London Cyclist August-September 2008

www.lcc.org.uk

August/September 2008

£2/free to members

Bus lane threat Cyclists petition Mayor

Roll with it All the fun of Freewheel

PLUS Boris Johnson answers our questions Bike Week in pictures

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ PRODUCT ■ BOOKS ■ KEN WORPOLE ■ BOOKS ■ NEWS NEWS RIDES RIDES & ■EVENTS PRODUCTS REVIEWS

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Contents

August/September 2008 04

Issue 112

Every afternoon I sit in our flat and marvel at how so many motorcycles can break the speed limit on the road outside so often and by so much.

Sharing bus lanes with these speed demons is a frightening prospect. Buses may be big, but at least their behaviour is considerably more predictable – you know they'll be pulling in and out of bus stops, and slowing down as they approach them. How our 'cycling mayor' Boris Johnson thinks it's a good idea for cyclists – especially newer riders who find greater refuge in bus lanes than their more experienced counterparts might – to share bus lanes with motorcyclists is beyond me. Our letters pages have been buzzing with the pros and cons of this issue for many months now and, no, not everyone thinks it's a bad idea. But when more than 3,500 people bother to sign an LCC petition in just a matter of days, then, well, you know there must be something not quite right. This change threatens not only the safety of cyclists (and pedestrians), but also risks deterring new cyclists from using London's major roads. Thankfully, some boroughs have already refused to sanction the introduction of motorbikes into bus lanes on roads they control. More should follow suit.

See pages 5 and 21 for more on this important campaign, including information on how you can get involved, and a full explanation of why LCC so strongly opposes this change in transport policy. Lynette Eyb PS A big welcome to our new products editor, Ian Cleverly.

We hope you enjoy the changes he has brought with him.

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14 27 Workshops

Features 14 London Freewheel 2008

COVER STORY

COVER STORY

28 Summer jerseys Plus product news

He answers our questions

18 Permeability How to achieve change COVER 21 Motorcycles in bus lanes STO

Why LCC opposes sharing

34 Local group news

Maintenance courses across the capital

Product reviews

Join in the fun

16 Mayor Boris Johnson

30

RY

30 Rock-solid Bikebins Plus GPS software

38 Diary Rides and events for all cyclists

42 Books ’n’ things plus Ken Worpole

WIN!

a Cyclechic bike box

Reviews plus our Fine Lines extract

45 My Way From Isle of Dogs to the Elephant

Regulars

23 London Transport Museum Making an exhibition of cycling

4 News plus director's column

46 Outward Bound COVER STORY

Includes Bike Week report and pictures

Technical

10 Your letters plus Zoe Williams

24 Junctions

13 Opinion

Negotiating them with care

26 How to... choose the right bike

london Cyclist

Reports from your part of town

How you can help campaign

Mountain biking in Milton Keynes

49 Dispatches On the road in Oldenburg

50 My Bike & I Sky News presenter Dermot Murnaghan

31 Members’ pages Make the most of your membership Cover: Hayley Madden

Editor Lynette Eyb Product reviews Ian Cleverly Design Anita Razak Marketing & proofing Rosie Downes Advertising Mongoose Media, Matt Styrka (020 7306 0300 ext 112, lcc@mongoosemedia.com) ■ London Cyclist welcomes voluntary contributions, including photographs. All work is accepted in good faith. Content may be edited and reproduced online – see www.lcc.org.uk/londoncyclist You can contact the editorial team via 2 Newhams Row, London, SE1 3UZ (020 7234 9310, londoncyclist@lcc.org.uk) All views expressed in London Cyclist are those of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the editor, nor do they necessarily reflect LCC policy. Editorial content is independent of advertising. All material is copyrighted and may not be reproduced without the written permission of the editor. London Cyclist is printed by Wyndeham Grange on paper made from 100% de-inked post consumer waste. London Cycling Campaign is a charitable limited company, reg no 1766411; charity no 1115789 See page 31 for more on London Cycling Campaign

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News

Photo: Michael Stenning

AN LCC CAMPAIGN

Director’s column

Cycling still on the rise

Koy Thomson

Half a million journeys now made every day

It has been as tense as waiting for the smoke from the papal chimney. For eight weeks we had heard nothing from the Mayor’s office save ugly rumours about motorbikes in bus lanes. There was not even a puff of smoke on cycling policy.

Then within a week we had met with the Mayor’s transport director Kulveer Ranger twice and with Boris himself. The first meeting with Kulveer was to press our petitioners’ concerns about motorbikes in bus lanes (see pages 5 and 21). It was very discouraging. We (you) were entirely dismissed. We are winning the arguments but election promises trump all other cards. We made clear that we will not be giving up on this, but that we did not want it to overshadow discussions about how we could work together to promote cycling. Hence the meeting a few days later between Boris, Kulveer, LCC and other cycling organisations. This was far more positive. A couple of things of note: firstly, you will now hear about ‘fairness between modes’, which could be interpreted to mean a transport freefor-all. Boris says cycling needs to be promoted to have a chance on the tilted playing field. OK, but transport policy still needs to be people-centred, not mode-centred.

Secondly, unless we had been charmed like old ladies by the vicar at a Jane Austen tea party, Boris and Kulveer have a real energy to make cycling grow, but much will depend on strategic thinking at a borough level. I believe we need a new generation of boroughlevel walking, cycling and public space strategies. We will be depending upon our local groups, activists, members and community organisations as never before.

The big plus with Boris is that he is a sinner, and he does not start every conversation complaining about cyclists jumping red lights. I despair at how this issue blocks many potentially useful conversations. Recently, watching a cyclist acknowledging a bus driver, I thought how ‘guerrilla goodwill’ by cyclists could improve the city.

Conversely, there is truth in the argument that it is primarily for motorists to show care and obey rules since they have the most capacity for harm. I know I should be mean, but sometimes you can’t help being the change that you want to see, and I want the street back as a sociable, friendly space.

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Cycling has continued to boom in London, with Transport for London (TfL) announcing in June that more than half a million cycle journeys are now made in London every day. The figures came off the back of a mayoral commitment to increase investment for cycling.

The TfL figures show an increase of 91% in the number of people cycling on London’s major roads since 2000. Cycling numbers grew for the sixth year running last year, even though last summer was the wettest since 1912. Between March 2007 and March 2008, cycling on London’s major roads grew by 4.5%, with an estimated 20,500 more cycle journeys being made in the capital every day. Last year was historic for cycling in the capital as it hosted the Grand Départ of the Tour de France and saw the first London Freewheel bike ride.

TfL said that to support this growth, it would invest £55 million during 2008/09, including money for cycle parking facilities, education, events and cycle promotion.

LCC director Koy Thomson welcomed the continued funding. “LCC is delighted that (Mayor) Boris Johnson has not only committed to exceed the previous mayor’s target for cycling growth but is maintaining the commitment to increased investment,” he said.

“We hope that this level of investment grows year by year for the next four years.”

Mayor Johnson said he was “delighted” that more people were cycling, “but the overall number is still too low, which suggests that many Londoners need further encouragement to take it up”.

“Alongside TfL, the boroughs, and business, I am exploring a range of options to make cycling safer, more practical and more attractive,” he said. “£2 million is to be invested in new secure parking facilities and, alongside the forthcoming bicycle hire scheme and other ambitious initiatives ...

I’m hoping to inspire a whole new generation of cyclists.”

See page 16 for more on Boris Johnson’s plans for cycling

Tony Doyle to head Newham bike festival Newham will host its first cycling festival next year. The six-day cycling event will take place in October 2009 and will be headed by former world champion cyclist, Tony Doyle.

The festival will provide the first opportunity for Londoners to see and experience indoor track cycling on home soil, and it will be used to build interest in track

cycling within the local community in the run-up to the 2012 Games. Newham will be host to the Velodrome and BMX venues during the 2012 Games.

“This is going to be fantastic for both London and the UK. The public will be able to watch world-class cyclists and then have a go themselves,” said Tony Doyle.

LCC NEWS

Chance to nominate your favourite project Is there a new community cycling project in your borough or an exciting initiative for children, or a useful new cycling facility on your bike route or better cycle provision at your workplace? Reward good practice – nominate them for the London Cycling Awards 2008.

The awards aim to recognise and celebrate the greatest contributions to the renaissance of cycling in the capital. Anyone can nominate a cycling project or facility for an award.

The categories for this year’s nominations are: Best Cycle Facility; Best Community Cycling Initiative; Best Cycling Initiative for Young People or Children; and Best Workplace Cycling Initiative.

Last year’s award winners included the Signing In Deaf Club which helps deaf children to cycle, Wandsworth Cyclists’ Movers and Shakers project, Hackney Council for a permeability project that removed obstacles to cycling (see page 18) and a workplace cycling initiative promoted

by Transport for London.

Nominations can be made by an organisation involved in a scheme or anyone who considers a project or facility worthy of nomination. The awards will be presented at LCC’s Annual General Meeting at City Hall on November 19.

Details on how to submit a nomination can be found at www.lcc.org.uk. The deadline for nominations is Friday, October 24.

For more news, go to www.lcc.org.uk

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News Send items for the news pages to news@lcc.org.uk or write to the address on page 3

AN LCC CAMPAIGN

Battle over bus lane access More than 3,500 people sign motorbikes petition More than 3000 cyclists signed LCC’s petition opposing the introduction of motorbikes into the capital’s bus lanes.

London Assembly member Jenny Jones presented Mayor Boris Johnson with the petition in June, and called for Mr Johnson to reconsider his support for motorbikes in bus lanes. LCC believes Mr Johnson has based his policy decision on unreliable Transport for London data.

Hackney and Lewisham borough councils have supported resolutions denying motorcycles

Thousands of cyclists signed LCC’s petition to Mayor Boris Johnson.

Here are just a few of their comments: “I am sad to say that this might force me off the road altogether as a cyclist.”

– Elena “Please do not make hasty decisions that could endanger lives – [decisions that] are very likely to drive cyclists off the road because it becomes more frightening and unpleasant.” – Elizabeth “Bus lanes are currently one of the few safe places to cycle when on busy roads.” – Tom “It is difficult to believe that, as a fellow cyclist, Boris Johnson does not see what a terrible idea this is.” – Jane access to bus lanes on boroughcontrolled roads. It is understood that other boroughs may follow.

It is feared the introduction of powered two-wheelers into bus lanes could endanger the lives of cyclists and pedestrians.

LCC’s chief executive Koy Thomson has written to the Mayor saying that: “While we would support measures to make motorcycling safer – such as a 20mph speed limit – there is no

clear environmental, safety or congestion reason for allowing motorcycles into bus lanes.

Making a snap decision on this key issue based on evidence that is ‘not statistically significant’, or is based on ‘flawed methodology’, is an enormous risk and could adversely impact the safety of many pedestrians and cyclists.”

See page 21 for why LCC so strongly opposes the introduction of motorcycles into bus lanes

HOW TO GET INVOLVED LCC members are urged to lobby their local council to refuse motorbikes access to bus lanes on locally controlled roads. Members can also reply to a forthcoming Transport for London consultation. See www.lcc.org.uk/campaigns for more information on this and other current campaigns.

in brief Have your say on LCC Help make membership of LCC and the work the charity is doing even better. Complete the 2008 Membership Survey online at www.lcc.org.uk. By helping, you could win a £200 voucher to spend at an LCC-affiliated bike shop.

Cycle insurance LCC and brokers Butterworth Insurance Services have launched a new urban cycling theft and damage insurance available to LCC members only. It includes £50 ‘get you home’ cover. For more benefits and a quote, visit www. urbancyclinginsurance.com or call 01514 279 529.

AGM nominations Nominations are invited for membership of the London Cycling Campaign Board, with the elections taking place at LCC’s Annual General Meeting on November 19.

For information on the responsibilities of members of the Board, contact the LCC office on 020 7234 9310 or see www.lcc.org.uk, which also carries general information about the AGM.

Recognition for Jean

Students create Fashion2Ride

Cycle carriage under threat As LC went to press, Transport for London was consulting boroughs about the possibility of further restricting the carriage of bikes on North London overground lines.

Currently bikes are allowed on all services except in peak hours, in the peak direction between Watford and Euston; and in peak hours in either direction between Willesden High level and Gospel Oak and from Gospel Oak to Blackhorse Road. The proposed changes would ban bikes on all services in both directions on all lines in peak hours.

For more on this and other rail-related campaigns, see www.lcc.org.uk. LCC has a Public Transport Carriage Working Group which welcomes member involvement.

Queen's honours

Students taking part in the Fashion2Ride project at Charter House School Pupils from Charter House School in Dulwich showed off their very own cycle fashion designs as part of a Bike It Fashion2Ride project.

Workshops, cycle training from www.cyclinginstructor.com and design events culminated in a cycle fashion show at the school on June 27.

Fashion2Ride took place in three secondary and six primary schools across London, encouraging cycling among girls aged 14 and 15 and discovering design talent. Designer Sarah Buck, who launched a range of female cycling clothing at this year’s London Fashion Show, was also involved in the project.

For more news, go to www.lcc.org.uk

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Camden Cyclists’ co-ordinator Jean Dollimore has been highly commended at the EPIC (Exceptional People in Camden) Awards in the Exceptional Contribution to the Environment category.

Sustrans founder and former CEO John Grimshaw received a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to the development of the National Cycle Network. Meanwhile, Robert Chicken, founder of RJ Chicken and Sons, received an MBE for services to the cycle industry.

History rides planned LCC is working with the Women’s Library to organise cycle tours with links to women. If you would like to be involved in this project, email community@lcc.org.uk

Photos: Adam Monaghan, J Bewley/Sustrans

LCC NEWS

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LCC NEWS

Witcomb’s birthday treats Limited edition bikes mark LCC’s 30th birthday Witcomb Cycles, one of London’s oldest and most-respected bike shops, will celebrate its 80th birthday and the 30th anniversary of LCC by producing 100 limited edition hand-built steel road bikes, each with an LCC badge on it. The bikes will be available to purchase from the Witcomb shop in Deptford for £1,500, with £100 from each sale going to LCC. The bikes have been designed by Tony Malone, Witcomb’s design director, and are inspired by a Witcomb bike designed for a Tour de France rider in 1958. One side of each bike will be a replica of the 1958 bike, and the other will celebrate 80 years of quality frame-building.

Each bike will be hand-made in Witcomb’s workshop in Deptford, and come with hand-made wheels and a Campagnolo Veloce gearset.

The bikes will be suitable for commuting and entry-level racing.

“It’s a very fitting partnership as we celebrate our long history with London and bike-building and because LCC is celebrating 30 years too,” said Tony Malone. “We’ve been in Deptford for 50 years and are very proud to be part of the local community. We’re right behind the great work that LCC is doing to make London a great city for cycling.”

For more details or to reserve one of these limited edition bikes, call Witcomb on 020 8692 1734.

Keep an eye on LC for our article in a future edition on London’s bikebuilders. Our October/November issue will mark LCC’s 30th birthday

Celebrating community cycling Community cycling projects across London have been attracting much deserved attention of late. Transport for London hosted the Community Cycling Awards on May 22, with the ceremony celebrating the improvement that cycling has brought to communities. It also rewarded the dedication and hard work of community groups and the 999 emergency services.

LCC staff were overjoyed that several Community Cycling Fund for Londonfunded (CCFfL) groups (see

story right) were nominated for awards, with St Bernard’s Mental Health project, Parents 4 Pedal Power, John Ball Primary School’s Ride ‘n’ Swim initiative and Newham’s Curwen Primary School family cycling club all among the winners.

In the spirit of celebration, LCC organised an event at City Hall on June 17 to bring together all the successful applicants from the second round of CCFfL funding.

Several of the groups have linked up with other projects in their area as a result.

For more news go to www.lcc.org.uk

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The Community Cycling Fund for London (CCFfL) was inundated with applications in the second and final round of funding for 2008. LCC received more than 90 bids from a diverse range of groups and from all corners of the capital.

“This ever increasing demand demonstrates the success of the initiative and we continue to be inspired by the innovative project proposals we receive,” said LCC director Koy Thomson.

The funding comes from Transport for London and the Big Lottery Travel Actively Consortium, and grants are available for projects that get hard-to-reach groups cycling. Funding was allocated to over 30 projects from family cycling to unicycle hockey. Other groups will be working with recovering alcoholics, women with mental health problems, older and returning cyclists, and disaffected youth.

However limited funding means there are groups in the community who did not benefit from a cash injection, but which have projects and ideas that would help spread the joys of cycling.

LCC is keen to hear from members and organisations able to help these groups. In particular, donations of bikes are welcome, as are people who able to volunteer their time. Are you handy with a spanner, a master of marshalling or do you just want to get involved in community work? LCC would love to put your skills to use to help one of its many community cycling projects. For more information, email community@lcc.org.uk

Cyclist/HGV awareness days have been taking place over the past few months in Lambeth, Southwark and Richmond to highlight the dangers heavy goods vehicles pose to cyclists and pedestrians. Events such as these give people the opportunity to sit in the cab of lorries so they can see the road from the driver’s position.

Lorries will be stationed at Roehampton Gate car park in Richmond Park on August 9.

Towpath upgrade The Grand Union Canal towpath between the Ruislip Road bridge and footbridge will be closed each weekday until August 29 to resurface a 400m stretch of the towpath. Signage will redirect towpath users around the diversion while the works are underway.

City police get tough The City of London police were in July directed to “get tough” with cyclists and commit to an ongoing campaign of enforcement against red light jumping, pavement cycling and other illegal cyclist behaviour.

New bike towns A dozen towns have been chosen to promote cycling.

Bristol is set to become the UK’s first official ‘cycling city’, while Blackpool, Cambridge, Chester, Colchester, Leighton/ Linslade, Shrewsbury, Southend on Sea, Southport with Ainsdale, Stoke, Woking and York will become Cycling Demonstration Towns to help encourage more people to cycle. There are already six Cycling Demonstration Towns: Aylesbury, Brighton, Darlington, Derby, Exeter and Lancaster.

Photos: Natalie Pecht

Competition for cycle funding

Community cycling champions at City Hall

Cycle Show discount LCC members can benefit from a saving of £4.50 off onthe-door ticket price at this year’s Cycle Show, which runs October 9-12 at Earl’s Court.

Simply visit www.cycleshow. co.uk/LCC and buy your tickets online, entering the promotional code ‘LCC’ when prompted.

Cycle 2008 is the largest bicycle exhibition of its kind in the UK. (Offer applies only to adult tickets; subject to availability; a £1 booking fee applies.)

HGV awareness days

LCC NEWS

LCC NEWS

in brief

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News Send items for the news pages to news@lcc.org.uk or write to the address on page 3

Breaking new ground Merton Cycling Campaign was active throughout the borough, introducing new cyclists to two wheels, and running Dr Bike clinics for existing riders

Ealing Cycling Campaign members checked more than 100 bikes and provided cycling advice to hundreds of residents during Bike Week

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> The Phillippe Phillioppe cycling clown double act kept everyone amused at Lambeth’s Family Fun Day in Brockwell Park on June 15

Steve Martin (third from right) took Lambeth Cyclists on a fascinating tour highlighting the borough’s connections with black history

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A step back in time On June 14, Wandsworth Cycling Campaign (WCC) helped celebrate the 150th anniversary of the opening of Battersea Park. The event added extra colour and excitement to WCC’s Bike Week activities.

Strolling families were amused to see ladies of the LCC, accompanied by bewhiskered and top-hatted gentlemen, bicycling in Victorian attire. Intrepid Victorian ladies had spoken of “the blessings of a good thick skirt”, but long skirts and bicycles?

Amelia Bloomer later pioneered “rational dress” for lady cyclists, and ‘bloomers’ became the must-have sportswear of the day.

The 19th century’s cycling craze helped to further the emancipation of women.

Diane Padgett

For more news, go to www.lcc.org.uk

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Camden Cyclists ran a ‘bike bus’ during Bike Week to introduce parents and kids to the joys of doing the school run on two wheels

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Dr Bike in action in Redbridge during Bike Week

Paul Braithwaite leads the second annual Camden Peripherique

Photos: Hugh Morgan, Keith Stretten, Meade McCloughan, George Coulouris, Philip Loy/Lambeth Cyclists, Mike Grahn, Susie Morrow

Bike Week this year coincided with a number of other local and London-wide events whose organisers included cycling in their programmes. Among these were Battersea Park’s 150th anniversary (see below), Hammersmith’s GreenFest and the London Festival of Architecture. The Enfield Festival of Cycling, ever-popular Smithfield Nocturne and the first Blackheath Bike and Kite Festival also took place around Bike Week.

LCC director Koy Thomson said local campaigners once again took full advantage of Bike Week to ensure maximum exposure for LCC and its work.

Congratulations to Nick Soulsby, SW2, and Louise Hodgson, SW19, who were the winners of LCC’s Bike Week competition.

They both win a Nokia N82 phone

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Thousands of cyclists across London enjoyed Bike Week 2008 from June 14-22.

There were plenty of opportunities to pick up tips on cycling to work or to school, and Dr Bikes on hand throughout the capital to ensure bicycles of all shapes and sizes were fit for purpose.

Ealing Cycling Campaign’s David Eales spoke for LCC coordinators across London when he declared 2008 “Ealing’s bestattended Bike Week for a decade”.

He said it was a prelude to another big summer of cycling.

“Bike Week is just the start of a summer of cycling events, with numerous workshops at school fairs planned and the Freewheel (see page 14) taking place in September,” he said.

“We feel we’re pushing an open door now getting people on bikes.”

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Bike Week 2008: the biggest and best yet

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Letters Have your say My Bike & I grammar debate I am writing with regard to the > letter from Antony Evans (Letters, June/July), who described the phrase “My Bike and I” as ugly and ungrammatical. Whether it is beautiful or not is a matter of opinion, but he is wrong in saying that it is ungrammatical. Used as titles, both “My Bike and I” and “My Bike and me” are grammatically correct.

Grammatical rules apply when the phrases are used in sentences.

“My bike and I” must be the subject of the sentence (they are something, or they do something) whereas “my bike and me” must be the object (something is done to them). “My bike and I are a good team”, but “The photographer snapped my bike and me”.

Jean Elliott, Upminster Member, Queen’s English Society

should also only buy helmets that meet the current safety standards.

I am a great advocate of cyclists wearing helmets as I have seen riders with horrific injuries that could have been avoided if they were wearing a helmet.

Matt Andrews, by email Ed: LCC takes a neutral stance on helmets. If you choose to wear a helmet, you should make sure it’s the right size, properly fitted and conforms to safety standards.

Clothes for female cyclists Minx is devastated that your female readers have trouble finding decent bike clothing (Letters, Feb/Mar).

She now has all her summer stock in, which includes cool capris, stylish skirts and tech T-shirts that look as good off the bike as on it.

Find it all at www.minx-girl.com Debbie Burton, by email Interview

My bike & I Tony Junipe

r

Friends of the Earth’s executive director chats about his first bike and cycling’s role in preserving the environment Do you remember your very first time on a bike?

I vividly remember the triumph of staying upright for the first time. I was as a young child very nervous about going it alone without stabilisers and the liberation that came with that first time on a bike was wonderful.

Can you tell us about your first bike?

My first proper bike was a red Triang. I was about eight when I got it. They were small-wheeled things, a bit like Moultons but more basic and for children. Even as a small child I was a naturalist and that bike opened up undreamt of horizons.

The Thames and its wildlife was within my range and so were woodlands and swamps.

What do you ride these days?

I have three bikes – two of my own and one shared one.

The shared one is one of our most prized household possessions. It’s a Bakfi ets long cargo bike – a Dutch bike with a wooden cargo bay on the front. It carries a vast amount of shopping or several children and our dog. It has top-quality brakes and gears and lights that come on automatically.

The looks we get on this machine remind me of when I bought a Brompton in 1991: people stare, take on board the spectacle and then say, ‘what a fantastic idea’. I think these will catch on, especially as oil prices rise. It minimises car use.

I still ride a Brompton nearly far higher in some other every day in London and countries because cyclists after 16 years (I’m on my are encouraged to use proper third one), it’s as indispensable and safe facilities. as ever. It transforms the Any advice for cyclists quality and reliability of campaigning for better my schedule. My third bike facilities or those working is a sit up and beg. I use to promote cycling? that one for getting around Getting people involved Cambridge, where I live. is critical. [You need to] What’s the best thing show decision makers that people about being a cyclist? are on your side. Media The freedom and self-suffi coverage is vital. If you ciency. No fuel, no timecan sustain broadcast and tables, guaranteed arrival newspaper interest, you times. It’s surely also the are more likely to get what most want. The key sustainable transport. you is to have media-savvy I find it impossible to [get people who know to the] gym or swimming pool how to get things reported.

– the bike keeps me in Direct action has its place, shape.

Do you consider yourself but needs to be done a good cyclist? thoughtfully and, above all, safely.

I’ve been cycling in London What role do cyclists and Cambridge for 20 have in the challenges years the environmental facing and before that spent nearly the same time in movement?

Oxford.

I’ve not had a major crash The main challenge is or injury – touch wood. to get the I use a mirror, reflective strips will underpin shifts in lifestyles. culture changes that – when it’s dark I’m lit Companies and political up like a Christmas tree – and parties are ready to move a helmet. I ride very defensively. but will only do so if they I’m not bad, but like anyone, see public demand. Cycling probably could get better. is one of the most visible Any pet hates when it things we can do to signal our comes to willingness to change.

The more The over-revving of diesel-poweredcycling? of us who cycle, the quicker the culture will change. vans and trucks behind me really gets When I turn up to meetings me mad. People charging on my Brompton, it sends around urban areas between traffi signal that we are serious a c queues in low gear with at Friends of the Earth. engines thrashing some You’re leaving Friends clapped out old toxic of the Earth – if you could tin box sums up the futility of ride off into the sunset, where driving in town. would you ride to?

How can we make the I’d fancy a touring holiday most of cycling in London? around northern Norway The Government needs or Sweden in high summer. to take cycling seriously.

Actually, this would be We’ve had commitments to make cheating, as there would be cycling more attractive, no sunset at that time of the year! but what we have seen is This is an edited extract inadequate, unambitious of our interview. For the and uninspiring. We have more full interview, see www.lcc.org.uk/lond cars than ever and increased oncyclist carbon dioxide emissions as a result. Segregated cycle lanes strike me as the key. In The Netherlands and Denmark there are also ABOUT TONY JUNIPER parking facilities at stations.

At Cambridge station, cyclists Tony Juniper has been executive director spend 10 minutes trying of Friends of the Earth (www.foe.co.uk) to find somewhere to six years. He will stand down park. There is a small for from the role later this year. area for cycles, compared to acres He joined FOE in 1990 as its tropical forest campaigner, for cars. Cycling rates coming from the charity Birdlife are was regarded as one of the International, where he world’s foremost experts on parrots.

Earth

“What we’ve seen from the Government has been unambitious and uninspiring”

Photo: Friends of the

“My bike and I” is not ungrammatical but “my bike and me” is more likely to occur in writing or speech. “There was room for my bike and me” is grammatically correct and sounds right. “My bike and I squeezed onto the train” is a shortening of “My bike squeezed onto the train and I squeezed onto the train.”

Both are gramatically correct, but the first doesn’t sound true because bikes are passive things that don’t squeeze onto trains, but get squeezed thereon. “I squeezed myself and my bike onto the train” is more logical, but no more grammatical.

If I wrote “My bike squeezed onto the train and me squeezed onto the train” most people would instantly spot the error, yet in “my bike and me squeezed onto the train” it is not so obvious that the first person pronoun is in the wrong grammatical case.

Colin Newman, by email

Thoughtful planning This is Sainsbury’s, East Dulwich. They have recently extended and redesigned the store, including all the car parking and road approaches, and this is what they came up with for cyclists: a kerb, and a very solid railing.

Sue Stanley, by email

Lost in translation Your translation of the Japanese billboard picture (Dispatches, June/July) is incorrect. It is not about stopping people’s reliance on cars, but about informing drivers to protect the environment by switching off their car engine when stationary (not idling).

Ian Brenkley, by email

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Helmet dismay I was quite dismayed when I saw the June/July cover photo. While the two smiling children represent all that is good about cycling, their helmets are incorrectly worn. You wouldn’t put a cycle on the cover that didn’t have brakes, so why use a photograph with children wearing helmets that wouldn’t provide adequate protection? A cycling helmet will only offer protection if it is fitted and worn correctly. You

11/5/08 01:29:48

Time to pad up After reading Josie Dew’s words (Backpedalling, June/July) making fun of requests for padded lampposts in Brick Lane, I am inspired to put in my two cents about street furniture.

About six months ago I was approaching a badly lit cycle restrictor in Forest Hill at around 20mph when a brick (possibly put there by aliens) materialised under my front wheel. I avoided hitting the posts, but it set me comparing cycling provision with skiing provision. I have seen chicanes and restrictors used at the end of ski slopes or at junctions to slow down skiers, and speeds of intermediate skiers can be comparable to

cyclists. All posts and fencing on ski slopes that are not designed to fall down on impact are padded.

I reckon more thought could be given to making the cycling street furniture a little cuddlier. After all, we ask motorists to stay clear of bikes because a little wobble or a mechanical failure could send us wiggling our way under their wheels.

Bike lane standards need to cater for the same instances of temporary loss of control. Give us our padded posts, I say, Jeremy Hopkin, SE26 Electric avenues When I first joined LCC I used my bike all year round and the idea of electric bikes never crossed my mind. Now I have retired and my

POETRY CORNER In reply to Velochick’s Dodgy Weather in June/July, there is a species of cagoule-clad cyclists who are out there whatever the weather.

The Two-Wheeled good The two-wheeled good, a hardy clutch, Hardly stopped by very much.

Through rain and snow and heat and sleet, Driven home by pedalled feet Waterproof and wind resistant, Long spun limbs turn on insistent That no bus or train or car, Or suited warming post-five bar, Shall deviate them from their route As dusk stalks day-glow on they shoot.

With bike lights lit like Viking torches, To guide them home to soon-wet porches Dashing back in one good stint All fuelled by smugness for their carbon foot prints… © Hino Hinesy 2008

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Letters

Letters can be sent to letters@lcc.org.uk or to the address on page 3. Letters may be edited for legal or space reasons (please keep them short and concise)

No room for bike In June I travelled from Paddington to Oxford. I booked ahead and reserved a space for my bike.

However, upon reaching the bike compartment, I was told my bike couldn’t be allowed on as there was no space. The conductor told me that bikes without reservation had been allowed on and there was no way he could reach the owners, thus I would miss my train and my bike space. The same thing happened upon my return.

I am now reassessing my plans of cycling holidays commuting by train, as the chance of this happening again is too infuriating.

Does anyone know what the train companies’ policies are on this and do I have any redress aside from writing a letter of complaint that will get lost in some back office?

Jo Jamison, Stoke Newington Ed: Jo should complain to fgwcyclespaddington@firstgroup. com and copy it to office@lcc.org. uk. You should insist on taking your bike elsewhere on the train if they have failed to keep a space. Other rail companies’ cycle policies can be found at http://www.nationalrail. co.uk/tocs_maps/tocs/

Considerate cycling I escorted primary school children across a junction during Lambeth’s Walk Safely to School Week, an initiative to get children walking independently, safely and healthily.

I talked to those cyclists who stopped at the traffic lights about the cyclist who jumped the red light the previous day and collided with three children. Most cyclists looked horrified at this tale. You’d think that all cyclists, who are only too aware of their own vulnerability, would care about those even more vulnerable than themselves, but “Who came off worst?” or “So what? It wasn’t a car” were among the comments. We are all endangered by such: they represent a breakdown in social solidarity, lack of caring for the vulnerable and lack of respect for the law.

If you heard about an accident involving a car and a cyclist, you wouldn’t ask “Who came off worst?”, so don’t let idiot cyclists (or cycling campaigners) get away with such crassness.

Susan Bewley, by email

Slippery issues Two letters in the June/July issue asked for advice, and both dealt with subjects with which I was acquainted during my 78 years of serious cycling.

The thought of paying to acquire a chain cleaner fills me with horror.

I kept a replacement chain, cleaned it with paraffin and then oiled it.

One chain would come off the bike and the clean chain would go on.

My two daughters were provided with miniature bikes and tricycles from the age of about four. No stabilisers were used; they retard a child’s learning to balance on two wheels. I first had a one-seater sidecar for the elder child then when the younger one was ready for a sidecar, I obtained a twoseater. I had a rear seat fitted to a

Highway ‘engineering’ In June, I trained my bike into Fenchurch Street, then cycled to Regent’s Park for the Camden Green Fair, encountering the segregated cycle paths around Bloomsbury. I found these useful, although despite being at carriageway level, the paths are finished only to footway standards.

Why do cars with fully sprung suspensions get a level surface, but cyclists get treated as pedestrians?

The problem lies with engineers who are reluctant to acknowledge they have negligible expertise in the design of cycling infrastructure.

While the announcement of more millions to encourage cycle use is welcome, one fears it’ll be wasted by local authorities.

Let’s hope Mayor BoJo can address this anomaly that is holding back cycle facility development.

David Garfield, by email

Zoe Williams All politicians claim to love cyclists, but some, one senses, genuinely like them, and some can’t think of a good reason not to. What I’d like to see is a public figure who could cook up some genuine anticycling spleen (of course I’m not counting Jeremy Clarkson); that way, others who were secretly of his or her mind would at least have someone they could line up behind. There would be a new dawn of openness around the whole two-wheeled issue.

When everyone feels they have to agree with something, but in their hearts don’t, the only thing that improves is the big talk. Are we safer now that Routemasters have been replaced by bendy buses that can’t see cars, let alone bikes? Is our passage any faster now that the odd circuitous cycle route has been constructed to stop us inconveniencing cars? Are we taken at all seriously as users of the road, or is all respectable conversation about road use still limited to the AA and the DVLA, who for some reason talk about us like naughty children who can’t afford cars because we’re feckless?

And yet pressed on what I’d like to see about cycling, policy-wise, I don’t fully know. I am not a big fan of the bike lane. That green strip at the front of the traffic is ignored by motorists, and then I have to shout at them. Where cycle lanes do take you out of the main drag – I’m thinking specifically about Elephant and Castle and Vauxhall Cross, but that’s only because I go through them a lot – they take you on loony routes that are much longer than simply going round the roundabout. They hurl you up curbs and stairs and over footbridges; they’re not designed for the cyclist at all, they’re there to get you out of the way of drivers. And again, I wouldn’t mind that if they were honest about it; instead of the helpful blue signs with pictures of bikes on them, they should have rude black and white signs saying “get off and walk, you worms”.

We’d all know where we were.

For this reason, I’m not keen on the proposal to have four giant cycle-fares (I made that word up.

It’s like a thoroughfare, only for… well, you know what I mean) going through London. It sounds cool, but I’m suspicious: if they did it, they’d ringfence some road nobody ever uses anyway, that starts nowhere useful and ends in a canal.

Nor am I into the bike subsidisation scheme (where the government will help pay for a new bike) – the only people I know who’ve availed themselves of it were loaded to begin with. I know universal benefits are the only way to make sure the poorest get a look in, but is that true with cyclists? Aren’t we more assertive than the general population, otherwise we’d have been squashed by now?

In other words, I am vehemently opposed to what has been done, and probably opposed to what might be done in the future. I am also annoyed about politicians who do nothing, and scathing of those who think friendly words and a bike of your own are enough. I appear to be against everything. I don’t belong on a bicycle.

Photos: Peter Dench

tandem for carrying one. For a short time we used a triplet with the elder child on the rear saddle and the younger one on a saddle with foot rests attached in front of my wife behind me. I would never risk using a child seat on a solo – it’s too dangerous with motorists around.

Derek Roberts, Surrey

450

joints are not so supple, I still do the 10- to 20-mile rides, but could do with a bit of help on the hills.

It is difficult to get any unbiased views on electric assisted bikes and it would be of interest to myself and other less youthful members to see an article in the London Cyclist.

John Hearson, by email

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Opinion

Making a difference Former LCC group coordinator Gary Cummins argues that it really is easy for LCC members to help influence change Poachers make good gamekeepers; they also say the pen is mightier than the sword. The inspiration came in a flash: “a shortage of transport planners”, said the man presenting the London Cycle Network+ coordinators’ meeting. “If any of you are considering a career change, consider becoming transport planners.” I was, and I did. I had already warmed to him as he had not shied away from disguising his disappointment in Transport for London (TfL) – specifically its decision to scrap the whole London Cycle Network as it was then proposed. It later made a volteface and re-instated a smaller, less ambitious version while adding the advantageous codicil to the name.

Why the sudden change of heart?

Was it the result of a night’s fretful sleep and softening of the corporate heart? Unsurprisingly no, it was the angry outpourings of a formerly semi-active membership and semi-aquiescent LCC secretariat, galvanised into action by one final straw on the back of the then limping camel of cycle lobbying in London, and that’s my point.

Pitching in to help I’d been an LCC borough coordinator, good at some things – setting up events, writing letters, lobbying to keep cycles where they belong (on the highway), however, rotten at others – building a core of activists from the existing membership. This was in the days before the internet, but that was really no excuse as other boroughs had bigger and more active groups than mine. Part of the problem was probably my tendency to be a bit too spiky when confronted with the c’est la vie of much of our membership, and my frustration that for some folk, activism meant complaining about something, and then waiting for me or another coordinator to try to resolve the issue, which we generally tried, and frequently failed, to do.

Of course, we all are empowered to write and to lobby; our (broader) society allows and positively encourages this, but our tendency to take the easy option and let other

people do the work (I don’t believe it is human nature, but human idleness) means we don’t.

As an example: in London I used to lead evening history rides by bike.

I have a qualification in archaeology and the subject interests me. On one ride, a woman drew level with me and suggested “the East End is full of pop stars’ homes – you could do a pop stars’ homes tour”. Having spent countless sunny weekends researching my ride in the local library, my response was a curt “you could do it yourself – put the ride together, and we’ll give you all the help you need”, this while snapping my head back and forth, checking we had lost nobody at the lights ahead or the junctions behind. My old spikiness has just punctured the new soft me again.

Gary Cummins argues there is much LCC members can do to help their local group’s campaigns

Getting involved To my lobbying chums, I keep quoting: “10 letters influence a councillor, 100 letters influence an MP”, but was recently corrected on this point by a colleague, who argued that it takes a lot less than 100 letter to get to an MP. Twenty or so letters on a single subject will make an MP take note of an issue.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Londoner Gary Cummins was a graphic designer for 22 years and borough co-ordinator of Tower Hamlets Wheelers from 1994 to 2001. In 2006, he took an MSc in Transport Planning and now works for JMP, a transport planning consultancy. He still lobbies on cycling issues and as a hobby organises package tours by cycle in his adopted country of Scotland.

HAVE YOUR SAY ON THIS ISSUE Email letters@lcc.org.uk or write to the address on page 3.

Aside from the fact that some folk are too lazy to lobby, others appear to be intimidated by the thought of challenging an elected member, a councillor, or local authority officer’s opinion on an issue. But this is exactly what the LCC and its representatives at borough level have to do all the time. Lobbying is hard soul-eating work, but it can be incredibly rewarding when an issue passes the point where things are changed for the better and the cancerous bile of frustration is somehow magically cleansed.

LC publishes interviews with cycling personalities who query why ‘so and so’ is the way it is. Have these somebodies ever written a letter to ask why things are the way they are, or do they believe there is a magical osmotic process where those in power are expected to absorb the collective complaints of the celebrant electorate?

Put it on paper or email, and copy in your borough coordinator. How hard is it to write one letter each month to your councillors? Even better, get along to a meeting of your group, get a consensus and get writing on a single issue. Letters from a series of individuals carry far more weight than letters from a borough coordinator’s pen on the same issue. So, ‘on you go’, as we say, get writing.

By the way, if you were the lady on my history ride, I’d like to say sorry for my curtness on that day.

But you really could do that pop stars ride yourself with, as Lennon and McCartney sang, a little help from your friends.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED For larger campaigns, LCC makes writing letters easy by providing templates online for members to fill out.

In addition to writing letters and emails, you could also: – support an existing LCC campaign by signing petitions at www.lcc.org.uk; – encourage friends and family members to join LCC; – volunteer to help out on stalls, to marshall rides during events or to help LCC with its member mailouts.

For more information, see the ‘get involved’ link at www.lcc.org.uk or call the LCC office.

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Feature

s l e e h w r u o y Free Thomson, y o K r, to c e ir Cd f ee-for-all – LC fr e ik b ld be a sign o t u s o e c rg 1 2 la r s e l’ b a it m pte It’s the cap ewheel on Se re F n o d n o L t argues tha e Freewheel e put you off. Th Don’t let that things to com y. intentionally th un or d w ing the n good fun an g plai t clos spite bein experience is t to like abou ssible that de clists hat is there no . It is quite po and letting cy perience c ve ffi ex si er ill tra w bv ed u su is ain and l London, yo ra ag nt roads to motor us ce d with ith ith w an w , is r rd familia eewheel and haza only take over? Fr of traffic roar K, so we are ets are ee O re .

Fr st ar . ye on ew st an nd la it Lo an e as big as sociable mind, der why can’t we do ar, and less th could be twic a relaxed and on t of 366 this ye e of peopleou y da e may start to w having on u g talkin delightful. Yo ould. Imagine people a tast sh ? ve e gi en W t pp d. bu ha , oo ad ht G ig roads n. m h te t of ug ha e ro w or 20km of ro s bo this m en d who know sections of ev an re e s he nc et w re ders. rie s st la ay pe y rb friendl ndon ex and rolle regular Sund a must-do Lo alkers, cyclists hich is the w osed w r cl t, fo is is ed cl rk Freewheel is cy os Yo cl a were yourself as sign l Park in New t to tra un y el en co t C Seine. lik . n’ e ly le th do ib rd g if you was ha ay alon Not imposs e new mayor is the expressw up to two million al. Freewheel iv so , st fe ay g nd in Su cl point, really. Th y cy ever ombia, id for a mere C) is in Bogota, Col ree streets. off a million qu m the boroughs (led by LC r-f r Every Sunday ei ca th of in s s fro ile ke m in ndon bi e and the rid ers with old dents enjoy 70 idea that came from the Lo on si nd re Lo e de th ua to rs el, in pe an t he to ge as w w ee to ed el s Fr intend familie Freewhe t’s go enjoy s cyclists and ike B ign family. Le r la pa gu am re C r g sheds, nervou fo lin Cyc mpaign g. spired and ca ly one-tenth of habit of cyclin come back in on borough. rticipate, if on rly nd la pa Lo gu 00 le re ,0 g ng si 60 in y cl e er cy ev up in Suppos s ke ta ay to Sund ,000) decide the National participants (6 uld be saving co ey th ar ye it, a to and stick e nearly £2m Health Servic d, Cycling Englan to g in – accord the NHS s ve sa t is cl cy each regular also ar. They would s of over £300 a ye nd sa reds of thou be saving hund d tube subsidies to s an pounds in bu enly the London. Sudd r fo t or sp an Tr does not s st co el eewhe million quid Fr h. seem so muc und very Freewheel so es ak m This

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Feature

ABOUT LONDON FREEWHEEL

NTEER eel ED AS A VOLU GET INVOLV lp make Freewh he to d lpers are needed an he l d ra lea ne to ge ed d eers’ need Marshals an around 300 ‘velot lp coordinate a success, with for people to he g kin loo o als is C shals.

LC . ar es m e rid th t of marshall and managemen generate lp he the recruitment to ed ed people are ne memberships.

Another 40-50 h donations and ug ro th ed. t or pp su LCC s will be arrang d briefing session teer coordinator, Julie Full training an lun vo C’s k ation, contact LC ail julie@lcc.org.u For more inform 10 ext 215 or em 93 34 72 0 02 Tublin, on

Photo: Jason Cobb, Hayley Madden, Tom Bogdanowicz

l, organised London Freewhee on, is Lond by the Mayor of urage more designed to enco to cycle as people in London . It is aimed ity tiv ac an everyday but especially at all Londoners, a bike, but ve ha o at those wh wheel offers don’t use it. Free ing day out on lax re a participants or ot ised traffic. routes free of m support, advice e th Riders have lar cyclists and and help of regu wanting to take ne yo An marshals. ed to register part is encourag reewheel.com. nf do via www.lon e.

Registration is fre will be four e er th ar This ye eeting point m ‘hubs’ offering a clinics ke Bi Dr , for cyclists to the on and guided rides e through ut ro l ee wh main Free e Th hubs will be central London. m Common, ha ap Cl located at toria Park and Vic Highbury Fields, .

Ravenscourt Park organising LCC will again be ross ac s int po m fro led rides bs and to the hu e th to on nd Lo route. The rides main Freewheel en to all. More op will be free and be published on information will soon. the LCC website

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Feature

Mayor ’s

Q

e m i T n o i t s e u Q n Scrapping congestio s? ne la s bu in s ke bi Motor ling mayor’ really be yc ‘c st fir r ou an C s? charge r yourself with these fo e dg Ju g? in cl cy behind n questions answers to our writte

LC: So, cycling has a champion in the shape of a ‘cycling mayor’...

Mayor Boris Johnson: I cycle to work as much as possible and I intend to continue to do so. I am a staunch supporter of cycling, and am keen to see many more Londoners get on their bikes and experience the many joys of cycling.

LC: To what degree is cycling centre stage in your vision for a future London?

BJ: Cycling is a key element of my vision for London.

This year I have committed £55 million to develop cycling in London and I am currently working with Transport for London (TfL) to develop ambitious targets for increasing the numbers of people cycling.

My commitment to deliver a central London bike hire scheme, more cycle parking and to work with the police to tackle the problem of cycle theft is further evidence of my desire to put cycling at the heart of my plans for transport in London.

LC: Will you commit to treating cycling as the fourth serious transport mode alongside buses, trains and the tube?

BJ: We will strive to be fair to the users of all current modes of travel. Rather than developing some form of false hierarchy and competition between the various modes of transport in London, I am interested in ensuring that Londoners will be prompted to consider all options that are open to them, and don’t just automatically rule out the possibility of travelling by bike. If there are specific reasons that people are put off the idea of cycling in London – such as the possibility of cycle theft – then we need to look at these reasons and target them. It is clear that there is much more capacity for people to cycle in London. I am keen to ensure that cycling is expanded, that it receives the funding to do so, and that the idea of cycling is made more attractive and safe for all Londoners.

LC: A number of London boroughs would like to implement 20mph limits but insist that it must be a London-wide initiative. Will you back a London-wide 20mph limit on streets where people live, work and shop?

BJ: Where there is a proven safety benefit of having a 20mph zone in residential areas or near schools, for example, then I would be keen to see the borough in question implement these for the benefit of both pedestrians and cyclists. However, I do not intend to impose such measures on a London-wide basis as it is the boroughs that clearly know the specific issues of their traffic and road safety problems far better than any mayor does.

LC: How will you encourage a new generation of road traffic engineers to help to create liveable streets and

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public spaces and to encourage cycling?

BJ: We’ve made clear how keen we are to encourage a growth in cycling, and this will be taken into account in all our future plans, as will my commitments regarding enhancing public spaces and preserving green corridors. It is patently clear that there is limited road space in London, unlike some other more modern European cities, and so will we need to ensure that all road users respect each other and share that space in the most efficient and effective way possible.

LC: Some 3500 people signed LCC’s petition asking you to reconsider plans for allowing motorbikes in bus lanes – most left comments saying how unsafe they felt and some said it might stop them cycling. Are you worried that such a change will undermine your plan to increase cycling in London?

BJ: I am keen to encourage modal shift away from the private car, and believe that motorcycles have an important part to play in this. Further consultation must be undertaken before motorcycles can legally use TfL’s bus lanes (on the red routes) and both TfL and I will listen very carefully to the different views expressed on this proposal before implementation.

LC: How, as a cyclist, can you justify supporting a policy that is opposed by cycle lobby groups?

BJ: As mentioned above, I want to see all of London’s road users sharing the available road space in the most efficient and effective way possible. There is no statistical evidence to suggest that allowing motorcycles to use bus lanes leads to a worsening in

12/7/08 23:09:42

Feature

Q pedestrian and cycle safety and this policy has been successfully implemented in the City of Westminster, the Royal Borough of Kingston and the London Borough of Richmond as well as in Bristol. Whilst I am indeed a keen cyclist, I also need to consider the needs of all road users in my role as mayor and Chair of TfL. LC: Cyclists, along with pedestrians and many motorists, hate big traffic gyratories. Aldgate gyratory is now being changed and another half dozen were due to be tackled – can you make a commitment to continue this programme?

BJ: I want to see improvements in London’s road network that lead to reduced congestion and the frustration experienced by all road users, whilst at the same time improving safety. Changes to gyratories could be one of the solutions which we will need to look at on a case-by-case basis.

LC: Making streets more permeable to cycles by creating contra-flow routes and 20mph zones encourages cycling. To what extent will you support boroughs to introduce such measures?

BJ: I have a very pragmatic approach to measures such as allowing cyclists to ride in the differing direction to other traffic flow if they work. This means working in a particular location and not having a negative impact on other road users. If these needs are met, then I would like to see the boroughs implement more of these schemes. I await with interest the outcome of the trial being carried out in Kensington & Chelsea.

LC: How do you hope to reduce cycle theft?

BJ: I have been the victim of cycle theft in London, so I know just how frustrating and costly it can be. When I take up my post as Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, I will ensure that the Met takes this issue more seriously. TfL are looking at potential solutions, which could include a London-wide cycle database so that stolen bikes can be reunited with their owners more easily. I have also committed to deliver 10,000 more cycle stands so that people can lock their bikes up properly. Education is also going to be an important part of the battle, as it is vital that cyclists are aware of the ways that they can lock their bicycles to ensure maximum security.

LC: The London Cycle Network Plus is nearing its completion date of 2010 but there are 140 barriers still to be dealt with, half of them on TfL roads. How will your team guarantee completion by the due date?

BJ: I have committed £55 million of funding to cycling this year and I am in discussions with TfL and the key

LCC DIRECTOR KOY THOMSON HAS THIS ANALYSIS OF BORIS JOHNSON’S VISION FOR CYCLING Before being elected, Boris Johnson described himself as a “militant cyclist”.

As Mayor he’s toning that down, but evidence of his commitment remains, notably in his determination to keep cycling to work. What’s also welcome is that Johnson wants cycling to be an attractive option for all Londoners. In this interview, he commits to £55 million for cycling in 2008/09 and he’s previously said that he would like to exceed the target of 5% of journeys to be made by bike by 2025.

The big question is how he will achieve

cycling organisations as to how to achieve the best value for money to deliver the improvements cyclists want. The LCN+ is obviously a flagship project and the merits and issues around taking it forwards to completion will be fully investigated before any firm decisions are taken.

LC: You’ve said that you would amend the London plan to include standards for cycle parking. Will you ensure that all new developments include provision for cycle owners?

BJ: Cycle parking standards in the London Plan are only for guidance and can therefore be effectively ignored. I am keen to see this change and TfL is working on the development of proposed minimum standards, which would need to go out to consultation before they could be included in the London Plan. By putting the minimum standards in the London Plan, developers would be legally obliged to include cycle parking in all new developments. It is envisaged that consultation will take place sometime this autumn.

LC: You support cycle corridors into central London.

TfL wants 5% of all journeys made by bike by 2025.

What is the timeframe for the cycle corridor plan?

BJ: Cycle corridors is another potential option that I will be investigating with TfL and discussing with the key cycling organisations in order to understand all of the merits and potential issues so that I can make an informed decision.

LC: Transforming town centres in Outer London through hard and soft cycling measures could prompt as large an increase in cycling in Outer London as we’ve seen in Inner London. Will you allocate funding to support such initiatives in boroughs?

BJ: You are right to say that the potential for increasing the number of trips made in Outer London is enormous.

I will support those boroughs who wish to bid for TfL funding to improve cycling infrastructure. TfL will also look to allocate funding directly to improving cycling in Outer London.

LC: When will a cycle hire scheme be introduced?

BJ: A central London cycle hire scheme is key to my vision for cycling. We are still in the process of shaping and finalising the scheme before it goes to tender later this year, and we aim to have it up and running by 2010 or even earlier.

LC: How many of your team cycle to work?

BJ: Many staff at City Hall ride bikes to work, and we support this by providing secure lock-ups and changing facilities, and through schemes such as the bike doctor.

that target. Boris appears to still be developing a strategy. The bike hire scheme appears on the agenda. Cycle parking too is on his priority list – an obligation to put bike parking in new developments would unlock cycling for thousands. But boosting cycling in outer London remains a challenge, and Boris rejects the low-cost option of introducing a London-wide 20mph limit. He appears undecided about cycling corridors, completing the LCN+ and promoting town centre programmes but that may change.

The one measure that could constrain his ambition of “a modal shift to cycling and walking” is putting motorcycles in bus lanes – this could encourage many cyclists to make another transport choice.

What Boris noted in his pre-election response to LCC is that as a Conservative politician, he has better links to the large number of Conservative boroughs that have soft-pedalled on cycling. To bring them behind a London-wide cycling strategy will not be easy. But with leading Tories like David Cameron, Oliver Letwin and the Mayor all cyclists, the message cannot be ignored. What Boris needs to do is make it clear to politicians and planners that more cycling is not just a green gesture but an essential element of handling London’s future transport and addressing health issues. We know that one in five Londoners would like to cycle more – what we need to do is remove the barriers.

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THE PERMEABILITY principle Left and page right: Before and after photos of some of the work that won the Best Facility Award for Hackney at last year’s London Cycling Awards

A long-running Hackney Cyclists campaign has helped make the borough’s streets more cycle-friendly. Trevor Parsons explains how it was achieved s a self-powered mode, cycling works best when you can go as directly as possible to your destination. Diversions are a waste of energy that you feel in your lungs and muscles. The odd wiggle might be acceptable for a six-mile commuter, but for the type of cycling we most want to encourage – the two-mile trip to school, shopping and the surgery – sending people around the block can be a deal breaker.

Ten years ago, Hackney Cyclists published a proposal for a permeability project. The idea was that our council should map all the physical and legal restrictions to cycling – one-way streets, road closures lacking cycle gaps, banned turns, etc – and remove them so as to restore hundreds of lost route choices.

I say “restore” because most of these obstructions have been superimposed in the last half century or so onto a fine-meshed street pattern created by and for walking and horse-drawn traffic. Widespread motorisation, coupled with the largely successful resistance against plans to criss-cross London with motorways, left the authorities with a problem: how

A

do we squeeze all these cars onto old streets while minimising the impact on people’s quality of life?

The consensus which emerged was to make residential streets awkward for motors to pass through, while adapting the larger streets to high volumes of motor traffic. Unfortunately the deterrent techniques have unfairly been applied to cycle traffic as well, at first because cycling was considered irrelevant, and more recently for a variety of reasons including undue safety fears and the sacred status of car parking. Whatever the reason, the results are the same: you are forced to cycle further than you need to, and to use busy streets that you might prefer to avoid.

THE TIDE TURNS

Left: Murray Grove N1 – why can’t I cycle home along this street?

Like everywhere else, Hackney acquired its share of one-way systems large and small, road closures without cycle gaps, and housing estates dumped down across the old street network.

Fortunately, pockets of permeability have been restored over the years. Long before Transport for London (TfL) scrapped the Shoreditch gyratory, Hackney town centre had its own gyratory system, mercifully abolished 20 years ago.

Back in the 1970s, residents of De Beauvoir, Hackney’s first conservation area, succeeded in setting up a system of road closures that stopped through traffic while retaining access for motors, all done without imposing one-way working. This made it relatively easy for the Maurice Hope Cycle Route, now LCN+ Route 8, to be pushed through in the mid-’80s simply by opening the road closures to bikes, creating an area of ‘filtered permeability’ where walking and cycling are the dominant modes.

The borough’s first cycle contraflows on residential streets appeared in 1995 when a pair of parallel streets were due to go one-way to accommodate growth in car parking. A letter-writing campaign by LCC members ensured that we kept the right to travel in both directions. Since then, we’ve had two-way cycling, and even full two-way working (which we prefer), restored in maybe a dozen streets, mostly by stressing the principle that LCN+ routes should always be on a single alignment. A couple of years

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SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL Usually transport cash comes from TfL, with strict controls on how it’s spent. We got an unusual opportunity recently when Hackney found a pot of its own money for streetscape improvements, part of which was earmarked for cycling. Fortunately, we had been keeping a wish-list for just such an occasion, ranging from road closures needing cycle gaps to park entrances needing dropped kerbs. It wasn’t long before wishes became reality.

Individually these might seem like rather minor efforts, unimpressive to those who measure improvements in gallons of green paint. But we are constantly hearing from people for whom these individual small measures have opened up new route choices. We were so pleased with the results that we nominated Hackney Council for the Best Facility Award in the 2007 London Cycling Awards. The judges gave Hackney the prize.

It’s gratifying to see how the idea of cycle permeability has spread within LCC and beyond.

Fortunately it doesn’t seem to have acquired any political baggage, either. The Tory Kensington & Chelsea council has borrowed a feather from Labour Hackney’s cap with its much-publicised experiment of allowing two-way cycling on some one-way streets, using the same cheap and cheerful method of

Left: Eastway E9 – this is the cycle contraflow leading to the Olympic Park, but it doesn’t exactly announce itself

changing ‘no entry’ signs to ‘no motor vehicles’ as in the Cazenove home zone.

However, Hackney still lacks the comprehensive catalogue of cycle permeability we wanted a decade ago. Ad hoc wish-lists are OK, but a full permeability study would help us work out more scientifically how to get the best bang for the permeability buck.

Even if we can’t get the council to do the job, the tools now exist to help us do it ourselves, in the shape of cheap GPS devices and, allimportantly, OpenStreetMap, the wiki map that’s created by the community and is free to use for any purpose. It might take us another 10 years, but it’ll get done.

Trevor Parsons is co-ordinator of Hackney Cyclists

Below: A review of gated closures in Hackney transformed dozens of roadblocks into ‘modal filters’ with cycle gaps

DIVERSION-BUSTING TIPS FOR CAMPAIGNERS like new controlled parking zones, ■ Keep a permeability wishlist. safe routes to school and local safety ■ Get a copy of the government’s schemes to restore two-way cycling.

Traffic Advisory Leaflet 6/98 on contraflow cycling, and make sure ■ Get local group members to write it’s on your council traffic to their councillors demanding department’s shelves too. permeability. Usually they only hear from people moaning about the loss of ■ Monitor traffic scheme proposals like car parking. a hawk, and look for opportunities

Photos: Trevor Parsons/Hackney Cyclists

ago we preserved two-way cycling in streets north of Cazenove Road when an area-wide one-way system was threatened, ironically as part of a ‘homezone’-type scheme. We got ‘no motor vehicles’ signs erected instead of ‘no entry’, and it seems to be working well.

There have been setbacks too. A 1999 antiratrunning scheme in Clapton introduced a new array of one-way streets and road closures without exemptions, halving cycle permeability across the area at a stroke.

We’ve been harping on the permeability message to Hackney’s engineers for so long that they can pretty much recite it back to us, and it would now be very unusual for them to propose new schemes which didn’t respect cycle permeability. So the task is largely to right the wrongs of the past.

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Charlie Lloyd of LCC’s campaigns team explains why LCC opposes moves to allow motorcycles to use bus lanes ost cyclists love bus lanes because they offer refuge from mainstream traffic, but that refuge is under threat from plans to allow motorcycles and scooters – both faster and more unpredictable than buses – into bus lanes. More than 3,500 people signed LCC’s petition in June asking Mayor Boris Johnson to reverse his election pledge to add motorised two-wheelers to the bus-cycle mix.

Over the past decade there has been a dramatic increase in cycling in London, with a 91% increase on Transport for London (TfL) roads since 2000. An improved network of bus lanes has given cyclists the opportunity to use major, direct routes with a reduced fear of being pushed off the road by faster traffic. Bus lanes are by no means the perfect solution to cyclists’ needs but, in conjunction with other routes, they allow a far better choice of routes for each and every trip.

Organisations representing motorcyclists have lobbied for access to these enhanced route networks.

That presents LCC with a dilemma. Cyclists have a lot in common with motorcyclists: we share the same vulnerability to poorly driven cars and lorries, and we share the ability to bypass congested traffic and make journeys faster than other forms of transport.

Motorcyclists say there are environmental and congestion benefits from increased motorcycle use and that motorcyclists’ safety would be enhanced by being able to use bus lanes. When LCC was invited to join the London Motorcycle Working Group and support policies favouring motorcycles, we looked for the evidence behind these assumed benefits but without success.

While other LCC campaigns – such as campaigns for safer HGVs and 20mph limits – have the byproduct of also improving motorcyclists’ safety, the LCC campaigns team was unable to see any mutual benefit in supporting a campaign that would boost the number of motorised two-wheelers to the detriment of cycling. Most debate so far has focused on what will happen with bus lanes, but this ignores the wider impact of increased motorcycle use on all streets. Just as the Congestion Charge exemption led to increased motorcycle use, access to bus lanes will do the same.

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Campaign background In 2000, one of (previous mayor) Ken Livingstone’s election promises was to run trials to see if there

HOW TO GET INVOLVED See page 7 for more on how to get involved in this campaign

was a safety benefit in allowing motorcycles in bus lanes. Motorcycles were allowed to use bus lanes on sections of the A23, A41 and A13 for 18 months.

From the outset it was clear to LCC that no statistically reliable casualty data could come from such a small trial, and there were concerns that this ‘no real data’ outcome would be presented as ‘no real problem’. In 2004, the traffic orders were made permanent and the trial was extended in the search for more data.

The 2004 and 2006 reports on the trials showed no significant safety benefit, and a third report tried to analyse casualties against vehicle flow data. That data was so poor that no reliable conclusions could be made, and the report was never published by TfL. When a summary of it was leaked, it was assumed the report had been suppressed for political reasons.

When the report was finally published in April, TfL stated that the earlier (leaked) report had not been released because outcomes were unreliable and misleading. Scenario testing of the statistically insignificant data suggested that any safety benefit to motorcyclists might be outweighed by increased risk to pedestrians and cyclists. The increased casualty numbers on the A13 trial were excluded because of extra congestion resulting from road works.

Mayor Johnson’s transport manifesto reproduced a selection of findings from the unpublished report, suggesting the study showed a safety benefit for motorcyclists. The official reports outlined the unreliability of all the data and stated that “there was no clear evidence to suggest that permitting P2Ws (powered two-wheelers) in bus lanes provides safety benefits”.

A study for TfL and the Department for Transport (DfT) found no congestion benefit from motorcycles in bus lanes. A significant proportion of new motorcycle trips are likely to be shifts away from cleaner transport such as rail, bus or cycling. Despite their small engines, motorcycles put out more dangerous hydrocarbons than cars; even if fitted with catalysers, they still fall behind car performance, and larger motorcycles use more fuel than small cars. Noise pollution is another real problem; it is very difficult to enforce rules against excessive noise produced by some motorcycles.

The Mayor (see our interview on page 16) relies on the discredited safety data to justify his decision.

Regardless, he has promised to listen to all views during a forthcoming consultation. He needs to consider that not only are his targets for road casualty reduction at risk, but so are his targets for improving air quality, reducing noise pollution and increasing cycling in London.

Photos: Adam Thompson

Life in the fast lane

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Exhibiting change The London Transport Museum may be synonymous with tubes and buses, but cycling is slowly making its mark, says Lucy Davison ondon Transport Museum’s job of recording the history of public transport in the capital has traditionally meant a focus towards the bus and tube. However with newly opened galleries embracing all forms of transport, things are starting to change. The museum is committed to developing a collection that reflects many different modes of travelling in London, from bike to boat, taxi to tram. As cycling emerges as one of the key methods Londoners use to get from A to B, it is more important than ever that the museum collects material to capture the cycling experience.

The museum already has some fascinating collections relating to cycling. A favourite is the Gentleman’s Evans bicycle from 1928, kept by its faithful owner William Wagstaff for 76 years. It remains in great condition despite having covered more than 50,000 miles, including a commute from Croydon to Bermondsey during the Blitz.

Before the 1920s, cycling had been mainly a middle class activity, but with the advent of cheap, massproduced bikes in the ’30s, it became a popular way of getting around. A photo from 1935 (above) shows workers in peak hour – most of the men have bikes.

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Photos: London Transport Museum, Lynette Eyb

Cycling is introduced to visitors to the London Transport Museum

Improving the cycling collection It is vital for any museum to capture the present both for future audiences and to help us better understand the collections we already have. With London changing so fast, the museum is eager to find ways to capture the multiplicity of transport experiences in the capital, and balance out the collections with new material exploring travel by bike, foot, river and road.

London Transport Museum has been funded by the London Museums Hub to employ two community curators to develop new initiatives for collecting. The community curators are developing ways to gather new material which reflects the lives and experiences of different London groups and communities. Part of the community curators’ job is to look beyond physical objects and collect the stories, thoughts and viewpoints that are just as valuable in capturing a

snapshot of our transport past and present. Methods of doing this include recording interviews and asking for people to ‘donate’ stories and memories at events and online. The community curators, in partnership with the museum’s Learning Team, also run longer-term projects with community groups. They use methods such as digital storytelling, where participants make short films about their personal experiences.

With its large cycling population, the London Borough of Hackney is the ideal starting point for collecting 21st century cycling objects and stories.

The museum has started conducting a series of interviews with people from three very exciting cycling initiatives: Pedal Power, a cycling club for people with learning disabilities; StaBikes, an award-winning cycling scheme for children and families; and the Orthodox Jewish Cycling Project for Women. Each group has been a recipient of the LCC-administered Community Cycling Fund for London and has had an incredible impact on the lives of its participants. They have demonstrated the huge potential for cycling as a means of positive social change.

On August 17, the community curators will attend the Tour de Hackney, part of the Shoreditch Festival (see page 38), to talk to members of the public about their cycling experiences. There are also plans to run a digital storytelling project with a group from Pedal Power, giving some of the cyclists a chance to tell their stories in their own words.

So what does the museum do with all this material?

It is added to the museum’s archive for use in exhibitions, publications, learning and outreach. The community curators have already started making some interviews accessible through an audio point at the museum depot in Acton. The depot, which houses the vast majority of the museum’s collection, will feature a changing selection of extracts from the interview archive. Other material, such as the digital stories, will be made accessible online via a new area of the museum website currently under development.

Lucy Davison is a community curator at London Transport Museum. She is also a cyclist.

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Feature CONTRIBUTING TO THE COLLECTION: If you have a cycling story or memory, you can submit it to the community curators through the ‘Your Memories’ feature on the ‘Collections’ area of the London Transport Museum website, www.ltmuseum.co.uk.

Simply browse through the collection until you find a relevant object or photograph and add your comment. Alternatively, you can contact the community curators on 020 7379 6344, or via Facebook or Flickr.

VISITING THE MUSEUM: The London Transport Museum at Covent Garden is open daily. For information on opening times and admission prices, see www.ltmuseum.co.uk or call 020 7379 6344. The museum’s depot at Acton Town is open for guided tours on the last Friday and Saturday of every month.

Admission is charged and tickets must be pre-booked by calling 020 7565 7298.

Above: Poster artists working for London Transport created a series of eye-catching advertisements for the Bicycle and Motorcycle Show at Olympia, including this one by Edward McKnight Kauffer for the 1935 show

Below: A notice from 1933 offers cycles for hire to commuters at 3d per day, a scheme which would surely appeal to many 21st century Londoners

New artwork has also enriched the museum’s collections. More recent additions include publicity for cycling events, such as a leaflet for the 2007 Hovis Freewheel (below), Tour de France posters and posters promoting the health benefits of cycling (above)

Above: A poster by Austin Cooper promotes the 1928 Bicyclism exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum

Right: A poster from 1938 suggesting that some things haven’t changed

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At the crossroads Negotiating busy junctions need not be an intimidating experience.

David Dansky offers this advice

Give way only where you can see and be seen.

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Seeing, being seen and communicating, combined with understanding priority (ie who goes first in any situation), are the core principles of low-risk cycling. Nowhere is the understanding of these principles more important than when negotiating junctions. In fact, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, nearly threequarters of cycling incidents happen at or near a road junction, with T-junctions being the most commonly involved.

Passing side roads At a T-junction, people on the minor road give way, letting people on the major road go first. People using the side road do not have to stop, but they may need to creep out past the give way line to see clearly, especially if there are cars parked along the major road blocking the road user’s view.

While cycling past a side road, you have priority and go first. In order to be seen early by a driver creeping out of the side road, look back and then move to the right before reaching the junction mouth. (This may also prevent a driver behind from overtaking to turn left in front of you.) Look into the side road, making eyecontact with the driver while riding past to ensure that the driver has seen you. Similarly, keep an eye out for oncoming drivers who may wish to turn into the side road. Moving into this position – called the primary road position – may seem unnecessarily obstructive,

however bear in mind that your safety is of higher priority than the convenience of other road users and that the Highway Code advises people not to overtake at junctions. In fact, while riding on roads lined with parked cars, you should be riding a car door’s width away from the parked cars. This may put you in the primary position, so there may be no need to move to the right.

Minor to major On approaching a main road from a side road, check back and signal if anyone needs to know what you are about to do. Whether turning left or right into the major road, move into the primary position as you approach the junction mouth. The main reason for being in the

LCC GUIDANCE CYCLE SENSE Cycle safety: LCC publishes a booklet called Cycle Sense: Skills And Confidence On The Road, which can be downloaded by following the ‘cycle sense’ link in the advice section at www.lcc.org.uk. It is also available in hard copy format from the LCC office (details page 31).

Training: If you are nervous cycling in traffic, LCC strongly recommends cycle training. Links to accredited London-based providers can be found on the LCC website in the ‘cycle sense’ section.

Skills and confidence

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see (and be seen by) anyone on the side road.

This position will also help prevent drivers from overtaking you as you turn.

A right turn from major to minor is often the most daunting turn for cyclists. This is really two separate manoeuvres, an initial move to the right of the lane, followed by a turn. The trick here is to move into the primary position early, after looking back and signalling if necessary. Good communication here is crucial. You may need to look back and signal to a driver at the same time, so it is worth practising this skill. If you start this manoeuvre too late, you may not be able to negotiate your way across the lane in time, which may mean that you have to pull over to the left opposite the junction and wait until there is a gap in both directions. If the major road is too narrow for drivers to pass you on the left, stay in the middle of the lane, forcing drivers to wait until you have turned.

Before turning, position yourself where you can see along the minor road you wish to enter. On-coming vehicles have priority, so turn when there is a gap. Enter the minor road in the primary position so you are able to ensure you are not overtaken while turning.

middle of your lane at a junction is to prevent drivers from overtaking. Being on the left of the lane at a junction may encourage a driver to turn left parallel with you, leaving you with no room and possibly stuck behind a parked car on the major road. Being too far to the right of the lane will let drivers undertake you, forcing you on to the wrong side of the road when you turn.

You don’t have to stop at a give way line if there is nothing moving along the major road, but you do need to be in a position to see whether something is on the main road. Creep past the give-way line in a low gear so you can either move off quickly without stopping if the road is clear or stop if it isn’t. You should always give way to pedestrians crossing at junctions.

While turning right, move straight ahead then arc right, ensuring you spend the shortest amount of time on the ‘wrong’ side of the road. When turning left, make a wide sweeping arc, keeping any left-turning driver behind you. You may need to continue in the primary position if there are parked cars on the major road.

Major to minor Before turning left from a main road into a side road, look left for undertaking cyclists, motorcyclists, etc.

This left-hand look will also let anyone know your intention. If someone is behind you, signal. Join the side road in the middle of the lane so you are in a position to

Above: Taking the lane at a junction

Below: Riding in the primary position

Photos: Cycle Training UK, Michael Stenning

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On being assertive You will have noticed that being in the primary position (ie in the traffic stream) minimises risk while turning by making you much more visible and giving you room. Some drivers may not understand why you are in front of them rather than next to them near the kerb.

The more cyclists who ride in this assertive manner, the more drivers will accept cyclists in this position. Good communication using eye contact and signalling may help reduce any potential conflict.

Learning to ride a bike is a lifelong and fun endeavour – it is worth considering Bikeability cycle training, which is now subsidised by many London boroughs.

David Dansky is a qualified trainer with Cycle Training UK (020 7231 6005, www.cycletraining.co.uk)

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How to ...

See www.lcc.org.uk/info for advice on buying a second-hand bike

Choose the right size bike If you decide to buy a new bike, it’s advisable to buy it from a specialised bike shop, where they will have the experience and expertise to help you find a bike that’s right for you. A good bike shop will also offer better after-sales support, such as servicing. Most offer a free service soon after you buy your bike to make sure everything is in order and to ensure any necessary adjustments are made.

LCC members are entitled to discounts at dozens of bike shops across London (see page 32).

Your bike shop should be able to advise you on the right size frame for you. When you straddle a frame with your feet flat on the ground, you should be able to clear the top tube (crossbar) by around 1” for a road bike, and around 3” for a mountain bike. Manufacturers’ sizing systems vary, but the frame size is based on the length of the seat tube (the tube that the seat post goes into) and may be in centimetres or inches. There are various formulas to work out what size you need, eg the length of your inside leg minus 9” for a road bike or 12” for a mountain bike, but the best way is to try out several sizes to be absolutely sure about what feels right.

Remember also that the bigger the frame size, the longer the top tube will be.

If you’re female, you may wish to try out a womenspecific bike. These sometimes have ‘step-through’ frames or conventional cross-bar frames, but will usually have a shorter cross bar as many women have a shorter torso. Set up the saddle to the appropriate height and make sure the seat tube is not at its maximum height nor right down against the frame.

You can adjust the height of your saddle and how far forward it sits on the seat pin. The saddle should be high enough that when you are seated on the bike with your foot on the pedal at its lowest point, your leg is almost fully straight, and you should be able to touch the ground with your tiptoes. You may wish to have your saddle a little lower so that you can easily touch the ground if you are starting out, and move the saddle up when you are feeling more confident. Knee pain when cycling can be the result of a saddle that is too low.

Sponsored by

BUYING A BIKE

Choosing the right bike

MORE INFORMATION LCC ADVICE: The LCC booklet, Buying A Bike, covers all you need to know about getting yourself sorted with a bike. Download it from www.lcc.org.uk or call the office for a hard copy – see page 31 for contact details.

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The LC Bike Surgery I want to start cycling to work and to social engagements, but I’m a little overwhelmed by how to get from A to B. There seem to be so many different routes and roads with roundabouts and other junctions I am not yet confident about negotiating.

Anne-Marie Marshall, Battersea The London Cycle Guides are a set of 14 maps covering London and the surrounding areas, developed by LCC and Transport for London. They’re a really useful resource for planning a route.

They show official cycle routes as well as quieter roads recommended by cyclists, plus bike shops, cycle parking at stations and more. You can order them from www.tfl.gov.uk or by calling 020 7222 1234. They are free.

Transport for London’s online journey planner can be useful for mapping routes as it makes use of official and advisory cycle routes. It may not always find the best or most direct route, but it will give you a rough idea of how long a journey should take. See www.tfl.gov. uk/journeyplanner

You can also use a free mapping programme like www.gmap-pedometer. com/ to map, measure and then save your route for future reference.

Best of all, chat to others who cycle the same route. Your LCC group (see page 34) can offer good local advice.

HOW TO SEND US YOUR QUESTIONS If you have a question on routes, campaigning, maintenance, safety or any other topic, send your question to londoncyclist@lcc.org.uk or write to the address on page 3, and the LC team will answer it for you.

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Workshops

Visit www.lcc.org.uk/info for more on bike maintenance. To list a workshop on this page, please email londoncyclist@lcc.org.uk

Want to know how to maintain your bike? Try a course or workshop near you Bexley What: Roadside maintenance course Cost: £35 When: Call for details Contact: Sidcup Cycle Centre (020 8300 8113, info@sidcupcycles.co.uk) Bromley What: Hands-on session suitable for beginners. Bring your own bike. There are two courses: Basics (punctures, cleaning and lubricating); Brakes and Gears (tuning, cables, brake pads).

A session on disc brakes may be run on demand Cost: £20 – includes a maintenance pack worth at least £9.

When: Call for details At: Hayes Old Church School, Hayes, BR2 7BA Contact: Big Foot Bikes (020 8462 5004, roger@bigfootbikes.com) www.bigfootbikes.com Central London What: With the support of Camden borough, Camden Cycling Campaign is running courses covering punctures, brakes, chains, tuning gears, cleaning When: Saturdays 2pm-6pm; Series 08-B: September 20 (Part1),October 18 (Part 2); Series 08-C: November 15 (Part 1), December 12 (Part 2) At: Velorution, 18 Great Titchfield St, W1W 8BD Contact: Stefano (020 7435 0196, (stefano@lamsam-casalotti.org.uk) What: Work on your own bike – no knowledge is assumed Cost: £72 (£66 for LCC members) When: Saturdays 10.30am-5pm At: Bikefix, 48 Lamb’s Conduit Street, WC1N 3LJ Contact: Patrick Field (020 7249 3779, www.londonschoolofcycling.co.uk) Ealing What: Ealing Cycling Campaign runs ad-hoc courses throughout the year covering maintenance and repair Contact: See www.ealingcycling.org. uk or email info@ealingcycling.org.uk What: One-day basic and intermediate classes run by Cycle Training UK in association with the London Borough of Ealing Cost: £5 for people living, working or studying in the Ealing borough When: 9.30am-4.30pm on the following dates: August 9 (basic) ; September 6 (intermediate) At: Scout Hut, 2c The Grove, Corner of the Grove and Ealing Green Contact: CTUK (020 7231 6005)

Greenwich What: Year-round maintenance classes run by Greenwich Cyclists.

Covers tyres and wheels; intermediate class covers brakes and gears. Bring your bike and any parts you want to fit Cost: £5 per two-hour class. See www.greenwichcyclists.org.uk for payment details When: Tuesday or Wednesday, 7.15pm-9pm. Call to confirm At: Armada Centre, Armada Court, 21 McMillan St, Deptford SE8 6PW Contact: Julian Dobson (07771 692 344, 020 8463 0801, julian@jadobson.demon.co.uk) or see www.greenwichcyclists.org.uk Hackney What: Twice monthly two-hour workshops sponsored by Hackney Cycling Campaign. Work on your bike with advice from experts Cost: No charge – run by volunteers (donations to pay rent appreciated).

Additional volunteers welcome When: 7pm-9pm on first and third Tuesday of the month (August 5 and 19, September 2 and 16, October 7 and 21) At: The Kings Centre, Frampton Park Baptist Church, Frampton Park Rd, off Well Street, E9 7PQ Contact: Hackney Cycling Campaign (www.hackney-cyclists.org.uk), Adam (07940 121 513), Ross (rosscorben@blueyonder.co.uk) or Paul (paul.standeven@virgin.net) Hammersmith What: One-day cycle repair and maintenance workshops Cost: £40, (5% off for LCC members) When: First Thursday of every month and last Saturday of every month At: Emerald Centre, 2 Beadon Road, W6 0DA Contact: Gordon (07983 949 559, gordonk.pedalpower@hotmail.com) or Jon (07507 496 212) Islington What: Bicycle repair and maintenance When: On demand At: Based in Islington but can travel Contact: Jonathan Edwards (07946 261 165, j.edwards530@ btinternet.com) What: 2.5-hour, self-help workshop Cost: £1 (50p unwaged) When: Fourth Wednesday of month (not August/December); 7pm-9.30pm At: Sunnyside Gardens, cnr Sunnyside and Hazellville roads, N19 Contact: Adrian (07810 211 902)

Kingston What: Maintenance and repairs to help keep bikes in good working order Cost: One-day Saturday course is £26 When: 10am-4pm, January 31 and March 7, 2009 At: North Kingston Centre, Richmond Road, KT2 5PE Contact: Kingston Adult Education (adult.education@rbk.kingston.gov.uk, www.kingston.gov.uk/adulteducation, 020 8547 6700) or Rob (020 8546 8865, mail@kingstoncycling.org.uk).

See also www.kingstoncycling.org.uk Lambeth What: Lambeth Cyclists’ courses consisting of five two-hour classes Cost: £55 When: Starting September 30 Contact: Janet Paske (janet.paske@ gmail.com, 07740 457 528) What: Basic bike maintenance course Cost: £60 When: Call for dates At: Brixton Contact: Paul Lowe (020 7733 3070) www.cyclinginstructor.com Newham What: Workshop for Newham cyclists Cost: A donation to Cycle Club funds When: Saturdays, 9.30am-12pm during term time At: New City Primary School, New City Rd, Plaistow, E13 9PR Contact: Liz Bowgett (liz.bowgett@ btopenworld.com) Redbridge What: Redbridge Cycling Campaign’s four-night course covers all aspects of basic maintenance (punctures, brakes, gears, etc) Cost: £30 When: Starts September 24 Contact: Terry (07795 981 529, terence.hughes@btinternet.com) or Jim (jimdalton24@hotmail.com, 07949 883 747), or see www.redbridgelcc.org.uk Southwark What: Southwark Cyclists’ fourevening course includes maintenance and cleaning, punctures, cables, brakes, truing wheels, when to get professional help, and when to replace what. Uses On Your Bike’s workshop and mechanics. 10% off purchases Cost: £48 per course. Pay online via Paypal after confirming place When: Tuesdays. 6.30pm-8.30pm At: On Your Bike, 52-54 Tooley St, SE1 2SZ

Contact: Barry (07905 889 005, info@southwarkcyclists.org.uk), or www.southwarkcyclists.org.uk What: Cycle Training UK’s one-day courses. Basic and intermediate; one-to-one or small group sessions; puncture masterclass Cost: £60/one-day course; £30/hour bespoke tuition; £20/puncture masterclass. 5% off for LCC members. Subsidised training available for those living/working in Ealing, Lambeth or the City.

When: Phone or check website At: CTUK, Unit 215, Building J 100 Clements Road, SE16 4DG Contact: Call 020 7231 6005 or check www.cycletraining.co.uk Sutton What: Basic bicycle maintenance class plus free Dr Bike cycle check Cost: £10 per head (family discounts) When: 9.45 am-noon, October 25 At: Sutton West Centre, Robin Hood Lane, Sutton, SM1 2SD Contact: Chris Parry (020 8647 3584, cyclism@blueyonder.co.uk) or Shirley Quemby (020 8642 3720), or see www.cyclismsutton.org.uk Tower Hamlets What: Hands-on workshops with Tower Hamlets Wheelers Cost: Free. Donations welcome!

When: Last Saturday of the month (except December); 11am-3pm At: Boxing Club, Limehouse Town Hall, 646 Commercial Rd E14 7HA Contact: Owen Pearson (07903 018 970, workshop@wheelers.org.uk) www.wheelers.org.uk/workshop Waltham Forest What: Maintain or assemble a bike.

Bike donations welcome Cost: £3. Tea/coffee provided When: The workshop (when staff available) opens 11am-3pm Saturdays. Open 10am-noon the second Saturday of month for LCC members to work on their bikes.

No maintenance the first Saturday of month (recycled bikes for sale 1pm-3pm). Fridays (9am-4pm) and Saturdays (11am-3pm) volunteers invited to recondition bikes At: Council transport depot, Low Hall Depot, South Access Road, Walthamstow, E10 7A6. Stop at security for directions Contact: Christopher Rigby (christopher.rigby1@ntlworld.com, 07910 235 149) or call 07948 060 473. Keen to hear from volunteers able to help keep this service running

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Product reviews Summer jerseys Ian Cleverly says ditch that old T-shirt and smarten up with one of these jerseys

Foska Test Dummy

Photos: John Whitfield

Another loud and proud design from Foska’s range of humorous jerseys. The Test Dummy is made from Coolmax fabric with a three-quarter length zip at the front for those occasional seriously hot days, and a handy little zipped compartment built into the rear pockets for keys and valuables. ‘Keep Clear’ it says on the back – they’re not kidding. Available in men’s and women’s cuts. £45, Foska (www.foska.com, 020 7233 1043)

Shimano Original Basic polyester shirt with a generous mesh side panel to keep the breeze flowing under your arms, which it does very effectively. Blue or red colour options if the heatabsorbing qualities of black seem off-putting. £29.99, Madison (www.madison.co.uk)

Specialized Mira women’s The new Fieldsensor fabric wicks moisture away from the body. The side mesh panels and three-quarter length zip should keep you cool, although you would need some form of undergarment to lower the zip all the way and not flash passing pedestrians. The standard three pockets, plus a small external zip pocket, and silicon strip to stop the hem riding up. £34.99, Specialized UK (www.specialized.com, 020 8391 3502)

Polaris Leon Good news for pale-skinned cyclists: a yellow shirt that doesn’t make you look washed out and ill. A basic design – short zip and three pockets – but a good fit with contrasting side panels and reflective printing for improved visibility. Also available in blue, it’s a bargain. £24.99, Polaris Apparel (www.polaris.in, 01246 240218)

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Product reviews

Rapha Club Jersey Immaculate detailing and gorgeous retro styling as usual from the north London crew. The little flap at the neck to stop the zip biting into your neck is typical of Rapha’s attention to detail. A quality jersey for Sunday best only. £90, Rapha (www.rapha.cc, 020 7485 5000)

Solo Equipe For those cooler days when short sleeves just won’t do, the Equipe from New Zealand company Solo is a beauty. The inner layer of merino wool wicks moisture away from the body – and reduces odours considerably better than synthetic materials – while the outer keeps wind and light rain at bay. Soft, knitted collar and cuffs and button-down pockets complete the classy look of a jersey that feels every bit as good off the bike as on. £98, Mosquito Bikes (www.mosquito-bikes.co.uk, 020 7226 8765)

Product news

WIN A CYCLECHIC BIKE BOX

Sundog ‘Track’ glasses Interchangeable lenses are a godsend. The choice of smoke, clear and amber lenses with these offerings from Sundog make them the only pair of glasses you will need on the bike. The lens coating makes moisture “bead off” rather than stick to the surface and manufacturers claim a 20% weight saving on traditional polycarbonate sports glasses. £59.99 Sundog Eyewear (info@sundogeyewear.co.uk, 01243 555880)

WeeRide Kangaroo A child’s seat with a difference, the centremounted Kangaroo positions the child up front for a far more sociable riding experience – you can see your child and they can see where they are going. The overall balance of the bike is improved and the rack is freed-up for luggage carrying. Safety straps, deep moulded foot wells and a soft resting pad – should the little darling find it all too exhausting. £59.99 Weeride (www.weeride.co.uk, 01494 677365)

WIN! LC has a vintage-style bike box from Cyclechic to give away.

These rack-mounted boxes are made in the UK and are perfect for holding your bits and pieces on summer shopping trips. Website cyclechic.co.uk is packed with hints and tips for women cyclists and a few select products that are, in their words, “safe, practical, and, most importantly, stylish”.

To enter our prize draw please send an email to prizedraw@lcc.org.uk or a postcard to LCC (address listed on p.3), marking your email or postcard “Cyclechic box prize draw” and including your full name, telephone number and postal address.

Deadline for entries is August 30, 2008. For LC prize draw terms and conditions, please see www.lcc.org.uk.

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Product reviews Drastic plastic Ian Cleverly goes shopping with a rock-solid pannier

Bikebin A marathon five-month tour from Devon to Vladivostok sparked the idea for the Bikebin. Sam Lowings arrived on the eastern coast of Russia after 14,000kms of harsh riding conditions two stone lighter and thoroughly dissatisfied with his canvas panniers. Soggy clothing and stolen valuables left Lowings searching for an alternative mode of load carrying, and the Bikebin was born.

Designed and manufactured in the UK, these voluminous plastic panniers – 17 litre capacity per unit – are solidly constructed to withstand the rigours of touring, commuting and shopping.

The polyethylene casing will withstand temperatures down to -50° centigrade, which is good to know – should the Ice Age return and the Thames freeze over, you will still be able to ride to work. Apparently, Canadian cyclists will happily commute in 30 below freezing, hence the high tolerance limits.

And we think we get harsh winters…

The Rixen & Kaul fitting system makes a fast and secure attachment to the rack, the pull-down nylon clasps have a pleasing action and the rubberised carrying handle feels like it will stand up to plenty of abuse. The alternative shoulder strap is useful but the Bikebin is not the most comfortable item of luggage to lug around.

The addition of a lock makes for an interesting quandary on the streets of London. A bit of judicious levering with a

screwdriver would, I suspect, be enough to crack the hinges apart, so better to leave it unlocked and take your valuables with you. The Bikebin can be locked to the bike by looping a cable through the handle.

Where the Bikebin really scores is carrying big loads. A basketful of shopping is swallowed up without having to worry whether the fruit and veg will get home in one piece and, should you run out of room, side-mounted eyelets are provided for bungee-strapping items to the flatbed lid.

Commuting-wise, it will keep your change of clothing and office paraphernalia nice and dry – a torrential thunderstorm followed by a thorough soaking from a hose failed to lodge any water inside – but a 15-inch laptop will not fit in due to the narrowing of the box at the base for heel clearance – worth bearing in mind. A 13-inch screen will, however, fit in no problem.

Verdict Two Bikebins might be overdoing it – you may wish to display a ‘Danger: Wide Load’ sticker - but one of these combined with a standard pannier makes for a versatile carrying combination. A well thought-out and practical piece of luggage. £29.50 (coloured) £28.50 (black), Bikebins (www.bikebins.com)

Photo: John Whitfield

CycleCity Maps London A-Z CycleCity Guides have hooked up with Transport for London and A-Z to produce a digital version of the capital’s map with cycling-specific features.

The searchable index includes the standard streets, postcodes, stations and hospitals, to which bike shops have been added. Click on an entry in the search results and the map displays its location.

All TfL cycle routes are marked on the map including signposted, recommended routes and motor-traffic free paths.

Best of all, link up to a GPS receiver on your pocket PC or mobile, programme in where you want to go and it will point you in the right direction, and measure the distance and speed.

It does not pick your exact route in the style of a car GPS, but it is debatable whether that is required. The aerial view of the street map and constantly updating direction arrow allow a self-determined route which, with the inclusion of colourcoded cycle routes, makes for an easy to use combination – so long as you are not one of those people who has to turn

the map around to work out which way you are travelling. One-way streets are clearly marked with direction arrows.

Members of the Flat Earth Society will be alarmed – or self-righteously smug – to discover that, much like in the book-form of the mini A-Z, the world ends at Penge. Anyone wishing to ride further south will have to work out their own route into the wilderness.

Is it safe to stare at a screen on your handlebars when you should be focussing on the road ahead? It is certainly no worse than reading a handlebar-mounted map, but using one of those on the capital’s streets would not exactly be easy, so keep your head up and don’t let the GPS distract you.

The most frustrating part of the equipment is no fault of the software developers but rather the mobile phone companies. Until they can design a screen that is readable in broad daylight and does not reflect the sun’s glare, it is going to be a struggle to see what is before you. The backlight helps to some

degree, and there is no problem after dark, but bright sunshine makes it difficult to see the map.

The software I found easy to use, helpful and – dare I say – fun. You find yourself taking new routes and previously undiscovered roads whilst following the direction arrow, then linking up with cycle routes almost by accident. It is, of course, possible to plan your journey in detail before leaving the house, but follow the arrow and you won’t go far wrong.

The CycleCity London A-Z is available for Windows Mobile and Symbian 3rd Edition platforms. £6.95 (www.a-zmaps.co.uk, 01732 783422)

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LCC members’ pages

LCC members’ pages

You can contact the membership team on 020 7234 9310 or email membership@lcc.org.uk

These pages provide all you need to know about how to get the most out of your LCC membership BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP LCC is a campaigning charity mainly funded by your membership. We work to improve conditions for cyclists and to promote cycling throughout London.

INSURANCE & LEGAL Third party insurance If you cause damage to a person or their property while cycling, they may make a claim against you. As a member of LCC, you are covered for up to £5 million. If such an incident occurs, phone the LCC office for immediate advice and assistance.

Free legal advice Free legal advice is a member benefit. If you need any legal assistance on cycling-related issues, please phone the LCC office and we will put you in touch with a cyclist-friendly solicitor.

Theft insurance The new LCC urban cycling theft and damage insurance comes with a benefit unique to LCC members.

If your bike gets stolen, vandalised or accidentally damaged, there is up to £50 ‘getting you home’ cover.

Theft insurance costs about 10% of the value of your bike. For a quote, visit www.urbancyclinginsurance. co.uk or call 01514 279 529. Have your LCC membership card handy.

INFORMATION & CAMPAIGNING Local groups LCC has a local group in every borough, plus the City of London.

Groups campaign on local cycling

LCC’S VISION LCC’s vision is to make London a world class cycling city STRATEGIC AIMS ■ To involve people from all communities in cycling ■ To improve the quality of life in London by increasing cycling ■ To bring about the best possible services for people who cycle or want to cycle in London ■ To be leaders in urban cycling

CONTACT LCC 2 Newhams Row London SE1 3UZ t: 020 7234 9310 f: 020 7234 9319 e: hello@lcc.org.uk w: www.lcc.org.uk Contact the LCC Board: chair@lcc.org.uk

to LCC (address left). Ads from businesses are not accepted.

HOW TO HELP LCC GROW Ask a friend to join You can support our work by recruiting members to LCC. The more members we have, the greater our campaigning voice.

Simply ask your friend or colleague to visit www.lcc.org.uk/join or to call 020 7234 9310.

Buy a friend a gift membership Registered charity number: 1115789

issues, and also organise events, meetings, workshops and rides.

See page 34 to find out what your local group is up to.

Maps LCC, in partnership with Transport for London (TfL), has produced free cycle maps covering all of London. These can be ordered via www.lcc. org.uk or by phoning TfL on 020 7222 1234.

London Cyclist magazine This magazine is sent to members every two months. It is packed with news, features, cycling tips, products news and all the latest on our campaigns. It has been voted the number one member benefit.

Who needs eBay? Members who have bikes or accessories to sell can advertise in London Cyclist free of charge (see page 37). Send your short, concise ad to londoncyclist@lcc.org.uk or

A gift membership is a great way to make a friend or relative part of the movement that’s changing London.

Call 020 7234 9310 to buy a gift membership today.

Volunteer with us Much of LCC’s work would not be possible without volunteers. Much of our membership, administration and campaigning work is carried out by volunteers – if you have any spare time and would like to help, please phone Julie on 020 7234 9310 x 215. LCC particularly needs volunteers to help at events during the busy summer period. LC also relies on voluntary contributions.

See www.lccc.org.uk/londoncyclist

How to join LCC If you like what you see in LC but you are not yet a member, we encourage you to join the campaign to receive the magazine every two months. Members also receive other benefits listed on this page.

You can join by calling 020 7234 9310 or via www.lcc.org.uk/join Please turn the page for a full list of members’ discounts

Have you been involved in an incident on your bike?

Contact our partners, Levenes Solicitors, for free legal advice:

020 8826 1329 www.cycleinjury.co.uk Kevin O’Sullivan, head of Levenes’ Cycle Injuries Department, regular London cyclist and LCC member says: “We have been successfully providing legal advice for LCC members for eight years and are proud to support their campaigning and provide this free cycling incident helpline for the members’ benefit.”

Levenes are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and your case will be dealt with on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis.

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LCC member discounts Anyone who joins LCC can cash in on a range of ongoing benefits open only to members.

Maintenance Cycle Training UK (CTUK) offers LCC members a 5% discount on bike maintenance training. Call Araxi Djian on 020 7232 4398.

Breakdown cover LCC members get 50% off membership of the Environmental Transport Association (ETA), a breakdown service for transport users who care about the environment. For details, phone the ETA on 0800 212 810 or see www.eta.co.uk. You will need to quote your LCC membership number and reference 1061-9001.

Bike shops LCC members also get discounts on bikes, accessories and servicing at the following bike shops in the capital. Remember to show your membership card before you make a purchase or book your service.

MAIL ORDER / ONLINE 50Cycles Ltd Quote LCC + membership no. 5% bikes and accessories. Exceptions: not on second-hand or ex display; not in conjunction with other offers. ■ ➔ www.50cycles.com Cotswold Outdoor Quote ref 2115 at www.cotswoldoutdoor.com ♣ Loads Better Mail order only.

Suppliers of xtracycle and Kronan bikes (0845 8682459) ▲ ✔ Mon-Sat 9-5 Old Bicycle Trading Co Mail order only. Hub gears new and vintage parts (020 8306 0060) ● ✔ www.oldbiketrader.co.uk Outdoor Indoor Ltd Mail order clothing supplier. ● ✔ www.outdoorindoor.co.uk

CENTRAL Action Bikes Dacre House 19 Dacre St SW1H 0DJ (020 7799 2233) ✔ ▲ Mon-Fri 8-8 Sat 9.30-5.30 Action Bikes 23-26 Embankment Place Northumberland Avenue WC2N 6NN (020 7930 2525) ✔ ▲ Mon-Fri 8-8 Bikefix 48 Lambs Conduit St WC1N 3LJ (020 7405 1218) ● ➔ Mon-Fri 8.30-7 Sat 10-5 Condor Ltd 51 Grays Inn Rd WC1X 8P (020 7269 6820) ● ✔ Mon-Tues Thurs-Fri 9-6 Weds 9-7.30 Sat 10-5 Cavendish Cycles 136 New Cavendish St W1W 6YD (020 7631 5060) ● ✔ Mon-Fri 9-6 Sat 10-5 Cotswold Outdoor 23/26 Piccadilly W1J 0DJ (020 7437 7399) ♣ (quote L2115 and show card) Mon-Fri 10-8, Sat, 10-6 Sun 11-5 CycleSurgery 3 Procter St Holborn WC1V 6DW (020 7269 7070) ▲ ✔ Mon/Weds/Fri 8.30-6 Tues/Thurs 8.30-7 Sat 10-5 Sun 11-5 Evans Cycles 51-52 Rathbone Pl W1T 1JP (020 7580 4107) ▲ ✔ Incl servicing Mon-Fri 8-8 (Closed Thurs 11-12) Sat 9-6 Sun 11-4 Evans Cycles 69 Grays Inn Rd WC1X 8TP (020 7430 1985) ▲ ✔ Incl servicing Mon-Fri 8-8 (Tues closed 11-12) Sat 9.30-6 Sun 12-5 Evans Cycles 178 High Holborn WC1V 7AA (020 7836 5585) ▲ ✔ Incl servicing Mon-Fri 8-8 (Tues closed 11-12) Sat 9.30-6 Sun 11-4 Fluid Cycles Mobile repairs and servicing in Underground zone 1 and the Docklands (020 7021 0742) ● ✔ (on servicing and repairs) Mon-Fri 8.30-6 Weekends by arrangement Paul’s Custom Cycles 38 Mount Pleasant WC1X (07960 987 887) ▲ 10-4 Mon-Sat 11-4 Sun Velorution 18 Great Titchfield St W1W 8BD (020 7637 4004) ● ✔ Mon-Fri 9-18.45 Sat 10.30-18.30 Also sells secondhand bikes

Many of these shops have email addresses and websites. For details, see www.lcc.org.uk/discounts

EAST Bicycle Magic 4-6 Greatorex St E1 5NF (020 7375 2993) ■ ✔ Mon-Fri 9-6 Sat 10-5 Chainlink Cycle Centre 140 Hornchurch Rd Hornchurch RM11 1DP (01708 470 007) ■ ✔ Mon-Sat 9-6 Cotswold Outdoor Ground floor, St Clements House, Leyden St E1 7LL (020 7655 466) ♣ (quote ref L2115 and show card) Mon-Fri 10-7, Sat 10-5 CycleSurgery Brody House Strype St E1 7LQ (020 7375 3088) ▲ ✔ Mon/Weds/Fri 8.30-6 Tues/Thurs 8.30-7 Sat 10-5 Sun 10-4 CycleSurgery 12-13 Bishops Sq, E1 6EG (020 7392 8920) ▲ ✔ (excludes Marin bikes. Full SRP items only.

Excludes Selfridges concession.)

Mon-Sat 10-6 Sun 12-6 Ditchfields 792/794 High Rd Leyton E10 6AE (020 8539 2821) ▲ ✔ Not on promotional products. MonSat 9.15-5.30 E A Cycles 783 Romford Rd, Manor Park, Newham E12 5AN (020 8478 2540) 5% bikes; ■ ✔ 10% servicing Mon-Sat 9-6 Sun 10-4 Discounts not on promotional or sale items Evans Cycles The Cavern 1 Market St (Off Brushfield St) E1 6AA (020 7426 0391) ▲ ✔ Incl servicing MonFri 8-8 (Closed Thurs 11-12) Sat 9.30-6 Sun 12-6 Evans Cycles 1 Farringdon St EC4M 7LD (020 7248 2349) ▲ ✔ Incl servicing Mon-Fri 18-8 (Closed Thurs 11-12) Sat 9.30-6 Sun 11-5 Evans Cycles Cullum St EC3M 7JJ (020 7283 6750) ▲ ✔ Incl servicing Mon-Fri 8-8 (Closed Mon 11-12) Sat 9.30-6 Sun 12-5 Evans Cycles Unit B, Reuters Building, 30 South Colonnade, Canary Wharf E14 5EZ (0870 164 4037) ▲ ✔ Incl servicing Mon-Fri 8-8 Sat 9.30-6 Sun 12-6 Fluid Cycles Docklands See ‘Central’ Heales Cycles 477 Hale End Rd

Highams Park E4 9PT (020 8527 1592) ■ ➔ Mon-Fri 9-6 Sat 9-5.30 London Fields Cycles 281 Mare St E8 1PJ (020 8525 0077) ● ✔ MonFri 8-6 Sat 10-6 Wharf Cycles 21-23 Westferry Rd, E14 8JH (020 7987 2255) ✔ Mon-Fri 8-7; Sat 10-5; Sun 11-4 NORTH Bike and Run 125 High Rd N2 8AG (020 8815 1845) ● ✔ Mon-Fri 9-6 Sat 9.30-5.30 Bike Mech The Castle Climbing Centre Green Lanes N4 2HA (07762 270 616) 10% discount on servicing only Mon-Fri 9-7, Sat 10-5 Bikes R Us Mobile cycle repairs throughout north London (020 8882 8288 – workshop, 07949 066 889 – van) ● ✔ on servicing and most repairs Mon-Sat 9.30-5.30 CycleSurgery 70 Holloway Rd N7 8JG (020 7697 2848) ▲ ✔ Mon 9-6 Tues 9-7 Weds 8.30-6 Thurs 9-7 Sat 10-6 Sun 11-5 Cycle Store (The) 201 Woodhouse Rd Friern Barnet N12 9AY (020 8368 3001) ▲ ✔ Mon-Fri 9-6 (Closed Weds) Sat 9-5 Sun 11-3 Holloway Cycles 290 Holloway Road N7 6NJ (020 7700 6611) ▲ ✔ 10% servicing/labour Mon-Fri 8.30-6.30 Sat 9-6 Sun 11-5 Mosquito Bikes 123 Essex Rd N1 2SN (020 7226 8841/020 7226 8765) ● ✔ Mon-Fri 8.30-7 Sat 10-6 Sun (summer only) 11-4 S & S Cycles 29 Chapel Market N1 9EN (020 7278 1631) ● ✔ Mon-Fri 10-6 Sat 10-5.30 Sun 10-2.30 Shorter Rochford 27 Barnet Rd Potters Bar EN6 (01707 662 332) ▲ ✔ on RRP Mon-Fri 9-6 (Closed Weds) Sat 9-5 Shorter Rochford 65-67 Woodhouse Rd N12 (020 8445 9182) ▲ ✔ Mon-Sat 9-6, Weds 9-7 (Closed Thurs) Top Rider 210 Baker Street, Enfield EN1 (020 83638618) ✔ Closed Wed & Sun Mon-Sat 9-5.30

RVEY: 2008 MEMBERSHIP SUIN TELL US WHAT YOU TH K!

even better. the work that we do to support cyclists Help us make membership of LCC and bership Survey. It will only take a minute or two of Tell us what you think in our 2008 Mem .lcc.org.uk. your time. Just fill it in online at www

Win £200 worth of bike gear!

her to spend at one of our affiliated bike By entering, you could win a £200 vouc

shops.

32 August/September 2008 LONDON CYCLIST

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LCC members’ pages Many of these shops have email and websites.

For details, see www.lcc.org.uk Two Wheels Good 165 Stoke Newington Church St N16 (020 7249 2200) ● ➔ Mon-Sat 8.30-6 Sun 11-5 Two Wheels Good 143 Crouch Hill N8 (020 8340 4284) ● ➔ Mon-Sat 8.30-6 NORTH-WEST Broadway Bikes 250 West Hendon Bwy NW9 6AG (020 8202 4671) ■ ✔ Mon-Sat 9.30-5.30, Sun 11-1 Broadway Bikes 5 York Pde NW9 6BE (020 8202 4671) ■ ✔ Mon-Sat 9.30-5.30, Sun 11-1 Chamberlaines 75-77 Kentish Town Rd NW1 8NY (020 7485 4488) ■ ✔ Includes shop discount Mon-Sat 8.30-6 Cycle King 451-455 Rayners Ln Pinner HA5 4ET (020 8868 6262) ■ ♣ Mon-Sat 9-6 Sun 9-4.30 Cycle King 173 Hillside Stonebridge NW10 8LL (020 8965 5544) ■ ♣ Mon-Sat 9-6 Sun 10-5 CycleSurgery 44 Chalk Farm Rd NW1 8AJ (020 7485 1000) ▲ (except Marins) ✔ Mon/Weds/Fri 9-6 Tues/ Thurs 9-7 Sat 10-6 Sun 11-5 CycleSurgery Hampstead 275 West End Lane NW6 1QS (020 7431 4300) ▲ ✔ Mon/Weds/Fri 9-6 Tues/Thurs 9-7 Sat 10-6 Sun 11-5 Evans Cycles 240 Watford Way, NW4 4UB (0870 142 0108) ● ✔ Mon-Fri 8-8, Sat 9.30-6, Sun 11-5 Simpson’s Cycles 114-116 Malden Rd NW5 4BY (020 7485 1706) ▲ ✔ (Birdys ■) Mon-Fri 9-6 Sat 9-5.30 Sparks 5 Bank Buildings High St NW10 4LT (020 8838 5858) ● ✔ Mon-Sat 9.30-6 SOUTH Bikes Plus 429 Brighton Rd CR2 6EU (020 8763 1988) ▲ ✔ Mon-Sat 9-6 Cycle King 26-40 Brighton Rd CR2 6AA (020 8649 9002) ■ ♣ Mon-Sat 9-6 Sun 9-4.30 Evans Cycles 5 London Rd CR0 2RE (020 8667 1423) ▲ ✔ Incl servicing Mon-Fri 9-6 Thurs 9-8 (Closed Thurs 11-12) Sat 9.30-6 Sun 11-5 SOUTH-EAST Bigfoot Bikes 50 Hayes St BR2 7LD (020 8462 5004) ● ➔ Includes servicing; exc labour Tues-Sat 9-5.30 Bike Shop (The) 288-290 Lee High Rd SE13 5PJ (020 8852 6680) ▲ ✔ on items over £10 Mon-Fri 9-5.30 Sat 9-5 Blackfen Cycle Centre 23 Wellington Pde Blackfen Rd DA15 9NB (020 8303 3761) ▲ ✔ (Incl labour) Mon-Fri 9-6 Sat 9-5.30 Sun 10-3 Bromley Bike Company 27

Widmore Rd BR1 1RW (020 8460 4852) ■ ✔ Mon-Sat 9.30-5.30 Thurs 9-8 Comptoncycles.co.uk 23-25 Catford Hill SE6 4NU (020 8690 0141) ▲ ✔ Mon-Fri 9-6 Sat 9-5 Deens Garage 439 Croydon Rd BR3 3PP (020 8650 0630) ▲ ✔ Mon-Sat 8.30-5.30 Edwardes 221-225 Camberwell Rd SE5 0HG (020 7703 3676) ▲ ✔ Mon-Sat 8.30-6 Evans Cycles 111-115 Waterloo Rd SE1 8UL (020 7928 2208) ▲ ✔ Incl servicing Mon-Fri 10-8 (Closed Thurs 11-12) Sat 9.30-6 Sun 11-5 Evans Cycles 77-81 The Cut SE1 8LL (020 7928 4785) ▲ ✔ Incl servicing Mon-Fri 8-8 (Closed Weds 11-12) Sat 9.30-6 Sun 11-5 Evans Cycles 6 Tooley St SE1 2SY (020 7403 4610) ▲ ✔ Incl servicing.

Mon-Fri 8-8 (Closed Thurs 11-12) Sat 9.30-6 Sun 11-5 Herne Hill Bicycles 83 Norwood Rd SE24 9AA (020 8671 6900) ● ➔ Tues-Fri 9-6 Sat 10-5 (Closed Sun & Mon) London Recumbents Rangers Yard Dulwich Park College SE21 7BQ (8299 6636) ● ✔ Variable discount on bike hire. Mon-Sun 10-6 On Your Bike 52-54 Tooley St SE1 2SZ (020 7378 6669) ▲ ✔ Sat 10-6, Sun 11-5 Also has bike hire.

Discounts don’t apply to sale items or cycle scheme bikes

ReCycling 110 Elephant Rd SE17 1LB (020 7703 7001) ▲ ✖ Only sells catalogue returns, renovated and secondhand bikes Robinsons Cycles 172 Jamaica Rd, SE16 4RT (020 7237 4679) ■ ✔ Mon-Sat 9.30-6; Thur 9.30-2pm Sidcup Cycle Centre 142-146 Station Rd DA15 7AB (020 8300 8113) ✔ Mon-Fri 9-5.30; Thurs 9-7; Sat 9-5 Witcomb Cycles 25 Tanners Hill, Deptford SE8 4PJ (020 8692 1734) ■ ✔ Mon closed; Tues, Wed, Fri 9.30-5; Thurs, Sat 9.30-4 Wilsons 32 Peckham Rd SE15 5EB (0207 639 1338) ▲✔ Mon-Fri 10-6; Sat 10-5 Xadventure Bikes 25-29 Perry Hill, SE23 2NE (020 8699 6768) ▲✔ Mon-Sat 9.30-5.30 No discount on servicing SOUTH-WEST Action Bikes 221 The Broadway SW19 1SD (020 8540 0313) ▲ ✔ Action Bikes 437 Upper Richmond Rd SW14 7PJ ✔ (020 8876 5566) Mon-Sat 9-6 Sun 11-4 Bicycle Warehouse 214-216 Kingston Rd TW11 (020 8977 2925) ▲ ✔ 10% servicing Mon-Sat 9-5.30 Sun 10-4

Bonthrone Bikes/SBR 917-919 Fulham Rd, SW6 5HU (020 7731 5005) ● ✔ Mon-Fri 11-7; Thurs 11-8; Sat 10-6; Sun 12-5 Brixton Cycles 145 Stockwell Rd SW9 9TN (020 7733 6055) ● ✔ Mon-Wed & Fri-Sat 9-6 Thurs 9-7 Cowley Security Locksmiths (Locks and key cutting) 146 Colne Rd TW2 6QS (020 8894 1212) ● ✔ Mon-Fri 8-5 Cyclopedia 256 Fulham Rd SW10 9EL (020 7351 5776) ● ✔ Mon-Fri 8-8 Sat 9.30-6 Sun 10.30-5 Dialabike 30 Strutton Ground SWIP 2HR (020 7233 4224) ■ ✔ Mon-Fri 9.30-5.30 Evans Cycles 13-15 Jerdan Pl SW6 1BE (020 7384 5550) ▲ ✔ Incl servicing Mon-Fri 8am-8pm (Closed Mon 11-12) Sat 9.30am-6pm Sun 11am-5pm Evans Cycles Clapham Unit 2 65-79 Clapham High St SW4 7TG ▲ ✔ Mon-Fri 8-8 Sat 12-6 Sun 12-6 Evans Cycles 320-320b Vauxhall Bridge Rd SW1V 1AA (020 7976 6298) ▲ ✔ Incl servicing Mon-Fri 8-8 (Closed Tues 11-12) Sat 9.30-6 Sun 11-5 Evans Cycles 48 Richmond Rd KT2 5EE (020 8549 2559) ▲ ✔ Incl servicing Mon-Fri 9-6 Thurs 9-8 (Closed Thurs 11-12) Sat 9.30-6 Sun 10-4 Evans Cycles 167-173 Wandsworth High St SW18 4JB (020 8877 1878) ▲ ✔ Incl servicing Mon-Fri 8-8 (Closed Thurs 11-12) Sat 9.30-6 Sun 10-4 London Recumbents Staff Yard Battersea Park SW11 (020 7498 6543) ● ✔ off hire only. Open weekends and school holidays Luciano Cycles 97-99 Battersea Rise SW11 1TW (020 7228 4279) ■ ✔ Mon-Sat 9-5.30 Sun 10-3.30 Mend-a-Bike 19 The Arches 33 Munster Rd SW6 4ER (020 7371 5867) ● ✔ Mon-Fri 9-7 Sat 9-6 Mike’s Bikes 27 Aberconway Rd SM4 5LN (020 8640 1088) ▲ ✔ Mon-Fri 8-5.30 Sat 9-4 Moore’s Cycles 61 London Rd TW1 3SZ (020 8744 0175) Mon, Sat 95.30; Tue-Fri 9-6; Sun 10-4 ▲ ✔ Moose Cycles 48 High St SW19 2BY (020 8544 9166) ● ✔ Mon-Fri 9.30-7 Pitfield Cycles 137 Kingston Rd KT3 3NX (020 8949 4632) ■ ➔ Mon-Sat 9-5.30 BIKES

ACCESSORIES

0%

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5%

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➔

10%

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✔

15%

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Prologue 232 Upper Richmond Rd SW14 8AG (020 8878 6266) ▲ ✔ 15% servicing Mon closed Wed 8am-8pm Tue/Thur-Fri 9am-6pm Sun 12pm-5pm Discount applies to BH brand bikes only Psubliminal 17 Balham High St, SW12 9AJ (020 8772 0707) 5% discount on servicing. Tues-Fri 9-6.30 Thurs 9-7 Sat 9-5.30 Putney Cycles 337 Putney Bridge Rd, SW15 2PG (020 8785 3147) ✔ Mon-Fri 8-6.30 Sat 9-6 Sun 10-4 Siecle 789 Wandsworth Rd SW8 3JQ (020 7978 2345) ❋ ✖ (applies only to bikes) Mon-Fri 9.30-5.30 Sat 10-4 Smith Brothers 14 Church Rd SW19 5DL (020 8946 2270) ▲ Also has bike hire services Mon-Sat 9.30-5.30 South Bank Cycles 194 Wandsworth Rd SW8 2JU (020 7622 3069) ● ➔ Mon-Sat 9-6 Stratton Cycles Ltd 101 East Hill SW18 2QB (020 8874 1381) ● ✔ Mon-Sat 9-6 Triandrun 53 Wimbledon Hill Rd SW19 7QW (020 8971 2065) ■ ✔ 10% labour/servicing. Only on full price items WEST Action Bikes 101 Uxbridge Rd W12 8NL (020 8743 5265) ● ➔ Mon-Sat 9-6 Sun 10-4 Action Bikes 176 Chiswick High Rd W4 1PR (020 8994 1485) ● ➔ Mon-Sat 9-6 Sun 10-4 Bikewise 61 Swakeleys Rd UB10 8DQ (01895 675376) ■ ✔ Mon-Sat 9-5.30 Sun 10-2 Cyclopedia 262 Kensington High St W8 6ND (020 7603 7626) ● ✔ Mon-Fri 8-8 Sat 9.30-6 Sun 10.30-5 Evans Cycles 548-550 Chiswick High Rd W4 5RG (0870 060 5489) ▲ ✔ Mon-Fri 8-8, Sat 9.30-6, Sun 11-5 Moore’s Cycles 3-5 St John’s Rd TW7 6NA (020 8560 7131) ▲ ✔ Mon, Sat 9-5.30; Tues-Fri 9-6; Sun 10-4 WIZZBIKE.com 113-114 High St TW8 8AT (020 8326 2819) ▲ ✔ Mon-Sat 9-6; Sun 11-5 Woolsey of Acton 281 Acton Ln W4 5DH (020 8994 6893) ▲ ✔ Mon-Fri 9.30-6.30 Sat 9.30-6 (Closed Wed)

• Show your LCC card to claim your discount.

• The discounts vary and are not negotiable. ● ➔ means no discount on a bicycle and 5% discount on parts and/or accessories.

• Discounts don’t usually apply to special offers or sale items.

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Local groups News BARNET

In June, we celebrated a successful Bike Week and our 25th anniversary. As well as a celebratory birthday party, we raised money for a good cause: what better cause than bikes for Third World health workers? Via UNICEF £25 will buy a bike – we raised enough to buy 25 bikes at £25 each for our 25th anniversary. Our group is making a big push on cycle parking, of which there is little in Barnet. Hardly surprising as whenever a (rare) rack is removed to repair the pavement, it seldom gets put back. We hope to work with shops to put pressure on the council, and to encourage support of the local high streets. Our August indoor meeting will be to do with cycle maintenance, so come along – you never know what you might learn.

Meetings: The last Thursday of the month, 8pm at Trinity Church Hall, Nether Street, N12 7NN Contact: Jeremy Parker (020 8440 9080) Website: www.barnetlcc.org

Brent Cyclists visited the Brent Reservoir on their tour of ‘Scenic Brent’ during Bike Week

Photos: David Arditti, David Le Fevre, Orde Elliason

BRENT

We have been occupied with the Brent Cross Cricklewood development proposals of late.

The development area is mainly in Barnet; nevertheless the scheme is of great importance to Brent Cyclists because of the likely changes to the A5 (along which LCN+ 5 runs), and the need for cycle permeability through the development area, particularly better crossings of the North Circular Road, to improve connections between north and south Brent, Barnet, Camden and central London. The plans, though cloaked in enviro-rhetoric, show a motor-centric environmental disaster which makes little concession to cycling, and can only increase car-dependency in north-west London.

We are working with Barnet Cyclists and other groups to lobby at all levels of government for a rethink, as this is a strategic issue for the whole of north London. We had several interesting activities in May and June, including a ride to Eltham Palace, a day at Camden Green Fair and a tour of ‘Scenic Brent’. At our September meeting we will be talking to a representative of the Campaign for Better Transport (formerly Transport 2000).

Meetings: 7.30pm (preceeded by business meeting at 6.30pm) on August 6, September 3 and October 1 at the Samaritans Centre, 1 Leopold Road, NW10 9LN. Contact: Ben Tansley (07941 050161, coordinator@brentcyclists.org.uk).

Website: www.brentcyclists.org.uk

BROMLEY

Bike Week was quite a boost for Bromley Cyclists considering that we only began to meet again as a Some 24 riders made it across group last October. Bromley to Crystal Palace Thanks to a Bike Park on the Bromley Parks & Week grant, we Ride during Bike Week were able to buy a banner to advertise our presence at a Dr Bike and a stall at a council cycle fair. The latter was highly successful with its two stationary bike roller challenges provided by Southeastern Road Club, to whom we are grateful. The highlight of the week was our Bromley Parks & Ride through the borough and its largest parks.

There were 24 riders, with most having seen space given to our press release in two local newspapers. A member of the parks department made a video of the ride’s start: http:// uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EISU0iHVZiA. At our June 11 meeting, attended by representatives of three borough cycling clubs and the council’s road safety team, we heard a presentation from the latter and then discussed offering a combined pattern of beginner rides that would be promoted through borough’s schools and the RST. It seems we are too late to get this rolling this year, but definitely in 2009.

As LC went to press we were preparing for a meeting with the chairman of Sutton CC on the subject of how to start a youth Go Ride cycling club.

Meetings: 7.30pm on the second Wednesday of month at Bromley College, London Road, Bromley BR1 1PE Contact: Charles Potter (07951 780869, coordinator@bromleycyclists.org) Website: www.bromleycyclists.org EALING

On May 12, ECC representatives met with Jason Stacey, leader of Ealing Council, to discuss our concern that LCN+ routes would not be completed by 2010. Mr Stacey agreed that it’s not going to happen with existing council resources. We are carrying out an online survey of cycling issues in the borough. ECC was runner-up to one of TfL’s Cycling Communities Awards for its project Cycling into Summer 2007.

Cycling into Summer 2008 is in full swing with Dr Bike sessions at several local school fetes, a youth group and a scout group. Bike Week was the most successful in recent years, with information stalls at Ealing and Acton, a Dr Bike session at Ealing and three social rides. Over 200 people expressed an interest in joining our e-group, and many requests were made for bike maintenance sessions and family-friendly cycle rides. In order to tap this local enthusiasm, we need more volunteers, so if you have been thinking about taking a more active role, this is the time. Come along to our meetings to find out how you can help.

Meetings: The first Wednesday of the month (venue details on the website) Social ride: The first Sunday of the month, meet

10am Ealing Town Hall (details on the website) Contact: David Lomas (020 8579 0805, david_lomas28@hotmail.com) Website: www.ealingcycling.org.uk ENFIELD

The trailer used to transport Enfield Cycling Campaign’s wares to the Enfield Cycling Festival

Sometimes things just don’t go to plan. On the first Sunday of Bike Week, we were due to have provided some leg power for a 16-seater bike, touring the borough raising funds for a local hospice. On Sunday morning I received a phone call to say that the bike had been stolen!

It was recovered the following day but, alas, too late for us. So the 16-seater bike ride will be rescheduled. Fortunately, the remainder of Bike Week went smoothly, with a very enjoyable Easy Evening Ride on the Tuesday and our now legendary Ice Cream Ride to Marine Ice in Camden on the Thursday. The finale on the Sunday was the Enfield Festival of Cycling at Picketts Lock Athletics Centre. It is encouraging to see Enfield Council prepared to organise such events, at last. It also proved a wise move to team up with the Lee Valley Festival, as this brought us a wider audience. We successfully transported three gazebos and all the stuff for the LCC stall to the event by a member’s homemade bike trailer (see photo). All in all a good event and a good Bike Week.

Meetings: 8pm, August 7, 8pm at The Jolly Butchers, 168 Baker St, EN1 3JS; 8pm, September 5, 8pm at The King William IV pub (upstairs), 192 Hertford Rd, Edmonton N9 7HH. Contact: Richard Reeve (0870 321 3717, r.reeve@blueyonder.co.uk) Website: www.lccenfield.fsnet.co.uk To join our email list, send a blank email to enfieldcyclists-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Rides are listed on the Edmonton CC website: www.edmontoncyclingclub.fsnet.co.uk HAMMERSMITH AND FULHAM

During Bike Week, our GREENFEST West London went very well. In its sixth year, it was the best ever (see www.greenfest.org.uk for photos).

The opening of Westfield’s shopping and leisure complex at Shepherd’s Bush is getting closer.

Just how cyclist-unfriendly it will be is the question. Will they still be expecting cyclists to leave the carriageway and pass through people waiting to cross at a crossing, on LCN+ route 73, into London? Will they really put “cyclists dismount” signs as a way to slow cyclists down in a shared use space?

Meetings: The first Tuesday of the month – see our website for details or call the co-ordinator

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Local groups See the ‘local groups’ section at www.lcc.org.uk for more contact information and news from your area

LOCAL GROUP PROFILE KENSINGTON & CHELSEA

Hammersmith and Fulham’s GREENFEST West London was a big success during Bike Week

Contact: John Griffiths (020 7371 1290, 07789 095 748, john@truefeelings.com) Website: www.hfcyclists.org.uk HAVERING

Havering’s Cycle Liaison Group (CLG) spent June 20 out with council officers inspecting sites around the borough where we would like to see facilities and infrastructure introduced and/or improved. We met at Cotton’s Park, central Romford, and were pleased to be joined

by Cllr Mike Armstrong, cabinet member with responsibility for transport, for the first part of the tour. The first stop was to examine cyclefriendly access to the new Queen’s Hospital.

The group also considered the muddled signage and cluttered cycle paths in the Romford Station and Eastern Road area. Carlton Road obstacles to cycling received attention on our way through to Main Road via Lodge Farm Park. We proceeded to Elm Park Cycle Route through Harrow Lodge Park’s new shared-use

The Kensington & Chelsea Goldfinger Ride in April stops by the architectural landmark Trellick Tower in the north of the borough

How to get involved: Friendly and informal meetings are held at Café Deco, 62 Gloucester Road, SW7 from 7pm to 8pm, usually on the last Monday of the month. “Also, everyone is welcome on our rides – check the website (www.lcc.org.uk > local groups > Kensington and Chelsea) for details,” says Phil. To keep up to date with activities, join the K&C Yahoo Group (see http://groups. yahoo.com/group/kccyclists), or contact Phil on 07960 026 450 or philip_loy@yahoo.co.uk

path to the Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch, for lunch. The group then pedalled to South Hornchurch/Rainham to look at intersections where it was felt that ASLs are needed.

We then turned into the Ingrebourne Valley Country Park southern extension to try the new shared-use tracks before continuing along the Valley Route to Hacton Lane toward Hornchurch Stadium. From Hacton Lane, we followed the route to Upminster Road and then the London Loop to Wingletye Lane. This is a difficult junction for cyclists, and worth future discussion. Philip led the group through Emerson Park on to Gidea Park. From there, there is a quiet route along Stanley Road and The Ridgeway. That brought us back to the toucan crossing by Raphael’s Park, which we continued through to the A12. The proposed A12 crossing had been shelved but, largely thanks

Havering Cycling Campaign members joined Cllr Mike Armstrong (left) and borough cycling officer, Musood Karim (second from right) on a ride around the borough

to Cllr Armstrong, it should now go ahead: this will be important for access from Collier Row to areas south of the A12. Hopefully the trip will expedite dealing with these and other issues at CLG meetings. In view of the success of this jaunt, it’s likely that the exercise shall be repeated. Thanks to Daniel Douglas for making the arrangements.

Liaison Group Meeting: August 26, from 4pm in the ninth floor meeting room, Mercury House, Romford, RM1 3SL Contact: Daniel Douglas, Greater London Borough of Havering (01708 432850, daniel. douglas@havering.gov.uk) Havering Cycling Campaign contact: Bernie Curtis (01708 347 226, CurtisBernieS@aol.com, HCC@dynoweb.f9.co.uk) ISLINGTON

Too late for the last issue of LC, our AGM in May was attended by at least 40 people and we were delighted to have broadcaster and CTC president Jon Snow as our guest. He was a most entertaining speaker and answered questions on a variety of topics. Bike Week was a great success with plenty of people visiting our stalls at the N1 Centre, Goswell Road, Madras Place, Spa Fields and the Sports and Cycling Festival outside the Arsenal stadium – the latter two events were organised by the council’s Green Travel team and we’re grateful to them for their financial support for our events. Very many thanks to all the volunteers who helped – see our website for pictures from the week. A fledgling bicycle recycling scheme has started up in Islington with abandoned bikes being restored and sold. It’s run by Lunar Cycles and supported by the council – see www.lunarcycles.com. We have had several requests for help to get cycle parking, but for residential areas this seems particularly difficult with

>>

Photos: Phil Loy, Daniel Douglas

About Kensington & Chelsea LCC Group There has been a K&C branch of the LCC for several years and indeed the LCC itself is rumoured to have its roots in the K&C branch of Friends of the Earth, says coordinator Phil Loy. “For the past year or so there has been a drive to initiate more activity, including meetings, rides, and campaigning,” he says. There are currently around 160 members of the LCC in the borough. Over the last few years the group has met with the Council on various matters, including cycle parking, cycling preference surveys, and the now shelved radical redesign of Sloane Square. More recently, it helped British Waterways survey cyclists who use the canal towpath as part of its ‘Two Tings’ campaign.

Key campaign victories: “Meeting the cabinet member for transport on cycling issues was an important meeting not just for the group, but for LCC as a whole, especially now that Boris Johnson is mayor,” says Phil. The recent announcement by K&C Council to allow cyclists two-way use of some one-way streets will be watched with interest by K&C LCC, with members inevitably among those most likely to use the test roads.

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Local groups News

Jon Fray and Ruth Crumey of Kingston Cycling Campaign hand out leaflets on bike security

minimal funding available from the council. If anyone has succeeded, we’d love to hear how you managed it.

Meetings: 7.30pm on second Wednesday of the month (August 13, September 10 and October 8) at Islington Town Hall, Upper Street, N1 2UD Contact: Alison Dines (020 7226 7012, alisondines@clara.co.uk) Website: www.lcc.org.uk > local groups > Islington

Photos: Kingston Cycling Campaign, Gill James

KINGSTON

We’ve submitted some examples of innovations for developing cycling to the council’s chief executive (who is a cyclist) and look forward to developing them. We have fed back our concerns on plans to restrict cycling in what is currently Eden Street. Maybe economic downturn will delay the redevelopment. A crossing is planned at the Robin Hood junction on the A3 which will make Wimbledon Common more accessible from Richmond Park. We’ll believe it when we see it. Preparations are underway for a new bridge across the Hogsmill at Sheephouse Way to serve nearby schools.

Norbiton station now has sheltered cycle racks on the Richmond bound side and the Co-op in Kings Road has at long last provided some too.

Information published by the Halifax about cycle theft appears meaningless as Kingston has apparently changed from worst to second worst to 24th worst for cycle theft, but we still hear about thefts. Members of the campaign have been busy Dr Biking at the Kingston schools’ bike ride and a growing number of events.

Would you like to help?

Meetings: 8:30pm on August 12 and September 9 at the Waggon & Horses pub, Surbiton Hill Road, KT6 4TW Contact: Rob James (020 8546 8865) Website: www.kingstoncycling.org.uk MERTON

Martin Way continues to exercise the transport planners at the council – we are keeping a close eye on proposals as they come forward, and keep impressing on them the need for a quick fix solution to improve safety immediately as a permanent remedy, and funding, is likely to take some considerable time. Raynes Park NIMBYs

won the first battle in the campaign to get the Coombe Lane cycle track extended eastwards towards Wyke Road. They objected to the cutting back into the railway embankment and felling seven mature trees, conveniently overlooking the fact that these trees are so mature that they are, according to a Network Rail ecology report, in “poor structural condition and nearing the end of their useful life”. We remain confident of winning the war here, though – transport planners have gone back to the drawing board to redesign a scheme which will take space from the carriageway rather than the embankment.

Over in Portland, Oregon, advanced stop lines are called bike boxes, and they seem to be more prominent and better respected than ours, with a big caps on message to motorists to WAIT HERE just behind the box – this would seem an easy improvement to make to London’s widely flouted ASLs, so we have written to TfL to suggest just that. Portland cyclists have made a punchy two-minute film about them – see http://tinyurl. com/5htbr3. At our Annual Meeting in May, the present committee was re-elected. That is Philip Box, Hugh Morgan, John Waller and me (Richard Evans). Thanks for your continued confidence!

Meetings: 8pm on the first Thursday of the month (not August), email or phone for details.

Contact: Richard Evans (020 8946 0912, info@mertoncyclists.org.uk) Website: www.mertoncyclists.org.uk REDBRIDGE

Redbridge Cycling Centre at Hog Hill, the most exciting cycling facility in London, opens officially on August 24 with a huge cultural and sporting event to welcome the handover of the Olympic Games from Beijing to London. There will be sports taster sessions, a ‘Muck Off’ cleaning demo, bike trials, veteran cycles, and inspiring creative play workshops and street theatre, culminating in a huge animated performance piece by Emergency Exit Arts. If you want to hear about future events, join the RCC mailing list: call Ian Coles on 07988 680 011 or email ian. coles@redbridge.gov.uk. The signs are good that a decent ‘Greenway’ to RCC is being developed, starting from Stratford, going across Wanstead Flats to link with the Roding Valley Way, across Valentines Park, Ilford, Fairlop Waters, and then finally RCC and Hainault Forest. Our meeting on the 16th will have Koy Thomson, director of LCC, as the speaker – put that in your diary now.

Our next maintenance workshops starts on September 17 (see page 27 for details).

Meetings: 8pm, third Tuesday in the month at Wanstead House, 21 The Green, E11 2NT. Note there is no meeting in August, so the

A welcome pint after Redbridge LCC’s Century Ride in June. The 100-mile ride around Essex raised £103 for NSPCC

next one is September 16 Contacts: Gill James (020 8989 4898, gilljames@btinternet.com) and Chris Elliott (020 8989 6285, c.elliott@dsl.pipex.com) Website: www.redbridgelcc.org.uk SOUTHWARK

A London Festival of Architecture volunteer was keen to help steward our 15 LFA rides, so we arranged to vet her at Southwark Needle one evening. From Milan. Limited English. Never cycled in London. No bike. We marched down to On Your Bike and got her a hire bike for £40 the month. We got Cycle Training UK to meet her there two days later to give her three hours’ training. She helped on loads of rides. An Observer journalist turned up at Bernie Spain Gardens for our Wayne Hemingway evening ride with no bike. We lent her a Brompton as the owner went across to hire another from the London Bicycle Company. A friendly flood consultant didn’t have a bike for our London International Festival of Theatre Flood Plain ride.

We got Gopedal to deliver him one. Gopedal didn’t charge us since we used their bikes for our Refugee training and one features beautifully on the cover of that report. Our new meetings venue at Better Bankside is already spinning off new partnerships. We’re even in bed with the South East London Folklore Society.

Meetings: 7pm-8.30pm, the second Wednesday of the month at Better Bankside Community Space, Great Guildford Street, SE1 0TF. Contact: Barry Mason (07905 889 005, info@southwarkcyclists.org.uk) Website: www.southwarkcyclists.org.uk SUTTON

Thanks to our Dr Bike helpers during Bike Week.

Borough consultation to be discussed July 14 with Sutton officers on converting the barrier at the junction of Wrythe Lane and Muschamp Road for cycle use with toucan, but it is not on a cycle route. List for cycling errors (eg signs, non flush kerbs, drains, etc) sent to TfL for funding. A path now exists from the tennis centre in Rosehill Park West to Reigate Avenue but cycling officers want to widen it. Our next cycle maintenance course in on October 25 (see page 27).

Meetings: The second Tuesday of each month at 8.30pm at the Robin Hood Inn, 52 West Street, SM1 1SH Contact: Chris Parry (0208647 3584, cyclism@blueyonder.co.uk)

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Local groups OCTOBER/NOVEMBER DEADLINE: 6pm, Thursday, August 28 Email news to boroughnews@lcc.org.uk – photos are welcome and will be published if space permits WALTHAM FOREST

Waltham Forest contractors have been busy renewing the red surfacing on cycle tracks in Forest Road and elsewhere. We have been made aware that the new surfacing on part of Forest Road has been put in very poorly and not smoothed off at all. This makes the surface at best uncomfortable and at worst dangerous for cyclists. Maintenance of cycle facilities is one of the issues we lobby the council about.

If any members have come across similar issues with resurfacing, please let us know so we can use this as evidence of poor quality control of contractors (photographs are helpful to illustrate the extent of the problem). You should also contact wfdirect@lbwf.gov.uk. If you want to keep up with our campaigns and activities (and/or contribute to discussions), join our yahoo group: http://uk.groups.yahoo. com/group/walthamforestcycling/ or visit our revamped website www.wfcycling.org.uk. We run social rides on the last Sunday of most months – these are listed on the website. We need extra volunteers to help with our cycle maintenance workshops on the second Saturday of each month, so if you have cycle maintenance skills, we would we would love to hear from you.

Meetings: 8pm on the second Wednesday of each month at the Hornbeam Centre, 458 Hoe St, E17 9AH Contact: Gerhard Weiss (gerhardweiss@talk21.com)

OTHER LOCAL GROUP CONTACTS BARKING & DAGENHAM Contact: Colin Newman (07761 577 255, colin.newman@stibasa.org.uk) Website: www.stibasa.org.uk BEXLEY Contact: Frances Renton (01322 441 979, f.renton@gold.ac.uk) or Dave Reynolds (01322 525 481)

Westminster Cyclists spread the word at the South Westminster Community Festival

for the scheme, and keen that other decisionmakers should find out about the joys of life on two wheels – and we’ve been invited to attend a meeting of the council’s transport committee.

It’s exciting that we’re making good progress with people who make decisions crucial to cycling in the borough.

Meetings: The second Tuesday of each month Contact: Simon Merrett (020 8789 6639, coordinator@wandsworthcyclists.org.uk) Website: www.wandsworthcyclists.org.uk WESTMINSTER

The creatives among us pulled out all the stops this year for Bike Week, organising a Victorian Bike Parade in Battersea Park (see page 9 for our news report). It was a great opportunity to promote cycling in parks to both the wider public and the parks police. We’re all looking forward to our summer garden pub meetings, and to the public meeting we are organising in October in conjunction with the Putney Society, at which people can air their views on cycling in Putney. The local MP Justine Greening has agreed to attend, as have council members. The keynote speaker is LCC director Koy Thomson.

The patient work to create constructive links with Wandsworth councillors is bearing fruit. The councillors who have had cycle training through our Movers and Shakers project are full of praise

We have now seen proposals for the junction of Long Acre with Drury Lane and Endell Street. Although we are pleased to see the replacement of the mini roundabout with a staggered junction, there is no arrangement for allowing contraflow cycling along the east end of Long Acre, as recommended in last year’s Cycle Route Implementation Stakeholder Plan. We once again had a stall at the South Westminster Community Festival. This was an opportunity both to tell cyclists about LCC and to sell cycling to non-cyclists. Work on Crossrail in the Paddington area may create opportunities to improve cycling conditions.

A new ramp for taxis might open up a new route past the east side of the station.

Meetings: August 5 at 7pm near the bandstand, Serpentine Road, Hyde Park Contact: Colin Wing (020 7828 1500, cyclist@westminstercyclists.org.uk) Website: www.westminstercyclists.org.uk

Members’ adverts ◆ FOR SALE: Orange G2 mountain bike, 17” frame. Excellent condition. £350.

Andrew 07841 627 966. ◆ FOR SALE: Electric Giant Twist 2006; Hubs: Sram S7 rear, Nexus dynamo front; front suspension; Schwalbe Marathon tyres; pannier racks; mudguards; low step; size M. Complete with some accessories.

Very gd condition £800. 07891 592 727. ◆ FOR SALE: Gazelle Impala (Dutch Built) Gent’s bike. 53cm frame 7 speed Nexus gears. Well maintained. £125. John (Harrow) 020 8866 5234 or 07702 381 484. ◆ FOR SALE: Two Bontrager Race Lite tyres 700x23, black as new; Conti Grand Prix 4000S tyre 700 x 23 as new; Alex

700c commuting front wheel, Matrix 700c rear wheel with 12-28 Shimano freewheel. Offers, will split!

Chris 020 8883 0210 eves. ◆ SWAP + £20 CASH: I have a standard Brompton seat post and you have the telescopic seatpost that maybe you no longer need. 020 8301 4768 eves.

How to advertise Small, non-business ads are free to LCC members. Email londoncyclist@lcc.org.uk or write to the address on page 3, including your short advertisement, name, address and LCC membership number. The Oct/Nov issue deadline is 6pm, August 29. For larger advertisements, contact Matt (020 7306 0300 ext 112, lcc@mongoosemedia.com

WANDSWORTH

CAMDEN Contact: Jean Dollimore (020 7485 5896, jean@dollimore.net) Website: www.camdencyclists.org.uk CITY CYCLISTS Website: www.citycyclists.org.uk CROYDON Contact: info@croydon-lcc.org.uk Website: www.croydon-lcc.org.uk GREENWICH Contact: Julian Dobson (07771 692 344) Website: www.greenwichcyclists.org.uk HACKNEY Contact: Trevor Parsons (020 7729 2273, info@hackney-cyclists.org.uk) Website: www.hackney-cyclists.org.uk HARINGEY Contact: Adam Coffman (adam@tao.org.uk) Website: www.lcc.org.uk > Local groups HARROW Website: www.lcc.org.uk > Local groups HILLINGDON Contact: Sarah James (020 8868 2912) or Steve Ayres (01895 230 953) HOUNSLOW Contact: Liz Trayhorn (020 8751 5430, liz.trayhorn@googlemail.com) KENSINGTON & CHELSEA Contact: Philip Loy (07960 026 450, philip_loy@yahoo.co.uk) Website: www.lcc.org.uk > Local groups LAMBETH Contact: Philip Loy (07960 026 450, lambeth_cyclists@hotmail.com) Website: www.lambethcyclists.org.uk LEWISHAM Contact: Ian or Paul (info@lewishamcyclists.net) Website: www.lewishamcyclists.net NEWHAM Contact: Bernie McDonnell (07947 236 965) Website: www.lcc.org.uk > local groups RICHMOND Contact: info@rcc.myzen.co.uk, 07976 294 626 Website: www.rcc.myzen.co.uk TOWER HAMLETS Contact: Owen Pearson (07903 018 970, wheelers@towerhamletwheelers.org.uk) LONDON CYCLIST August/September 2008 37

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Diary Rides & Events Your guide to events and rides that are open to all cyclists What you need to know about social rides Unless stated, train-assisted rides meet at the relevant ticket office. Lunch is at a pub or take sandwiches if you prefer. Don’t forget: water, lights, a spare inner tube and tools.

Armchair riding To keep up with late changes and extra information, subscribe to the London Riders email list.

Send a message to lccrider-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Organisers To publicise your event, enter details onto the LCC database (www.lcc.org.uk/rides). To get events into the October/November issue, upload by noon, August 28, or email londoncyclist@lcc.org.uk

Ride the Isle of Wight

A guide to Sussex by bike Cycling in Sussex by Deirdre Huston and Marina Bullivant (£12.99) is the third title in Vertebrate Publishing’s Off-Road Trails and Quiet Lanes series of family and leisure cycling guidebooks.

The Sussex book features 20 rides between 4km and 28km in length, and covers quiet lanes and off-road trails – including railway and seafront trails – in one of the most beautiful counties in the UK. The book includes original maps, route profiles and local area information, and is lovingly illustrated with inspirational photography of the area.

The ever-popular Isle of Wight Cycling Festival will run September 13-21 with a variety of events suitable for all ages and abilities. The festival will launch at Seaclose Park, Newport with a Cycle Show that will include a mountain bike stunt display and a ‘Sink or Swim’ event that will see pedal-powered craft taking to the Medina. Ferries run every every hour from Southampton, with prices starting from £16.

For more on the festival, including a list of rides and accommodation advice, call 01983 823 070 or see www. sunseaandcycling.com

Shoreditch Festival to include the inaugural Tour de Hackney Join Hackney’s first boroughwide free cycling event at this year’s Shoreditch Festival (August 16-24). The 12-mile Tour de Hackney takes to the streets on Sunday, August 17, guiding riders through the borough’s green spaces and past the Olympic site. There will be rides to suit beginners and those with more experience, as well as day-long activities promoting the health benefits and environmental sustainability of cycling. There will be prizes to be won, goodies to collect and lots of bike-related

entertainment and stalls in Shoreditch Park. A Tour de Hackney Hub in Shoreditch Park will feature free Dr Bike workshops, a bike polo tournament, a unicycle hockey competition, cycle safety courses, stunt cycling and Bicycle Ballet.

If you feel like getting involved in a support capacity, volunteer marshalls are needed to help out on the day.

Also in Shoreditch Park, London International Festival of Theatre (Lift) will introduce The Lift, a portable arts venue which

Guide to cycling in the South East South East Mountain Biking: Ridgeway & Chilterns by Nick Cotton (£15.95, Vertebrate Publishing) is a compact guide to some of the best mountain biking west of London. The guide features 24 routes ranging in length from 18 to 38km, each accompanied by easy-to-follow maps and directions, difficulty ratings and refreshment stops. There’s also a ‘top tens’ section outlining the best climbs and descents, plus suggestions for longer ‘mega rides’.

will be based in Shoreditch Park throughout the festival. It will present the internationally acclaimed K’Boum bike circus, with performances on August 17 at 3pm and 6pm.

If you’d like to help out on the day as an LCC ‘veloteer’, call Julie on 020 7234 9310 or email julie@lcc.org.uk. To register for the Tour de Hackney, see www.hackney.gov.uk/ tour-de-hackney For information on the Shoreditch Festival, see www.shoreditchfestival.org.uk or call 020 7324 5117.

Catch the Tour of Britain The Tour of Britain (September 7-14) continues to grow in stature, this year gaining an extra day, as well as daily coverage on ITV4, meaning there is no excuse not to take in Britain’s leading pro-cycling event. The 2008 race starts in the centre of London before visiting 14 other host venues and finishing in Liverpool. Volunteer marshalls are required for the London leg, as well as the other seven stages. Applications close on August 30. To apply to volunteer, or for general information about the race, see www.tourofbritain.co.uk

RIDES AND EVENTS Saturday, August 2 ◆ Dulwich Paragon Ride.

Every Saturday. Meet at Café St Germain on Crystal Palace Parade 9am for a two-hour ride. Contact: www.dulwichparagon.com Sunday, August 3 ◆ Bike Polo. Sundays 1pm in the football court, cnr Brick Lane and Shacklewell Road. Details: http:// myspace.com/bricklanebikepolo ◆ Fruit Ride. Leaves Ealing Town Hall at 10am. Contact: David Eales (07880 797 437). Details: www.ealingcycling.org.uk ◆ Haringey Cyclists’ Family Ride. First Sunday of every month. Contact: Adam Coffman (adam@tao.org.uk) ◆ Stanford Rivers Tea Ride 1pm outside Snaresbrook Station. Contact: Alan James (020 8989 4898) Monday, August 4 ◆ Resonance 104.4FM Bike Show. Every Monday, 6.30pm Tuesday, August 5 ◆ Free Dr Bike. Outside Kings College, Waterloo Thursday, August 7 ◆ Southwark Cyclists’ Scary Afterworker. Meet 6.30pm Southwark Needle. Contact: Barry (07905 889 005) Sunday, August 10 ◆ Bread Pudding Ride. Meet 10.30am Kingston Market Place for ride in Surrey with Kingston Cycling Campaign. Contact: John Dunn (johnedunn@blueyonder. co.uk, 020 8397 1875) Tuesday, August 12 ◆ Free Dr Bike. Clapham Common (Cedars Road) Wednesday, August 13 ◆ Midweek Ride. Meet 7.30pm Kingston Market Place for local ride with Kingston Cycling Campaign. Contact: John Dunn (johnedunn@blueyonder.co.uk, 020 8397 1875) Sunday, August 17 ◆ Tour de Hackney. Part of the Shoreditch festival. See left ◆ Little Green Ride. 9.45am Finsbury Park station for ride in Hertfordshire. Contact: Stephen Taylor (07977 235 735) ◆ Monthly Ride with Wandsworth Cycling Campaign. 10.30am Clapham Junction ticket hall. Contact: Martin Ireland (07946 354 852, martinireland65@yahoo.co.uk) Tuesday, August 19 ◆ Free Dr Bike. Streatham Common (near Streatham High Street playground) Wednesday, August 20

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Diary For last-minute rides, contact your local group (details page 34) or see www.lcc.org.uk/rides ◆ LCC Social Evening.

See below right Sunday, August 24 ◆ Bread Pudding Summer Special Ride. Meet 10.30am Kingston Market Place for two local rides with Kingston Cycling Campaign. Contact: John Dunn (johnedunn@blueyonder.co.uk, 020 8397 1875) ◆ Epping Forest Summer Ride. 11am from the Queen Elizabeth’s Hunting Lodge car park in Chingford. Contact: Ian Greer (ian.greer@cityoflondon.gov.uk) Tuesday, August 26 ◆ Free Dr Bike. Brockwell Park (Rosendale Road) Wednesday, August 27 ◆ Tour of Ireland. Until August 31. www.tourofireland.ie Thursday, August 28 ◆ Rapha social ride. Four rides to four corners of the capital, each starting at 7.30pm at Smithfield Market. Contact: Therese Bjorn (020 7485 5000, therese@rapha.cc) ◆ Southwark Cyclists’ Scary Afterworker. See August 7 Friday, August 29 ◆ Critical Mass. 6pm National Film Theatre on South Bank. See www.criticalmasslondon.org.uk ◆ ICAG Feeder Ride to Critical Mass. 6.15pm from Islington Town Hall. Contact: Chris Ashby (020 7609 5093) ◆ Free Dr Bike. Southern end of Queen Street, EC4, 4.30pm-7.30pm Contact: Simon Phillips (020 7332 1811) Sunday, August 31 ◆ Ride to Hampton Court Duck Race with Pollards Hill Cyclists. 9.30am Pollards Hill Library. Details: www.pollardshill cyclists.org.uk, mark@pollard shillcyclists.org.uk Tuesday, September 2 ◆ Free Dr Bike. Outside Kings College, Waterloo Wednesday, September 3 ◆ Midweek Ride. See August 13 Saturday, September 6 ◆ Swiss Cottage Festival.

Includes Camden Cycling Campaign stall and Dr Bike.

Contact: Stefano (020 7435 0196) ◆ Marchmont Street Festival.

Includes Camden Cycling Campaign stall and Dr Bike.

Contact: Stefano (020 7435 0196) Saturday, September 7 ◆ Tour of Britain.

Until September 14. See left ◆ Slough Ride. 10am Ealing Town Hall. www.ealingcycling.org.uk Tuesday, September 9 ◆ Free Dr Bike. Clapham Common (Cedars Road)

Quirky rides in England and Wales LC contributor Rob Ainsley has written 50 Quirky Bike Rides (£9.99. Eye Books), a gem of a book containing 50 meticulously researched rides in England and Wales. The emphasis is, as it says on the tin, on quirky or interesting rides that are (mostly) accessible only by bike. As Rob says in his introduction, he has included the most spectacular bridges, the most beautiful canals, the bendiest bike path and the best tunnels. Each ride is accompanied by ideas to help while away the time at the destination, suggested break stops and Ordnance Survey map numbers.

New London tour initiative LCC member Ian McPherson has turned his passion for bikes into a business with the launch of Spoke ’n Motion Bike Tours.

“There are others doing cycle tours in London,” says Ian, “but I’m hoping that I have a few fresh ideas to give Spoke ’n Motion tours an edge. Significantly, I’ve invested in Bromptons – they’re pretty much as British as fish’n’chips and are made right here in London. Using folders gives me scope to combine bikes and boats.” Ian is a selfconfessed “history nut” and has used his knowledge of London to devise few routes that differ from

the more traditional Green ParkHyde Park-Kensington Gardens Royal routes. “As a passionate cyclist, marrying these two interests should, in theory, be my perfect job,” he says.

The company has been launched with two initial tours – Sights at Night and Hidden London – and both incorporate existing cycle routes, back streets and the river Thames.

For ride prices and more information, see www. spokenmotion.co.uk or call Ian on 07828 297 699. An LCC member discount applies.

Turning Spokes in Hertfordshire South-west Hertfordshire will be easier to explore by bike thanks to a new booklet released by Spokes (South West Herts Cycling Group). The booklet contains 21 rides, and comes complete with Ordnance Survey maps and accompanying notes.

The rides vary in length from three to 50 miles, and cover destinations including Chiltern Open Air Museum, Ley Hill, Redbournbury Mill and Water End. The booklet, which has the backing of Watford Borough Council, is available from the Spokes website at www.spokesgroup.com

Guildford cycle challenge returns

LCC’s monthly social nights

Charlotteville Cycling Club is organising its second Guildford Cycle Challenge, which featues three rides starting and finishing at Artington Park and Ride, Guildford on Sunday, September 7. Each ride will be marshalled, with directional guidance, maps, and mobile support, and food and drinks provided along the way. The routes have been selected by some of Guildford’s most experienced cyclists. For details, see www. guildfordcyclechallenge.com

LCC’s monthly socials happen from 6.30pm on the third Wednesday of each month, upstairs at the Leather Exchange, 25 Leathermarket Street, SE1.

The evenings are open to all LCC members and those who want to find out more about the organisation. People who may not previously have considered getting involved can meet staff and active members to chat about LCC and cycling in general.

More details: Oliver Schick (oliver@hackney-cyclists.org.uk)

Saturday, September 13 ◆ National Churches Trust Bike Ride/Walk. 10am-6pm.

See www.historicchurches.org.uk.

In Essex the event is called Ride and Stride. See www.foect.org.uk Sunday, September 14 ◆ Train-assisted Bread Pudding Ride. Meet 10.30am Kingston Market Place for ride in Hampshire with Kingston Cycling Campaign. Contact: John Dunn (johnedunn@blueyonder.co.uk, 020 8397 1875) Tuesday, September 16 ◆ Free Dr Bike. Streatham Common (near Streatham High Street playground) Wednesday, September 17 ◆ LCC Social Evening.

See below Thursday, September 18 ◆ Agewell on Wheels: Cycle activities for older people in Hammersmith & Fulham.

At Linford Christie Stadium for six Thursdays. Contact: Alison Frosdick (020 8600 9171) ◆ Bicycle Belles photographic exhibition. See www.lambeth. gov.uk/bicyclebelles for details Sunday, September 21 ◆ London Freewheel.

See page 14 ◆ Epping Forest Summer Ride. See August 24 Tuesday, September 23 ◆ Free Dr Bike. Brockwell Park (Rosendale Road) Friday, September 26 ◆ Critical Mass.

See August 29 ◆ ICAG Feeder Ride to Critical Mass.

See August 29 ◆ Free Dr Bike.

See August 29 Saturday, September 27 ◆ London to South Coast Bike Ride. British Heart Foundation ride. Marshalls needed. Contact: Adam Brockett (01763 247675) Sunday, September 28 ◆ Bread Pudding Ride.

See August 10 PLANNING AHEAD From October ◆ LCC’s 30th birthday celebrations. See the October/November edition of LC for details Thursday, October 9 ◆ Cycle 2008. Earl’s Court until October 12. See page 7 for LCC discount Wednesday, November 19 ◆ LCC Annual General Meeting. City Hall. Details: 020 7234 9310, www.lcc.org.uk

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The marketplace

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The marketplace

To advertise on this page, please phone 020 7306 0300 ext.112 or email lcc@mongoosemedia.com

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Books ’n’ things Fine lines Extract from Thunder & Sunshine by Alastair Humphreys The modern era has never been peaceful in Colombia, the 19th Century saw 50 insurrections and eight civil wars. The civil war that began in the 1940s, known simply as ‘la violencia’, killed more than a quarter of a million people. From it came a military coup and the birth of several left-wing guerilla factions. Added to the mix was the violence of the hugely powerful drugs cartels, headed by the notorious Pablo Escobar. Drugs continue to dominate in Colombia, both through the violence the industry spawns and the several billion dollars it generates each year.

To travel overland from Patagonia to Alaska, there is no alternative but to pass through Colombia, so I had a tough decision to make.

People suggested that I should fly from Ecuador to Panama and bypass Colombia. It would only be a short flight, but a very sensible one. I did not want to do that. I wanted to ride through Colombia and out the other side into Panama and North America. The problem with that plan is simple: there is no road from Colombia to Panama. Instead there is about 100 miles of tropical jungle, known as the Darién Gap. The Gap has never had a road built through it for reasons ranging from economics to ecology and disease transmission to security. It is a wild, exciting place and I wanted to cross it with my bike. My research had led me to believe that it would be possible, either by carrying my bike through the jungle or by hopping from village to village along the coast in dugout canoes.

However the Darién Gap is not just a jungle filled with creepy crawlies, scary snakes and smelly swamps. It is also the last refuge of scoundrels, guerrillas and drug barons. The Darién Gap is currently one of the most dangerous places on Earth.

I vacillated back and forth for months over what to do, about my personal boundary line of risk and recklessness and that fine line between bravery and stupidity. Should I detour round Colombia completely through the Amazon basin of Brazil and Venezuela and then somehow by boat to Panama?

Decision time was drawing closer.

Surrounded by peaks in the gorgeous Cordillera Blanca mountain range, perhaps it was a combination of the awe-inspiring scenery and lack of oxygen that turned me light-headed with life and all its possibilities, but over days of riding and thinking, I decided that I really must have a go at both Colombia and the Darién crossing. The prospect scared me, but it excited me as well.

Thunder & Sunshine, Alastair Humphreys (£7.99, Eye Books)

Reviews Roadie: The Misunderstood World Of A Bike Racer, Jamie Smith (£14, VeloPress) What are the differences between road racing in the USA and Europe? Jamie Smith, an experienced amateur racer, provides an entertaining and comprehensive insight. Smith explains, in a humorous and lucid style supported by well-qualified knowledge and his experience in sports broadcasting, all those arcane terms and specialist practices. Although it seems written for a general audience, it is extremely informative and there are bound to be details of value to refresh even the most experienced UK ‘roadie’. Inset boxes expand on the text, complemented by well-observed cartoons from Jef Mallett, himself a bike racer. Mark Mitchell Bikie: A Love Affair With The Racing Bicycle, Charlie Woods (£7.99, Mainstream Publishing) Charlie Woods grew up in W12 during the 1950s and ’60s. In Bikie, he reflects on a life spent around sporting aspirations, including club racing with the ‘Westwelve’. Combining thoughtful social commentary with evocative references to long gone frame makers and cycle shops, he also cites names that survive today, including Moroni’s newsagents on Old Compton Street. Eighteen well-paced chapters span many topics including an Eros theme, enticingly titled ‘Lycra Erotica’, with a stimulating visit to Herne Hill Velodrome. On balance, it will appeal to older enthusiasts – a description of bike jumbles is wonderfully perceptive – but the sensitive capturing of times and places offers much for all ages. Mark Mitchell The Spoke: A Sergeant Studer Mystery, Friedrich Glauser; translated by Mike Mitchell (£8.99, Bitter Lemon Press) A bicycle spoke is the murder weapon in this tightly written Swiss crime novel. The wedding celebration of police sergeant Studer’s daughter is interrupted by the death of a guest at the hotel. Property speculation, loan sharks and betrayed love form the backdrop as Studer uses his intuitive and unorthodox methods to solve the murder.

Mitchell’s thoughtful translation throws a keen light on attitudes and social conditions in 1930s Switzerland, as well as an insight into the early days of forensics. Glauser is renowned as the ‘Swiss Simenon’, and the major German crime-fiction prize bears his name. If this is your first introduction to his work, it will leave you keen to read his other four books. Bryant Pattison Bike Repair Manual: The Essential Kit For Every Cyclist, Chris Sidswells (£9.99, Dorling Kindersley) This manual follows the traditional format, starting with cleaning and the importance of regular inspection before tackling the maintenance/repair of individual components. I was heartened by sections devoted to set-up of children’s bikes and preparing bikes for wet weather, although I felt cheated by the omission of full-length mudguard fitting. However, it was good to see inspection checklists for carbon fibre and aluminium frames. Photography is sharp and women are pictured undertaking complex mechanical repair, which should banish the misconception of anything mechanical being a male domain.

This is a very comprehensive book that won’t alienate more experienced riders looking for a quick reference. Michael Stenning

Online films Bike2Oz (free online, Undercurrents) Lowanna and Kevin Doye cycled 12,000km from Oxford to Sydney to promote sustainable travel. Their series of 14 short films is an astonishing achievement. A car-free day in Italy, evading arrest in Iran, illness in India; these are just some of the highlights recorded on their 18-month trip. The individual episodes combine to make a wonderfully inspiring and thoughtprovoking series about alternative travel and the virtues of pedalling for the planet. To view the films, see www.bike2oz.com. Philip Moore

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Book ’n’ things

Leisure cycling Cycling Southern France, Richard Peace (£12.95, Excellent Books) Cycling Southern France is a practical, map-led guide that covers leisure routes south of and including EuroVelo6. Routes – clearly marked on the Michelin maps that form the backbone of the guide – are colour-coded for both difficulty and road quality.

The book is prefaced with useful information on cycling in France, including translations of French road signs and an explanation of the various signing systems used along the designated routes. Spiral bound and printed on paper likely to take some wear and tear, it’s perfect for any pannier headed for the south of France. Lynette Eyb Cycling In The French Alps: Nine Classic Cycle Tours, Paul Henderson (£14, Cicerone) Nine challenging routes for more experienced riders looking to follow in the tyre tracks of the great champions. Henderson’s informative, conversational delivery, coupled with accessible maps, demonstrates an intimate knowledge of the region.

Small enough to fit in a bar bag or large jersey pocket, it makes a superb companion for sportive riders and seasoned tourists alike. Michael Stenning

Also out now Cycle Touring In Switzerland, Judith and Neil Forsyth (£14, Cicerone) Nine National Cycling Routes Mountain Bike Southern Spain, Jim deBank and Sue Savege (£17.50, Bikefax) Twenty-seven rides around Malaga, Granada and the Sierra Nevada.

Graphic novels Rumble Strip, Woodrow Phoenix (£12.99, Myriad Editions) You’ll struggle to find a more in-your-face anti-car book than this. Bold graphics, statistics and hard language combine to drive home a message that all drivers are potential murderers. The lack of prosecutions of drivers responsible for causing cyclist deaths is just one cycle-related theme tackled in this unique addition to the transport policy debate. Lynette Eyb

Children’s books Will’s Wheels Shop, Nicholas Allan (£4.99, Red Fox) A Penny Farthing and a racer may figure among the many wheeled vehicles in Will’s shop, but neither unfortunately is featured when you lift the colourful flaps on each page.

Noisy Town, written by Felicity Brooks and illustrated

by Jo Litchfield (£9.99, Usborne Publishing) A wonderfully simple sight and sound book perfect for growing minds in a multiethnic city like London. The sound of a bicycle bell can be experienced in Noisy Town, alongside sounds belonging to fire engines, cars and jack hammers, and illustrations depicting a variety of characters from a range of backgrounds. Lynette Eyb

Backpedalling Ken Worpole If there is a heaven for cyclists it will smell of rubber and spirit glue, an overhead bell will tinkle as you push hard at the jammed door (knock hard, life is deaf, exhorted the Surrealists), and there will be no-one to attend to you for a while.

Music from a jazz radio station will be coming from somewhere else in the building, or a pulsing dance track from the basement below. There will be enough time meanwhile to manoeuvre your way through dozens of bikes, old and new, leaning against each other like tired marathon runners.

And here all the great names will be found: Bates, Claud Butler, Condor, Mercian, Curly Hetchins, Pat Hanlon, Holdsworth, Freddie Grubb, Rory O’Brien.

In the late afternoon sun, the colours of the frames will glow in an astonishing range of liveries – dark greens, deep oranges, midnight blues, magentas, cerises, pillar-box red – each a colour or combination of colours never seen before or since. The names of the marques will be elegantly picked out on the down tube, as if personally signed. On closer inspection, the hand-painted detailing around the curlicued lugwork joining the frame together will remind you of the goldleaf filigree surrounding an Adoration scene in a baroque church. Every bicycle will be entirely different from its neighbours in some vital detail of frame size, down-tube angle, curve of the front forks, and the individuality of each bicycle will shine through. However only one of them will be exactly right, because in heaven everyone gets the bike that one of the celestial frame-builders – second only in the hierarchy of angels – has customised for you.

There’s a revolving rack containing brochures for this year’s touring holidays. There’s a combined cycling and camping tour of Devon and Cornwall for those interested in visiting corrugated iron chapels and non-conformist churches (and enjoying afternoon cream teas). There’s a tour of the vineyards of the Loire Valley, with a winetasting and regional cuisine. There’s a tour of all the counties of Ireland beginning with the letters C and D, staying in hotels specialising in Guinness, home-made soda bread and oysters. There’s a long ride following the Danube from Vienna down to the Black Sea, or a bike and ferry tour of the Norwegian fjords, stopping off to attend the annual Grieg festival in Bergen. Finally, for nonbelievers, there’s a short break following the route of the traditional cycle race from Paris to Roubaix, otherwise known as ‘L’Enfer du Nord’ – the Hell of the North. It isn’t true of course, or is it? I can only answer what William Morris wrote in A Dream of John Bull: “I come not from heaven, but from Essex.” There are still good bike shops in both.

Ken Worpole’s study of radical popular fiction, Dockers & Detectives, has been re-published.

For more details of that and other books, see www.worpole.net

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My way

Isle of Dogs to the Elephant There are faster ways for her to get to university, but Marie Toms prefers to take the scenic route, in the process passing Tower Bridge and the Tower of London’s friendly Beefeaters

Above: Tower Bridge Left: Marie sets out from home

of me, and teenagers on mopeds used the cycle path to avoid rush hour traffic jams.

The Thames path passes through a small park and comes out in Shadwell between the canoeing and climbing adventure centre and the tennis courts on Glamis Road. I cross the road and ride via Shadwell Basin and Tobacco Dock, where I follow leafy paths with small waterways. It’s beautiful and not like being in London – a highlight of my ride. My other option would be the cobbled streets of Wapping, which I take if it’s dark, but cobbles don’t half jubble you around.

Bridges and Beefeaters I come out right at the end of Wapping High Street, where I take a right onto St Katherine’s Way. I reach St Katherine’s Dock and a third and final opening bridge. If this one’s open, it usually takes a while, but the boats are spectacular.

Upon reaching Tower Wharf, I jump off my bike and push it through the wharf beside the Tower of London. I know many a keen cyclist would tut at me for taking a route which involves me walking with my bike, and I know it takes me longer, but when I pass through, it’s so quiet and I enjoy being so close to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London when so few people are there. I’ve even made friends with a Beefeater, who often walks with me and has a chat.

I come out onto Lower Thames Street – the worst part by far of my ride – where there’s a small cycle path that is regularly blocked with taxis and lorries making deliveries.

I pedal like mad on this stretch to get out of danger as quickly as possible, and turn left to go over Southwark Bridge, which is quieter than Tower or London bridges.

It’s then a fairly easy ride to my university, London South Bank, if I go to the end of Southwark Bridge Road where there’s a cycle path.

I’m lucky that my university encourages cycling and we have lots of parking that has proved safe.

I ride an old mountain bike, which slows me down a lot, but I’m not sure I’d cope on the thin wheels I see fellow cyclists blasting by on. My dream bike is a Cruiser by Electrabike – Gillian McKeith rides the orange dairy model – but I fear this would get stolen.

MARIE TOMS Marie is a Tomahawk Indoor Cycling Instructor and has taken classes for the West Ham United Football Squad. Although she’s found a new love in cycling, she returned to competitive waterskiing in 2007. See www.marietoms.co.uk THE JOURNEY Distance: 6.5 miles Time: 35-50 minutes (depending on the bridges!) Low point: Lower Thames Street High point: Shadwell Basin and Tobacco Dock

Photos: BritainOnView, Marie Toms

I’m relatively new to cycling and have now been riding for just over a year. I’ve always been into sport and was a member of the British waterski team for 13 years. After my retirement from international competition, I took up teaching aerobics classes and particularly enjoyed the indoor cycle (or ‘spin’) classes at the gym, as well as running club.

When I began running in the local area, I realised just how close everything was ‘above ground’ and that cycling would be an ideal way of getting from A to B. As a student, it would also help me save money. A member of my running club, Philippa Hilton, told me about the LCC and the benefits of joining, so here I am (thanks Philippa!)

I’ve tried lots of routes, but I’d rather take the scenic route than dice with death around the Tower of London. I leave my riverside flat on the Isle of Dogs and ride down Manchester Road. There are usually cars dropping kids off at school, so I have to take care when riding past the parked cars to avoid opening doors. At the mini-roundabout, I turn left and pick up Marsh Wall, which has an opening bridge in the road, so I pray it’s not in the up position.

When I arrive in Canary Wharf, I ride down to the underground roundabout and hop off my bike, carry it up about 10 steps and then I’m next to the river. I follow the river round until I reach Narrow Street and turn left. There’s a second opening bridge, which can mean I have to wait if boats are passing into Limehouse Basin.

If I get stuck here, I get to enjoy the delicious smells of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant, The Narrow, as it’s right next to the bridge. At the end of Narrow Street, I arrive at Atlantic Wharf and re-join the pedestrianised Thames path. I love the parts of my cycle when I’m riding next to the river, even on wet, windy, miserable days.

I used to join the cycle path on Cable Street, but it’s such a gloomy area of London and I found pedestrians would wander in front

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Outward bound

Mountain high Equipped with his shiny new wheels, Dan Roberts signs up for a mountain bike skills course at Milton Keynes f you have a shiny mountain bike sitting in your hallway, those fat, knobbly tyres and indestructible frame are meant for one thing only: tearing down muddy hillsides, leaping massive rocks and tree stumps and generally going wild in the woods. But serious mountain biking requires serious off-road skills, so I’ve asked Helen Powell, from Get Mountain Biking, to show me the ropes. We’re doing an intermediate-level skills course in a former quarry with over 800 acres of mountain biking trails in Woburn Sands, near Milton Keynes.

Rude awakening After taking me through all the basic safety checks to make sure my bike’s trail-worthy, Helen asks me to try a ‘small dropoff’. It doesn’t look too daunting – just a two-foot-high muddy bank.

“What you need to do here is assume the “attack position”, standing up with your pedals level and keep your weight back. Then just roll towards the dropoff, focusing on the path ahead,” she advises.

Sounds like a doddle. Then, as I’m cycling through the bracken to get a good runup, my foot slips off the pedal and it crunches into my inner knee. It’s absolute agony, so I sit down clutching it and swearing under my breath until the throbbing subsides.

I pedal towards the dropoff and roll down it without further incident. “One more try,” says Helen, “and keep your weight back this time.”

Back into the bracken and, as I head towards the dropoff, my front wheel hits a tree stump on the path.

I go flying over the handlebars and land with a thump, knocking the wind right out of me. Gingerly I get back on the bike and tackle the dropoff again. ‘“OK, let’s try some descents,” says Helen.

Those knocks have really dented my confidence, but I nod grimly and follow her through the woods.

Going down We coast down an undulating trail, then stop as it plunges towards the forest floor. As I peer down the steep hill, Helen gives me the lowdown. “Right, so you’re going to start in the attack position, then choose your line and stick to it. Keep your bodyweight right back – you should be virtually sitting on the rear tyre,” she says. “Never, ever use your front brake on a descent, as you’ll go flying over the handlebars. Just ‘feather’ your back brake – applying it in short bursts so you don’t lock up the wheel.”

Heart in mouth, I gingerly roll up to the lip of the descent and head down, backside hanging in midair. It’s really, really hard, partly because the trail is so steep and partly because it’s littered with rocks and gnarly roots.

I find a line between the many rocks and roots, and feather the brake. With more luck than judgement, I make it to the bottom in one piece.

If the hill was daunting going down, it assumes Everest-like proportions when you have to climb it.

But, as with everything else in mountain biking, it’s all about technique.

“When you’re ascending, you’re best off staying in the saddle,” explains Helen. “Keep your elbows in and tip your wrists round and down on the handlebars. That brings your chest down, which stops your front wheel lifting. Just keep pedalling. Most people don’t get up steep hills because they bottle it and stop pedalling.”

I find a really easy gear and hit the hill. But after a few feet I narrowly miss a huge, jagged rock, sit upright and my wheel comes flying up. Game over.

“Try again!” shouts Helen from the bottom.

Refusing to be beaten, I do it over and over until, finally, I manage to keep my chest down and tough it; I reach the top.

“Now for some jumps,” says my instructor.

She points to where the path runs over three railway sleepers ending in a three-foot drop.

“The key here is speed – hit the jump fast and lift your front wheel as you hit the dropoff. You’ll be fine!” she says.

It looks like one hell of a leap, but I grit my teeth, take a run-up and fly off the step. For one horrible moment, I think I’m going to crash, but then I land sweetly and break into a huge grin.

I’m absolutely shattered, my knee’s throbbing and I’m splattered with mud, but it’s been a brilliant day. I head back to London a tired but happy man.

A day’s one-to-one mountain-bike skills training with Get Mountain Biking (01604 779001, www. getmountainbiking.co.uk) costs £110. Group sessions cost £60 per person.

Photo: Helen Powell

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Dispatches

A model cycling city The German city of Oldenburg offers an excellent blueprint on how to develop a cycling culture, says Rob James, of Kingston LCC group

Starting out Oldenburg’s first cycle facility was put in over a century ago – a smooth strip for bikes along a cobbled street. And it has gone on from there. More recent facilities from the 1950s to the ’80s are having to be upgraded to match current demands and standards.

A lesson for us in London: cycle facilities are not ‘fit and forget’; providing them has to be seen as a continuous process.

A limited network of roads has been designated as ‘main roads’.

On these, pedestrians and cyclists are provided for as part of the traffic, just like drivers, so all of them have compulsory cycle paths beside them as well as footpaths.

However, these share the priority of the main road, so are continuous without interruption from side roads, driveways etc. They are also continuous at main junctions with cycling and pedestrian lights. Being ‘part of the traffic’, pedestrians have to obey traffic rules and observe

Above: The road to Damm Bridge, which carries 10,000 cyclists a day

cycle paths and traffic lights just as other road users do, which helps to avoid conflicts. Away from main roads, the standard speed limit is 30kph, and roads are shared.

The shopping centre is largely traffic-free but permeable to bikes.

Indeed, continuous lines of heavily used cycle parking interspersed with planters is used to mark out pedestrian and cycle lanes.

Making progress Since our last visit, developments and increases in usage have continued. A narrow ‘gateway’ bridge now carries 10,000 cyclists a day. It is too narrow to be able to provide adequate separate cycle lanes, so, to cope with the numbers safely, traffic lights are phased to send cyclists across ahead of other traffic. Again, cyclists are seen, and provided for, as a ‘third sector’ of traffic alongside drivers and pedestrians rather than being uneasily assimilated into one or the other of these two groups.

A major change has been a blanket decision to exempt cyclists from all “no entry” and one-way restrictions. There was opposition to this on safety grounds – from some cyclists, too – but there has been no evidence of increased accidents. Indeed, the consistency may contribute to safety and be simpler for drivers as they expect contra-flow cycling in all oneway streets as standard. Useful if London boroughs could learn from this experience and evidence.

The town’s major road intersection is being re-built to bring pedestrians and cyclists up from

Above: A central cycle lane in a pedestrianised shopping street.

Left: Crossing a side road, Oldenburg-style

subways and onto the surface, with separate light controlled crossings over wide dual carriageways.

Cyclists’ lights will take them across both carriageways in a single phase; pedestrians, being slower, will cross in two phases. It was good to see cyclists being regarded as road users with their own requirements rather than being lumped in as either slow second-class drivers or pedestrians on wheels.

Secure cycle parking has similarly developed over time. The need was identified and provision made near the shopping centre, but not near enough to get sufficient use. An alternative location was tried at the railway station. This was successful, so a second one was added there, including cycle servicing and hire to contribute income. The new capacity was not taken up to the same extent, though. Over a thousand cyclists preferred to use free, open, less secure parking.

Was the low-seeming £40 per year putting people off? This was waived for a trial period. Usage rose and stayed up at the end of the free period as people decided that the facilities were worth the cost.

We were encouraged to see that a car-conscious place like Germany can also achieve a high level of cycling. It was a salutary lesson to see that this is brought about by persistent, consistent development over a long period.

Photos: John Legate, Rob James

Kingston’s LCC group visited Oldenburg, its partner town and a ‘cycling city’ in north-west Germany, in 2005 and reported an account in London Cyclist that December. To celebrate its 900th anniversary, the town invited its partners from Denmark, The Netherlands, France, Israel and Kingston to visit. We took the opportunity to renew friendships, see new developments and to show the chief executive and councillors from Kingston, who were also taking part, how cycling could work.

One of Oldenburg’s attractions for an informative visit was that it is not cycling paradise. It faces the same realities as we do: attachment to cars, heavy traffic, dense shopping area, insufficient space. But it has made a lot of progress through steady, gradual development which has resulted in nearly 30% of trips being made by bike, and people of all ages and incomes cycle as a matter of course for all purposes – work, education, social and leisure. The development to make this happen has been strategic, well thought-out and continuous.

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Interview

My bike & I Dermot Murnaghan The Sky News presenter chats to LC about commuter cycling, triathlon training and his perfect day on two wheels Do you remember your very first time on a bike?

Can you tell us about it?

Does a three-wheeler count? I remember a photograph of me at about the age of two on a bright red, largewheeled one with a box on the back.

What about your first two-wheeler? What memories do you have of that?

I learnt to ride on two wheels in the Odeon cinema car park opposite my house in York. I got my first proper bike when I was five or six for Christmas. I only had it for a day – it was nicked out of our garden shed, along with my brothers’ shiny new bikes on Boxing Day. I still want it back.

What sort of bike do you enjoy getting around on these days?

I’ve got two. A sturdy bomb-proof old British Eagle for general riding about town. I rode it for years with the original knobbly mountain bike tyres on, but recently converted to something narrower, slicker and higher pressure – it’s made a huge difference to my commuting times. My other bike is for my feeble triathlon attempts – it’s an Evans Pinnacle.

Tell us more about your day-to-day cycling.

I have two types of regular rides. (The first is) commuting into town. Do I enjoy it? Depends on the weather and the mood of the drivers I encounter.

For triathlon training, it’s usually laps around Regent’s or Richmond Park.

Where else in the capital do you enjoy riding your bike?

Any of the sights in central London early in the morning when the traffic’s light and you can have a bit of a stare.

What do you think is the best thing about being a cyclist?

Flexibility, health and immunity to traffic jams.

Do you consider yourself a good cyclist?

I suppose so – I try not to endanger myself or pedestrians.

Do you have any pet hates when it comes to cycling?

Rather predictably, many forms of my fellow four-wheeled road users. As a regular car driver myself, I think riding a bike in traffic should be a compulsory part of the driving test to teach awareness.

I’m also not too keen on other cyclists who seem to think they can scatter pedestrians willy nilly. It gives us all a bad name.

Can you tell us about your idea of a perfect day on two wheels?

One where the internal combustion engine has suffered a mysterious virus.

You took part in a charity ride from London to Paris this year – how did you become involved in the ride?

Through a friend John Skok who mentioned it to me and the fantastic charity it’s supporting – CHASE hospice care for children.

“Even if you’re not really feeling like a serious training session, a brief spin on the bike does you the power of good” What preparations did you do for the ride?

Laps around Regent’s Park or Richmond Park acclimatising my nether regions to hours in the saddle.

Was that your longest ride?

By far.

You’ve also done the London Triathlon for charity.

If you had to choose between cycling, running and swimming, which would it be?

Watching it on the TV ... Seriously? As a late convert to proper cycling, I’d have to say the bike – it’s so varied. And even if you’re not really feeling like a serious training session, a brief spin on the bike does you a power of good.

If you could ride off into the sunset on your bike, where would you ride to?

Anywhere with a beach and a bar serving the perfect pint of draught Guinness at the end.

ABOUT DERMOT MURNAGHAN Dermot Murnaghan presents Sky News weekdays from 9am-1pm and Eggheads, a quiz show, for BBC2. Prior to joining Sky, he anchored BBC Breakfast for five years and fronted ITV news bulletins for 11 years. He is married with four children and lives in north London. He is a supporter of the Chase hospice care for children, and this year took part in the charity’s annual cycle fundraiser to Paris. CHASE supports families with children and young people who are not expected to live to reach their 19th birthday.

Visit the CHASE website at www.chasecare.org.uk to find out more.

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