SERIOUS MONDAY: PROMOTION OF URBAN CYCLING

 

With a little luck, 2008 could become known as the year of the bike.

London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, has already announced a massive cycling investment of £500 million over the next decade as part of the capital’s drive to help to cut pollution and congestion.

He is aiming for a cycling and walking transformation of the capital  and the investment will see  a new network of quick, simple, and safe routes for cyclists and pedestrians along with a new bike hire scheme.

This promises 6,000 bikes with availability every 300 metres – making  cycling accessible to many more Londoners.

There will also be new commuter cycle routes from inner and outer London and cycle zones around urban town centres.

The new measures are designed to give both cyclists and pedestrians a much higher priority in London and make a major contribution to tackling climate change.
The plan is to have at least one in 10 Londoners making a round trip by bike each day which would save around 1.6m tonnes of C02 – roughly equivalent to driving around the M25 about 55 million times!

If all goes to plan, we should expect to see traffic scenes like this

and this

in the UK in years to come 
Don’t you just love the bike-pushing-prams ?

Meanwhile,  Bike for All, which is supported by Cycling England, is searching for Britain’s first ‘cycling city’ and 10 new cycling towns.

The contest, which runs until the end of March, gives local councils the chance to bid for a share of £47 million set aside for new demonstration towns.

This is just part of a nationwide investment of £140 million for  cycling announced by the government in January.

The winners of the Bike for All competition will join six existing demonstration areas   Aylesbury, Exeter, Lancaster with Morecambe, Brighton and Hove and Derby and Darlington which have pioneered local projects such as building or redesigning local cycle routes and training people to cycle safely.

Bike for All says that by 2012  the expanded network of cycling towns and cities could save 16 million car journeys a year and create an extra 47 million cycle journeys – equivalent to a seven percent increase in national cycling levels.

As well as being great for the environment since they produce zero pollution, bikes can also help to tackle Britain’s growing obesity problem and improve the nation’s health.

Experts say that cyclists enjoy a level of fitness equal to that of a person 10 years younger and they believe heart disease rates could fall by up to 10% if a third of all short journeys were made by bike.

And if you need any further convincing, you can buy a bike for a tiny fraction of the price of a car and it requires no tax disc, insurance or fuel.

You can park it anywhere so no more expensive car parking charges and in the city rush hour  a bike can be almost twice as fast as a car!

To find out the basics about buying a bike and taking to the road on two wheels, check out this website.

Susan

LAZY FRIDAY: ELECTRIC BIKING IN THE SURREY HILLS

The Surrey Hills are on the doorstep of London.

Why not enjoy an electric powered bike ride down the quiet lanes of the Surrey Hills?

If just the thought of riding a bike up a hill makes you breathless, relax – now with the electric bike, your problems are over.

Electric bikes have a small motor that you use when the going gets tough. The idea is not to use the electric power all the time, but only when it is really needed.

An Electric Bicycle is just like riding a normal bike and you don’t need a licence to ride one.

The bikes can be hired and they come with cycle helmets, panniers, locks and repair kits, also because of the well known English Summer you won’t get wet as we provide capes too.

The bikes can be picked up from either of two pick up points.
1. The Mercure White Horse Hotel in Dorking
2. The Lythe Hill Hotel and Spa in Haslemere.

When you pick up the bikes you will be given instructions on how to use the electric motor. This is the time to ask any questions that might be niggling at you.

Electric bike hire prices are:
1 Day Hire = £39
2 Day Hire = £59
3 Day Hire = £75
Longer Hire Prices available on request.

You must be over fourteen to hire an Electric Bike.

For further details phone us on 0845 458 2799 (Monday – Friday) or email: electricbiking@naturaldiscovery.co.uk

Eva

CRAZY WEDNESDAY: I LOVE TO RIDE MY PLY-CYCLE, I LOVE TO RIDE MY … PLIKE?

So many people these days are returning to cycling to get around, and I’m considering it myself. It’s surely one of the quickest, and most satisfying ways of greening up your lifestyle, and it’s healthy, too. With constant health warnings about obesity (and Christmas coming up), it’s an attractive proposition.

Each week, someone seems to come out with a beautiful bicycle, but the price tags are the big problem. Now, though, architect Andrew Maynard has come up with an ingenious and stylish solution. His OLC – that’s “One Less Car” – bike is designed to sell for under $35 – yes, that’s LESS THAN 35 US DOLLARS!!!

This plywood bicycle is perfectly conceived for the mass market. Not only are the materials plentiful and cheap, more importantly they are all either recyclable or recycled. The assembly process is also economical, and many of the parts are glued together, making it very strong compared to other bikes at the cheap end of the market. It’s a sensible, no-frills design, with just two gears, but everything is there for you to get on and ride immediately. There are also stylish and practical features, like having the chain, brakes, cogs and lights concealed within the ply frame. This not only keeps the look sleek and simple, and means you won’t snag your trouser on the chain.

From the website, it doesn’t look to me as though Maynard has a distributor in place yet, but he has a vision of retailers like Ikea taking the bikes. I hope they do. I’d definitely get one. At the price, it’s within the reach of many more people than most new bikes are, and that’s got to be good for the planet, too. By the way, “Ply-cycle” and “Plike” are my ideas – commission/royalties anyone?(!)

Amanda

LAZY FRIDAY: REMEMBRANCE DAY

This Sunday (November 11) is Remembrance Day – and ceremonies and services are taking place all over Britain.

But if you can’t make it to a service near you, please take part in the national two minutes of silence at 11am on Sunday. You can also log into a virtual garden of remembrance to take part in a ceremony on Poppy Island.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t listen to the Last Post without the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. And if you’ve never heard the Last Post – it’s time you did :

Hopefully you’ve already bought your poppy but if not, there’s still time! And, if you’re the adventurous type and love cycling, then you could help in a much bigger way.

Every year, the Royal British Legion organises Poppy Bike events – and in 2008, it is planning three different rides – Pedal to Paris, Bike to Brussels and – a special one-off for the more experienced cyclist – Bike to Biarritz.

This year’s Paris ride (277 miles) was the most successful ever and raised around £300,000 for poppy support services. Almost 300 people took part and got to bike through picturesque and historic scenery – including the Somme region – before finishing at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris.

A special Poppy Bike website gives you information about the cost of taking part, advice on equipment and luggage and (most importantly) training tips to make sure you’re up to the ride. Once you sign up you will also receive a PR and fundraising pack to help with raising sponsorship.

Often, groups of friends join the ride together but lots of people sign up on their own and have great fun and make friends en route. (Application forms for next year’s rides will be available on the British Legion website soon so look out for them.)

Sadly, there’s NO way I could cycle 27 miles – much less 277 – so I’ve settled for joining the poppy’s new awareness campaign on Facebook where you can send poppies to your friends. The target is 111,111 poppies by Sunday, so log in and start sending !!

Susan