It is currently Fri Mar 29, 2024 7:57 am


Cardiff aiming to be UK's top cycling city

if it's about Cardiff.. Sport, Entertainment, Transportation, Business, Development Projects, Leisure, Eating, Drinking, Nightlife, Shopping, Train Spotting! etc.. then we want it here!
  • Author
  • Message
Offline

Cen

  • Posts: 527
  • Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: Cardiff aiming to be UK's top cycling city

PostThu Feb 23, 2017 10:31 am

Simon__200 wrote:
Cen wrote:East Cardiff is not very flat at all. St Mellons, Lisvane, Pontprennau, Rumney, Llanrumney - all suburbs that comprise a rather large amount of hills. I can barely get up Rumney Hill in my little car, let alone cycle! I can appreciate that the centre and the west are all relatively flat, but if people can't comfortably cycle around their own home then they will never get to these areas anyway.

This is ridiculous. St. Melons, Lisvane, etc. are predominantly flat with a few gentle inclines. Even Rumney Hill is a veritable gentle incline when compared with the hilly landscape of most places in Wales.

I'm a driver and a cyclist, and I can immediately tell a Cardiff native driver by the way many of them often do not even instinctively leave their cars in gear when parking. I cannot for the life of me understand where many of you can get the idea that Cardiff is not predominantly flat, just because it has a few inclines or because Cambridge and Amsterdam are even flatter.

Ridiculous? I lived in St Mellons. On a steep hill. I don't know what other information you need. Where on Earth do you live that you think the suburbs of Cardiff are flat? We aren't trying to tell you that Cardiff is like the Alps. We're making the point that it is just hilly enough to make cycling undesirable for the average commuter. You need to accept that the average person may not be as fit or as motivated as you to cycle to and from work every day. One "gentle incline" to you could be a real struggle for someone else.

For the record, I always leave my car in gear. Even on the flat!
Offline

RandomComment

  • Posts: 881
  • Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2014 10:50 pm

Re: Cardiff aiming to be UK's top cycling city

PostThu Feb 23, 2017 1:44 pm

You can use this map to look at the topography of the UK:

http://en-gb.topographic-map.com/places ... don-92154/

Looking at it suggests Cardiff is flatter than Bristol, which has much more of a cycling culture. And large parts of the inner city are basically flat, with most of northern Cardiff, and Trowbridge also accessible via routes with really pretty modest and/or short inclines.

The only places that look to be tough are: Rumney and Llanrumney (that hill does take a bit of work), Cyncoed, Radyr, parts of Lisvane, and parts of Fairwater. Other areas will require you to peddle up and down a bit but... for someone of average fitness, shouldn't really pose any sort of problem.
Offline

Mr Blue Sky

  • Posts: 408
  • Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2014 12:55 pm

Re: Cardiff aiming to be UK's top cycling city

PostThu Feb 23, 2017 2:30 pm

RandomComment wrote:You can use this map to look at the topography of the UK:

http://en-gb.topographic-map.com/places ... don-92154/

Looking at it suggests Cardiff is flatter than Bristol, which has much more of a cycling culture. And large parts of the inner city are basically flat, with most of northern Cardiff, and Trowbridge also accessible via routes with really pretty modest and/or short inclines.

The only places that look to be tough are: Rumney and Llanrumney (that hill does take a bit of work), Cyncoed, Radyr, parts of Lisvane, and parts of Fairwater. Other areas will require you to peddle up and down a bit but... for someone of average fitness, shouldn't really pose any sort of problem.


Have you read the thread? I'd already posted the link to the map twice! I guess you don't know Cardiff well because cycling round Thornhill, Ely, Caerau, Pentrebane, Pontprennau, Llandeyrn, Pentwyn is difficult because they are all hilly. Cycling from Ely Bridge to Culverhouse Cross is pretty difficult for the averagely fit person - a 200 foot climb in a mile and a half is pretty exerting. Maybe you should try it sometime and report back. Cycling uphill isn't like walking uphill - you are having to propel your own weight plus the 10-15kg of the bike too. Imagine walking up a hill with a two year old child on your back - that is what cycling up hill is like.

Jantra

Re: Cardiff aiming to be UK's top cycling city

PostThu Feb 23, 2017 3:41 pm

Caerau isn't really hilly unless you venture beyond the home guard and then it's not very challenging
Offline

redragon

  • Posts: 154
  • Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2014 5:31 pm

Re: Cardiff aiming to be UK's top cycling city

PostThu Feb 23, 2017 4:01 pm

I've missed loads of the messages here but assume people are suggesting that that the cycling strategy will not work because of hills??? No.
Offline

LocalResident

  • Posts: 87
  • Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2014 2:45 pm

Re: Cardiff aiming to be UK's top cycling city

PostThu Feb 23, 2017 4:18 pm

e-bikes! hill problems resolved for all - build the bike lanes ;)
Offline

Cen

  • Posts: 527
  • Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: Cardiff aiming to be UK's top cycling city

PostThu Feb 23, 2017 4:29 pm

redragon wrote:I've missed loads of the messages here but assume people are suggesting that that the cycling strategy will not work because of hills??? No.

I never said the cycling strategy wouldn't work because of hills. My reasoning was different but I still don't think it will work here (even though people should cycle more).

I was arguing against the idea that Cardiff is flat. It really isn't compared to the famous cycling cities. And there is a reason cycling is so popular there - they have little to no inclines at all. It doesn't matter how hilly Cardiff is when compared to the Welsh Valleys because nobody cycles there anyway. It's an irrelevant point. The average human being is lazy. You can't force them to cycle up a hill, no matter how steep. In a perfect world where everybody is an upstanding member of society and actively takes care of their body, there is no reason it couldn't work in Cardiff. But the reality, unfortunately, couldn't be further from this.
Offline

Mr Blue Sky

  • Posts: 408
  • Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2014 12:55 pm

Re: Cardiff aiming to be UK's top cycling city

PostThu Feb 23, 2017 7:34 pm

Looking at the plans in the draft cycling strategy http://cardiff.moderngov.co.uk/document ... ix%201.pdf the scheme to link the city centre to Waterhall/Creigau (at least 10000 new homes) relies on using the trackbed of the disused railway as a cycling "superhighway". This makes a lot of sense but given that the council is committed to using this rail route as either a light/heavy rail line, or a Bus Rapid Transit corridor, something has to give.

Unless, that is, the plan is to have bikes and public transport both using this route.

What is unfeasible, in my opinion, is to have cycling as the main mode of getting from one place to another in Waterhall, given the gradients involved, many of which were 1:12 or 1:15 if I remember correctly.
Offline

Simon__200

  • Posts: 301
  • Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2014 7:07 pm

Re: Cardiff aiming to be UK's top cycling city

PostThu Feb 23, 2017 9:37 pm

Mr Blue Sky wrote:Have you read the thread? I'd already posted the link to the map twice! I guess you don't know Cardiff well because cycling round Thornhill, Ely, Caerau, Pentrebane, Pontprennau, Llandeyrn, Pentwyn is difficult because they are all hilly. Cycling from Ely Bridge to Culverhouse Cross is pretty difficult for the averagely fit person - a 200 foot climb in a mile and a half is pretty exerting. Maybe you should try it sometime and report back. Cycling uphill isn't like walking uphill - you are having to propel your own weight plus the 10-15kg of the bike too. Imagine walking up a hill with a two year old child on your back - that is what cycling up hill is like.


The map shows that the city area of Cardiff is flat as pancake, with a few moderate inclines around some of the suburbs. I don't know how anyone can complain that Cardiff's topography is what's holding it back from having a succesful cycle policy. But we don't really need a map to tell us that, because we are surely already aware of these places.
Offline

Mr Blue Sky

  • Posts: 408
  • Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2014 12:55 pm

Re: Cardiff aiming to be UK's top cycling city

PostFri Feb 24, 2017 12:35 am

Simon__200 wrote:
Mr Blue Sky wrote:Have you read the thread? I'd already posted the link to the map twice! I guess you don't know Cardiff well because cycling round Thornhill, Ely, Caerau, Pentrebane, Pontprennau, Llandeyrn, Pentwyn is difficult because they are all hilly. Cycling from Ely Bridge to Culverhouse Cross is pretty difficult for the averagely fit person - a 200 foot climb in a mile and a half is pretty exerting. Maybe you should try it sometime and report back. Cycling uphill isn't like walking uphill - you are having to propel your own weight plus the 10-15kg of the bike too. Imagine walking up a hill with a two year old child on your back - that is what cycling up hill is like.


The map shows that the city area of Cardiff is flat as pancake, with a few moderate inclines around some of the suburbs. I don't know how anyone can complain that Cardiff's topography is what's holding it back from having a succesful cycle policy. But we don't really need a map to tell us that, because we are surely already aware of these places.


Riiight..
Previous

Return to Cardiff Wales Map forum

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 40 guests