There I was cycling, or more accurately being blown, home this evening along the cycle lane which leads from Hove Lagoon all the way along the sea front. Just after I passed the King Alfred Leisure Centre there are 2 people on rollerblades hogging the cycle lane. I try to swerve off the lane to avoid hitting the girl (the guy had already moved off) and she stumbles (she wasn’t very confident on her skates) right into my path. I pull my brakes as hard as I can to avoid running into her, they screech loudly, and I feel my bike balance precariously onto the front wheel, I let go of the brakes to get the bike back onto the level, and then immediately have to pull them again to keep from running into her. Again my rear wheel left the ground and slammed my saddle into my leg. Nice. So, they skate off and I stop and assess my damage – just a sore leg, nothing serious. The guy shouts to see if I’m ok, the girl says nothing.
I cycled on, rubbing my sore leg, and speak to them as I go past them saying “I suggest you keep out of the cycle lane if you can”. When I look back a couple of hundred metres further along they’re both skating in the cycle lane. Fools!
So, this leads me to wonder what the rules about cycle lanes are. I mean, I know that generally they’re a lot smoother than the normal footpaths, and so they would appeal to rollerbladers and skateboarders, but are they allowed to use them. If I hadn’t manage to stop, would it have been my fault or hers?
