Cycling demonstation towns announced

The winning bids in the Government's £100m investment in cycling has been announced. Bristol is going to be the 'Cycling City' getting £11.4 to invest in cycling infrastructure and training. This figure will be matched by local funding seeing the Bristol area having £23m to spend on cycle lanes and training for children and adults.

Following the cycling city are the eleven cycling demonstration towns. These have now been announced and are:

• Blackpool (nearest to here ~25 miles)
• Cambridge
• Chester
• Colchester
• Leighton/Linslade
• Shrewsbury
• Southend on Sea
• Southport with Ainsdale (next nearest)
• Stoke
• Woking
• York.

Let's look forward to seeing these beacons as examples for our local councils who can aspire to provide matching facilities.

Rolling in the river

I had already penned a small blog entry about how nothing much seems to have been going on along the roads of my commute. I've been busy commuting every day in most pleasant weather and racked up, on average, about 100 miles a month (not much added to the 2.5 mile journey there!). Before I could post that entry, the daily landscape was transformed. This week I've noticed more activity going to and from work. I've seen more cyclists, perhaps because of 'Bike to Work Week' but maybe just new commuters because of the fuel prices - today's new find was a guy on a Hewitt, a rather nice looking tourer.

It rained heavily most of the day today. I can't remember a time, even in winter, when I got so wet. It had an effect on the motorists as well as Psychalist was on the scene of this incident this evening to practice his photojournalism. A driver of a Mitsubishi Shogun demolished the wall on Beechwood Road and rolled his vehicle into the River Blakewater. No other vehicle appeared to be involved. I didn't stop to interview anyone as it was raining hard. The police had the road blocked and were keeping people away whilst waiting for the recovery truck.

Is Bike to Work Week working?

I'd like to say more cyclists are trying cycling to work this week, but my statistical samples are not very significant. I have actually seen more cyclists. Yesterday I joined a stream of four, which is unheard of for commuting in Blackburn. At the lights there were three of us. I asked this chap if his efforts were for 'Bike to Work Week' and his reply was no it's just a regular Tuesday. Even better.

What (not) to expect from a cycling holiday?

The Daily Telegraph travel section last week included an report by Johnny Morris of his family cycling holiday along the Danube in Austria. It was full of criticism and disappointment because it turned out to be a nightmare holiday for them. He booked a holiday with a fixed daily itinerary, pre-booked hotels and a luggage courier service. That just left him to get himself and his family a distance of about 25 miles from A to B every day. But what did he expect? Something easier it seems. A more leisurely start in the morning, a few days off, more support when things went wrong, and probably not a cycling holiday.

The writer naively arranged the wrong sort tour. For some gentle cycling, he should have arranged to stay in one place and have some hire bikes to explore the locality on easy cycle routes. Having done no preparation, he had no idea whether his family could cycle 20-25 miles, which on one day they struggled to do and ended up off the route on a busy highway because they missed the ferry. The holiday company could hardly be to blame for his tardiness but he criticised them them anyway and even had the gall to complain he had to pack his luggage to be ready for dispatch by 8:30am.

It sounded to me that the holiday he booked with Hooked on Cycling did everything advertised but he didn't adequately translate that into the needs of a non-cycling family with a young child. To be fair, he concluded with some thoughts on how to improve it next time if there is one and, hopefully, he will try again and stick at it. Like any adventure, there are bound to be highs and lows. With some anticipation and forethought he should hope for mainly highs and few lows.

Bike Week 2008

Bike Week this year is 14th-22nd June. Event are to be held all around the country. Nearest appears to be Bolton.

http://www.bikeweek.org.uk/