I’ve just put it up here – http://napalmgram.co.uk/wordpress/index.php/2013/03/27/hilly-round-the-houses-bike-ride-in-nottingham/ – Not the most inspiring routes, but there’s some stiff >10% sections to get the legs and lungs working on the way to work. Bit short of new routes this year as I’ve been sticking to the main grit routes so far. Hoping it’ll improve after easter.

It does seem to be a common theme amongst audaxer’s conversations. There is a balancing act to fitting in as much as you want with what you can get away with. I know I’ve missed out on events I’ve really wanted to do, or ended up having to book a day off work to do a mid-week 200 for RRTY. In my case I’m lucky that my wife is happy’ish’ to loose one weekend day a month which covers me for 200s+300s, and then I can swing 2 weekends a year for the 400 and 600 for an SR. And luckily for me for Mille Alba this year my wife has a good friend in Edinburgh so I was able to get the weekend by suggesting she visited her friend while I ripped my legs off.

In addition to the lift there are stairs that a lot of cyclists prefer to use and carry their bikes down. The bridge is well used by cyclists and pedestrians and I am keen to ensure that both sets of users are safe when on the bridge.

I hope you enjoyed your visit north of the Border and can sympathise about the midges – absolutely vicious! Luckily they aren’t prevalent here on the east coast.

I’m in total agreement about respecting other users of any shared facility. In our defence we were crossing pretty early in the day and their were no pedestrians using the walkway at the time of our crossing (I can’t speak for others on our ride as we split into smaller groups), and for audaxers ‘thundering’ is relative (none of us are likely to be challenging the Tour de France any time soon :))

You have a good facility there. The entrances from the south are well signposts, well graded and no nasty sharp corners for cyclists to negotiate or for us to suprise pedestrians when we appear. And the surface over the bridge is good and smooth, and being central we aren’t buffeted by the wind as badly as on other bridges. The only slight niggle was the lift at the north end, it was quite cosy with 3 bikes in there and took a little bit of shuffling.

So, I’d like to recommend the Tay Bridge for cycle crossings, and echo your concerns over the inconsiderate minority of cyclists who cause problems.

The central walkway is a shared use facility for pedestrians and cyclists and we are having issues with cyclists not giving sufficient warning/courtesy to pedestrians. We have had instances recently of pesestrians being struck by cyclists who have failed to cycle with sufficient care and attention.

I am trying to get this message over to the cycling community and the fact that you used the term “thundered” over the bridge might infer to other cyclists that the walkway can be used to cross at speed which is not the case.

We are more than happy that the numbers of cyclists using the bridge has increased however care is needed when using the walkway.

regards
Iain Mackinnon
Manager
Tay Road Bridge

It is pretty well signposted as it’s part of the council’s Big Wheel/Big Track project.

The only bit that’s a little bit confusing is on the Trent section at Clifton Flyover. The description above covers it going anti-clockwise, but it’s probably worth zooming in on the map so you can visualise it before you head round.

There’s also good running if you keep following the Trent up or downstream. If you head upstream from Beeston Lock you’ll get to Attenbrough Nature reserves, which are a nice place to run if you get there before too many dog walkers and families, or you can head downstream from Trent Bridge to the Water Sports centre at Holme Pierrepoint which is quite nice as well. It’s just a bit of a pain for runners that the Trent crossings are so far apart as you tend to get forced into out and backs rather than nice loops.