Friday, 24 April 2009

Bikeability comes to Reading


After many years of running the old fashioned Cycling Proficiency test, some of the Reading schools will be offered the new Bikeability cycle training- the 21st Century version! Working together with CTC, the Transport Department at Reading Borough Council successfully applied for some funding and now have money available to train Bikeability to 500 children in years 5,6 and 7.
This is fantastic news and hopefully this pilot scheme will be the start of things to come and may well see the old course phased out. The training will start after the next half term and in September. Please see videos below:

Well, the weather forecast isn't too good for the weekend - though I guess that means donning the waterproofs so not to miss out on any riding and that's exactly what I have in mind. So, have a good one and until the next time.......

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The forecasters obviously thought the weather at around 07:00 on Saturday was what would define the weekend. Fortunately, that downpour had little impact on what has followed (so far)!

Anyway, assuming this bright, sunny outlook lasts until Monday, I'm planning to attend the midday-ish session at Palmer Park. There are some bikes which need attention: one of the men's Ridgebacks took what looked like a pretty major puncture in its front tyre on Friday (35-622 tyre). Are there any spare inner tubes? Or a repair kit? Also, several of the bikes equipped with rear racks seem to be losing either the bolts which fix the rods connecting the rack to the seat stay, or both rods and bolts! Several racks are now only attached at the bottom, close to the axle!

I'm happy to fix these if the bits to do it can be found.

Helen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Helen said...

Hi - yes, I've got some puncture repair kits in my container - Binders has the key. I'm out of the office tomorrow for a meeting, but if you could list all that's needed I will go and buy the bits. Maybe we should remove the racks?
Thanks ever so for looking at the bikes - we'll get to meet one day...?

Anonymous said...

We've met a couple of times already, Helen — though I wasn't calling myself "Anonymous" on those occasions!

I thought about removing the racks: if the support rods can't be found, I suppose that'll have to be done. But I think it would be a pity — for cycling round a track the racks aren't an advantage, but bikes with racks give opportunities for doing other things, so it would be nice to keep the options open.

Anonymous said...

What an unreliable reporter I turned out to be! Practically every aspect of the bike I reported with the puncture proved to be incorrect! It wasn't a man's bike, it was a woman's; it wasn't a Ridgeback, it was an Eclipse(?); the tyre wasn't 35-622 size, it was 37-622!

Anyway, the puncture's now repaired (though by Friday that will probably turn out not to be the case!) and all the racks are firmly attached, though the bike which had the puncture has only one rack attachment at the top of the seat stays (the rod is missing on the left hand side — where did that go?). That same bike also has a loose front mudguard: the bolt through the fork crown is present, but there's no washer and nut to do it up.

Helen said...

Thank you so much for doing that - I owe you a coffee! Would you be at all interested in volunteering on a regular basis? I can offer out of pocket expenses and potentially some training. Do let me know and we can have a chat about it?