This weekend I…
- spent a day with Dr Bike, provided by Better By Bike, at St Paul’s Community and Family Centre
- participated in the Bristol World Naked Bike Ride as a steward
- followed the Easton Arts Trail and chatted with Jen and Jet who cycled from Bristol to India
- played some bike polo
- saw fixed gear riders getting filmed for BÖIKZMÖIND

The Bristol Naked Bike Ride is on this weekend – Sunday 19th June. I am a volunteer steward for the event which means I will help guide the group by blocking traffic on major thoroughfares. I will also hand out flyers to interested observers and generally look out for anyone with problems – be that technical issues or harassment.

We had a practice run tonight to review the planned route on paper and then physically trace it through the city. We made note of potential places of high human or vehicular traffic and how to deal with them in a group of a few hundred cyclists. Fingers crossed the weather is kind to us on Sunday.

Guerilla urban knitting on the cycle path….

One of my interviewees lives out in Yatton and I took the opportunity to cycle to them rather than meet in town. It was about 15miles each way (though a little longer on the way back I did an accidental tour of Nailsea). My route took me through the city, Long Ashton, Backwell, Lower Claverham and onto Yatton. It featured busy roads, quiet narrow lanes and off-road cycle paths.

The Bristol Bike Project won the Grassroots category of the 2011 Observer Ethical Awards .

Here is a video the Observer made about the project:

The Bristol Bike Project : The Observer Ethical Awards 2011 from The Bristol Bike Project on Vimeo .

So many things to write about…..

- Women’s Night at the Bristol Bike Project
- The MOD Green Transport Day
- Conversations with Better By Bike people
- 7 more interviews
- More time hanging out at the BPP
- 3 bike portraits
- and (see below) a LOT of wet windy generally lost cycling (I was trying to trace a rabbit in the city but it seems to be more of just a tangle of disconnected lines – will try harder)

I’m heading to the Women’s Night at the Bristol Bike Project. Run weekly, these sessions from 5-8pm offer women a chance to learn to fix their bikes in a women only environment. I’m looking forward to it. I recently installed a new cassette on my road bike (I added a few extra teeth to deal with bristol’s many hills) and there’s slippage between a few gears that I’d like to tinker with.

Some blurb from the BBC website:

Because it is important to be able to fix your own bike and not to have to rely on favours of male friends or the often quite expensive bike shop. The knowledge of mechanics has been historically gendered and segregated – that is, men (and boys) are encouraged to pursue technical and mechanical activities while women (and girls) are discouraged. As such, women are often seen as unable to use tools and hence not trusted to use them. Women are perfectly capable of carrying out mechanical tasks and it is very important for them to have the space to learn new skills and practice existing skills without assumptions about ability based on gender.

Regardless of where I am, I always photograph the walk/cycle traffic symbols. Although universal to an extent, they are uniquely shaped by the local culture.

During the Bristol Campaign Cycle (BCC) ‘Chic Cycle Ride’ on Sunday, I noticed Martin Tweddell (BCC chairman) was wearing an interesting looking trouser snap guard thing. He explained it featured images of the East German Ampelmännchen or ‘traffic light man’. Prior to reunification in 1990, east and west Germany had different road traffic symbols and the East German versions were soon replaced. This prompted public outcry and campaigns to return to the original character. As a result, the Ampelmännchen was returned to traffic communication infrastructure and also began a new life as a cultural icon, appearing on an array of objects such as cycle guard things and tourist souvenirs. It is an interesting case study of mobility communication and cultural practice.

On Wednesday Kat and I were very kindly given a bike tour of the city by Andy from the City Council. Like the tour of Hull provided by Allan last year, this was a great way to quickly get a sense of the different areas and how they are connected. While Bristol suffers from severance and blight due to major roads mostly built in the 1960s and 70s (such as the M32 which cuts into the heart of the city) it also benefits from being compact for a large city with some wonderful green spaces like Oldbury Court and Ashton Court. Many of these can be cycled through.

Coming soon: a link to view the map and some pictures that I took en route.

The route – and many thanks to Andy for so skilfully planning it – allowed us to ride fairly slowly around the city for 40km, taking in around 10 (I think!) parks or green spaces of varying sizes and types.

A number of our interviewees refer to the importance of being able to ride in a leisurely or sociable fashion in or near urban areas (a theme discussed in our ‘Rides’ paper currently under peer review). For example, several people in Bristol have already described to us how a commute route becomes a very different experience ridden with friends rather than alone; heading out slowly to a park or pub rather than to your office or factory. Being able to have diverse cycling experiences in the same area can both be a low-impact form of leisure or tourism, and a way that people continue to experience cycling as more than ‘just transport’, however important it is to them also as a form of transport.