According to this Treehugger.com post, “you may be hurting your health by biking in urban traffic” but “you are not hurting it as badly as you could be” because “studies show you get the biggest hit of the nasties when you’re inside a car”.
Monthly Archives: September 2005
Act Now to Open Up New Rights for Off-Road Cycling!
“In 1968 CTC, the national cyclists’ organisation, successfully lobbied to allow off-road cyclists to make use of bridleways, which opened up hundreds of new trails across the UK.
On October 11th MPs will vote on the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill, whose rights of way clauses could provide welcome protection for trails and the countryside from the damage caused by motorised vehicles. With a suitable amendment, the Bill could also help clarify cyclists’ ability to claim rights of way, in the same way that walkers and horse-riders can at present.
CTC is lobbying MPs to ensure that cyclists can claim ‘restricted byway’ rights. This would enable new trails to be opened for off-road cycling, because where there is enough evidence of past cycle use, we will gain a permanent right to use the trail!
This could provide our first new opportunity to claim off-road rights for cyclists in almost 40 years.”
August Cycle Tour – North and East
A hardy band of three took to the cycle paths for our August tour. As you can see, we were lucky to be able to find our way.
Photos by me, so they’re not as good as Richard’s…
Darlington Cyclocross – Sunday 2nd October
Next Sunday at 12:30 the Darlington round of the North East Cyclocross League (http://www.neccl.co.uk/) takes place at Branksome School. Entry is £7, if you’re a non-member, and all finishers get an Aldi goody bag!
The course is likely to be largely unchanged from last year, when it went down well with the riders, the course offers plenty of fast singletrack, a couple of stream crossings (aided by purpose built bridges), dismounts, off camber sections, some decent decent climbs and fast open sections.
I raced this last year and came a fantastic 36th place (out of 36 finishers…). It’s probably the hardest 50 minutes I’ve ever spent on a bike but I’ll be there again next Sunday to try to improve on last year’s result.
Even if you’re not a racer (and I’m not a racer!) it’s a great introduction to bike racing, and would be worth going to just to watch and cheer everyone one. I’ll be the one at the back on a mountain bike getting lapped.
Health workers to get access to free bikes
The Northern Echo today is reporting that Darlington PCT has been given two bikes free of charge, as part of the Town on the Move initiative. Employees can book the bikes for use to travel to meetings.