Newsletter - Life Cycle News | September
Sent: Tue, Sep 1st 2009, 10:51
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Welcome to the September edition of the electronic newsletter from Life Cycle UK the cycle promotion charity. In this issue:
Half term cycle training
Know Your Bike
Copenhagen aims to be world’s best city for cycling
Chic French cycling clobber
Cycle journey planner
Take a Stand scheme.
Marketplace
Leading lights
It’s goodbye from him…
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Half-term cycle training in Bristol and Bath
Here’s the perfect opportunity to get your children outdoors into the fresh air and onto their bikes during October half term!
Life Cycle UK is running exciting cycle training courses for 8-11 year olds. These meet Bikeability Level 2 standard – the new version of Cycling Proficiency. 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 and our instructors are all experienced and trained to teach to the Bikeability standard. At the end of the course the children receive Bikeability certificates and badges, and parents are given feedback on their child’s progress.
Training take place for two hours each day over three days. We have courses running in either in the morning from 10.00 a.m. to 12 noon or the afternoon from 1.00 p.m. to 3 p.m. It’s all happening on 27th, 28th & 29th October at Bristol Grammar School and Widcombe Junior School in Bath.
Places cost just £10 per place (for children attending Bristol or Bath schools) or £49 full price. Call 0117 353 4580 or send Miranda an e-mail to book a place or request further information.
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Know Your Bike
Life Cycle is about to launch a programme of basic bike maintenance courses called Know Your Bike. The courses are specially designed for beginners who have little or no mechanical knowledge or experience. The courses provide a gentle introduction to cycle maintenance. They explain how a bike works, how to set it up for maximum ease of use and comfort, how to check it over and to carry out a range of simple maintenance tasks.
Places on the courses cost just £10 thanks to a subsidy from Cycling City. Participants receive a free multi-tool and a free copy of Bike Easy: Top Tips & Expert Advice for the New Cyclist. Please call 0117 353 4580 or send Charlie an e-mail to register your interest or request further information.
------------------------------------------------------Doctor Bike at large
Life Cycle will be running a Doctor Bike surgery at the annual Streets Alive celebration in Corn Street, Bristol on Saturday 19th September. The event runs from 11.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m., so why not pop along and say hello. Bring your bike and our lovely mechanics will check it over and give it a beneficial tweak or two.
The following day, Sunday 20th September, we'll be sending Doctor Bike to the Cycling Sunday event on Redland Green between 12 noon and 4.00 p.m.
If you'd like Life Cycle to run a Doctor Bike surgery at your workplace or to support an event that you're planning, please get in touch. We're often able to run cycle surgeries free of charge!
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Copenhagen aims to be world’s best cycling city
With less than four months to go until Copenhagen hosts the United Nations climate change summit, the city has announced its vision to become the world's best city for cyclists.
Copenhagen has more than 200 miles of dedicated cycle route. Cyclists have priority over cars and pedestrians at many major junctions and traffic lights. A third of people already bike to work, school or university, but now city officials have announced their plans to get half of commuters using bikes by 2015
Read the full story and watch an inspirational video here.
------------------------------------------------------Chic French cycling clobber
With the cycling renaissance continuing apace, the world’s fashion designers are rising to the challenge of producing smart clothing purpose-made for everyday bike trips. Needless to say, it’s the French who are leading the way. Life Cycle was captivated by this website with its range of practical and oh-so-stylish cycle clothing. Encore!
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Volunteer needed
Life Cycle is looking for a volunteer for at least one day a week to help co-ordinate our programme of tandem rides for people who are blind or visually impaired.
You must be a reliable, well organised person who can relate to people of all ages and backgrounds and make them feel at ease. You need to have experience of running a project or managing a complex piece of work. It would also help to have some knowledge of the issues that face visually impaired people. There’s more information on the Life Cycle website.
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Cycle journey planner
For several years the Department for Transport’s boffins have been developing a journey planner for cyclists. A prototype planner is now being tested – and the developers would welcome cyclists’ feedback. Do you find it easy to use? Is the route advice useful?
We asked the planner for a route across Bristol from Life Cycle’s old offices in Colston Street to the BBC in Whiteladies Road. The technology chewed on the problem for a few seconds and then made its recommendations. Somewhat to our surprise, instead of suggesting the gentle gradients of Park Row, Clifton Triangle and Whiteladies Road it sent us straight up St Michaels Hill. And as any Bristol cyclist knows, that’s one heck of a hill! Journey time, said the planner breezily, a mere four minutes. Not without a lot of gears and the cardiovascular system of a wildebeest it isn’t!
The designers freely admit that there will be teething problems such as this. The more people who comment and submit feedback, the quicker the glitches can be ironed out.Check out the site and submit your comments using this feedback form.
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Free cycle parking
Life Cycle provides free cycle parking under our Take a Stand scheme. Voluntary sector groups, schools, small businesses, churches and surgeries, in fact almost any type of organisation, are welcome to apply! Good cycle parking tells the world that you're an environmentally-friendly organisation and it's a proven way of deterring cycle theft.The number of stands on offer varies according to the local authority area in which you're based…
Up to two stands - that's parking for four bikes - are available to organisations located in the following areas...
Bath and North East Somerset.
Gloucestershire.
North Somerset.
Somerset.
Swindon.Organisations based in Bristol or South Gloucestershire are eligible for up to four stands free of charge. That’s parking for eight bikes.
You must install the stands on your own property (you can't dig up the pavement!) in a location agreed with Life Cycle UK. To apply for the free stands please download an application form off the Life Cycle website.
------------------------------------------------------Marketplace
Marketplace is a regular feature of Life Cycle News. Each month we focus on a few bike-related products or services that have caught our eye. We like things that are ethical, unusual or particularly good value – and we’re biased towards anything that has a Life Cycle connection! If you want to recommend a product that’s impressed you please get in touch.
voluntarysectorjobs.org.uk Run by biking-Bob Grainger, an IT consultant with impeccable Green credentials, this is a completely free notice board for jobs in the not-for-profit and social enterprise sectors. Life Cycle advertises all its vacancies there.
Ferry station. Need a bike for as few hours? The Ferry Station, based in a boat on Bristol’s Narrow Quay provides quality cycle hire plus delicious organic food, fairtrade coffee and other delights in its cosy cafe-bar. They have a vast range of bikes in both adult and child sizes. Half-a-day’s cycle hire costs from £7.00
Rocket Shower We haven’t actually tested this out but it seems to be just the thing for the strenuous cyclists who isn’t able to shower at their destination. Made from witch hazel, grapefruit peel, peppermint oil and other natural ingredients, you spray it on and then towel yourself off. Rocket Shower is refreshing and cooling, and it kills and cleans away the bacteria that cause body odour.
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Leading lights
Bristol is pioneering a new type of environmentally-friendly lighting on the recently opened Saint Werburghs cycle path. As part of the Cycling City initiative a number of LED (light emitting diode) lights charged by solar energy are being trialled. This is type of lighting is particularly useful in ecologically sensitive areas where traditional lampposts would be intrusive. LED light waves have no ultraviolet emissions which is said to be better for bats.
------------------------------------------------------It’s goodbye from him…
Back in 1996 Project Bike was launched: a one-year initiative to encourage more people in the north Bristol “fringe” to bike to work. A fresh-faced cycling enthusiast called Peter Andrews was appointed as project worker. Project Bike grew steadily and became Life Cycle UK a unique charity that specialises in overcoming the deterrents to cycling and helping more people take it up.Services include cycle training, teaching bike maintenance, providing maps and information, and giving away free cycle parking. Life cycle also runs special projects such as tandem rides for blind and visually impaired people, and bike activities for disadvantaged youngsters.
Thirteen years on Peter is leaving the organisation he founded, and a new Director is being appointed. “I’ll be leaving with a heavy heart,” Peter said. “It’s a job I enjoy enormously. But it’s also a very exciting time, an opportunity to pass the leadership of Life Cycle to a talented person who will steer it to an even brighter future. I'll be taking a bit of a career break, pursuing a few environmental interests and I’m looking forward to spending less time behind a desk and more time actually cycling!”
A few final thoughts? “H.G. Wells once said that when he saw a person riding a bike, he saw hope for the human race. I completely agree! Everyone who cycles is doing themselves, their community and the planet an enormous favour. Compared with some of the other issues confronting us - global poverty, climate change, over-population - transport really is a cinch. If we can reduce the amount of travelling we do, and use more environmentally benign vehicles such as bicycles, then the future really is bright."
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- Tue, Sep 1st 2009, 10:51