Welcome to Commuter Motorcycle Club
Good morning,
Welcome to the Commuter Motorcycle Club Mid-Winter Portal
Winter is upon us truly, we've had the snow and now the ice, black ice and slushy ice is here, be careful on those two wheels out there, rubber is less grippy in the cold and even less grippy on ice, so easy on the brakes and no trailing the back in bends, just to be safe :)
Last time we changed the pages here we said goodbye to Marco, sadly now we have to say goodbye to Argentinian rider Jorge Martinez Boero who died while being airlifted to hospital from his accident at the Dakar, RIP Jorge. While on the subject of the Dakar, French rider Sebastien Coue is critically ill after being found unconcious on the course, we hope he recovers fully and quickly. I know the roads of the UK and further afield aren't like the Dakar (even though some cagers drive like they are taking part!) but please be careful out there, our motorcycling brothers and sisters are being hurt and killed all the time. We can't find any more details about Coue but we hope he made a full recovery.
But looking out the window today it's clear blue skies, slightly damp underfoot from the latest wet gale but it's pretty good riding weather, onwards and upwards!
A little bit of politics
Westminster Council are in the news yet again. Socio-political groups are rounding on the council from hell over their attitude to parking again as the Guardian reported just before Christmas here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/11/galleries-theatres-condemn-westminster-parking and when Boris Johnson is berating his own party colleagues, it doesn't look good. The latest wheeze is to remove single yellow lines and replace them with doubles, all to aid the disabled and help the flow of traffic. Nutsville has, yet again, done a great job in reporting this issue here: http://nutsville.com/?p=3699 so we won't cover it here, suffice it to say that the spin put out by Westminster is looking very dodgy given that they were so concerned about this way back in 2009.
One of the subject Nutsville and colleagues pressed Westminster Council on was their illegal use of CCTV to give motorists fines, the BBC report on the issue here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-15755954 back in November 2011. More fuel, if it were needed, that Westminster Council just aren't playing by the rules of decency or morality.
The update here is that Westminster have dropped the evening charges for now but have still reduced the amount of free kerb space, which was seriously underestimated by the council's Martin Low who obviously hasn't read the instructions that came with his calculator. Not only does he have trouble with his calculator but also with the Highway Code as you're not supposed to park within 10M of a junction but it seems Low and his parking stasi think it's ok to have a parking bay within 10m. One rule for us and another for them.
Appeal
This is a general appeal to our two wheeled brothers and sisters of the cycling fraternity about road safety. Without generalising too much and with the appreciation that many cyclists are road savvy and know what's going on around them. If only all cyclists were like that (and all motorcyclists were like the Mets finest!) it would be great but cyclists need to be aware that popping out of a traffic queue to the central line without looking is dangerous. This is where we motorcyclists like to creep along to get to the lights, it's also where the slippy white lines are and where our brakes don't work very well. We know cyclists don't like like motorbikes in their sanctuary of the ASL and Bus Lanes and sometimes it's an uneasy truce but popping out without looking is going to hurt, please lets all look out for each other, two wheels is best.
We also know that motorcycles are (since 23rd January 2012) allowed in red route bus lanes and as motorcyclists the majority of people on this forum would support that. However, some road users don't but we are allowed and so need to get on. If we just appreciated each others predicament I'm sure we'd find cyclists and motorcyclists had far more in common than we might first think.
Top ten things to look forward to this time of year
1. Hot soup/chocolate.
2. The days are getting longer.
3. Winter TV is generally better (debatable?).
4. Great clear night skies to look up to the heavens.
5. Spring is next!
6. Room to park your bike at bike meets.
7. Lack of Power Rangers riding like they have to doge every bit of muck on the road.
8. Akin to Number 7, no flies, wasps, bees or midges.
9. Ale tastes much better, warm and fulfilling, and Porter is available in some pubs.
10. Comfort food! This obviously includes cake.
Coming up!
Winter riding has more risk that summer riding so have a look at our pages for some tips on winter riding and if you have any more, please let us know (Comments can be sent in at the bottom of the page)
Don't forget to pop up on the forum and say hello, join in with the banter or just peek over from behind the pit wall.
Catch up with us on Twitter: @gocmc and Facebook
Cheers, enjoy and have fun.
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Reply #4 on : Thu January 05, 2012, 10:46:29
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Reply #1 on : Sat November 26, 2011, 13:54:31