Bike Week roundup

Cycle campaigners marked National Bike Week by opening 10 new routes including a multi-use path linking schools and railway stations in Kidderminster. This is one of four newly opened schemes to benefit from contributions from the New Opportunities Fund (NOF).

Cycling charity Sustrans is helping to distribute £7.42m of this lottery backed fund’s ‘green spaces and sustainable communities programme’.

The other NOF assisted schemes launched by Sustrans serve local schools and commuters in Luton (see below for more details), link communities from Farnham Royal and Windsor, and provide for shared use with walkers and wheelchair users along the new Grays Western bypass at Thurrock. Sustrans also inaugurated six stretches of the National Cycle Network from the Isle of Wight to Scotland.

In Lancashire, workers were urged to get on their bikes to raise their pulses - and much need cash for the conservation charity The Wildlife Trust - as part of National Bike to Work Week.

Keen cyclists Neil Graham and Adrian Smith (pictured above) , both employees at Lancashire County Council, hit the road on Monday 16 June to kick start the week-long promotion. Neil, a senior reporter in the news centre at County Hall, pedalled from Bacup to Preston - a regular journey for the local journalist. " I started cycling to get fit and now I do it for the sheer pleasure. I love it. It's great fun and I even cycled 900 miles on holiday last year riding from the French Coast to Barcelona," he said.

Adrian Smith, a planner working in environment at Lancashire County Council, cycled from Burnley to Preston and said: "I'm not Lycra man or anything - I just use my bike to get around. I started cycling to get fit, especially as I reached my 40's. But also, part of my work is about sustainable transport and I decided to practice what I preached.

Sue Naylor, a Health Promotion specialist with the Chorley and South Ribble Primary Care Trust said: "Cycling to work is a great way of keeping fit and healthy. It reduces your chance of suffering from illnesses, such as coronary heart disease, strokes, diabetes and colon cancer."

Luton Borough Council supported National Bike Week with the official opening of phase two of a riverside walk/cycle route in the town (see pic opposite).

The opening ceremony took place at the beginning of the route and was attended by local councillors and members of Sustrans - a charity that promotes and funds sustainable transport activities - along with local school children and their parents. Expert cyclists acted as safety marshals along the route.

The new cycleway, route 6 of the national cycle network, provides an attractive route for pupils and parents travelling to and from school, as well as people travelling to work or just cycling for leisure purposes.
The Council also worked in partnership with a local bicycle retailer during national bike week to offer free cycle safety checks.

In support of National Bike Week, the Scottish Road Safety Campaign produced two posters (see above) to promote consideration between cyclists and drivers users.

Research published in 2001 ‘Sharing Road Space: Drivers and Cyclists as Equal Road Users’ showed that drivers and cyclists needed to show a greater tolerance of each other whilst using road space. The A4 posters can be displayed separately or joined together to create a larger display.