Newsletter - Life Cycle News | April

Sent: Tue, Apr 13th 2010, 14:08

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Welcome to the April edition of the electronic newsletter from Life Cycle UK, the cycle promotion charity. 

Introduction

As spring starts to blossom and we can cycle home in the light, welcome to the April edition of Life Cycle UK’s e-newsletter.  Highlights of this issue include:

Good news for cycling in Bristol!
Two new Life Cycle projects
£5 adult cycling lessons in North Somerset and BANES
Holiday Courses in Bristol and Bath
New bike maintenance courses
Life Cycle to run bike recycling in Bristol Prison
Job opportunity: Bicycle Recycling Instructor
Two's Company seeks tag-along
Instructor Training courses
Discovery rides from Bristol Cycling Campaign
City Car Club special offer

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Good news for cycling in Bristol!

Bristol is the UK's most bike-friendly big city, according to a survey by Cycling Plus magazine. The study ranked the country's 20 biggest cities and towns using factors such as cycle commuter numbers, levels of bike theft, the number of traffic-free bike lanes, casualties, pollution and even rainfall.

But Bristol still lags way behind countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark. As one person pointed out, "Deciding which UK city is best for cycling is a bit like deciding which one of Jedward is the more talented."

More good news: Bristol City Council’s annual Quality of Life Survey shows that the number of people regularly cycling to work in the city in 2009 was 8.8%, up from 6.5% in 2007.  Is the Cycling City Initiative kicking in?

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Revolution bike trailers

A big thanks to Edinburgh Cycling Co-op who have donated a couple of their own brand Revolution bike trailers to our Dr Bike project.  The trailers will be welcomed by the mechanics, one of whom has previously been seen carrying a work-stand on his back!

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Two new Life Cycle projects

Life Cycle has two new projects kicking off this month.

Bike Minded will offer organised rides, cycle training, bike maintenance courses and vocational activities to mental health service users. The aim is to give service users access to a bike, skills, confidence and the natural environment. The project is funded by Ecominds (Lottery Funding distributed by Mind), and is based on evidence that access to the natural environment and regular exercise have a key role to play in maintaining good mental wellbeing. For more information contact Sarah Thorne on 0117 353 4580 or sarah.thorne@lifecycleuk.org.uk

Silver Cyclists aims to encourage older people (that's over 55's in this case) to cycle with a programme of group rides in Bristol. The rides will start in Easton, Lawrence Hill and Bedminster, and be of varying lengths to suit different abilities. Each ride will be accompanied by an instructor/ ride leader and a volunteer ride co-ordinator. 

We are seeking fit and experienced cyclists to be help plan and lead the rides. Are you interested in volunteering or do you know anyone who may benefit?  If so please contact Julie Hares Julie.lifecycleuk@googlemail.com

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£5 adult cycling lessons in North Somerset and BANES

If you live in North Somerset or BANES you can now have a 1:1 cycle training session for just £5! A one hour training session with an experienced Life Cycle instructor could improve your skills and confidence - below are some comments from satisifed customers:

“I have been cycling seriously  for about 30 years and I was grateful to have my dangerously bad habits pointed out.”
Alastair, St Werburghs

"I was cycling on my own after 20 minutes: something that I never dreamt I would be able to do!” 
Yvonne, Kingswood
 
Call the office on 0117 353 4580 for more information and to book your session.

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Fab holiday courses in Bristol and Bath for 8-11 year olds! 

We are running half term Bikeability level 2 courses at Bristol Grammar School and Widcombe Junior on 1st, 2nd & 3rd June. Courses run for 2 hours each day for 3 days (the morning courses run from 10am - midday and the afternoon courses run from 1 - 3pm). Places cost just £10 for children attending Bristol or Bath schools.

See our website for more information or call us on 0117 353 4580 to book a place.

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Bike Maintenance Courses

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our spring and summer programme of bike maintenance courses is now up on the website. Click on the courses below to see the new course dates.

Know Your Bike is our bike maintenance course for absolute beginners. It costs £10 for Bristol residents - an absolute bargain!

Then there's our Bike maintenance workshops for the more experienced cyclist.

We also run a specialist Brompton bike maintenance workshop for Brompton owners.

We are looking into whether there is demand for more specialist short courses or modules  such as disc brake maintenance, wheel truing or wheel building.  Your views would be welcome.  Contact admin@lifecycleuk.org.uk

“My bike still works after I fixed it today so the course must have been good!”  Peter

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Life Cycle to run bike recycling in Bristol Prison

Our current Bike Back Project is coming to an end but we are about to start on a much, much bigger initiative to recycle bikes at Bristol Prison.  Funded by Bristol City Council through Cycling City, this is a partnership between Life Cycle, SOFA Project, Bristol Prison and the City Council.

We will be training prisoners and working with them to refurbish bikes, give them a full check and make them available to the General Public.  The aim is to encourage cycling by making value bikes in good order available in large numbers.

It's only just started but we are very excited to be involved in this project. 

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Job opportunity: Bicycle Recycling Instructor

We are seeking an experienced bike mechanic to set up and run a new, fully equipped bike workshop in Bristol Prison. 

This is an exciting opportunity to branch out, working with vulnerable people, and make your mark in a rapidly expanding field.  You will help offenders learn new skills, whilst also increasing the number of low cost bikes available in Bristol and reducing waste. 

You will need to be organised, efficient and good at communicating with a wide range of people. 

See our website for more information.

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Two's Company seeks tag-along

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life Cycle's Two's Company project runs tandem rides for adults and children who are blind or have a visual impairment. We sometimes have children wanting to come on a ride who are too little to ride on a kiddyback tandem and so we are seeking a tag-along. If you have a tag-along you'd like to donate, please contact Sally on tandemrides@gmail.com or 0117 353 4580.

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Discovery Rides from Bristol Cycling Campaign

Bristol Cycling Campaign are running a series of “Discovery Rides” for novice and returning cyclists over every other Saturday from 1st May until 26th June. More details at www.bristolcyclingcampaign.org.uk

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City Car Club special offer

City Car Club is the UK’s largest car club operator, offering individuals and businesses a cost-effective, hassle-free and more environmentally friendly alternative to the private car. As a special offer to Life Cycle newsletter readers, if you choose to become a member you'll get £20 of driving free of charge! See www.citycarclub.co.uk for details.

Can you help? City Car Club is looking for some secure storage in a central location in Bristol to keep a supply of spare batteries and other specialist equipment. They ideally need storage space with access to a power supply. If you have anything like this available then please email bristol@citycarclub.co.uk.

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Instructor Training Course: 19, 20, 26 & 27 April

Could you give adults and children the skills they need to cycle on today's roads?

Life Cycle UK runs four-day instructor training courses in Bristol every month. Each course covers the theory and the practice of teaching children and adults to ride safely on-road. We cover essential issues such as risk assessment, insurance, child protection, teaching techniques and client care.

Places on our four-day course cost £450 per person (lunch provided). A bursary of £300 is available for instructors training in England.

All courses run from 9.30am to 5.30pm for four days at the Create Centre in Bristol.

For more information see our website

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Sent
Tue, Apr 13th 2010, 14:08