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