Potholes

[juliet]

There are several cyclists on my FL, so you may be interested in Fill That Hole, a pothole-reporting service set up by the CTC. Locate your pothole on a Google map, fill in some details, & they send the information off to the relevant authority. I have just reported the whacking great pothole on the southbound carriageway of London Bridge (north side, near the bus stop), & it was dead easy.

Sadly I am not sure that I can report "about 3 miles' worth of road going north of London Bridge up past Liverpool St", which is a shame as the road surface is bloody appalling up there.

(I am fairly sure I saw a big pothole on Westminster Bridge yesterday, where they resurfaced it not 3 months ago, but cannot remember exactly where so will report that tomorrow after I cycle to work.)

Comments

Fixie question map.

[smorgasbord.livejournal.com]

Taking of bikes, you have had your fixie for a little while now. How are you finding it? Are you getting much use out of it? Any problems with riding it?

Re: Fixie question map.

[juliet]

I've been riding it daily as my commute bike since Easter, & it's great fun :-) I did have to gear down a couple of weeks in (I was on er 46 x 15? And now on 46 x 17) as all the starting/stopping in London with a heavy pannier on the back was a bit much. Since then it's been absolutely fine. I've had some back problems of late but I am 95% sure that that's down to doing 900k or so in 10 days, rather than anything to do with the fixie.

If it got nicked or something & I had to choose a new commute bike, I'd spend a little time thinking about whether I wanted to stay fixed or go with a small set of gears; but I'm more than happy to keep riding fixed atm!

If it's not too n00b a question...

[envoy.livejournal.com]

What is a Fixie?

Re: If it's not too n00b a question...

[juliet]

A fixed-gear bicycle. Only one gear, no freewheel (so it's direct drive, basically) - see icon for what this looks like. More efficient than gears, and you get more control over the bike. And it's *fun* to ride - it really does feel different being directly connected to the bike in that way.

Downsides are hills, both up & down, because you can't change down going uphill & you can't freewheel & thus have to spin the pedals at the speed of the wheels when going downhill (& eventually you will "spin out" i.e. not be able to get your feet to keep up, and have to brake). It's easier to get uphill at a given gear ratio on fixed than with the same gear ratio on a geared bike, though, partly because of the increased efficiency, partly because of the flywheel effect (the bike "wants" to keep going, whereas a geared bike "wants" to obey gravity), & partly because not having the option of changing down makes you put a bit more welly in :-)

Also you have to learn to get your arse out of the saddle whilst pedalling, in order to go over bumps (when riding gears one usually freewheels at this point!).

It's very good for your strength, cadence, and pedalling style, though.

More info on Sheldon Brown's website: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed.html

[i-ludicrous.livejournal.com]

Would it make sense to fit a Mountain Drive? Might be a bit odd trying to change it whilst on the move...

[juliet]

Given that that costs more than twice as much as the entire bike did to build... praps not ;)

It's interesting, though!

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

i wonder if can report 'all of grovsner avenue from the roundabout up to highbury school'

It's a wide road, but the road surface is SO bad bu the side of the road, cyclists have to ride in the middle of the road, which means cars beep and make rude gestures.

I am quite worried than one day the road rage will take over and i'll kick someone's door in as i go past.

[juliet]

Actually, I think you prob can - I looked at the list of reports & there are some that talk about "poor road surface". So if you put the little arrow in the middle of grovsner ave & then explain where exactly you mean in the "describe location" box.

I reckon *some* method of reporting it is better than not doing it at all! I am going to have another look at the road up past Liverpool St next time I ride up to Stoke Newington & see which bits really are bad & report it appropriately.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

If one has phone with GPS and maps one could log them all and upload immediately :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

They do outside London too, very useful!
I've already reported the most annoying pothole on my commute, logging them all may take some time...

[abi]

V useful, ta. See also www.fixmystreet.com - where you can report not just potholes, but a whole host of other things that your local council ought to be fixing.

[jhg.livejournal.com]

Well I moped into work, and if I reported only the really dangerous potholes on my 10-mile route it would take me so long that more would spring up before I'd finished!

They do get fixed occasionally - the Wandsworth one-way system has *finally* been resurfaced, at great inconvenience to all.

[lovingboth]

When the weather improves enough for me to want to cycle, at some point, I'm going to take the camera and record the 'Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire Lewisham, Southwark, Lambeth, Wandsworth and K&C' on my route...

NIce One

[fingerbones.livejournal.com]

Very useful link. Hats off to the CTC for that and you for telling us. I was out with Southwark cyclists a couple of weeks ago when one of our number fell off due to poor road surface. Luckily she was not severely hurt but it could easily have been much much worse. Thanks to invisiblechoir too for the link to fixmystreet.com which I notice was made by mysociety.org/faq.php they sound like a good idea too.
Just in case you are interested there will be 4 performances of the bicycleballet.com on the South Bank (London UK) this weekend.