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"Today" cycling item update



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 15th 05, 05:51 PM
Mark McNeill
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Default "Today" cycling item update

http://www.bikebiz.co.uk/daily-news/article.php?id=5247


--
Mark, UK.

"Without the aid of prejudice and custom, I should not be able
to find my way across the room."
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  #2  
Old February 16th 05, 10:02 AM
Jeremy Collins
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Mark McNeill wrote:
http://www.bikebiz.co.uk/daily-news/article.php?id=5247


Top Gear presenter says:

"it is not cyclists that should justify using a bike but drivers who
choose to drive journeys under five miles"

Have I woken up in some bizzarro-world alternate universe?

--
jc

Remove the -not from email
  #3  
Old February 16th 05, 11:57 PM
Tony W
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"Jeremy Collins" wrote in message
...
Mark McNeill wrote:
http://www.bikebiz.co.uk/daily-news/article.php?id=5247


Top Gear presenter says:

"it is not cyclists that should justify using a bike but drivers who
choose to drive journeys under five miles"

Have I woken up in some bizzarro-world alternate universe?


Seems more likely than any other possibility.


  #4  
Old February 17th 05, 12:05 AM
James Annan
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Tony W wrote:

"Jeremy Collins" wrote in message
...

Mark McNeill wrote:

http://www.bikebiz.co.uk/daily-news/article.php?id=5247


Top Gear presenter says:

"it is not cyclists that should justify using a bike but drivers who
choose to drive journeys under five miles"

Have I woken up in some bizzarro-world alternate universe?



Seems more likely than any other possibility.


Bear in mind that he probably only chose 5 miles as the cut-off point
because his commute is 6.

James
--
If I have seen further than others, it is
by treading on the toes of giants.
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/julesandjames/home/
  #5  
Old February 17th 05, 12:35 AM
Tony W
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"James Annan" wrote in message
...

Bear in mind that he probably only chose 5 miles as the cut-off point
because his commute is 6.


Since my commute is about 2 miles I'm on shaky ground. But if we could
convince a reasonable minority of the population to consider cycling as an
option for *some* journeys of less than, say, five miles (some might think 3
the limit others 10 or more) we could massively increase the percentage of
journeys cycled -- with all the benefits we understand.

It is not necessary to convince everyone -- nor to convince those that you
do to cycle every journey of less than whatever the mileage figure is.

Personally, I probably use my bike for about 80+% of journeys of less than 5
miles -- but also use the car for some journeys of less than a mile.

T


  #6  
Old February 17th 05, 03:06 AM
James Annan
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Tony W wrote:

Since my commute is about 2 miles I'm on shaky ground. But if we

could
convince a reasonable minority of the population to consider cycling

as an
option for *some* journeys of less than, say, five miles (some might

think 3
the limit others 10 or more) we could massively increase the

percentage of
journeys cycled -- with all the benefits we understand.

It is not necessary to convince everyone -- nor to convince those

that you
do to cycle every journey of less than whatever the mileage figure

is.

Sure, it is easy to get most people to agree to these sort of
statements, but you can guarantee that most of them are thinking in
terms of _other_ people driving less, leaving the roads clearer for
their own "essential" journeys.

James

  #7  
Old February 17th 05, 10:44 AM
Nick Kew
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Tony W wrote:

But if we could
convince a reasonable minority of the population to consider cycling as an
option for *some* journeys of less than,


And for longer journeys, use the IT infrastructure instead. Stop
thinking in terms of the 19th/20th century office, and think of the
job instead. Dragging your body there and back every day is such
a waste of time: leave the roads clear for those with a real reason
to use them.

--
Nick Kew

(who has physically travelled to a place of work exactly once so
far this year)
  #8  
Old February 17th 05, 11:13 AM
Colin Blackburn
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Nick Kew wrote:
Tony W wrote:


But if we could
convince a reasonable minority of the population to consider cycling as an
option for *some* journeys of less than,



And for longer journeys, use the IT infrastructure instead. Stop
thinking in terms of the 19th/20th century office, and think of the
job instead. Dragging your body there and back every day is such
a waste of time: leave the roads clear for those with a real reason
to use them.


Unfortunately, for some of us, the IT infrastructure has some of the
same shortcomings as the transport infrastructure. I would love to shift
more of my work to home but until BT can improve my line from its
current 30k baud I am somewhat limited. I can get more bandwidth using
my USB flash card and a car!

Colin
  #9  
Old February 17th 05, 01:12 PM
James Annan
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Nick Kew wrote:

Tony W wrote:


But if we could
convince a reasonable minority of the population to consider cycling as an
option for *some* journeys of less than,



And for longer journeys, use the IT infrastructure instead. Stop
thinking in terms of the 19th/20th century office, and think of the
job instead. Dragging your body there and back every day is such
a waste of time: leave the roads clear for those with a real reason
to use them.


Bloody right. One of the most obnoxiously stupid bureaucratic idiocies I
have to put up with on a regular basis is that one particular computer I
need to use is inaccessible unless one is quite literally sitting at a
terminal in the same building. So after 2 days off with a stinking cold,
I dragged myself in to work today to do about 30 mins of routine
checking and submitting a new job. And collaborators from the UK have to
actually come and live here for months on end (some of them commuting
regularly from the UK) just to use the thing.

All because some numpty decided that the risk of hackers meant that they
would rather cripple the system for all users by design, than implement
any reasonable level of security.

James
--
If I have seen further than others, it is
by treading on the toes of giants.
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/julesandjames/home/
  #10  
Old February 17th 05, 01:41 PM
Tony W
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"James Annan" wrote in message
oups.com...

Sure, it is easy to get most people to agree to these sort of
statements, but you can guarantee that most of them are thinking in
terms of _other_ people driving less, leaving the roads clearer for
their own "essential" journeys.


Its not the 'most' you are after. Its the minority. Look at the experience
in London. Its still a minority who are cycling -- but there are many more
people cycling and cycling is increasingly accepted as a quite reasonable
means of transport.

We cannot legislate for the terminally stupid and the terminally lazy -- let
them die young.

T


 




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