You will never ride alone

Published on Saturday 18 November 2006 01:34

Just who looks out for cyclists' interests? The largest cycling organisation in the UK, with 70,000 members, is the Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC) founded in 1878 as the Bicycle Touring Club.

As well as organising local rides and races, the CTC campaigns for cyclists' rights on the roads and was instrumental in designing the first cycling proficiency scheme. Members receive a bi-monthly magazine, a weekly e-mail newsletter and third-party insurance. Not a bad package for 34 a year or less, depending on your age and status (www.ctc.org.uk, and www.ctcscotland.org.uk).

Even cheaper to join is Spokes, the Lothian Cycle Campaign (www.spokes.org.uk) - membership is free, though they welcome donations according to how flush you feel.

A newsletter comes out every three or four months, usually delivered by bicycle. It deals with everything to do with bikes, but focuses on planning issues and government expenditure on cycling infrastructure. A recent campaign has successfully argued for the preservation of differential coloured surfaces for cycle lanes and advanced stop areas. A current hot topic is the danger of pinch points where central islands or road calming measures result in the narrowing of the road and so squeeze cyclists and motorised traffic together.

Spokes have organised a chance to hear our politicians' views on cycling in advance of next May's Holyrood elections at a public meeting this Tuesday 21 November. The panellists will be Donald Anderson (Lab), Mark Ballard (Green), David Davidson (Conservative), Fergus Ewing (SNP) and Mike Pringle (Lib Dem). The hustings begin at 7:30pm in St George's West Church, Shandwick Place, Edinburgh, with coffee, stalls and chat from 6:45pm.

The equivalent organisation for Strathclyde is Go Bike! (www.gobike.org) and membership is again by donation. Go Bike! has been given a commitment by Glasgow City Council that the city's cycle network will reach 375km by 2008. Their next meeting is the AGM on 29 November at 7:30pm in the Friends Meeting House, Elmbank Crescent, Charing Cross, Glasgow.

There are similar campaigning groups covering Perth and Kinross (www.bycycle.org.uk), the Highlands (www.highlandcyclecampaign.org.uk) and Aberdeen (www.aberdeencycleforum.org.uk).

For Edinburgh cyclists there has been a flurry of new websites providing information about organised rides (www.cycling-edinburgh.org.uk), general cycling news (www.cyclingedinburgh.info) and cycle training (www.trycyclinginedinburgh.org.uk). At the hands-on-handlebars level there are almost 100 different local road clubs, a kaleidoscope of enthusiasts all around Scotland organising everything from time-trial races to fun runs (listed in the Scottish Cycling Union website www.scuonline.org).

As for governmental attention, bicycles can't hope to compete with cars. The annual value of vehicle sales and repairs is over 140 billion. Vehicle licensing and fuel tax revenue pours another 28 billion a year into government coffers. This contrasts with annual bike sales in the UK of around 500 million.

However, cyclists are not without an official voice. Since 2003 the Scottish Executive has funded Cycling Scotland (www.cyclingscotland.org), whose remit is to promote cycling as an everyday mode of transport. Its annual conference was held in Edinburgh this week with the theme of integrating cycling with other forms of transport.

So remember, next time you are out on your bike and it seems like every other vehicle on the road is a car - you really aren't on your own.