Month: January 2018

Becky Cumberworth still remembers the magical moment when she learned to ride a bike. “I was furious with my mother for letting go!” she said. “But then I realised I was riding on my own… it was a wonderful feeling.”

Despite the great start, like many adults in the UK, by the time Becky started high school cycling had been socially engineered out of her life. None of her friends rode to school, there was no safe cycle infrastructure to ride on and being told she was ‘dangerous’ on her cycling proficiency test massively dented her confidence. And that was that… cycling got ‘locked away’ in the childhood memory bank, possibly for good.

But in 2014, the Tour de France Grand Départ came to Yorkshire and, inspired by the event, Becky knew she had to give it another go. Fortunately for her, a recent upgrade to the local canal towpath by CityConnect provided a safe route to regain her confidence and she soon joined lovetoride.net to stay motivated and encourage others at Leeds City Council where she works.

“When Love to Ride came along, people at the council were suddenly talking more about cycling and sharing stories of people winning prizes for riding and encouraging. It’s great to see this happening in the workplace”, said Becky.

Spurred on by her achievements on the canal, Becky decided she wanted to explore the local hills and attended a Mountain Bike Skills Course for beginners with local provider MTB Cycle Yorkshire. “The course really built my confidence and inspired me to ride more”, said Becky. Even better, she’s now encouraged a neighbour to give it a try and they’ll both be heading up to Gisburn Forest on 14^th October to take part in the Hopetech Women’s Enduro (there are still a few places available for those inspired to give it a try!).

“I’ve never ridden an Enduro event before, but I’m really looking forward to meeting and learning from all the other women taking part in this grass roots event which is all about having fun and giving the sport a try in a friendly environment.”

Apart from her mountain bike, which Becky bought from her local bike shop Chevin Cycles in Otley, she hasn’t got any special equipment for the event… in fact she was quite proud to report she’ll be riding it in her running gear!

“Taking part in lovetoride.net has encouraged me to take my cycling to the next level. I’m so glad I took that first step to getting back on the bike and I’d encourage other lapsed riders to give it a try – you never know where it might take you!”

The University of Sheffield won Cycle September in 2017 and they’re aiming to replicate their staff’s success with students this year through the DfT-funded Love to Ride/NUS Sustainability project, UniCycle. On Monday the University opened its fantastic new cycling facility.

“People want to cycle,” said Darren Hardwick, the University of Sheffield’s Sustainable Travel Manager. “And we hope that our new Cycle Hub will attract a wider cross section of people to cycle to the University this year.”

The new facility will provide secure indoor parking for 168 bicycles, along with shower facilities and 80 lockers for kit. “It shows students and staff that we take cycling seriously,” said Darren.

The University has been awarded the ‘most cycle-friendly workplace in the UK’ accolade in recent years, and last year won the national Cycle September title for large employers for the number of cycling trips made, and encouragement of new cyclists.

Around 10% of University staff cycle to work regularly, a figure comparable to many progressive companies in London where increased government funding has seen cycling rates increase rapidly over recent years, and the University have liaised with cycling staff about new routes and facilities around University sites.

Security is an ongoing issue for commuter cyclists, with reports that owners of more expensive bikes are being repeatedly targeted, sometimes by thieves monitoring phone apps like Strava.

The new facility is one response to the issue, said Darren, along with working with South Yorkshire Police and even equipping the University’s own security staff with bicycles to travel around the campus.

“Helping cyclists is one of the things we look at as a good employer,” he added. “I’d say to local companies of any size, talk to your employees to see what they need to help them cycle more. And if you’re interested in improving your cycle security, get in touch if you want to come here and take a look.”

This post gives some advice about how to be an effective Cycling Champion at your workplace and shares some insights from one of our successful Champions in 2017, Ross from the Open University in Milton Keynes.

The Love to Ride programme of events is designed to help you help your colleagues ride more often and for transport. First up is Ride to Work Week (save the dates! 12-18 March), which is a great opportunity for regular bike commuters to help their colleagues try riding to work. It’s a good idea to organise a low-key Bike Breakfast (tips here) in February; this will be a good rehearsal for a bigger event during Ride to Work Week and an opportunity to tell existing bike commuters about it and enlist their help. People already commuting to work might be able to buddy new or occasional riders to help them ride in, or help you to organise social rides or other events to help foster a cycling community and build colleagues’ confidence.

Check out our post here to find out how riding to work can make you happier, healthier and wealthier – and how it can benefit your employer – so that you can articulate the benefits clearly to management and colleagues. If you can clearly communicate these benefits throughout the year via email, intranet and other channels, you will recruit more riders and spread the love more effectively! We also recommend finding out about adult cycle training in your area – this is often free or heavily subsidised and is a fantastic way to give new and returning riders the confidence they need to ride for transportation.

Ride to Work Week (March) and Bike Week in June are also great opportunities to build your team for our main event, Cycle September, when you can win organisation prizes.

Ross, a winning Love to Ride Champion in 2017, has some great insights to help you succeed as a Champ in 2018:

I targeted the cycling club as I thought that the sense of competition would appeal to them. The number of miles they were putting in pushed us up the leaderboard and when I could name specific organisations who we were jostling with, that made for some compelling posts on our intranet, Yammer and the noticeboard that attracted others. I think that competitive angle was what made the biggest difference.

We recently received our framed certificates, and they were very happily received, particularly for the department which came 3^rd in MK for their size category. I feel sure they will be trying even harder next time around.

My advice to other champions would be to really focus on people who already cycle a bit, but perhaps not to work, or not very often. There’s nothing wrong with getting regular cyclists either – I was one and it still encouraged me on wet windy mornings. 

Why would Ross urge other organisations to sign up to Love to Ride?

Reduce your parking problems, ease congestion, boost your green credentials, improve staff health, fitness and alertness, have fun, win prizes. Why wouldn’t you want to sign up? 

We couldn’t put the reasons to ride better ourselves! Please get in touch if you have any questions or suggestions about how to be an awesome Champion for Cycling.

Find out more and register at lovetoride.net