Bike Culture

You can’t say that we don’t ask the big questions here! So. Here’s my problem. I have this image in my mind of a point in the future, where there’ll be integrated networks for people on bikes in all British towns and cities. It will be possible to get pretty much from your front door...
Read more »

Like John The Monkey said in a recent comment, people need better writers for this stuff - that’s such a lame headline! So anyway, I’d thought that winter was over, that as a wise politician once said, the green shoots of recovery are just around the corner. To prove it, I rode in to my...
Read more »

When I was riding through North Shields today, I passed a woman riding an old mountain bike, with mudguards, paniers and a basket on the front. She was going rather slow, but seemed to be really working hard at it. As I pulled level, I could see why - unlike the lady in the photo...
Read more »

So this afternoon, on my way back from the Team Valley, I dropped in to my local Apple dealer to see about some more memory for my PowerMac. The guy I usually deal with was outside indulging in his recreational drug (nicotine), chatting with a friend of his. As I rode up, this guy looked...
Read more »

OK - first off, please go and read this first rate article by Andy in Germany - Car Free Struggles. When you’re done, and have left a suitable comment, come back here and read the rest of this post. You’re back? Good. Here’s my question for you: Really, how hard is it to ride your bike...
Read more »

Over lunch today, I had a flick through the Sunday Times, and found this article by Emma Smith about the perils of saddle sores, and how if you don’t deal withthem, they can get really nasty (the phrase “drained by a physician” was used - what if you’re not married to a physician? ...
Read more »

I have a love/hate relationship with bike lanes and cycle tracks. Too often, they’re like the little girl from the nursery rhyme. She rode down the street on a bike that she’d borrowed, When bike lanes were good, they were very, very good, But when they were bad, they were horrid. OK, so I’ll probably wait a long...
Read more »

I found this video on YouTube about the debate in New York. It’s three years old, so if you’ve visited / live there, I’d love to hear if there have been any changes: As far as segregtion & integration goes, I’ve still not yet made up my mind. I look at what has been achieved...
Read more »

Coming to probably quite small screens on a desk top near you: *UPDATE* The full version of this video is now featured on this blog post, along with details of how I feel Nick Clennett, Gateshead Council’s Head of Transportation and Highways has let us down with the sub-standard bike facilities around Gateshead College’s Baltic...
Read more »

It’s funny how we do this, isn’t it? Start off with inanimate objects, yet before long we’ve attached all sorts of anthropomorphic characteristics to them. It starts by simply refering to ‘it’ as ‘he’ or ’she’, and before you know what’s happening, this thin end of the wedge has opened you up to all...
Read more »