Cycle Carlisle

Hello All
Apologies for the long silence and the lack of bike rides over the summer.Various events have conspired against us this year but we hope to make a dramatic comeback and most of all hope that you can join us on some of our rides.
We’ve put together a new schedule which is attached, and as before we are holding rides on the first and third Sunday of the month the first Sunday being an easy/medium family ride and the third Sunday a more challenging, partially off road ride.
We are having a grand re-launch of the Bike Club on the 2nd October with a very easy pedal and picnic to Talkin Tarn with an optional ride from there of about 8 miles if you are feeling energetic. If not we can sit and eat ice cream and feed the ducks!
Because we didn’t want to miss out on September completely there will also be rides on the 4th and 18th. On the 4th we have a “medium level” ride to Armathwaite and back and on the 18th a harder ride to Bewcastle via Gilsland.
For all rides we meet outside the Moot Hall in Brampton at 11.00 and bring a picnic and a drink.
Happy Cycling and really hope to see you soon!
Chris
Brampton ridesBrampton rides

Our next ride is on Sunday 7th August Cycle Carlisle 25 mile bike ride starting at Sands Centre 11am (map) to Port Carlisle
on quiet roads at easy pace.

FRANK SMITH.

(upcoming event)
http://www.cumbriafoundation.org/jennings-rivers-ride

Sunday 18th September 2011

A series of NEW Cycle Sportive Challenge Events which will be held in Cumbria in September. The Cumbria Rivers Ride includes three stunning bike routes for cyclists of ALL abilities.

A Cycle Sportive is a long distance, organised, mass participation cycling event on public roads and the Cumbria Rivers Ride will go through some of the UK’s finest scenery and cycling terrain. Starting and finishing in Keswick, the Cumbria Rivers Ride routes follow the path of the devastating effects of the 2009 Cumbrian floods from the heart of the Lake District all the way to the Irish Sea.

Sections of the routes follow the affected river courses and criss-cross over many of the bridges that were either destroyed and replaced or were badly damaged during the floods.

Cycle Carlisle have confirmed that there will be another mass ride this year.

The ride will follow a similar format to previous years -with a short ride around the city ending in the city centre with various cycle-stalls and activities.

The event will on Sunday the 19th of June 2pm (meet in Devonshire walk car park from 1pm)

Here is the event on Bike week website

We are wanting to make this year’s event bigger and better than ever but to do this we really need some more help, both in organising it and volunteers to help us on the day.
If you, or anyone you know, are able to help us with any one of the following please would you let us know what you can help with. It would be much appreciated.

• Putting up posters
• Flyering bicycles about the event
• Helping out at Devonshire Walk carpark with children’s banner-making or handing out Bike week goodies
• Helping stewarding the bike ride itself (which the police require of us)
• Making teas and coffees and serving other refreshments in the town centre for riders
• For people who are not participating in the ride itself, tidying away stalls from Devonshire Walk carpark when ride starts
• Helping set up stalls in the town centre.
• Involvement in our organisation group (next meeting Monday 23 May, 6.30pm, Currock) … if you want to come to this please phone me on 07939 196441 for more details.

Thanks very much
Helen

A series of rides has been announced by Brampton on bikes. The rides are organised jointly by Sustainable Brampton, Sustrans and Brampton bike hub. The rides are rated:

Blue: Very easy and short

Green: 10-20 miles – occasional hills

Red: 20-30 miles – more demanding – but fine for an averagely fit person

Black: over 30 miles – demanding

All the rides start at the moot hall in the centre of Brampton at 11am. Please bring a pic-nic and something to drink

Refurbishments within Carlisle Station are currently taking place. The current Station Manager has assured us that cycle parking will be reinstated as part of this refurbishment within the station – 8 Sheffield stands to take 16 bicycles on platform 8.

See our forum, here

The Sustrans Carlisle Connect2 cycle and pedestrian route from Currock to Kingstown is in serious jeopardy. Unless the City and County Councils get their act together rapidly (by the end of February) Sustrans will withdraw the almost one million pounds of People’s Lottery money which was due to come to Carlisle after the public voted for it and give it to a reserve project where there is more political will to make it happen.

Information can be found about this in the articles in Tuesday’s News and Star:

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/4-4-million-cross-carlisle-cycle-route-doomed-as-talks-collapse-1.806820?referrerPath=home/2.1962

and the Cumberland News.

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/cyclists-slam-councillors-over-collapse-of-cross-carlisle-scheme-1.807929?referrerPath=home/2.1962

Basically the route, if it can be saved, will provide a safe traffic free route to walk and cycle across the city. It would include renovating /replacing the unsafe and very unpleasant bridge over the railway from Currock to Denton Holme. Original plans had also included a new pedestrian and cycle crossing over the river Eden but the council had already removed this from the scheme, putting the project “at risk”. There were still plans to improve the cycle route from the Eden to Kingstown. If this route happened it would benefit the health and well being of current and future generations in Carlisle, provide families a safe place to take their children on bicycles, improve access for people in wheelchairs and people with push chairs, help ease traffic congestion and help the environment.

Unfortunately our two councils cannot seem get their act together to work together to make this scheme happen. The City Council should have set up a steering group and was required to have ensured some basic ground work and surveys were carried out by the end of February, but have failed to do this.

They have had two years to get the steering group set up but could not even manage this. There seems to be a combination of incompetence and lack of political will to make it happen. I know that the council officers involved have been working their socks off to make it happen, but need councillors to vote yes to releasing funding for surveys etc.

What can you do?

We urgently need everyone who cares about this to contact their city and county councillors to ask them what are they doing to make it happen. Find your City Councillor contact details here:

http://cmis.carlisle.gov.uk/CMIS/Members.aspx

Find your County Councillor here:

http://councilportal.cumbria.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?bcr=1

Please also write to our MP, John Stevenson. We are asking him if he can intervene to save this. You can email him at office@johnstevensonmp.co.uk

If you need any more information please email us at (cyclecarlisle@hotmail.co.uk)

Thanks very much for supporting us.

Members of Cycle Carlisle recently wrote to their MP- John Stevenson to request that he takes action to encouraging more people to use their bicycles for work.
At the moment, employers can pay their staff up to 40 pence per mile for business journeys in their own vehicle which the employee will receive tax free, but if the same journey is made by bicycle the employer can only pay the employee 20 pence per mile, any more and the employee has to pay tax on it.
Clearly this is an anomaly which has the effect of not encouraging cycling for short journeys, and so the “business as usual” choice is more likely to me made, ie save your effort, get in your car and claim 40 pence per mile.
We asked John Stevenson to write to the Chancellor to address this discrepancy.

Scientists say that they are close to finding a cure for the common cold – a regular bike ride, read the article, here;

http://road.cc/content/news/26654-get-your-bike-beat-common-cold-say-researchers/

Sign a petition to Save our Forests!
You’ve probably heard in the media that the government is getting ready for a huge sell-off of our national forests to private firms. Our concern is that, apparently, under the Countryside Rights of Way Act, access need only be maintained on foot – there will be no provision for cyclists. In other words, new owners won’t have to provide or maintain bike trails or any of the other stuff we get now. Want to Save our Forests? Sign the petition at
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/save-our-forests#petition

or write to your MP.