The Very Slow Bicycle Movement

Yes, nothing much happening here at the moment. But things could change soon – do get in touch if you are interested in cycling as a means of getting around the Malvern area, to go to work, to school, the shops, or whatever.

If you’re interested in leisure rides, see MalvernTrail, which also has some basic details on sports cycling groups locally.

Hereford MP moves office by bike

Hereford Pedicabs have been expanding the range of cycle-powered services they offer in the city – not just bike taxis but acting as couriers and office recycling facilities. Now they’ve even done an office removal, for local LibDem MP Paul Keetch. See the MPs news item, or the Mules for the masses blog for a snap.

So now one politician has shown support of low-impact transport, will others follow, and maybe even do something practical for everyday cyclists?

Snap a sustainable commute, bag a bike

A new organisation (merging two existing ones), ACT Travelwise, is running a photo & caption competition – send one of someone where you work “commuting without a car” for your chance to win one of TWO folding bicycles and ONE year’s ACT Travelwise membership for your organisation.

ACT Travelwise seeks to reduce the economic costs of congestion, the environmental damage of traffic pollution and the personal health consequences of car dependency. Choosing to walk, cycle, car share or use public transport can save individuals and businesses time and money and improve health as well.

But hurry, entries close 4th April.

Mayhem coming our way

Most local cyclists won’t realise it, but Mountain Mayhem, the “biggest 24 hour race in the world” takes place in Eastnor Castle’s Deer Park every June. There is apparently a rush for bookings when the entry form goes live (midnight Friday, 29th Feb), according to Bike Radar. It’s off-road mountain biking with a variety of team and individual categories.

New this year is a ’sportive’ (onroad) 100km ride on the Sunday, 22nd June. This follows some of our favourite routes, kicking off with Castlemorton Common (watch out for cows on the road!) over the Hills via British Camp, Colwall, Bosbury, Woolhope Dome, Capler Hill, Hole in the Wall (almost to Ross) and back eastwards through Dymock and Ledbury. Could be interesting.

Getting connected

Cycle Malvern now has a link from the county council’s ‘Cycling Forums‘ page. This doesn’t mean that we’ve become an official body, but does show that the group is being taken seriously, and that the council staff are worth working with. Thanks Madeleine.

Oh, and don’t forget, there’s a CM meeting this evening. See you then!

Hills cycling features in tourism promo

Do the Conservators know about this? From Marketing Week website, 4th Feb:

“Enjoy England has launched a campaign, featuring veteran British actor Michael Gambon, aimed at boosting tourism through word-of-mouth recommendations.

“The ads are designed to drive traffic to the tourism body’s online forum where visitors are encouraged to share their experiences of English holidays and attractions.

……..

“Among the experiences featured in the ads are cycling in the Malvern Hills, eating cockles in Leigh-on-Sea and relaxing on the Norfolk Broads. “

The Malvern Hills Conservators tolerate rather than encourage cycling, and probably think there is already enough activity on the Hills.

For more info on cycling in the Malverns, especially using the quiet lanes and appreciating the varied countryside, see MalvernTrail.

Comments very welcome from anyone who has seen or heard the ads (which “will run on radio and television until next month”).

UPDATE: Here’s a link to the press release, which refers to  “biking the muddy Malvern Hills”. Hmm.

Serious funds for cycling at last

The government is finally putting a serious amount of money into cycling, following a “commitment to increase investment in sustainable transport initiatives”.

They plan to spend £140 million over the next three years (April 2008 to March 2011). The official press release says:

“The six-fold increase in funding will:

* allow an extra 500,000 10 year-olds across England to take part in Bikeability cycle training by 2012, equipping them to cycle safely and responsibly

* build another 250 Safe Links to Schools, connecting around 500 more schools to the National Cycle Network. Many schools with links have already doubled the number of pupils cycling to school.

* create up to a further 10 Cycling Demonstration Towns in England, as well as the first large Demonstration City. This will mean nearly 3 million people will have the chance to benefit from best practice and promotion of cycling.”

National cycling group CTC welcomed this, saying

“What is particularly welcome about this announcement is the involvement of Ministers not only for transport but also for children and health. It’s great to see Government recognising that cycling can help tackle the twin crises of obesity and climate change.

“CTC has been calling for serious investment in cycling ever since the National Cycling Strategy was announced 12 years ago. This money now needs to be spent on measures which will deliver some serious bang for the bucks available, to strengthen the case for still larger funding allocations in years to come.

“Cycling England needs to get behind local authorities and Primary Care Trusts who are keen to challenge unnecessary car use, introduce area-wide 20mph speed limits and work with local cycling advocates so that the health benefits of cycling can be enjoyed by people of whatever age or background throughout the country.”

Wonder if we’ll see any of this coming our way in Malvern? Cycling England will be seeking bids for the new Cycle Demonstration Towns and City in spring 2008, with the major investment starting the following year.

Also available today, giving the background to the Department for Transport’s increased funding for Cycling England’s programme for the next 3 years, A sustainable future for cycling (1 Mb pdf).

And here’s a reminder from Velorution blog: “Let’s put this in context: Amsterdam (population 2.2 million) has a 5 year cycling budget of €100 million; and who has more work to do?”

Cycling for Recycling

The cycling company in Hereford, Hereford Pedicabs, is about to  provide a bike-powered recycling service. They’ve got the appropriate licence and will be launching for February. See their Mules for the Masses blog

Cycling gets the sports boot

Here’s an update on the ‘Cycling and walking – sports or not’ post from last week, courtesy of Bike For All. They quote the sports body British Cycling as welcoming the government’s interest in community sport, but a new tighter definition of what constitutes sport excludes recreational cycling – along with recreational walking and going to the gym – and therefore excludes it from qualifying for Sport England funding.

The article goes on to say:

Cycling is the only activity which has been segmented into distinct categories:

1.  Cycling (Sport) – activities related to competition and,

2.  Cycling (Recreation) – casual or organised participation aimed at expressing or improving physical fitness and well being and forming social relationships.

For example, all forms of swimming would seem to be classified as Sport and recreational swimming would seem not to exist.  Similarly, activities such as horse riding and sailing, which both involve significant amounts of recreational and leisure activity, are not segmented at all.

Musical tyres

Sssh, don’t mention this to Sustrans or they’ll want even more Lottery money to spend. The Guardian reports that “engineers in Japan [have] developed a musical road surface” by cutting carefully spaced grooves into it. It is designed to be heard at a specific speed, 28mph in this case, and apparently “driving around 12mph has a slow-motion effect, making you almost car sick”.

So, assuming the concept can be applied to cycling, how about different tunes for different speeds in multi-user cycle lanes? Now that’s something to get the rock nerds out on their bikes. But how often would the surface have to be ripped up and remade to keep hip?!