I have just got back from the cycling festival at Killinghall Moor. We parked at the Hydro and cycled up, my youngest struggling up the hills but I managed a one arm pushing, one arm steering assist up the steeper bits and he did the rest on his own.
The event itself was great. The mini pump track was my kid's highlight and mine if I'm honest. I ended up racing another dad on a 16" wheeled little kids bike, great fun. There were plenty of local bike shops in attendance, some scalextric cars you peddled bikes to get moving and a BMX ramp if you were braver.
Jo Armstrong from Sports development Harrogate the brains and drive behind this was there. As we arrived she was worried nobody would show up she needn't have been. Lots of people were there, by 12 and you were queing for your go on the attractions. People were getting their bikes coded by the police, trying out electric bikes or just eating cake and ice cream. It was a really nice atmosphere so a big thank you to Jo and Harrogate Borough Council for making it happen. When you build it they come.
I talked legacy to Jo whilst my children pebble-dashed themselves in cake and ice cream. She seems taken with the idea of traffic free to Spoforth as a Tour de France legacy for Harrogate. She is going to ride the proposed route with one of Harrogate's leading cycle boffins next week as well as North Yorkshire County Council's new sustainable transport officer as a kind of feasability study.
We got to chatting about the Nidderdale Greenway too. One thing that came up was how delighted Sir Thomas Ingeleby is with increased business on the back of the extra traffic his castle and ice Cream parlour are receiving. Surely this is a model for businesses and landowners to see cycle routes as opportunities not threats? When you build it they come.
I talked to the guy from the Big Red Bike shop too. He is now hiring bikes and surfing the wave of demand generated by the Greenway. Only 8 bikes at the moment but if traffic free to Spoforth happened he felt he would be able to upscale his operation and maybe employ someone to deal with this demand full time in the summer.
Next July when the tour is on, another local landowner will be helping to meet huge need for accommodation by putting camping fields on over Wetherby way. If these people had a traffic free route into town that would be genius. Come on Harrogate we can make this happen. Business wants it, cyclists want it. We could become more than a town with a famous tea room and a foul tasting spring. We could become a national destination on the cycling map. Incidentally the Greenway made the Guardian at the weekend. When you build it they come.
York to Harrogate then on into the Dales that route, would pull visitors and money in from tourist hotspots and we could all benefit long term from this steady stream of visitors. It would be a younger more family orientated market than the one we cater for as a town currently, one we don't really exploit fully one with a bit more cash to flash. Take a look at Grizedale Forest in the Lakes or the Manifold valley in the Peak District if you want to see these sort of schemes creating jobs and revenue.
If we build it they will come.
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