Well-being

January is the perfect month to take a closer look at how to stay feeling good on the bike. In the studio to share their expertise are Michael Crebbin, a sports physio specialising in cycling-related problems, and Rebecca Bogue who teaches a yoga class designed especially for cyclists.

Contact Rebecca via the Bodywise studio in the Roman Road, east London. Her yoga for cyclists class is on Thursday nights 8.15 – 9.30pm at Bodywise, 119 Roman Road, Bethnal Green, London E2 0QN. Read more about Why Yoga Is Good For Cyclists.

Contact Michael via the Complete Physio clinic. Read more about physiotherapy for cyclists at the London Fixed Gear and Single Speed Forum and at Rollapaluza.

Wanted: Bicycle Mechanics

This week’s show looks at the chronic lack of bicycle mechanics with the Ninon Asuni of Bicycle Workshop. Ninon founded Bicycle Workshop nearly thirty years ago after deciding she’d had enough of working as a librarian. She’s now among Britain’s most highly regarded bicycle mechanics with a devoted following in London and the rest of the country. Sean Lally and Ian Perkins of Cycle Systems Academy talk about their mission to train a new generation of cycle mechanics and to reinvent the profession.

Plus more from Paul Fournel’s Need for the Bike. This week he talks about landscape and the bicyclist. If you buy the book online from Amazon using the link (left) Resonance gets some of the money. If you’d rather buy it from a shop, then choose the excellent Calder Bookshop in Waterloo. Music from The Vines, Half Man Half Biscuit and Harmonia.

Play on links below.

Calling Time on “Sorry Mate, I Didn’t See You” (SMIDSY)

smidsy-stop-signThe Bike Show moves into advocacy mode this week with guest in the studio Debra Rolfe, Campaigns Director of the Cyclists’ Touring Club (CTC), Britain’s largest cycling organisation with 60,000+ members. Debra is spearheading the CTC’s new campaign against bad driving by motorists called Stop SMIDSY. The aim is to draw attention to the dangers of inattentive dangerous driving and the oh-so-familiar refrain ‘Sorry Mate, I Didn’t See You’. We discuss the campaign and how cyclists can report near misses online.

Also in the show is a preview of 116 to Sea, an exhibition of photographs of the Dunwich Dynamo night ride by Joe McGorty. Joe is joined by Dunwich Dynamo godfather Patrick Field. And then there’s the second installment of Paul Fournel reading from Need for the Bike. Phew, all that in just half an hour!

Play MP3 on links below. Other file formats coming soon.

TfL Draft Cycle Safety Action Plan: plenty of carrots but where are the sticks?

Transport for London has published a draft Cycle Safety Action Plan. Comments on the plan are required by December 11th 2009. The plan is good in parts but the emphasis is on voluntary measures, partnerships and awareness raising, when what is really needed is tough action against dangerous driving and facing up to the hard decisions needed to make London a cycle-friendly city. Continue reading