Cyclists on pavements

Despite the dangers that you may perceive on the road, cyclists on pavements
are not allowed. It is a criminal offence, contrary to Section 72 of the
Highways Act 1835, punishable by a fine from £30 (fixed penalty) up to £500.
It may also leave you open to prosecution for careless riding, dangerous
riding or causing death by dangerous riding.

Where there is a designated cycleway it is permissible to cycle on this
despite the fact that it may look like part of the pavement. However, it is
important to make sure you remain in your lane.

Cyclists have recently received bad press for accidents involving
pedestrians as a result of a couple of extreme cases where cyclists killed
pedestrians. The simple fact is, however, that if a cyclist has an accident
with a pedestrian while riding on the pavement the cyclist is likely to be
facing the majority of blame.

The issues are likely to be complicated, particularly as by their nature
cycle accidents usually involve a cyclist on their own (i.e. they have
nobody travelling with them to support what they say happened). The issues
are unlikely to be simple and you need an expert in your corner.

More information for victims of pavement cyclists he

http://www.rcsolicitors.co.uk/RTA-cl...ent-riding.htm

QUOTE:
It is now the day after the close of the Paracycling Track World
Championships in Los Angeles, and I'm lying in my hotel room trying to take
it all in. I have been here for the past 10 days and it has been...eventful.

Last Friday saw me competing in the 3km pursuit. It's my best event and the
one I have spent the most time preparing for. And also my best chance to win
a medal. As usual, I knew the competition would be tough and expected the
current World Champion and World Record holder (from China) to perform his
usual magic and destroy the field.

I had watched him in training a few days prior to the start of racing and he
was flying around the track. So much so, that I felt I couldn't match his
pace. I had resigned myself to going for the silver medal. Or at least
qualifying second and maybe pulling a rabbit out of the hat in the final.
Probably not the best attitude to have (giving up before you've started) but
that's where my head was at.

For anyone that doesn't know - the 3km pursuit is basically a very short
time trial on the track. Two riders start on opposite sides of the track and
race around for 3km. In the qualifying heat, it's all about your time. So
the goal is to go as fast as you can. If you catch the other rider, you have
to go around him and carry on. All riders need a finishing time.

Once all the riders have done their qualifying round, the 4 fastest ride off
for the medals; first and second fastest for gold and silver, and third and
fourth fastest for bronze. The aim, therefore, is to be one of the 2 fastest
in qualifying and then ride off for gold. And there is a break in between
the qualifying and finals of several hours so you can rest up and recover.

I was the third from last heat (based on my finishing time from last year).
The plan was to go off easy, settle into my pace and hang on. Keep the laps
times steady and build up a good lead. And that's just what I did. Lap after
lap I hit my target time and before I knew it, there was just 2 laps to go -
and I could see my opponent in front of me. I had managed to catch up to him
(as I had expected). I eased off slightly at that point, not wanting to have
to pass him and waste energy. I finished comfortably, setting the fastest
time and taking 8 seconds off my previous best time.

I was then able to sit back and watch the 2 final heats. Of greatest
interest to me was the final heat in which my main competitor (from China)
was racing. But it didn't go as I had expected. Lap after lap he started to
slow. He was still much faster than the other rider on the track, but wasn't
coming anywhere close to the time I had set. I thought he must certainly be
holding back, knowing that he had done enough to get into the final, but
saving some energy for the evening ride. I was nervous about what was to
come.

After the qualification, I had a chance to cool down, get changed and pack
up my gear. I was just about to leave to go back to the hotel and get some
rest, when one of the folks from the UCI came over to speak with my team
manager. It seems several other teams had filed a protest against me -
claiming that I was in the wrong category. Basically saying that my
disabilities were not great enough for ht category I race in - giving me an
unfair advantage over the other riders.

This has been a source of contention for quite some time, and I have had to
face the classifiers on 5 different occasions now. I'll go into detail on
this in another post, but because my injuries are so varied, it's hard to
definitely say which category I should be in. If I was 'just' an amputee -
it would be a clear-cut case.

The fall-out from this protest meant that an emergency classifiers session
had to be called and they had to look at me. BEFORE being able to race in
the final that evening! I was able to go back to my hotel, but only
briefly - before having to go back and face the classifiers. Not exactly the
best way to recover and prepare for the biggest race of my life!

And so...I faced off against the classifying team once again. But they know
me well and after a thorough exam on their part, they confirmed what they
had said all along. I was and still am in the C2 class. I was cleared to
race. Straight back to the track after that to change and start warming up
for the race.

I was able to clear my head and focus very quickly. And able to channel the
anger and nerves from the classification farce into my preparations for the
race. I went through my warm-up routine and had to admit I was feeling
pretty good. I knew I would be able to give the rider from China a run for
his money.

From the way he rode in the morning I suspected one of two things would
happen. Either he had been taking it easy on purpose and he would ride like
I knew he was able and destroy me, or he had actually been going flat out in
the morning and wasn't on a good day. In which case I'd have a chance.

The plan was to ride the first half on a set schedule (specific laps times)
and then my coach would let me know if I was up or down each lap after that.

I set off a little faster than in qualifying and quickly found I was going
faster each lap than I had in the morning ride. But the legs felt great so
kept on it. Within the first few laps my coach was telling me I was already
up by a second or more! This spurred me on even more and I hit the gas
harder. It wasn't long before the lead stretch to 3, then 4, then 5 seconds.
By the time I rounded the final turn, I had taken a whopping 6 seconds out
of him. And... I had won.

http://road.cc/content/blog/52564-ha...-championagain

--
Simon Mason