Jan and Klodi's Party Bus - part II **off topic discussion**

LollipopJimmy

nee wrote: »

" What do you like about riding to school by yourself?

Riding to school by myself makes me happy. I tell some jokes to myself. I have races with my invisible friend. I have one, you know.
I get to practice all the cool tricks like riding no hands on the handlebars.
I say hello to the birds singing (with my silent voice), and I say hello to my friends on the way.
I feel happy and heroic."

Sounds like me cycling to work only I don't use my inside voice when greeting the wildlife.

I had a chuckle when she mentioned the spiderwebs , and made me wonder how my little one would deal with it.

Eamonnator

RobertFoster wrote: »

Or it could just be The Man trying to harsh his buzz.

Great expression.

rollingscone

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I had a chuckle when she mentioned the spiderwebs , and made me wonder how my little one would deal with it.

Australian Spiderwebs!

rollingscone

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I had a chuckle when she mentioned the spiderwebs , and made me wonder how my little one would deal with it.

Australian Spiderwebs!

Weepsie

nee wrote: »

This is both a lovely and saddening article on kids cycling to school. The interview with the authors 7 year old at the end is just fabulous:
https://cyclingtips.com/2018/02/mothers-worries-daughter-starts-biking/

The url is shortened here, I was expecting an article about giant cycling moths

RobertFoster

Eamonnator wrote: »

Great expression.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aps1lU0_oo8

Thud

New RSA add on MPD
https://www.independent.ie/life/motoring/car-news/anything-can-happen-when-youre-riding-a-bike-new-tv-ad-response-to-50pc-increase-in-cyclist-deaths-36676482.html

rubadub

Thud wrote: »

New RSA add on MPD
https://www.independent.ie/life/motoring/car-news/anything-can-happen-when-youre-riding-a-bike-new-tv-ad-response-to-50pc-increase-in-cyclist-deaths-36676482.html

I thought they had gotten the law wrong, but it does agree with the draft

https://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/bills28/bills/2017/2217/b2217d.pdf

I had thought you had to give 1.5m if travelling at or faster than 50km/h, and 1m below. But it is 1.5m if you are in a zone above 50km/h regardless of speed.

So if in a 60km/h zone with a very slow moving traffic jam then they still have to give 1.5m clearance.

Wishbone Ash

RobertFoster wrote: »

Could you tell if it was a normal skateboard or an electric one?...

It was a traditional type skateboard. He flipped it up into his hands when the Garda stopped him.

(Ironically, a cyclist sailed through a red light under the cop's nose at the same time. :rolleyes:)

magicbastarder

rubadub wrote: »

I had thought you had to give 1.5m if travelling at or faster than 50km/h, and 1m below. But it is 1.5m if you are in a zone above 50km/h regardless of speed.

So if in a 60km/h zone with a very slow moving traffic jam then they still have to give 1.5m clearance.

Maybe that is due to it being one less piece of evidence to stand over? I.e. to secure a conviction, you only need to prove the pass was within a certain distance, and don't have to also confirm speed.

Could be similar applying to the motorist. They should know what the speed limit is on the road they are driving, and that sets a simple rule, they don't have to adjust their distance as their speed creeps up and down. Not that that should be an excessively onerous mental calculation for them.

Lusk_Doyle

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

It was a traditional type skateboard. He flipped it up into his hands when the Garda stopped him.

(Ironically, a cyclist sailed through a red light under the cop's nose at the same time. :rolleyes:)

Wait, hold on. A sailing cyclist? That must have been some sight!

rubadub

magicbastarder wrote: »

Maybe that is due to it being one less piece of evidence to stand over? I.e. to secure a conviction, you only need to prove the pass was within a certain distance, and don't have to also confirm speed.

Yeah, that is what I was thinking. The problem is, as everybody is well aware, is that a very large % of people will be going over 50km/h in a 50km/h zone, especially if accelerating very quickly to overtake you quickly. So you can have a lad in a sports car piss by at 90km/h in that 50km/h zone and give you just 1m room, and if caught by gardai for speeding it seems they can do nothing about the close pass, simply as its in a 50km/h zone! they just get done for speeding.

I can see motorists complaining about the traffic jam situation I described even though there will likely (and hopefully) be zero prosecutions of people passing at 1.45m at 25km/h in slow moving traffic in a 60km/h zone. Just as jaywalking laws are typically (almost always!) ignored.

NamelessPhil

Woman vs. Cat - The Rematch

A photo essay

1. The beast yawns from the middle of the bed.

2. The peace offering (a.k.a Lidl's finest cat sticks) is extended.

3. Success! Cat downstairs eating the peace offering. Woman is unscathed.

Harrybelafonte

Has Drury st opened for bike parking again yet?

Harrybelafonte

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

Has Drury st opened for bike parking again yet?

Not really, very limited spacing. You may need to make room for your bike. Careful not to lock it to someone else though.

doozerie

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Just saw a skate boarder being pulled over by a Garda in a marked car with flashing lights in Skerries. Just curious - is it illegal to skate on a public road?

If only this was the skateboarder I encountered on my commute earlier this week. It looked like a regular skateboard but with a motor (per wheel) attached at the rear.

He casually flitted back and forth between the road and the footpath. He rattled through red lights, overtook cyclists even as cars were overtaking him/them, sailed through pedestrians on the footpath, etc.

I kept pace with him at one point just to see what speed he was doing. He was maintaining 35kph with apparent ease (on the motor(s)), but peaking a little above that. And he didn't slow down much, if at all, while using the footpath. Plank!

doozerie

nee wrote: »

This is both a lovely and saddening article on kids cycling to school. The interview with the authors 7 year old at the end is just fabulous:
https://cyclingtips.com/2018/02/mothers-worries-daughter-starts-biking/

" What do you like about riding to school by yourself?

Riding to school by myself makes me happy. I tell some jokes to myself. I have races with my invisible friend. I have one, you know.
I get to practice all the cool tricks like riding no hands on the handlebars.
I say hello to the birds singing (with my silent voice), and I say hello to my friends on the way.
I feel happy and heroic."

It's also really saddening and worrying the reaction of the other parents to her daughter cycling to school by herself. Interesting attitudes and stats re gender too.

That's brilliant! (but don't read the comments, I forgot to stop myself from doing so, and the predictable anger hasn't subsided yet)

I appreciate the apprehension she had/has, I'd have the very same concern that the greatest risk to her daughter is from motoring parents of other kids in the school. Parents are the worst and most inconsiderate drivers in my experience of the last few years, even those that cycle regularly. Which is something I still struggle to get my head around.

I mean, I've experienced over many years the appalling driving of parents during the school run, but I always expected parents to at least be aware and considerate of not just their own kids but and others' kids too. How wrong I was.

eeeee

Totally agree. Going by schools at opening/closing time shows some of the most dangerous driving you see.

I was also so shocked at the other parents taking her on a different route away from the school, taking her into the car etc. when she was confident and happy going where she was going. I wouldn't do that to someone else's pet never mind child!

buffalo

nee wrote: »

Totally agree. Going by schools at opening/closing time shows some of the most dangerous driving you see.

I was also so shocked at the other parents taking her on a different route away from the school, taking her into the car etc. when she was confident and happy going where she was going. I wouldn't do that to someone else's pet never mind child!

I wondered if the other concerned parents trial 'stranger danger' tests on many children. "Excuse me random child, do you know me or my child? No, then why are you talking to me? You're coming with me!" :rolleyes:

eeeee

Exactly! I made your child speak to me so I kidnapped her and brought her home, she's failed the stranger danger test
Obviously if a child is unhappily alone I think anyone would step in but a little girl happily pedalling along a route (with her imaginary friend!) she's confidently navigating...the mind boggles.

Harrybelafonte

Those who tell me most often of the dangers of riding on the road and letting kids ride to school are the same whose lack of skills and awareness create that dangerous environment

CramCycle

No different than the drivers who skim you to "show you" how dangerous the roads are. Well different in that at least your examples are not intentional, they are just unaware of the irony that they are the danger.

Harrybelafonte

Oh man, M50 in rush hour today. Lane leading to Liffey Valley off ramp is full, am in lane beside the queue doing maybe 80km/h and dude just pulled out of the queue right on top of me. Major swerve and I just missed him. Thank f'k no-one was in lane beside me. If I'd hit him, it would have been driver's door smack on... I know who would've come out the worst. Seriously brain dead people out there

doozerie

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

Oh man, M50 in rush hour today. Lane leading to Liffey Valley off ramp is full, am in lane beside the queue doing maybe 80km/h and dude just pulled out of the queue right on top of me. Major swerve and I just missed him. Thank f'k no-one was in lane beside me. If I'd hit him, it would have been driver's door smack on... I know who would've come out the worst. Seriously brain dead people out there

Not even vaguely in the same category this, but when dropping off my daughter (by car) to an event recently a car pulled out of a parking space right in front of us.

My hand hit the horn, any my mouth uttered the incredulous "What kind of rubbish driving is that?", just at the point that I realised it was the mother of one of my daughter's classmates. Awkward. It was a very faint/wimpish toot of the horn, and if she hadn't seen me before driving in front of me it seemed unlikely she'd have noticed my reaction in the mirror either.

So I thought I'd avoided a diplomatic socially-sensitive incident of child-sized proportions. Until my daughter piped up from the back with "That's terrible driving from <friend's> mother. She's a terrible driver, you're right dad!".

But I'm sure she won't say anything to anyone about it, kids are great at not hanging their parents, right?...

CramCycle

doozerie wrote: »

But I'm sure she won't say anything to anyone about it, kids are great at not hanging their parents, right?...

I await the sequel to this story, it will be predictable but brilliant, like all good sequels.

Kudos to your daughter on the observation skills, alot of adults would barely register the car type, let alone who the driver was.

Harrybelafonte

doozerie wrote: »

Not even vaguely in the same category this...

I have a few choice stories about driving through the North at very late hours that don't even compare to that one... Two involve people deliberately trying to run us off the road...

buffalo

Feel good story of the morning: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-43308729

Doing lots of exercise in older age can prevent the immune system from declining and protect people against infections, scientists say.

They followed 125 long-distance cyclists, some now in their 80s, and found they had the immune systems of 20-year-olds.

...

The older members - in their 80s - say they do only the "short" 100km (62-mile) rides, but this is still highly impressive.

So why do they do it?
Pam Jones, 79, told me: "I do it for my health, because it's sociable, and because I enjoy the freedom it gives you."

Brian Matkins, 82, said: "One of the first results I got from the medical study was I was told my body fat was comparable to that of a 19-year-old."

NamelessPhil

Come over to the Audax side, we will live long and prosper.

Alek

Thats how we all should be descending.

https://www.facebook.com/alkos.info/posts/1121158191360255

(sound on)