186km Charity Cycle Challenge

Seven months after dusting off my leg muscles and getting myself a bike to cycle to work with again, I've somehow signed myself up to take part in two charity bike rides just one week apart.

The first, this Saturday, is the London Nightrider 100km. Starting and finishing at the top of the Alexandra Palace hill, Nightrider is a unique 100km moonlit ride past London’s iconic landmarks such as Lords, London Eye, Crystal Palace, Tower Bridge, St Pauls Cathedral, Canary Wharf and the Olympic Stadium.

The full route is mapped out here.

And then 8 days later the famous London to Brighton bike ride. 86km from the bustling streets of London to the beach front at Brighton.

I'm doing the rides on behalf of the Motor Neurone Disease Association, and have raised almost £700 so far. I've jumped out of a plane for the MNDA a few years ago. But that was easy, gravity did most of the work for me. This time it'll be against me. Well, on the uphill bits at least.

I'll have my headcam with me so check back here in the coming weeks for some highlights. And if you're doing the rides and see someone wearing a blue MNDA t-shirt with a headcam on the top of their helmet, give me a wave!

Chris

The Weeks Best of the Worst Anti Cyclist Comments #bloodycyclists

I'm sure we've all heard the story this week about the young trainee accountant who knocked a cyclist off his bike, fled the scene and then tweeted about it later. She then came unstuck as it was re-tweeted all around the country and referred to the police. The Daily Mail is always a fantastic source of cretinous comments when it comes to cycling, so here are the "best" of the most ill informed idiotic comments! #bloodycyclists!

Cyclists are a pain and endanger road users. They also put themselves in dangerous positions, sometimes it seems on purpose. Keep them off the roads
- Doug, Worldwide, 21/5/2013 16:04
Breaking news! Cyclists injure themselves on purpose!

HGVs must step cycle-safety up a gear

With cyclists deaths at an all time high in London it’s hardly surprising that the London mayor has banned HGVs without cyclist safety measures such as vehicle camera systems. In fact, new statistics have shown that cyclist deaths have hit a five-year high.

A recent tragedy which brought the spate into the public eye was when a bike got caught under the wheels of a lorry when the cyclist and driver both turned left in rush hour traffic, killing the cyclist. The mid-thirties cyclist was pronounced dead at the scene.

There was a staggering 14 cyclists killed in London accidents, last year, with lorries causing over half of all cyclist deaths, despite them making up a small amount of the total traffic.

Cycling Solicitor Tim Beasley Goes Dutch!

Levenes Cycle Injury have been long time supporters of the LCC’s Love London, Go Dutch campaign. But what does going Dutch actually mean? A recent family holiday to the Netherlands gave me a chance to find out. I toyed with taking my carbon fibre road bike and decking myself out in full MAMIL regalia, but resisted the temptation and instead opted for a "when in Amsterdam do as the Amsterdammers do" sort of approach. So instead, I hired a cycle for the week.

"Best" of The Worst Comments on Dutch Style Roundabouts

You may have seen the news on the Dutch style roundabouts that are being trialled at the moment. It's been picked up by a few of the papers and the usual ill informed anti-cycling mentalists have been given an excuse to bash on their faces randomly on their keyboards.

We start with the Evening Standard below, as a prelude to the comments on the Daily Mail article comments further down....

Cycle Forum discussion of Birmingham Cycling Revolutions

Birmingham Critical Mass Ride

On 16th April, I attended a Birmingham Cycle Forum hosted by the city council to discuss Birmingham Cycle Revolutions.  Representatives from Pushbikes and Sustrans were there to lend their input as well.

The meeting was held in order to consult on the council’s application for £20m from the Cycle City Ambition Fund to fund the Birmingham Cycling Revolutions. The application involves submitting plans for how the city will improve cycling infrastructure over 20 years. It’s exciting but also daunting. Birmingham is traditionally motor city having been the home of the car industry; the car is king and has been for years. That’s changing with the price of fuel being so high and the cost of insurance for young drivers pricing out some of the under 25s. There are however more cyclists out there and there is an opportunity to change things for the better.

Could Dangerous Vehicle Blind Spots Be a Thing of the Past for Cyclists?

ASL360 is the world's first ever stand-alone system for industrial vehicles offering the operator a bird's eye real-time view of the vehicle and its surroundings. Designed to assist low-speed manoeuvrability and security, the screen displays the view as if from above the vehicle. The ASL360 surround view system synthesises a bird's eye image of the vehicle using multiple ultrawide-angle cameras mounted on the front, sides and rear of the vehicle.