Newsletter - Cycling News (July)

Sent: Tue, Jul 31st 2007, 07:10

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Welcome to the July issue of the cycling newsletter from Life Cycle UK, the cycle promotion charity.  In this edition...

School holiday cycling
Bike trade booming
Doctor at large!
One-day BMW
Roadshow
Strawberry line opening
Carbon counter
Cycle training for a fiver
Accommodation wanted


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School holiday cycling

Life Cycle is running special cycle training courses during the long school holidays.  They get restless, fidgety youngsters out of the house and onto their bikes, and give stressed parents a few hours' sanity!  The courses are suitable for 8 to 11 year olds and are designed to give them a taste of on-road cycling.

Over three days (two hours each day) the 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 so everyone gets lots of attention. On the last day of the course the children receive certificates and the instructors provide parents with feedback on their child's progress.

Places on the courses in Clifton cost £49 for all three days.  The courses run...

17, 18, 19 July 10.00 a.m to 12 noon
 7, 8, 9 August 10.00 a.m to 12 noon
29, 30, 31 August 10.00 a.m. to 12 noon

Places on the course in Keynsham cost £20  (It's a special price in Keynsham thanks to a Council subsidy. To be eligible you must either live in Bath & North East Somerset or your child must attend a school there.) The course runs on...

30, 31 July and 1 August 10.00 a.m to 12 noon

Please phone us to book a place.


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Bike trade booming

OK the weather has gone a bit bonkers over the last week or so, but the first three months of the year were unseasonably warm and sunny.  Maybe that's one of the reasons that the UK's bike trade is reporting record levels of business. Cycle sales are up by between 10 and 25 percent for the period January to March. 

The bike shops are moving the metal, but are all those shiny new bikes actually being used?  Well, yes, it seems that they are.  According to a report published by the British Market Research Bureau, cycle use has increased by 40 percent in the last ten years.  The UK now has 3.2-million regular cyclists, of which 1.5-million use their bikes for day-to-day transport.  That's an increase in "everyday" cycling of almost 20 percent on 2001 figures.

Helping ordinary people use bikes for routine trips such as the journey to work is what Life Cycle is all about.  And we're thrilled to see cycling becoming a mainstream form of transport. Thirty years ago it was very different, as the former Transport Minister Sir George Young recalled recently.  As an MP back in 1975 he raised the issue of cycling in a House of Commons debate.  The Government's response came, not from a transport spokesman, but from the Minister of Sport!

Thanks to BikeBiz magazine, BMRB and LTT


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Doctor at large!

It's not just the bike shops that are booming.  June was one of Life Cycle's busiest months.  More employers than ever booked us to run Doctor Bike surgeries.  We been helping private companies, Government agencies, local councils, schools and community groups.  Hundreds of bikes have been restored to health and given a new lease of life.

Clients include Bristol-based solicitors Osborne Clarke, the Environment Agency, accountants Price Waterhouse Cooper, Halifax Bank of Scotland, the Audit Commission, the University of the West of England plus several schools and community events.  Phew!

A typical Doctor Bike surgery lasts two-and-a-half hours.  We usually send a pair of mechanics, smartly turned out in white coats with their toolkits at the ready.  People bring their bikes along and have them checked over.  We fix simple faults on the spot, or if more complex repairs are needed the mechanic will write  a  "prescription" that will help the owner when they take their bike to a cycle shop.

We have a team of six Bike Doctors, all with excellent mechanical skills and, just as importantly, the time and the patience to talk to people, listen to their problems and offer free advice.  A lot of bike owners tell us that they are reluctant to go to a bike shop because they find it an intimidating experience and they're worried about being ripped off.  Our service is friendly and free and all our advice is impartial. 

We make a charge to employers for running a Doctor Bike surgery.  But we sometimes do them for free for the voluntary sector.  So, if you're involved with a community event in Bristol that's likely to attract a lot of people on bikes, give us a ring. 


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One-day BMW  (there is such a thing as a free lunch!)

What are you doing on Saturday 28th July?  If you're free that day then come along to Life Cycle's special BMW (or Bike Maintenance Workshop).  It's a special course that, over a single day, willl give you a grounding in basic bike maintenance. 

You'll learn how a bicycle works, how to set it up for maximum comfort, how to cope with a flat tyre, how to adjust your brakes for maximum effectiveness and keep your gears changing smoothly and accurately. The course is friendly and informal and deliberately avoids the technical jargon that so many people find intimidating.

The workshop is aimed at people with little or no mechanical knowledge.  You'll work on your own bike and we provide all the spare parts such as brake blocks and cables.

The course runs in central Bristol,  10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. Places cost £60.  The fee includes lunch, all spare parts plus, as a special introductory offer, all participants will receive a free copy of Traffic Free Cycle Trails, a magnificent book that details more than 400 of Britain's most attractive bike rides. Usual price £12.99

Book a place now by clicking this link


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Roadshow success!

As well as a shed-load of Doctor Bike surgeries, we also ran several Life Cycle Roadshows for employers during June.  A Roadshow is a special one-hour presentation and discussion aimed at all those [people who are tempted to give cycling a try, but who have concernes about particular issues.  (The top five concerns by the way are 1) traffic, 2) drivers), 3) hills, 4) stuff to carry and 5) the weather). 

A Roadshow begings with a presentation about the benefits of cycling and then moves on to look at issues such as these in detail and to offer simple, practcial, effective solutions to every problem.  Does is work?  Yes it does!  Here's what one satisfied client told us:

"Thanks for yesterday's Life Cycle Roadshow. We had a very good turn out and people were quite enthused, so we felt it was very successful.  One of my colleagues went home and got her bike out of the garage to ride around the block, having not used it for years!  A number of others are looking into buying second hand bikes and booking cycle lessons. We are now looking into the possibility of holding a Doctor Bike session to try and encourage those with rusty old bikes to bring them in and get them fixed!"

A Roadshow at your place of work would cost about £49.  Give Life Cycle a ring to make a booking.


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Strawberry line opening

Loads of people know and love the Bristol and Bath railway path.  Now a new route is set to become equally popular.  It's the lovely Strawberry Line, a 10-mile trail running from Yatton to Cheddar.  On Saturday 21st July it's the grand opening of the path.  And, from 11.30 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. Life Cycle will be at Yatton station running a Doctor Bike surgery.

The route began life as a railway line, built in 1869 to carry passengers, stone from local quarries, milk and dairy produce and the area's then-famous strawberry harvest. The line closed in the 1960’s, when it became part of the Cheddar Valley Railway Nature Reserve. It has been open to walkers and has been cycleable in parts for years, but several sections were in a pretty poor condition and there were stiles that you had to lift your bike over.  Now, it's been resurfaced, new gates have replaced the stiles and there are benches and information boards too.  Most of the route is traffic-free with just a few short on-road sections.

A new map of the route has been published and you can get a copy by clicking here 

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Carbon counter

The Department of the Environment has just launched an amazing on-line C02 calculator that lets you work out your environemntal footprint.  It's got great graphics and is really easy to use.  (One shudders to think how much it cost to develop).  It tells you how energy efficient your house and your domestic applicances are, and it lets you see the environmental consequences of your travel and transport. If you're a regular cyclist this section will make you feel very virtuous indeed!

Check it out by clicking this link 

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Cycle training for a fiver

Our one-to-one adult cycle training lessons are normally £30 per hour.  However, if you live in one of Bristol's Neighbourhood Renewal Areas, you can book a lesson for just £5. 

To qualify you must live in Easton, Ashley, St Pauls, Lawrence Hill, Barton Hill, Knowle West, Hartcliffe, Withywood, Southmead, Lawrence Weston, Lockleaze or Hillfields. 

Give Life Cycle a ring to make your booking 0117 929 0440.


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Accommodation wanted...

...for five Life Cycle tandems.  Close to the Bristol-Bath railway path or Bristol city centre.  We need easy access during the day and at weekends too.  The tandems are used for our Two's Company project which runs a programme of tandem rides for people who are blind or partially sighted.  Click here to learn more.

If you can help us with storage space please get in touch.




 

Sent

Tue, Jul 31st 2007, 07:10