Couple of things to share today, Ten years ago this September I undertook the Bikeability Instructors course taught by Ian at Cycle Training U.K, we rode and worked around the old offices at Lambeth which was a treat for me having lived in the Elephant and Castle area in the late 90’s. C.T.U.K. link are still going strong with lots of daily training for the ever increasing numbers of riders and cycle commuters in London, alongside very pioneering work teaching H.G.V drivers best practice on interacting with road cyclists. Those days were early for Bikeability and National standards, and cutting my teeth on the job teaching in Luton, Bedford and St Albans formed a good foundation of inner city conditions with a vast range of clients. Happily most Local Authorities are fully involved with cycle training for adults and children, Poole doing particularly well last year, Poole have a 6 person training course set up for this March in order to increase numbers of instructors which is great- Bournemouth shouldnt be far behind. Actually Bournemouth have used the LSTF money to good effect bringing in Lifecycle U.K to deliver a service of Adult training. Just as London Boroughs employ several freelance instructors, Its great that Im providing the same service in Bournemouth with a couple of other guys. So since September, thats all winter, amongst my other work Ive trained 40 people giving them a lesson appropriate to their needs, using roads in Bournemouth and many times incorporating the upcoming Poolemouth Cycle System included in the ‘Routes vs Queues’ posts on this website. like this Council are also working on encouraging active travel and bike use for local trips for staff, which comes with a training component to encourage staff confidence on the roads. This service will continue all the way through the year, so if you are are interested or for someone you know check out booking a session here. Heres a recent trainee below. Brilliant isnt it when ten years ago the few of us riding all winter were deemed as slightly deranged, now I’m being asked to provide service. You will see some more of this info the upcoming BH Live magazine with other stories from the last 6 Months.
Today also marks the end of the first 6 Months of the Cycle shared space ‘trial’ in the Square and Pier Approach, which started in September. Happy to say that there have been NO reported incidents here in this period, just as I predicted and said to press at the time when it was launched. People want to ride along the seafront and local bye laws from the 19th century are entirely inappropriate to todays world, if you go there today you will see commuters and active travellers just going about the simple business of doing a local trip by bike. Worth a cheer. We will be releasing the Poole Cycle System Map soon, a project Ive been working on in the winter, which supplies you with routes vs queues of the best cycle links to get around our fabulous conurbation. Linking the main areas- the aim is to demonstrate how to make pleasant commutes by bike, because as the queues wont disappear quickly, and the dream of a segregated cycle system will remain that for a long time to come, learning directional perfection on existing routes will definitely bring you the free health and happiness of discovering our ‘Centre parcs by the sea’ here in Poolemouth. Have a super weekend!
