Author Topic: Cycle to Work Day  (Read 2872 times)

Cycle to Work Day
« on: 01 September, 2017, 09:25:26 am »
So, the next National Cycle to Work day is Wed 13th September. Okay, great, someone is trying to get bums on seats and all the benifits that that entails, BUT why in the middle of September when the weather is starting to turn?

If you want to encourage people out surely it would have been better to have this in, say late May or June when the days are longer and the weather generally better. If they catch the bug, hey they've got several months of good weather for it to bite. In September; I can easily see someone having thought, okay I'll do that, take a peek between the curtains at 6.30am and think blimey, it looks cold & damp out there, no I'll take the car today.

https://www.cycletoworkday.org/

Ben T

Re: Cycle to Work Day
« Reply #1 on: 01 September, 2017, 09:39:10 am »
presumably it's to coincide with the tour o' britain.

ian

Re: Cycle to Work Day
« Reply #2 on: 01 September, 2017, 09:56:26 am »
You can never guarantee good weather, this being Britain, a country where sunshine is still rationed. Summer, of course, is when people are on holidays, kids are out setting fires, that kind of thing. Trying to organize anything in summer is a nightmare. September brings everyone back blinking in the harsh, harsh daylight.

Re: Cycle to Work Day
« Reply #3 on: 01 September, 2017, 10:52:10 am »
You can never guarantee good weather, this being Britain, a country where sunshine is still rationed.

Exactly. September is usually relatively pleasant; I'm hoping it's not going to be as bad as the August we've just had.

I'll be doing my token commute on the 13th!

ElyDave

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Re: Cycle to Work Day
« Reply #4 on: 01 September, 2017, 11:02:12 am »
So, the next National Cycle to Work day is Wed 13th September. 

https://www.cycletoworkday.org/

my wife won't let me ride my bike in the house  :P
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

ian

Re: Cycle to Work Day
« Reply #5 on: 01 September, 2017, 11:28:13 am »
I'd cycle up and down the drive but it seems I'll be the Netherlands and I'm not cycling all the way there.

mattc

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Re: Cycle to Work Day
« Reply #6 on: 01 September, 2017, 12:31:11 pm »
So, the next National Cycle to Work day is Wed 13th September. Okay, great, someone is trying to get bums on seats and all the benifits that that entails, BUT why in the middle of September when the weather is starting to turn?

If you want to encourage people out surely it would have been better to have this in, say late May or June when the days are longer and the weather generally better. If they catch the bug, hey they've got several months of good weather for it to bite. In September; I can easily see someone having thought, okay I'll do that, take a peek between the curtains at 6.30am and think blimey, it looks cold & damp out there, no I'll take the car today.

https://www.cycletoworkday.org/

http://bikeweek.org.uk/
Bike Week 2017 will take place 10-18th June
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Wycombewheeler

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Re: Cycle to Work Day
« Reply #7 on: 01 September, 2017, 12:38:47 pm »
Weather in september tends to be pretty good. Issue is not ling after it gets cold wet and dark before a habit can form.

Also always on Wednesday. I always miss cycle to work day despite cycling 4 days every week. As Wednesday's I have to drive my daughter.

Eddington  127miles, 170km

Kim

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Re: Cycle to Work Day
« Reply #8 on: 01 September, 2017, 12:53:45 pm »
It's also traditional British tokenism, fiddling about in worthy ways at the edges of the problem, because there's no political will to address the real reason more people don't cycle.  It's not expected to actually achieve anything, other than the odd success story for future publicity.

ian

Re: Cycle to Work Day
« Reply #9 on: 01 September, 2017, 01:08:38 pm »
I dunno, it can work, I never anticipated cycling all the way to mothership until one day there were no trains so I gave it a go as a one-off and the rest, as they say, is history. Sometimes the realisation that you can is useful. That said, I suspect the numbers who even try is probably fairly dismal but then we live in a country where the cycling rates hover just above 1 per cent. I suppose the problem is that five minutes on the average British road will have most neophytic cyclists frantically pedalling back to their garage.

I sort of feel the same about those grim 'walk to school one day a week' campaigns. It's the limbo dance of aspiration.

Kim

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Re: Cycle to Work Day
« Reply #10 on: 01 September, 2017, 01:13:03 pm »
I don't think anyone would dispute Bob Crow's awesome achievements at getting people cycling...   :)

And yes, proving that it's possible is valid.  But that it needs to be demonstrated at all is a symptom.

Re: Cycle to Work Day
« Reply #11 on: 01 September, 2017, 01:22:05 pm »
It should be obvious to our so-called leaders that more cycling brings many different benefits.  Another example of 'inside the box' thinking is all this fluff about electric cars being the magic solution for personal transport in the future.  What about electric bikes (and through increased cycling / fewer short urban journeys in cars) healthier travel, less congestion, less pollution from particulates caused by car brakes etc etc ...
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Re: Cycle to Work Day
« Reply #12 on: 01 September, 2017, 01:22:52 pm »
I thought about advertising it here but we work on an old abandoned air force base in Suffolk and the nearest town is Woodbridge, 6 miles away although most of us live in Ipswich, 15 miles away by the direct route (which is busier with traffic so I go the longer country route) so there is a few of us regular cyclists who think 15 miles is a gentle mornings ride and everyone else considers us crazy.

I've come to the conclusion therefore that if I advertised it I will end up riding to work with the people I normally ride to work with so it will achieve little. Perhaps if we worked in the town it might be different but I hear nothing but excuses from those who don't want to consider it's possible for them despite those people seeing us do it already.
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Kim

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Re: Cycle to Work Day
« Reply #13 on: 01 September, 2017, 01:38:02 pm »
It should be obvious to our so-called leaders that more cycling brings many different benefits.  Another example of 'inside the box' thinking is all this fluff about electric cars being the magic solution for personal transport in the future.  What about electric bikes (and through increased cycling / fewer short urban journeys in cars) healthier travel, less congestion, less pollution from particulates caused by car brakes etc etc ...

The EV brake pollution study was discredited.  Everyone who's ever driven or maintained an EV knows you use the brakes much less than an ICE vehicle.

EVs are a solution to oil dependency, air pollution and to some extent traffic noise.  They're also cheaper and much nicer to drive.  That's all good stuff, will happen anyway for simple economic reasons, and will save lives.  But other than perhaps electric buses making public transport more attractive and some stuff related to parking, it's not going to do anything to change the way we use transport.

I agree that electric bikes are the future of cycling for transport, and while the additional power of a motor does make Franklin-style vehicular cycling practical for a larger proportion of the population, it's not a magic solution either.

We need to eliminate the 'school run'.  EVs (even electric bikes) aren't going to help with that.  Neither is a 'walking bus' or Cycle To Work Day.

Wowbagger

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Re: Cycle to Work Day
« Reply #14 on: 01 September, 2017, 01:59:56 pm »
So, the next National Cycle to Work day is Wed 13th September. 

https://www.cycletoworkday.org/

my wife won't let me ride my bike in the house  :P

You could always spend the night camping/audaxing/star-gazing and then cycle home...

I don't work on Wednesdays but i might just get up early and cycle along some busy, car-clogged roads that morning, just to gloat...
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Re: Cycle to Work Day
« Reply #15 on: 13 September, 2017, 09:08:24 am »

I'll be doing my token commute on the 13th!

...or not. Totally forgot about this and walked in as usual. :facepalm:

Basil

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Re: Cycle to Work Day
« Reply #16 on: 13 September, 2017, 09:22:05 am »
Guess I'll cycle to the shop instead of walk today.
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Re: Cycle to Work Day
« Reply #17 on: 21 September, 2017, 12:44:17 pm »
It was extended to the 14th due to the weather. That allowed me to do a cycle commute.
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