Munchenierung: Lame excuses for not being Bicycle friendly

We who ride bikes are always hearing from the saloon-bar experts why Northern European cycle culture could never happen here. Well, here's a good counter argument some of us have been carping on about for years. It's sometimes good to know that you're not the only one...

Munchenierung: Lame excuses for not being Bicycle friendly

Litter Picking on Colliers' Way - Deep Joy

As part of Emma's DofE Bronze Award Community Service she is spending several Sunday afternoons carrying out a litter pick along the Colliers' Way cycle route. As the route is the responsibility of Sustrans she has to be supervised by the local Volunteer Rangers. In this case it happens to be her Mum & Dad. Oh, well...
And a "fulfilling" couple of hours it was today, collecting the detritus and general crap generated by the Great British Public.
Beer cans, sweet wrappers, plastic bags, full doggy poo bags (why do they do that?), soiled children's nappies... (hope you're not eating your tea whilst reading this).
We'd be forgiven if we renamed the route "The Colliers' Way Linear Landfill Site and Canine Toilet.
If nothing else, the DofE Award will give Emma a pretty shrewd idea of the other types of homo sapiens (Wise Man - that's a laugh) she has to share this planet with.

By sheer co-incidence, the Crap Cycling & Walking in Waltham Forest blogger posts on a similar theme today.

There's a lot of it about. Just demonstrates the pride the British Public have in their country.

Bath cyclists urged to walk this Saturday in support of Two Tunnels project

Anyone fancy a walk this Saturday morning:

http://road.cc/node/13474

Is there something I need to know?

Eugene's just emailed me this link

Not sure what he's trying to tell me...

Best not to ask, methinks :-)

Two Tunnels Greenway - Show your Support

An appeal from Frank Tompson of the Two-Tunnels Group, campaigning for the reopening of the two disused railway tunnels on the old Somerset and Dorset Railway as part of a new cycling and walking route to Bath from the Midford Valley:

A report to BathNES Council to approve the Sustrans business case for the project has now been submitted is available on the Council website here. (To see the complete Cabinet Single-Member Decision Register please click here.) This is a critical progress point for us.

To ensure that The Council is in no doubt about support for the project it would be appreciated if you would consider emailing a response. Please use your own words to express your views, but it is suggested it would be useful to include the location you live in and how the Two Tunnels Greenway would benefit yourself and others. It need not be too long and a few lines would suffice. It should be addressed to Cllr Gerrish at charles_gerrish@bathnes.gov.uk and include in the ‘Subject’ line: Two Tunnels Project – Single Member Decision.

Needless to say, for us in the Midsomer Norton and Radstock area the opening of the Two Tunnels route will make commuting and even shopping trips to Bath a real practical possibility avoiding those hills and the congested A367 road.

See for more information on the Two Tunnels Greenway see: http://www.twotunnels.org.uk/index.html

A-Wheel Again

A-Wheel Again
Originally uploaded by WestfieldWanderer

At last, the snow's gone and the sun's out. Time to get those wheels rolling again.
So, SWMBO said, "sod staring at the back of your neck all afternoon, stuff the tandem, I'm using my own bike". Number 2 sprog said "sod the revision, I'm coming too". So it was that 3 stir crazy folk hit the road for a bike-fix this afternoon for the first time in what seems like mega-yonks. Glad to be back in the saddle again.

There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather...

...just the wrong clothing.
So said the Great Sage himself, Billy Connolly.

In pretty foul, cold and wet weather, a group of Somer Valley Wheels hardcore stalwarts turned out on 29th December for the "Turkey Burn-off Ride".

They set off from the Tea & Trade Tearooms in Radstock for a brisk ride to the Mells Village Shop for a welcoming coffee before returning to Radstock.

The picture shows the gang by the village pond at Mells:



Keith, Matthew, Eugene and his son, Jos, Les & Maureen with their offspring, and Alison.

Sorry I missed the ride, folks, but hoping to get out with you all, soon.

Waltzing Bicycles!

One word.
Chaos!
No... two words.
Organized chaos.
No... three words.
Absolutely friggin' brilliant.

Mike Rubbo - you are a genius!

(Thanks to Mikael at Copenhagen Cycle Chic, once again

Yet another city administration wakes up...

"Riding a bike in communities and especially in cities significantly reduces traffic congestion, parking difficulties, air pollution and accidents."
This is part of a statement from the Israeli government repealing part of its recent helmet law. It's good to see yet another administration waking up to the benefits of actually encouraging bikes as urban transport.

More detail at Copenhagenize

And, in Britain? Well, give them time. They're still busy organising talking shops and "focus groups" (a marvellous way of giving the illusion of progress while procrastinating and wasting public money).

Monday's cycle paths - mostly snow free

Whilst here in car-obsessed Britain, where unless you've got four wheels and an engine you can go hang, across the water in a civilised country where there's obviously civic leadership worthy of the name cycle paths are mostly snow free.

Nothing new there, I know.
Just a last rant before Xmas hits.
Have a good one, my faithful reader.

YouTube - Talking to David Hembrow

YouTube - Talking to David Hembrow

Somer Valley Wheels "Turkey Burn-Off" Ride

Shake off those post Xmas blues and get out for a bit of fun on a bike on 29th December:
Bike ride planned to burn off Christmas calories

Somer Valley Wheels Mileage Awards

At the Somer Valley Wheels Christmas bash at the Tea & Trade Tea Rooms in Radstock last Friday, Scheme Co-ordinator Eugene Kertzman handed out awards to the cyclists who attained the highest bike mileage for 2009. To all you athletes out there, bear in mind that most of these folk are, shall we say, not in the first flush of youth, nor had most of them even sat on a bike for anything up to forty years before they joined the scheme after it started about two and a half years ago. Anyway, we were told that the total mileage of the 40 or so regular riders amounted to some 25,000 miles for the year.
Individual top milers are as follows:
Senior Ladies
Cherie Challenger 466 miles
Maureen Debenham 443
Diane Spellward 433

Senior Men
Rod Cole 768
Trevor Lenton 500
Terry Spellward 489

Junior Ladies ('junior' in this context means under the age of 60 years)
Alison Britton 1006
Debbie Yarlett 539
Karen James 508

Junior Men
Gary Mclellan 382
Matt Britton 374
Glenn Smith 304

Mr & Mrs Teams
The Spellward's 922
The Debenhams 898
The Mclellan's 764

Well done all! You're all living proof that it's never too late.

Take a bow, folks! A fine example of the resurgence of cycling in Britain.
Copenhagenize !

Controlling Dangerous Traffic - A Little Girl's Perspective.

This little set of sketches by my daughter were rediscovered today whilst she was sorting out a pile of course artwork returned from her old school.
I don't recall seeing these pictures before, but we think that they were done during her early years at secondary school.
Since starting reception class we have always walked to school as it's only about a mile away, but due to a lack of continuous footway we have to cross a busy main road twice to get there. The footways are quite narrow in places which makes the passing traffic quite scary to a young child; we experienced near misses on a zebra crossing pretty well on a weekly basis when dozy motorists drove through whilst we we were on it. Things were much the same on the light controlled crossing outside the school. You would have thought that a light controlled crossing PLUS a uniformed 'lollypop man' would be enough to attract your typical idiot motorist's attention. Not a bit of it!
The bit of main road by the entrance to our cul-de-sac is nominally a 30 limit. Yeah. Right. Even with regular mobile speed camera blitzes by the local plod the local knuckleheads tend to regard the '30' as a minimum speed.
The pictures in this little set indicate possible solutions to these problems as imagined by a little girl who grew up to hate cars.

The Guy from Cycle Chic

No words. This is what it's all about. Just watch:

Licensed to cycle – I Pay Road Tax

This is probably the best reasoned article I've seen on the famous old chestnut about cyclists road tax/insurance/licence. Says it all for me, but that's just because it's 'preaching to the converted'. However it's unlikely to have much effect on the 'redneck' element of the car obsessives who would never allow reason and facts get in the way of a good prejudice.


Licensed to cycle – I Pay Road Tax

Spending money on cycling facilities...

Imagine the howling outraged response from the Daily Mail reading reactionary mob in Bike-Phobic Britain if a bridge of the magnitude shown in David Hembrow's video was ever even proposed just for people to ride bicycles on. And not a penny piece in "road tax" asked for or expected, too. Well, folks, that's the difference between a civilized nation and one that just thinks that it is...
http://hembrow.blogspot.com/2009/11/nijmegens-big-bridge-for-cyclists.html

I Pay Road Tax

Cool new web site launched today, I think.

I Pay Road Tax

Should be enough information there to counter the petrol-junkies' most common sneer at pedal power, and more.

Beauty and the Bike

As a husband and dad of a trio of cycling beauties this little film really appealed. It also shows what can be done with a little bit of enthusiasm, commitment and some simple easy measures to turn the UK into a decent place to live in. As American (yes! American!) broadcaster, Bill Nye, once said: "Bicycling is part of the future. It has to be. There is something seriously wrong with a nation that drives a car to the gym". And, of course, that particularly topical quote from H.G Wells: "Every time I see an adult on a bicycle I have hope for the human race".
Watch. And enjoy:

(And thanks to Mikael at Copenhagenize for giving me the heads-up on this clip).

The Cycling Lawyer: Cycling against the car culture

The Cycling Lawyer: Cycling against the car culture

This link says it all. A well argued case from a member of the judiciary. If only there were more like this gentleman we'd be happy to stay living in a civilized country.