Big Smurf: February 2010

Don't blame it on the sunshine, don't blame it on the moonlight, don't blame it on the goodtimes, blame it on the .........ICE.

We have all heard the excuses during the last few months. The extreme winter weather has caused havoc with roads all over the country and especially in and around London. Since the snow fell and turned into ice, the roads have rapidly deteriorated and have been turned into potential deathtraps. For both motorists and cyclists alike it is more than irritating, it is damn right dangerous and the situation is getting worse.

With the ice and water creeping into the cracks and crevices, the roads are becoming hazardous and getting around is proving quite a challenge. The motorist and the cyclist face different challenges of course, but nontheless, both serious and real. This is even more of a challenge at night and when it's been raining heavily, as is the case in recent weeks, with a heavy downpour, the deep potholes suddenly disappear and take on the guise of innocent looking puddles, which can prove very dangerous indeed.

Sunken manholes, crumbling tarmac - the potholes are causing a huge problem and are costing hundreds of thousands of pounds, both in repairs and in compensation claims.

How does the snow and ice cause potholes?

The freezing and thawing of the road surface lifts the road material up making cracks in the surface.

The cracks formed to fill with water which feezes and expands the cracks wider.

The thawing water washes the broken material out of the cracks.

Cars traveling the road hit the small cracks and jump up and down breaking up more surface material.

As the holes grow the bumping gets more severe, breaking more surface.

Potholes can appear from nowhere and as a cyclist, it can not only damage your wheels, especially if your on a road bike, but it can, if the pothole is deep or acute enough, cause you to come off your bike. In the dark and wet this would make the situation even more hazardous.

So who or what is to blame?

Well, the local councils will point to the weather. They will say this big freeze, the worst in 30 years, has been responsible for the condition of the roads. The water has crept its way into the cracks and crevices and then as it has frozen it has pushed up the road. Fair, point, and this has definatley been a contributing factor, but do not let them blame all these potholes on the weather. If the roads had been in a better state in the first place then the situation would not be quite so bad. If potholes were repaired properly and promptly then they would have held up better to the recent wet and icy conditions.

All the photos you see here are from a small part of my journey from Camberwell up to the Elephant & Castle on the Walworth Road. I was going up to the E&C to take a photograph of a huge pothole that had been concerning me for a few weeks. (see photograph below). Infact i reported it online last week (21 Feb 2010), but it appears that it has now finally been repaired. It does not look much now it has been repaired, but it was at least 8 inches deep and a few foot across and was on the corner of one of the exits off the roundabout. Swinging wide to avoid this would have put a cyclist in danger from surrounding traffic. How long this repair will last is yet to be seen.

Who do they affect?

The more potholes, the bigger they are, the more dangerous to both motorist and cyclist alike. Motorists will try to swerve to avoid them, putting both cyclist and pedsetrians at risk. Cyclists could put themselves at risk and could end up in the path of a vehicle.

What is being done about it?

Councils are asking people to report the potholes they find on their journeys so they can keep up-to-date records as to where they are and do something about it. The sooner they know about them, the sooner they can be repaired. So don't just talk about it, do something and report the potholes as soon as you see them.

Impact with pothole edges or sunken grates can cause severe tyre damage which could lead to dangerous blow-outs on the road for both motorist and cyclist. Often a motorist or cyclist will not spot a pothole until it is too late and they either swerve out of the way, which could result in a crash, or cause damage to their car.

Potholes are a major factor in causing axle & suspension failure, which counts for a third of mechanical issues on UK roads and costs British motorists an estimated £2.8 billion every year.
Authorities currently pay out more than £50 million in compensation claims due to poor roads
Road maintenance in England and Wales is underfunded by around 50%, or £1 billion every year.
At current maintenance levels, the average frequency for a road to be resurfaced in England is once every 65 years. In Wales it is once every 81 years.
If all authorities were given the budgets they need to fix their roads, it would take English authorities 11 years to catch up with the current backlog, and Welsh authorities 16 year.

Data used is from Warranty Direct, and from the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) report 2008, published by the Asphalt Industry Alliance, April 2, 2008. http://www.asphaltindustryalliance.com/alarm.asp

The Walworth Road has recently undergone road resurfacing. Something that was done before the big chill and took a while to complete. Yet, the surface is already showing signs of cracking, and this less than a few months after it was completed. The photos below just show a few of the cracks and holes that have started to appear already.

The Cost: The cost of the damage to South London roads caused by this winter’s big freeze could already be huge, according to the AA. AA president Edmund King said: “We believe that emergency cash is required to stop crumbling roads costing more in compensation, accident claims and hospital admissions.”

Nearly 2,500 potholes each were filled in by London Councils last year on average at a cost of £71 per job. Furthermore last year, £3.1million of compensation was also paid out in the capital to people injured or suffering property damage as a result of the holes. According to a recent annual local authority road maintenance survey, there are currently more than one million potholes across the country, but there is a shortfall in the budgets needed to fix them of over £1 billion and an 11-year backlog of maintenance work.

According to Warranty Direct, Britain's badly maintained roads are costing drivers an average of £2.8 million a year in vehicle repairs.

Half of UK drivers claim to have had a near miss or a crash while swerving to avoid a pothole. A further half of motorists surveyed by GEM (formerly The Guild of Experienced Motorists) say that their cars have been damaged by potholes, although only five per cent have made a claim for compensation against the local authority.
The survey reports a huge rise in the number of potholes following the spate of bad weather in the UK, leading to an estimated £100 million repair backlog. But GEM points out that 78 per cent of motorists never bother to report the location of new potholes to their local authority.
Meanwhile 90 per cent of drivers accuse local councils of failing to do enough to repair weather-damaged roads.

Local councils need to take swift action to address this problem but it is also important for motorists to play their part in reporting potholes to local councils. Potholes are not just a nuisance, they are a massive road safety hazhard.

Below are some of the links to websites that deal with pothole reporting:

Fixmystreet.com or the

www.fillthathole.org.uk

www.potholes.co.uk

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/WhereYouLive/RoadsAndStreets/DG_10026187

Also you can report a main road pothole call Transport for London on 0845 305 1234. For other roads call Southwark on 020 7525 2000.

On a lighter note perhaps we should take a note out of this photographers book.

http://www.mypotholes.com

Dedicated to the Memory of David Vilaseca:

This ride is dedicated to the memory of David Vilaseca, professor of Hispanic Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London and a friend of Inaki Lajas, who was killed in Tower Bridge Road while riding his bike. Another life cut tragically short on the roads of London. All our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.

http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/4352

The Ride: Through South London to start of 'Hell of Ashdown' - cycling part of the route, we had to cut it short due to having too many mechanical problems which slowed us down, therefore we changed route and headed to Hildenborough to get the train back to London.

Riders: Big Smurf, Al (Woody), Raph, Granty, Inaki, Julian and Denzil.

Denzil - He has not been out with us for a long time and is now sporting a new bike - a Wilier. (bringer of key comedy moments (see mechanical). Also doing L'Etape du Tour this was a good training run.

Julian - Yes, the first sighting of this rare beast, usually found spinning, but we managed to tempt him out at a ridiculously early hour, to put him through some pain. He came armed with paracetamol and a good dose of determination.

Bikes:
Wilier (Denzil)

Focus (Raph)

Felt (first outing for the Felt and first real road ride for the demon mountain biker (Al - Woody)

Cannondale (Big Smurf)

Pinarello FP2 (Granty)

Boardman (Inaki)

Condor (Julian)

Description:

Inaki & Julian cycled over to Camberwell to meet me. We left the house at 8.50am and headed up to meet Grant at the Horniman Museum and then headed off through the suburbs of South London. It was cold and some of the minor roads were Icy, and the London roads are getting worse. It felt more like we were riding our road bikes off-road, there were so many potholes. As much as the local councils blame this on the snow and ice I think it is as much down to poor maintenance as anything and the snow has just been used as an excuse.

We headed up to Biggin Hill via Bromley to start the route on Jail Lane (pictured below). Jail Lane leads down to Berry Lane and Church Hill. We rode Church Hill last weekend and it definatley felt easier this time. I managed to get a shot of Julian and Granty as they emerged from the clutches of this little beast. Certainly gets the heart racing (the hill, not Julian and Granty - no offence boys)

From Cudham it was down Cudham Lane and then down towards Hogtrough Lane, it was nice to come down this lane as last week we cycled the other way, but it is a nice decent, but you do need to be careful as it is steep and crosses Pilgrims Way - so make sure you can stop. It was then straight down to Brasted to meet the others. They had taken the easier option by getting the train from London Bridge to Orpington and then cycled down to Brasted. The tiny lanes were a bit icy and Raph came off on after slipping on an icy patch and in turn brought his girlfriend down too - not Als luck, as I knocked her off last weekend on the mtb :((((((((((. It is the only way we can slow you down Al. (knocked-off i.e I lost balance in the mud and as i fell i knocked Al off too), just so there is no misunderstanding.

Brasted is good place to stop. First time we have stopped at this cafe Ninetysix Degrees and they did serve a great coffee and smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel. Alas, there was no cake this time. It was cold outside and warm inside, the fire making it difficult to want to move. Al was not really enjoying her first road ride out which was quite worrying as she was only about 8 miles into a very long ride. Grant was looking too comfy with his latte and Julian had thought we had finished. Ohhhhhh how wrong he was. It is a small cafe and we had taken it over, our bikes all piled up outside. We were about to leave as another cycling crew came in and after much eyeing up of kit and gear we left the warmth to head off on our journey.

From Brasted we headed up Toys Hill. A nice steady climb and again, a road we are normally bombing down, but this time riding up 2 miles of smooth tarmac instead of down. All was going well, moral was high (apart from Al) and we were on route. Nice descent down the other side of Toys Hill and we headed to Four Elms. Now you would think it would be easy to read instructions - mmmmm left, right, should be a doddle. Well maybe i should get some lessons, as i took us the wrong way, not once, but twice and to say we went round in circles might be fair. Ok, so we did some extra miles and with a bit of help from Grant, Raph and an iphone we managed to get back on track. (I had been reading the Al & Raphs bluffers guide to navigation - £1.99 from W.H Smith).

We eventually headed off to take in the delights of Dormansland and Hollow Hill, then down to Holtye Hill as we headed towards the beast that is Kidd's Hill (The Wall), which was about 7 mile ahead of us. Our journey was not without problems and apart from the navigational issue we also had a number of punctures and gear problems. Grant and Inaki had a puncture at same time and then Denzil had two further down the road on Shephards Grove Lane. Al was having problems with her new bike and getting used to the gears. At least something was able to slow her down. After we turned into Shephards Grove Lane a little dog ran out across the road and started barking at us - as we stood there a car drove up and a lady jumped out, thanked us for finding her dog and then put the pootch into the car and drove off. Mmmmmmmm did anyone else think this was weird?

Some great scenery as we road through the country lanes especially the lane pictured below. I love the eeriness of the trees and the water.

Denzil can be seen playing his new harp - unusual way to mend a puncture - get on with it we are getting cold. At this point Al was probably on a '0 out of ten' for enjoying the ride. Somehow i think this is captured well in the photo. Why am i here, why am i here? Trust me the sun did help with the thaw.

I had been building Kidd's Hill up as a bit of a beast and only Grant and I knew what was ahead, so everyone was anticipating something tough. As you might have guessed I wasn't going to hop off and take a picture part way up, so i only took these pictures at the top. What was interesting about this hill was that it marked the changing point on Als opinion of the ride - a dramatic turnaround from 0 to an 8 (10 being very good), by the time we had ascended 'The Wall'. I think this is because she is a very good climber and from starting at the back at the bottom of the hill, she soon passed most of the likely lads and this gave her a much needed boost.

At the top of Kidd's Hill we stopped for a well earned rest. Everyone did well and actually felt it had not been as hard as they were expecting. Now there is a challenge - I think they mean they want to cycle up steeper hills, I am sure that is what they meant and I know just where to take them :)))))).

A You Tube video of the climb: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO_f2pbFTMk

It was then off to Col de Groombridge and yet another hill on the route. Anyone expecting a flat or undulating ride was sadly mistaken, but it was all a good part of our training. Col de Groombridge had an alpine feel to it and was a really enjoyable climb. We decided as a group to cut our ride short and head straight to Penshurst for some refreshment. This was 43 miles into the route (not including additional 3-4 miles of mistakes). Ooops

Route: http://www.HELL.gb.com/RightMenu/New100.asp

This will give you the complete 'Hell of Ashdown' route - we cycled 42.9 miles of this route before we headed off to Hildenborough.

Food: We had two stops:

Ninetysixdegrees (Brasted)

http://www.thisissurreytoday.co.uk/entertainment/Time-Tea-ninetysix-degrees-High-Street-Brasted-Westerham/article-1831541-detail/article.html

Lattes, Smoked Salmon Bagels and pastries.

It was a nice place to stop and I think if the owners are able to create an area outside where people can put their bikes they will make loads of money from the affluent bikers. I think they probably hated the fact that we piled our bikes up against the outside table, bit it was very cold and no one would have sat outside. Something to think about as we had £20,000 worth of bikes piled outside with no locks and it would have been so easy to have gone elsewhere and they would have lost our business.

Quaintways (Penshurst)

http://www.penshurst-online.co.uk/f&d_quaintways.htm

We have stopped here many times before and it is especially nice in the summer as it has a garden area. They have gone a bit overboard though now with the 'no bikes' signs outside and although they have created an area for people to leave their bikes, they would be better if they tried to come across more bike friendly. We were very close to going elsewhere as it did seem, however well intentioned, very anti-cyclist.

As it happens we stayed and the owner let us put our bikes in the garden this time, as it was winter and no one was sitting outside.

Baked potato, beans and cheese and other combinations were the order of the day. The boys could'nt resist the calls of the apple crumble and custard which was remarkably good. An assortment of teas washed it all down and helped to bring some much needed smiles to our faces before we headed oof to Hildenbrough and our train journey back to London.

Well, the journey back should have been straight forward but as we went the wrong way yet again (not my fault this time guvnor) we ended up going up get another big hill and one we were not really ready for, being stuffed with crumble didn't help. Looking back at the motley crew wending their way up the hill, I could not help but laugh thinking of the things they might be saying as they hit the hill -i don't think they were happy, lets say that. We had to rush back in order to catch the train, and true to form we arrived on the platform just as the train arrived. A welcome relief for everyone and a chance to sit down and relax back to London Bridge.

Mechanicals: Punctures, punctures and more punctures.

Well that said, the second puncture of denzils wasn't actually a new puncture, but in his haste to mend the first one he accidentally put the old tube back in and assumed someone had folded his 'old' tube back up and secured it with a rubber band (this was his new tube). So after i had laughed at raph, who had to cycled back up the hill once he relalied Denzil had had his first puncture, i ended up doing exactly the same as we received a call from Denzils letting us know he had a second puncture only about 10 yards away from where he had 'mended' the first. Oh well, i am loving the hills at the moment so it was all good practice.