Cycle Infrastructure

One of the chapters from Beauty And The Bike that really got me was the section titled, "It’s The Infrastructure, Stupid" , in a parody (or according to Wikipedia, a snowclone - there’s a new phrase) of Bill Clinton’s campaign slogan thing from 1992. Frankly, I think the phrase could be rearranged to...
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So there’s a whole lot of to and fro about this: Richard at Cyclelicio.us pointed out that the obvious answer that was missing was "because it’s fun", which seemed to get the Good People Of Copenhagen all vexed - to the point of wanting to get off the metaphorical bus: I got off the...
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Oh, the lies these people tell. Mind you, you can’t really blame them, can you? Put yourself in their position: You run a multi-billion dollar / euro / pound / yen business, employing thousands. For the last fifty years, governments have pandered to your every need - built infrastructure for your customers to use, gone...
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The car was at the menders today, and I had to get there to pick it up & take Daughter & friends to their Kung-Fu thing. As is normal in these circumstances, the wind had instantly changed direction and stiffened considerably as soon as I set off from work, so I had a real...
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There’s a reason that fewer women than men seem to ride their bikes in the UK. As explained in Beauty & The Bike , it’s the infrastructure - we’re expected to just mix in with the traffic, and it often just doesn’t feel safe, whatever the official statistics say. Warning: sweeping generalisations ahead. The thing is,...
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The papers today are full of this - a bike lane that takes up half the road: I was particularly impressed by the Daily Express’ title for the story: BIKE LANE WIDER THAN THE ROAD THIS must be Britain’s craziest cycle lane – wider than the rest of the main road. The new super-size lane...
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On the BBC’s  Jeremy Vine programme this Tuesday , there was a short piece at the end of the show about a van driver who’d been fired as a result of his inappropriate behaviour towards a cyclist. It seems that his van was wired for sound by his employer, including cameras looking forward, at...
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Here are the two sides of the coin on this one: Mixing motorised vehicles and people on bikes makes no sense. The former weighs 20-50 times as much as the latter, and the driver is protected from the consequences of their actions by a steel exoskeleton. We need to keep these away from people on...
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I got this in my email yesterday (I’ve added in some pictures here to brighten it up): The price of oil is as low as it has been for a while but the oil companies have simply jacked their prices up and the government will not do anything as they rake in extra VAT for...
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I’m reading the book of the film ‘Beauty and The Bike ‘ at the moment - it’s jam-packed with all sort of good stuff, and next up, I’ll be treating Daughter to a screening of the film. The makers have also done a follow-up, asking what happened next - it was posted on the...
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