Newsletter - Cycling News | January
Sent: Thu, Sep 9th 2010, 18:26
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Welcome to the Janauary edition of the electronic newsletter from Life Cycle UK, the cycle promotion charity. In this issue:
New year, new location
Colour coded road
New York – no parking
28 good reasons to cycle
Happy New Year!
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New year, new location
Life Cycle has a new home. Over the Christmas period we packed our panniers and moved to Bristol’s CREATE Centre. The relocation gives us more office space, more room to store our growing range of free cycle maps and a place to park the fleet of tandems used for our Two’s Company project. It also makes us more accessible. If you want information about cycling, or if you would like to book a cycle training lesson or a place on a bike maintenance workshop, simply drop in and have a chat.
CREATE is managed by Bristol City Council and is the city’s environment hub. The old tobacco warehouse is home to various environmental organisations, and there's also a hands-on recycling exhibition, a cafe and an Eco Home - a purpose-built show home full of practical ideas for greener living.
With the move comes a new phone number 0117 353 4580
If you’ve been trying to e-mail us over the last few days it’s just possible that your messages have gone astray or you may have received an error message. Apologies for that: please resend your message. Rest assured that the IT has now settled in to its new home and everything is working properly!
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Colour coded road
Cycle tracks are wonderful things, but they can look a little ...er... grey. Asphalt, tarmac, concrete… they’re all so drab. So we were heartened to see this cycle path in Cambridgeshire defying convention and bursting into vibrant colour. The track links Addenbrooke's Hospital with the community of Great Shelford and each of the 10,000-plus rainbow stripes represent the different genetic letters that make up the human gene. You know – the one called BRCA2 which was actually decoded at the nearby Sanger Institute.
BRCA2 is just one of the 30,000 genes in the human genome and plays an important role in our bodies by producing a protein that helps to repair human DNA. The stripes illustrate the sequence of the four bases colour coded adenine (A) in green, cytosine (C) in blue, guanine (G) in yellow and thymine (T) in red. As cyclists ride over these stripes they will be traversing a portion of their own genome.
It looks good too and Life Cycle salutes the artist and designer Katy Hallett.
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New York – no parking
“The first 25 miles aren’t a problem -- it’s the last 150 feet,” said Jamie Fisher, 41, vice president of energy and derivatives for MF Global, the world’s largest broker of exchange-traded futures contracts. “No matter where you bike from, once you’re in New York city, finding a safe place to put your bike is impossible.”
According to Bloomberg.com the rising cost of public transport and the construction of more bike paths have boosted cycle commuting in New York by 35 per cent in the past year. Great news – but the increase in cycle use has made it harder and harder for bike users to find a safe place to stow their vehicles.
“Mass transit is overcrowded, and with fares going up, more people would bike to work if they knew their bike was safe,” said Wiley Norvell, a spokesman for Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group that reckons as many as 70,000 bikes are stolen each year in New York. Concern that their bike will be stolen or vandalised is the top reason that cyclists don’t ride to work, according to a 2007 study conducted by the New York Department of City Planning.
The US experience mirrors what people have been telling Life Cycle for the years. People are extremely reluctant to cycle if they think that their bike is going to be stolen or tampered with. And so, in partnership with six local councils, we're offering small businesses, shops, pubs, community groups, schools, churches… (the list is a long one!) a pair of robust Sheffield stands free of charge.
High quality cycle parking is a proven way of making cycling easier and more convenient, the very existence of the stands sends a message that cyclists are welcome, and most importantly, a bike secured to a stand with a sturdy D-lock is less attractive to thieves.
To apply for a pair of bike stands simply download an application form.
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28 good reasons to cycle
We found this on the internet and thought it was a great summary of all the benefits cycling brings – to individuals, to society and to the planet as whole. If taking up cycling, or cycling more often, is one of your new year’s resolutions, it’s a useful reminder of why you're doing it. Read all 28 here.
And if you can think of any more good reasons for taking to two wheels please let us know!
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Happy New Year!
Talking of new year’s resolutions (see above) maybe one of yours is to learn how to do your own bike repairs? If so, you need a BMW – that’s a Bicycle Maintenance Workshop! These are one-day courses that teach you the rudiments of bike fixing. They take place on Saturdays at the Life Cycle Centre our fully equipped workshop and training centre in Knowle, Bristol. Venue magazine recently sent one of their reporters along and he was favourably impressed.
Places on the course cost £60 and the fee includes all spare parts and a free book! (We have gift vouchers available too if you want to treat a friend). The dates of the 2009 BMWs are listed on our website.
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A very happy new year to all our readers!
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Our new contact details again …
Life Cycle UK
The CREATE Centre
Smeaton Road
Bristol BS1 4DZ
Map and directions.
0117 353 4580
Our website www.lifecycleuk.org.uk and main e-mail address post@lifecycleuk.org.uk are unchanged.
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Thu, Sep 9th 2010, 18:26