UKC

Do any of you cycle regularly through Hillsborough - following the tram route? It's part of my commute currently and generally OK but after rain today I cross a tram rail (by one of the high tram stops which push you across the left track in to the middle of the two rails), and I think the back wheel slipped, meaning I went down pretty hard.

Fortunately I had just turned and signalled to the car behind me that I had to move out so he had slowed down when I crashed, so he stopped well before the now sliding down the road on my side-me did!

Anyway, just wondered if anyone had some cunning back route to avoid riding along the tram route. Pennistone Road cycle path is the only obvious alternative I can see on the map although that would be very slightly further after my normal way through the centre, and I finish my morning ride going up the Worrall Road to Worrall, so turn off just north of Hillsborough centre.

In reply to TobyA:

Can't help you on route, but I believe the art is to hit them perpendicular. I'd go out of my way to avoid them.
A colleague had a similar problem recently. Hope you and the bike are ok.

In reply to TobyA:

Similar thing happened to me a couple of years back at Hillsborough corner where the tracks diverge. Now I tend to follow the Penistone road now and cut through Hillsborough Park, which will get you to within a turn or two of your current route and avoids the rails quite well. In some ways if you can keep a good average speed up it's easier to cycle along the road than the cyclepath, certainly on the way into town as you need to keep checking for cars pulling across you from either direction.

In reply to TobyA:
Saw this yesterday on twitter

http://www.tramcrash.co.uk/

Never had a problem myself, not that I ride it regularly, and mostly when I do it's on an MTB

Edit - just realised the tweets I saw were prompted by your crash !!

In reply to TobyA:

I feel your pain. I did the same thing turning into the tram station by central library in Manchester. Flat on my face in front of two platforms of onlookers! And to top it all, two trams came along at that exact minute. To be fair though, two people asked me if I was ok which was nice.

In reply to Chris the Tall:

When the (new) trams first came to Sheffield the hospital (not sure which as I think Hallamshire had A&E shut down around that time) kept records of all the crashes involving a hospital visit. West Street was a hot spot.

Richard Hammond would be the person to head up a campaign on this...

In reply to Chris the Tall:




Yeah - got lots of useful info and sympathy from the Sheffield cycling twitterratti. And logged my crash on the site.

I've been riding that route quite a lot since Xmas and hadn't had problems. My CX bike has reasonably wide tires on it so I figured that was helping (35s I think), so it was how this happened so easily that bothered me. I guess it was just that they were wet, but I have ridden in the wet before, and in the snow a couple of time (with my winter tyres on though) and so far no problems.

In reply to System Shaper:

Thanks, I guess I'm slightly lazy that in the mornings I've come around the centre following the ring road up to university roundabout, then I turn off the ring to get through to infirmary road just a bit before Shalemoor (IIRC) roundabout. So I would need to go down a bit further and cross Penistone Rd to get to the bike path. It might be the sensible option for coming home though.

In reply to TobyA:

You've just described my cycle commute <peers suspiciously out of window>. Unfortunately there aren't any great alternatives. Penistone Road was always awful to ride along, though they've re-jigged the lanes recently so it may be a little better than it was.

I cut down on track-crossing by slowing down a bit for tram platforms and staying to the left of both tracks. It's a narrow gap but can be done. I'm lucky to have never had a crash in 8 years of doing this route, though it helps that I stick to knobbly tyres for grip and so they can't drop into the rails.

In reply to Alyson:

8 years without a crash, that's quite impressive, I had a good run once but nothing like that long. It was maybe I got jinxed when I heard the saying; 'there's only 2 types of bikers, those that have crashed and those that are going to crash'

But then I'm not a Sheffield cyclist, so maybe there's different rules in der dar land!

Happy trails

In reply to TobyA:

When I lived out that way I had one incident by the infirmary road tram stop (how ironic) and then decided to take my chances on penistone road. The bit that always irritates me about the tram tracks is where the platforms/stops protrude out into the road blocking the area to the left of the left track and forcing you out into the road. You need to make a hard/tight quick and confident turn out to cross the track safely but then you get a car trying to pass you preventing you from doing this. There are foam rubber inserts that fit into the tram tracks to minimise the chance of bikes getting stuck but these probably cost money and the people responsible don't care.

In reply to TobyA:

Back in 2004 my back wheel dropped into the tram line and threw me off breaking my arm at the elbow. This was on Infirmary Road. The most annoying thing, apart from having a broken arm, was that it forced me to commute to work by tram for 6 weeks.

Now I'm completely paranoid when riding next to tram lines and make sure to cross them with an exaggerated jink. It is possible to stay between the left hand rail and the platform when passing a stop but it feels a bit delicate and is probably ill advised.

In reply to gethin_allen:


Yes, it was doing exactly that when I came off! Alyson and Jimbo obviously know exactly what you mean as well. It would be fine if it wasn't for the bloody stops.

Rode again today - drove yesterday as my knee was still weeping (yuck) - and was very cautious crossing the tracks. Lost my nerve obviously! Rode home by going down through Hillsborough Park and along Penistone Road, but to be honest the cycle path along the east side of the road is kinda crappy - stop start stop start etc. So not sure its such a big improvement!

In reply to Alyson:

If you see a bloke on white Boardman CX bike, normally carrying a courier bag and wearing baggy shorts over tights - chances are it will be me so give me a wave!