Jools Walker | |
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| Genre | Non-fiction |
Jools Walker is an English bicyclist, TV presenter and author. Her first book, Back in the Frame, [1] was published by Little, Brown Book Group in May 2019 and she is represented by Bell Lomax Moreton. [2]
Walker grew up in Canning Town, east London with the first bike she owned being a 'metallic green trike'. [3] Later, she started riding a BMX her older brother restored and taught her to ride. [4] However, she says that the 'disgusting comments' she got riding her bike to school made her cycle less and less, eventually stopping in her late teens. [5]
Walker started her blog Velo-City Girl in 2010 after purchasing 'the bike of my dreams', a Pashley Princess using the Cycle to Work scheme her employer, the University of East London, offered. [6] In 2012 she joined cycle clothing firm Vulpine as the operation's manager [7] and started presenting on ITV4's The Cycle Show, [8] with Walker leading on features including the annual vintage cycling festival, l'Eroica festival [9] as well as appearing on the BBC's Newsnight , on a feature on cycling culture. [10] She was featured in the online edition of La Fuga, the cycling industry periodical, in one of their 'Industry Portrait' features. [11] In 2015 she was highlighted as one of Bike Biz's '100 Women of the Year. [12]
In 2018 she started work with the London Bike Kitchen on a regular Women of Colour cycling meet-up [13] after realising that one of the barriers for her to starting cycling again was not seeing 'anyone I identified with'. [14] She now speaks regularly of the need for more diversity in cycling at all levels and of the barriers that keep prevent Women of Colour from accessing cycling. [15]
In 2016 Walker suffered a stroke [16] and Back in the Frame describes Walker's life with depression. [17] She described its description of her experiences in an interview with The Guardian , saying:, "I’m not trying to be the poster child for what cycling can do for you, but in my book I try to use the experiences that I’ve had on and off a bike, and turn it all into a positive. [18] ” In May 2019 an extract from Back in the Frame was published in The Daily Telegraph . [19]