Cycling Cultures blog

Alongside Dutch and Danish experts, and representatives from Transport for London and the Freight Transport Association, I’m giving evidence to the Greater London Authority’s investigation into cycling in London. The meeting is open to the public and takes place on Tuesday 11th Sept – more detail here.

The meeting will cover both increasing cycling levels and increasing cycling safety, with topics including cycle infrastructure, HGVs, national and international best practice and promoting cycling.

Junction on Cycle Superhighway 2, Mile End Road/Grove Road, currently under review as part of TfL’s Junction Review.

The final installation was at Lock 7 at 129 Pritchards Road, London E2 9AP. Here, we planned to install not in the windows but on the walls of the cafe. Trying not to make too much mess we installed seven images; two double sided portraits on the perspex wall of the workshop and three on the back wall of the cafe. We also provided entertainment to people who had thought they were just there to have coffee.

Britt, working at height

Entertaining the locals

Drinking coffee, making mess

Portraits on the cafe wall

View from outside

I have started the four-day course to train as a cycle instructor (although I’ve put off the final two days till my other work quietens down a bit). During the Hackney phase of the research, a number of our interviewees mentioned having been encouraged to cycle through training, and I bumped into a few cycle instructors at events. In Hackney, it seems like cycle training often attracts people who are working in the arts; most trainers are self-employed so the job is flexible and provides additional income. Other people I met were juggling childcare with working as a trainer.

I wanted to find out more about how cycle training works and training as a National Standards Cycle Instructor seemed a good way to do it. Training groups of children is ‘bread and butter’ for cycle trainers, with funding available from boroughs for schools training, and this is what the course focuses upon. One-to-one adult training is also often funded, but as this is usually requested by individuals rather than arranged by organisations, the work is more sporadic. However, trainers I’ve met often say they particularly like doing one-to-one training because you can teach a skill individually and really concentrate on that person’s development.

Cycle training pulls together lots of different skills – time management, teaching skills, being able to relate to young (and less young) people, being professional and approachable – and of course being able to show someone how to ride a bike. And being able to deal with the unexpected… if you are going to a school for the first time, you don’t know what level of skill the kids will have (years 5 and 6 can be very diverse in terms of development), you don’t know what their bikes will be like, you don’t know what the parents and teachers have done to prepare, and so on. Teaching in a playground may be interrupted by other children on breaks, while teaching on-road has its own challenges. A lead cycle instructor must scope out on-road routes beforehand identifying any risks and how s/he will deal with them. As one of my co-trainees said after an on-road drill – ‘There’s so much going on and we’re trying to make it simple for them’. There’s a parallel here with the academic teaching work I do – trying to help students create a coherent narrative out of what may at first appear to be a sprawling thicket of confusion. (Although on a bad day, I can feel like I’m doing the opposite!)

What is also interesting about the training has been the ease with which our instructors can slip between ‘teaching 10-year-olds’ mode, and ‘teaching adults to teach 10-year-olds’ mode. Learning the drills, one moment we are listening to a description of the drill, the next moment being a 10-year-old learning to ride, and then being an instructor teaching 10-year-olds. We also made an eye-catching group doing drills in our hi-viz – one postie put down his mail sack to get a better view of us wobbling past a line of parked cars!

The two events that I was involved with this week both went well. The benefit Vive Le Tour, in Dalston, attracted around 50 people. Here is a picture of Emily and the Woods playing, with the speakers fuelled by bicycle power (looked hard work to me, relaxing with a beer after my short talk on the Cycling Cultures research):

Lots of interesting people there from various Hackney (and London) cycling cultures. Short writeup from Marcus here.

The second event was our UEL public lecture, with Richard George from the Campaign for Better Transport speaking on planning and permeability, and Justin Spinney from the UEL Sustainable Mobilities Group on Fixies: Green and Cool? Plus me musing on the concept of Sustainable Transport. All three talks (particularly Justin’s!) generated lots of discussion among the 20 people attending and we were still animatedly debating the ideas after the event finished at 7pm. I will be posting talks, slides, and possibly an edited transcript but probably not for a few weeks as I’ve got a lot of other stuff on. In the meantime, another picture:

UPDATE: here is a short video of my slides from Thursday – which are probably a bit cryptic without the audio/transcript – this will be coming soon and will explain the chocolate cake/salad animation…

Rachel Sustainable Transport Talk

While I was in Adelaide for the Australian Cycling Conference I signed up for the annual Community Challenge ride that precedes one of the stages of the Tour Down Under. This year it started at Norwood and ended in Strathalbyn. The full route was 135km and included a number of significant hills, however there were several other entry points along the way to enable riders of differing abilities to get involved.

7500 riders joined this years event. From 6am, the route through the city and up into the hills was flooded with light green jerseys provided as part of the registration. The fastest riders formed tight pelotons while the middle and end of the ride were a little more straggly and fluid. The majority of cyclists were men on carbon fibre road bikes. About 10% of the riders were women. Riders ranged in age from teenagers to 60/70 year olds. I did note a few other kinds of bikes (including tandems, some tourers and a few mountain bikes). Everyone was pretty much dressed in lycra, wearing matching cycle jerseys and padded shorts. Although lycra is often criticised as representing a particularly exclusive and narrow subculture of cycling, what was interesting was the inclusive feeling of the ride. Lycra’d cycling bodies came in all shapes and sizes, giving rise to the idea that this material is not just for the conventional sleekly muscled cyclist but for anyone who rides a bike.

The route passed through many small towns such as Stirling, Mount Barker and Macclesfield where local residents had decorated the streets, houses and local shops with bicycle themed paraphernalia. Many were sitting by the side of the road, equipped with balloons and whistles to cheer and encourage passing cyclists. No doubt many were set up for the Tour Down Under racers who would be speeding past later in the afternoon, but it was nevertheless a lovely warm welcome.

Given the phenomenal amount of cyclists the organisation of the event was impressive, both in terms of marking out the route and quality of the refreshments. Fortunately, the weather was nowhere near last years 40c+ temperatures but water and food stops were nevertheless essential in a 135km ride. It was therefore great to find regular parks and school grounds well indicated along the route providing water, boxes of bananas, fruitcake, energy drinks and chewy things as well as toilets and shadey spots to sit and relax.

At the end of the ride in Strathalbyn riders were swiftly escorted through town and into a large playing field equipped with more food, entertainment, free hats, sunscreen and medical assistance if needed. Overall it was a terrific ride, well supported by organisers and the local community.

The event ‘Building Cycling Cultures’ will take place at The Phoenix Digital Arts Centre in Leicester on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th June 2011. It will celebrate and discuss the many ways in which different people have been working to build cycling cultures in the UK, and explore and debate what needs to be done next. We are co-organising the event with Dave Horton, of the ‘Understanding Walking and Cycling‘ Project, Andy Salkeld of Leicester City Council, and John Coster of ‘Citizens’ Eye’. We’ll be announcing further details soon, but you can register your interest now at Building Cycling Cultures.