Nearly There - Good news on Knaresborough Rd we think

The magnificent Gia Margolis met with The Woman From The Council (WFTC) yesterday. It appears the meeting went well. Gia put our proposal forward and the Council have agreed to it in principle. There is some detail design to do and quickly, but looks like some cycle lanes will be coming to a Knaresborough Road near us in August. I will believe it when I see it and it is too early to consider this a win but things look pretty good at the moment....

Harrogate school discourages cycling on grounds of risk

Cycle Harrogate is about promoting cycling as part of a healthy lifestyle. We wrote to a local school recently explaining what we were about and offering to run basic cycle maintenance classes for the pupils. These to run along side the Bike Ability scheme that the school had been running with  pupils, as yet we have had no response. Now the head at the School Mrs Carolyn Sandford has decided that rather than encouraging pupils to ride their...

A SMALL WIN - The woman from the council says. "Maybe Baby."

The game of  email ping pong that is lobbying over Knaresborough Rd cycle lane provision continues. The Woman from the Council (TWFTC) has now got back in touch with us and we have made another small step in the right direction. TWFTC has agreed to consider our proposal at a meeting between herself and Gia Margolis in the next few weeks before any re-lining is undertaken. This means something which is good. North Yorkshire County Council are...

The woman from the council says NO

We have had a response from someone somewhat higher up in  NYCC about our Knaresborough Rd proposal via the wonderful Gia Margolis, its not positive. Essentially they argue that the road is not wide enough (according to the guidance) for cycleways which kind of means anything other than a seven lane highway in downtown LA is going to be too narrow and as there are lots of junctions and bus stops, cycle lanes might be effectively more trouble than they are worth.  They accept that cyclists may be poorly provided for on this...

The Search for a new bike - and some lanes in which to ride it!

In York today to have a look at some great bikes. We went to the super friendly Cycle Heaven and I tried a couple of nice bikes. This a a lovely Gazelle that I zipped around the block on. I definitely recommend this shop over in York. In the afternoon we came back over to Harrogate and I have found the perfect bike for me. The Big Red Bike Co I have ordered a beautiful Pashley Roadster Sovereign: I cannot wait for this beauty to be delivered....

Breathe

More great stuff from Copenhagenize.com pointing out that pollution from cars kills ten times more people in Denmark than people who are killed on the roads. More cycling participation aided by better provision will it appears both save lives and reduce congestion.  Glen Donaldson from NYCC has claimed to us that they can't build cycle lanes on the Knaresborough Rd lanes as their road policy needs to ease congestion. Am I...

Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen

This is a  great blog post from a great blog,  Copenhagennize about cycling in Copenhagen. half a million people do it every day. Forty years ago few people did. Our towns and cities are our fault. All this cycling saves them money and makes it a nicer place to live, are you listening NYCC? http://www.copenhagenize.com/2012/06/lets-talk-numbers.html image Michael Coalville-Ander...

Don't try this on Knaresbrough Road!

Dude on a bike transporting a bed , Lira,  North Uganda. This would be ill advised in Harrogate even with designated cycle lan...

IMPORTANT - Update on Knaresborough Rd

We have just got off the phone to the Highways Department at North Yorkshire County Council. They have investigated the central reservation white lining and have decided it was done too wide when they resurfaced, as we suspected. They plan to re-line in "July". Currently they don't want to support a cycle path on the grounds of additional cost for signage. Don't even get me started on them throwing good money after bad but anyway here is where we think the campaign is at: We now have a potential four week window of opportunity to lobby...