I couldn’t have put it better myself….

…so I won’t and instead I will just leave you with the Everyday Cycling, wise words for beginners

Relax!

I think I have found the secret to a more relaxed life. Cycling.

Obvious you may or may not think, but let’s look at the evidence.

Yesterday while cycling to work along part if the national cycle route 2 I felt myself starting to relax, enjoy the view and god forbid start to say hello to fellow strangers on their bikes.

By the end of my ride, albiet sweaty, I felt more relaxed than I did before I left, a bit of an achievement after seven miles.

Even the ride home at one in the morning, the roads were clear and the only other road users I really had to worry about were a few rabbits and an urban fox.

Yesterday I saw things and places I never see when in my car. There is a real sense of freedom about taking to the saddle, do it right and it gives you that sense which you never forget and which drives you back to it again and again. Do it wrong however and it drives you back to your car.

Every city and town has an unknown beauty to the car driver but one that is very well known to the cyclist.

So next time you see someone with a big grin on their face, just think they may have seemn something you missed while you were stuck in the traffic.

Ladies….get on yer bike!

According to Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, 44 per cent of women have access to a bike and yet three quaters of them never use it.

Apparently there are a number of reasons why women don’t cycle more, from concerns about safety to the weather. But it seems the problem is more of a gender one than anything else.

The research carried out on behalf of Sustrans shows that while 8 per cent of men cycle everyday just 1 per cent of women do the same.

So do we have a gender problem in cycling? is there a perception of cycling being a male dominated past time? And if there is, what can we as women do to improve the perception of cycling to the female of the species?

Who nicked Camerons bike?

It seems not even the leader of the opposition is not immune to crime these days when David Cameron, Leader of the Conservative Party recently had his bike stolen outside a London supermarket.

Cameron, had apparently, gone into the supermarket on his way home from work to pick up some last minute groceries. He locked his cycle to a foot high bollard and went about his shopping, by the time he left the store his bike was gone.

It does teach us one valuable lesson as cyclists, our trusty steads are never really safe even when locked, the most determined theif will always get their hands on the prize.

If there is a moral in the story of David Cameron it is…never lock your bike to a foot high bollard by which the bike can be simply lifted over and removed. And when your in London it is especially important to remember to lock your bike properly when around 19,000 bikes are stolen every year in the captial.

But it isn’t just the UK that has a cycle theft problem, in the same week David Cameron hit the headlines, Police in the Canadian city of Toronto recovered over 2,400 cycles after raids across the the city which highlighted a major cycle theft ring in the Second City.

So is there anything we can do to protect our bikes? It seems even if we lock our bikes someone will try and take it, so what next? Personally I have taken out cycle insurance in the event of such a case, but I do feel my £50 per year including the public liablity cover could be better spent on keep the standard of maintence up to scratch on the machine rather than insuring it against the chance of someone who dosen’t know not to touch something which dosen’t belong to them, taking it from me.

How can I keep my bike safe without having to worry about it?

And there are reports that Camerons bike has been found, never mind the met police only have another 18,999 to locate, although somehow I don’t think that will be happening seeing as they don’t belong to the leader of the oppisition!

Mighty morphing cycle rangers

Firstly I would like to show off a bit and announce that I am writing this blog without the aid of a computer. Instead I am using the fantastic technology that is the Apple iPod Touch with the WordPress application. Clever ain’t it?

Secondly and to the main point of todays entry I cab also announce that I am now a volunteer ranger for Sustrans the national cycle organisation which looks after, maintains and collaborates with local councils in the upkeep of the National cycle network.

My job. To look after around five miles of the cycle network in Exeter. It may not be much in the grand scheme of things but it is a stretch that means slot to me, I grew up near it.

As a child I fought to get a track of pavement in the field behind my house widened so we would have somewhere safe to ride our bikes to and from the park. Now all these years on that pavement is part of the National cycle network route two and I have been charged with looking after it in order to preserve it for the future.

It may not be much but it is a privilege to have my own bit of land to look after.

Of course Sustrans are looking for rangers all over the country so why not volunteer on the Sustrans website and make a difference in your neck of the woods.

Tour of Britian comes to Devon

After the success of last years stage 2 of the Tour of Britain through Somerset and North Devon, the event will be making another appearence in the county.

Stage 3 of the Tour will take place on Tuesday, September 9 and will pass through towns and villages such as Hemyock, Culmstock, Williand, Tiverton, Witherage, South Molton and North Molton.

Events are expected to be held along the route, most promeninatly at the Mid Devon town of Tiverton.

More information can be found at the Devon County Council website. Wider information on the Tour of Britian itself can be found on the Tour website.

And if your brave enough you can volunteer to act as a race marshal (on any of the 8 stages). You have up until the 31st August to get your volunteer application in.

So if you haven’t had a chance to catch the Tour De France this year, this is your chance to see professional cycling in action and perhaps….just perhaps be inspired!

Anything you can do, we can do just as well thank you…

The French have always seen cycling as ‘their sport’. There’s no doubt about it they are passionate about the proofessional cycling, you only have to watch the crowds during the Tour de France to see it, but are they writing us Brits off a little too easily?

Mark Cavendish of Team Columbia again proved today that not only is Britian imporving in the endurance cycling events but that we can win more than once in Le Tour, something which was last done in 1973!

In another sprint finish Cavendish put his foot to the metal to pass his own team mate Gerald Ciolek from Germany, to clinch  the 172.5km, stage eight from Figeac to Toulouse.

Team Columbia rider, Kim Kirchen from Luxembourg maintains the yellow jersey after coming in in 41st place.

So is British cycling facing a come back? and is this the shape of things to come? Only the next few weeks and the performance of Cavendish will give us the clue as to wether or not this could be a sport that some Brits might take to.

And as for David Millar of Garmin Chipotle, he is currently lying in 7th place in the overall standing, just behind the Spainard, Alejandro Valverde.

Over to you…

Now it’s time for you turn, afterall I can’t do this all by myself!

Cycling is a communial activity as well as a solitary one, so I want to hear your stories, views, comments anything on your involvement with cycling.

Are you new to cycling? Did you start as a means to get fit, save money or just for fun? Have you found a cycle route you want to rave about to the world at large or is there somewhere you think we should avoid?

Whatever it is as long as it’s cycle related I want to hear about it so I can publish it right here and let everyone know.

So send me an e-mail at fit2ride@ymail.com and I will publish as many as possible over the coming weeks and months.

I will of course by posting, but lets make this something we can all be part of!

No prizes however, just kudos!

6 ways to get started

1. Thinking BIG? No start small: Ok so you may be inspired by the Tour de France but lets be realistic, what are the chances of you becoming the next Lance Armstong? slim I would thinkand can only really lead to dissapointment. However goals are important, they just have to be manageable, so if all you want to so is save money by cycling to work or to lose some weight then set that as your target and aim for it. Once you’ve reached it find another goal and so on.
2. Do your research: What kind of cycling do you want to do? establish this before you even set foot into the shop to buy the bike. There are hundreds of bikes out there for a wide range of purposes so establish what kind of cycling you want to do before splashing the cash. After all does that £2,000 Cannondale Liquigas Road Racing bike really fit the purpose of simply commuting to work?
3. Go to ‘proper’ cycle store: Forget Halfords and JJB sports, support your local cycle store and go to the people in the know. Not only will you get someone who knows what they are talking about, but you will also get after sales support, information on cycle routes in your area, a chance to test ride the bike before you buy and generally very nice people who know what they are talking about. You may be paying a little more but then you are paying for knowledgeable service and nine times out of ten you will get a free six week (from purchase) service on your bike just to make sure all is going well.
4. Accessorise!: No I’m not talking about lycra racing suits, I’m talking about helmets, lights and locks. Would you buy a car without lights and working locks? No? neither would I so why would you buy a bike without lights and locks? As for helmets, buy one, it could save your life! Any other accessories are an optional extra so have a look around and see what you might want in addition to the essentials
5. Plan ahead: If you haven’t cycled since you were a child then assess your fitness, don’t try that 6 mile ride to work in one go, use your time off to get to know the route and take it bit by bit if you have to. If your town or city has cycle routes then use them, it’s far more attractive than using the roads and far safer.
6. Enjoy yourself!: Ok so you may be cycling in order to save some money getting to and from work, but think about it, your enjoying some beautiful scenery and your not stuck in a traffic jam. Added to that your doing your heart some good so sit back and enjoy the ride….quite literally!

Tour de Exeter!

Yes it’s that time of the year again when sports starved fans make a short term daliance with pro cycling in the form of the Tour de France.

Everyone watches it, gets all enthiastic, rushes out to buy themselves a bike, take one outing on it to the local pub down by the waterside and then puts it into the shed for the next 12 months doing nothing.

But I want to change that! in this day and age of the credit crunch, high fuel bills, increasing food costs getting out and about on a bike can do something for the wallet and the figure, but most importantly it can be fun!

I will admit I am a recent convert to cycling myself, for years I have driven a car to get me from A to B, but last summer, just like many people this summer I got into Le Tour and thought ‘I can do that!’ So after eveluating my actually skill level I took some time to research the bike I wanted to start out on.

It took me nearly a year to do it! mostly out of the fact I couldn’t afford to spend out on a bike at that moment in time but I have finally done it. It’s a simple road going mountian bike but it’s a start and it will at least get me to and from work.

As for Le Tour, well perhaps nothing as big as that in future, but road is certinally the way I want to go so who knows what lies ahead….