“Welsh Government guarantees cycle route cash”

“Following two years of campaigning by Sustrans, the Welsh Assembly Government has pledged to dedicate five per cent of its Road Maintenance Grant to the maintenance of cycleways.” BikeBiz

What will John Swinney do?

More info - walesonline.co.uk “Each local authority has £10,000 to improve on-road cycle lanes as part of new funding to repair roads which took a battering from the recent cold snap.”

Discuss on citycyclingedinburgh forum

Snow on the Tracks (Help Please)

It’s nearly two weeks since the thaw set in, so it’s surprising/disappointing to find that there is hard-packed snow forming a slippery surface on a walk/cycle path that is a key link to a primary school.

But it’s not just ‘minor’ paths – even the mighty Innocent is untouched by council staff.

Over on CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum these and others are being recorded – do YOU have any to add? Photos a bonus but not essential.

Please also add paths that were untreated, even if snow has now melted.

Scotland Years Ahead of Denmark!

Photo by [Zakka / Mikael]

Can’t be often you read that, especially when it relates to cycling! The fact remains that the £3 bike charge on ScotRail was abolished in 1998 to coincide with greatly improved cycle capacity on most routes. (Bikes still have to be booked on some long distance routes.)

“Danish State Railways [DSB] will allow bicycles to travel free on the red S-trains that serve Greater Copenhagen and suburbs. It is a test period that starts this Friday and that will last for the rest of the year. DSB hope to make everyday journeys easier for Copenhageners and encourage more people to use their bicycle.” (Story from copenhagenize.com.)

Wouldn’t it be nice if trains in the UK marked the bike spaces so well! (And had more of it – though Scotland is generally much better than other parts.)

Meanwhile in California bikes go free too – but there’s room for more of them.

Photo richardmasoner

Councillors Rejected Gritting Plan

In November officials in the Council’s City Development Department submitted proposals to councillors that, if approved, would have meant that the city’s main cycle commuting (and leisure) routes would be added to the priority gritting list.

“Purpose of report

1 To advise the Transport, Infrastructure and Environment Committee of the results of the review into increasing the scope of treatment to the roads and pavements in Edinburgh to include the main off-road cycle paths in the city and to advise of the potential cost of such treatment.”

Currently only Middle Meadow Walk is on any priority list – “Pavement Category 2″ which means being dealt with ‘when resources permit’ – in spite of being a major walk/cycle route with a continuous slope at the north end.

Councillors were told that “the additional cost of treatment would be between £ 70,000 -£100,000 for which there is no current budget provision.” Presumably this included some capital spending rather than just salt and labour(?)

Councillors, not supplied with crystal balls to predict the last few weeks, decided that this was too much money to find.

If you disagree – particularly if you have experienced dangerous paths due to ice or frozen ‘tramlines’, or had the experience of being forced into roadside slush by impatient motorists – you might like to contact the Chair of the TIEC Gordon Mackenzie and/or your local councillors.

Comments on CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum

Be Part of Cycling History for £25

Edinburgh born cycling historian and writer, Andrew Ritchie, is planning to self-publish his next book.

And he’s looking for 100 people to pledge to buy it.

Of course the book’s subtitle may put people off – “Bicycle Racing: Sport, Technology and Modernity, 1867 – 1903″

The title may not appeal either “Quest for Speed“. The knowledge that it is a “substantially revised version of my doctoral dissertation, ‘Bicycle Racing and Recreation: Sport, Technology and Modernity, 1867 – 1903′”, may convince you to keep your pledge in your pocket.

But wait: This is an extract from the abstract (FULL version and details of all chapters) -

“Quest for Speed provides a chronological, developmental, historical account of the emergence of bicycle racing and bicycle technology between 1867 and 1903, focusing to a large extent on Britain, but also investigating France and the United States as the two other major players. As a social and cultural history, it gives an outline of the social and institutional organization of cycling and the wider cultural, economic and technological context of the sport. In doing so, it tackles themes of class, nationality, industry and commerce, the press, speed, and the physical capacities of the human body, and also the nature and definition of ‘modernity’.

Even that might sound a bit dry, but the book will be well illustrated – Andrew is an accomplished cycling image researcher. (He fell out with a prospective publisher who balked at the number of proposed illustrations.)

His first book King of the Road has the following on the back cover -

“Andrew Ritchie, himself a passionate cyclist, has widely researched little know collections of pictures, and has found many fascinating books, articles and documents on the early days of the bicycle and its changing design and social importance. Ultimately, he argues, the history of the bicycle has only just begun and it could provide an answer to many of today’s crucial transportation problems.”

That was written 35 years ago.

Maybe it’s beginning to come true…

You can be part of cycling history by promising to buy this book – the first 100 people will have their names in the first (limited edition) print run.

Send an e-mail to jabritchie@hotmail.com and contain your excitement for a few months. Your coffee table will have to wait too.

What Should be Done with Princes Street?

Princes Street re-opened to bikes and buses two weeks ago. There have been quite a few cyclists grounded by encounters with the tram tracks. One early one was caught on video and sent to You Tube and resulted in Evening News and BBC stories.

Yesterday training was held on the section that is still coned off but there are still no warning signs or road markings to alert people to the dangers. One improvement would be a new Advance Stop Line at the junction with Waverley Bridge.

Discussion on CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum

YOU can help CycleStreets

CycleStreets is the premiere UK-wide Cycle Journey Planner. It got a boost last year when Edinburgh based ChangingPace (interest declared) got Scottish Government money to help create the Edinburgh version.

Cambridge based CycleStreets (created by people involved in the Cambridge Cycling Campaign) is looking for help -

Test routes in the Journey Planner

Add photos to the Photomap

Fundraising – donate / fundraise!

Contribute map data to OpenStreetMap

Become a feedback reviewer

Coding: join the coding team

Spread the word

That one is easy

Designer needed

Write us an iPhone app!

“We’d love to have an iPhone version of CycleStreets, but we don’t have the code expertise yet. Quite a tall order, we know, particularly as we don’t (currently) have funding!”

Discussion on CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum

UPDATE – Now an Evening News story

Ride Planet Earth on Sunday

Ahead of the Earth Summit in Copenhagen next week thousands, maybe millions, of cyclists will be riding to show their support for measures to combat the effects of Climate Change. (http://rideplanetearth.org)

In Edinburgh the normal monthly Spokes Ride is to be a RPE event. It sets off as usual from the Usher Hall at 10:00am. “We will be stopping for lunch at Out of the Blue in Dalmeny Street at 12:30 where we will be joined by longstanding Spokes memberMark Lazarowicz MP [Edinburgh North and Leith] who will give a very short speech about the climate negotiations, and accept a letter from Spokes to the Energy Secretary.  He will also join the remainder of the ride after lunch.”

“Lunch will cost £6.50 and you must book lunch in advance (soup, sandwiches, tea, coffee, cake).   Book by emailing spokes@spokes.org.uk , or phone 0131 313 2114.”

More info.

Psst, Wanna Buy a Used Bike Shop?

It’s only been open a few months (Eastside Bikes in Abbeyhill) but already owner Nik Antestenis is planning his exit strategy. It’s not that he’s made a fortune and is cashing in – bike shop owners seldom become ‘well off’. He’s returning to the States for sound family reasons.

So (in the middle of next year) there’s an opportunity for someone to take over a business that already provides a modest living, and has lots of potential.

Of course you’ll need a bit of cash and a fair amount of knowledge of bike fixing – the main business is repairs and custom builds of ‘classic’ bikes. You’d also need to be good at dealing with ‘the public’. Some still think that keeping bikes safely on the road is a low grade skill, that they can’t do themselves, but should be available for a fraction of the price of a plumber…

Nik has established a customer base of local people and others who want their ‘dream’ machine (often a fashionable single speed) built from one of the interesting frames hanging in the shop.

Princes Street Set to Re-open

Princes Street is expected to re-open to buses (and bikes of course) at 5 a.m. on Sunday.

It’s also due to see an “Art Car Parade” – “this electrifying spectacle will feature illuminated customised vehicles of all shapes and sizes being pushed, pedalled and driven from the Royal Mile to St Andrews Square Gardens” (from Parliament Square via The Mound, Princes Street and Frederick Street) – at 5 p.m. tomorrow.

Progress can be spied on from a conveniently place webcam. (Watch the big wheel rotate too!) The activity is not quite frenzied, but there have undoubtedly been more yellow jacketed workers and vehicles visible in the last ten days than the previous ten months! No doubt someone will know how many tonnes of tarmac have been laid in the last few days.

Last week’s Spokes Public Meeting discussed the whole issue of how bikes should fit with trams (when they eventually run). Chair of the meeting Lesley Riddoch had a full page in The Scotsman on Monday. A discussion continues on the CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum.

It will be interesting to see whether it’s possible to deal with the leapfrogging buses without crossing the new tram tracks – and how ’safe’ it will feel traversing the tracks when slaloming from The Mound to Hanover Street in the rain.

UPDATE – cycling from The Mound to Hanover Street over the tram tracks induced no concerns – apart from wondering about the need for the Cyclists Dismount sign…