CONTENTS Contact details for problems on cycle paths NEXT ISSUE

Highland Cycle Campaign (HCC) is a voluntary
organisation of like-minded people working to
provide everyone with a safe and attractive cycling
environment.
Membership is open to individuals and organisations
who support our objectives. Membership is currently
free but HCC r eceives no gr ants towar ds r unning
costs and therefore relies on donations from
members. If you wish to donate please pay into Bank
of Scotland sort code 80-91-26, account number
00439699. Alternatively see the ‘Join’ section of the
website for standing order forms.
http://www.highlandcyclecampaign.com
keep up to date with Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/HighlandCyclist
or Twitter: https://twitter.com/highlandcyclist
CONTENTS
NEWSLETTER ISSUE 50 May2015
Contact, office bearers
Convener’s Report
News:
Community Links
River Ness Flood prevention
Member’s survey
Campaigns
Training day
Pedal on Parliament
Presumed Liability
Highland Cycle Campaign Contacts
Chair: Ger ar d Chur ch
[email protected]
Secretary: Br ian MacKenzie
[email protected]
Treasurer: Duncan Tullis
[email protected]
Newsletter Editor: Diana Gilber t
[email protected]
1
2
3
3
5
4
8
10
Articles
The views expressed in this newsletter are those
of the articles authors, and not those of the HCC
office bearers.
The Velocity Phenomena
Women’s cycling
Folding bikes
7
10
11
Contact details for problems on cycle paths
Defects* on joint user (cycle & pedestr ian) paths alongside Trunk r oads (or the r oadway) should be
reported to Bear Scotland via their website: http://www.bearscot.com/ or Freephone 0800 587 1107
Litter, broken glass etc. on paths contact The Highland Council TEC Ser vices:
e-mail: tecs@ highland.gov.uk or phone: 01349 886601
Defects on all other r oads and paths in Highland Council should also be r epor ted to 01349 886601.
*Defects = dr ainage, potholes, encr oaching vegetation etc.
NEXT ISSUE
Copy deadline 20th October 2015 . Send any ar ticles, letter s, opinions, for th-coming cycling related
events to Diana Gilbert (see above) before 20th October for inclusion in the next issue. Documents should
be e-mailed in a WORD-compatible document (if not word then rich text format, .rtf). Any pictures
should be sent as a low resolution .jpg files. Hard copy images can be sent to Diana who will scan them
for use (and return IF an SAE is provided), please e-mail to confirm arrangements..
1
Highland Cycle Campaign ~ Convener’s report
Convener’s Report
Ged Church
HCC Activities since the last Newsletter
Over the last five months HCC members have been involved in
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Consultations over the West link in Inverness,
Communicating with Transport Scotland over A9 & A96 dualling projects,
Attending other public consultations & exhibitions (e.g. Muirtown & South
Kessock),
Contributing to an audit of the Millburn road shared-use path,
Working with The Highland Council (THC) and local communities to make
Community Links funding applications (see article page ??),
Participating in the To Ride training day in Edinburgh,
Participating in Hitrans Active Travel Advisory Group meetings,
Participating in discussions with Inverness City Partnership to produce a
Transport providers advisory document,
Participating in Non Motorised Users Forum for A96 in Aberdeen,
Scrutinising and circulating THC roads orders for Inverness,
Surveying members with regard to HCC capital spending ideas.
Adapting and developing the HCC website,
Arranging for transfer of post from treasurer elect to interim treasurer.
This list is by no means a complete account of the activities but will give you some idea
of the range and time consuming nature of the voluntary work which has been carried out
by four regular activists. Our secretary, Brian Mackenzie, has borne the burden of most
of the active work and travel. Ron Stewart, Graham Tuley and Ged Church have also
been active on a regular basis. In addition two new members are becoming more
involved and we welcome Sarah Bowyer and Duncan Tullis, the latter taking on the
duties of interim treasurer and providing a link to Velocity. At the last AGM, in April
2015, these six all agreed to continue or were elected to join the committee with Doug
Morrison who has taken on being minute secretary. As retiring treasurer, Moira Broadhead was extensively involved in this last item. Nine members gave detailed responses
to our survey on use of funds.
It will be seen that most of the actions concern Inverness. We are still working on ways
of communicating rapidly with the general membership to highlight opportunities for
local engagement. The favoured ways are via a blind-list e-mail to members and links on
website. The list could potentially be used by a number of committee members. This
would mean that members given responsibility for particular functions could circulate
information to members immediately. The different levels of IT ability amongst active
members, and the number of active issues they are each engaging with, has meant that
this issue has so far not been attended to sufficiently. We would be delighted if any
volunteers could help us here?
The use of Facebook and Twitter has been suggested and discussed but we have not got a
consensus on the use of these, nor has anyone come forward to open such systems.
I would urge all members to look at our website and links with a view to becoming more
active in the cycling issues in their own locality. Please consider attending out meetings
and offering your services as committee members, if you cannot make the next meeting
but are interested you can contact one of the committee through the contact info on page
1.
2
Highland Cycle Campaign ~ NEWS
Community Links Applications
Ged Church
HCC members have been involved with local communities in working with The Highland Council (THC) to obtain funding for cycle facilities. One of these is the ongoing
Inverness to Beauly project led by Kirkhill & Bunchrew Community Trust (K&BCT).
THC were to have awarded the tender for the work to provide a link between Beauly
and Kirkhill at the end of February. Unfortunately for a technical reason the tender process had to be repeated and was, consequently, delayed.
The main part of the work will be to construct a cycle/walking path on the south side of
the A862 between Lovat Bridge and the junction at Dunballoch. The work should have
begun in mid March. At the time of writing this the outcome of the tendering process is
still not known.
At the end of January, following a meeting with representatives of the K&BCT
(including the author), THC have undertaken to seek to obtain an agreement with local
landowners to allow provision of a continuation of the path from Dunballoch to Brockie's Corner.
The existing path between Lovat Bridge and Beauly is a pedestrian path and does not
reach the minimum standard for a shared-use path. Therefore, at the request of K&BCT,
the THC has submitted an application for match funding to carry out a study of options
available to bring this part of the route up to shared-use standard. This study is to be part
of a larger one that includes the route from Beauly to the Black Burn, on the border with
Ross & Cromarty. The latter project was stimulated by activists in Transition Black
Isle's Million Miles group.
Should all these actions bear fruit, we will have the potential for a link, in the near future, between Muir of Ord and Kirkhill/Inchmore and all destinations between which
will be suitable for pedestrians and cyclists of all levels of confidence and ability.
Once again our thanks must go to our local councillors and officials all of whom at one
point or another have provided support, commitment and action in support of this much
desired community project. The members involved are Ged Church & Bob Hemingway.
River Ness Flood Alleviation Scheme
Brian Mackenzie
Douglas Row is one of the streets that's been affected by Flood Alleviation Scheme
(FAS) work for the past year.
During all of that time the contractor, Morgan Sindall, has done its best to look after the
access needs for local residents. Piling, drainage and foundation work was the first to be
done. This was followed by the wall itself, the roadway and the footpaths. This work is
now nearing completion and, although the street is still closed to traffic, the final
streetscaping is becoming visible. Please note that a steel railing still has to be fitted
above the ridge of the wall.
The main constraint was the lack of available width and this was exacerbated by the
existing trees. It was not an option to extend the bank or move the trees. Indeed extreme
effort was made to protect the trees while work was going on around them.
The road width varies from about 3.6m to 3.8m. The footpaths have substantial
contd page 4
TRAFFIC ORDERS
Graham Tuley
Traffic Orders are advertised in the Press & Journal and the Inverness Courier and I report
these weekly, on Mondays, to the Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. I also add in other news items
of interest. about bicycles. I will send this report to anyone who requests it, and will happily
add in any information from other papers that you send me, by e -mail [email protected] or to 26 Crown Drive, Inverness IV2 3NL [Tel: 01463 230446]
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Highland Cycle Campaign ~ CAMPAIGNING
dropped kerbs and the footpath width on the riverside varies from about 2.2m to 4.0m
The trees, being about 0.7m diameter, are a significant obstacle on the pavement. Indeed, the flexible surface
around their base can increase
the effective tree width to 2.4m.
The road surface is asphalt; the
footpath is Caithness paving
slabs.
The road remains one-way
(towards the camera). The footpath is shared so is two-way for
cyclists.
Friars Street runs parallel to this
and is one-way in the opposite
direction.
It's an unfortunate necessity that
the wall interferes with the view
of the river. It also prevents easy access to the grass bank which was previously quite
easy (with care) through the old railings.
Providing it remains without parked vehicles this will be an attractive improvement.
For further reading about the Flood Alleviation Scheme please consult the archive of
FAS Newsletters on the HCC website
CAMPAIGNER TRAINING DAY in EDINBURGH
Ron Stewart
A cycle 'Campaigners Training Day' organised jointly by CTC, Space for Cycling and
Pedal on Parliament was held in Edinburgh in February. This was an open event attended
by interested individuals from around the country.
The day started with a welcome message from Paul Timms, Chair of CTC Scotland,
who introduced the first speaker, Helen Todd, Policy Manager of Ramblers Scotland,
who spoke on Space for Cycling, the Scottish Context. Ramblers Scotland has five staff
in Scotland and so is able to do much more to protect the interests of members and promote their organisation than CTC, who employ only one person, working for one and a
half days a week. Little surprise then that Space for Cycling, which is supported by CTC
and claims to be a UK-wide campaign, appears only to be working for England (and perhaps Wales?) and, by not engaging with Holyrood politicians, is failing the Scottish
membership.
We then had a talk entitled ‘Understanding and Influencing your Local Authority',
which I feel failed to stir the assembled audience. However the second part, a talk by Jim
Orr, an Edinburgh councillor, was interesting in that it looked at cycling from another
perspective. Jim told of one councillor who had been persuaded that cycling was "good"
in terms of reducing congestion and pollution, health benefits, etc. she had not been sufficiently persuaded to start cycling herself but does much to protect and promote cyclists
interests. In other words people we do not expect to participate may still in fact be supportive.
For the next item Keith Irving of Cycling Scotland gave an introductory talk and then
the audience divided into groups of 6-8 people, each with the same list of ten measures to
promote cycling and were asked to list these in order of priority. There was agreement
among the groups that Investment and Provision of Infrastructure were of the highest
priority.
contd. page 5...
4
Highland Cycle Campaign ~ CAMPAIGNING
The afternoon session started with a talk by Roger Geffen on the Space for Cycling campaign which merely told us of progress in England, and gave little hope of this campaign
going nationwide. Roger also spoke about Road Justice which is working to ensure cyclists are being fairly dealt with by the legal system. This is in response to several cases
in which drivers appear to have got off lightly following incidents with cyclists. One of
the leaders in this campaign is a retired City of Edinburgh traffic police officer with
Highland connections so I feel we can be assured Scottish interests both urban and rural
are adequately represented.
Next we had a presentation from Rod King of the 20s Plenty campaign. This inspirational speaker was possibly the highlight of the day and reported on the progress of the
campaign to reduce speed limits in urban areas.
There followed four Workshop sessions, with attendees able to participate in two:1. Space for Cycling, Reducing Traffic volumes and speeds, protected space.
2. Road Justice, working with the police, understanding the legal framework and Court
cases.
3. Running an effective campaign group.
4. Social media, this was about what roles Facebook ,Twitter, and the internet in general
can play in cycle campaigning.
Overall impressions, CTC campaigning arm, the Right to Ride group, has all but gone
to sleep in Scotland, there is a lack of any coordinated effort among individual campaigners, but there was no opportunity to discuss this at the Training Day. CTC HQ appears to
engage solely with Westminster appearing to ignore the fact that transport in Scotland is
a devolved issue handled by Holyrood.
Pedal on Parliament appears to be taking over from CTC in engaging with Holyrood
and highlighting cycling issues with our MSPs and Transport Scotland, but is based in
the Central Belt.
It was good to see the average age of the participants at this Training Day was lower
than that observed in previous campaigning events, also the gender split is becoming
more balanced, in-line with that of the general population.
Survey of Members' views on how to best spend funds.
Ged Church
At our January meeting it was decided to ask the members what their views were regarding use of our funds. An e-mail was circulated on 12th February asking the following questions
1.- Should we contribute sums to local community and other projects?
2.- If so should there be a ceiling amount per contribution?
3.- We are known as Highland Cycle Campaign and have in the past operated from
Skye to Moray and Caithness to Dalwhinnie. Most of our activities, however take
place in the Inner Moray Firth area. Should this affect where any contributions go?
4.- What would be an appropriate contingency reserve once we have taken into
account annual expenditure and income?
5.- If you think we should proceed in this way have you any suggestions of projects
suitable for support?
We received 9 detailed responses and one suggestion for a specific item. Thanks to
those who took the trouble to respond.
1. Community projects. 5 r espondents thought we could suppor t these. 3 thought
this was inappropriate and that we shouldn't fund, for example, cycle parking as this
should be provided by the council, organisation involved or developer. These respondents thought we should direct funding to campaigning & promoting.
contd. on page 6..
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Highland Cycle Campaign ~ CAMPAIGNING
2. Level of funding. 4 r esponded with a figur e r anging fr om £250 - £500. 2 felt the
nature of the project should determine the amount spent.
3. Geographic area. Most identified Highland Council ar ea. However our constitution specifically states Highland & Moray Council areas are where we can operate.
4. HCC Contingent reserve. £1,000 or ther eabouts was suggested by 4 r espondents. 1 respondent suggested £2,000.
5. Projects suggested.
To assist communities:- Cycle par king - stands & lockers, winter visibility equipment
( specifically for schools ), provision of tools to organisations. One specific request
was made for a bicycle stand outside Dingwall library.
Campaigning:a) Promoting HCC - Employ or sub contr act a wor ker to r aise HCC pr ofile via advertising, both postal and IT, otherwise do the same using local advertising via press &
IT links .
b) Campaigning - Use advertising techniques as above to promote local & national
campaign projects such as "Twenty is Plenty", "Roadshare", "Space for Cycling" or
"Living Streets". Also, we should contribute funds to these projects where appropriate.
These responses were discussed at the March 11th HCC meeting. The feeling was that
any contribution of funds to community projects should be very limited and temporary.
Advertising the availability of funds would therefore raise false expectations. There was
a consensus that we should lobby providers to do more in specific cases. However ,we
should not rule out responding to specific community requests for funds to get a project
off the ground.
The Committee felt that we should concentrate our efforts and spending in the campaigning area. It is possible we could appoint a member who is available to do a piece of
work for a stipend without necessitating the cumbersome process of interviewing and assessing a range of candidates.
In the main it was felt we should use funds to take out advertising for specific events,
self-promotion and addressing issues at election time. A start was made by hiring a suitable venue and engaging Chris Thompson of "Living Streets” to speak on "Twenty is
plenty " at the 2015 AGM.
We need more members to become engaged in campaigning. In the first place anyone with offers of action should contact us at the Highland Cycle Campaign and copy
myself as convener in ([email protected]).
The Velocity Phenomenon
Duncan Tullis
Velocity social enterprise has
delivered thousands of hours of
training to help Inverness become ‘cycling city’.
Over the last two years, Velocity Café and Bicycle
Workshop, a young social enterprise in the heart of Inverness has been working with local schools, businesses
and third sector organisations to promote the health and
social benefits associated with cycling.
Some of our outreach projects, funded by the Scottish
Government’s Climate Challenge Fund and the Inverness Common Good Fund, include:
contd. page 7
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Highland Cycle Campaign ~ ARTICLE

cycle skills sessions in 16 Primary Schools
and 4 Secondary Schools; loan-bikes for
those wanting to try cycling;
 the installation of 4 bike tool stands for secondary schools;
 Inverness's first Bicycle Festival and support
from our expert staff in a specialist workshop. In the last year alone, our community
bike workshop has been used 1,570 times,
ensuring that Inverness locals have the help
they need to keep cycling their bikes.
During this time the café has gone from strength to strength, becoming a popular Inverness
hang-out, serving tasty food made from locally sourced ingredients, and great coffee too.
While the funding for the current outreach work came to an end in April, the team at Velocity
are excited about new opportunities in the pipeline which will allow them to focus their work in
communities where cycling can really make a difference. This will follow up on successful projects such as one from Inverness Women’s Aid for supporting a group of women for a 3-month
period. The project introduced cycling as an enjoyable and practical mode of transport which
can help improve health and well-being. One woman who benefited from the loan of a bike and
free training said, "I can now cycle on roads and even roundabouts, whereas before I wouldn't
even contemplate doing anything like that. I have even cycled round town on my own."
The work of Velocity’s fix-your-own-bike workshop and outreach team has been featured in a
film and as a case study for the Climate Challenge Fund, and feedback from participants has
been overwhelmingly positive.
Project manager Penny Phillips said of the last two years, “We
have connected with people from many different ages and backgrounds in Inverness and are seeing the positive impacts that cycling can bring to lives; a renewed sense of fun and adventure in
children, a feeling of freedom in young adults, and increased confidence and health in adults. While we regret that our current activities are coming to an end, we are grateful for the opportunities
we have had to engage with communities across the city and look
forward to the future of new possibilities".
Jane Melville, of Inches Primary commented, "I’m not sure what we expected before you came
to visit us. However, the Velocity visit was an unequivocal success. Having Velocity visit us
has shown us how the cycle train would work and what was involved, introduced kids to maintenance of a bike - a novel concept for many! The girls too were delighted to learn how to fix a
puncture. Your visit has given us loads of ideas on how to encourage biking/walking to school.
We also hope to have some kind of bike train run in future, with perhaps parents/staff organising.
It has also encouraged parents to decide if they can give their child more independence by allowing them to cycle on their own/with a friend, rather than with parent/or in car. Some children
have now been travelling unaccompanied to school with their bikes on the bike train. It was especially great to see some mums and dads walking/cycling with their children, some of whom
were normally being collected and dropped off within the school car park."
The future brings fresh and exciting challenges for the us, Velocity would like to give thanks to
everyone that's been involved so far, it’s the support of local communities and the energy which
has fuelled Velocity’s successful early years.
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Highland Cycle Campaign ~ CAMPAIGNS
Minister pledges record spending at fourth Pedal on
Parliament
From PoP website
Transport minister Derek Mackay pledged additional spending on cycling as the sun
came out for a fourth mass rally on Parliament .
Early morning downpours did nothing to deter the crowds – or dampen the spirits – that
descended on Edinburgh on 25th April for the 2015 Pedal on Parliament, the annual
grassroots campaign for safer cycling. Cyclists and marchers gathered, from as far
afield as Glasgow, Moffat, and even Elgin, at the Meadows to call for a cycle-friendly
Scotland. A parallel event in Aberdeen, the first to be held outside the capital, also drew
150 cyclists. Despite the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon not attending, the Transport
Minister Derek Mackay did and pledged that the Scottish government would increase investment in infrastructure on top of last year’s record-breaking spending.
Introducing a minute’s silence for
those who have died on the roads,
David Brennan – who had ridden
the route from the Meadows to Holyrood on the bike that was ridden
by Andrew McNicoll when he was
killed – said “The fact that there are
so few scratches on this bike, shows
just how vulnerable we are on the
road. We need to see conditions
where everyone can ride and famiPhoto Chris Hill, April 2015
lies do not suffer the tragedies the
McNicoll family have.”
Briana Pegado, President of the Edinburgh Student’s Union said “The student movement is totally behind cycling. The number one reason our first year students don’t cycle
is lack of confidence to cycle on the roads. Cycling is one of the most affordable
transport options but we can’t cycle without infrastructure to support safe cycling.”
Emilia Hanna, Friends of the Earth, said ”We’re here
to tell the government that we have the right to cycle
safely, without being knocked down but also without
being suffocated by pollution from too much traffic.
Air pollution alone in Scotland is costing 2000 lives a
year and air quality is breaching legal levels in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee. It doesn’t
have to be this way. Imagine a city where polluting
vehicles are banned and cyclists get traffic lights
timed for them – it exists, it’s Copenhagen, where
more people cycle than drive. It’s our right to cycle
safely”
Transport Minister Derek Mackay told the crowd, ” I
can assure you that I hear your message that every
politician should do more for cycling. There’s a long
way to go but my assurance to you is that as the new
minister for transport is that I will do everything I can
to support cycling as much as I can. My commitment
for 15/16 is the government will spend more on cycling than the record breaking previous year. We’ll
put our money where our mouth is to invest in infrastructure so that cycling is seen as a proper mode of
transport – across a range of policies. There’s
Photo Chris Hill, April 2015
Contd. on page 9
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Highland Cycle Campaign ~ ARTICLE
consensus across the political parties to invest in cycling, and at local level. I commend
Edinburgh council for leading the way on 20mph limits and I will make it as easy as possible for other councils to follow suit”
Cameron Buchanan for the Conservatives said that “we need to do more to create continuous cycling infrastructure so cyclists don’t end up running red lights. Holland and
Denmark lead the way on this.”
Willie Rennie for the Liberal Democrats thanked the Fife feeder ride for riding with
him from Fife and the investment that had made cycling from Fife into Edinburgh safer
“My pledge is to keep Derek Mackay to live up to his pledge. Liberal Democrats have
committed to increase spending on active travel every year. We need drivers to think
about us as vulnerable people on the roads. Your voice is being heard in parliament and
we will continue to make it a priority”
Sarah Boyack for Labour said “Thanks to POP for the magnificent weather! We need
more clarity and transparency so we can track the money and make sure it integrates into
transport, health, and planning policies. A lot of what needs to be done has to be done at
local level. I love the fact that Glasgow is now competing with Edinburgh to be the best
cycling city in Scotland – we need events right across Scotland so that every school, hospital, train station and everywhere is accessible to cycling. We need long term, radical
investment, with more money for local government so they can do things properly.
Change need pressure and you are the right people to put that pressure on”
Green MSP Alison Johnstone said ” How many more POPs are we going to have to
have? By the time of POP40 will we be coming together to celebrate the fact that we’ve
cut deaths, cut health problems and met our climate targets? This is a transport justice
issue – 40% of households don’t have access to a car – 60% of poorest households. Our
roads budget 695 million pounds – spot the difference with the cycling budget. This fantastic grass-roots movement means the message is getting through – we can get that
budget up year on year until we see the transformative change we need. I want to see an
end to fatalities but also an increase in our healthy active population – not a vision, but a
target”
Bruce Whitehead Left Unity candidate, said “We have a strong belief that we need to
tackle the climate catastrophe that we’re facing – and transport is responsible for 24% of
emissions. I will be working hard to lobby for an integrated transport system of trams,
trolley buses and bikes.
Photo: Chris Hill, April 2015
9
PRESUMED LIABILITY: Key Messages
Ged Church
Highland Cycle Campaign ~ CAMPAIGN
Presumed liability in this article is equivalent to the term ‘Strict’ Liability, as used on the
Cycle Law Scotland website where the information below was first published.
Presumed liability in civil law is the proper approach for a mature, socially conscious nation as it addresses the unacceptable human cost of the current system.
To the best of our knowledge, the UK is one of only five countries in Europe that
does not operate a system of Presumed liability for road users.
Under Presumed liability, injured vulnerable road users are properly and promptly
cared for and not forced to fight for compensation.
Presumed liability builds a culture of mutual respect between road users (as seen by
the Continental example).
Presumed liability ensures the most vulnerable road users are protected – cyclists
from motorists and pedestrians from cyclists.
Presumed liability will facilitate the development of a road hierarchy based on mutual respect between motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.
Presumed liability will help promote the idea of Scotland as a cycle-friendly nation
and show Scotland leading the UK in cycle-safety.
Scotland currently has very low rates of cycling.
A key reason holding back cycling as a viable alternative to the car is that too many
people fear the prospect of cycling on the roads.
Presumed liability will send out a clear message to drivers to keep a look out for cyclists when driving and bring about a culture change with regards to cycling.
As we see in Europe, Presumed liability is an integral part of a holistic approach to
encouraging safer roads for cyclists.
More cyclists on the road will bring with it consequent public health and environmental benefits.
Presumed liability is more cost effective than the current system – and the cheapest
way to make a big difference to cycle safety.
Injured cyclists will receive just compensation more quickly than at present, avoiding the need for expensive litigation and reducing the burden on the courts.
Evidence indicates that financial impact on insurers will be minimal and they may
even see a reduction in costs due to the reduced time it would take to settle cases.
Quick resolution to cases means cyclists are able to begin rehabilitative or similar
treatment more quickly, freeing up the public purse from having to pay for their
healthcare, social security and other similar benefits resulting from serious injury.
Presumed liability is not unprecedented.
It is the default position in workplace injuries and there are a large number of statutory Presumed liability health and safety provisions.
Existing Presumed liability laws serve a useful educational purpose and promote
safety consciousness in the same way Presumed liability for road users would.
British Cycling promotes cycling for Women!
British Cycling Inspiring one million more women to get on their bikes. We want to
change the culture of cycling and get one million more women on bikes by 2020. This
section contains the latest news on all things related to women’s cycling as well as updates on the progress that we are making towards our ambitious target.
Contd/. page11
10
Highland Cycle Campaign ~ ARTICLE
Breeze is the single biggest programme to get more women into riding bikes for fun and
aims to help thousands of women feel confident and comfortable about going on a ride.
The project is focused upon fun and social rides as opposed to utility cycling (ie to work,
to shops) although this latter type of cycling is a natural progression once the women
have started to cycle and are feeling more confident - www.goskyride.com/Breeze
This Girl Can is here to inspire women to wiggle, jiggle, move and prove that judgement
is a barrier that can be overcome.
Total Women’s Cycling, for women who love to ride. Promoting women's cycling in the
UK and abroad, with latest news, guides and reviews for all levels of cycling www.totalwomenscycling.com .
The Friends Life Women's Tour is Britain's first ever UCI level stage-race for women,
which took place for the first time in May 2014. The 2015 edition of the race will take
place from 17-21 June - www.womenstour.co.uk
Manchester seems to be where its at, there are at least four different groups promoting
cycling to all levels of interest:
Team Glow is a women's cycling group and network. Our aim is to bring women together and get out riding our bikes! We cater for everyone from novices through to
more experienced riders, aspiring racers through to happy tourers. We mainly ride road
bikes but some of our members also do mountain biking - www.teamglow.net
Manchester Wheelers. This club has an active female membership and we would love
to see this increase. There are women on many of the club rides and several of them
race regularly throughout the season. There are also some women only rides and training sessions and a women's forum to arrange socials and events www.manchesterwheelers.co.uk/about-us/women.htm
Women’s Cycling Manchester has a group on Facebook and a twitter account
@WomenCyclingMcr
Manchester and District Ladies Cycling Association was formed to encourage ladies'
cycle racing, especially Time Trials. Membership is open to individuals and clubs in
the Manchester area - www.mdlca.org.uk/
Folding bikes – an experiment
Martin Sherring
Introduction
Penny and I borrowed two folding bikes as an experiment to see how they would help
or hinder a 4-day trip to London, visiting friends scattered across the north and west of
the city. We also used Cyclestreets.net to provide quiet routes around the capital – another first for us. Here’s how we got on.
Background
We’ve been toying with the idea of folding bikes for years, but somehow the benefits
never seemed enough to justify getting more bikes. These days, though, we are using
public transport a bit more, and there aren’t many buses from Culbokie – but if we could
get to the A9, there are a lot more. We also do more leisure cycling than we used to, and
it would be good to be able to hop on a bus or a train to get to the start/ finish. And the
final push came from the increase in the Rose Street car park charges, which made it prohibitively expensive to leave a car there for a week away by train. (Since then the charges have been reduced, but they are still £7 for the first day and £5/ day after that.)
The trip
A friend offered us a lift into Inverness to catch the 07.55 train to London; from Kings
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Highland Cycle Campaign ~ ARTICLE
Cross we had to get to Hampstead. The next day we were meeting friends in Chiswick,
and then they were driving us (and the bikes) to see mutual friends in Northwood, where
we stayed the night. The next day we had a party about 3 miles away, staying another
night in Northwood. And then, on the
final day, our friend gave us a lift to
Hatch End inMiddlesex, where we
took a train to Richmond, lunch with
more friends and an afternoon cycle to
Euston for the sleeper home. Oh, and
then a bike ride from Inverness back to
Culbokie. In total, we probably cycled
about 60 miles, and took the bikes with
us in two cars, on two East Coast trains
and two local trains.
The bikes
Both bikes were made by Dahon and
The Dahon Ciao i7
have 20 inch wheels. One was a Ciao
i7 owned by Transition Black Isle and
is available to borrow (details at the end). This has 7 hub gears, and according to the Dahon website weighs 12.5 kg (but I think that excludes the rear pannier rack, so maybe 13
kg in practice). The other was a Vitesse D8, with 8 derailleur gears. This is about 1 kg
lighter than the Ciao.
Portability
The bikes were a tight fit to get two into a car boot – and wouldn’t work in a small car
or one with lots of other luggage. The
long-distance trains were easy, the
folded bikes went into the guard’s van.
I hate to think what would have happened if we had tried to take them on a
rush-hour tube train or bus – we certainly wouldn’t have been popular!
The two local trains we took weren’t
crowded and the bikes just sat by the
doors.
Both bikes were quite heavy to carry
any distance, and they have bits sticking out that catch on calves. Mostly
it’s easier to unfold them and wheel
The Dahon Vitesse D8
them than to carry them, but we had
one change of trains that involved going along one platform, up two sets of stairs and along a walkway. The stairs were hard
work, and it wasn’t worth folding and unfolding the bikes for the short flat sections.
The Vitesse is easier to carry because it folds with the handlebars tucked between the
two frame sections – so there’s one less thing to get in the way. Both have guards over
the chains, so we avoided oily trousers.
Luggage
Both bikes have a rear luggage carrier. We took rucksacks and strapped them onto the
carriers whilst we were cycling. That was a bit awkward, but not a problem in the context of an hour or more of cycling. It would be more irritating for a shorter trip to/ from a
bus stop. There’s a bit of a knack to fixing luggage so that it doesn’t catch your feet as
you’re cycling. I guess panniers would fit, but they aren’t so easy to carry when the
bike’s folded up.
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Highland Cycle Campaign ~ ARTICLE
Cycling
The bikes were fine to cycle, and the range of gears was pretty good – we came back
over the Black Isle ridge, and the hills were no more of a problem than on our hybrid
bikes. The lack of a cross-bar makes them a bit harder to control when stationary. I
think they must be a bit slower than full-sized bikes, but there isn’t that much in it. The
20 inch wheels are fine on moderately rough surfaces (canal tow-paths, for instance).
The routes
The routes suggested by Cyclestreets.net were excellent, almost all along residential
streets and cycle paths. The routes are quite complex though, which makes the descriptions difficult to follow, and journey times were a lot longer than suggested, because we
had to consult our notes at every junction – and there were a LOT of junctions. Also, a
couple of times we took a wrong turn, and without a detailed map it was difficult to get
back onto our route. If we’d been a bit better organised, we could have used a map
downloaded onto our phone, but that would still be a bit of a fiddle. On the other hand,
by the time we were on our way back to Euston we found ourselves on streets we recognised from the outward trip and we had got accustomed to the wording of the route descriptions.
Conclusions
Folding bikes seem to be mostly used for commuting, but this experiment helped convince us that they can also be useful for less regular trips. Our interest was in combining
the bikes with lift-sharing or public transport to make a longer journey feasible without
getting the car out. That seems to work, with the proviso that the Dahons wouldn’t be
popular on crowded buses or trains, and fitting two of them into a car boot is probably
impractical with smaller cars. If that is important, a Brompton, with its 16 inch wheels,
may be a better bet.
When we were researching folding bikes we thought of the obvious pros and cons for
particular models – folded size, weight, number of gears, luggage carrying capacity,
price. There are a few other criteria which we hadn’t thought of until we tried these
bikes. First, portability isn’t just about folded size and weight, the Ciao just wasn’t as
neat as the Vitesse, and in practice the clumsiness was more significant than the extra
weight. Second, we suspect there is probably a trade-off between portability and rideability. We haven’t ridden Bromptons much, but reports seem to suggest the smaller
wheels make them a bit more “twitchy” and probably less suitable for rougher terrain.
I’d recommend people try different models and makes before they buy.
Cyclestreets.net was great at suggesting a reasonably unthreatening route in unknown
territory, but I’m not sure we found the best way to have the route details handy, and the
descriptions take a bit of getting used to. We’d still recommend this approach, but allow
lots of extra time and experiment beforehand with ways to keep the description somewhere accessible.
Overall, the trip was a great success, both as a way of researching the folding bike options and as a way of making the most of both bikes and public transport – and avoiding
car park charges!
TBI folding bike loan
TBI’s folding bike is available on loan from Willie Mackintosh in Raddery. His phone
numbers are 01381 621291 and 07525 415550 and his e-mail address is [email protected]. Black Isle Bicycles also have a similar Dahon Ciao in their hire
fleet, contact Giles on 07964 779663 or [email protected].
WWW.HighlandCycleCampaign.com
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