A Pothole. Cyclists watch out!

The road in question is in the countryside, just on the edge of the city. There are no street lights and it was a dark, rainy winters night. I have a Cat-Eye Power Opti-Cube LED bike light, which I am very pleased with. It provides enough light to see where you are going when it is dark, but when faced with the glare of the headlights of on-coming traffic it is impossible to see the road surface.

The wind was behind me so I was cycling at a fair pace, looking forward to getting home. I had cycled past a section of road that I knew to have pot holes. In order to avoid them I had kept to a position further out in the road than normal. After cycling about another 5 metres I began to move back towards the edge of the road. It was then that I hit the nasty pot hole. Despite having a reasonable pair of suspension forks, when my front wheel hit the edge of the pot hole the bike stopped dead. I took to the air! Fortunately I was travelling towards the side of the road and not in the path of on-coming traffic. My flight ended abruptly when I ploughed into a wooden fence on the verge. Fortunately my injuries were minimal: just a big scratch on my forearm. Luckily too, my bike was undamaged although I really ought to buy a new helmet since the side of my head hit a fence post. A kind motorist who had seen what happened pulled in to check that I was ok, which makes a pleasant change from motorists usual disregard for the safety of cyclists.

The next day I rang the council to report the pot hole. They did not seem overly interested until I told them that I had fallen off my bike. To their credit the pot holes were filled in a few days later.

Cyclists Fill That Hole!

Now I have found out about another way for cyclists and other road users to report pot holes to the council, which I think is worth sharing. Its a nifty website run by cycling organisation CTC, called Fill That Hole .org.uk. Since cyclists are particularly vulnerable to pot holes and cracks in the road, I would recommend that all UK bike riders add it to their bookmarks.

Report a pot hole to the council using FillThatHole.org.uk

Its not all bad news. The discovery of this pothole has given me the opportunity try out Fill That Hole!

Its a relatively straight forward process. Just click on “Report a Hazard” and fill in the questions. These include giving a description of the pothole, including its approximate size and depth. The next bit I like. Using Google maps, you find the location of the pothole, click on the map and a little red flag appears indicating the position of pothole. You also need to add a detailed description of the location of the pothole.

When you click “next” a page appears asking you to confirm the location, and the highway authority has automatically been identified.

The next page asks whether you were injured, whether your property was damaged and what mode of transport you were using. Finally you need to enter contact details. Then you can submit the report. Job done. All you need to do now is sit back and wait for the council to chuck a lump of tarmac in the pothole.

You get confirmation of your submission by e-mail and also the opportunity to add comments, update the report when the hazard has been fixed and even upload photos of the offending pot hole.

You can also find out where other potholes are by searching on the map or via the list of authorities. The following is comment that someone has made about the stretch of road where I fell off my bike, as mentioned above:

The road surface at the side is just horrendous. Its full of lumps bumps and potholes. You have to try and drive/cycle/ride in the middle of it to avoid getting that bone shakin feeling! Its been like that for years and never been re-surfaced. Its heavily used so you have no choice but to drive in the normaly driving position at much detriment to car/bicycle!

Pot Holes Filled

One other feature of the Fill That Hole site is that you can see how effective different highways agencies are at fixing potholes. The site average for all highways authorities and councils is only 33%.

The pot hole that I reported had already been filled by the time I rode home 2 hours later. So I assume that it had already been brought to the councils attention and scheduled for repair before I reported it to them. So unfortunately I will be unable to report on Fill That Hole’s effectiveness until I am able to report another pothole!

Is your council reluctant to sort out potholes? Are you a cyclist who has used Fill That Hole .org.uk? Did the pothole get filled? Share your experience, click on “comments” below!

Cycling for Computer Aid International

Malcolm will be raising money for the charity Computer Aid International. Whether you are an individual or a company you can donate your old computers to Computer Aid International, who will refurbish them before taking them to developing countries for reuse in education, health and not-for-profit organisations. Over 145,000 PCs have been shipped to more than 100 countries by Computer Aid International.

Malcolm has set a target of £2,900 and has currently raised £1,885. If you would like to make a donation visit justgiving.com/chilemalc.

I love to travel and I like to keep, so it’s perfect for me.

If you’re thinking of raising money for charity you could jump out of a plane or eat a bath full of baked beans, but a cycle tour would make a much more enjoyable challenge. Our introduction to cycle touring will give you some good tips to get you started.

What outdoor sports and activities do you do?

Respondents claimed to regularly participate in outdoor sports and activities.  These include:

• 91% – recreational walking
• 29% – road cycling
• 22% – mountain biking
• 15% – mountaineering
• 14% – snowboarding
• 13% – off-road running
• 13& – climbing

Bite-sized outdoor activities

Increasingly, it is understood that more and more people are taking up a wider variety of outdoor sports.  This makes great sense as it provides a different activity for different energy level, motivation, adrenaline needs, and season.

Some may say that it is also a reflection of the culture that we live in – searching for quick kicks, and variety in our day-to-day lives.  And we believe this is a great thing!

Economic change and environmental awareness

The growth of family camping is more than likely to be attributable to the economic climate, but also due to people’s increasing awareness of their impact of flights on the environment, in addition to an increasing desire to appreciate the environment that we live in.

As many as 67% of those questioned in the consumer survey claimed to buy environmentally friendly products (this does not mean just outdoor products), and 78% believe they are more expensive as a result.  Of those respondents 51% said they would pay more nonetheless.  Interesting stuff for outdoor gear manufacturers I’m sure.

The Respondents Profile

10,000 people were interviewed for this consumer survey, of which a total 61% of respondents were male and 38% female, and…

• 25%, 35-44 years,
• 25%, 45-54 years
• 22%, 55-64 years
• 15%, 25-34 years
• 7%, 65 and over
• 3%, 16-24 years

…providing a really interesting profile of the outdoor industry as a whole.  More to come on this very soon!