Tag: hazards

October 11th – Still not feeling great, to be honest. Still sleepy and tired, I headed out at lunchtime to get something to eat, and do a little shopping. I needed to pop up to the Orbital in Cannock, so went via Pelsall, and up the Cannock Extension Canal.

It was a lovely autumn afternoon.

I particularly liked the boat with the unintentionally smiling face near the boatyard, and the golden hour as I returned through Pelsall was gorgeous.

If you’re out an about on a bike this weekend, do watch out for the twin hazards though: it’s hedge-flailing season and the roads are dotted with thorns, and following the inclement weather, many are coated in slippery mud. Beware, folks – both can wreck a good ride.

April 8th – It’s that time of year again. Following the big freeze, potholes and fissures open up in the roads. This is a normal process caused by wear, and the hydraulic shearing action of water under vehicle tyres. I notice many main roads have suffered this year – maybe worse than the side routes. Here at Lichfield Road, Sandhills, ice seems to have lifted and crazes the tarmac, which has broken down to grit – itself dangerous to the incautious cyclist.

Report anything like this directly to the appropriate council using http://www.fixmystreet.com – it’s free and surprisingly effective.

June 28th – Time for a bit of cycling knowledge. After heavy rains – like we had today – the roads are way more hazardous than usual. If it’s the first rain after a dry spell, the surface water becomes greasy and slippery, due to tyre rubber detritus and diesel being washed into the sludge. This makes white lines, ironworks and junctions really nasty. After heavy rain, silt washes of fields and gardens, bring with it loose gravel. This gathers in bands, hollows and dips, often just where cyclists cross junctions. The silt when wet is slippery, but when dry, will steal your wheels from beneath you. The gravel – known as ‘marbles’ to motorcyclists – gets progressively polished by vehicle wheels, and is like cycling on ball bearings. Take care – the hazard continues in the dry, too, and can last for weeks after a storm.

Councils don’t really understand the menace of this stuff to folk on two wheels. I wish they did.

October 18th – After pointing out yesterday that the cycleways and roads of the area would be hazardous due to wet leaf-litter, as if to confound me, today I noticed that Worcester Council – who look after Arrow Valley Park – had a street sweeper unit out to hoover up the debris. This is wonderful, and very effective. So unusual for a council to bother about cleaning places that aren’t on the public highway. A great thing indeed.

August 1st – A ride out to Burntwood took me along the Anglesey Branch. I’ve been meaning to mention for a while now that if you’re out cycling, watch out in the dry weather for patches of very dry sand. Deposited by heavy rain, when it dries it’s like hitting black ice and will easily have you off the bike. This patch near Wharf Lane, Brownhills isn’t too bad, but some of the patches that gather in road margins and at junctions – particularly when mixed with gravel and other road debris – can be evil. The motorcyclist term for these hazards is ‘marbles’, because that’s exactly how it feels when you ride into one. Take care.

May 25th – Back to Walsall. On my way into Bilston, I travel, as I often do, down Scarborough Road, Pleck. The surface of this road has been terrible for ages, and following complaints most of it has now been patched up, even though I was recently told by a Walsall Highway engineer that surveyors ’…Didn’t consider it dangerous’. I thank the council for sorting it.

Oddly, the last hundred yards or so – containing the most hazardous potholes – remains untouched, though clearly marked for repair. This loose gravel is a danger to all traffic, but to anyone on two wheels – motorised or otherwise – it’s deadly. Motorcyclists christen this loose detritus ‘marbles’ due to it’s slippery, destabilising effect, and it’s a real pain. This needs fixing. It’s time all road engineers woke up to this hazard.

Perhaps the permanently parked vehicles have been in the way, but I wish it could be sorted.