Cycling in coast road : Hopefully people will start understanding the training regime of a competitive cyclist . Me and 2 friends did this video for the simple reason to try and educate people when it comes to cycling inside coast road .This was shot during 1 hr steady cycling . And before people start saying " oh look..the government bullt a cycling lane and cyclists are not using it " , please inform yourself well since things are not how they look . There are 2 type of cyclists , commuters and competitive cyclists. The new coast road yes has a new cycling lane but is it really good for competitive cyclists to train at high speeds ? Of course not and I will explain . The cycling lane is mainly built for cyclists , mainly commuters who want to travel or go to work from point A to point B , who can easily cycle at a relaxed pace , go over pavements etc . It also has these ill fated one straight line of rumble strips ( inside the lane ) with no entry or exit . Try go over them with the car and you will know the answer of a rubble strip . You hit them with your bike at a high speed and you'll either get a puncture or get trown over .They do not protect the cyclists , to the contrary they pose a great danger …and really can't understand why they are on the inside and if a car hits the strips then the car is already half way inside the lane…. they should not be there … Also the edge of the road is always prone to debris and broken glass so if there where no rumble strips , we would definitely be training inside the white line . Now people might say , why don't you go slow and pass trough the strips ..thats my point , we are competitive cyclists and we train hard and fast and by staying on the slow lane we would not be endangering any car or obstructing traffic . Also Transport Malta TOLD us that coast road cycling lane is not for cyclists who want to train at fast speeds. This video shows : ==> speeds of cyclist between 35 km / hr and 60km / hr ( good enough to be on the slow lane of the road . ==> cyclists not obstructing traffic , plenty of space for a car to overtake cautiously . ==> I pointed several points ( time edited) why cycling lane is dangerous to us. 0:52 — we stopped at a red light , something cyclists should ALL do !! 0:00 — no cycling lane ( coast road has several parts with no cycling lane ) 0:19 — no entry , if you're training and cycling at high speeds there is never an entry zone through the rumble strips because they are build in a continuous straight line . 02:58 — spilt oil inside cycling lane 03:40 — cycling lane / rumble strips take you to a sharp left even if you want to go straight across by the roundabout. 04:43 –cycling lane ends and begins with a pavement. Please note that cycling on a pavement requires cycling at 6km / hr by law and give way to pedestrians also note the poles in the middle of the pavement . 06:44 — obstacle ( wooden box ) inside the cycling lane , sometimes there are parked cars ….if we have to overtake at high speed inside lane you can't as there are these rumble strips in the way. 07:11 — another pavement and cycling lane continues on the inside . This is why we have to stay on the slow lane on the road. Solution to this ?? If rumble strips will be REMOVED then we can all cycle inside the cycling lane , commuters and competitive cyclists because we can still stay a few feet away from the edge ( where debris and broken glass gather most ) and we can overtake cautiously over the white line if we need to overtake a slow cyclist , a parked car , a pavement or a dead end . Coast road has always been the training grounds of cyclists ,,,,its a 12km loop with no side streets ( minimises the dangers of cars coming out from the side ) and hopefully the authorities will come to terms and remove the strips . I might be the one who is grumbling on fb but as far as its for the cyclist's right then I 'll do my best to put pressure on this . I also would like to add that in this video we never obstructed cars and also cars respected us and gave us space to overtake . Also note that if we where in the wrong , we would never do this video and share it ..am not that crazy yet ! Please share the video ( and also the explanation ) to reach as many car drivers as possible . Fabio Spiteri
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Cycling in coast road : Hopefully people will start understanding the training regime of a competitive cyclist .
Me and 2 friends did this video for the simple reason to try and educate people when it comes to cycling inside coast road .This was shot during 1 hr steady cycling . And before people start saying " oh look..the government bullt a cycling lane and cyclists are not using it " , please inform yourself well since things are not how they look .
There are 2 type of cyclists , commuters and competitive cyclists. The new coast road yes has a new cycling lane but is it really good for competitive cyclists to train at high speeds ? Of course not and I will explain . The cycling lane is mainly built for cyclists , mainly commuters who want to travel or go to work from point A to point B , who can easily cycle at a relaxed pace , go over pavements etc . It also has these ill fated one straight line of rumble strips ( inside the lane ) with no entry or exit . Try go over them with the car and you will know the answer of a rubble strip . You hit them with your bike at a high speed and you'll either get a puncture or get trown over .They do not protect the cyclists , to the contrary they pose a great danger …and really can't understand why they are on the inside and if a car hits the strips then the car is already half way inside the lane…. they should not be there … Also the edge of the road is always prone to debris and broken glass so if there where no rumble strips , we would definitely be training inside the white line .
Now people might say , why don't you go slow and pass trough the strips ..thats my point , we are competitive cyclists and we train hard and fast and by staying on the slow lane we would not be endangering any car or obstructing traffic .
Also Transport Malta TOLD us that coast road cycling lane is not for cyclists who want to train at fast speeds.
This video shows :
==> speeds of cyclist between 35 km / hr and 60km / hr ( good enough to be on the slow lane of the road .
==> cyclists not obstructing traffic , plenty of space for a car to overtake cautiously .
==> I pointed several points ( time edited) why cycling lane is dangerous to us.
0:52 — we stopped at a red light , something cyclists should ALL do !!
0:00 — no cycling lane ( coast road has several parts with no cycling lane )
0:19 — no entry , if you're training and cycling at high speeds there is never an entry zone through the rumble strips because they are build in a continuous straight line .
02:58 — spilt oil inside cycling lane
03:40 — cycling lane / rumble strips take you to a sharp left even if you want to go straight across by the roundabout.
04:43 –cycling lane ends and begins with a pavement. Please note that cycling on a pavement requires cycling at 6km / hr by law and give way to pedestrians also note the poles in the middle of the pavement .
06:44 — obstacle ( wooden box ) inside the cycling lane , sometimes there are parked cars ….if we have to overtake at high speed inside lane you can't as there are these rumble strips in the way.
07:11 — another pavement and cycling lane continues on the inside .
This is why we have to stay on the slow lane on the road.
Solution to this ?? If rumble strips will be REMOVED then we can all cycle inside the cycling lane , commuters and competitive cyclists because we can still stay a few feet away from the edge ( where debris and broken glass gather most ) and we can overtake cautiously over the white line if we need to overtake a slow cyclist , a parked car , a pavement or a dead end .
Coast road has always been the training grounds of cyclists ,,,,its a 12km loop with no side streets ( minimises the dangers of cars coming out from the side )
and hopefully the authorities will come to terms and remove the strips .
I might be the one who is grumbling on fb but as far as its for the cyclist's right then I 'll do my best to put pressure on this .
I also would like to add that in this video we never obstructed cars and also cars respected us and gave us space to overtake . Also note that if we where in the wrong , we would never do this video and share it ..am not that crazy yet !
Please share the video ( and also the explanation ) to reach as many car drivers as possible .
Fabio Spiteri
are there any cycling clubs in Malta? moving soon for work and struggling to find out about group rides etc?