On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 09:19:26 +0000, Adrian wrote:


I think it's fairly reasonable for them to set the software to exclude the
A40(M) from a cycling route, though...

No A40(M) or any other M's in London (except the biggies 3,4, 11, 25 etc).
There should be signs on the on-ramps prohibiting cyclists,
horses and carts and small-capacity mopeds though.
I'll agree that having them on a journey planner is a bit daft.

MatSav wrote:

Incidentally, you'll NEVER get your bike UP with absailing equipment -
that's designed for going DOWN ;-)

Is that a challenge? IIRC the main feature of such a piece of equipment
is to prevent the rope from slipping past too quickly.. And such an
arrangement can easily be modified to work for going up as well as
down.. (says the bloke who has absailed using almost everything from
'classic' to the latest and greatest fancy bits..) A prusik knot is a
pain in the **** for ascending, there are many better variants out
there.

...d

MatSav ) gurgled happily,
sounding much like they were saying :

The A40(M) isn't actually a motorway any more. See
URL:http://pathetic.org.uk/motorways/a40m.htm

****up.
Brewery.

John Hearns wrote:

No, not 'anti-motorist' at all.
I read on a website that this was due to the roads in question being
given to Transport for London to run. TfL cannot by law run motorways,
so these short stretches had to be declassified.
I may be wrong - and stand to be corrected.
On the short section from Shepherd's Bush up to join the A40 Westway
there is a cycling ban. 50mph limit on that stretch also.

That's the story on pathetic.org.uk. My mate Ian was once clobbered riding
on the A102(M) at three in the morning, so he rode up the Old Ford slip
road, waited until the dibbles had cleared off and carried on. Back then
most of it had a 60 mph limit - nowadays it's 40 from the M11 link road all
the way to the Blackwall tunnel.

--
Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
Historians' Right To Work Campaign - We Demand A Continuing Supply Of
History!

David Hansen wrote:
as the so-called Thames Gateway Bridge clearly illustrates.

Thames Gateway Bridge? Isn't that the one they started building a few
years ago and then gave up?

The bits of it they actually built are still visible - on the docklands
road near the Beckton Savacentre, right by the old gasworks where they
filmed Full Metal Jacket. (Well, they were still there last time I
looked, but come to think of it, it's four years since I moved out of
east London... the area was pretty much derelict at the time but is by
now probably a thriving residential estate for "executives"...)

d.

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 10:37:38 -0700, davek wrote:

David Hansen wrote:
as the so-called Thames Gateway Bridge clearly illustrates.

Thames Gateway Bridge? Isn't that the one they started building a few
years ago and then gave up?

The bits of it they actually built are still visible - on the docklands
road near the Beckton Savacentre, right by the old gasworks where they
filmed Full Metal Jacket. (Well, they were still there last time I looked,
but come to think of it, it's four years since I moved out of east
London... the area was pretty much derelict at the time but is by now
probably a thriving residential estate for "executives"...)
The gasworks site and the bridge are still there.

A huge new Tescos plus associated shops has been built, plus new access
roads so there will be housing there soon.
We do rides there on occasion, and always stop to comment on Full Metal
Jacket.

There is a new path implemented, which runs from Tescos to the river at
the gasworks piers (where the coal was unloaded) then past the sewage farm
and the up Barking Creek.
Last time I was in the area the path was not open.

I might be starting a rumour, but I think a pedestrian bridge over Barking
Creek is on the cards.

If you are in the area, make sure to go east of the Creek and visit
Dagenham City Farm. Excellent cheap food, big roast dinners on Sunday.

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005, John Hearns wrote:

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 12:13:12 +0100, Tom Anderson wrote:

An idea i've been kicking around for a while is to start a website - a
sort of 'cyclist's rutter' - collecting people's tried and tested
routes, broken up into routes between key nodal points, so that someone
wanting to get from A to B can come along and pick out route components
which will help them.

I've kicked about ideas for a London cyclists Wiki.
A Wiki would be ideal for your idea here.

I think you could be right there. Bide your time, my friend, for soon our
plans will come to fruition ...

tom

--
Batman always wins

"David Martin" wrote ...


MatSav wrote:

Incidentally, you'll NEVER get your bike UP with absailing equipment -
that's designed for going DOWN ;-)

Is that a challenge? IIRC the main feature of such a piece of equipment
is to prevent the rope from slipping past too quickly.. And such an
arrangement can easily be modified to work for going up as well as
down.. (says the bloke who has absailed using almost everything from
'classic' to the latest and greatest fancy bits..) A prusik knot is a
pain in the **** for ascending, there are many better variants out
there.

..d

"Ab" is the German word for "down", "seil" is the German word for rope. To
abseil is to descend a rope using a braking device.
The abseiling equipment that I've used (everything from the Dulfersitz to a
Gri-Gri , which only works on a single strand) prevents the abseiler from
slipping down the rope too quickly by wrapping the rope around something,
usually a locking carabiner. Since the rope has to be held in tension in
order for the abseiling device to work, it's going to be rather difficult to
move the abseiling device up the rope, although the abseiling device and the
attached climber/abseiler can be allowed to slide down the rope pretty
easily by moderating tension on the unanchored end of the rope and letting
gravity do the work. I'm not sure what you classify as abseiling equipment,
but nothing that I've used to abseil with would be especialy suited for
ascending, except perhaps short distances on low angle slabs.
--
mark

mark wrote:
"David Martin" wrote ...


MatSav wrote:

Incidentally, you'll NEVER get your bike UP with absailing equipment -
that's designed for going DOWN ;-)

Is that a challenge? IIRC the main feature of such a piece of equipment
is to prevent the rope from slipping past too quickly.. And such an
arrangement can easily be modified to work for going up as well as
down.. (says the bloke who has absailed using almost everything from
'classic' to the latest and greatest fancy bits..) A prusik knot is a
pain in the **** for ascending, there are many better variants out
there.

..d

"Ab" is the German word for "down", "seil" is the German word for rope. To
abseil is to descend a rope using a braking device.
The abseiling equipment that I've used (everything from the Dulfersitz to a
Gri-Gri , which only works on a single strand) prevents the abseiler from
slipping down the rope too quickly by wrapping the rope around something,
usually a locking carabiner. Since the rope has to be held in tension in
order for the abseiling device to work, it's going to be rather difficult to
move the abseiling device up the rope, although the abseiling device and the
attached climber/abseiler can be allowed to slide down the rope pretty
easily by moderating tension on the unanchored end of the rope and letting
gravity do the work. I'm not sure what you classify as abseiling equipment,
but nothing that I've used to abseil with would be especialy suited for
ascending, except perhaps short distances on low angle slabs.

Obviously it isn't ideal for ascending, but that doesn't mean it can't
be done ;-)

I could probably do SRT with a petzl stop and a figure eight (or a
couple of spare karabiners and a cows tail, or a spare sling, or...

Adaptability is the name of the game. You can spot the serious climbers
cos they have 250kg breaking strain bootlaces..


...d

David Martin wrote:


Obviously it isn't ideal for ascending, but that doesn't mean it can't
be done ;-)

I could probably do SRT with a petzl stop and a figure eight (or a
couple of spare karabiners and a cows tail, or a spare sling, or...

Adaptability is the name of the game. You can spot the serious climbers
cos they have 250kg breaking strain bootlaces..

AFAIK apart from a prussik (sp?) knot the only useful bit of kit for
climbing a rope is a Croll (I only know of Petzl ones but there may be
others) or maybe a Shunt in extremis. You can't attach a fig8 or Stop
to a loaded rope.