UK and Ireland
Bike Week, organized by Cycling UK, is an annual celebration to showcase cycling. [5] Bike Week takes place during the second week of June in the United Kingdom, with a parallel event in Ireland called National Bike Week. [6] In 2019, Bike Week ran from Saturday, June 8 to Sunday, June 16.
The concept of Bike Week is "everyday cycling for everyone" and aims to encourage those who wouldn't normally cycle to get on their bikes. Any outing on a bike counts – whether that’s nipping around to a friend's house, cycling to work or school, enjoying a leisurely ride with the family, or tackling a cycling challenge.
Every year around 500 events [7] are registered as part of Bike Week, such as family-friendly rides, bike maintenance events, bike breakfasts and group rides, to name but a few. Around 300,000 extra people choose to take part every year, on top of the 2.4 million who already cycle regularly in the UK. [8]
A social media campaign runs through Bike Week called the #7DaysofCycling focusing on different cycling experiences and encouraging everyone to talk about their experiences and raise awareness of the benefits of cycling. Each day has a different theme, from cycling to work to the benefits of cycling on mental health.
Bike Week is traditionally launched with the annual APPCG bike ride through London, where MPs, peers, and influential members of the cycling industry attend a reception before riding through London. In 2019 this included the inaugural Bike Week summit [9] which was attended by the transport minister Michael Ellis.
Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other type of cycle. It encompasses the use of human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world for purposes including transport, recreation, exercise, and competitive sport.
Critical Mass is a form of direct action in which people travel as a group on bicycles at a set location and time. The idea is for people to group together to make it safe for each other to ride bicycles through their streets, based on the old adage: there's safety in numbers.
Bicycle touring is the taking of self-contained cycling trips for pleasure, adventure or autonomy rather than sport, commuting or exercise. Bicycle touring can range from single-day trips to extended travels spanning weeks or months. Tours may be planned by the participant or organized by a tourism business, local club or organization, or a charity as a fund-raising venture.
Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling sports include artistic cycling, cycle polo, freestyle BMX, mountain bike trials, hardcourt bike polo and cycleball. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is the world governing body for cycling and international competitive cycling events. The International Human Powered Vehicle Association is the governing body for human-powered vehicles that imposes far fewer restrictions on their design than does the UCI. The UltraMarathon Cycling Association is the governing body for many ultra-distance cycling races.
Bicycle culture can refer to a mainstream culture that supports the use of bicycles or to a subculture. Although "bike culture" is often used to refer to various forms of associated fashion, it is erroneous to call fashion in and of itself a culture.
Bicycle Network is an Australian charity, one of the largest cycling membership organisations in the world, whose mission is to have More People Cycling More Often. Before 2011 it was known as Bicycle Victoria.
Bike to Work Day is an annual event that promotes the bicycle as an option for commuting to work. It is held in the Spring in a variety of locations including the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia.
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) is a California 501(c)(4) nonprofit public-benefit corporation established to "transform San Francisco's streets and neighborhoods into more livable and safe places by promoting the bicycle for everyday transportation." Founded in 1971, dormant through much of the 1980s, and re-founded in 1990, the SFBC in 2011 has a dues-paying membership of over 12,000 and is considered to be one of the most influential membership-based advocacy organizations in San Francisco.
Cycling is a popular mode of transport and leisure activity within London, the capital city of the United Kingdom. Following a national decline in the 1960s of levels of utility cycling, cycling as a mode of everyday transport within London began a slow regrowth in the 1970s. This continued until the beginning of the 21st century, when levels began to increase significantly—during the period from 2000 to 2012, the number of daily journeys made by bicycle in Greater London doubled to 580,000. The growth in cycling can partly be attributed to the launch in 2010 by Transport for London (TfL) of a cycle hire system throughout the city's centre. By 2013, the scheme was attracting a monthly ridership of approximately 500,000, peaking at a million rides in July of that year. Health impact analyses have shown that London would benefit more from increased cycling and cycling infrastructure than other European cities.
Cycling in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia takes place for recreation, commuting and as a sport. Sydney has a hilly topography and so may require a slightly higher level of fitness from cyclists than flatter cities such as Melbourne and Canberra. Sydney depends heavily on motor vehicles where traffic and public transport operate at capacity. This means that cyclist are often competing with motorists for limited space on busier roads, and for limited government resources for expenditure on road infrastructure. In its favour, Sydney has a generally mild climate and there are active cycling groups.
RideLondon is an annual festival of cycling held in London. Intended as an annual legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, it was first held in 2013. The festival consists of a series of cycling events on closed roads around London and Essex.
Cycling in San Francisco has grown in popularity in recent years, aided by improving cycling infrastructure and community support. San Francisco's compact urban form and mild climate enable cyclists to reach work, shopping, and recreational destinations quickly and comfortably. Though San Francisco's famed steep hills can make cycling difficult, many parts of the city are relatively flat, including some of the most densely populated. However, heavy automobile traffic, the lack of bike lanes on many streets, and difficulty in crossing major streets deter most residents from cycling frequently in San Francisco.
BCycle is a public bicycle sharing company owned by Trek Bicycle and is based in Waterloo, Wisconsin, United States. It has 34 local systems operating in cities across the United States. However, in several cities it operates under a name other than BCycle
A century ride is a road cycling ride of 100 kilometers or more in metric system countries or 100 miles or more in imperial system countries, usually as a cycling club-sponsored event. Many cycling clubs sponsor an annual century ride as both a social event for cyclists and as a fund-raiser for the club’s other activities.
Cycling for transport and leisure enjoys popularity in Greater Manchester and the city also plays a major role in British cycle racing. The Bee Network was launched in 2018. The University of Manchester is home to the Manchester Cycling Lab.
Biketown, also known as Biketown PDX, is a bicycle-sharing system in Portland, Oregon, that began operation on July 19, 2016. The system is owned by Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and operated by Lyft, with Nike, Inc. as the title sponsor. At launch, the system had 100 stations and 1,000 bicycles serving the city's central and eastside neighborhoods, with hopes to expand outward.
Anna Hughes is a cyclist, author, and sustainable transport campaigner. She is currently the Director of Flight Free UK as well as being on the board of the charity Population Matters.
San Jose Bike Party is a monthly social bicycle ride event in and around San Jose, California held on the third Friday of every month. Attendance varies with weather and time of year, usually ranging from hundreds in the winter months to low thousands in the summer. Established in 2007, it is the original 'bike party' now replicated in other cities around the world. Its motto is "Building community through cycling".
