Blogs

So 14 of us rode the bike bus to the Bradford Skyride, and 5 rode back together (into a massive headwind!). See previous post Riding to the SkyRide for details.

The day was pretty good - great to see so many people out on their bikes - young and old, in trailers, with stabilisers, on racers, bmx, etc.

The entertainment village was pretty good, with static sprint challenges, assault courses, whacky bikes, live music and food stalls.

Apparently 5,000 people did tuen up, but it never felt that crowded with us all spread over a 7km course and with a big park mostly to ourselves.

Really good. Just can't help thinking we didn't really all need to wear high-viz jackets on closed roads!

Lots of pictures on Sky and British cycling's sites -  many of them containing bike busers. Spot yourselves if you can.

Links:
Sky's report
Sky's Pictures
British Cycling's report

Bike busers will be going to the SkyRide (Bradford) on Sunday 29th August 2010, where it is expected that 5000+ cyclists will turn out to enjoy traffic free roads for the day.

But how to get there?

The event kicks off at around 11.30am, so the we've put together a timetable (below) for those wanting to ride with others to the event along the Aire Valley route.

All times are approximate as we've no idea of how fast or slow we'll actually be on the day. What we can promise is that we will not pass the points given before the time stated.

We'll join the SkyRide route in Little Germany. For more details of the SkyRide and the route see: http://www.goskyride.com/location/bradford/

Blimey did you see the rain last night? Did you get caught in it on your commute?

Three of us bike busers did, and you might expect it to have been miserable, which it was, but it was also oddly fun!

For a start it was warm, so that helped, but there's something great about getting caught in a summer storm knowing that you're almost home and you can shower and dry out. There's also the shared experience of being there with friends - you gotta laugh, and with friends around you it suddenly seems funny, whereas on your own it's just a head down slog.

So if you saw us yesterday and were thinking 'Poor blighters' - in some ways we were, but it's an experience I wouldn't swap - I just wouldn't want it to happen every week!

BTW, in terms of other experiences not to swap, check out the Hammster's Blog about the BigKCyclosportive last weekend:
http://hammsters.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/sunday-18th-july/

Ok - so this is a little late - National Bike Week finished nearly 3 weeks ago, but I've been meaning to tell you all about it...

Last year the bike bus rode every day of bike week, but this year we just went out on our normal Wednesday run. We ended up with 21 riders riding the route, most of whom ended up in Centenary Square to tuck into the free breakfast supplied by Bradford Council (Thank You!). We arrived just as the photo was being taken, so only the sharpest of the sharp managed to get their fizhogs in.

Always great fun to be riding in a large group!

Cycle Fest marked the end of bike week. I wrote about this already in this blog post: Cycle Fest 2010

Last Saturday's Cycle Fest was great!

The sun was shinning and the park was just full of bikes and cyclists of all ages. There are just too many people/activities to mention, but here goes.

The mass ride from Centenary Square was good fun - led up the road by Goldilocks and the 2 bears, and the Neighbour Support Cycle Display Policing Team, see the pictures on Flickr tagged: cyclefestbradford.

There were cycle smoothies, where children got to select a cup full of fruit, and then blend it using pedal power, and best of all drink it down - delicious. Among other people the volunteers of the Saturday Bike Club at East Bradford were helping out there. 

John Dennis, who is planning a ride to Malta this summer, raising money for Sue Ryder Hospice at Manorlands, had his legs waxed in public - ouch!

Some of the FixedGearLeeds (and Bradford!) turned up, taking prizes in the Hill Climb, and competing in the bike polo.

Ginny from the CTC Cycle Champions project did a great job of pulling it all together.

Dan, was promoting the upcoming SkyRide this August bank holiday, with free T-shirts and info.

The team from Pennine Cycles were on hand to provide some of that advice you can only get from a good local bike shop.

The crowd were astounded by the trickery of the Professional Cycle Display from Inertia.

The adapted bikes from the Bradford Disability Sport & Leisure cycle club were on display, so people could have a go. You could also have a go on the skills course run by BeCycling, and  have a taste of BMX racing thanks to the Bradford BMX Bandits. Racing was sponsored and run (I think) by Richard of Active Sports.

Of course the Aire Valley Bike Bus was there chatting away to folk in the sun, and so nice to see many of the regular riders popping in to say hello.

I'm sure there is much more, so sorry if I've missed you out. Check out the website for the event:
http://cyclefestbradford.org.uk/ and there are some pictures on Flickr tagged:  cyclefestbradford.

A friend of the BIke Bus has organised this...

There is an opportunity for a meeting with the person from Bradford Council in charge of Safer Roads in Bradford District - Steve Thornton.
 
The meeting will take place on Tuesday 8th June at 5.30pm at Bradford Univeristy, Horton Building (opposite the Richmond Building - the building with the plastic dome)  in Room D01.29.
 
That is on the ground floor. The meeting is for everyone in Bradford. Please come and have a chance to hear what Bradford Council are doing to make roads safer, and give your opinion and seek some positive actions that can take place. Apparently around this time local councils are making Local Transport Plans that will last for 15 years - this may be a chance to make sure we can contribute to these plans.
 
We aim to finish at 6.30pm (although in reality it might go on til 7pm but we will try our best to stick to an hour).
 
Please let people you know that are concerned about Road Safety to come to the meeting

If you have experienced any dangerous incidents on the roads and have time please write these down, print them off and bring them for Steve Thorton, or email them to him at steve.thornton@bradford.gov.uk
 

Fun ride this morning, with a faster pace between traffic lights helping keep the chill off.

Was it me or did the traffic seem that little bit lighter today? Anyway, it was enough to get me excited about the prospect of riding in less traffic over the upcoming holiday period. There should be people riding the Aire Valley Bike Bus over Easter, so if you've been thinking of giving it a go, this holiday could be a good time to try it.

Finally, how nice are the lighter evenings - officially, lights only required in bad weather conditions - not because it's night!

Well if there's been one feature of the past month it's been snow!

Rather sensibly most people have stayed off the road in the snowy, icy, slushy conditions. I tried to ride this week, but after a few wobbles abandoned when I made it back to Bingley.

There were some brave souls out though, some people had fun on the tow path, and others found that the road, on a bike was perhaps the safest place as pedestrians slipped and fell on icy pavements and cars were crashing on black ice.

There's still a long way to go until winter is out, but maybe next week, we'll be riding again...

For the second year running Santa took the opportunity to cycle to work on what is traditionally his 'busiest week of the year'.

Riding the full route, from Keighley to Bradford, Santa, and his two little helpers, joined the other commuters in the Aire Valley as they also made their to work in the wintery conditions.

Santa said "I'd like to thank all the big girls and boys that made extra room for cyclists in the difficult cycling and driving conditions", before (predictably) adding, "Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas".

For the record, Santa test rides all 'christmas' bicycles, to make sure they all arrive in tip top condition for those lucky people getting a new bike on the 25th. "The Cycle to Work schemes have been great in helping us keep costs down at the grotto over the last 10 years. Hopefully, by next Christmas Bradford Council Employees will also be able to take advantage"

Looks as though Bike Bus regular, Andy, is all set to hit his target of riding 5,000 miles in the year. You gotta say 'Well done!'

It puts him about 1000 miles ahead of the Bike Bus over it's lifetime. We've racked up over 3,000 miles between us in the mornings and we're approaching 1,000 in the evening.

The big question (for me at least) is: When will we have circumnavigated the globe?

Answers in the comments please!

In other news, really good to see Angela on the return ride again. Hiya!

Next week, cycling santas!