paul's blog
Lego City Range have produced a Bike Shop with a mechanic at £41 here,on those evenings when you are at a loss what to do - easy out comes the Lego.
One day we may actually see adverts for bicycles, in the mean time we just have to be happy they are used to sell cars , water, more water, crisps and credit – we don’t need more of that at the moment!
There is a report that plans for a 'national indoor BMX centre', to be constructed next to Manchester Velodrome at Sport City at a cost of £24 Million.
The facility, for which plans go before the council later this week, would also be open to the wider communtiy and include a 2,000 seat arena and headquaters for British Cycling.
The work if approved by the council would likely begin early next year and be completed by March 2011 and have an outdoor 'freestyle cycling area'.
The velodrome is now always fully booked for track sessions and when events are on you now have to be quick to get tickets since the olympics, the run up to 2012 will probably make it harder.
Kraftwerk the German pop band recently played at the velodrome with four members of the men’s Olympic cycling team on the track when Tour De France was played. We tried to get tickets but not quick enough off the draw again but one of Sarah's cousins was there and said it was a great night.
Harrow has a BMX track but does Brent ?, it would be a good facility for our younger folk to grow their interest in cycling but of course built a lot cheaper than £24 million.
The 4th year of the Brompton World Championship will be held in England again at Blenheim Palace Oxfordshire on Sunday 4th October over a 2 lap course of 6.5km.
https://www.brompton.co.uk/bwc/2009/entry.asp
The deadline for race registration is September 20th, the first two Brompton World Championships were held in Barcelona, Spain.
If you have a Brompton or can borrow one give it a go, a truly eccentric British pastime, is it as mad as chasing a big cheese down a hill though??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOyQBSMeIhM
Even Brent is in the grip of a fixie craze as I spotted four the other morning riding south down the A5.
I have noticed at Staples Corner Retail Park, Geron Way where they are building additional units for Argos etc, bike parking has been installed in a few locations, not like the old part of the site. There the whole site has only one set of bike parking racks at the far end outside PC World , they must think cyclists like a nice walk if you want a shop at the other end.
The pedestrian path around the old part is also some sort of a joke as you have to walk around the cut-ins where car parking places have been placed each side of every unit which makes it a very interesting double distance walk, you can always take a stroll in the road though..
Hopefully this new section of units will be a bit more cycle/pedestrian friendly.
Anyone going down to the seaside beware!
According to a report on the BBC, 69 cyclists were caught speeding during a sting operation on Bournemouth seafront in June.
Over four days Dorset Police, in conjunction with Bournemouth Borough Council, caught riders topping the 10mph speed limit and handed out safety advice to the offending cyclists.
In high season – July and August – promenade cycling is restricted to before 10am and after 6pm, with a weighty £1,000 fine handed out for transgressors.
Charmaine Andrews, seafront development officer, said: "We received a large number of positive comments regarding this safety initiative and hope that it has raised awareness amongst cyclists of the dangers of speeding on the seafront, to both themselves and pedestrians.
"We want to encourage cyclists to use the seafront, but we want them to take care in doing so and watch their speed."
More Than did a bit of research around Britain to see how long it would take for a bike to be stolen.
The full list of results from More Than’s research is as follows:
Liverpool, Mathew Street - three hours 52 minutes
Bristol, East Street, Bedminster - three hours 15 minutes
Manchester, Arndale shopping centre, Market Street - two hours 57 minutes
Norwich, Exchange Street - two hours 34 minutes
Newcastle, Eldon Garden shopping centre, Percy Street - two hours 25 minutes
Portsmouth, Albert Road, Southsea - two hours 12 minutes
Cardiff, Capitol shopping mall, Queen Street - two hours 10 minutes
Birmingham, The Rag Market, Edgbaston Street - one hour 55 minutes
Glasgow, Buchanan Street, one hour 30 minutes
London, London Bridge Station, Duke Street Hill - 17 minutes
Do we have any idea where Brent's hotspot is?
refer to external sites, and will be opened in a new window