The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)

[Cudzoziemiec]

What sort of gates can be unlocked with RADAR keys?

[matthew]

Anti motor bike gates on tow paths can sometimes be opened by RADAR keys to allow wheelchairs to pass.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That sounds reasonably sensible. I can't think of any such gates I've encountered on tow paths round here though.

[citoyen]

That sounds reasonably sensible. I can't think of any such gates I've encountered on tow paths round here though.

Not strictly a towpath but there’s one on NCN1 as it runs alongside the creek at Conyer, nr Sittingbourne.

[yorkie]

That sounds reasonably sensible. I can't think of any such gates I've encountered on tow paths round here though.

Not strictly a towpath but there’s one on NCN1 as it runs alongside the creek at Conyer, nr Sittingbourne.

Likewise the gates onto Hob Moor in York have RADAR key openable gates. Avoids using the fecking awful "mini cattle grid/A-frame with anti-motorbike tray" barriers! 

[Kim]

That sounds reasonably sensible. I can't think of any such gates I've encountered on tow paths round here though.

Middle Earth has loads, though due to an outbreak of common sense, most of those that haven't been removed have been locked open by British Waterways.



While a good idea in principle, the locks tend to seize through lack of use, and the gates aren't exactly easy for an unaccompanied disabled person on, say, a handcycle or mobility scooter to open.  Part of my Tunnel Ride recce traditionally involved squirting a copious amount of WD40 into the lock on the gate on the north side of the Netherton Tunnel.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Is the gap on the right actually wide enough to get an upright, luggage-less, non-trailered bike through? It doesn't look it but maybe that's just the camera. And clearly no chance of a Baraktacycle passing through.

[Kim]

Is the gap on the right actually wide enough to get an upright, luggage-less, non-trailered bike through? It doesn't look it but maybe that's just the camera. And clearly no chance of a Baraktacycle passing through.

I think (don't think I've actually had a bike through that one, but there are similar gates across the network) you can just about wriggle one through the slalom (out of shot to the right).  26" or smaller wheels certainly help, panniers certainly hinder.

With a suitable bike it's slightly less faff than opening the gate, if there's just the one of you, though I tended to use the gates anyway in the interests of giving the mechanisms a work-out.  I recall explaining to anglers (with trolleys of kit, which are also fairly awkward) where to buy a key on more than one occasion.

[slowfen]

Stupid f***ing lane swimmers, is your life so meaningless that a lane circulation opposite to usual warrented a formal complaint.

[ian]

You should swim counter to the next lane (so clockwise, anti-, clockwise or vice versa), other there's a risk of clashing arms and visits to A&E. Other than that, I don't think it matters.

[slowfen]

The swimmer was upset we wouldn't re-arrange the whole pool (30+) for them

[ElyDave]

It wasn't Ely was it?  that wouldn't surprise me a bit.

Biggest problem there is the peole that think they should be in Medium when they are barely Slow, just flapping along with a breast stroke gentle enough not to skin a custard

[ian]

Quite a few men won't go in the slow lane because it's for the girls innit. Plus the water in there might make them go gay and stop liking football. The slow lane is a dangerous thing.

That said, lane swimming is a bit of live and let live, not everyone will be the same speed, I always swim towards the edge and if necessary pause at the end of a length so people can overtake if necessary.

[SteveC]

The pool in Woking used to have three lanes marked 'slow and steady', 'feeling good' and 'fast and furious'. The lifeguards would actually ask you to move lanes if you were too out of range for the other users.

[slowfen]

Yes it is Ely. 

Managing people in lanes is not easy. They will go in the wrong lane for their speed, but also there is a lack of respect and etiquette.
On top of that, telling some one they are in the wrong lane (esp if to slow for the lane) can and does have the same effect as telling them that they are a bad driver.
Anecdote observation. The worst overall are middle-aged men and late middle-aged women often worse if triathletes. The most tolerant are the are the younger fitter swimmers.
Some of us do try and manage/move, but it is not consistent across the staff, also, it distracts you from the pool for too long

[ElyDave]

There are a lot of people who will wait at the turns if you are faster, and let you go first, which is very helpful.  The biggest issue is the differentials, which most people just don't seem to recognise, and I've been there where there are people who should be in the slow lane mixing it with those who should be in the fast lane, both in the medium lane and it all gets nasty pretty quickly when you have four people trying to pass each other in a space 2-lanes wide.   I'm typically a fast-medium or slow-fast lane swimmer and I'm always looking to see who else is in there to see which lane to choose.

Must be even more difficult in the summer hols with only half a pool most of the time.

[ian]

My local pool has one wide lane for lap swimmers, generally there's plenty of room for people to safely overtake as it's effectively double width. There's a free swimming lane for slower people, though it can get clogged with kids, and for some reason it only one family to block the entire lane and make it unusable for anyone trying to swim, parents rarely try to corral their kids. So the slower swimmers sometimes end up the lap lane.

Anyway, I confess it's always blokes of my age or less who give way and take care to swim towards the side. Women and older men, just push out in front and amble down the middle of the pool as though they're on a mission to obstruct as many people as possible.

(My wife always swims in the slow lane [when there's one available] and she's not a slow swimmer, though she doesn't believe me despite often being told to move to the medium lane.)

[fimm]

The triathlon forum I used to post on had a "Swim Rant" thread...

To my embarrasment, I cleared the "fast" lane in the pool I was in on Sunday. I always warm up in the slow lane as I like to do mixed strokes and neither my breaststroke nor my backstroke are particularly good. To be honest, my crawl is not fast by triathlete standards, but it is at least vaguely competent... unlike anyone else who was in the pool on Sunday... so when I did a couple of lengths easy just to get going I found I had the fast lane to myself. Which was annoying as I wanted to do some drills which I would normally do in the slow lane. However everyone else was now in the slow lane so I just stayed where I was and did my drills and hoped no one faster would turn up, which fortunately they didn't.

I'm more usually there in a morning before work. There are a couple of women in the slow lane who NEVER let anyone past. The people in the "fast" lane are much better at moving out of the way for one another, I find.

[yorkie]

That sounds reasonably sensible. I can't think of any such gates I've encountered on tow paths round here though.

Not strictly a towpath but there’s one on NCN1 as it runs alongside the creek at Conyer, nr Sittingbourne.

Likewise the gates onto Hob Moor in York have RADAR key openable gates. Avoids using the fecking awful "mini cattle grid/A-frame with anti-motorbike tray" barriers! 

Added pictures. My Ribble Audax nobbut goes through with the cranks bang on horizontal. With the Brompton, there's no fecking chance - it's RADAR key or nowt!

[Kim]

What the actual fuck?

(Post a copy to this thread so we can find it again later?)

[Mrs Pingu]

That looks like one of those scary mechanical foot measuring robots they had in shoe shops when I was a small Miss Pingu.

[Kim]

That looks like one of those scary mechanical foot measuring robots they had in shoe shops when I was a small Miss Pingu.

I remember those.  They were the best bit about being taken shoe shopping.  Do they still have them?  (The great thing about being a grown-up is that you can buy shoes on the internet and not have to go shoe shopping.)

[Mrs Pingu]

I can't buy shoes on t'internet cos I have feet the opposite shape to everyone else on the planet.

[Tim Hall]

That looks like one of those scary mechanical foot measuring robots they had in shoe shops when I was a small Miss Pingu.

I remember those.  They were the best bit about being taken shoe shopping.  Do they still have them?  (The great thing about being a grown-up is that you can buy shoes on the internet and not have to go shoe shopping.)

Older readers will remember the foot x ray machine. What were they thinking? Shop, people, children. Let's add ionising radiation.

[ElyDave]

I can't buy shoes on t'internet cos I have feet the opposite shape to everyone else on the planet.

I beg to differ. I am N+1 in this context