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| VeloCity 1999 |
Your Editor Peter Hawkins attended the recent international VeloCity cycling conference in Graz, Austria and was much impressed by what he saw and heard there. To make life harder (and show commitment to the cause) he cycled from Munich to Graz and back (OK it was really because he got a cheap flight to Munich!).
First impressions are how easy cycling is over there. The roads, all of them including even the smallest of farm roads, are as smooth as a billiard table. Most of the main roads have a cycle track or at least a 1-metre protection lane, and sometimes cyclists are directed to the old road through the villages.
Many of the pro-cycling measures are not expensive but just need a bit of thought. For example near Munich airport a section of old road has been converted for cycle use, and it cuts off a corner. In Britain it would have been grubbed up and given back to the farmer!
Other measures have obviously cost money. In Salzburg a cycle lane has been cantilevered onto the underside of a bridge over the river, so that cyclists don't have to cross the main road. What's more, it's been done on both sides of the river, to form near-continuous routes along the banks. Another nice example was a purpose-built at-grade footbridge over a sunken road, making the vehicles go down and up instead of pedestrians and cyclists going up and down. Shows their priorities are right!
Many of the conference papers were of a high standard. Of particular interest was a workshop on Cycling and Health, where Sheffield pathologist Alex Kennedy had looked at the life expectancy of CTC members in comparison with the population as a whole. It was a small sample but he found an increased expectancy of at least two and a half years, and if one takes the median rather than the average the age of death is 80 plus (the median reflects most members, and excludes those who die prematurely from accidents or disease e.g. cancer).
Edinburgh and Glasgow are bidding to host the next VeloCity congress in 2001, so we had a substantial presence there including Cllr David Begg, who as usual gave an excellent performance combining information with wit.
As part of its Safe Routes to School Project, Sciennes Primary School, Edinburgh would like to provide good quality cycling proficiency training to all Primary 6 and 7 pupils. In the past volunteer parents have helped with this and Sciennes will continue to ask parents to help. Sciennes, however, would like as many of the volunteers as possible to be cyclists themselves and are now appealing for volunteers from outside the school to help. Cycle training will take place during school hours with one training session being held in the summer term, probably in May and another in the autumn. Volunteers can help with either or both of these sessions. Full training will be provided.
Volunteers need to:_
1. Be a cyclist
2. Feel confident speaking with children
3. Be available during school hours for at least one day in the week
4. Be over 18.
Please contact Cathy Scott if you can help on 0131-667-6740 or thistle@btinternet.com
Throughout the country SRTS schemes are being set up to encourage and enable children to walk or cycle to school safely. They are genuine community projects involving the children, parents, education and local authorities and ordinary members of the community _ like you! If you have children or grandchildren you will know the difficulties they face in getting to school. Below is an appeal from the Sciennes School in Edinburgh. Please help them if you can, but if you want to help more, why not investigate at your local school — do they have a SRTS plan, and can you help there?
The Sciennes Primary Safe Routes to School Group is setting up a Cycling Club for Primary 5, 6 and 7 pupils and their families. The emphasis will be on safety, fun and consideration for pedestrians. We will be making extensive use of cyclepaths such as the Innocent Railway and the Union Canal towpath and the Meadows paths. We shall be showing the children where they are allowed to cycle, how to ride safely and with consideration for pedestrians. We shall keep a number of spare bikes that can be lent out to parents that don't have one. Our hope is that a number of parents and families that have never considered cycling will try it out. A fun bike ride that we organised last summer encouraged one senior teacher to borrow a bike and come on the ride. Now she, her husband and family have all bought bikes and go cycling at weekends. Recently this teacher has started leaving the car at home and cycling to work.
Children's bikes for 8 - 12 year olds are also desperately needed so that all children have the chance to take part in Cycling Proficiency. Currently cycle training is only offered at one point during the final two years at primary school so that if a child misses this through not having their own bike they have no other opportunity to be trained. Bikes will be lent out to children while they are being trained and also for Cycle Club rides so that they can pracise what they have learnt.
If anyone has a bike, either adult size or for age 8 - 12 that they no longer want, we will be happy to make use of it for these rides. We are happy to accept bikes in any condition!! We shall renovate the bikes and pass on bike maintenance skills to other parents as we do so. We would welcome help from anyone that can pass on bike maintenance skills. Similarly any unwanted child seats, bike tools, spare parts or tandem frames/parts would also be very much appreciated. To donate a bike or tools or time, please contact Cathy Scott 0131-667-6740 or thistle@btinternet.com Thank you.
More information on Sciennes School and its Safe Routes project can be found
at its website at:
http://www.sol.co.uk/s/sciennes
The Rights Officer's lot is, like the policeman's, not always a happy one, but sometimes a success makes the effort worthwhile. How about this one? Edinburgh City has just granted planning permission for the Ocean Terminal in Leith. With such a big development we thought it reasonable to ask not just for the usual cycle parking and local access but for connections to cycle paths in the surrounding area. Here are some of the conditions of grant as a result:
• improvements to the cycleway network in the area surrounding the development are included in the Section 75 agreement...to link into existing cycle routes
• cycle parking to be provided at the frontage of the development, close to the entrances...
• cycle parking to be provided for employees and to be undercover and ...located throughout the development
• storage lockers and showers to be provided for employees cycling to the development
• secure cycle storage to be provided for customers/ visitors to areas likely to be attractive to tourists with baggage as well as cycles
• remote cycleways within the development to be clearly marked to avoid conflict with pedestrians
• all cycleways to be designed and constructed to Council Standards as contained within the cycle friendly design guide booklet
In addition, car parking will be charged, and every effort is being made to cater for pedestrians and public transport.
Wow!! Could one ask for more? We hope this will be a model for future large developments.
Edinburgh's Cycling Officer Matthew Simpson and his assistants are being stretched to the limit at present with a cornucopia of projects. First there is the National Cycle Network which has routes into and out of the city and is supported with Millennium funding, which means it has to be in place by June next year. This involves about £1.5m worth of work.
Second, there's the CERT project, which will have a cycle route built parallel with it (but not always alongside) from the city centre to the Gogar roundabout. This has many separate stages and will include the re-opening of the Cultin's Road bridge under the Glasgow railway line _ a vital north-south link which has been badly missed since it was closed about 15 years ago.
Third, a proposal for a bus lane along the A90 from Barnton to S Queensferry will include a much-needed new cycle route, and the banning of bikes on the city bypass will mean a few extra facilities on the alternative route which must be provided.
Thus, much of the budget for these cycling initiatives is coming from other sources, in addition to the `regular' cycling allocation. In all, a substantial boost for cycling in and around the city, which should make quite an impact over the next couple of years.
An old railway line runs from East Calder to Uphall Station, crossing the River Almond at Almondell by the splendid Camps Viaduct, which was restored and re-opened a few years ago. This opened the path from E Calder to Drumshoreland but a section of about half a mile was left unfinished because of ground pollution. This has now been sorted out and you can see, beside the path, the reed beds which form the treatment. The path has been rebuilt and the route is now open right through to Uphall Station.
Here, it connects to another path through Roman Camp, and from there one can reach Almondell and return to E Calder by a different route. The roads through Almondell are now open to cyclists, and the historic Naysmith bridge over the river has been restored. Almondell looks its best in spring with the rhododendrons in bloom.
Only one problem remains - there's no sign at the start of the Camps Viaduct path, and if you don't know where it is, chances are you'd never find it! It starts at a `hole in the wall' next to Almond Grove, a small cul-de-sac on the edge of E Calder, just beyond the Almondell entrance.
So come on West Lothian, you've spent all this money on a wonderful facility, why are you hiding its lights under a bushel?
West Lothian have built a section of cycle path alongside the A89, from Kilpunt roundabout to the Newbridge viaduct (the Edinburgh boundary). Edinburgh has agreed to complete the path to Newbridge (to link to the footbridge over the motorway at the roundabout), and has already installed a `toucan' crossing at the busy junction with the B900 Kirkliston road.
The new facility will form a relatively quiet but still direct route for cyclists from Newbridge to Broxburn and Uphall.
The Calendar of cycling events in Scotland for 1999 is now available. The Calendar obviously does not include regular rides organised by individual DA's but brings together those events which may interest a wider audience (such as charity rides) and cyclists from further afield.
The Calendar is compiled by Lothians DA member George DiPonio, and published by Edinburgh Bicycle, who send it out to all on their mailing list, and they offer it to CTC members (free). George not only compiles the Calendar but is also Treasurer of CTC Scotland and of the Cycling Development Project, so he's a busy man!
Many will have heard that David Begg has been appointed Chair of the UK Commission for Integrated Transport, and will thus be working closely with John Prescott. As a result he has given up his Edinburgh transport role, but is confident that the policies he has begun will be carried forward.
Most cyclists agree that what David has done so far has benefited cycling greatly. It has raised its profile with measures like cycle lanes and advanced stop lines, and made conditions safer with developments like the Greenways bus lanes and the closure of Princes Street eastbound to all but buses and cyclists.
The Lothians DA has written to David to thank him for his work and wish him future success.
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In addition to all the normal runs (and that's on 4 days a week during the summer!) there are special events coming up. Some are aimed at members, but some are being run during National Bike Week - 12-20 June. Why not come along to some of these, and bring your family and friends as well. For example on the Tuesday evening of NBW, depending on the numbers, there will be a range of easy rides for those who don't normally venture out in a group. A good chance to encourage new people into cycling as a leisure activity. To all the six-hundred plus CTC members in the Edinburgh area - how about showing your face? |
Sat 12 June |
Edinburgh to Upper Tweeddale09:00 at Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh Organised by Lothians DA Contact: Jimmy Murray 0131 448 2421 stop for lunch at the hut (bring packed lunch) 100k `Challenging but leisurely' |
Sun 13 June |
Airdrie-Bathgate fun ridesOrganised by Sustrans Contact: Sustrans 0131 623 7600 11:00 at Drumgelloch Station, Airdrie or 11:00 at ANI Bradken Foundry, Bathgate Sponsorship opportunity for Childline & British Lung Foundation |
Tues 15 June |
Relaxing evening rides - suitable for beginners19:00 at Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh Organised by Lothians DA Contact: Paul McGuire 0131 662 0074 |
Wed 16 June |
Bike Breakfast08:00-10:00 at Edinburgh City Chambers Organised by Spokes look in on your way to work on your bike (or before going on the Wednesday ride) |
Wed16 June |
NATIONAL BIKE TO WORK DAYSpeaks for itself! |
Wed 16 June |
Treasure Hunt18:30 at Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh Organised by Lothians DA Contact: Peter Valente 0131 561 2727 Bring a friend to this (the same one as Tuesday, or another one if you have two friends!) |
Sat 19 June |
LEPRA — Edinburgh _ St Andrews ride08:45 at Regent Road, Edinburgh Contact:Ros Kerry, Beehive Cott, Dolphinton; 01968 682369 |
Sun 20 June |
Edinburgh CyclefestOrganised by Sustrans & Spokes. 12:00—16:00 in Victoria Park, Trinity Family rides terminating in Victoria Park. Start from Davidson's Mains Safeway at 10:45 Scottish Office, Leith at 11:30 Middle Meadow Walk at 11:15 Offers to help (including "Doctor Bike" services) to Mark James (334.2653 or 623.7600) |
Sun 12 Sept |
100-mile Challenge
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Sun 19 Sept |
Pedal for Scotland
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