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One nice thing is that I've had about 5-6 people on here offer me a sofa/room/hug.

I recommend getting all of the above post codes, and then deciding what distance you fancy riding in to work before picking one :)

Seriously though, we really do always have room for one more, and can accommodate some storage space in the garage.

Why is it so important to 'identify' cyclists (or any other road user for that matter.)..... but the insistence on identification over 'mere' observation and anticipation seems really strange, is it only once something has been identified ("That's a tree in the road!") that action can be taken? Do people not slow down if they don't know what that thing in front of them is?

I have seen quite a few cyclists (in dark clothing at night) around our part of the world that are appear to be going out of their way to disguise themselves as a bush swaying in the breeze. My anticipation of what a bush is likely to do and what a cyclist is likely to do are quite different, so knowing that the dark shape ahead of me is a cyclist and not a bush is quite helpful.

If you are coming towards me, it is useful to know if you are cyclist or a pedestrian, cos if you are a pedestrian you are unlikely to reach me as quickly as if you are a cyclist.

If you are going in the same direction as me, if you are a pedestrian, unless you slip and fall into the road or dash out into the road, its unlikely that I'm going to have to change course. If its a cyclist, I'm going to need to move over to give you room, and I would like as much time as possible to see if this is going to be possible at the time I'm likely to reach you, or whether I need to be modifying my speed etc etc.

Identifying what something is is essential to anticipating the things actions or lack thereof, and making a decision as to what I am going to do.

On the issue of groups of cyclists. How do you behave when you come across groups of drivers, you know, slowly creeping along?
My money is on you sitting and chilling, not waiting for a gap to pass.
Treat the users of the road as people, not drivers or cyclists. Just chill and wait. The road is for people, doesn't matter what they use to get about. If everyone just relaxed a bit and let others go about their business it would reduce the stress all round.

Pretty much exactly the same as when overtaking a group of cyclists actually. Pootle along until it is safe for me to do so, when I am the vehicle immediately behind the group of cyclists/slow moving vehicle causing a tailback. If I am not at the front of the queue of vehicles waiting to overtake, I pootle along, waiting until I am at the front of the queue, then start watching out for a place to overtake safely.

Please understand that I am not talking about overtaking a group of cyclists or any other vehicle in a traffic jam (what would be the point anyway, and its likely that the cyclists are going to be overtaking/undertaking me anyway), I am talking about roads that are not jammed up with heavy traffic. The kind of roads with 60mph speed limits.

If cyclists are not riding 3-4 abreast across a lane, I can give the cyclists more space to my left as I go past and have more opportunities to overtake safely. If you are filling up the entire lane (and I have on occasions seen the entire lane and half of the lane for oncoming traffic filled), I cannot pass you with the level of safety and the gap between you and me that I would prefer to have.

Cyclists riding one behind the other without break can form what needs to be considered as one entity when it comes to overtaking, and that line of cyclists can be far longer than any motorised vehicle on the road. Is it completely unreasonable to mention that something like this is extremely difficult to overtake in a safe manner?

I have often slowed down and pulled over to let someone past- if it seems likely I will be holding them up for a while, it seems only polite, especially if I am creating a small tailback. It also makes sense to wave someone on as you do this, so they know what's happening. This often depends on how the driver behind is behaving- If they wait patiently, at a safe distance, I am more likely to go out of my way to let them past than if they tailgate and beep. I often let large vehicles past on hills, as they are harder to control at slow speeds, and their close proximity is intimidating.

Seems like it would be my pleasure to be stuck behind you too lol

I don't tailgate cyclists, there is never a chance of me touching your wheel. I give cyclists as much room as I can when overtaking them (safely of course) and plenty of room between me and them when behind them.

I would be quite happy with you slowing down to let me pass, and quite happy for you to indicate that this is what you are doing with a wave, as I have now assumed that you are likely to be a cyclist who can do so without starting to wiggle back and forth across the lane. Some cyclists however, make the voices in my head scream "Get your hand back on the handlebars you twit!" These are the cyclists (and if I cycled on a road I would be one of them) that really need to just go about there business and let me do my overtaking of them when it is safe for me to do so.

It is extremely likely that the mad arm waving wibble wobbling cyclist don't read a forum such as this.

The point that I was really hoping that you would take away from the problem of tinted windows on a canopy (i.e. the cover over the load bin area) is ...
It is a reasonable for any road user to assume that a van with no rear window essentially has a redundant rear view mirror and no rear vision. It is not reasonable to assume that a vehicle that has a rear window has no visibility to the rear, yet this is the case with a vehicle with tinted windows on the canopy.

For the record, the front windscreen, and the side windows of the cab are not tinted at all. The vehicle is legal, and there are thousands of others just like it on the streets. Some of the canopies/load bin covers have no windows at all, making the rear of the vehicle much the same as a typical van.

I am not asking anyone to take responsibility for what I can and cannot see as has been suggested. I have a system of knowing what is where in relation to where I am that works very well for me. I did think it was useful for you to know the limitations of this type of vehicle though, particularly as they are so plentiful. Much like cyclists are aware of the problems of HGVs please just be aware of the limitations of the multitude of pickups.

On the subject of replacing it ...
If Earthloop earned an unlimited amount of money, or we won the lottery, it would be done in a day, because I really hate the restricted visibility the comes from the tinted canopy. However, as we are not in a financial position to do so, we do have to make do with what we have. If we were in the financial position to purchase a vehicle from new, we wouldn't be in the position of having the tinted canopy windows either, but sadly, when one purchases a vehicle used, one has to make do with the legal, but not very intelligent choices of the ones wealthy enough to do so.

tl;dr Be more visible, don't block overtaking, uk driving test poor, watch out for tinted windows on pickups.

Dare I stick my head above the parapet with this post??

I know there are drivers out there that don't consider cyclists at all. I am not one of them. I consider cyclists a lot. My husband cycles 32 miles a day commuting. I'm all for cyclists not getting knocked down.

It seems to me that a fair amount of cyclists don't drive at all, and I think have never considered cycling from a driver's perspective. Excluding all the things that basically just amount to total twatishness on the behalf of both parties, these are a few things that I think cyclists should be aware of when on the roads.

On visibility

• I can identify cyclists in bright/reflective clothing at a much greater distance than cyclists in dark clothing. The further away you are when I first notice you the better for us all.
  
• One dim light on the front and rear of your bike means that I am a lot closer to you when it becomes apparent that you are a cyclist. Flashing front and rear lights with a decent amount of brightness immediately trigger the 'cyclist' response in my head
  .
  
  

On overtaking cyclists
It is the driver's responsibility and the driver's responsibility alone to determine whether it is safe to overtake another vehicle/road user. Whether it is safe to overtake or not has multiple variables, two of which are driver ability, and vehicle capabilities.

When I come up behind you, at a place that it is not safe for me to pass you, I'm happy to pootle along behind you (at a safe distance) until it is safe to pass you. Please don't

• madly gesticulate for me to pass you, your arm movements causing you to wiggle all over the road. If my initial assessment was that it's not safe to pass you, what you are doing is making passing you less safe.
  
• pull over to the kerb and get off your bike until I have gone past. I'm not mad about the implication that I'm such a poor driver that I can't maintain a safe following distance behind you.
  
  

You reduce my opportunities to pass you safely when:

• you position yourself in the middle of the road, or in the right hand half of the road purely for the purposes of preventing a driver from overtaking you.
  
• you are a group of 3-4 cyclists riding abreast
  
• you are a group of 4 or more cyclists travelling one behind the other. A gap big enough for a car to pull into every two cyclists would be welcomed. A string of 10 cyclists, I would not be able to overtake safely unless on a very long straight road with no oncoming traffic, and those are very few and far between.
  
  
  

Being an imperfect person, when I am behind a cyclist/group of cyclists that could have been overtaken repeatedly had the cyclist/s shown just a little bit of consideration for me, I get ratty and irritable. My patience starts to wear thin from about the third passing opportunity that has been 'blocked'. Its not pretty, but according to Earthloop and the kid, my vitriolic outbursts are comical.

Blind Spots
There is a lot of info out there on how cyclists are not visible to HGVs.
None about how cyclists are not visible to a pickup. Unfortunately the person who originally purchased our pickup, had dark tinted windows put on the canopy.
We can see nothing with the rearview mirror day or night (other than the contents of the load bin) and are totally reliant on the wing mirrors. Visibility in a pickup with a canopy is limited at the best of time, with the shading, horrendous.

• From about a cars length away at the rear, until you are level with the front side windows, you are invisible to the drivers.
  
• Most importantly, when you decide to draft off the left side of me, I don't even know you are there unless I have a passenger that tells me about it.
  
  
  
  

On UK Driving Tests
There is excessive emphasis on 'making progress' in the UK driving test, which I consider, quite frankly, to foster dangerous habits amongst drivers, not only in terms of collisions with cyclists, but in terms of collisions with other vehicles too. Learner drivers are constantly told by instructors that the examiner will think that they lack confidence if they:

• drive slower than at the speed limit
  
• show hesitation at junctions with yield signs and at roundabouts.
  
• show hesitation when merging turning from a minor onto a major road
  
  

What the instructors and examiners consider showing hesitation, I consider making sure its safe.

I felt that these practices were unsafe when I did my UK driving test some 15 years ago (after having been a licensed tested driver in another country for about 12 years before that), and still feel these things create unsafe drivers when reminded of them a few months ago when our daughter did her test.

what amazed me is the stats in the program saying the average speed of a car in the city is now down to 11mph. Why on earth anyone would use a car is beyond me.

1. heavy/bulking object that need to be collected/delivered
   
2. when i know we're going not going to be done before the last train home leaves
   

I would love to shake Cynthia's hand! What a star.

My front left bumper would like to shake Gareth's hand ...

any competent driver would know the Highway Code- that you leave enough room for the cyclist that if they toppled sideways you'd miss them.

Did I completely the miss the bit about leaving enough room for a cyclist to topple sideways (about 6 foot).

Highway Code Excerpts:
163
Overtake only when it is safe and legal to do so. You should
not get too close to the vehicle you intend to overtake
give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car
212
When passing motorcyclists and cyclists, give them plenty of room (see Rules 162 to 167). If they look over their shoulder it could mean that they intend to pull out, turn right or change direction. Give them time and space to do so.

negotiate rent and rental agreement now, not just before moving date. make sure the rent is in your favour as you wouldn't be needing to rent if the seller's solicitors did their bit timeously.

I'm sure the solicitor will use a whole host of different terms, but the basic reason will be that you've now sorted out the things they couldn't be assed to, so its not as much work as at was starting to look like it would be.

ooh Andrew, didn't see your post until after posting mine. Much the same thing :) Suggest breaking protocol and the wheels start spinning overtime :)

maybe it would be worth proposing to your solicitors that they draw up the contract that the seller's solicitors are supposed to produce, with the amendments as everyone wants them. it could save everyone some time The mere suggestion is likely to horrify both sets of solicitors, possibly enough for them to be a little more proactive.

the problem with one flat not being a shareholder in the management company could be circumvented by the managementcompany that owns the freehold charging them a monthly fee for common area maintenance, and an additional rental for the share of the ground they are taking up until such time as they 'purchase' their share of the management company. I'm assuming how much they pay in management fees and how much they pay for a share of the freehold is not yet determined as per the original contracts you were looking at before amendments.

making suggestions to the solicitors of things that are perfectly feasible, but just aren't the way things are 'done' sends shivers up their spines, and somehow leads to things getting done in the traditional manner quite quickly ... you would not believe how quickly we had a set of searches come back after I said 'give me the forms and i will go to the council offices and take care of it'

the big question you need to ask yourself then, is "does this flat fill all my home hunting boxes to the extent that I'm unlikely to find another one that suits me as well as this one does". the answer to that question is also the answer to "should I stick this property transfer"

speak to the seller directly about what is going on. the sellers solicitor does not want to tell the seller they have stuffed up the contract, and neither does the agent. so, speak to the seller about what is going on directly and watch the change of pace after the seller has gone ape all over their solicitors ass.
I'd bet good money that the seller is being told that the various hold ups are due to something that your solicitor isn't doing. IMHO the prime reason that the solicitors and agents get twitchy if buyers and sellers try to talk to each other directly.

11 days is still a fair amount of time if both solicitors actually spend a little time on fixing things instead of going with 'we sent them a letter two weeks ago and they haven't responded', and the follow up of 'no we haven't phoned them' when you ask why they haven't chased up on it. Giving them a deadline of expecting to have papers in your hand by x date often tempts them to make phone calls instead of just wasting trees.

if you need someone to stay, we have the kinda household that can always squeeze one more body in, and if earthloop does some garage rearranging we could get some stuff in there too. worst case, you may need to hire some self storage space for a bit before you get to move into your new flat.

renting another place for 6 months and then starting this journey again, well ... the next journey will have just as much aggravation, although probably with different details. you've come so far on this one, instead of hitting the wall, push through it.

oh, and we have a pickup that could be put into service to help you move ... I'm too old and decrepit to do much of the moving from flat to van to storage/new flat, but can do the driving bit of it, and lots of "for cyclists, you sure move like a bunch of grannies when carrying a sofa" stuff.

can be awkward to get a spatula under things in a saute pan, the angled side of frying pan is more practical. neoflam are my preferred frying pan manufacturer, FWIW.
you could look at an enamel coated cast iron skillet ... doesn't have the same maintenance requirements as plain cast iron, has a shape that can be used as a frying pan easily enough, and you can saute in it.

you have made my night!!

this does explain how you knew your team was going to be shit so far in advance though

totally unable to do the fancy quoting stuff you guys do, but you can put a C by me and the mr ... we have the dates free and think this is an incredible cool way to spend a bit of time

I'm thinking probably a van of some sort, since it's going to need to take bikes and riders, plus allow for rest.

a camper van would be ideal, although costly. bikes could go on a carrier at the back, and the riders would at least be able to lie down for their rests. if we could get out one a microwave instead of a hob, we could have hot meals for the riders too which would be nice. about two hundred euros a day though.

would need to check what level of licence is needed to drive them though, and bear in mind that nipping into a grocery store is not easy with a larger vehicle. grocery store parking lots barely cope with my hilux :(

Mrs Earthloop, without being too forward, how are your massages? ;)

Well, we have a daughter (lets call her Fruitloop) in training as a sports therapist, so me giving massages is a little redundant around here. I can be trained up on how to make you all whimper and cry as much as she does.

Realistically though, you are not going to get much in the way of a massage until the race is complete. Vehicles have to stay with a team apart of pitstops with a max duration of 20 mins. One who really really wants a massage could argue that a 20 min pitstop is enough time for a leg massage, but a 20 min pitstop means that it will take about 40 mins to catch up to the team rider (depending on how many teams/cyclists are on the road - i'm just going on how long it takes it to find Earthloop on the road after the start of the rides he does around here and after the little 'entertainment breaks' we take along the way).

What sort of support vehicle does the team have in mind for this adventure? Are we looking for rider comfort during their non cycling periods or minimising expense?

Mrs Earthloop says she'd love to be a support driver.

Lots of logistics involved in this sort of thing, but I have an outline of how it can be made to work in my head ... 7 months away is both a 'long' time and just round the corner!