Operation Transportation 2012 REVISITED!

Operation Transportation 2012 Revisited

Foreword BY THE EDITOR

 Remember last year's Diarists?

I've been wondering what happened after Operation Transportation ended;

So today I sent them all a few interview questions.

Here are the replies I've received so far...

Mervyn:

Mervyn waiting for his borrowed bike to get the all-clear at last year's training event.
The 2013 team will be doing this tomorrow!!

1.      How often  were you cycling before “Operation Transportation”?

Never (Ireland) always abroad

2.      How often do you cycle now? ( fee free to add details of any tapering off processes?

Once every two weeks

3.      Why do you think your cycle habits have changed? ( Skip if irrelevant)

Positive experience of cycling in cork, never cycled in city before operation transportation, bought a bike after the event

  

4.      Have you got any advice for this year’s “Operation Transportation” leaders?

A good bike, spare set of clothes at work, allow extra time for first day  

5.      Any other comments?

Good gears are very important, city area is not as “flat” as it seems when in a car

Deirdre:

Deirdre impressed us all last year with her nifty cycling skills.

1.      How often  were you cycling before “Operation Transportation”?

Occasionally, more in dry weather and long evenings but that’s probably true of all fair-weather cyclists.

2.      How often do you cycle now? ( fee free to add details of any tapering off processes?

Occasionally and sadly not much in recent months but I will try to do some more cycling from now on!

3.      Why do you think your cycle habits have changed? ( Skip if irrelevant)

The instructions we received were excellent and I still remember Darren’s advice to be more assertive on the road and not cycling close to the gutter and that cycling a bit nearer to the centre line (not on the centre line of course) gives a cyclist somewhere to retreat to.

4.      Have you got any advice for this year’s “Operation Transportation” leaders?

I know that one tip given last year was that wearing high viz jackets can annoy other road users but I would recommend them to avoid giving drivers any ammunition in saying that cyclists don’t make themselves visible enough when out on the road.

5.      Any other comments?

I’ve seen some cyclists close to where I live cycling without lights after dusk – street lights won’t help a cyclist’s visibility to other road users and bike lights are not expensive.