cyclingcultures.org.uk

I am late to training today as I have come directly from the protest against the cuts to education at Millbank. Instead of going to the school, I ride directly to the basketball courts in Finsbury Park. I arrive halfway through the session and I spot a group of cyclists at the far end of the courts. There are five women at the session this afternoon. They are all regulars and are all wearing jackets, scarves, gloves and even ear muffs. Today is cold. Although it is a lovely clear blue sky winters day, there is a definite chill in the air. I am impressed that the group is still going strong now that winter is approaching.

Today the cyclists are practicing looking, indicating and turning in single file. Every session is different, depending on who turns up and what level they are at. The instructor yells to keep them in line and focused on the task at hand. She explains to me that everyone is so excited about their developing skills that they just want to practice and often ride away to do emergency stops or different turning circles. The instructor likes the fact that everyone is so keen but also wants them to learn new things every week. She laughs a lot in between yelling. I too find myself smiling and laughing in these sessions. There is something really special about watching a new cyclist develop and thoroughly love the process of learning.

I spent the morning at a Family Bike Day at Parkwood Primary School. It was a chilly winters day but the sky was blue and the sun was out. Today’s session attracted close to 20 (soon to be) parent and child cyclists. There is another session on tomorrow from 10.00-13.00 and a free bike maintenance session on Wednesday night. See here for more details.

There were a range of different cycling abilities across the twenty participants. After getting registered, organisers split them up according to skills and directed them to an appropriate area of the school and series of trainers; the front playground for beginners, the basketball court for people who were familiar with riding but needed to learn how to control their bikes and basic road skills and the back of the school for mechanical assistance. I spent the morning in each area watching people learn about cycling in one-to-one sessions and small groups. I heard stories about how quickly people were progressing from never having ridden until a few weeks ago to tackling a slalom course in the basketball courts. I observed children yelling encouragement to their mums and mum’s doing the same to their children. The session clearly made cycling look like a lot of fun.

These sessions are designed to teach both children and adults to cycle – the premise being that encouraging families to cycle as a group greatly increases the chance of children having access to a bike and opportunities to ride. It is also a terrific opportunity for parents, predominantly women in today’s session, to learn to ride in a supportive environment. Many I spoke with today had little or no experience of cycling prior to joining the group and were amazed at their developing skills.

Today I attended cycle training for parents of children studying at Parkwood Primary School, in the North of the borough near Finsbury Park. This is a project whose funding (from TfL and the London Cycling Campaign) was secured by Transition Finsbury Park. Amita and Nursen, the cycle trainers, led the eight trainees (all mums) to Finsbury Park. The sun was shining and everyone was keen to get out as the last session had been rained off. It was a diverse group – including one woman originally from Bangladesh, several Turkish women and one from Madrid. Most were complete or very recent beginners.

The bikes needed a bit of adjusting – we were one short so I lent my bike to Rosa, after lowering the seat – but everyone was excited to be out in the Finsbury Park basketball courts, also used by Pedal Power. Last week was the first time the session had run in the park; before there had been a couple of sessions in the primary school playground. This had a couple of downsides: firstly, the tight corners and small space, and secondly, the attention of the children inside the building! (although this could also be encouraging; “Come on Mum!”).

The first time the group got to Finsbury Park, they were speeding around and whooping, enjoying the space and the freedom. This week too there were lots of smiles although also trepidation among the complete beginners. It reminded me of my recent tandem experience – when it’s new, it’s quite scary and learning to balance takes a lot of effort. Amita and Nursen helped the complete beginners, holding the bikes and encouraging them, while also managing to provide more advanced training for some of the other participants who’d attended previous sessions (like emergency braking lessons).