Cycling on a roller coaster

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.

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.

Sticky poster for the new campaign. I should get this message around town quite a bit with this :)

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.

As a result, a number of key issues and possible solutions have been identified including:

• 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

Further work is now being undertaken to identify a shortlist of priorities.       

Leon's new Loekie

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!

Polar bears are epic