folder fanatic

To all our European folding bike users:

I am concerned about how you are all doing during this Volcano emergency. How is your folding bike assisting your travel plans on trains or buses now that most airlines are grounded for a time? I hope that you are not stranded somewhere unable to go home (that is a real fear I have when I am lucky enough to travel). Please report in and let us know. Do feel free to vent your frustrations here if you need to. I hope that the Iceland volcano will quiet down some so the planes can fly again.

MichaelW

Well as a Dahon rider and someone unable to fly, I feel qualified to reply. I wasn't going on a cycling holiday, just a regular spring, catch-some-Mediterranean-sun week away. The destination was Sicily and the plan was to check out some of their volcanoes. Ho hum.
I can rebook at a later date. Im not too peeved; the large high pressure system that is guiding the ash towards us is giving lots of dry, sunny weather in the UK, AND pushing our usual cloudy, raining spring weather southwards. It is cool and damp in the Med.

We dont expect anything to fly for a good few days to come then it will be chaos in the skys whilst the airlines try to get back on track.
My only surprise is that there is enough space to park all these aircraft on the ground. The urban myth is that there isnt room to ground every aircraft.
Thanks for asking.

snafu21

There was panic buying in the shops yesterday, the UK gets most of its lettuce from West Africa, and the major supermarket chains were reporting an impending lettuce famine.

Simple Simon

Silence is golden - you can even hear the birds in Thames valley - perfect for Biking.

Welcome back snafu ... love your humour !

snafu21

Thank you. I am so glad we have got rid of all those nasty polluting aircraft, and replaced them with a volcano.

wahoonc

At least the volcano is natural

Aaron

Dynocoaster 

This morning on the news the anchor said ash cloud was worse today then on Thursday.

snafu21

I just got back from cycling to find a large amount of it on my car. :-(

ddez

That is a great one liner,kinda thing one would hear from some famous comedian. Maybe a Jay Leno type. You should consider being a writer for a comedian,that was a good laugh.

Foldable Two

1) How did people take their 5,000 mile exotic vacations - twice a year - before airplanes???

2) Can anyone actually be happy confined to a folding bike for long periods?

Inquiring minds want to know. Call it the great European/Volcanic experiment.

Lou

JimT

Kinda reminds me of when our TV broke when I was in early high school. We found out that there was a lot of other things to do with our time than watch TV. Still is the same today...........I hardly ever watch TV.

Where I'm headed with this is: I wonder if folks will start coming to the conclusion that there are a lot of places to visit and things to do without having to fly there in an airplane? I seems to me like flying is just getting to be more hassle than it's worth nowadays.

Jim

Dynocoaster 

I would think the trains, buses and rental car companies are doing a lot of business right now.

JimT

Then there was the guy (a comedian) of some sort that paid $5000 for a cab ride to get from point A to Point B in Europe someplace. I hope where-ever he had to get to to perform paid really well.

Jim

nigelme

It was John Cleese - He could have emulated Eddie Izzard's marathons and done a silly walk from Oslo to Brussels.

SesameCrunch

Not Jay Leno. Steven Wright. Master of irony.

ddez

[QUOTE=SesameCrunch;10685791]Not Jay Leno. Steven Wright. Master of irony.[/QU

Agreed. Funny man indeed.

wahoonc

They didn't unless they were very wealthy and could afford to travel for a couple of years at a time.

I do 40+ miles a day on my Raleigh Twenty, if a folder is set up properly and fits there is no reason not to ride them longer distances, people tour the world on Bike Fridays, while technically not a folder they share many of the attributes; small wheels, small frames and compact size.

Aaron

snafu21

'confined to a folding bike for long periods'

This chap 'set out on a Dahon Speed TR folding bike with the sole objective of heading south for the winter. Over the following nine months I cycled from Leicester to Dover via Salisbury, by ferry to Calais, around western France, around the Portuguese and Spanish coast, back into France then north from the Rhone valley to Belgium to back to England As the intention was to be as self reliant as possible the bike was loaded with everything thought necessary for lightweight camping.'

Our own Jur & Mrs Jur regularly tour on a variety of 20" scoots. It's not the bike, it's the motor. To hell with volcanos!

jefmcg

I had an epiphany. No, really! When the planes were due to start back on Tuesday, I cycled to Richmond Park instead of Richmond station to see what it was like when there aren't planes flying overhead every 60 seconds (a little unfair, really: they only fly directly over half the time anyway). But then, instead of cycling on to next station along the line, I headed off towards the city.

I'd made the concession of carrying my dress shoes and wearing trainers, and put a t-shirt under my dress shirt, so it wouldn't get sweaty, but basically I was in work clothes with a handbag over my shoulder, amongst all the lycra clad riders. I cycled home twice more this week.

Next week I expect to do both ways on the same day, and by the week after that I may have moved to cycling all the way most days (~40km or 25 mile round trip).

Even though I have a full sized bike, I plan to stick with the folder because I love it.

Just got to decide if buying a commuter bag is worth it, or is that just accessory-itis? The bag would just be a pain if I was folding the bike.

snafu21

There was some joke on the telly that someone had written to the BBC from under the Heathrow flightpath to say that now there were no planes flying he'd been able to listen to the heavy traffic on the M25 for the first time in twenty years. All almost back to normal, now, I'm told.

JEFMCG - Luggage is great on a folder, as you've divined, the problem is what to do with it when the bike is folded. Something with a shoulder strap would seem useful. The Mezzo bag looks cool, and it will hold a vibration-proof laptop.


Kudos for cycling to work, I'm just getting to the stage where 15 miles each way is possible, although my legs suffer for it the following day. My answer is pies.

rbrian

Isn't that the answer to everything?

snafu21

I am coming to believe it may be.

bhkyte

Will the election be decided by the political parties stances towards volcanoes?

I am all for then myself, but not in my back yard.

Heard that volcanoes are required for plate tectonics,weather and atmosphere, so a long term issue not to be decided in one parliament.

vote "yes" to volcanoes.
(Depending on results of relevant focus groups this stance could change!)

snafu21

No. The Folding Bicycle Party will sweep all before it.

bhkyte

Snafu21 for president then.