Newsletter - Cycling News | February
Sent: Thu, Sep 9th 2010, 18:10
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Welcome to the February edition of the electronic newsletter from Life Cycle UK, the cycle promotion charity. In this issue:
Cycling City – have your say
Half-term cycle training courses
Off your bike?
Tow a trailer
Sugar cycles
We’re hiring!
Volunteer needed
Everyclick
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Cycling City – have your say
Back in June 2008 Bristol was awarded the accolade of Cycling Demonstration City. A massive £22.8-million (half from government, half raised locally) is to be spent on cycling initiatives over the next three years. The aim is to double levels of cycle use in Bristol and the suburban parts of South Gloucestershire.
On Thursday 5th February there will be a Cycling City briefing session. You're invited! Simply drop in to the Drawing Room of the Marriott Royal Hotel, College Green, Bristol any time between 5.00 p.m. and 7.00 p.m. It’s an opportunity to meet the council’s project team and to find out what their plans are. Light refreshments will be available. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Half-term cycle training courses
With half-term approaching Life Cycle will be running cycle training courses for 8 to 11 year-old children. They’re the perfect solution for bored kids and stressed parents!
Training begins off-road, away from traffic, but then moves onto local roads. Children learn how to control their bikes, how to anticipate other road users' behaviour, and how to carry out manoeuvres with skill and confidence. We work with small groups of children so everyone gets lots of attention. At the end of the course the children get certificates and we provide feedback to parents on the child's progress.
The courses will take place at
Life Cycle thinks that the last eight months have been rather, er, quiet, but no doubt a lot has been going on behind the scenes. We’ll find out on Thursday!
- Bristol Grammar School (£10 per place for children who attend school in Bristol)
- St Keyna’s Primary School, Keynsham (£20 per place for children who attend school in B&NES)
- Widcombe Junior School, Bath (£20 per place for children who attend school in B&NES)
Courses run over three days (Tuesday 17th to Thursday 19th February) from 10.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon each day. If there is sufficient demand we may run an afternoon course as well.
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Off your bike?
The recent cold weather has made conditions difficult for cyclists. As well as a sprinkling of snow there’s the more sinister peril of black ice. Here at Life Cycle we’ve heard of several riders tumbling from their bikes as a consequence. Thankfully they sustained only bruises, but it was a frightening experience.
The roads, of course, get gritted but what about Bristol’s cycle routes? Council policy is “to grit certain foot paths and cycle tracks during sustained periods of frost or snow” (which begs the question which routes and what is their definition of sustained?) Surprisingly, the council does not “carry out precautionary salting of footpaths [or cycle tracks] as it would be prohibitively expensive.”
With Bristol now the UK’s first Cycling Demonstration City (see above) we think that the policy needs a rethink. If thousands of people are going to take to two wheels it would be tragic if they then gave up after a scary experience on the ice.
If you’ve slipped and fallen please tell us about it. There’s also a petition that you might like to sign calling for Bristol’s cycle tracks to be gritted properly. Finally, you might be interested in a website called Fill That Hole that was set up so that cyclists can report potholes and other road hazards – including patches of ice.
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Tow a trailer
Doing your weekly supermarket shopping by bike just got easier! 24 Waitrose stores across England are providing cycle trailers on loan, free of charge, so that customers to haul their shopping home using pedal power. The trailers are the classic Bike Hod design. They’re sturdy and relatively light weight with a capacious canvas bag for your shopping.
Customers need to register for the scheme at the supermarket’s welcome desk. You'll be given a special bracket that attaches to your bike’s seatpost. Then away you go. You reserve your trailer before you start shopping and collect it before leaving the store. The trailer is yours to keep (and to use for other purposes!) for up to three days. Waitrose supermarkets in Bristol, Portishead and Bath are participating in the scheme.
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Sugar cycles
British entrepreneur and star of The Apprentice Sir Alan Sugar has joined the ever-growing list of celebrity cyclists. On a recent edition of the BBC’s Money Programme the founder of Amstrad revealed that he is ‘fanatical’ about bikes. His passion apparently is for cycling in the Spanish mountains.
Some people still have the idea that the bike is for losers, for people who can’t afford something better. Get real: Sir Alan’s worth 800 million!
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We’re hiring! (#1. Cycle Training Manager)
Our Cycle Training Manager is about to go on maternity leave and we are looking for an energetic, experienced person to provide temporary cover. Key tasks include:
• Supervising the administration and delivery of cycle training courses in schools and during the school holidays.
• Maintaining and supporting a team of Bikeability-accredited instructors.
• Organising and managing our programme of instructor training.
You will be a National Standard accredited cycle instructor and also have hands-on experience of managing instructor training courses and overseeing a team of instructors. The post is temporary, but Life Cycle is expanding and it might just be a foot in the door leading to permanent employment! The job is part-time, three days a week. Salary up to £24,000 depending on experience.
If you are interested in applying please phone either Peter Andrews or Tamar Thompson for a preliminary chat on (0117) 353 4580.
We’re hiring! (#2. Administrator)
We’re looking for a highly organised person to help run things. You'll need office, admin and database experience and have a passion for cycling. Five half-days per week. c £15,500 p/a pro rata.
More information and an application form will be posted on the jobs page of our website shortly.
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Volunteer needed
We’re looking for a marketing expert to help us spread the word about Life Cycle!
We offer a range of practical services such as cycle training, teaching bike maintenance, providing maps and information, and giving away free cycle parking. We also run various special projects such as tandem rides for blind and visually impaired people, and bike activities for disadvantaged youngsters.
Everything we do is about helping people to take up cycling and to enjoy the experience. We want to send out mailshots, issue press releases, talk to the media and generally raise the profile of the organisation.
If you have experience in the field of marketing or PR and you have at least one day a week to spare we’d love to hear from you. Please contact us. It’s voluntary work (for the moment anyway!) but we’ll cover any travel expenses and we’ll treat you to lunch!
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Everyclick
Here's a way to support Life Cycle at no cost to yourself! Simply use the Everyclick search engine. Every time you search, a tiny donation is made to Life Cycle UK. It takes a few seconds to register and then away you go! Surf the net, check your horoscope, update your Facebook profile, do a spot of shopping… and you’ll see the donations clock up remarkably quickly. - Sent
- Thu, Sep 9th 2010, 18:10