Over on Google+, I recently got into a ‘debate’ with another cyclist who took exception to us walking our dogs on the voies vertes. He was ill-mannered and aggressive, and his arguments, if you can call them that, not worth repeating here. But it did get me thinking about cycling spaces and infrastructure. The ‘rules’ about whether dogs should be on… Read more »
The debate about whether to wear hi-vis clothing shows no signs of going away. And, to be honest, I’m as baffled as ever by those who are against it. One of the arguments seems to be that there’s no scientific proof that wearing hi-vis makes you safer. And it’s true that the scientific studies are inconclusive. But it’s also true… Read more »
A friend recently posted (via Facebook) a link to a story as a warning to his dog-walking friends about a serious threat posed by cyclists. It’s a story about a cyclist who was seriously injured after tussling with a dog on a lead. The dog owner eventually wound up paying out £65,000, which was the point of my friend’s warning…. Read more »
As a professional photographer and enthusiastic filmmaker, light is something that matters to me. As a (now) keen cyclist, it might even keep me alive. As we all know, lights on a bike serve two purposes – allowing you to see stuff at night (illumination), and allowing you to be seen by other road users (conspicuity) at night and on… Read more »
I’d be the first to admit I have a big head. It turns out, also, to be an awkward size. While there are lots of arguments for and against helmets, I figured that there’s no convincing case where wearing a helmet is positively bad for you. (And before you say anything, yes I’m aware of the research that suggests drivers will pass… Read more »
My daily ride around the neighbourhood wasn’t over-pleasant yesterday. Although there is little traffic around us, and in general I have found French drivers very courteous (their presumed liability probably helps here), I am still very nervous about traffic and yesterday I found it all a bit much. In an hour or so (just over 15km), I normally encounter two… Read more »
While our bikes came with lights already mounted, I felt they needed more. Call me old fashioned but at night I really like to see where I’m going. And extra lights are a bit boost to conspicuity both at night and during the day. So we bought Cateye Volt front lights – the 200 and 700 models. Each light has a… Read more »
As Homer Simpson once memorably said: “Facts are meaningless! You could use facts to prove anything…” And statistics, which are not necessarily the same thing. So one wanders into the whole helmet/no-helmet debate with some trepidation. And yet here I am… The problem with this discussion – as with so many on the interwebs – is that, sooner or later,… Read more »
