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Well that's a boycott of the Barn Cafe on Newlands then....
Old story olddog! Done last week. But sitting on top of Holmbury Hill all alone in the sunshine this afternoon, thinking about missed ones, it made me realise just how lucky I am to live in Surrey.
Peaslake on a Monday is v different to the weekend version.
X-post. Yes that's a cafe to cross off in future. Leave them to their nice quiet unobtrusive motor bike clients!
On R5 today - when I first heard it - hence the post. sorry if already covered.
It is the general whinning middleclassness that gets on my breasts. Tbh we have it round here as well, nothing like it for a ridiculous sense of entitlement and self importance.
Just like the other 90% of road users then!They're [cyclists] totally oblivious to other road users
No I definitely would not.
Well as someone who has lived in Surrey most of my life I happen to like it, but her attitude is so typical of many people I talk to that it really depresses me. The local rag in Guildford has been full of anti-cycling letters recently; most bear a striking similarity to her tone.
I've lived in Surrey for 20 years having grown up in Hampshire. It's a fabulous place to live and it's full of great people.
I never been into the Barn Cafe, it's on the wrong side of the road and the bacon rolls at the main Newlands cafe are very good. Delightful people run it, drive over from Crawley/Gatwick, free mince peis at Christmas.
Newspapers and the media thrive on conflict and shock. Why not write a letter to the Surrey Adertiser in support of cycling ?
It's a beautiful county, sadly let down by some of the older, bigoted, tory and UKIP voting natives. But the 5 deep crowds in Farnham and Guildford this weekend show that the NIMBYs who are raising this petition are massively outnumbered by those who like to see cycling on their home streets.
But the 5 deep crowds in Farnham and Guildford this weekend show that the NIMBYs who are raising this petition are massively outnumbered by those who like to see cycling on their home streets.
This.
I never been into the Barn Cafe, it's on the wrong side of the road and the bacon rolls at the main Newlands cafe are very good
Exactly this. Newlands cafe is very biker friendly - they should be as they getting plenty of business from us.
Another life long Surrey resident here. Beautiful place to live and as above, cycling is generally very well supported/accepted. I know so many people now who cycle in one form or another which is quite heartening and as said above, just look at the crowds watching the tour, great to see.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24077383
featured on local (South Today) news over the weekend, another pub manager (Compassess Inn?) on there whinging about losing business.
Agree with shedfull there were more spectators than there are petition signatures. The BBC seems to take or highlight an anti-cycling stance, plenty of comments made about traffic havoc during the recent national road champs, which they seem to forget to mention during their interminable coverage of the London Marathon, great north run etc etc.
My club usually meets at the Barn cafe before setting off on rides into the Surrey Hills. They've always been very happy to see us, and have even opened early to accomodate. Seems odd that they actually dislike us so much.
Unless of course, when we're bringing them revenue then we're welcome, otherwise - Get orf moi land!!
Shedfull hits the nail on the head but lets not forget that some cyclists can be less than considerate when on the road.
Whenever I read/see/listen to anti-cycling (as most are anti-cycling, little more) articles it is rarely balanced with the cyclists viewpoint. Unfortunately I do think that the anti-cycling brigade will eventually get their way as they wont change their views and as I stated, when they get to air their concerns there is no unified pro-cycling voice like the Ramblers, RAC or AA.
davidtaylforth - Member
No I definitely would not.
Why not exactly? Do people moaning about very little stop you from doing other stuff?
Regards
Surrey resident.
My sister lives in Surrey (Farnham), great place to visit once or twice a year, some lovely countryside etc. ---- but I'm always glad to get back to Yorkshire 😀
I drove across London at 7 AM on sunday, and was astounded by the number of "5 wide peletons" I saw. Inconsiderate cycling will lead to more negativity, and ultimately, more rules.
Why not exactly?
Too many people and I wouldnt be able to afford it.
Plus, where are all the hills and mountains and lakes????
We sponsor a local cycling club here in Surrey.
A LOT of effort and thought is put into managing the club road rides to be as considerate as possible to other road users, as well as riding defensively.
When riding single file, we've found that a long line of traffic forms anyway as a fairly timid driver will feel somewhat intimidated about overtaking a long line of cyclists.
So we tend to ride 2x2 as closely bunched as possible, with a maximum of 12 riders per group, so that we take up the road space of perhaps a large van.
It gives us a little more road presence which is a little more defensive and it allows cars etc to overtake us more quickly than if we're all strung out.
Nevertheless, there is no one answer, as someone will always take issue with whatever solution is suggested. Take a look at this vid and look at the way the van overtakes us - nearly takes out the front of the group.
"the roads around here are a racetrack and it's dangerous"
Is she talking about bikes or cars?
I got 30 seconds in and decided it was a whine, not news. Coffee break better spent elsewhere. Some riders are antisocial, some drivers, etc, as usual.
But there is common, reasonable sense or 'getting some perspective' that neutralises a lot of this tosh. Rats in cages.. people seem to be a little bit more restrained and intelligent but subject to the same stresses.there is no unified pro-cycling voice
The 'antis' are bitter because they realise they've lost the argument. The crowds of new riders and the crowds out to watch ToB demonstrate this.
The wiser business owners e.g. Peaslake Village Stores are creaming it in
The antis noticeably accuse cyclists of all kinds of evils which are prevalent in car drivers just as much, and interestingly seem to miss the basic physics that demonstrate that a car driven poorly will do far more damage to the human body and the general environment than a bike ever could... maybe they should get some counselling to deal with their anger issues instead of persecuting a minority group
Saw a comical subtitling error on the local news during the Olympics last year that stuck in my mind. The road riding was taking place around Box Hill. Locals were protesting about road closures making them feel like prisoners in their stockbroker belt mansions.
Some posh old bird saying something along the lines of "I felt that [b]Box Hillbillies [/b]were being treated worse than demonstrators being kettled in London".
The bit in bold was corrected to read Box Hill Village, but I thought the original nailed pretty well the pitchfork-waving, we-don't-want-your-kind-round-here insularity of well-heeled Surreyites reluctant to share their green and pleasant corner of England with mere mortals on bikes.
The BBC seems to take or highlight an anti-cycling stance, plenty of comments made about traffic havoc during the recent national road champs, which they seem to forget to mention during their interminable coverage of the London Marathon, great north run etc etc.
Simple post-baiting and link-generation. A low and common form of online media tactics.
Well if you are talking about real Mountains and Lakes certainly not Yorkshire either. I'd suggest you look to the Scottish Highlands or perhaps the Alps for that kind of thing 🙂
Few places I'd rather live less.
As I said on the original (nimbyism thread) last week:
Even as a road and MTB cyclist, I can appreciate their point (to an extent). The Surrey Hills have become an obvious honeypot and at weekends centres such as Peaslake and Shere have obvious congestion issues involving all kinds of road users.
There are bad drivers out there, bad cyclists, bad runners, bad pedestrian, bad horse riders and their good equivalents - but there is little denying that the place has become overrun at weekends. I avoid it at these times and am lucky that I am able to ride their during the week when it is often deserted.
But the bottom line, is that the area is suffering congestion at weekends. Cyclists are a part of that and some of us could behave better and make less of a negative impact.
There is nothing new in needing to balance things in a sustainable way. We can rant at them and at drivers etc, but the thing that we can contol is our own behaviour. That starts with being sensitive to the feelings of the residents of the areas that we choose to visit.
Its expensive and a bit crowded in places down here in Surrey. On the positive side there are some excellent opportunities for MTBing if you live in the right place - which I do! Off for a lunchtime MTB soon, riding from the house straight out to the hills!
Well if you are talking about real Mountains and Lakes certainly not Yorkshire either. I'd suggest you look to the Scottish Highlands or perhaps the Alps for that kind of thing
Thankfully, there's plenty of mountains and lakes in Cumbria!
And there's only a minimal amount of people (me and a few others no doubt) who display ****ish behaviour.
Given you location DTF, you will be well aware of all the conflicts re sustainable development.
Honeypot locations - Bowness
Conflict over recreation - Windermere waterskiing, Honistor zip wire, trail sanitisation etc
Second homes
Cyclists v motorists on the passes or Little Langdale
Road rage (IME) during Helvellyn tri!!!
Surrey really isn't that different - ok no mountains and lakes are much smaller! Issues broadly the same though.
[quote=Sui said]Well that's a boycott of the Barn Cafe on Newlands then....
I usually go to the serving hatch place on t'other side of the road but have been to the Barn Cafe before. I won't darken it's door again.
Did a 8 mile walk with the other half on Sunday, Westcott, Ranmore, Westhumble kind of thing - never saw a single mountain biker except at the new bike shop at Boxhill & Westhumble Station. Nice to see lots of walkers and horse riders and even a group of roadies but there was masses of space for everyone
On Saturday I did the London Brighton Off Road event - only hold up the whole way was in Shere where the cars had jammed the village centre solid.
Given you location DTF, you will be well aware of all the conflicts re sustainable development.Honeypot locations - Bowness
Conflict over recreation - Windermere waterskiing, Honistor zip wire, trail sanitisation etc
Second homesSurrey really isn't that different - ok no mountains and lakes are much smaller! Issues broadly the same though.
😀
And a nuclear waste dump......
Last time I walked up Scafell it was busier at the top than Leith Hill Tower, very off putting to be honest. The lake district is beautiful but far far to busy, the towns are all congested even the pubs in places like Langdale are packed compared to the equivilant in the Surrey Hills and lets face it its only 3 times as high as Leith Hill so not exactly the Rockies is it.
As I said, in the UK if you really want space lakes and mountain then its the Scottish Highlands which thankfully I'll be spending aweek cycl;ing around in November.
The Surrey Hills have become an obvious honeypot and at weekends centres such as Peaslake and Shere have obvious congestion issues involving all kinds of road users.
You should try Boxhill - swarms of roadies all over the place, many of whom ride 3-4 abreast and WILL NOT make it easy for cars to pass.
As others have said, there are many bad <insert multiple types of road user> and we have to accept we're not all going to get on. Best we can do is be respectful and remain safe.
Last time I walked up Scafell it was busier at the top than Leith Hill Tower, very off putting to be honest. The lake district is beautiful but far far to busy, the towns are all congested even the pubs in places like Langdale are packed compared to the equivilant in the Surrey Hills and lets face it its only 3 times as high as Leith Hill so not exactly the Rockies is it.
Well, if you choose to visit the most popular areas of the Lakes during the height of summer then it's bound to be busy.
Thankfully it seems to quieten down alot at the other times of the years.
Although saying that, I got tutted at ordering a coffee in Coniston on Sunday, the woman did sound a bit like she was from Surrey though.
I drive down from SW London out to the surrey Hills most weekends. There are huge packs of lycra lords all over the road and I can see why this annoys and frustrates local motorists.
While the average Surreyite probably does have a massive belief in their personal entitlement, the same goes for some of the weekend roadies. It would help if they just singled out an let cars past, but they seldom do.
But surely you could say the same that Surrey is quiet in the week and only really busy at weekends and as you mention, avoid the honey pot areas and theres space for everyone, you seem to be confirming this which is nice.
I'm sure Yorkshire is a lovely place to live, as is Cumbria and many other places on these islands, and Surrey is one of them. Could do with being a bit quieter but there is still plenty of space for all.
Incidently, did you know Surrey is the most wooded county in the country, and we all know woods and mountain biking go very well together.
Fuuny, I drive to the Surrey Hills from Hampton Court most Sundays and never get annoyed by roadies. Sometimes they slow you down for a few seconds, basically if you lack patience you're going to get cross but you're the problem not them. I've had to crawl behind roadies climbing White down loads of times but it doesn't annoy me as much as other cars forgetting that uphill drivers have right of way. Basically it's Sundays in the country so what's so sodding urgent?
I didn't say it annoyed me personally, I used to be a roadie. I said i can see why undisciplined roadies can annoy the over entitled locals. I even get grief in my car from SUV's demanding right of way. Some posh old bird seemed to think I was going to reverse back up White Down the other week. Riding on the road lost it's appeal partly because of people like this. I also trained on my lonesome because the local club/shop rides usually included too many liabilities.
check out the last comment here:
[url= http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/surrey-county-council-stop-surrey-being-turned-into-a-cycle-track ]NIMBY petition[/url]
[url= http://www.change.org/en-GB/users/58909329 ]don't wee on or lean your bike on me[/url]
Jesus, you lot really need to visit Northumberland.
It's empty.
Mind you, I find that 99% of rural trails are pretty much deserted outside of summer.
Just avoid bits of the Lakes, Betwys and Ladybower.
Holmbury 13-16:00 yesterday not a soul. All on my Todd!!
Pitch - 3 others
WB car park - three cars
Basically empty here too!!!!
Holmbury 13-16:00 yesterday not a soul. All on my Todd!!
Pitch - 3 othersWB car park - three cars
Basically empty here too!!!!
That's exactly why I only ride around the area on weekdays, it's great having all the trails to yourself.
It'll soon be getting even quieter as the fair weather riders will be packing their bikes away for the winter soon 😆
In all the times I've rode the Surrey Hills on or off road, I've never had any issues at all with people complaining about me cycling there in fact most people I've seen out walking when I'm out on the bike have been friendly and chatty with me, the complete opposite of the Surrey residents that sign these petitions.
And we come full circle, so now you know who'd live in Surrey, just one of many very nice places to live within the UK so thats that sorted then.
What I do love about Surrey is that so many of its rider-residents bypass the Lake District to ride conveyor belts in Scotland. Long may it continue 😉
Sadly the press like to whip up a storm like this especially around the time of cycling events. They're not going to sing praises about cycling and the benefit to the community and businesses. Doesn't generate public interest as much as giving something for people to moan about.
Telegraph have got in on the act also with a very poor but widely advertised article (in fact I think the BBC's coverage may have derived from this and they've gone out to interview the same few people with negative views to make it represent the whole of Surrey). The comments frankly disgust me or at least shock me that so many people are ignorant.
The Guardian however has taken the opportunity to have a dig at the Telegraph.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2013/sep/22/cycling-daily-telegraph-lycra-louts
What I love about Surrey is I very happily by pass the much over rated Lake District to ride proper remote and wild back country empty trails in the far more beautiful surroundings of the Scottish Highlands and Islands using the Sleeper train for transport to get there - Torridon and Applecross for me in November, can't wait 🙂
Looks like anti cycling petition organiser Ian Huggins is trying to gain support for his group to attend an upcoming Surrey County Council meeting...
Update about Surrey County Council:Stop Surrey being turned into a cycle track.There will be a SCC members meeting on the 28th November. Open to the public. Shall we all attend?
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In order for me to comment on his petition I had to sign up for it. This means that I receive his group emails (as well as the individual email he sent me to tell me I was stupid for commenting on his petition) like the one above.
So did you do a 'negative' signature on his petition? Surely that'll still count as they'll just say "we have x signatures", does anyone actually check they're all in support? Isn't that implicit?
Thanks piha - maybe we should have a cyclist lobby there too!
Yes, I had to sign up to Mr Huggins' petition to comment on it, so in a way it's implicit but the uninformed comments on the petition needed challenging, as does Mr H. I'm not sure 1 or 2 signatures out of 2500 will make much difference to anyone POV.
I will try to attend the meeting as I believe that the anti cycling voice in Surrey will grow louder if not challenged. It might be worth contacting CTC or BTC to enquire if they would attend?
I don't think much will happen to be honest, he represents such a tiny minority. As usual the papers like something to sink their teeth into. On one page they are banging on about the success of British cycling then on another page they are attacking it's grass roots.
A few narrow minded stuck up nimby's who want the roads clear for their Lambo's and Chelsea tractors won't change anything.
I see Surrey Police are encouraging people to contribute to a Surrey County Council survey about cycling in Surrey
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Individual-Consulation
Hopefully that link will work
Where's the scc meeting being held? I know some people who would like to attend.
Blimey; just received this week's crime reports for Guildford, and I see another 4 bikes have been stolen this week; a Schwim, a Giant, a Cube and one other!