Get On Board - the newsletter of the Aire Valley Bike Bus

Weather

Well the weather through the end of December and January was pretty tough for cyclists. Some found their journey to work by bike much easier than sitting in the traffic jams - well the mountain bikers that took the tow path did!

Many of us found other ways of getting to work, and that's reflected in our stats over the period.

When the weather changed though, it was great to see so many people out. Were it not for a headwind slowing the main pack we would have seen 9 on the first ride of the year. As it was 2 people rode in, ahead of the pack, together thinking they had missed us.

Lets hope it stays mild!

Big Rides this year

Never too early for cyclists to start thinking about the 'big ride of the year'. We started a thread in our discussion forum: http://ur1.ca/lk0c

Anyone care for 112miles over all 6 Lakeland passes - the Fred Whitton? Or how about one of the rides bikebradford.org.uk has picked up on their Challenge Page: http://www.bikebradford.org.uk/?mastertag=bcycling&tag=challenge?

Cycle Lanes, Traffic, and Repairs

You may have noticed a big increase in the amount of cycle lanes on the route between Keighley and Bradford. On the whole this is a welcome introduction, and highlights our route as a great option for commuting.

The closure of Ireland Bridge for 6 months of repairs, has forced more traffic onto the main road, but it has also slowed it down. Really, it doesn't seem to have affected the bike bus very much, and the cycle lanes up to Cottingly Bar, while not always observed by motorists, are quite useful. (It's a difficult junction, and really a good traffic management solution would be difficult to find...)

Interesting article in the Telegraph and Argus about traffic levels recently:
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/4887211.Commuters_hit_by_traffic_nightmare/

We also have discussion at our forum about the Saltaire Roundabout improvements: http://ur1.ca/lk1g

We got wet...

Well a few of us did anyway. In what has to be the wettest day since records began, we finally got a good soaking – well those that cycled from Keighley did anyway. From Saltaire on, the following wind made it seem as though hardly a drop of rain was falling.

Just another day that proves the weather is rarely so bad you couldn't possibly cycle – and another day that showed, actually, even bad weather isn't usually that bad!

Numbers

We're just below double figures most weeks in the morning, which is pretty good. The evening return ride is firmly fixed as a regular trip, although it's usually just a handful of people. Either way, we still have a significant presence on the roads throughout the length of the commute.

Coming up

Join us for mince pies and cycling chat at the Christmas Gathering hosted by Ginny Leonard, the new Cycle Champions co-ordinator, Wednesday 9th December, Salts Sports Association, Saltaire 7pm.

There should be a few cycling projects there, so a good chance to see just what exactly is going on around Bradford for cyclists. There is an sort of online version at: www.bikebradford.org.uk.

Cycling Santas

How about it – December 23rd, tinsel, Santa outfits, and commuters on bikes? Join us in festive lycra for the last bike buses before Christmas. Same time(s) same place(s)

Christmas Break

People are going to work on December 30th as far as I know this year, so the Aire Valley Bike Bus will be running as usual on that day.

The Numbers

The weather was kind to us yet again during October. The traffic was calm during the school half-term holidays, and we saw 4 new riders in the month. Overall, figures are pretty stable with usually around 10 riders on a Wednesday morning, and 4 or so on an evening.

What's really great to see is that one of our regular riders over the last few months has started to 'buddy' a friend to work. While they may not be on the bike bus, there is one more rider on the road, and I often see them looking nice and visible riding along together.

A new short cut?

One of the bike busers (ages ago) alerted us to the little known short cut between Utley and Riddlesden. This route cuts out the 3 major roundabouts from the old road between Croshills and Keighley and the old Keighley to Bingley route via Riddlesden, which many of us will use, not only on the bike bus, but at weekends as well.

Currently, the route is just an unofficial path, with access granted by the council, but no public right of way. It's muddy, and there's evidence that mountain bikes use it, but it wouldn't be much use for my skinny tyres. We've asked Robert Brough to take a look at it. He's the man behind the Airedale Greenway, that was launched in September. (press coverage of the launch here:http://ur1.ca/f0u3)

Early one morning Andy and I took some photos, you can see them here:  http://www.airevalleybikebus.org.uk/image/tid/148

To see where this is on a Google Map, see: http://ur1.ca/f0uo (the area is to the west of Royd Ings Ave, beneath the bypass)

New Sites well recieved

Last month we told you about www.bikebradford.org.uk, a site to bring together everything to do with cycling around Bradford together on the web. Well, it now indexes 67 websites and has an additional page covering PDF leaflets. 

http://hammsters.wordpress.com/ - the home of the Hammsters on the web, has now been updated with all the ride reports that covered the training and for, and the ride to Germany last year.

I give up - we're on Twitter

After trying to avoid Twitter I've finally succumbed and you can now follow the every bike based thought of David Domestique until it drives you mad. The airevalleybikebus web site displays a feed of this drivel, or you can find me at http://twitter.com/DavidDomestique (Twitter), and http://identi.ca/daviddomestique (Identi.ca)

How are we doing?

I was starting to feel slightly disappointed with September, as I was hoping to see numbers shoot through the roof again as people returned to work after the summer, but that hasn't happened.

However, the trend from August is up, and a quick comparison with last year shows that we are slighty up on those figures. We're better off than we were a year ago. We also have a pool of around 50 riders now that have joined us at one time or another, and the 'return' bus regularly has at least 3-4 people riding home.

So all in all, I think we're doing all right! You can always follow how we're doing on our stats page.

Bike Bradford

T'other day I set up www.bikebradford.org.uk - a site to pull everything about cycling in Bradford together in one place. It's simple a collection of links, but each one is 'tagged' so that you can find links based on your interests.

I think there is a big challenge for many of the sites to improve the information they put on the web, so I'm looking at a project to do just that using free and open source software, and cyling techies. If you want to to help out, or know of a resource that we're missing I'd love to hear from you.

Cycle Counting

The Council does regular traffic monitoring of the district's roads and from that they produce figures about cycling in Bradford. We recieved details of what they do, how they do it, and when they do it, as well as the latest figures, thanks to Neil Moore in the Transport and Planning department.

The good news is that the trend is upwards. Full details were posted on our blog under How many cyclists are there?.

I'm interested in any ways we could help get as full a picture as possible of the amount of cycling that takes place locally, so if anyone has any comments or observations I'd be interested to hear.

Lights

..not to mention warmer clothing, gloves etc. Yep, autumn is here, so time to dig out the lights, check the batteries, realise they're not working, buy some more, then buy a spare set, realise that you've got a set of rechargables, dig out the recharger...

Apparently, there's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing, and both spring an autumn are times when it can be hard to get it right. Might be just worth slinging the winter gloves in the bag, and maybe an extra layer.

New Sites

A couple of new sites for you to check out that we're looking after - all things cycling in Bradford: www.bikebradford.org.uk, and the new Hammsters Blog: http://hammsters.wordpress.com

A (bike) stitch in time...

During August, 4 of us gathered in a back yard to do a little bike maintenance, just sharing the skills and knowledge we'd gleaned over the miles, the punctures, the tweaks, the disasters and the trouble free riding of the past.

This was the second time we've done this and it's pretty useful and nice to meet 'off the bikes'. If anyone is interested in this kind of thing, get in touch or post your ideas to http://groups.google.co.uk/group/airevalleybikebus

Now where did they get that idea?

Cycle Fridays are a great innovation from Transport for London. It's bit like what we're doing, but also a bit different. Trained cycle leaders guide groups of riders into London on set routes. We've got a few more linkspasted up at:
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/airevalleybikebus/browse_thread/thread/649a35c73bb427de

Darwin in Bradford

Those of us that finish the morning ride in Centenary Square, were treated to the sight of a massive Darwin, sculpted from sand. It was really interesting to see it, ahem, evolve over a couple of weeks. Steve managed to get a snap-shot of it, and post it to the Google Group.

You'd have thought...

...August would be a good time to get on your bike, but the Bike Bus saw a drop in all the key statistics. It's a shame really as the roads were nice and quiet, but when you think about it, people were on holiday, and actually - what better time to drive! It's the one time of the year when car journeys take the 'normal' amount of time. Of course you'd have missed the great weather, the conversation, the exercise, etc, but it's understandable.

Apparently if we all made our commute by alternative means just ONE day a week, we would have holiday traffic levels all the time.

As everyone starts back at work, we expect to see the numbers on the Bike Bus climb again. 

Leeds - Bradford

Don't forget, there's always the  A647 Bike Bus for those of you coming to Bradford from Leeds. More info:
http://www.airevalleybikebus.org.uk/a647

How many, how often?

After the peak of activity in June, July saw a slight tailing off, but we still had our second busiest month since we started riding, with 55 rider journeys on the morning route and 24 in the evening. Actually, that's the busiest the evening route has ever been, and the 5.30 slot is feeling much more 'established'. Of course head to the site for more stats

Fancy a Challenge?

Bike Busers are out and about doing all sorts of things other than the Aire Valley route. There's a blog post (Fancy a Challenge?) about everything people have been getting up. It also contains some details about upcoming challenges to Germany and London.

From the Google Group

Want to talk to other bike bus riders? Got something to promote? Need to tell others about something thats bothering you? Got 5 mins to see what other people are saying? - then check out our Google Group: http://groups.google.co.uk/group/airevalleybikebus. It's a discussion forum, a place to put links up for other people, and perhaps even a place to arrange to ride with others on non-bikebus days.

Bike Maintenance

A few people have expressed an interest in some basic bike maintenance (fix punctures, adjust gears and brakes). If this is of interest to you, then please get in touch and let us know. 

Easy social rides

Similarly, there are a few people that would be interested in easy social rides on quite roads in nice places. If this appeals again, get in touch. We'd like to try to arrange a ride for September.

..and finally

During August we have seen a massive drop in the traffic levels on the road. It has made the commute even more pleasant. If you're thinking about giving cycling a try, then this would seem a good time to give it a go.

June was a busy month for the local bike buses. Yep – buses. The new A647 Bike Bus started up during bike week. It runs from Leeds to Bradford (and back) each Wednesday. More details can be found at: http://www.airevalleybikebus.org.uk/index.php?q=a647

National Bike Week

Bike week was the focus of a lot of activity. A bunch of volunteers came along to promote the bike bus idea and the specific routes at Cyclefest 09 – a celebration of cycling in Bradford. It was great to see so many people out on their bikes. There were races, demonstrations, bike clinics, mountain bikes and BMXs, adapted bikes for people with disabilities, and a whole bunch more – all under a blazing June sun.

During the week, the Aire Valley Bike Bus ran every day, clocking up 80 rider journeys and covering over 400 miles. Wednesday, was the bike breakfast (organised by Bradford MDC) when we had a massive 26 people on the ride in, and  around 40 people making it along for breakfast.

Photos, stats, and a vauge idea of what we did can all be found via the website.

Step up to the challenge

It turns out some of the riders with the bike bus have been using their regular ride as training miles for some serious challenges. Maurice took part in  the London to Brighton ride where he would have felt at home riding with 26,999 other people. (see his smiley photos: http://www.airevalleybikebus.org.uk/?q=image/tid/147 ) One rider tackled the White Rose Challenge, over 100 miles around Yorkshire. Margaret is preparing to ride from Manchester to Blackpool in a mass participation event in July. ( You can sponsor her by visiting: http://www.justgiving.com/margaretnaylor1 )

But...you don't have to be superfit to ride with us. Our pace is manageable for most abilities (if anything it's a bit slow for the fit 'uns, but that's good  - it means you can talk!) - and there are many of us that simply ride the 2-3 miles to work once a week.

We're all going on a Summer Holiday

During the school holidays, we know that people will still be riding with  the Aire Valley Bike Bus, and somewhere in there we'll be hitting the first anniversary of the first ride. The holidays can be a good time to 'give it a go' because the traffic is usually greatly reduced, so if that's a concern for you, take advantage in the next few weeks.

No rain

When we decided to collect weather stats on the website, it was a deliberate attempt to say 'Look, it really doesn't rain as much as you think – especially not when you're cycling'. And the stats do bear that out. In June we only got a bit wet once, and that was on the way home (I had dried out by the time I got there). Have a guess how many dry days we've had out of the 49 ridden so far....?

5 miles to Fabulous

Learn to ride a bike and cycle 50 metres or 5 miles at ‘Five Miles to Fabulous’ in Bradford.at Salts Sports Association, Saltaire this Sunday 7 June 2009 between 10am and 2.30pm. The session from 10am to 12noon will be for women only and men are welcome from 12 noon to 2.30pm when CTC will be joined by HALE, the healthy living centre based in Shipley.

More info at: http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=5058

Bike week '09

Starts next weekend (13th June) with the CycleFest in Lister Park. There should be some bike busers there.

During the week the Aire Valley Bike Bus will run each day. Find out when and stay updated at:
http://www.airevalleybikebus.org.uk/index.php?q=bikeweek09

New Bike Bus.

Ben, over at the University has been working hard to get the A647 Bike Bus started. It runs from Leeds to Bradford - more details as we get them on the web.

Have you been to the Google Group?

Need someone to ride with? Want to know what to do about that pothole/persistent parker? Got a suggestion? Or, maybe you just want to hear what other cyclists have to say. Pop over to the Google Group - it's just a discussion forum, but it works well!

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/airevalleybikebus

Looking Good

Thanks to Daz, over at http://www.do-creative.co.uk, you may have noticed we've had a bit of a makeover. The best thing is we now have a logo, but even better is the fact that, so can other people. It's easily shared, altered and replicated for other bike buses. Just like the idea itself!

There are also some lovely new posters - why not print one off and display it somewhere. Download it here:
http://www.airevalleybikebus.org.uk/index.php?q=downloads

Take a photo of your poster and let us know where you put it!

Cycling as a Solution

The Aire Valley Bike Bus was represented at the CTC/Cyclenation 'Cycling as a solution' conference in Manchester at the end of may. There were a couple of great ideas, and some inspirational speaking. Check David Domestique's blog post - Cycling as a solution, and/or go and visit the conference website: http://www.gmcc.org.uk/main/?p=147

May Stats

Suffering from some changeable weather (although it's always good on a Wednesday!), and a 'short month' the stats for may, don't look great, but we still had plenty of people out. As I write this the first ride of June saw 16 people covering 77 miles. Perhaps they were all just saving themselves! Plenty of interesting stats:
http://www.airevalleybikebus.org.uk/index.php?q=stats

 

Issue 9: May 09

Didn't recognise you without your helmet
We had our first ever meeting 'off the bikes' on April 22nd, where 14 of us got together to discuss 'The State of the Route'. It was great to see so many people, and we had a good chat, that allowed us to find out, that most of us are prepared to put in some effort to get other people cycling, and to press for improvements to the route.

To try to encourage more people to commute by bike, we're hoping to run a bike bus every day during bike week (June 15th - 19th). If you are able to ride that week, please tell us on our online poll:

• http://www.doodle.com/afem8uyn37yr4g35

To improve the route, we are encouraging people to use the facilities at:

• http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/
• http://www.bradford.gov.uk/contact_us/online_forms/potholes_form.htm
• http://www.fixmystreet.com/ 

to report potholes, and:

• http://www.bradford.gov.uk/contact_us/online_forms/transport_and_infrast...

to try to make sure the bus and cycle lanes are kept clear.

All the notes about the meeting will appear on the site soon,  on the Meet Up page.

Talk to each other
We think that riding together is generally a good thing. One of the things hindering people getting together to ride on other days is direct communication with each other. To try to find a way to make this easier for people we now have a Google Group:

• http://groups.google.co.uk/group/airevalleybikebus

By signing up, you can send an email to the group. This then goes to everyone else in the group. Replies are all held online, so you can follow the conversation. It's a bit like a forum and it's a bit like email. If you're not sure about signing up, you can visit the group and just see what's going on anyway.

See what you think.

Stats
It's good to see that the upward trend from Christmas is continuing. More miles, more riders, etc. We managed 257 miles between us on the morning route, which is the most in one month so far. (It has been a long month - 5 weeks!) Remarkably, it's also been dry on Bike Bus days, no sign of the April showers for us!

Issue8: April 09

Record Breakers

The big news of the month was that 62 miles in one journey, broke the record for total miles ridden collectively. AND we did it twice in one month.

The best news is the daylight. Both morning and evening rides can now be done without lights, and as it's always bright and sunny on a Wednesday, we've been enjoying some really good rides.

Wednesday 29th 22nd April

The first Meet Up of riders with the bike bus will be Wednesday 29th 22nd April 7.15pm - Venue TBC.

See: http://www.airevalleybikebus.org.uk/index.php?q=meeting for the full details.

At the very least it's a chance to see what people look like when they are not framed in fluorescent yellow.

Bike Week 2009

Plans are still afoot for bike week events in Bradford, even though there's very little on the official website: http://www.bikeweek.org.uk

We'll be at the event in Lister Park on 13th June, and I'll try to keep you up to date with any info I get.

Other Rides

There are a few rides at weekends that people may be interested in.

For those that don't do lycra:

• Apple Blossom ride - anyone fancy riding around to check out the apple blossom. Julia sort of has a route in mind. Should be gentle!
• Bradford to Betty's (Ilkley) - 17th May
  A 12 mile ride from Centenary Square to Ilkley. All welcome, but numbers are limited. Organised by Viv at the Cycling Champions Project

For Charity, and a bit harder:
(We know at least of couple of Bike Busers are doing these -thanks David!)

• Acorn ride (100km ~60miles and very flat)
  http://www.acorncharity.org.uk/events/acorn-100k-bike-ride-2009/
• Great Yorkshire ride (~70 miles, 2 big climbs)
  http://www.gybr.co.uk/ 

Finally, watch out for a Bike Bus to Bradford from the Leeds direction - there are wild rumours, which I'm happy to spread.