----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Life Cycle UK
Sent: Thursday, 1 March

Subject: Cycling News

Welcome to the March issue of the electronic newsletter from Life Cycle UK, the cycle promotion charity.  In this issue:

·    In tandem
·    Pothole peril plugged!
·    Treat yourself to a BMW
·    Vital statistics
·    Diary dates

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In tandem

Two’s Company is the name of a new Life Cycle project that takes the pleasures of cycling to people who are blind or who have impaired vision. The key to making this happen is… the tandem.  Last year we bought three of them from a bike hire business that was closing down.  We also advertised for volunteers to help lead the rides, and we began to spread the word amongst the sight-impaired community.

Earlier this year we arranged visual awareness training for our volunteers.  The course was run by RNIB and included some rather scary road riding sessions, with our people taking it in turns to don special glasses that drastically reduced their vision, and then riding on the back a tandem. This really brought home the importance of building trust and confidence.  The rides need to be well organised and the person on the back of the tandem needs to be certain that the person at the front knows what they’re doing!

Lots of practice followed, and we checked and double-checked our procedures. Then at the end of February, we ran our first ride, a leisurely trip along the Bristol & Bath railway path to Bitton.  A few refreshments and then back to Bristol.  Each Life Cycle tandem had three courageous blind co-riders on the back.

All went well.  The weather was crisp and sunny, the bikes ran smoothly and everybody enjoyed themselves.  When she got home, Nureen, one of the co-riders, was prompted to dash off an e-mail:    
“Dear Life Cycle, I would like to thank you for arranging the ride on 24th February. I had a brilliant time and felt so excited and free at the back of my tandem. It was all well thought out and planned; and we were with a lovely and very helpful group of people. I will certainly be coming on future Life Cycle rides!”.  

We will run a couple more test-bed rides in March, and then we will roll out Two’s Company as a regular programme.  To make it all happen, we need more volunteer front-riders, more tandems (if you’d like to donate one!) and money.  A number of small donations from local businesses and charitable trusts have enabled us to launch the project.  We need more donations to maintain and expand the programme of rides.  You can donate on-line by clicking  http://resources.lifecycleuk.org.uk/product_info.php?cPath=30&products_id=76  


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Pothole peril plugged

Now, as you probably know, Life Cycle teaches people to cycle.  All ages, all abilities, we can do it.  Money back if not delighted.  We show trainees how simple things such as how you position yourself, and where on the road you ride can make a massive difference to how other road users perceive you and treat you.  Just about everything out there is, to some extent, under your control.

But one thing a cyclist hasn’t got much influence over is the state of the road.  Today’s forty-four tonne juggernauts and all that rush hour traffic plays merry hell with the road surface and periodically potholes the size of pudding basins appear.  The council are usually pretty good about getting them repaired – but they can’t be everywhere at once and they can’t fix a pothole if they don’t know it’s there.

Now a new web-based service lets you report holes in the road. It’s called www.FillThatHole.org.uk  In just a few clicks you can log the location of the problem (using the truly marvelous Google maps) and notify the relevant local authority.  In no time at all the blokes with shovels will be out there putting things right!  

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Treat yourself to a BMW… just £10

To Life Cycle, a BMW is a Bike Maintenance Workshop – a four-stage course to teach beginners how to fix their bikes. You’ll learn how to adjust everything so that you’re comfortable and in full control, you’ll mend punctures, adjust your gears, replace broken cables and tweak your gears so that they change properly.  

Courses run at St Werburghs, Bristol and at the Mud Dock bike shop in the city centre. Check out http://www.lifecycleuk.org.uk/events.php for dates and times.

Places on the course normally cost £79.  However, if you live in one of Bristol’s neighbourhood renewal areas (that’s Easton, Ashley, St Pauls, Lawrence Hill, Barton Hill, Knowle West, Hartcliffe, Withywood, Southmead, Lawrence Weston, Lockleaze and Hillfields) you can book onto the course for just £10.  We have a very limited number of places at this price so please contact us as soon as possible if you’re interested.  E-mail post@...

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Vital statistics

The Department for Transport recently published a personal travel factsheet which includes lots of interesting information about cycle use in the UK.  A few snippets…
·    44% of people over the age of 5 own or have the use of a bike.
·    One third of car users say they would cycle more if there was better bike parking. (They’ll be applying for free bike stands through Life Cycle’s Take a Stand scheme then!)
·    The most popular reason for cycling (38%) is leisure and pleasure…
·    …closely followed by cycling to work (30%)
·    Cycling is more popular with men than with women
·    As you might expect, cycle use is at its highest during June, July and August.  Yet there is more cycling going on in January than in May!  (The new year’s resolution factor perhaps?)

Download the full document (as a PDF) by clicking this link:  http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/personal/factsheets/2005/cyclefactsheet

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Diary dates

·    June 16th to 24th is Bike Week, the nation’s celebration of cycling.  There will rides, cyclists’ breakfasts, commuter challenges... all kinds of stuff going on. In the West Country it’s a busy time for Life Cycle as we’re in demand to run info stalls, deliver inspirational roadshows and Doctor Bike surgeries at businesses, schools and community groups.  In fact we’re taking bookings already (thank you Astra Zeneca –your roadshow is in the diary!).  If you’d like us to visit your workplace we recommend booking early to avoid disappointment.  To learn more about Bike Week visit www.bikeweek.org.uk  
·    June 24th is the day of Bristol’s Biggest Bike Ride.   Every year more than 4,000 people take part, a great biking torrent pouring out of Bristol’s Harbourside and off along a traffic-free Portway.  It’s a brilliant day out for the entire family with a choice of routes to match all ability levels. It’s also an opportunity to raise sponsorship money for a local cycling charity!  Click this link to find out more http://www.lifecycleuk.org.uk/fund_raising.php


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Life Cycle UK  ::  86 Colston Street  ::  Bristol BS1 5BB

0117 929 0440

      www.lifecycleuk.org.uk

“…enjoy the journey!”