June 1 - Day 64 - 'In early June the world of leaf and blade and flowers explodes, and every sunset is different.' John Steinbeck
The heated socks are packed away for the Summer, the sun is shining and I actually felt warm on my ride this morning! It’s day 64 and the half way point (Day 75) of the Challenge is in sight.
When I was interviewed by Radio Sheffield (see 29th April Blog) , I said the most challenging aspect of the cycling was the weather. That is likely still to be the case but I also might just add ‘drivers’ or at least some of them on to the list of challenges.
Don’t get me wrong, I too have got frustrated while driving stuck behind a cyclist when I’m in a hurry and I have moaned about groups of cyclists that are impossible to overtake but I have always been aware that they need space. As a cyclist, however, you suddenly become much more aware of the different types of drivers on the road and their attitudes towards cyclists. There are lots of cars, buses and lorries who will wait behind for a sensible gap and pull right over on to the other side of the road but there are also others that overtake me on blind bends and/or who go so close that they miss me by inches and/or pull in far too soon so that I have to brake. I am becoming so aware that I tend to be able to predict as they approach now what sort of driver they turn out to be and prepare myself accordingly.
On this day (June 1) in 1935 the compulsory use of 'L' plates for learner drivers was introduced and anyone who had started to drive on or after 1 April 1934 needed to have passed the test. Although most drivers know that the Highway Code says, ‘give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car’ and lots of further guidance about responding to cyclists on the road, there are still a large number of vehicles who appear to forget or, I have to say, deliberately want to antagonise. Even though driving too close to a cyclist can result, I understand, in £100 and three penalty points, I can’t find any figures about the numbers who have been fined. About 100 cyclists are killed on UK roads each year. Perhaps more important than numbers of fines, is recognising that human life is too important when all that is required is thought and consideration (and some patience).
On a trip to Wales last year to climb Cadre Idris (when such things were allowed), I came across the road signs in Snowdonia National Park (See below). It would be great if these could be nationwide - or at least placed on roads in Sheffield and Derbyshire.
Road signs found in Snowdonia National Park, Wales