I joined the Cycle Campaign the beginning of this year when it came into existence and have taken advantage of being able to express how important these tarmac roads that get me from AtoB are where I live. It's enabled me to dream about a place where my kids can ride safely. All there is right now is what there is, which of course is fast, lorry congested, unfriendly roads with the odd cut through and shared cycle path with a vision that seems a long way away. I do believe it's possible though.
Leon was blown off his bike a few weeks ago on the pavement by a lorry whizzing past - the wind knocked him clean off! Then last week Reuben was blown off his scooter in much the same way. It's witnessing this that has driven me to become the 20's Plenty representative for Ely and I've started the process of bringing down the speed limit in the whole of Ely from 30mph to 20mph. I want to ensure that our roads are perceivably safer to cycle on and getting around with kids should be a bit less stressful on foot or by bike. I've written to the councillors in the District Council and had a few positive replies, certainly no negative ones.
Then middle of the week, I get a call from the City of Ely Council, I've been accepted as a Councillor for Ely North Ward so I'm on the council!!! I applied but with the expectation that they already had another person lined up and I'd probably have to apply a few times before I succeeded. It's great news. I wonder a bit whether they want me there to show me how hard it is to get stuff done. I have ambitious plans, as do many but when it comes down to it, there are endless hoops to jump through. I've got to learn how to navigate the British democratic system, get knocked back, tripped up and diverted alot before I get what I want done.
I hope to represent the people I know and talk to and push cycling and walking up the priorities list both in the existing city and in the new developments that are happening in the future. Getting cycling infrastructure in at the planning stage is practically free so I think this is one of the most efficient ways to make a difference.
I've had alot of encouragement and congratulations from friends near and far. I hope that the 20mph limit and a safer city is within our grasp, I think there hasn't been a better time to be bringing this forward.
Saturday 20 October 2012
Wednesday 19 September 2012
Cycle culture in the UK
I read this article on road cc about UK cycling cultures
Really really interesting! Having had 10 years in Holland, then 5 years in London and now 7 in Cambridgeshire and in all that time spent most of my travel time on bikes up until moving to Cambridgeshire. I feel invested in projects like this.
I live 17 miles north of Cambridge where cycling is popular but nothing like Cambridge standards. Cambridge most similar to Holland in that the bikes are similar in style, there are plenty of families cycling with cargo bikes etc and yes, people wear normal clothes. I regularly cycle my kids to school in a dress. The major difference is the prevalence of shared cycle paths and frankly appalling cycling infrastructure in Cambridge. It's actually one of my least favourite places to cycle. I'd much rather cycle in London.
I spent a few days in London over the summer and took my Brompton with me, we cycled from Camden to the city along the canal and having lived by Old St and worked in a bike shop in London, cycle culture there really fascinates me. The trend now is for fixed wheel bikes, the safe ones have a brake, but they don't always! When I left 7 years ago, they were around but the sheer number of cyclists and fixed wheelers at every set of lights was phenomenal. I remembered that London cycling is all about the sprint from one set of lights to the next. Bromptons pull away from lights very well and are good for sprinting too.
There is a faint withering annoyance with the Boris bike riders who often seem to be in the wrong lane or holding up a bus but I think the buses, taxi's and experienced riders seemed to see them as a good thing.
My sister lives in the middle of Bristol and with the hills being what they are, a good set of gears is what you really need. People in Bristol really do have good bottoms and legs! Bristol is full of rebels and cycling is one of their causes, against all odds, hills, wet weather and so on, cycling there is becoming the future.
Saturday 28 July 2012
Good signs
Call me an optimist but I thought reading this on the East Cambs Council website was a good thing. Let's see how much comes to anything, they at least know the problems, their causes and some of the possible solutions. Will they take advice? Will anything come out of them consulting the Cycling Campaign? Only time will tell.
Ely Traffic and Environment Study
This study was established as a result of the Section106 agreement for the new Sainsbury store in Ely, which opened in February 2012. The agreement committed £611,000 towards traffic and environmental improvements in Ely, linked to assimilating the new store development into the city centre. Since then a small working group has been established involving officers from East Cambridgeshire District Council, City of Ely Council and Cambridgeshire County Council and the work to date has included:- The first of two rounds of traffic surveys across the City; the next round of surveys takes place in July 2012.
- Air quality monitoring in Ely during 2012, to establish baseline data on nitrogen dioxide pollution
- Comprehensive consultation on traffic and access issues and potential solutions for
- Ely, involving a website survey, stakeholder event and public consultation sessions at Ely Markets.
- The need to improve the quality of pedestrian access and the shopping experience, including more pedestrian crossings
- Safer and better cycling routes along with cycle parking
- More effective parking enforcement to reduce blockages
- Reduced speeding across the City (to 20mph)
- To find a solution for Broad Street blockages
- Change the layout and management of Market Street
- Improvements in the Lisle Lane area
Friday 27 July 2012
Leon's new bike!
Well, it arrived the day before the last day of term and I wanted to show it to him first thing before school and let him have a try, not expecting him to be confident enough to ride to school that day. He got on and rode it, I am not sure why I'm surprised as this is the same as what happened when I took the stabilisers off his other bike. We've been riding into town and round and about, on picnics and shopping trips and he loves it. Still getting the hang of the gears, he still gets up off the saddle when the gearing is to high and sometimes he's peddling fast and not changing up. There are only three gears and unlike a dérailleur set, he can change gear while stationary and stop peddling or keep peddling and no chain will fall off.
My only reservation is it's very heavy, this was the 100 eur difference between the Puky and the Loekie (made by Basta, a very reputable Dutch bike manufacturer), the Puky is German and aluminium where as the Loekie is Steel frame it is as heavy as an adult utility bike. He's handleing it very well and as you can see. He loves it!
Thursday 19 July 2012
Give me strengnth
I've been finding it hard to find a balance between reading every article and piece on transport and roads that relates to cycling and wanting to blow up parlament and then the local council. There's only so much information and evidence that has been ignored while I wonder why I can't cycle on a 60mph road without at best drivers calling me a liability and at worst ending up an organ donor.
It angers me that the roads aren't safe to cycle on and there's no alternative; I don't want to cause a collision while a driver overtakes me on a blind bend at 60mph or end up dead but I want to choose the transportation I deem most appropriate.
The British Medical Association told the government they ought to make the roads suitable for use for bikes as well as motorised transport as this would be beneficial on so many levels and they choose to ignore it, followed by a constant growth in car use and deaths.
My priority is to my kids and my family, part of that is bringing them up to cycle safely where ever they want to. In order to do that I have to do what I can to improve things in Ely. I also have to be here at home and not huffing around being angry which is what some of the stuff I read does to me. I won't stop reading it but having spent the last 5 years buried in nappies, toy sheep and wooden railway, emerging and remembering the real world is a mess is at times, hard to handle.
A sense of humour, proportion and still urgency in measures I'm still trying to work out.
It angers me that the roads aren't safe to cycle on and there's no alternative; I don't want to cause a collision while a driver overtakes me on a blind bend at 60mph or end up dead but I want to choose the transportation I deem most appropriate.
The British Medical Association told the government they ought to make the roads suitable for use for bikes as well as motorised transport as this would be beneficial on so many levels and they choose to ignore it, followed by a constant growth in car use and deaths.
My priority is to my kids and my family, part of that is bringing them up to cycle safely where ever they want to. In order to do that I have to do what I can to improve things in Ely. I also have to be here at home and not huffing around being angry which is what some of the stuff I read does to me. I won't stop reading it but having spent the last 5 years buried in nappies, toy sheep and wooden railway, emerging and remembering the real world is a mess is at times, hard to handle.
A sense of humour, proportion and still urgency in measures I'm still trying to work out.
Tuesday 17 July 2012
Tuesday 10 July 2012
Thursday 5 July 2012
Prepared printout for Forum Meeting yesterday
City centres are slowly returning to being places for people to walk about, cycle about and shop or enjoy a coffee in the sunshine after 3 decades of parking problems, traffic jams, pollution and stress. This has made our high streets unpleasant places and removing cars will make them habitable again.
Advantages
of Cycle friendly streets in the Centre of Ely
Studies
show that shoppers who come in by bike spend money in small shops.
They
come into the centre more frequently.
They
visit multiple outlets rather than visiting one shop and returning
home.
Less
space needed to park – by taking away 2 parking spaces in the
carpark next to Waitrose, potentially an additional 20 people can
park and access the centre.
By
encouraging residents to leave their car at home and visit the centre
by bike, walk or bus, your are freeing up parking spaces for visitors
from the outlying villages and further afield.
It
is a quick as coming in by car but you get 20-40 minutes fresh air
and exercise and it's not cost you anything in fuel.
Children
who regularly cycle to school and with their parents to go shopping
develop road sense and will ultimately grow up to become safer
drivers as adults.
Cycling
is only partially a leisure or sport activity; it is also a means of
transportation – one that is cheap, enjoyable, healthy, quiet and
doesn't involve as much space as parking cars does.
Opposition:
Some
argue that the existing bike parking in Ely is not used; the bike
parking placed in places where cyclists are confident their bike is
secure and in sensible walking distance, such as opposite costa are
always half full and on market days full. The parking behind waitrose
is never used as it doesn't appear very secure and isn't on anyone's
route – people seldom approach the centre that way by bike.
Cycle
parking that isn't a Sheffield stand style often involves stands that
damage tyres, buckle wheels and don’t provide a secure object to
fix a locked bike to. Cycle parking like this is rarely used by
cyclists. If you insure your bike, your bike would not be insured
unless it is fixed to an immovable object – would drivers park
their cars in spots that damaged their wheels and would they leave
their car open? No. so why would cyclists?
Strategy:
By
closing the high street to cars 7 days a week, cycle parking could be
placed at both ends and in the middle of the high street.
Reducing
the speed limit in the centre of Ely to 20mph would make Ely a safer
place for cyclists and pedestrians alike.
If
residents could be assured of safe and convenient places to leave
their bikes, they could pop in to town after work, market days and
weekends for top up shopping by bike.
Initiatives
like columns in the paper on how to get your bike out of the garage
and into a usable condition would encourage many who own bikes but
don't use them.
Cycle
surgery on market days – bring your bike in and we will give it a
tune.
There
are literally hundreds of residents who cycle to Ely train station
every weekday to go to work, what is stopping them cycling in to town
on a Saturday?
Could
it be they have kids and they don't feel the roads are safe enough to
cycle as a family?
If
they cycle long distances like from the villages, the roads are quiet
early in the morning and a busy Saturday on 60mph roads is too
dangerous?
Cyclists
who cycle for sport or leisure have expensive bikes, too valuable to
leave in town if they can't be assured of finding a secure spot?
Leisure
and sport bikes don't come with mudguards, carriers, chain guards etc
and require specialist clothing. By encouraging Utility cycling you
are adding cycling as a means of transportation into the
consciousness of people.
Families
with trailers for young children can put a pushchair in the cargo bit
of the trailer and walk with their kids once parked up. They then
have plenty of room for shopping and kids to get back home.
A
long term strategy of cycle paths and routes in from all the housing
estates into the centre would encourage young families on to bikes to
access the centre and the river, they would spend money and enjoy the
experience of living in Ely, a place more beautiful from outside the
confines of a car.
Wednesday 4 July 2012
My first Ely City Forum Meeting (Portas Report Action Group)
Well....it was quite terrifying in places!
Traders association were there in force understandably but I was pleasantly surprised to see a few other groups represented.
Main points going forward were to investigate the commercial entities that contribute money, much like the Lancaster way cycle path and what Sainsburys are doing, there was a bloke there who drives the Norfolk Green buses and was representing the Market Towns association who seemed to know alot about channelling funds generated through businesses great and small; money that could be used to improve facilities and pretty the place up.
There was a big winging session about the lack of signs for tourists and that visitors can't find Oliver Cromwell's house or the railway station, lots of winging about generally how badly things inside and outside Ely seem to guide visitors to Ely.
The position with the older members seemed to revolve around people not picking up their litter, businesses not keeping the centre tidy.
When I approached the subject of making the centre car free, pedestrianising the high street and putting in more cycle parking I got screamed at (for all intents and purposes) by one of the traders association who said and I paraphrase 'I'm not going through this again, we've had this for 2 years, my shop closed down when because it was on a street that got pedestrianised, don't talk to me about parking' I said I wasn't interested in talking about parking more about making the centre habitable for people to use other forms of transport and the chair said despite agreeing with me that he thought the high street should be pedestrianised, we will leave it there before it reaches fisticuffs.
I did manage to get in that the council are already planning the 20mph zone, there's talk of a one way system and that we as a forum should keep up to date with their plans and consult and feed back to them - the role of transport has a pivotal role in the enlivening the centre plan.
One thing the traders and everyone, me included agreed on was that the business rates in Ely were far too high and there were too many charity shops as a result (they get it much cheaper). The powers that be ought to investigate into initiatives to increase and encourage the independent traders. Some mentioned pop up stalls too. The traders association have been given the task of asking all the local shops to feed back what works and doesn't work for them (I'm surprised it hasn't already been done).
There was a bit of talk about how crap and under used the market square was and that needs enlivening, not turning into a carpark.
While I was chatting after someone pulled the 'cyclists don't do themselves any favours disobeying the rules, running lights and wizzing about on pavements' card. I am learning not to rise to this. I did say, I don't and lets not get started on how bad some drivers are. The guy then went on to say there were heaps of stands at wisbeach depot and the cloisters land owners are the reason there are no bike parking by waitrose. There was agreement (outside the traders) that paid parking would be good because the 2 hour free parking window limits the amount of time people stay in the centre and where they visit - Forehill gets bad foot fall because people don't stray too far from their cars. In theory, if they pay, they will stay as long as they need to, or leave their car and come in by other means.
The bloke who owns the waitrose car park and building was really lovely and said he'd put in cycle parking under cover, between the trolleys and the cash point. Was he serious? we shall see I suppose? Next meeting I'll ask...
I handed the chair a small folder with a bit I'd written just including the advantages of cyclists as consumers and strategies both cheap and short term and more long term on how to go about changing habits. It also had a print out of the wikipedia definition of utility cycling which is very enlightening and had lots of useful facts relating to town centres and prosperity linked to utility cycling. How much attention it will get, who knows. I'm not holding my breath.
The star attraction was the Ely App, which will be an app downloadable from new planned free wifi hotspots in the centre of Ely. It will guide tourists, provide joined up information about products, services, attractions, what's on, when and why. It could replace the Ely papers!
I will attend all the meetings and follow this up to it's conclusion.
Traders association were there in force understandably but I was pleasantly surprised to see a few other groups represented.
Main points going forward were to investigate the commercial entities that contribute money, much like the Lancaster way cycle path and what Sainsburys are doing, there was a bloke there who drives the Norfolk Green buses and was representing the Market Towns association who seemed to know alot about channelling funds generated through businesses great and small; money that could be used to improve facilities and pretty the place up.
There was a big winging session about the lack of signs for tourists and that visitors can't find Oliver Cromwell's house or the railway station, lots of winging about generally how badly things inside and outside Ely seem to guide visitors to Ely.
The position with the older members seemed to revolve around people not picking up their litter, businesses not keeping the centre tidy.
When I approached the subject of making the centre car free, pedestrianising the high street and putting in more cycle parking I got screamed at (for all intents and purposes) by one of the traders association who said and I paraphrase 'I'm not going through this again, we've had this for 2 years, my shop closed down when because it was on a street that got pedestrianised, don't talk to me about parking' I said I wasn't interested in talking about parking more about making the centre habitable for people to use other forms of transport and the chair said despite agreeing with me that he thought the high street should be pedestrianised, we will leave it there before it reaches fisticuffs.
I did manage to get in that the council are already planning the 20mph zone, there's talk of a one way system and that we as a forum should keep up to date with their plans and consult and feed back to them - the role of transport has a pivotal role in the enlivening the centre plan.
One thing the traders and everyone, me included agreed on was that the business rates in Ely were far too high and there were too many charity shops as a result (they get it much cheaper). The powers that be ought to investigate into initiatives to increase and encourage the independent traders. Some mentioned pop up stalls too. The traders association have been given the task of asking all the local shops to feed back what works and doesn't work for them (I'm surprised it hasn't already been done).
There was a bit of talk about how crap and under used the market square was and that needs enlivening, not turning into a carpark.
While I was chatting after someone pulled the 'cyclists don't do themselves any favours disobeying the rules, running lights and wizzing about on pavements' card. I am learning not to rise to this. I did say, I don't and lets not get started on how bad some drivers are. The guy then went on to say there were heaps of stands at wisbeach depot and the cloisters land owners are the reason there are no bike parking by waitrose. There was agreement (outside the traders) that paid parking would be good because the 2 hour free parking window limits the amount of time people stay in the centre and where they visit - Forehill gets bad foot fall because people don't stray too far from their cars. In theory, if they pay, they will stay as long as they need to, or leave their car and come in by other means.
The bloke who owns the waitrose car park and building was really lovely and said he'd put in cycle parking under cover, between the trolleys and the cash point. Was he serious? we shall see I suppose? Next meeting I'll ask...
I handed the chair a small folder with a bit I'd written just including the advantages of cyclists as consumers and strategies both cheap and short term and more long term on how to go about changing habits. It also had a print out of the wikipedia definition of utility cycling which is very enlightening and had lots of useful facts relating to town centres and prosperity linked to utility cycling. How much attention it will get, who knows. I'm not holding my breath.
The star attraction was the Ely App, which will be an app downloadable from new planned free wifi hotspots in the centre of Ely. It will guide tourists, provide joined up information about products, services, attractions, what's on, when and why. It could replace the Ely papers!
I will attend all the meetings and follow this up to it's conclusion.
Monday 2 July 2012
Sunday 1 July 2012
The high street is dying
So, is it the recession? They are concentrating on ooo maybe better parking will attract them? But, But, the traffic, parking prices are extortionate! What? how about making it seamless and cheap to get in without a car? Studies show on the continent cycling makes town centres more prosperous.
Utility cycling increases local economies and livens up town centres. This wikipedia page explains what Utility Cycling means.
I'm going to the Ely City Forum Meeting on Wednesday to discuss the Portas Report and on how we can enliven the centre of Ely. I hope I can put forward a good case for making the centre of Ely cycle friendly and hopefully in the process improve it's prosperity.
Utility cycling increases local economies and livens up town centres. This wikipedia page explains what Utility Cycling means.
I'm going to the Ely City Forum Meeting on Wednesday to discuss the Portas Report and on how we can enliven the centre of Ely. I hope I can put forward a good case for making the centre of Ely cycle friendly and hopefully in the process improve it's prosperity.
6 kids, one woman on a bike
A mum in Oregon USA does the maths and works out that even with 6 kids getting around by bike saves alot of money.http://bikeportland.org/2012/06/28/with-six-kids-and-no-car-this-mom-does-it-all-by-bike-73731
Getting around Ely
We got to Nana's fine, Leon talking about why there are so many parked cars everywhere and what would happen to the houses if cars went really fast and bashed into the houses. He made up this amazing scenario with one house on a bend where they'd all sat down for lunch and a car came crashing into their living room! I did try and point out that on the back streets, cars travel nice and slowly so they generally don't crash into people's houses.
Later that afternoon I took Reuben and Alex in the trailer down to Pocket Park and Leon stayed with Tobe at Nana's. Alex's parents took Alex's and Reuben's little bikes down in the back of their car and parked in the Fisherman's carpark, I had the two boys in the trailer and we cycled into town, got an ice cream on the market place and cycled down Forehill, into Willow Walk and through the Fisherman's carpark which is the only access into the park with a trailer. I parked the bike up against a bench next to the baby swings (which meant we couldn't sit on the bench) and we sat on the picnic mat I brought in the trailer. I can't lean the bike against anything else there, there will be bike stands soon.
Reuben and Alex got on their little bikes and cycled round the circular path a few times as well as playing in the park which was pleasantly busy with lots of kids and families. Pocket park is a great place to get little kids on their bikes and let them cycle without fear from cars. We left just before tea and I took Reuben on the back of my bike and put his bike in the trailer while Alex went home with his parents in their car. I cycled back through the fisherman's carpark, up to Willow Walk and right onto Lisle Lane. I cycled all the way up to Prickwillow Road without getting off and walking which is easy without the trailer but with Reuben on the back and a trailer with a bike in I was quite proud of myself! Quite often I've walked it with the trailer, so I must be getting fitter (I did have the wind behind me too). I've found a nice short cut through the back of High Barnes using an alleyway that leads out onto Bentham Way so I can miss most of Kings Avenue on the way home. Ely is a town where I've never found so many streets with the same name; they are more like areas with multiple side roads of the same name than streets, Beresford Road, Columbine Road, High Barns, Kings Avenue, Odds this bit, evens somewhere completely different. I would hate to be an Ambulance looking for the right number.
Cycling round Ely is pretty good, it's small and accessible, only a couple of hills. There's really only the lack of bike parking in certain places and having the guts to behave like a vehicle rather than seeing yourself as in the way of the cars. The roads are there for cycling and driving, they are used to being held up by tractors, other cars and so on so one more Mum with a trailer and a five year old shouldn't be a problem.
If anything I get more smiles and Ahhh's as I ride through Ely than expressions that I take to mean 'you are nuts - how can you subject your children to such risks' I know that statistically their car in an accident can no more protect their kids than my trailer. I ride in a way that there is little possibility of not being seen and I wouldn't dream of taking the trailer on 60 mph roads. In a car, if our lovely safe Mazda 5 was hit at 70mph on the A14 it would be more luck than the quality of our car or car seats whether any of us survived. People think their cars and car seats are safe but kids seats are only tested at 30mph and results at 60-80mph show a very different picture.
I know where I stand on my bike, I control things and I know what I can and can't do, I'm rarely doing more than 10mph anyway. As a passenger in a car barrelling down the A14 at 60mph I have no control and I know that if something were to happen, that might well be the end of this part of the Jones Family. Driving or at least being in a car for me relies on alot of faith and, if I'm honest I have to accept that it's the most dangerous thing in my life. People still see my cycling as the riskiest part. It really isn't!!! They are making driving as safe as they possibly can, now it's time to make using the roads perceivably as safe as possible for all users.
What I would love to see is a more nurturing nature to the roads so nervous cyclists have space and know where to go plus all A roads and main heavy traffic roads need a cycle path/route next to it or close by so that you can travel between towns and villages without being overtaken at 60mph or worse knocked off/killed by 'sorry I didn't see you (because I was texting/changing the CD/lighting a cigarette)'.
Friday 29 June 2012
Thursday 28 June 2012
Wednesday 27 June 2012
obstacles
Just met up with Alison Conder from East Cambs Council who's in charge of the country park in Ely. The main reason was to look at the best place to put cycle parking but also to put in some ideas on usage, signage and publicity for the park.
My main contribution was my idea of getting schools to design bike racks but the funding isn't there and they already have a number of stands they have been given 'for free' that I think came from a council depot somewhere so free ones are always good. We agreed it would be ideal to put them next to the play equipment so hopefully some time soon, when I go there with the kids there's somewhere to leave our bikes.
The project has been a money pit with many errors and areas where money wasn't well spent so there's no more money for my sand pit idea either. The paths around the park weren't built wide enough so now there is an issue as to whether to allow bikes into the park and as they already use the park, it's more a case of how they can be used without upsetting or injuring people in the park on foot. I suggested a cycle sign saying give way to pedestrians, so as to encourage consideration.
I hope that next year we can hold a family cycle day organised with the Cycle campaign which should be within what the council would like to hold events which publicise the park.
I rang my Dad just now, just to say hello and mentioned what I've been up to and tell him about the blog. He believes that there is no way that the UK with it's car based economy will ever be the cycle friendly place I envisage - it would put too many people out of work. I'm not sure how - we own a car and will continue to do so - we have a family and there are many excuses for using our car that don't involve under 5 mile journeys that the bike is mainly used for and the main way that we want to encourage people leaving their cars at home. It will still need servicing etc. Anyone who's seen "Who killed the Electric Car?" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489037/ will know that the electric car was swiftly scrapped when they realised that it put the entire car related industry out of work. Oil has the world on it's knees and will continue to do so for at least a few more decades, that doesn't mean we can't have our town centres be places for people rather than cars.
It made me think that there is alot of resignation out there and it will take something pretty huge to change things. Huge things come in small bits sometimes, like water and every drop makes up an ocean.
There are many sides and view points to protect and I am well aware that there are still 20% if not more residents in the Netherlands who never get on a bike and who will always leave their house by car. I know there are - my Mum is one of them. Still, she is proud to live in a country with a fully integrated public transport and cycling system. She drives every day to work, about 25 miles and I guess it's not a journey she could easily make any other way, especially with a book full of school stuff. The point is that those that can do. The fact that they can means that employers also are thinking about where they locate their places of work as the majority would prefer to get to work by bike, or at least a proportion of their work by bike. I've always stipulated, even in the UK I want to be able to cycle to work. This has been pretty much impossible since moving to Ely and having kids as I wanted a short journey which is why I've taken up childminding. Working in Cambridge would leech a good proportion of my income on train fare and if I ran a car it would leech a larger proportion of my income running a car. It doesn't add up. I am not getting a job to feed a car.
So, there are many obstacles to getting this place to live in where there is truly a choice to leave the car at home for short journeys and as far as I can see today, they include people misconceptions that we don't want anyone to own a car, local authorities wasting money paying consultants to advise then ignoring their advice because they didn't give them a budget or the budget was slashed, thus wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds, and now the lack of money available leaves us with a transport infrastructure that revolves around badly maintained roads which has led the population to all go out and buy 4x4s. Then they have to have well paid jobs miles from where they live to afford to run their 4x4s so they can get to work. Now what?
Tuesday 26 June 2012
You're killing the kids
http://www.ecf.com/news/youre-killing-the-kids-velo-city-live-coverage/
Article on how vehicle emissions and lack of activity are out weighing the benefits of saying the Olympics will inspire kids to be more active.
Article on how vehicle emissions and lack of activity are out weighing the benefits of saying the Olympics will inspire kids to be more active.
Monday 25 June 2012
Ely
I have lived in Ely since 2005. My then fiancée, now husband and I moved up from London having decided it made a good place to settle down and have kids. Ely was a popular destination for young families and had doubled in size since the millennium. My son's school had to add multiple classrooms and facilities as have and are all the schools in Ely, the place is growing fast. I read somewhere the 2nd fastest growing town in the UK.
In the garage of our semi are quite a few bikes, Leon's bike, soon to become Reuben's; a 16 inch Specialised with pedal back brakes and really nicely designed stabilisers that don't come loose and flop about. Toby's bike, a Merida hybrid, recently purchased to replace his Ridgeback that after a decade commuting in London then 5 years retirement in the garage of occasional use, on it's last service the bike shop said it had had it's day and everything needed replacing. My Brompton, red, 3 speed L3 - used to do up to 100 miles a week in London, very comfortable and fast - I have an extended seat post due to my height and a very comfy Liberator saddle, I've replaced the rubber thing that joins the back wheel to the frame with a harder rubber suspension thingy usually used for recumbents. I'm a heavy bird and it makes the ride less bouncy. Then I have a Halfords full suspension mountain bike that I actually hate and intend to sell and replace with a hybrid. It's too small for me and I was daft to buy it even if it was £25 plus a £35 service.
My absolute favorite is my Bergers 28" wheel dutch bike, 3 speed sram, hub gears, dress guard, chain guard, front cargo carrier back carrier with paniers with rain cape for little boy, enormous motorbike lock and cable extension for AXA horse shoe lock (will lock my trailer to the bike) and Hamax Sleepy for Reuben. It weighs an absolute ton, but it goes amazingly, so comfortable and great for everyday to school and into town. Then there's my trailer, I can carry two in the trailer and one on the back of the bike.
Most days Leon rides to school on his bike with me on the outside of him and Reuben sits in the Hamax. On rainy days, I'll take Reuben's mate Alex to school too, the two of them in the trailer, dry days I let them scooter, Leon goes on the path on his bike and I'll either walk or follow on the bike.
We are really lucky in that once we've negotiated the busy road, the rest of the journey is a cut through path.
There are maybe 10 parents, 20 tops in total who ride their kids to school, so out of the two schools next door to each other this is not really very many. Why is that? The school run is plagued by cars parking, leaving cars on pavements, corners and up in residential areas close to the school, there is one bike space by the main gates and a couple of places inside the school that are sensible to lean a bike. There's a lovely new shed by the Nursery entrance with space for maybe 20 bikes, every day it's completely full of kids bikes and scooters. In a Dutch school this parking would have made up maybe a tenth of the parking available, that parking would be rammed full and overflowing.
There is another guy who has the same trailer as me, we chatted about how useful it was, how much the kids enjoy it and how it's alot cheaper than a second car, not to mention easier to park. In Cambridge, only 15 miles away, we wouldn't be unusual, but in Ely we of one of maybe half a dozen bike trailers I've seen in the 7 years I've lived here.
Ely is a couple of miles wide, many of the journeys made would take maybe a couple of minutes longer by bike, why are most of the cyclists in Ely either only visible cycling to the railway station first thing in the morning on a week day or over 70?
There is a bit of decent bike parking in Ely, it's full on a Saturday and usually the 10 Sheffield stands are half full at any one time, as are the half dozen spaces outside the Library. Cyclists are relatively rare in Ely, if cycling started to gain popularity, where would all the bikes get parked?
The Ely Cycle Campaign is approaching 6 months old and already we are being consulted on a variety of issues like this, it's fantastic. We are on the crest of a wave where there is money that needs to be spent on encouraging more cycling and they need cyclists to instruct what needs doing where.
My main issue is that there is plenty of research that suggests that the women wont ride bikes on UK roads; they are too fast, too dangerous, too bumpy and forget sticking your kid on the back or on a bike with you. I do it and it's fine but I am, lets face it a life time, experienced, confident cyclist. If you last rode a bike as a teenager, what are the chances that the bike in the garage is in desperate need of a service and probably doesn't fit you properly/you never really got the hand of the gears and every time you touch it it covers you in oil?
I want to examine how we are marketed bikes in the UK, how the roads can be made perceivably safe enough for cyclists who aren't among the thousands, mainly men who use the roads now anyway, how can we get women riding bikes that are comfortable, wont cover you in oil and will carry 30 quids worth of groceries and a toddler.
In the garage of our semi are quite a few bikes, Leon's bike, soon to become Reuben's; a 16 inch Specialised with pedal back brakes and really nicely designed stabilisers that don't come loose and flop about. Toby's bike, a Merida hybrid, recently purchased to replace his Ridgeback that after a decade commuting in London then 5 years retirement in the garage of occasional use, on it's last service the bike shop said it had had it's day and everything needed replacing. My Brompton, red, 3 speed L3 - used to do up to 100 miles a week in London, very comfortable and fast - I have an extended seat post due to my height and a very comfy Liberator saddle, I've replaced the rubber thing that joins the back wheel to the frame with a harder rubber suspension thingy usually used for recumbents. I'm a heavy bird and it makes the ride less bouncy. Then I have a Halfords full suspension mountain bike that I actually hate and intend to sell and replace with a hybrid. It's too small for me and I was daft to buy it even if it was £25 plus a £35 service.
My absolute favorite is my Bergers 28" wheel dutch bike, 3 speed sram, hub gears, dress guard, chain guard, front cargo carrier back carrier with paniers with rain cape for little boy, enormous motorbike lock and cable extension for AXA horse shoe lock (will lock my trailer to the bike) and Hamax Sleepy for Reuben. It weighs an absolute ton, but it goes amazingly, so comfortable and great for everyday to school and into town. Then there's my trailer, I can carry two in the trailer and one on the back of the bike.
Most days Leon rides to school on his bike with me on the outside of him and Reuben sits in the Hamax. On rainy days, I'll take Reuben's mate Alex to school too, the two of them in the trailer, dry days I let them scooter, Leon goes on the path on his bike and I'll either walk or follow on the bike.
We are really lucky in that once we've negotiated the busy road, the rest of the journey is a cut through path.
There are maybe 10 parents, 20 tops in total who ride their kids to school, so out of the two schools next door to each other this is not really very many. Why is that? The school run is plagued by cars parking, leaving cars on pavements, corners and up in residential areas close to the school, there is one bike space by the main gates and a couple of places inside the school that are sensible to lean a bike. There's a lovely new shed by the Nursery entrance with space for maybe 20 bikes, every day it's completely full of kids bikes and scooters. In a Dutch school this parking would have made up maybe a tenth of the parking available, that parking would be rammed full and overflowing.
There is another guy who has the same trailer as me, we chatted about how useful it was, how much the kids enjoy it and how it's alot cheaper than a second car, not to mention easier to park. In Cambridge, only 15 miles away, we wouldn't be unusual, but in Ely we of one of maybe half a dozen bike trailers I've seen in the 7 years I've lived here.
Ely is a couple of miles wide, many of the journeys made would take maybe a couple of minutes longer by bike, why are most of the cyclists in Ely either only visible cycling to the railway station first thing in the morning on a week day or over 70?
There is a bit of decent bike parking in Ely, it's full on a Saturday and usually the 10 Sheffield stands are half full at any one time, as are the half dozen spaces outside the Library. Cyclists are relatively rare in Ely, if cycling started to gain popularity, where would all the bikes get parked?
The Ely Cycle Campaign is approaching 6 months old and already we are being consulted on a variety of issues like this, it's fantastic. We are on the crest of a wave where there is money that needs to be spent on encouraging more cycling and they need cyclists to instruct what needs doing where.
My main issue is that there is plenty of research that suggests that the women wont ride bikes on UK roads; they are too fast, too dangerous, too bumpy and forget sticking your kid on the back or on a bike with you. I do it and it's fine but I am, lets face it a life time, experienced, confident cyclist. If you last rode a bike as a teenager, what are the chances that the bike in the garage is in desperate need of a service and probably doesn't fit you properly/you never really got the hand of the gears and every time you touch it it covers you in oil?
I want to examine how we are marketed bikes in the UK, how the roads can be made perceivably safe enough for cyclists who aren't among the thousands, mainly men who use the roads now anyway, how can we get women riding bikes that are comfortable, wont cover you in oil and will carry 30 quids worth of groceries and a toddler.
#ilovemybike: the bakfiets
Sunday 24 June 2012
Even bike girls get the blues
What does the title mean? I saw a film about 20 years ago called Even Cowgirls Get the Blues based on a book by Tim Robbins. It involved cowgirls among other themes and when I left the cinema, I unlocked my bike and reflected that much like cowgirls are connected to their horses, I am to my bike. It is my freedom, my means of getting around, I take great pleasure in riding around rain or shine and it makes me feel good. At the time I was living in Holland and I was by no means unusual in my choice of transport but I felt constantly grateful for having that access to my bikes and where I could go - the roads I cycled on, the fantastic cycle paths and the ease and simplicity that it brought to my life as well as everyone else's. The Netherlanders take it completely for granted but I never did.
I was born in Reading, Berkshire, UK in a suburb south of the River Thames called Caversham. The dead end street I lived on was called Short Street and there were 11 houses, I lived at number 10. It was a perfect place to learn to ride a bike, when I was 6 or 7, my Dad got a child's bike frame from a salvage yard (my Dad and I went there with his hand truck on a regular basis, him to look for tools and things, me to find pretty shiny things). He painted the frame Red and built me a bike, I still remember learning to ride it with the saddle down low, like young kids do now with step bikes. I was on it all the time and once as a punishment, my Dad took the saddle off it. I missed it so much I got a cushion off the sofa and started riding round with the cushion instead. Needless to say I got the saddle back quite quickly, he was taken by my tenacity.
When I was 9 my parents divorced, I saw it coming and had already decided I would stay with my Dad, we were best friends despite his moodiness. He said himself he was a crap husband but a good Dad, to me at least and later to my younger sister who didn't really get to know him again properly until she was an adult as she went with my Mum and new husband. The divorce was the most amicable in history, everything including us two girls was split down the middle. My Dad lives in a world of his own, a free thinker a rarity in any time. He didn't drive and had no intention of doing so, as a boy he'd loved Bugatti's and the romance of the motor car but the idea of driving everywhere in one never appealed to him. To him they are lethal weapons in the hands of most drivers (really rather true) and preferred to rely on his own muscle strength plus for long distances the train, to get from A to B.
What then do you do in 1980 with a 9 year old if you need to commute to Reading Station to get on a train to go to work? Dad was a primary school teacher, so it made sense that I travelled with him to his school and negate the need for child care completely, but how? He joked, we'll get a tandem! a month or so later outside the Emporium, a favourite source of old hand tools and for me a favourite source of costume jewellery and antique bottles, was a Holdsworth pre-war mixty bar ladyback tandem for £70. It was fate. We rode it home, Dad stripped it down and along with a Falcon roadbike frame that he'd earmarked for me when I was older we took the stripped down frames on the train to London to a shop on the Old Kent Road to get them sprayed and badged, I chose sky blue, the tandem was a sort of royal blue. When we went to collect them we brought them back and Dad built the tandem with hub brakes - two people are heavy and he thought this to be more reliable, 4 dérailleur gears, widely spaced with a crawler gear necessary in Reading. The star attraction was the back carrier made entirely out of Dexion (I shall check the spelling) - Mechano for adults, he called it, it had two main functions, it was good for holding bungees in place, you could carry practically anything, and frequently did with enough bungees and finally there was a handle about 5 inches long and half and inch thick bolted in at the end across the rear light so that I could lift the back of the tandem on and off trains. In those days all trains had guards wagons, often full of sacks of post and we would have to clamber over the sacks of post with the tandem sometimes although mostly it was simply a case of opening the double doors, Dad would lift the front in and I would follow with the back wheel using the handle. Worked a treat. For two years we commuted from Reading to Crowthorne on the Guildford train from platform 4b, the trains froze, caught fire, broke down and generally got us there and back most of the time, occasionally we'd wait for hours at Crowthorne station, and then when nothing came through, cycle on to Wokingham to catch the Waterloo to Reading train. A few times I think we cycled all the way, roughly 10 miles I think but usually this was a last resort. Holidays involved taking camping equipment to Steam Rallies and cycling I'm not sure how far on busy major A roads. I remember it took all day and a couple of years I think Janet, my younger sister who would have been 10 or 11 cycled on the back of the tandem and I cycled on the Falcon, that by then fit me.
As a teenager, I could more or less decide on a spec and my Dad would build a bike to suit, I already had the choice of borrowing his bikes; a Holdsworth road bike that had such a short wheel base, cycling it makes you wonder if the bike is possessed with it's own power, a Trade Bike with a huge metal frame basket that was fixed to the frame, the handlebars and front wheel moved independently which took a bit of getting used to. And the tandem of course, I did occasionally take friends on it, boyfriends later on into my 20's. I had the Falcon and a roadster style bike with a frame with cross handlebars, sturdy carrier for bungying my enormous Saxophone case. It was much like the hybrids that later came into fashion for commuting in London, but with mudguards and a carrier. I liked the wide handlebars that implied a bmx style, comfy too. This was my going to school bike.
Dad and I would do pub crawls in the Summer on the Tandem. We would cycle out west where the A34 western bypass now is on ancient b roads and do a round trip of about 10 miles of an evening taking in the Furze Bush, the Craven Arms and other pubs on the way. We listened in the pubs to live music and chatted there and back about anything and everything. Dad later allowed his house to be a washing and bath station for all the Newbury bypass protesters. Hundreds of protesters used his bathroom! I left Newbury in my late teens, hated the place and have only ever returned to visit my Dad since. I cycled out west to see what a mess they'd made of our favourite pub crawl a few years ago. Words fail me.
In the 80's, School uniform did not include trousers for girls and this really annoyed me, often I would cycle to school in trousers and 'forget' to bring my skirt. It annoyed me that half a century or more of emancipation and I was still forced to wear a flippin' skirt.
My best mate in my early teens lived at the top of a steep hill, by then we'd moved to Newbury by the way. We lived almost at the bottom of the hill and I had the choice of 5 different hills I could cycle up to get there, I visited most evenings so, some taking considerably longer than the closest but I chose different hills to keep it interesting I suppose. I was quite good at climbing hills, from riding the tandem, Dad rarely got off and walked we just plodded up the hill however long it took. There were very few hills that defeated him.
Neither of us had super light bikes, chose the extra weight of mudguards and carriers for convenience and practicality, he is in his early 70's now and still cycles up all 5 of these hills and more, a month or so ago he reported to me a journey where he cycled a 30 mile round trip which ended up with him cycling home along the A4 between Reading and Newbury at 11 o'clock at night, cycling on the path, the path ran out, he wobbled into a ditch and ended up in the branches of a tree, bike and all. He got home OK. Somehow.
I am notorious with my old school friend for taking her on bikes round the terrifying Robin Hood Roundabout in Newbury, we were about 15, there are maybe 7 different exits and the roundabout is probably about 100m across from exit to exit. I would fearlessly cycle anywhere but for most people who might cycle purely for leisure, they would avoid roundabouts as much as anything else because they didn't know how to cycle across them. My tactic was to take the lane like a driver would, simple as that. It's worked for me all over London when I lived and cycled there. Made sense to me the perceived danger for most people will see it otherwise. As far as I know, cyclists don't often get hit on roundabouts though, mainly things turning left or right on to them or changing lanes without seeing them. Roundabouts look scary on a bike to most people and yet they aren't hard. It's annoying when a car will undertake or overtake on a roundabout, it's not done and it usually serves to put me in the wrong lane to come off. One never overtakes anything on a roundabout so why do drivers think they can over take bikes?
Anyway, roundabouts is one of the reasons I'm starting this blog. Why, in England do they build cycle paths where the road is clearly wide enough anyway, then write END when you get to anything where a 'normal' person might require some assistance? I will be exploring possible solutions - there are a variety of ways, depending on the size and number of exits you can make a roundabout less intimidating for cyclists who aren't like me or the other many thousands of cyclists who use the roads today. Most of these are Men, men who drive or at least have good road sense. Whether they stop at red lights or not (I do but only since I turned 30 and decided it was time I set an example), they are saving the economy millions by leaving their car at home. I want to see roads across the UK that are fit for women and children to use safely. Having lived in Holland for all of the 90's, this will form a large part of my inspiration but not entirely.
Bikes have formed a large part of my life and they still are, they might be a part of a lot of other women in the UK, if only they were given the opportunity.
This is a jumble, but I am attempting to create some sort of context, I am not your typical cyclist, who is? What interests me is what we can do to make cycling for women as easy as it clearly is in Holland and Germany. We really really need to. I don't want to force everyone onto a bike - just want people to have the choice to leave their car in the driveway and walk, jump on a bus, tram or train or of course, jump on a bike.
I was born in Reading, Berkshire, UK in a suburb south of the River Thames called Caversham. The dead end street I lived on was called Short Street and there were 11 houses, I lived at number 10. It was a perfect place to learn to ride a bike, when I was 6 or 7, my Dad got a child's bike frame from a salvage yard (my Dad and I went there with his hand truck on a regular basis, him to look for tools and things, me to find pretty shiny things). He painted the frame Red and built me a bike, I still remember learning to ride it with the saddle down low, like young kids do now with step bikes. I was on it all the time and once as a punishment, my Dad took the saddle off it. I missed it so much I got a cushion off the sofa and started riding round with the cushion instead. Needless to say I got the saddle back quite quickly, he was taken by my tenacity.
When I was 9 my parents divorced, I saw it coming and had already decided I would stay with my Dad, we were best friends despite his moodiness. He said himself he was a crap husband but a good Dad, to me at least and later to my younger sister who didn't really get to know him again properly until she was an adult as she went with my Mum and new husband. The divorce was the most amicable in history, everything including us two girls was split down the middle. My Dad lives in a world of his own, a free thinker a rarity in any time. He didn't drive and had no intention of doing so, as a boy he'd loved Bugatti's and the romance of the motor car but the idea of driving everywhere in one never appealed to him. To him they are lethal weapons in the hands of most drivers (really rather true) and preferred to rely on his own muscle strength plus for long distances the train, to get from A to B.
What then do you do in 1980 with a 9 year old if you need to commute to Reading Station to get on a train to go to work? Dad was a primary school teacher, so it made sense that I travelled with him to his school and negate the need for child care completely, but how? He joked, we'll get a tandem! a month or so later outside the Emporium, a favourite source of old hand tools and for me a favourite source of costume jewellery and antique bottles, was a Holdsworth pre-war mixty bar ladyback tandem for £70. It was fate. We rode it home, Dad stripped it down and along with a Falcon roadbike frame that he'd earmarked for me when I was older we took the stripped down frames on the train to London to a shop on the Old Kent Road to get them sprayed and badged, I chose sky blue, the tandem was a sort of royal blue. When we went to collect them we brought them back and Dad built the tandem with hub brakes - two people are heavy and he thought this to be more reliable, 4 dérailleur gears, widely spaced with a crawler gear necessary in Reading. The star attraction was the back carrier made entirely out of Dexion (I shall check the spelling) - Mechano for adults, he called it, it had two main functions, it was good for holding bungees in place, you could carry practically anything, and frequently did with enough bungees and finally there was a handle about 5 inches long and half and inch thick bolted in at the end across the rear light so that I could lift the back of the tandem on and off trains. In those days all trains had guards wagons, often full of sacks of post and we would have to clamber over the sacks of post with the tandem sometimes although mostly it was simply a case of opening the double doors, Dad would lift the front in and I would follow with the back wheel using the handle. Worked a treat. For two years we commuted from Reading to Crowthorne on the Guildford train from platform 4b, the trains froze, caught fire, broke down and generally got us there and back most of the time, occasionally we'd wait for hours at Crowthorne station, and then when nothing came through, cycle on to Wokingham to catch the Waterloo to Reading train. A few times I think we cycled all the way, roughly 10 miles I think but usually this was a last resort. Holidays involved taking camping equipment to Steam Rallies and cycling I'm not sure how far on busy major A roads. I remember it took all day and a couple of years I think Janet, my younger sister who would have been 10 or 11 cycled on the back of the tandem and I cycled on the Falcon, that by then fit me.
As a teenager, I could more or less decide on a spec and my Dad would build a bike to suit, I already had the choice of borrowing his bikes; a Holdsworth road bike that had such a short wheel base, cycling it makes you wonder if the bike is possessed with it's own power, a Trade Bike with a huge metal frame basket that was fixed to the frame, the handlebars and front wheel moved independently which took a bit of getting used to. And the tandem of course, I did occasionally take friends on it, boyfriends later on into my 20's. I had the Falcon and a roadster style bike with a frame with cross handlebars, sturdy carrier for bungying my enormous Saxophone case. It was much like the hybrids that later came into fashion for commuting in London, but with mudguards and a carrier. I liked the wide handlebars that implied a bmx style, comfy too. This was my going to school bike.
Dad and I would do pub crawls in the Summer on the Tandem. We would cycle out west where the A34 western bypass now is on ancient b roads and do a round trip of about 10 miles of an evening taking in the Furze Bush, the Craven Arms and other pubs on the way. We listened in the pubs to live music and chatted there and back about anything and everything. Dad later allowed his house to be a washing and bath station for all the Newbury bypass protesters. Hundreds of protesters used his bathroom! I left Newbury in my late teens, hated the place and have only ever returned to visit my Dad since. I cycled out west to see what a mess they'd made of our favourite pub crawl a few years ago. Words fail me.
In the 80's, School uniform did not include trousers for girls and this really annoyed me, often I would cycle to school in trousers and 'forget' to bring my skirt. It annoyed me that half a century or more of emancipation and I was still forced to wear a flippin' skirt.
My best mate in my early teens lived at the top of a steep hill, by then we'd moved to Newbury by the way. We lived almost at the bottom of the hill and I had the choice of 5 different hills I could cycle up to get there, I visited most evenings so, some taking considerably longer than the closest but I chose different hills to keep it interesting I suppose. I was quite good at climbing hills, from riding the tandem, Dad rarely got off and walked we just plodded up the hill however long it took. There were very few hills that defeated him.
Neither of us had super light bikes, chose the extra weight of mudguards and carriers for convenience and practicality, he is in his early 70's now and still cycles up all 5 of these hills and more, a month or so ago he reported to me a journey where he cycled a 30 mile round trip which ended up with him cycling home along the A4 between Reading and Newbury at 11 o'clock at night, cycling on the path, the path ran out, he wobbled into a ditch and ended up in the branches of a tree, bike and all. He got home OK. Somehow.
I am notorious with my old school friend for taking her on bikes round the terrifying Robin Hood Roundabout in Newbury, we were about 15, there are maybe 7 different exits and the roundabout is probably about 100m across from exit to exit. I would fearlessly cycle anywhere but for most people who might cycle purely for leisure, they would avoid roundabouts as much as anything else because they didn't know how to cycle across them. My tactic was to take the lane like a driver would, simple as that. It's worked for me all over London when I lived and cycled there. Made sense to me the perceived danger for most people will see it otherwise. As far as I know, cyclists don't often get hit on roundabouts though, mainly things turning left or right on to them or changing lanes without seeing them. Roundabouts look scary on a bike to most people and yet they aren't hard. It's annoying when a car will undertake or overtake on a roundabout, it's not done and it usually serves to put me in the wrong lane to come off. One never overtakes anything on a roundabout so why do drivers think they can over take bikes?
Anyway, roundabouts is one of the reasons I'm starting this blog. Why, in England do they build cycle paths where the road is clearly wide enough anyway, then write END when you get to anything where a 'normal' person might require some assistance? I will be exploring possible solutions - there are a variety of ways, depending on the size and number of exits you can make a roundabout less intimidating for cyclists who aren't like me or the other many thousands of cyclists who use the roads today. Most of these are Men, men who drive or at least have good road sense. Whether they stop at red lights or not (I do but only since I turned 30 and decided it was time I set an example), they are saving the economy millions by leaving their car at home. I want to see roads across the UK that are fit for women and children to use safely. Having lived in Holland for all of the 90's, this will form a large part of my inspiration but not entirely.
Bikes have formed a large part of my life and they still are, they might be a part of a lot of other women in the UK, if only they were given the opportunity.
This is a jumble, but I am attempting to create some sort of context, I am not your typical cyclist, who is? What interests me is what we can do to make cycling for women as easy as it clearly is in Holland and Germany. We really really need to. I don't want to force everyone onto a bike - just want people to have the choice to leave their car in the driveway and walk, jump on a bus, tram or train or of course, jump on a bike.
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