As of Thursday July 1, the seasonal restrictions for cyclists come into force along the seafront.

This means that whilst I can still ride to work in the mornings enjoying the beachfront views, if I leave work in the evening before about 5:30 I have to battle the traffic on the way home.

This year I am thinking about finding some new offroad routes to enjoy on the way home and also extending the rides home by doing things like going round the harbour.

As a cyclist who really enjoys being able to use the seafront, I put out a plea to all other cyclists to please not abuse these restrictions.

The fact that we are allowed to use the seafront at all is a privilege and is argued every year.

It wouldn't take much for the arguments against to win and for cycling to be banned completely.

There are times when I would like to see all people banned from using the seafront apart from me and a few other select individuals of my choosing! The dog walkers who were so careful to abide by their restrictions have started to try and bend the rules; there are a couple of people in particular who choose to totally ignore them and allow their dogs to run around the prom in the mornings bothering cyclists and joggers alike.

I'm always surprised by how offensive I find the volume of litter that is left strewn along the promenade on a Monday morning. You think that I would be used to it by now, but this morning I was disgusted by the piles of bottles, cans, fast food boxes and even a soiled nappy that people couldn't be bothered to place in a bin that was often no more than a few feet away! It was interesting to note that the Poole side was much tidier than the Bournemouth side, is this an indication of the type of visitor attracted by the different beaches?

In last week's blog I mentioned that it was BikeWeek; I definitely noticed more bikes around than usual and our bike cages and stores at work were more crowded than normal weeks. As part of the events that took place, I went on a ride on Thursday evening with a number of people from work, this meant that I left the office and rode away from home for a while. It's interesting and possibly amusing to note that when I heard the telltale pop and hiss of a puncture I was at the furthest point from home!

Normally punctures are not a problem, but when I looked down at the tyre and realised that it was terminally split I may have had the odd choice word to say. Fortunately, my other piece of emergency equipment came to good use, one phone call later and the cavalry were on their way to rescue me - thanks Nick!