Arthur Lamy

I read that nearly 900,000 bikes lie unused in sheds around Scotland according to Cycling Scotland, and I don’t doubt that the same situation exists here in Jersey. I haven’t snooped into people’s garages, but usually a cursory glance as I ride by reveals a heap of colourful metal hidden in the depths between the tumble dryer and the fridge freezer.

I don’t find this very surprising, when I used to sell bikes for a living, you could almost wager that the eager beaver who left the shop with their new bike on Saturday would have grown tired of it before the following Friday. I didn’t worry too much, we live in a fast paced consumer society, and I imagined that a bicycle happened to be the ’must have’ of the week.

As you have noticed if you read this blog regularly, I’m very keen to get more people cycling, but this week I thought I’d give the people who can’t be bothered a chance to do something with that bike that is loitering, and taking up space for something else that they won’t use, in their garage.

However, together with a link for a charity that will make good use of your bike, here is a final morsel of encouragement to do the right thing and ride it.

The Bike to Work book in an online format: http://issuu.com/carltonreid/docs/bike_to_work_book_98_pager

Here is the website of the Jersey Charities Association: http://www.jerseycharities.org/

Braking News

• London is becoming a safer place to cycle according to a recent report from Transport for London. The number of people killed or seriously injured has halved over the past ten years, and this is despite the huge increase in people using bicycles as a means of transport.

• Gary Fisher bikes are to disappear as a standalone brand, instead they will come under the Trek banner as ‘The Gary Fisher Collection’, and they’ll be sold by Trek dealers. By doing this, the brand will become available in eight times more outlets and be seen 10 times more on the internet.

See the new range at www.trekbikes.com/fishercollection

• At last an actual electric bike group set. Available in December 2010 is the Shimano STEPS – Shimano Total Electric Power System, which will allow anyone to build their own electric bike on almost whatever frame they chose.

Could this be the start of some acceptable looking e-bikes?

• With the London cycle hire scheme, sponsored by Barclays, starting at the end of July, there is a cartoon out now that explains the whole thing ; form signing up to safety and security.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hChuqzTud4

• Sustrans have got a ‘Pledge a Journey’ challenge running at the moment. They hope to use the mileage recorded as leverage to get Government to improve cycling facilities.

Make your pledge at: http://www.changeyourworld.org.uk/?dm_i=6EB,6MJS,O4IUH,GCGC,1

• The London Festival of Architecture – 19th June to 4th July – has embraced cycling this year with a large number of cycle tours of the city led by such luminaries as Wayne Hemmingway; Barry Mason and Simon Inglis.

• Recent research undertaken by Cycling Scotland has revealed that 850,000 bikes lie unused in Scotland. Most of these bikes are in good condition and are ready to go. Cycling Scotland are hoping that the 200 cycling events taking place this week – National Cycling Week – will encourage some of these bike owners out on their bikes.

• Not a great week for Mark Cavendish,  Britain’s favourite sprinter, a horrendous crash on stage 4 of The Tour de Suisse saw him sustain what he described ‘as the worst injuries I have suffered’, and though he rode the following day’s stage, he pulled out afterwards. See the pile up here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RNAYR3KPIg

• Jean Robic has won the Race Across AMerica  for the fifth time! In a time of 9 days, 1hour, 1 minute, beating second place man Gerhard Gulewicz by nearly 12 hours. The first woman over the line was Barbara Buatois from France in 11 days, 16hours and 8 minutes.

• The average number of kids cycling to school in the United Kingdom is 2%. Sustrans Bike It schools have 10% of children coming by bike every day, and 26% coming by bike at least once a week.

Find out more about Bike It here: http://www.sustrans.org.uk/what-we-do/bike-it

And Finally,

News from Prague informs us that a runaway tram was chased by its driver on his bike for over a mile before someone thought to turn off the electricity. The driver sustained slight injuries whilst attempting to get aboard.

Arthur Lamy is a freelance writer and tourist guide specialising in cycling.  www.cycleinjersey.com