I've only been a patient at Papworth Hospital once, a couple of decades ago. In those days it was known as the best heart hospital in the known universe. My GP, also located in Papworth, sent me for an x-ray. (My left hip, if I recall correctly.) After I got lost in a maze of [...]
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Cycling safety has been in the news lately. One cycling-related trial has just finished, another is about to start, and the province’s Chief Coroner has announced a province-wide inquiry into cycling safety. The City of Ottawa opened its first downtown cycling lane this year on Laurier Avenue. The city has needed this for a long [...]
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Just got back from the first Sky Ride Hull (not to be confused with one of those Big Skies Bike Rides) so a quick post and a few photographs. I did enjoy cycling round Hull city centre, and got a bit of a childish thrill in not getting a £30 fine for the pleasure of [...]
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... or How to cross the River Hull on a bike in relative safety: The Commute Part Deux (with apologies to Kern). I haven’t been enjoying my ride to work just lately. I have to get from the east to the west of the River Hull. On the route I usually take there is a [...]
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Gosh, doesn't a year go by quickly? Katie's gearbox broke a year ago and I haven't driven a car since then. I've pushed through the problems of a broken hip. Even with the time off, I've cycled more miles in the last year then I used to drive. I've tried not to become a fanatical [...]
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A new Global Journal Championing Cycling Mobility was launched yesterday: cyclingmobility. One of its articles was written by me: Where less is more, analysing highway design from a cyclist's point of view. I haven't read the final article as cyclingmobility is subscription only, aimed at governments, cities and councils, transport companies, consultants and industry. I [...]
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Inspired by Mick's semi-century, I tried to have a go. However, I didn't get out of the house until 11 am and wanted to be back in daylight, so I didn't have the time. That's my excuse. Besides, I spent a while exploring the delights of Cambridgeshire's Guided Busway. And my odometer has a manual [...]
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By Command of Her Majesty, in January 2011 the British Secretary of State for Transport presented to Parliament a White Paper titled: Creating Growth, Cutting Carbon – Making Sustainable Local Transport Happen. The launch of this initiative is accompanied by a Local Sustainable Transport Fund of £560 million spread over four years to 2014-15. Overall, [...]
Read all of 2011 Transport White Paper: what's for cycling? »
Q. What do Coronation Street, Eastenders and Emmerdale have in common? A. They’re all soaps? Q. Yes, yes. What else? A. They all have a pub in which characters consume alcohol well above the safe drinking levels advised by all the health agencies? Q. Can you give me more? A. Er, they’ve all featured storylines [...]
Read all of Why soaps won't wash with me: a cyclist comes clean »
I've been car-free for six months now, counting from when Katie's gearbox failed. Things I miss: Comfort, especially being sheltered from the weather. Fast startup and shutdown time. The car took about 15 seconds. A bike takes a few minutes, including heaping on clothing, checking lights and tyres, strapping the crutch on and wheeling the [...]
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An excellent combination, I think. One thing my Canon G9 compact camera does well is capture colour, and Autumn is the time for colour, this year especially, as late summer was warmer and wetter than usual. October is my favourite month, not just because of the gorgeous foliage but also the sense of darkness creeping [...]
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The Council's Highways & Engineering Department recently completed a road safety scheme in the main street of my local village. Most of it seems okay: building out the footways to enclose the rows of cars that have always parked along one side of the street. I can see how this makes it safer for pedestrians [...]
Read all of Traffic calming & Road Safety Audit chicanery »
Out of curiosity I looked up "conservative cycling policy" on the web and read where the Conservatives stand on transport in general and cycling in particular. Under the heading 'Transport' they announce: "We will support sustainable travel initiatives, including the promotion of cycling and walking." Just like the previous Government did and not much happened. [...]
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Apart from Mrs Taylor's crash in Holland in September and a few spills of my own when mountain biking I don't remember ever witnessing a cyling accident. Hilary's recent Post was a reminder that cyclists do get killed on British roads, as was the Department for Transport's publication last month of reported road casualties for [...]
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In my part of East Yorkshire there are things we have taken for granted in the past, such as bouncers in city centre pubs and Lada taxis. The dodgy taxis are gone, although the bouncers probably remain – for all I know. But this is a sad sight, I think. Why on earth should it [...]
Read all of An urban cyclist takes to the hills »
Until recently I'd never heard of vehicular cycling or bicycle driving. It seems these concepts are at the heart of a worldwide debate between cyclists who believe bicycles should have equal status to other vehicles on the highway and those who prefer them to be segregated with their own infrastructure. In the UK the CTC [...]
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Amongst the signs and notices spoiling the green in the pretty Lancashire village of Rivington is one that points to the Lancashire Cycleway. I cycle past the route sign almost every day, and some similar ones further along the road to Adlington, another village close to where I live. I would be surprised if many [...]
Read all of Regional Cycle Network Route 91: the Lancashire Cycleway southern loop »
The Dec-Jan edition of 'cycle' – a magazine published by the CTC (the UK's national cyclists' organisation) – reports that the National Cycling Plan announced in June 2009 by the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to promote cycling as a mainstream form of personal transport is unlikely to go to public consultation. So the CTC [...]
Read all of How to get more people cycling »
British round-the-world cyclist Ken Roberts has been cycling on the motorway, at least along the hard shoulder. This is legal, but not in the UK. It's legal in Bulgaria, which Ken has been crossing this November on his way to Turkey. The alternative was a detour that would cost him a day or more. Allowing [...]
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Got up this morning. Nice day. Torrential rain yesterday, Torr Ential. Hear that Cork is badly flooded. I'm retired. I can do what I want to. I'm going to cycle into town to see the floods. I live 2.7 miles from the centre of Cork. I cycle in by a route which I know will [...]
Read all of You've gotta improvise »
Last Sunday in the Campaigning & Public Policy section of the CTC forums someone started a thread titled: "It turns me off." The thread starter (OP) was referring to a Cyclenation Conference he'd been to in Nottingham, where one of the organisers, a Local Authority cycle trainer who'd laid on a vegan lunch, gave a [...]
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CycleSeven 2009-2012
