Who's been struck in the head by a pigeon, while biking? It happened to me this morning

I can't resist telling you this one - perhaps it's a common occurrence for cyclists.

I was cycling gently through Victoria Park this morning, near the lake by the Pavilion. My 3 year-old daughter was in the child-seat behind me.

Suddenly a flock of pigeons flew across the path - towards the water. I was right in the middle of the flock. Normally you'd expect them to avoid you. That's what birds do, isn't it?

Lovely photo by professional photographer
Simon de Glanville - Source

Well, one came thwacking into my head. Luckily I was wearing my helmet, which took the brunt of the hit. It didn't really hurt, but was pretty shocking. And unusual, I would have thought.

A quick query on Twitter was inconclusive about whether people get hit reguarly.

But this was revealing:

almacdSE1 @karmacycle I get pigeoned a lot in east London. Round Aldgate. Odd.

 

Anyway, if you have anything to add about the subject of being hit by birds while biking, please add to this blog by hitting the comment button!

Beautiful London morning in autumn; cycling through leaves in Victoria Park

Nuff said?

New canal-side cafe opens ... will it be used?

Very excited to see a new cafe on the Regent's Canal between Victoria Park and Islington. It seemed to be called "The Towpath". I'm guessing you buy a coffee or croissant and then ... cycle off? Or maybe stop for a few minutes. Perhaps not great if you're commuting, but you could see that if you're taking a leisurely stroll or cycle, it could be very nice.

Needless to say, I took some video as I went past.



Has anyone else spotted this, or indeed used it?

The roundabout of death

This morning I risked the roundabout of death. Some of you may know it - it's a very very strange cycle path which runs along the edge of a roundabout on the edge of Victoria Park - intersecting Grove Road and the Old Ford Road. The main problem with it is that you're actually going the opposite way to traffic, and traffic does not expect you to be crossing their path just as they're trying to turn left off the roundabout.

Thanks to helmet cam, I took a shot of myself traversing it. It looks quite benign in the video as there were no cars coming either way - but hopefully you can get the idea of how dangerous it is.

Here's how you can find it
View Larger Map And here's my rather crappy video from my helmet. Again, apologies for the editing - still not quite there yet.

What's the point in a Pusha ... bike?

I was intrigued to see a small group of people in Victoria Park, East London, walking along next to a shiny new looking white bike. There was a woman on the bike, kind of riding it, but making very heavy weather of it. When I looked at the bike more closely (well, it didn't need to be that close, to be honest, as it was pretty obvious) I saw that the bike had no pedals. Just a sort of running board, like a scooter, or on the side of those wonderful old cars. This particular lady was having a lot of trouble making the bike go. I think the principle is that you sort of scoot using your feet on the ground, then glide along.

The big question is ... why? I wouldn't have thought you could pick up any speed, and wouldn't it be irritating to have to keep running along the ground? I'd be interested to know if anyone's tried one, or could throw some light on what advantage they could have over a "normal" bike. The company, Pusha, do have a website though I found it slightly imprenetrable and it froze after a few clicks.

This KarmaCycle blog does have positive effects, I've found out ...

To my joy and surprise I discovered not only that the occasional person does read this blog (ooooh) but also they actually act on it. Steady now my friend. On Saturday night I bumped into a friend in what's often rather laughably known as "Victoria Park Village"* - basically it's the roundabout area just north of Victoria Park - we talked for a few seconds only, but then he said the magic words:

"I was reading your blog about the "incident" on the canal and when I biked on it this morning I was extra careful and extra polite".

Wow - a testament to the power of new media? Living proof that the brand known as KarmaCycle has finally made it mainstream? errr... more like a mate who I'd sent the link to had actually bothered to click it, but nonetheless, a first for me, and it gives me extra impetus to continue. ("For heaven's sake", I hear you cry, "don't give KarmaCycle any more impetus - he'll only go and write some more nonsense"... etc etc)

* Whoops, sorry, I've just found a link to Victoria Park Village dot com and found out that in fact the area is not only "delightful" but "a true East End London village". Actually to be fair, the first is certainly true.

New discoveries going East along the Regent's Canal

My last blog post turns out to be a bit erroneous - in fact yesterday (Sunday) was the nicest cycling day of the year. My eldest has suddenly become a huge cycling fan (nothing to do with me guv, honest) and we celebrated by taking the bikes East - from the easterly tip of Victoria Park, through the Hackney Marshes and beyond. We got pleasantly lost around the Lea Valley river/canal area but stopped for a picnic in Springfield Park which in itself turned out to be a bit of a revelation. With the sun shining, exploring a new part of London we fancied ourselves to be in a different country altogether - the outlandish graffitti art merely adding to the effect. This was the kind of day which cycling was invented for.

Karma rating: *****

Particularly liked this croc, just opposite the site of the main new Olympic stadium ...

Speaking Freely "I'm not commuting today but..."

"I'm not commuting today but I'm having a lovely day. Wondering around Victoria Park on my bike. Enjoying going at leisurely place ___. Please leave any comments on the issues discussed below. Thanks."
spoken through SpinVox