Monthly Archives: August 2010

Release of North American DVD

Posted on by Posted in DVD, NTSC, USA
photo:Sabine Bungert

A new version of Beauty and the Bike has now been released in the North American (NTSC) DVD standard. The release includes a new 27 minute version of the film, giving cycling advocates the choice of three screening versions (8minute, 27minute and 57minute) for different circumstances.

The 27 minute version was premiered at the ninth Car-Free Cities Conference in York this summer to wide acclaim. Its production follows a number of requests from activists wanting to show the full film, but needing more time for discussion

The NTSC DVD standard is widely used in the USA and Canada, as the default domestic DVD player standard. Most of the rest of the world uses the UK PAL standard, although all personal computers, and an increasing range of DVD players, can handle both formats

A special thanks must go to the wonderful Tad & Lisa Salyards, the Minneapolis cycling advocates, for their help and support during the production of the NTSC DVD. The NTSC version of Beauty and the Bike is available here.

Darlo Pedal Picnic This Sunday

Posted on by Posted in infrastructure, rides, routes 4 Comments


Come along to Darlington Cycling Campaign’s Pedal Picnic this Sunday! The pedal picnic is an alternative to a “critical mass“. The aim is to stimulate discussion on cycling around Darlington using the infrastructure that we have. It is designed for everyday cyclists, and is more a social, rather than a sports, event.

Meet at the Arts Centre, Vane Terrace at 1pm(1300hrs) this Sunday (22nd August).

Bring a bike, some food or food to share and some waterproofs,just in case of inclement weather. The route I have in mind and have already “test” ridden, is to leave the Arts Centre and head to Cockerbeck Park/LNR, using the advisory route(yellow) on the Tees Valley Cycling map, Darlington. On leaving Cockerbeck, we shall cycle around the edge of Branksome until the off-road cycle path is reached. This path is then followed to Westpark where we shall stop and picnic. After the picnic the route follows West Auckland road, on the roadside cyclepath, until the junction of Brinkburn Road. We’ll then follow the advisory route back to The Arts Centre via Willow Road, Pierremont Road, Pierremont Crescent, Millbank Road, Cleveland Avenue, Trinity Road and ending back at the Arts Centre.

For those who would like to join a critical mass ride, the nearest event is organised by the soon-to-be-born Newcastle Cycling Campaign on the last Friday of every month.

Edit: A low turnout, but a lovely day. Darlington will always be in the forefront of the “slow town” movement, so these things will take time to develop. Unperturbed, the organisers are meeting on 31 August to plan the next ride. Watch this space!

Darlovelo Takes Off

Posted on by Posted in bike hire, cycling, Darlington, darlovelo

Darlington’s very own bike hire scheme was formally launched on 25 August at the Darlington Festival of Cycling in South Park. Compared to London’s estimated £25m annual budget, Darlovelo’s £40k is modest indeed. The scheme is benefitting from a £35k grant from Bike Hub, the bicycle industry’s “New Ideas” fund. There will also be “in kind” contributions from Darlington Borough Council, though no cash.

Darlovelo is inheriting the bikes that featured in the Beauty and the Bike project, and will be based at Darlington Media Group’s workshop, behind Darlington Arts Centre. Three of the young women who starred in our film have now bought their bikes, but another eight bikes are still being hired out by Darlington Media Group. Six further bikes are being donated to the scheme by Darlington Borough Council. With 18 new bikes purchased, the Darlovelo scheme now has 32 bikes available for hire.

If the scheme goes well, there are plans to expand over the next two years, with two further bases and up to 100 bikes.