking on the pavement and opening doors to take their kids out on the traffic side (some kids will bolt on you, regardless of the situation). most Dublin schools have sufficient drive ways to drive in and turn for the drop off with ease.

rollingscone

Regardless of gender I suspect that the occurrence of Yumminess is proportionate to the level of cycling undertaken.

Qualitymark

smacl wrote: »

But by doing it you've showed them it can be done, and the longer you continue to do so they may even notice that contrary to their misperceived danger, you're neither dead, maimed, and may even be looking somewhat trimmer than they are, which may just encourage a few of them to break ranks and join you. Seeing is believing, so more power to your elbow.

Thank you. That would be the elbow I landed on when I fell off the bike the other day. Healed now, thanks.

It's true that one of the cyclists took to her bike after conversations with me; the other has cycled for years. Only around 150 people to go!

smacl

Lumen wrote: »

Whatever about probable sexism (Gadetra?) your stereotype is a bit weak.

The archetypal "yummy mummy" is yummy because she works neither in the home (yes, that's a job) or out of the home. She has staff for housekeeping, thus freeing her time whilst kids are in school to maintain her physique, clothing and body/face paintjobs, and an affair with her fitness instructor to dull the emotional pain of marriage to an absent fugly-but-loaded husband who she suspects of sleeping with his PA.

Your average actual working mother doesn't have any free seconds to devote to yummyness, what with having to do about three jobs (paid employment, housekeeping and supplemental teaching) whilst avoiding accusations of not being terribly committed to any of them and lacking the ambition of "lean in", "Will To Lead" etc. She might accidentally achieve yummyness, or be granted honorary yummyness on account of managing to do absolutely bloody everything.

Firstly, that's your archetype, mine is no more than the woman driving her kids to school in an expensive SUV. Possibly sexist, but my experience is that there seem to be many more women in this role than men.

Secondly, where are your references that let you characterise all of these people as 'actual working women?' You seem to be just as guilty of introducing your own unsupported stereotypes as I am.

In either case, the point is whether we taxi our kids around too much in cars, and do we need to change the infrastructure before this can change?

Qualitymark

smacl wrote: »

Firstly, that's your archetype, mine is no more than the woman driving her kids to school in an expensive SUV. Possibly sexist, but my experience is that there seem to be many more women in this role than men.

Whoever's driving the kids, the roads clear once the school holidays start. With whatever implications you like.

smacl

CramCycle wrote: »

While i think there choice of transport is idiotic for the situation (rush hour traffic) its their choice, the only thing that annoys me about them now is the parking on the pavement and opening doors to take their kids out on the traffic side (some kids will bolt on you, regardless of the situation). most Dublin schools have sufficient drive ways to drive in and turn for the drop off with ease.

I think there are more issues though. For all the talk of the family under pressure, ferrying kids short distances by car is an expensive waste of time and money, at the same time removing a great source of badly needed exercise for children. I'm also concerned that kids take much longer to become independently mobile, and that by seeing so much of their world through a car window, when they come to get their own transport the car will be the first choice. While its a mistake I've been guilty of as the next person, I think taxiing kids for journeys they could safely cycle is a mistake on many levels.

CramCycle

smacl wrote: »

I think there are more issues though. For all the talk of the family under pressure, ferrying kids short distances by car is an expensive waste of time and money, at the same time removing a great source of badly needed exercise for children. I'm also concerned that kids take much longer to become independently mobile, and that by seeing so much of their world through a car window, when they come to get their own transport the car will be the first choice. While its a mistake I've been guilty of as the next person, I think taxiing kids for journeys they could safely cycle is a mistake on many levels.

I too am guilty of it, far to protective of my older daughter that I have done more harm than good to her but as she begins college this year she will become far more independent commute wise than she has been over the past 18 years. She now walks and cycles alot more but it is a badge of shame on me that she has only become independently mobile quite recently.

el tel

daragh_ wrote: »

A night to remember.

It made some people's hole weak

OldBean

2,500km-ish later, I got some new mitts...

buffalo

Dades

smacl wrote: »

While its a mistake I've been guilty of as the next person, I think taxiing kids for journeys they could safely cycle is a mistake on many levels.

I'd agree with this, but I think there's misconceptions as to what portion of "yummy mummy" trips could be converted to cycle trips.

In order to switch a pickup to the bike, you need

1. To live close enough
2. All kids old enough to ride safely (e.g. no babies, toddlers etc.)
3. All kids in possession of their bike
4. Nobody else's kids as part of the pickup (cycle other people's kids home? No thanks)
5. The extra time

With the mixed age of kids, different parents doing drops and pickups and various locations it's rare that the planets align. So while it's easy to tut, and ask "why aren't those people cycling?", it's harder to remember that kids create chaos that only people like my wife in her Citroen Picasso (sorry, no SUV ) can understand. The logistic of a weeks dropoffs/pickups/playdates are mind boggling.

Qualitymark

A start would be for schools to have cycling clubs.

smacl

Dades wrote: »

The logistic of a weeks dropoffs/pickups/playdates are mind boggling.

No doubt, but I wonder is it a problem of our own making that is to some extent artificial? Growing up in the 70s and 80s, myself and most kids my age got around the place on bikes. Yes, there was less traffic and the roads safer, but I think there was also less paranoia. So back then perhaps parents could have been accused of being a bit too blasé (we respected nuns and priests, and were the generation that knighted Jimmy Saville), but at the same time as young kids we'd be miles away from the home at any given time, out of contact, and no one thought anyone had fallen under a bus.

Don't get me wrong, we do the play date thing too, and decided to keep the kids in the school they were in when we moved house, which was also a mistake which necessitates a school run. It is something we're trying to extricate ourselves from though, in that our elder daughter is at last largely independent and we're trying to get our youngest into a secondary in cycling range when the time comes. I think the points you raise also illustrate a cascading effect. If you're kids go to a school they can't cycle to, they will probably have friends and extra curricular activities they can't cycle to. I think as modern parents, we don't fully appreciate the value of keeping our children's school and social life largely within their own autonomous roaming circle. If your kids can walk or cycle to school, they can walk or cycle to their friends houses.

All kids old enough to ride safely (e.g. no babies, toddlers etc.)

Flashback to namelessphil of this parish tearing past me on a bike with a trailer attached going up the hill to Marlay.

smacl

Qualitymark wrote: »

A start would be for schools to have cycling clubs.

My youngest's primary school has had cycling classes as part of PE which I though was hugely positive.

gambeta_fc

Lucien is my new hero:
https://grabyo.com/g/v/DYN311fdPKM

Eurosport showed this during todays coverage, he's a 90 year old man who hands out cold drinks to the riders, even ran after a Cofidis rider who missed out originally.

P.S. contains footage from todays stage on split screen, no commentary but avoid if you don't want any spoilers

Qualitymark

It's a question of balancing values: 1960s-80s parents' desire to foster self-reliance has given way to 2000s parents' desire to have a close relationship with their kids.