Cycle Craft Event

Sustrans and Birmingham City Council have secured some funding for a new project focusing on redesigning streets around Kings Heath to make them safer and more attractive for walking and cycling.This project has been inspired by the King’s Heath Road Safety Committee, the Live in Hope campaign and the car culture project with local schools and Hall Green Arts Forum.

Sustrans Active Schools & Neighbourhoods Project starts in Kings Heath, in September 2013.   To raise the profile of the Project, I and an a number of other Active Travel Champions will be hosting an event. The Cycle Craft event will run alongside the regular and popular Village Square Craft Market

 Drop in to Cycle Craft to find out more about the project and the great things that the project will bring to Kings Heath? 

WE WILL ALSO HAVE:

Sustrans Travel Advice info stand with new walking and cycling maps, for Birmingham, South West Birmingham and West Birmingham.
FREE Dr Bike – Bring your bike for a free health check
Cycle Chain – Pop-up Bike Shop – buy a refurbished bike
A Ride - A gentle family friendly led ride at 2pm – 3pm

(under 18’s must be accompanied by an adult) 

I HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

If you are already a Sustrans Active Travel Champion and you could spare an hour or 2 to help out on the day, contact lisa.hartley@sustrans.org.uk or 0121 633 5517. You can also get in contact with Lisa if you are interested in becoming a Volunteer Active Travel Champion.

Due to the rain..............

I had all good intentions of going out cycling today, however the heavy rain and thunder storms that fell on Birmingham this morning meant that this did not happen.

Slept in for 3 hours longer than I would normally do,  waking occasionally to still hear rain and thunder and sparing a thought for those riding to work in it, as a regular cycle commuter or as a newbie due to the tunnel closure.   For the Newbies I began to think "This is going to put off cycling big time"

When I did eventually get out of bed  I began to clear up the clutter from the day before.  I then began to add my collection of cycling themed badges and patches to my sun bleached panniers, in the hope of covering up some of the fading.

Whilst searching for needle and thread  I stumbled on an old 2010 Birmingham walking and cycling map.  I then fetched my old button making machine and decided to have ago making some button badges myself.   

Having not done this since 2004 and with with absence of any instruction manual.   I had to turn to YouTube to learn how it all works again.

After numerous mistakes and hash-ups, I finally got the hang of making button badges.  Using popular sections of the Birmingham Cycling & Walking map, a compass and some sticky backed plastic  I managed to create a selection of  large button badges, with plenty of map left to use.

Hours went by quickly and I was totally distracted from the bad weather

  

Whilst this was not an active outdoor cycling  activity, I  certainly felt a similar feeling of freedom, and an opportunity to loose myself in something that turned out be quite therapeutic.  Also I had a good feeling that I had recycled something that would have been thrown out.

So all in all I still  had a very happy bike themed morning.  The afternoon brightened up considerably, so I'm hoping for a local bicycle meander with the family later.

She Spoke to Jake & Dave About Bikes in Birmingham

Jake & Dave with their bicycles in Rowheath Pavilion

Tell me about your bike and where you got it?

Dave - I have a Giant bike that I purchased from Bike Pro in Kings Heath

Where has your bike taken you today?

Today our bikes have taken us from Kings Heath to Rowheath Pavilion, which I had not visited before.   It's beautiful here, very nice, so I am very pleased that we have come here today.

Why do you choose to cyle?
 Dave: I choose to cycle because it keeps me fit, saves money and is infinitely less stressful than any other way of crossing Birmingham.
Jake:  I cycle because I love to play football, and cycling every day helps to give me as much stamina as Jack Wilshere.

What is your most regular commutes each day.

Dave - I cycle from Kings Heath to Hockley where I work. This is about 7 miles 1 way.

Jake - I cycle from my house to school each day which is about 1/4 mile

Tell me something you do on your bike other than pedal.

Dave - I sing.   I tend to find myself singing songs that I don't even like.  Songs that just get stuck in your head,  then I'm totally embarrassed that I am singing.   I have recently added a song by Alanis Morissette to my "Cycling Karaoke" collection.    I have also been seen Hurst Street riding my bike and singing   "Mr Boombastic".

Jake - I Annoy my dad Dave.

Dave AKA Mr Boombastic

What is your favourite place to ride in Birmingham and the West midlands?
We  like to use the Rea Valley Route quite a lot.  Jake goes swimming in Bournville, so we often use parts of the Rea Valley route to get there.  It's a nice route to use across the year, seeing the changing seasons in Cannon Hill Park & Highbury park.

What do you think Birmingham could to to improve the cycling infrastructure to make it more user friendly for all cyclists?
It could do an awful lot.  Firstly more attention could be paid to the few Cycle Lanes that already exist.   I get frustrated on a daily basis about the stretch of road with a dedicated Cycle Lane, located as your turn right out of the bottom of Pershore Street and Hurst Street, that is used by motorists as a car park.  
Also a lot of drivers in Birmingham don't have a lot of respect for cyclists.  A lot of facilitates for cyclists is disregarded by motorists. 
The section of road that runs across the middle of Belgrave Middle Way, which is for cyclists & buses only, is routinely and casually used as a shortcut by motorists.   I know for a fact by speaking to people, particularly women, are put off from cycling because of what happens on this section of road, as they feel at risk of an accident happening, because motorists aggressively over take them on this junction, when they are not even meant to drive there.    

For those of you who are not familiar activity of motorists driving across the cycle & bus lane.   Please see the video below
  

GET EXCITED & PEDAL ON BIRMINGHAM

A GREAT FAMILY FUN DAY

Pedal on UK

Pedal On UK will reignite the spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic torch relays as it travels across the UK between 16th August and 7th September 2013.

Starting at the Olympic Park in London, groups of volunteers, headed up by celebrities and sports stars, will take Pedal On UK to over 35 communities throughout the UK ending in a final celebration in Glasgow.

Along the way the cyclists will inspire a series of local bike rides and stop off to join local people at free community celebration events.

Pedal On Birmingham

Pedal on will reach Birmingham (Sutton Coldfield) on Friday 30th August. 

Birmingham will celebrate walking and cycling along the  Connect2 route linking the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Towpath, Sutton Coldfield town centre and Sutton Park with The Plants Brook Valley

Pedal On Birmingham

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE 

Sustrans FestiVol Newcastle 2013

I had a  smooth 3 hour journey by train to Newcastle.  A welcome party at the station to meet us all.

Then a lovely 11.2 mile ride to our accommodation located in the Derwent Valley, at the National Trust’s Gibside estate.   The estate and grounds were beautiful, full of interesting wildlife such as  Red Kites, Deer, Swallows.  We had the freedom to roam and explore extensively.  However, the rule of NO CYCLING! on site,  made exploring in a short space of time a bit difficult.

We had various types of accommodation to choose from either indoor or outdoor.   I opted for a Westwood Yurt.   Despite the 10 min up hill walk from the main campsite to access the Yurts.  I was really pleased that I chose this option for my accommodation.   They were really very well equipped, comfortable and cosy.  We had fabulous weather, so I had no excuse to light the wood burning stove :(  

60 Sustrans volunteers arrived by the end of the evening. Once we were settled, we had an option to choose our activities for the next 3 days.  Our options were rides and walks of varying degrees of difficulty ranging from 13 - 60 miles per day.

We had 3 days of sunshine, sight seeing, rambling & riding.  We mainly used all off road and traffic free routes across Newcastle including National cycles routes 7,14 and 72, covering anything between 13 and 60 miles per day.   I stuck to the mid range distances of 25-30 miles per day.  

I quite enjoyed the cycling and the cultural city tours that we took, visiting, Millennium Bridge Gateshead, The Sage Gateshead, and St. Nicholas' Cathedral, Newcastle, and last but not least, Wylam with the beautiful Wylam Railway Bridge.   The design of this bridge was also later used for Tyne Bridge & Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Gateshead Millennium Bridge

Charles Earl Grey Monument

Our evenings were taken up doing various on site activities including listening to  live music performances, Kaylee Dancing, themed quiz sessions , networking and sharing ideas.  Many were inspired to do more Volunteer activities on their return home.

Birmingham & West midlands  based Volunteers

60 Sustrans Volunteer's gathered in their FestiVol 2013 yellow jerseys

Our last evening was spent modelling plaster-cine into our something that represented what FestiVol meant to us.

Healing Hands & Tea by Michelle

Beer & Bridges Artist unknown

                     

Yurt, Gurt & Showers by Bonnie & Frank

WINNING ART WORK

Joining & Sharing by Kenny 

Happiness on Wheels by Donna

I guess I will be remaining in my day job for the foreseeable future

FestiVol Fun - Artist Unknown

Many thanks to the Sustrans staff , Volunteer Rangers and  Ride leaders  for organising the whole event and activities. You all did a fantastic job, and your hard work and dedication was much appreciated by many.  I hope you are able to gather sufficient interest to warrent organising FestiVol 2014. 

She Spoke to Kenny

Kenny with his Diamondback Sherwood

I met Kenny during my visit to the Sustrans FestiVol 2013.  Kenny attended FestiVol from Edinburgh.   Whilst he is not a cyclist from Birmingham, neither has he visited Birmingham.   I could not pass up the chance to have a brief chat with him about his cycling lifestyle in his home town.

Tell me about your bike, where you got it and why you chose that bike.
I bike is a Diamondback Sherwood, hybrid and i have had it for around 5 years

Where has you bike taken you today?
Today my bike has taken me on a 48 mile round trip from  Derwent Valley to  Parkside in the glorious sunshine

What is your most regular daily commute?
This would be my 9 mile journey to work. this is from Balerno in West Edinburgh  to almost in the centre of Edinburgh .  This is done mainly by road on the most direct route.   I time my journey in my head so that I can do a none stop journey and it takes me about 50 minutes.
What is your favourite ride.
I like to combine cycling and running, so on the weekend I do a 10.5 mile ride to the Promenade at Cremant  where I join the running club for a 5k run.

Tell me something that you do on your bike other than pedal.
I like to time myself on my journey to work so that I can get through all of the traffic lights without being stopped by a red light, I have all of the lights sequences timed in my head.

What do you think could be done in your local area to make the cycling infrastructure to make more user-friendly to all cyclists?
There is a very windy road up to Harlaw Reservoir that lots of cyclists use.   There were some plans to put in a share cycle and footpath in at the side of the road, to keep walkers and cyclists safe from the busy traffic.  If that could be put forward to the local council and plans were put into action, then I think that would be a great asset to my local community and it my encourage more people to walk and cycle.

Joining & Sharing by Kenny

She's going to Sustrans FestiVol 2013

Tomorrow I shall be setting off to join other volunteers in Newcastle for Sustrans FestiVol 2013Bike checked, panniers packed, and fingers crossed for a smooth and unhampered journey by train and bicycle.
I shall provide an update tomorrow.