Monday 29 September 2008

Cycling with Liverpool's Students

The Liverpool University Guild has a true cycling advocate as president this year (Danielle Grufferty), and there are big aims with TravelWise and the City Council to get as many students on bikes as possible. For more info see page 11 the first Cycle Liverpool Magazine here

Armed with two bikes, a bike rack, clamp, and no breakfast, Phil and I attended the Liverpool University Freshers Fair this Sunday. It was a great success and we had a good respo
nse with over 150 students signing for interest in the Cycling Society. Throughout the day we also got through a huge box of Liverpool Cycle Maps, handed out many fliers for Thursday's Bicycle Fair (see previous post), advertsied the free cycling lessons offered by Cycling Solutions and also promoted Critical Mass. After 6 hours of being on our feet and talking non stop we were knackered.



The Cycling Society at the University is in it's first year, and aims to be a social society, encouraging the uptake of cycling amongst students and providing information and support to all cyclists around the university. The initial aims are to have regular social cycle rides aswell as planning other events, such as a trip to Mancheter Velodrome, camping / bunkhouse weekends in the Peaks or Wales and possibly campaigning. The inaugral year will see the society shaped by it's members and will hopefully grow in the future.


Friday 19 September 2008

Cycling in Liverpool on the rise

The Olympics has been a great source of inspiration it seems for many people. I'm sure I'm seeing twice the number of cyclists on Liverpool's roads. Perhaps it's just that the weather is getting better...........

Last Monday saw a "Ride-In" event at the Static gallery in Roscoe street showing short films, reflecting on city life, space and how we interact with it. Over 40 cyclists turned up for the free showing in the gallery / bar. Later on we set off en mass for a magical moonlit ride down to the Pier head through the city centre.

I have also heard from other sources that some other large art spaces in Liverpool are interested in cycling and cycling events. There's no doubt about it, cycling seems to be having a very healthy resurgence, and I'll be interested to see how it moves on in the next year.

I heard recently that if there were significantly more cyclists on Liverpool roads, the the number of accidents involving cyclists would not rise by much if at all. The more we use our bikes and are visible to drivers, there more they will watch out for us. Checkout the amazing awareness test at www.dothetest.co.uk and please send the link to as many people as you know! Also come to Critical Mass and enjoy the amazing security that comes from riding in a large group. See this post for more info.


NEWS NEWS NEWS


Coming up soon is a Cycling Fair at Liverpool University Guild on Thursday 2nd Oct, 10pm til 4pm. I have heard that there'll be a number of local bike sellers there, so it should be worth a look. If you're on Facebook see the event at http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=27190878987&ref=ts

A week later, on Friday 10th is the next Critical Mass, followed by a Critical Mass film night at 7pm at Next To Nowhere See here for more information.

And finally, for your daily musing pleasure, I've recently found Dilbert on 2 wheels. Yehuda Moon comic gives you a daily cycling related strips, a thought for the day about our interaction in society as Cyclists. See www.yehudamoon.com






Thursday 4 September 2008

Next Critical Mass

The Next Mass is happening on Friday 12th Sept. People will be there, rain or shine, at 6pm at the Chinese Arch Nelson street. For more info on Critical mass see this post

There is no after event that we've heard of, but if you know of anything fun going on on Friday, then please suggest it. If not we can always go to a nice pub, or have a cuppa and chat in the Egg Cafe.

Critical Mass has no set route, we just follow the people in front and hope they know where they're going! However if there's any part of Liverpool you fancy going to, have a look at a suitable route and suggest it to the mass. It's always nice to cycle to a destination.

I'm gonna be bringing my gloves for this one, roll on winter I'm ready!!

Hope to see you there!