Choosing a bike - a guide for new cyclists

Somebody got in touch on twitter the other day and said "I want to get in to cycling but I don't know which bike to get there are so many choices." This is oh so very true, there are bikes for all kinds of uses and getting the perfect bike for your needs is difficult but not impossible. I think its two part process. Part One - Work out what you are going to do with it. It's very easy to see Mark Cavendish sprinting down the Champs Elysée leaving...

On Revolution and Beryl in Peril

I went to the Revolution series cycle racing at the Manchester Velodrome on Saturday night, it was great. Ed Clancy was on imperious form and he looked like a different species when he was lapping the boards compared to the other riders who were all world class, It was well worth seeing. The highlight was his lone effort to chase down a breakaway in the points race. With half a lap to go he was 40 metres down and it looked impossible...

Unaccustomed as I am

On Thursday I am going to talk at the Council  area meeting at the Cairn Hotel. I will tell them about the petition and mention all your names one by one. Actually I won't as you only get three minutes, so I  had better keep it short and sweet. Anyway suffice to say I will put the arguments across and point out that we represent a large constituency of Harrogate cyclists and can we have a Cycle officer please? Hopefully all this lobbying will lead somewher...

DEMANDING - petitioning North Yorkshire County Council for a Cycle Officer

A while back I met somebody from the transport department at North Yorkshire County Council. She said that they didn't do more for cyclists as the demand wasn't there. A fortnight ago we started a petition to ask NYCC to employ a cycle officer.  We now have nearly 300 people signed up, more probably by the time you read this. If we can get 1605 signatures the council have to debate our suggestion rather than fob us off with platitudes as...

Lets make some noise - Cycling provision in Harrogate

The nice people At the Harrogate Cycle Group, Wheel Easy and Harrogate's very own Sustrans Rangers have put a report together of what they achieved with lobbying and consultation in 2011. I will update you after Christmas with all that has happened in Harrogate in 2012. If like me you knew little about their work it is worth remembering this. If you use any of the cycle provision in Harrogate they are probably responsible for getting it there. Left to their own devices our local government would have almost certainly have done...

Good Evening, Officer? - We need a Cycling Officer badly

Interesting chat with some local cycling advocates last night. Lots of people are putting plenty of effort into making Harrogate a more cycle friendly town and its certainly isn't just me banging the drum for this. If you do Facebook check out Ricahrd Marshalll's Ride Harrogate page he is getting some love from a more hardcore downhill community which is great to see. There is also a lot of lobbying going on in less public forum's than the internet and I don't want to undermine any of that by shining a light on it right now. Seems like this...