"Those who wish to control their own lives and move beyond existence as mere consumers—those people ride a bike." —Wolfgang Sachs
It is probably fair to say that we self-powered, two-wheeled folk aren't terribly well catered for when it comes to streaming services. Occasionally you'll see a documentary pop up about a certain racing cyclist from yesteryear, or industrial-scale doping scandals, but you very rarely see anything...positive. It could be why people are drawn to crowdfunded... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sA2LeHTIUI If we are serious about moving away from cars, we really need to stop building for them. As we talked about in our LDP post, a new way of looking at urban development needs to be found. We need to move away from US-style suburbs that require a car to get around and arguably... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/7IsMeKl-Sv0 Just a short one today, but as we’ve been talking about urban planning lately this short clip about the US love affair with car-dependent sprawl is interesting. I suspect that whilst funding arrangements between local authority and state are going to be different, the principles remain the same. The more you sprawl, the more... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-I6HFQXquU A useful video here from Bloomberg CityLab. It's a compelling yet relentless dump of facts and graphics in support of investment in cycling, along with case studies from around the world. It also focusses on why cities like London have little choice but to invest in cycling. Well worth taking ten minutes out to... Continue Reading →
Some time ago we had a little chat about marketing. We talked about how car manufacturers had become experts at selling people the lifestyle, but conveniently gloss over the realities of motoring. However, we also came to the depressing realisation that nobody is really trying to sell us utility cycling, or the benefits of seeing the cycling as a mode of transport. Even the pro cyclists on our screens were selling us cars. Until now that is...
Ever on the lookout for cycling documentaries, Why We Cycle is one of the best I’ve seen in quiet a while. It delves into why and how the Dutch have thoroughly embraced cycling. It also talks about the lesser thought-of benefits of cycling to our communities, such as the ability to see and to communicate with the people around us through body language.
Would you believe it? The people of Flanders have a word for those cycle lanes that appeared around Cardiff during those heady Enfys days. "Moordstrookje" is the affectionate Dutch word used to describe those slivers of cycle lane at the edge of a busy street. Moordstrookje – literally ‘murder lane’ – refers to a bicycle... Continue Reading →
Whilst not hugely surprising to us, we've been banging on about how we on bicycles do buy things for a little while, research from Transport for London now has the data to back this up. This also correlates with evidence from the USA, where bike lanes have boosted trade in New York, Long Beach and... Continue Reading →
Whilst I try to send you off on your weekends with something to inspire you, a phrase caught our attention this week that required further investigation. A long while ago I wrote about why nothing ever changes. Whilst human nature is a big part of it, the symbiotic relationship between the economy and motoring is... Continue Reading →
Cardiff may be a fairly new city in the grand scheme of things, but thanks to the changing needs of the population over the past two centuries it has become a collection of different ideas, all somehow blended together.
Whilst some ideas may have made sense at the time, others should be consigned to history and forgotten.
Cardiff By Bike 