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Looking for someone who can supply and run a mini Velodrome for an event later this year... Like the Red Bull one or similar. Can anybody help?

Thanks!

hundreds of people already have. ;-)

Humour needed in the current climate.

Ain't that the truth?!

oi oi! We have had over 12000 views in the first 5 days. Result. Thanks to all who have shared.

Great film but didn't the polo at the end overtake with oncoming traffic?

It's the perspective. it was all very "wide"

This is simply offered for consumption:

Ride Wide - YouTube

I train adults for Islington and Camden. I would guestimate that at least 80% are women. Can't give hard numbers but you have heard right based on my experience.

When the training is delivered to schools there is no follow up, no days out on bikes organised or other activities to show to the kids the kinds of fun that can be had cycling.

+1!

Do you think the third party risk to drivers from, at fault, collisions with cyclists is a high enough percentage of the premium to be an incentive? Don't think much has been paid out to cyclists so I expect it to be a v.small proportion.

If we want to get more adults to take up cycle training then the single biggest change would be if more men did it. Why the proportion of men is so small has to be a central question.

Yep....

A few thoughts

In camden we call it "Urban Cycling Skills" for the adult training. Dunno if this helps. I can attest to the low number of men who take it up tho. Adult training is where we make a real difference I feel.

Lots of schools couldn't store 30 bikes. Forget about 200! I think this is an issue to many heads. Bikes are just a hassle to them. the sheds collect scooters and dead bikes/debris and look ugly.

Cycle training should be taught to every school child. Would this mean we would all be working for Serco/Capita etc? ;-P

+1 to the points above about the width of those entry lanes. Bad for cyclists. Also, in the video it seems that the few cyclists that are about all use the perimiter of the space.... almost as if they were on cycle lanes.... Could it be the high number of massive lorries?

I suspect that as such schemes where rolled out traffic would evaporate as more people would be happy to change mode.

Why? All the people in the video said it was much better for driving through as the tailback was gone. This scheme has solved a massive congestion issue for drivers. Look! we actually CAN accomodate this high level of vehicle use. How does that "evaporate" anything?

Love your optimism tho! ;-)

that in my view places the responsibility for safety on the motorist (or LGV driver in the video). More work needs to be done to educate cyclists, helping themselves stay out of trouble.

The responsibility for safe operation of a motor/HGV is with the driver. How else can it be?

As to the boris bikes... frankly there is not a problem to solve. Crash stats from Tfl reveal thart the Boris Bikes are very safe indeed. You may not like some of the things you have seen but the fact is that there are not a mass of injuries that need addressing.

Hump-Brad

Excellent

It may be worth pointing out the abject failure of the Boris Bike sponsorship that has now become clear.

http://www.mayorwatch.co.uk/boriss-poor-value-sponsorship-deal-finally-catches-up-with-him/201223165

No to this in all its forms.

@ mac111051

Thinking about this...

I presume you are working on your own insurance.

IMO

15 on road is way too many. In the event of some sort of incident, the only thing the insurance will look at is whether or not "best practice" was being followed. 15 on road is way above the ratio set out in the NS(I think). In other words, I do not believe you are insured in the event of something going wrong. All the consent forms I have ever seen exclude injury caused by instructor negligence and that will be determined against best practice which is laid out in the NS.

Personally, I would refuse to take 15 out with two instructors.

Looks like it's this thread! ;-)

That is class... might have to try a London version... Then again...

Hi, just joined your forum, I work in the midlands,this is how it works at one council I work for, two instructors take out 15 children on the road, the pay for a full level two course over two days is £49 including travelling expenses and no cancellation fee

I don't like to swear online but this is LFGSS so.... Fuck fuckety fuck fuck!

May I ask where this is happening and how many hours training each child gets?

Can the TABS/QA people on this list please get their big steel boots on and go and kick some arse!!? That is just shockingly bad.

I am guessing that you know all the NSIs who are local... might be time to meet for a drink and decide what the day rate needs to be...

-L

Who watches the watchmen?

No one... :(

I had a think about this roughly a year ago and came up with the following document... It's just initial ideas and I never took it forward as I just didn't have the time (two kids and the rest...)

Things have moved on a bit and I agree with Speshact that the time is now. We need to starve the rubbish prividers of their ability to deliver. If budgets are going down it means they can do less training... not that we must eat less! bastards.

Herre is a text i wrote last year presented for all your thoughts:

"
London Guild of Cycle Trainers

Who is this for:

---

Freelance Fully Accredited Cycling Instructors who live and deliver training in Greater London. Those who work on a PAYE/contract basis are welcome but must understand that this is mainly aimed at those who work freelance. Contracted staff will be in receipt of a package of benefits which must be judged as a whole.

---

We aim to create a voice for freelance Instructors in London. To that end, we have made the points in the pledge fairly non-contentious. If you agree with the pledge below, email us your name, address and what boroughs you work in and you will be added to the role and mailing list. Information you provide will be kept confidential and only used for communication between the LGCT and yourself.

If we can stand together we can create a baseline for our profession and challenge some of the poor practice that is about. Going forward, we will have a voice to represent our views and interests. This is to be an open and democratic organisation. All those who join will have a say in how it is constituted and what it does, going forward

If you don't think you can stick to the pledge for any reason, do not take it. We do not police your pay and conditions and we don't want to. This just may not be right for everybody. As a fellow Instructor you have our respect and you will always be welcome if and when you are ready to stand with us.

Pledge:

---

Roll up your right trouser leg (or tuck it into your sock) and repeat the following:

---

As a qualified, London based, Cycling Instructor I recognise the need to build a professional corps of people to deliver training. To attract and retain a high calibre of committed individuals it is necessary to offer a working package that can support them. During these times of contracting budgets, there may be pressure on wages. No one is getting rich delivering training. We do this because we believe in it. Therefore, I pledge that I will refuse offers of work that fall below the following standard, which I think represents good practice and is the bare minimum that someone instructing in London should be getting as a living wage for this type of work:

---

• Minimum hourly freelance rate of £18 per hour that you attend. – Some employers “don't pay lunch” or count the hours in odd ways. Whatever the time is “called”, just divide how much you are getting for the day by the number of hours from when you need to arrive until you can go. Because we are human, some of this time may be spent eating. If the answer is less then 18, it's not enough. Of course, some employers may continue to pay well above £18/hour to attract the best instructors. If you are on a PAYE contract, you will need to make up your own mind if it is fair.
  
• **One paid hour on a school course for risk assessing the bikes, without the children present. **- A full “M” check and risk assessment of the children's bikes is too important not to have it's own time set aside. This is usually in the form of an early start on day one of a school course..
  
• **The lead instructor is paid an additional amount for the role. **- The extra workload of the lead instructor will vary between suppliers but will usually be between 1 and 3 hours.
  
• A full cancellation fee is paid to the instructor in the event of “no shows” by trainees. - Minimum cancellation periods are 1 week for schools work and 2 working days for individuals. No instructor should be expected to bear the totality of the “booking risk”.
  
  

Well done! Your are now a member of the LGCT. There is nothing else you need to do now except to continue delivering high quality training and to stick to the pledge you have just made. Please spread the word amongst your colleagues.

Is this fair?
Absolutely. At present our work is undervalued, relative to similar roles.

For Example:
According to Barnet council a football coach gets £25-30/hr for the lead role and £15-20/hr as support. That seems a reasonable comparison. Or does it? We take children onto the roads. Who does one want delivering this training? We say, experienced instructors are worth retaining.

The conditions listed above, or better, are already common practice amongst the providers in London who are focused on rigour and quality of training. Anyone looking to recruit and keep good quality freelance instructors should be offering at least this. Below this, they just are not taking it as seriously as we do.

Together we will build a sustainable and professional industry.... Take the pledge!

"

A good read on what is happening in NY

http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_2_nyc-transportation.html#.T8oFnlwj13M.twitter

It's not clear to me why there is any resistance amongst some in the cycling community to putting in a few good lanes. It just seems like such an obvious progression to me. Shared Space schemes are a very good thing too, used in the right places. Horses for courses innit...

SD, the idea that we can all get along in a shared enviroment but are unable to negotiate in the presence of some lanes seems like a contradiction. Bear in mind that the cyclists (on Holloway rd for example) are already there and the crossing points defined. What actually is the problem with making some more space to assist all thoise riders on the pavement into the road?

A quote from the above article:
"Ninety percent of the bikers who had been using the sidewalk took to the bike lane, even as bike ridership doubled."

Pavement cycling is one of my personal pet hates. It generates more complaints then even RLJ! The elderly are particularly effected. I don't think it "too unambitious" to try to deal with this (and many other issues) in the short term, as they are in NY, with a good degree of success.

There is one major problem that is London specific though. We do not have anyone who is really in charge. The NY Mayor is in total control of transport policy. We have no such system. Our Balkanised local govt. structures ensure that even if we could all agree a policy there is no one with the power to carry it out.

My suspicion is that this tendering nonsense is just not viable anyway... Hopefully someone will realise and this bad idea will just go away.

I do feel there is an issue with professional standards effecting both instructors and schemes and am hopeful that TABS will develop into something that addresses this. See: http://www.lfgss.com/post2674145-5.html

"The vision of the future is that of our public realm reclaimed for people"

A wonderfull vision and yes petrol is on the way up... way up!

But while we are waiting for all the lorries and delivery vehicles to just vanish so we can hang out together on our lovely new space, freshly clad in tons of imported chinese granite... we could be getting a load more people cycling. Not in 10 years but now. My NY experience shows me it works.

its not one OR the other... sharing can be cool and so can just having a clear lane to hack across town rapidly... the "corridor" thing is rather spiffy too for residential areas... and of course, training :-)

I also admire your optimisim.

simply accepting lower speeds across the board that would lead to many fewer desths and injuries.

Amen to that.

However...

• 10,000 people did not come out and call for more sharing at any speed. They wanted some big cycle lanes.

• For every person I train, I meet many others who will just tell you bluntly that they "would cycle if there was protected space"

• When I was 12 (1979) I lived in Manhatten. Cycling was rough! Think Mean Streets/Taxi Driver on a bike. In 1980 Mayor Kotch put in just two long segregated lanes. One was on 5th ave and I can't remember where the other was. point is this... Virtually overnight the streets filled up with new riders. Seen it happen. People were able to make the long downtown leg on these lanes and were then quite happy to finish their journey in the smaller roads near their destination. The lanes came down because of voiciferous complaints from various dicks but while they were up, no one could deny their massive effect on cycling numbers.

I really feel we need a couple or three big continuous arterial cycling routes. Something the size of a bus lane that lets you cross the city. Not because I need them but because others do.

Fact is that the lanes are already there... sort of. During rush hour you get a fat phalanx of riders on the left with a "narrowed" car lane to their right. I see people doing it naturally, on the main routes anyway. We should build some of them in as a strong signal to those who need the "support" these lanes seem to offer.

Shared Space on the whole is a good thing I think, except where someone tries to use it on a main road as at Exhibition road. It's about using what is right where it is right. On Holloway Road... A big fat cycle lane would be a good thing.

My 2 cents.. x