Newsletter - Cycling News | May
Sent: Thu, Sep 9th 2010, 18:21
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Welcome to the May edition of the electronic newsletter from Life Cycle UK the cycle promotion charity. In this issue:
Cycle training for all!
Customised BMWs
Health service for bikes!
Doctor Bike in Totterdown
PlantLock
Copenhagen Hour
Waitrose delivers
Last call for Bike Week
Velib unstuck?
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Cycle training for all!
Whether you're a complete beginner unable to ride a bike at all, or an experienced cyclist wanting to polish your skills to perfection, you'll benefit from a one-to-one lesson.
As part of the Cycling City initiative Life Cycle is now able to offer lesons for just £5 to anyone living in the city of Bristol (normal price is £30).
We offer a personal service. Training is one-to-one, that's you and your instructor, and we tailor the lesson to meet your individual needs and concerns. We come to you - daytime, evenings, or at the weekend - whatever is convenient for you. If you want to practise a particular route, such as your journey to work, we can do it.
We think you'll be amazed! You'll learn new skills and develop greatly improved confidence. But don't take our word for it; read an independent assessment of our cycle training from Cycling Plus magazine.
We offer two types of training:
Biking for beginners
A gentle introduction for people new to cycling or who are returning to it after a gap of several years. Whatever your age we can help you. Our oldest trainees have been in their 80s. We have taught people who have never ridden a bike in their lives to cycle in less than 40 minutes!
You'll learn new skills and develop greatly improved confidence. Cycling will become easy and pleasurable. There's more useful guidance and advice in our information pack too. Then, to arrange your lesson simply phone the Life Cycle office on 0117 353 4580 to book your lesson.
Urban cycling skills
Special advanced training for competent cyclists who want to improve their skills still further. We'll show you how to ride quickly and safely and to to cope with whatever the city can throw at you! You'll discover new ways of handling big roundabouts, gyratories, multi-lane junctions and dual carriageways, and how to maximise the benefits of facilities such as advanced stop lines.
You'll learn new skills and improve your riding technique. Download an information pack. Then, to arrange your lesson simply phone the Life Cycle office on 0117 353 4580 to book your lesson.
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Customised BMWs
Life Cycle has just run a special one-day BMW (that’s Bike Maintenance workshop) for a national transport consultancy. We taught their people how to set a bike up properly, how to mend punctures, replace cables and brake pads and keep derailleur gears working properly. They had the run of the Life Cycle Centre (our fully equipped workshop in Knowle) access to proper tools, all the spare or replacement parts that they needed … and they had a great time!
We’re happy to run maintenance courses for other organisations: employers, voluntary sector groups, NHS, colleges, councils… you name it. Please contact us to discuss your needs.
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Waitrose delivers
We reported a while ago that supermarket giant Waitrose is making cycle trailers available to its customers free of charge. Now they’re offering pedal-powered door-to-door deliveries Groceries are stored in a refrigerated trailers towed by electrically assisted bikes. The company says it wanted to increase the number of on-line deliveries they took from customers without adding to the number of vans on the road.
The service is being trialled at Waitrose in Poole, Dorset.
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Copenhagen Hour
In the last edition of Cycling News we reported on the emergence of a new word: Copenhagenize. The term describes the process of reclaiming urban space and prioritising the movement of people rather than cars.
We’re delighted to see that Bristol Cycling Campaign has launched the Copenhagen Hour. On the first Saturday of each month in Broadmead and on the third Saturday in The Centre cyclists will embark on a gentle ride with a cafe or picnic meet afterwards at Castle Park or College Green. The emphasis is on using comfortable utility cycles, and on wearing everyday clothing. No lycra or carbon fibre please. There’s more information on the BCyC website.
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PlantLock
Here at Life Cycle we’re always interested in new forms of cycle parking, and here’s one that caught our eye recently. Called the PlantLock it’s a delightfully simple idea: a rectangular tub that gets filled with compost and planted with flowers (or veg even!) with steel bars either side to which bikes may be locked. It’s beautiful and functional, ideal for tiny front gardens or on the pavement perhaps, outside local shops.
PlantLocks come in different colours. Each holds two bikes neatly and securely. They cost £135.
Slightly more mundane, but equally useful is the classic Sheffield stand. Life Cycle has hundreds of these to give away. Organisations based in Bath, Bristol, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Somerset or Swindon can apply for up to two stands free of charge under our Take a Stand scheme. In South Gloucestershire organisations can get up to four stands. There’s more information and an application form on our website.
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Doctor Bike in Totterdown
If you're in the Totterdown area on Sunday 17th May be sure to call in at the Travel Marketplace. There will info stalls, a wacky cycles try-out show, a bicycle recycling area, and refreshments. Visitors can see demonstrations of how you to hire a Car Club car at just £2.50 for half-an-hour. The 20's Plenty for Bristol campaign will also be explained, as well as Walk To School Week, Bike Week, and other local projects. Project co-ordinator Kai Paulden said: "We want to show people how travelling around can be cheaper, and at the same time give social and environmental benefits. We are also collecting residents' views to plan route improvements for the future."
Life Cycle will be supporting the event by running a free Doctor Bike surgery. If your bike needs a check up or minor surgery, bring it along! Our cheery mechanics will fix punctures, tune gears, fit new brake blocks and replace cables. They also give out lots of helpful and impartial advice about bike care and maintenance.
It all takes place at Totterdown Square (near Oxford Street) from 11.00 a.m. until 5.00 p.m. The Doctor Bike surgery runs from 12.00 noon to 2.30 p.m.
Life Cycle will be running more Doctor Bike surgeries at:- 16th May. 1.00--3.00. Filwood Community Centre.
- 28th May. 11.00--3.30. Family event in kingswood Park.
- 30th May. 12.00--2.30. Somerfield car park, Downend. Event organised by Downend & Bromley Heath Parish Council.
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Health service for bikes!
North Bristol NHS Trust has commissioned Life Cycle UK to run a regular series of Doctor Bike surgeries throughout the year. Mechanics will be visiting the Southmead and Frenchay hospital sites on five separate occasions beginning on the 6th (Southmead) and 7th (Frenchay) May.
Esther Coffin, Environmental Manager for the Trust said: "The Doctor Bike sessions allow us to support our cyclists by offering free bicycle maintenance to help keep them safe on their journeys to and from work. We value the efforts that they make by not driving to our sites and see it as only fair that we do what we can to help keep their bikes in good working order. The best way to do this is to have regular appearances from the Life Cycle’s Doctor Bikes."
If you'd like Doctor Bike to visit your organisation please e-mail us or phone the Life Cycle office on 0117 353 4580.
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Last call for Bike Week
Employers! If you're planning to celebrate this year's Bike Week (June 13th to 21st) there's still time (but only just!) to book Life Cycle to run a Doctor Bike surgery , or an inspiring roadshow, or provide your people with cycle skills training (individual lessons, or group courses for commuters).
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Velib unstuck?
Velib, the phenomenally popular bike rental scheme that has transformed travel in Paris appears to be running into trouble. Reports claim that over half the original fleet of 15,000 specially made bicycles have disappeared, presumed stolen.
They have been used 42 million times since their introduction but vandalism and theft are taking their toll. The company which runs the scheme, JCDecaux, says it can no longer afford to operate the city-wide network.
Where does that leave Hourbike we wonder? This is a similar free bike hire scheme currently being trialled at the University of the West of England and at Bristol parkway railway station. If successful it is scheduled to be rolled out across Bristol as part of the Cycling Demonstration City initiative. Is the scheme still going to happen?
[Thanks BBC]
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- Thu, Sep 9th 2010, 18:21