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Showing posts with label rides. Show all posts

Darlovelo Autumnal Excursion

Darlovelo is organising an Autumnal Social Cycle Excursion for members and friends on Saturday 23rd October 2010. The Darlington Cycling Campaign-backed dutch bike hire scheme was set up earlier this year as a follow up to the Beauty and the Bike project, and has recently appointed a Promotions Officer to organise events and manage bike hires.

Darlovelo has been constituted as a member-run organisation, and is open to all cyclists who support the aims of the project, not just people who wish to hire bicycles. Membership is just £5 per year, and you can get in touch via the Darlovelo website.

The ride will start at 2pm on Saturday 23rd October 2010 at Darlington Arts Centre. It will take a tour of the bicycle friendly streets in the town, through russet parks, and amber lined avenues, returning to the Arts Centre for a warm drink and a slice of home made cake.

If you have a biking buddy, or would like to introduce someone to the delights of cycling then bring them down. Darlovelo can provide bikes and they can share the experience with you. There may be a very small charge for hire for non members. (If you would like to ensure that there is a bike available, please let Darlovelo know in advance that you will be coming.)

Wrap up warm, and put your peddling boots on to join us!

Come along to Darlington Cycling Campaign's Pedal Picnic this Sunday! The pedal picnic is an alternative to a "critical mass". The aim is to stimulate discussion on cycling around Darlington using the infrastructure that we have. It is designed for everyday cyclists, and is more a social, rather than a sports, event.

Meet at the Arts Centre, Vane Terrace at 1pm(1300hrs) this Sunday (22nd August).

Bring a bike, some food or food to share and some waterproofs,just in case of inclement weather. The route I have in mind and have already "test" ridden, is to leave the Arts Centre and head to Cockerbeck Park/LNR, using the advisory route(yellow) on the Tees Valley Cycling map, Darlington. On leaving Cockerbeck, we shall cycle around the edge of Branksome until the off-road cycle path is reached. This path is then followed to Westpark where we shall stop and picnic. After the picnic the route follows West Auckland road, on the roadside cyclepath, until the junction of Brinkburn Road. We'll then follow the advisory route back to The Arts Centre via Willow Road, Pierremont Road, Pierremont Crescent, Millbank Road, Cleveland Avenue, Trinity Road and ending back at the Arts Centre.

For those who would like to join a critical mass ride, the nearest event is organised by the soon-to-be-born Newcastle Cycling Campaign on the last Friday of every month.

Edit: A low turnout, but a lovely day. Darlington will always be in the forefront of the "slow town" movement, so these things will take time to develop. Unperturbed, the organisers are meeting on 31 August to plan the next ride. Watch this space!

Sustrans NCN14 Ride - Sunday 19th October

We have recieved an email from Neil from Sustrans about a ride this Sunday. I'll hopefully be going along and it would be great if more Cycle Campaign members could join in.

I am planning a trail blazing ride to celebrate a new bridge opening and to highlight the next phase of completion of NCN14. For those who are not aware NCN14 is a route that starts from Darlington town centre and travels along the route of the first ever passenger railway before heading towards Stockton town centre. The route is a mixture of on and off road (off road until you get near the airport and off road again when you get into Stockton).

The ride is approximately 12 miles long and will start in Darlington town centre (outside the Dolphin Centre) at 10:00am on Sunday 19th October.

We will have a photographer and lots of flags with a few stops along the way. The pace will be gentle and relaxed. If anyone would like to join us please feel free to turn up on the day.

If you want any further information please email me - neilDOTmitchellATsustransDOTorgDOTuk (swap the DOTs and AT for dots and an at)

Event: West Park 4X, Sunday 1st June

For those who are interested or want to find out more about 4x there is an open day at the West Park 4X track in Darlinton this Sunday, 1st June. Helen Gaskell will be making an apperance, too. The event starts at 10am and finishes around 4pm.

Event: The Round 50, Sunday 1st June

The first of this year's Tourist Trial rides is taking place on Sunday 1st June. The Round 50 is, as its name suggests, a 50 mile ride. Registration begins at 8:30 in the Dolphin Centre, with 9:30 being the latest you can start the ride. It's £2.50 for a standard entry on the day, or £6 if you want the T-shirt.

Details of other rides, including longer and shorter ones, are on the Council website.

Hell O' The North 2007

This year's Hell O' The North ride takes place on Sunday. Registration is from 08:30 - 09:30 at the Dolphin Centre. You can enter on the day for a fee of £6 (which inludes a T shirt) or £2.50 (without a T shirt).

The route is 100 miles. Assuming the route stays the same, there's a map linked to from my blog post about the Hell O' The North 2006.

I did it last year on my mountain bike. I think I was the last to finish. The weather was terrible last year, in particular the headwind for the first 60 miles. It took me ten hours and it hurt. A lot. I'm doing it again this year - I'll be on my blue Solitude drop-bar singlespeed big-wheeled MTB.

Update: Had a great ride yeaterday, despite the weather. My right knee no longer functions as it should.

A big thanks to the Council for organising such a good event.

On May 16, 2007, at 7:00 PM, the Ride of Silence will begin in North America and roll across the globe. Cyclists will take to the roads in a silent procession to honor cyclists who have been killed or injured while cycling on public roadways. Although cyclists have a legal right to share the road with motorists, the motoring public often isn't aware of these rights, and sometimes not aware of the cyclists themselves.

In 2003, Chris Phelan organized the first Ride Of Silence in Dallas after endurance cyclist Larry Schwartz was hit by the mirror of a passing bus and was killed.

The Ride Of Silence is a free ride that asks its cyclists to ride no faster than 12 mph and remain silent during the ride. There is no brochure, no sponsors, no registration fees and no t-shirt. The ride, which is held during Bike Safety month, aims to raise the awareness of motorists, police and city officials that cyclists have a legal right to the public roadways. The ride is also a chance to show respect for those who have been killed or injured.

Thanks to Dan for letting me know about this.

It's probably too late to organise anything big for Darlington, but would anyone be interested in a Ride of Silence through Darlington next Wednesday evening? Please email or comment here of you're interested.

Vanunu Freedom Ride

Mordechai Vanunu spent 18 years in prison for telling the world about Israel's secret nuclear weapons. He is still being held under detention today.

Cyclists on a Freedom Ride from Faslane to London will pass through Darlington on Thursday 12th April at around 12 noon. You can get more details about the ride at the Freedom Ride site. We'll try to get details of their route in the next 24 hours, but we expect they'll be coming down the A167, so may like to view our previous post about the Newton Aycliffe - Darlington route!

Cycle Routes Around Darlington

Regular commenter Steve has put together some route guides and posted them on his website - Cycle Routes, Darlington. The first route is an interesting mix of on- and off-road, starting and finishing in the town centre, which would make a nice cycle campaign social ride in the spring.