Sorry for no car content, but there weren’t many when my Great Grandad was cycling in 1882. To be honest, quite a lot of west London has changed a bit since the too. Luckily along with the diary of his rides, William Bennett has saved some maps and guides too.
As I am about to partake in an off road charity ride from West London to Brighton I have started to think about the roads and whether Great Grandad road any of the ones I will ride.
Here is the preface to his diary…
I am looking forward to finding out a little more.
I was thinking of riding some of the routes, but it seems places like St George’s Hill has changed a bit since becoming a gated community in 1910s an 1920s… access may be a little restricted.
If you are interested, I’ll post one of his rides
And here’s the link to the just giving page for my London to Brighton ride in aid of the British Heart Foundation
“A REMINDER. I would be grateful if those members who have borrowed bits from me in emergencies (e.g starter motor, oil cooler, etc) would return them and/or contact me”. – Chris Turner RIP
Hopefully this link works .
It’s a very simple page, text only and work in progress but the easiest way to publish the ride.
A 35 mile, 4 1/2 hour jaunt. http://www.impmad.co.uk/Site_2/StGeorge.html
Tim
Tim Bennett
RHD Targa 2.2T EFI, Triumph ITB's, EDIS and Megasquirt.
"Old enough to know what's right and young enough not to choose it"
#1153
911hillclimber wrote:too dangerous round here today to do that
Is it though? There’s about 1000 cyclists seriously injured or killed per billion road miles travelled in the UK, so on average you’d need to ride 100,000 miles before you get seriously hurt or 1,000,000 miles before you get killed.
KSI are up year on year but so are miles cycled.
Don’t let perceived danger stop you getting out, it’s still a very, very low risk. Or get a gravel bike and stick to bridleways and tracks.
Yep, got a really nice sort of cross over bike, but Chanel paths etc get a bit boring.
Have to drive somewhere first, seems to be the wrong approach.
Good luck with it Tim.
73T 911 Coupe, road/hillclimber 3.2L
Lola t 492 / 3.2 hillclimb racer
Boxster 987 Gen II 2.9
Unfortunately, I was almost a stat. I prefer off-road these days. First day back on my bike in London this evening! Still the best way to get around the capital
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“A REMINDER. I would be grateful if those members who have borrowed bits from me in emergencies (e.g starter motor, oil cooler, etc) would return them and/or contact me”. – Chris Turner RIP
I have highlighted this as I only remembered about your ride when I completed the ddk subs for Bootsy
and it was not all that easy to find as you hid it in the very interesting vintage post
"Actually - the death rate is more like 30 per billion miles, so you’d need to ride 3.3 million miles to be killed on average."
But there are very much good and bad riders, and for what it's worth, cyclists and then bike riders. I do more miles PA on a bike than in both of my 911s together and every day I see youths, kids etc. on bikes making dreadful dangerous moves, frequently without looking or indicating. The lad I saw riding in dark clothing without lights after dusk on the wrong side of the road would also be captured in that stat, whereas he actually belongs in the Darwin awards category.
Don't know about inner city riding as being a yokel I try to avoid entering them, I find the roads around here no more dangerous than when I was young.
Good luck Tim, and your family history always seems to be cool and interesting. How old would William have been in 1882 and would he have been using one of those new fangled 'safety cycle' or cutting it up on a penny farthing?
Last edited by Nige on Wed Aug 18, 2021 12:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
