[Closed] just got pulled by the rozzers!

You must have been "riding it like you stole it"

Good work by the cops though

Is this a STW record - 5 hours and no sanctimonious preaching?

give the preachers a time to sober up from last night.
It will come :0)

I ride pissed a LOT. Only crashed once.

I don't think it affects my safety unless really blitzed.

I don't think it affects my safety unless really blitzed.

Nonsense even a couple of beers will affect your riding. The UK drink drive limit is .08 BAC. At that low level alcohol increases your self confidence, decreases your attention span and impairs your judgement and muscle coordination. You might feel fine to do all sorts of stuff due to the increased self confidence but your actually going to be worse at the task than if you were sober.

I don't think there is any real need to get sanctimonious as realistically you're far more likely to injure yourself than others and I think you should be free to make that choice. But there is no way that you're unaffected.

The UK drink [b]drive [/b]limit

Win.

Why would you be fit to cycle but not drive? People have been killed by being hit by cyclists you know.

Why would you be fit to cycle but not drive? People have been killed by being hit by cyclists you know.

People have been killed falling down stairs too.

Is this a STW record - 5 hours and no sanctimonious preaching?

It's OK, molgrips has just mended the thread for you....

People have been killed falling down stairs too.

And tweaking their TV aerial!

[img] [/img]

Same limit applies to cyclists

Glad to hear the Police checking out people who look like bike thieves or rioters... 😉

Same limit applies to cyclists

I don't believe there is a limit defined for cyclists. There is an offence about being unfit to use the bike but how this is determined is not clear. For motorists the law mentions "excess alcohol" which is something that can be measured.

And tweaking their TV aerial!

Given the complexion of the one on the right I wouldn't be surprised if he'd had a couple before getting the ladder out.

ATP You are right. I am wrong. Memories of the law pre 1980 when cycling was deemed "being in charge of a carriage".

Got a bite straight away Al!

I like this post so far - what are the chances we see handbags by the end?

Cycling on the road drunk is just plain stupid, whatever the law says. As would be walking along the road drunk. It has nothing to do with being "sanctimonious" and everything to do with grown-up common-sense.

If you must cycle drunk, then do it off road, and spare car drivers any possible grief caused by your stupidity.

But of course this is all just a joke and the OP wasn't drunk at all..... Haha *rolls eyes*

Cycling on the road drunk is just plain [s]stupid[/s] [b]normal[/b], whatever the law says. As would be walking along the road drunk.

[i]You might feel fine to do all sorts of stuff due to the increased self confidence but your actually going to be worse at the task than if you were sober.[/i]

That's not entirely true (though I take the underlying point you're making)
There's stuff I've ridden on the way home from the pub that I wouldn't ride when sober. Ah, you say that's just the power of beer giving you an excess of confidence. But at the end of the day if I don't ride over an obstacle when sober, but do when pissed, then beer's made me better at performing the task of riding over that obstacle 🙂

You're taking your safety far too lightly. What if you'd crashed? It's not like you've got crumple zones and airbags.

Next time take the car.

Is it time to let "the big hitters" get on with this one?

If you must cycle drunk, then do it off road,

It normally ends up that way anyway 😉

There's stuff I've ridden on the way home from the pub that I wouldn't ride when sober.

and sometimes she's still there in the morning. 🙂

😀

Is it time to let "the big hitters" get on with this one?

LOL

you forgot to say "self imposed".

I don't think it affects my safety unless really blitzed.

Nonsense.......

It started to go down hill here; sometimes it's just too easy.

Is it time to let "the big hitters" get on with this one?

Yep, but you may have a window before a few of them get up....

What does an arbitrary blood alcohol figure for driving a car on public roads have to do with one's ability to control a bicycle after a few beers?

Shouldn't we think about the bigger issue here, no alcohol sales will mean more unemployed people, no blood and guts splattered across the road will mean fewer ambulance crew and police needed. The net result is clearly going to be more riots in the future and increase in damage to children's faces.

It's completely different on a bike to in a car.

I CBA arguing with the "Big Hitters of Sanctimoney" but I genuinely believe the impact on safety is marginal. I'm not talking paralytic BTW, pretty jolly or gassed, but certainly able to walk in a straight line.

I blame Thatcher

It could be a childs face next time

Hitler

Won't someone think of the children

He has twins you know

Own with bombers

Picolax

The Babylon are scum

There i think that covers it all

Big hitter in CBA to argue shocker, surely not. You are most certainly letting you and your fellow kind down.

If you're going to ride your bike under the influence, make sure you're on the pavement.

What does an arbitrary blood alcohol figure for driving a car on public roads have to do with one's ability to control a bicycle after a few beers?

After drinking, the brain works inefficiently, taking longer to receive messages from the eye; processing information becomes more difficult and instructions to the muscles are delayed. Alcohol can slow down reaction time by 10 to 30 per cent. It also reduces ability to perform two or more tasks at the same time.
Alcohol reduces the ability to see distant objects and night vision can be reduced by 25 per cent. Blurred and double vision can also occur. Ability to perceive what is happening at the roadside is weakened.
Loss of peripheral vision could be crucial. Alcohol may also create a sense of overconfidence, with the result that people are prepared to take greater risks.

If you're going to ride your bike under the influence, make sure you're on the pavement.

What's the impact on cycling ability of being hungover on a commute? Or shattered after a long shift? Or suffering bonkage? How do these compare with a couple of pints?

Proper bonk is closer to 7-8 pints but without the need to wee so often.

I find about 4-5 pints is about the safe level to cycle drunk, anymore and i'm getting a bit wobbly...

and you have the same desire to eat a kebab so impaired judgement too.

I rarely cycle anywhere without taking on a bottle and a half of mother's ruin first..

just got pulled by the rozzers!

Better than being picked up by the fuzz.

"Is it not the point at which your skill is so impaired you are not allowed to legally drive"

It's just a legal definition. It has no relation on your or my ability to operate a bicycle having consumed alcohol.

Is it time to let "the big shitters" get on with this one?

FTFY

It's just a legal definition. It has no relation on your or my ability to operate a bicycle having consumed alcohol.

Spunkyard I know you're not a hater!

can I be a big hitter too?

alcohol makes you faster therefore you will avoid those accidents you would have otherwise been in as you won't be there when they happen
simple logic

I find the head angle on my bike seems to go down 1 degree for every pint consumed...

I once got pulled over by plod, and I was so drunk I could hardly stand upright. Strangely, I was more or less ok on the bike, but they made me get off and walk, and escorted me all he way to my front door! 🙂

So nice and helpful, are the police.

but they made me get off and walk

that's about right IME too..

drunk in charge of a hurtling 2 ton death tool = robust policing
drunk on yer bike = friendly advice and declared a sillybilly

Mate of mine once vomited copiously in a police car when we got pulled up one night (walking home from pub). The Babylonians weren't best pleased. 😳

I found it quite funny though, which was the main thing. 😀

Babylonians

Rozztafarians

Tsk, tsk Houns - you missed the baby robins off your list!

I once ran home (~4 miles) when drunk. Not a good idea.

It's just a legal definition. It has no relation on your or my ability to operate a bicycle having consumed alcohol.

you could try that in court. Clearly it has some relation to your ability unless of of course you are impervious to alcohol and its effects.

Well, being on a bicycle I wouldn't need to. I'm not impervious to alcohol. Point is being over the drink drive limit isn't the same as not being in control of a bicycle and a set amount of alochol in my system won't affect me the same way as set amount in yours. So in conclusion the DD limit for cars is of no relevance to cycling after a few pints, but I think you know that really.

Drunkyard you are a big hitter in my eyes.

*swoons*

Lower league obviously!

Harsh but fair comment .. I lack the stamina

You're far too reasonable also.

And you treat internet fora like are real life.

[img] [/img]

I have ridden when drunk and when sober.

When drunk on a bike:
1) I have ridden into a lamppost and bent my brake lever
2) I have fallen off and grazed my knee

When sober on a bike:
Too many to list here but I write a 3,500 story about them and had to edit it down for publication in STW magazine

Interestingly last BBB when drunk but not on a bike I managed to dislocate both shoulders

Using an evidence based study I should stay pissed and ride more.

For being drunk of a bicycle the actual offence is riding "under the influence" This has to be proven in court and a cops opinion is really not enough. Your ability to ride should be assessed by sobriety tests done by the police medial officer - walking a straight line, touching you nose and so on.

Personally I have no moral issues with riding after a few pints. Done it many a time will continue to do so.

If it's good enough for a big hitter like TJ then it's good enough for me.

you mean you are not like this in the real world al and this is all a sham done for effect

Junkyard - all of it is me, fair bit of it is F-F me, a fair bit is for a laugh, sorry but I just can't help myself, life is for enjoying - folk take the internet too seriously.

Would love to have done the ride yesterday but I am saving just now and had other commitments.

Same limit applies to cyclists

I don't believe there is a limit defined for cyclists. There is an offence about being unfit to use the bike but how this is determined is not clear. For motorists the law mentions "excess alcohol" which is something that can be measured.

Correct. There is no defined limit. However, you can be had for being drunk in carge of a bicycle, drunk in charge of a tandem and drunk in charge of a tricycle.
However, there is no such offence as being drunk in charge of a unicycle, you can be as pi$$ed as you like and have a unicycle and they can't touch you! (unless you are also drunk and disorderly, and most uncyclists seem fairly disorderly at the best of times...)

Well not quite. The actualy legal wording doesn't mention "bicycle" but uses the word "cycle" which presumably covers unicycles, bicycles, tricycles and any other multiple 🙂

Section 30 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, as amended by the Road Traffic Act 1991, provides the offence of [b]cycling [/b]on a road or public place whilst under the influence of drink or drugs. It states:
30(1) A person who, when riding a [b]cycle [/b]on a road or other public place, is unfit to ride through drink or drugs (that is to say, is under the influence of drink or a drug to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of the [b]cycle[/b]) is guilty of an offence.

if you are down north Al I will happily shows you the trails but if it is all the same I will use my own brakes and forks

You can be done for being drunk in charge of a horse, and a flock of sheep/herd of cahs and that too.

Fred can you be drunk in charge of an internet connection?

I'd be doing Life by now if that were the case Al! 😆

My point exactly.

Any of you worthy people care to educate us provincial types then?

Docu clearly biased.

Personally I have no moral issues with riding after a few pints. Done it many a time will continue to do so.

I'll bet after six pints many experienced cyclists can ride with more proficiency, and be of less risk to themselves and others, than many of the cyclists I see commuting to work every day.

One of the pubs I go to on an evening or Sunday afternoon ride is in the bottom of a valley. Every way out is up, most very steep. Believe me, by the time you get to the flat-ish bits at the top, being pissed is no longer an issue.
Oh, and Cynic, your Epic Fail pic up there^^ is an epic fail in itself; the shadowy creature surfing the wave is a bottle nosed dolphin, not a shark, it has horizontal tail flukes and the dorsal fin's too rounded.
Just thought I'd throw in a little pedantry. 😀

Why do we have specific legislation regards limiting blood alcohol level prior or during the operation of motor vehicles? Something to do with the real actual carnage wrought on the roads by pissed up drivers. Lives lost, innocent parties involved, property damaged.

Damage caused by pissed up cyclists is simply infinitesimal and on the rare occasions it does happen, there is nothing to prevent the guilty party being held to account using existing powers.

In fact the risk is tacitly understood to be so small, even by the haterz, such that scenarios in which a drunk cyclist causes a motorist to swerve have to be dreamt up. A driver presumably not paying attention, speeding or giving insufficient room.

Its one reason I switched from motorbike tours to cycle ones - the ability to have a beer or two with your lunch. I'll be sensible - I won't get steaming and go and play with traffic but I'll ride home from the pub along a canal towpath with a few beers inside of me.

I'll ride home from the pub along a canal towpath with a few beers inside of me.

I know two people who've ended up in the canal after that!

However, there is no such offence as being drunk in charge of a unicycle, you can be as pi$$ed as you like and have a unicycle and they can't touch you! (unless you are also drunk and disorderly, and most uncyclists seem fairly disorderly at the best of times...)

A long time ago, I experimentally verified the fact that I can ride a unicycle when I am too drunk to walk. Off road in the Wyre Forest. At night. Having said that I did wake up with quite a few bramble scratches, so I guess I didn't stay on for the whole ride, but I remember riding some drops that there is no way I'd have done sober.

Thank you for the long discussion on the merits of cycling whilst intoxicated 😆

As the OP, you can guess that I do! At 2am on quiet lanes near me, I feel safer than riding off road. That said I do seem to ride quite well when pissed!

The post was more about saying thank you to the local plod, who stopped a cyclist at 2am and asked a few questions about the bike, not about my drunken-ness, and realised I was the owner of said cycle, and let me on my way!

I am not joining the 'don't ride when pissed' conversation, as in reality, I hardly ever ride without a drink or two. I do respect those who choose a different evenings entertainment.

See lots of you at the BBB this weekend! 😆 (not racing - helping out!)

Robin