#bicykling

Cycling in Loughborough

The bicycle

One of the biggest culture shocks I have gotten is with the cycle. Anything that can be different between a British and Danish cycle is different.

First there are the gears; in Denmark normally internal gears are used. These can shift faster between all gears, also directly from the lowest to the highest gear. As the gear is internal dirt is kept out and the gear works better. The only negative aspect of internal gears is that water in the small hose protecting the gear cable can freeze during the winter and thereby freezing the gear. This can be solved by simply giving the hose a blow through with e.g. a compressor.

Of course it is only in Denmark that internal gears are used. This means that because my bike is British I have had to get used to external gears - bad quality external gears. This means that the chain often doesn’t engage the gear when I change it, which effectively set the whole propulsion of the bike out of work.  This is rather dangerous if I suddenly need to get away. And I use quite a lot of time looking at the gears instead of the road and traffic.

Very interestingly which wheel the handle brakes are connected to is depended on which side of the road you are supposed to cycle on! The front wheel is on the right handle (opposite in Denmark) which is a bit dangerous as at high speeds you are more likely to fly over the handlebar.

The last thing I would like to complain about the bicycle itself is the valves to the tube in the tyres. I had brought my own pump from Denmark with me (because there’s nothing wrong with it and I’ll save money by not having to buy a pump in GB).  However, the valves are very strange and I can’t use my own pump and had to buy a new one that is very strange. It nearly lets more air out of the tyre when mounting the pump to the valve than what it puts in the tyre.

The bicycle path

I can live with the British bicycles being weird comparing to the madness that is cycle paths in Britain. One moment you are directed up on the pavement and suddenly you are told to go down on the narrow road and rub shoulders with a lorry (or you are supposed to be on both the road and the pavement - see the first attached picture). If that isn’t bad enough the cycle path on the road will suddenly end with no indication what so ever you are supposed to do (see the second picture attached to this post). The only constancy is that you are always supposed to join the cars when at a traffic light, even if it’s only when crossing the transverse road. Please don’t expect the curb to be lowered when going on or off the road.

It’s very strange being directed up on the pavement as in Denmark you will get a hefty fine for it. In principle you will also in England, but the police don’t seem to mind where or in which direction you are going on a bike.

The whole cycling business in Britain is mad and quite dangerous, very few set the saddle height correctly or wears a helmet, except barking mad and selfish cyclist doing sport on very narrow main roads where the cars goes 50 mph or more!!