Howdy all. I'm back from a ~3 week European vacation. There was zero riding, so if you want ride reports, this is not your post.
Who: Me, my wife, my two kids (14 and 11) and my mom. My mom obtained her very first passport for this trip, having never left North America (bless her heart) Where: San Francisco to London. Rail from London to York. Rail from York to Edinburgh. Rail from Edinburgh to Inverness. Caledonian Sleeper (rail) from Inverness to London. Eurostar (rail) from London to Paris. Eurostar back to London. Return flight to SFO. Quick-hit highlights: Bicycle use in these towns: Everyone everywhere rides normal basic sensible bikes to get around. Helmet usage is ~10% amongst commuters. Traffic coexistence with bicycles was what I'd call "completely self-aware". Cars are pushy and aggressive, to be sure. Horns get used, but I got the vibe that even the most aggressive drivers were fully aware of the presence of cyclists. It's not like the US where you fear you are going to get run over by a clueless or distracted driver and the driver will stand over your carcass saying, "he came out of nowhere!". Public bikes: I was tempted to use both the Paris and London public bikes, but didn't. We had to stick together as a group, and some of us were way too nervous. The setups seemed super nice, very user friendly, and the usage levels (ridership) seemed excellent. On my last stay in London, we were in the Islington neighborhood. There was a huge array of public bikes in the residential area where our apartment was. By about 9:15 AM they were all gone, presumably by work commuters. These racks full of bikes are deployed around London at an average spacing of ~500m. Incredible. One night walking back from the Pub, there was a truck reloading the rack, balancing the fill-fraction of all the racks. In touristy spots like Picadilly Circus, I saw a lot of overflow bikes being loaded into the trucks for load-balancing. For two UK pounds you can take as many sub-30 minute trips as you like for 24 hours. Tell me a better way to explore a city for cheaper than that. Cycletouring: I saw lots and lots of bikes being taken on cycletours. Almost all of them had the modified loop bars typical of European cycletouring bikes. Most ran Ortlieb panniers. The trains had these huge rectangular modules that you could lean 5 or 6 bikes into one module, and they'd load it on the train like a luggage cart. There are some parking spots for bikes on trains, but it varies line-to-line. The countryside was spectacular, especially up in Scotland. I'm eager to return to the Highlands and explore the backroads. Unbelievably beautiful country. Especially for us Californians who are surrounded by brown. Bike Shop fun: A close friend owns a shop called Bicycle Heaven in Geneva, Illinois. I was amused to find Cycle Heaven in York, bought a water bottle. In Edinburgh I visited Ronde Cycles, a high-end road and cross shop with a built in espresso cafe. They let (that's English for 'rent') nice road bikes, and the owner manager Nick was super friendly. Very nice space in a terrific city. I'd live in Edinburgh, no problem. In Paris, I got a couple hours of free time and made it out on the Metro to Cycles Alex Singer. I bought a jersey and a water bottle. The shop had a "be right back" sign on the door when I got there. After waiting for about 20 minutes, the shopkeeper returned. He'd been at the bar to watch the end of the Alpe d-Huez stage of the BORAF. It was like going to church on some level. I poked around their workshop briefly, but my darn phone was full, so I couldn't take a lot of pictures. Also in Paris, I spent a half-day in the rain the Tulleries Garden watching the circuit portion of the final day of the BORAF (aka Tour de France). That was a bucket list item and it was great. In London, I visited the Rapha store, and bought a lightwieght merino sweater/LSjersey. Having witnessed the end of the TDF/BORAF I felt a little bit less of a poseur buying a wool jersey with a team SKY logo on it. I had a really nice chat with a couple of the staff members. They reinforced that there is great riding up in the highlands. In total, I just barely got the lid off the places I visited, but had a great trip. Bill Lindsay El Cerrito, CA -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
