Welcome to the new and improved weekly round-up. In the week’s hiatus since volume 17 we’ve re-jigged the format slightly and bought in some new features.
This week’s featured image comes from a reddit post by user Jedrekk, titled ‘it rained a bit in Budapest yesterday‘. Commentators on the post enjoyed speculating which parts of the cyclist’s bike would have been worse for wear after such a thorough drenching:
Also popular on social media this week is an image showing an aspect of cycling infrastructure in Ottawa which has captured the attention of cyclists the world over:
The Dooring Zone is a dedicated section between parking spaces and the bike lane which is designed to reduce the risk of cyclists getting thwapped by doors if unobservant drivers open them without looking. Similar concepts are present in various cities around the world, but it seems that nowhere lists it as a legal obligation.
Cyclists in Stroud are up in arms about a much less useful piece of cycling infrastructure. A report in Stroud Life introduces the new 8ft long bike lane, which has been described by locals as “no use”:
This lane is thought to be the shortest in the UK, inheriting that proud accolade from an 8 feet and 2 inches lane in Plymouth. The same debate accompanies short bike lanes each time they’re painted: are they worthwhile? Should there be a minimum length? What were they thinking?
In more sensible infrastructure news, a piece of bike path described as “the final jigsaw piece in what will be one of the world’s great cycling routes” has finally received the go-ahead in London. This section of London’s East-West Superhighway will pass directly outside Buckingham Palace, and has been in discussion for many months.
Below is a great flythrough video of the proposed route, and more info is available at the TFL website.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=71&v=Thyy2-J-BFw
Other innovative efforts to get people cycling were explored in a piece in The Guardian last week, which looked at five schemes being used by councils around the country to increase engagement. These range from cake give-aways in Essex, bike give-aways (!) in Birmingham, better parking in York, to videos and mini-parklets in London.
Maha Vajiralongkorn, the Crown Prince of Thailand, has been joined by thousands of Thai cyclists in a ride in honour of his mother. The prince, riding in a jersey sporting the royal colour of sky blue and emblazoned with “bike for Mom”.
The ride has symbolic and political implications, especially after last year’s military coup, but beyond that it demonstrates the unifying power of cycling. It also represents a challenge to the record of greatest number of people cycling at once – currently held at 72,919 by Taiwan.
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