Cycling in Cambridge...what an experience.

[Mike63]

Just back from a few days in Cambridge where I discovered the cycle paths adjacent to the guided busway....terrific traffic free cycling.
I cannot explain how comforting it felt not having to worry about a 100 ton juggernaut crashing into my rear end.

Somebody in Cambridge obviously decided that cyclists deserved to be treated as something other than potential road kill.
The closest we have, in my area to this 3 metre wide, flat, perfectly surfaced cycle path is a 1 metre, rutted, potholed, unsurfaced track covered in tree roots.

A lot of the intersecting paths are not yet open so it can only get better but it compares favourably with many of the cycling paths I've rode in Spain.

I will certainly be going back....at my age life holds very few pleasures and riding Cambridge's cycle paths in the recent beatiful weather is up there with the best.

 

[jerrysimon]

Yep cycling 10 miles back and forth across Cambridge city center is part of my daily commute

Although I have lived in Cambridge for over 12 years, taking up cycling or more accurately e assistised cycling these last three years has transformed my health, well being and daily commute. Prior to this I commuted by car. I don't know why I never found this site and started doing this years before!

As you say here in Cambridge we are spoilt in terms of good cycling routes/separation from road traffic, though avoiding the large number of other cyclist and pedestrians is a daily challenge. There are also many one way traffic roads that allow two way cycling!

The most challenging cyclist I find are foreign tourists/students who hire the many bicycles available and promptly cycle on the wrong side i.e. they do not keep left

Regards

Jerry

 

[johnc461165]

Sounds like heaven, maybe one day we will all have the same.

 

[freddy]

We have miles of fab cycle tracks where I live. Sadly not on the route I take each day.
As a car driver I get very very irritated when cycles are on the road when there is a fantastic cycle track right next to them.

Yes I am a grumpy old woman....it's the heat I tell thee the heat

 

[covehithe]

You are very lucky you didn't go in term time. When lectures end there is a sea of cyclists and you are most likely to be caught up in a "peleton" taking you who knows where!!

 

[Mike63]

You are very lucky you didn't go in term time

....yea... must admit it was second week in July and I only rode between 10 am and 3pm.
.....rarely saw another cyclist....way to go

 

[amigafan2003]

I'm secretly hoping cycling DOESN'T take off in Blackpool anymore. I've been enjoying the prom almost to myself these last few years although I have noticed a few more mamils and strava louts out recently, esp after the olympics.

Although the Strava thing is probably my fault - my alter ego loves baiting them ;-) But at least I only steal KoM's early in the morning and not in the middle of the afternoon like these guys try to do!

 

[Croxden]

I'm secretly hoping cycling DOESN'T take off in Blackpool anymore. I've been enjoying the prom almost to myself these last few years although I have noticed a few more mamils and strava louts out recently, esp after the olympics.

Although the Strava thing is probably my fault - my alter ego loves baiting them ;-) But at least I only steal KoM's early in the morning and not in the middle of the afternoon like these guys try to do!

Google dosen't translate this!

 

[Blew it]

Mamil's = two or more Middle Aged Men In Lycra

STRAVA = Training App for smart phones...they stop for nobody or anything.

KoM's = King of the Mountain

 

[Scimitar]

We have miles of fab cycle tracks where I live. Sadly not on the route I take each day.
As a car driver I get very very irritated when cycles are on the road when there is a fantastic cycle track right next to them.

Yes I am a grumpy old woman....it's the heat I tell thee the heat

New Towns that I've lived in and been around a lot, certainly used to suffer from brokey-bottle-itis on the cycle paths, driving users onto the roads. Of course, better policing today has next to no chance of taking place, if it couldn't solve it back then, when there were more bobbies around.

 

[Scimitar]

Google dosen't translate this!

"STRAVA" Strenuously Trying Racing Against Virtual Assholes

 

[flecc]

We have miles of fab cycle tracks where I live. Sadly not on the route I take each day.
As a car driver I get very very irritated when cycles are on the road when there is a fantastic cycle track right next to them.

As Scimitar remarks, they often aren't fantastic to be on, often strewn with broken glass and even nails left by vindictive types, they are never swept in the way roads and pavements are.

 

[Biker44]

Just back from a few days in Cambridge where I discovered the cycle paths adjacent to the guided busway....terrific traffic free cycling.

They're great - up to St Ives one end (where there is a Park'n'Ride - but from where you can join another traffic-free path alongside the river pretty much to Huntingdon) and across Cambridge down to the Trumpington Park'n'Ride at the other. Don't miss the nature reserve near Swavesey.

I've never tried this, but I presume that, if you have a folding cycle, you can go all the way to Huntingdon and come back on the Guided Bus! There are no single tickets on this line, so you'll pay the same as you did for a return. But the Busway ride is a joy in itself, amazingly smooth, more like the best trains, and has WiFi.