15 January 2007: Women bike messengers and a ride through a very long tunnel

Women bike messengers might cut a better figure on the roads than their grungy, bearded and tattooed male counterparts, but are the girls better at their jobs than the boys? The answer is yes, if a handful of London’s women bike messengers are to be believed. For details on the upcoming Roller Races, look here.

We also have Hugo Gladstone riding with the Stourbridge Bicycle Users Group on a ‘suburban secrets’ adventure that takes in the 2.3 km Netherton canal tunnel. Wooohh!! Echoooohh!!

And if you want to help the Bike Show and all Resonance fm’s unique broadcasting stay on the air…. don’t delay!

You can donate to our emergency fund quickly and painlessly here. Remember, all the programme-makers and engineers on Resonance are unpaid. We need to raise £60,000 now to pay for basic things like renting our studio (a damp and airless cave) and powering our antenna (a rusty coathanger tied to the top of a hospital). It’s not rocket science but without donations from listeners, it will all come to an end very soon.

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8 January 2007 – Doorstep Adventures with Patrick Field (part two)

In the second half of a ride with London cyclist Patrick Field, we cruise on the Woolwich Ferry, ride along the Thames Path through Greenwich before crossing in a tunnel under the Thames to the Isle of Dogs and from there onwards to old pumping station in Wapping converted into a arts space and cafe.

Along the way we discuss the revolutionary era of the bicycle, humanity and the march of progress and the challenges of global and local environmental imperatives. Heavy stuff, which might explain why Patrick suffers the Bike Show’s first ever live on air puncture.

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18 December 2006: Doorstep adventures with Patrick Field (Part one)

Riding with Patrick Field, legendary London cyclist, thinker and writer, on a leisurely route east from Hackney along the top of a giant Victorian sewerage outflow pipe towards the River Thames. We take in ancient trading routes, cross the River Lea and pass through land that will be home to the London Olympics in 2012. We discuss the ethos of cycling as travel and Patrick’s hopes for returning to an age of pre-industrial idleness… (part two follows next week).

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4 December 2006: Sur le pavé in Brussels

Cobbles of BrusselsIn the Belgian capital of Brussels, road-testing Cyclocity, a new concept in bicycle hire – sturdy bikes you can pick up and leave in different places around the city that cost just one euro an hour. Jack Thurston and William Greswell are soon distracted by EU monumentalist architecture, horse meat steaks and a winter wonderland in the Grand Place.

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27 November 2006: Berlin special

A special edition from the German capital city and well-known haven for cyclists. Riding with Berlin blogger Maisie Hitchcock, we discuss the changing face of Berlin, the legacy of the Cold War and the achingly hip Berlin music scene, all the while finding out what a great place this is to ride a bike.

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13 November 2006: On a Bickerton in China, the Sideways Bike and cycling with disabilities

This week’s studio guest is none other than David Thurston, my very own dad. A London cyclist since the 1970s when he lost his driving license, he explored China in the early 1980s on a Bickerton folder and is now discovering that with Parkinson’s Disease, cycling is more fun than walking.

Also featuring an interview with Irish nutty professor Michael Killian, inventor of the revolutionary Sideways Bike (pictured) with independent front and rear steering, news of Sheldon Brown’s struggle with Multiple Sclerosis and an report by Alex Murray on a high end off-road wheelchair.

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6 November 2006: Edinburgh by train, low carbon travel

It makes perfect sense to travel to Ediburgh with a bicycle overnight on the sleeper train. Once there, I find out what it’s like on two wheels in Scotland’s capital city – watch those cobblestones! Also chatting with Ed Gillespie, who’s about to embark on a round-the-world odyssey of slow travel / low carbon travel: by train, camel and container ship.