I joke about 'range anxiety' both from fear of Hypos and fear that the battery will run out of power and I will have to tackle the hills without assistance..... which adds to the risk of hypos..... etc
I like the "range anxiety" re hypos comment, very true, my friends always comment that I could probably go faster without a frame bag half-filled with food, to which I respond that I won't be going anywhere at all if I need some and can't get it right there right then!
What kind of range do you both get on your battery packs
@Austin Mini and
@Val1133 ?
@trophywench it's a tricky one, I live in a village, so no cycling infrastructure has been put in place (nor needs to be), I simply try to avoid the main/busy/narrow roads where possible, though sometimes you need to bridge between some more pleasant sections by travelling on one of these. In the towns/cities where I have cycled, I would generally also do the above (i.e. choose a quiet route), however I guess there are some places where cyclists are forced onto the larger roads for want of any other route, however it's not much fun riding in a narrow lane when there's lots of traffic on both sides of the road (as even the narrow lanes are generally squeezed in) so I try to avoid it if at all possible. I'd certainly not want my children to ride in them until they are confident enough to ride in traffic without a lane at all.
I've just had a look at the A45 via Google Maps and it appears that the (fairly wide) footpath that runs alongside the road has been made dual use? I didn't spot any places where a complete lane had been removed (I only had a quick look though and perhaps the streetview footage is out of date) but I can understand the frustration that would cause, I can equally understand the concerns with dual usage footpaths, one hopes that people are sensible and give way to one another. I would generally prefer to ride on the road rather than a dual usage path if there are any significant number of pedestrians on it and the road isn't too terrible, but I can certainly see the appeal for children to be able to legally ride there and be significantly safer than on the road.
I do get the feeling that things have sometimes just been shoved in because there was some money available/PR to be gained, when often it's the linkages between the quiet roads that could make all the difference if e.g. a path were opened up/created and/or a curb dropped to facilitate getting between those otherwise unaltered quiet roads.
The ideal case, which is generally not possible, is fully segregated multi-use paths, ideally ones that don't run alongside or take lanes away from busy and smelly main roads! (Bristol is quite good, I commute there for work from time to time.)
I should add that I also drive, so I'm by no means in a hypothetical (driven by the media for headlines I would suggest) "everyone must cycle, who cares about car drivers" camp.
