Derby Cycling Group

On Wednesday evening I saw plans for the new Derby Multi Sports Arena, which incorporates a Velodrome, a sports hall big enough for 12 badminton courts, a 125 item gym, and outside a 1.5km closed cycle road circuit. It is absolutely fantastic. The sports hall is below the velodrome, but the velodrome is open in the middle. So while you are playing badders or basketball or five a side footie down below, the bikes are whizzing round above your head. I expect the effect will be absolutely stunning. The arena will be next to Pride Park Stadium, the road circuit will go round the outside of the nature reserve next door. There will be a direct cycle and walking link with the Riverside Path. All we need now is for our esteemed council planning committee to approve the plans.

Since you can now buy a new inner tube in the Pound Shop for (guess what?) ……… £1, is it worth repairing punctured inner tubes any longer?

There appears to be a lot of useful information on the mix of transport types used in various cities across the UK and Europe (with a few others worldwide) which is documented at http://epomm.eu/

In particular there is a map based interface that lets you compare various cities. Derby isn’t included although Nottingham and Leicester are. See http://epomm.eu/tems/index.phtml?Main_ID=2928

Some of the jargon is hard to get through but I think there is probably a lot of useful information here if you make the effort to plough through the jargon.

One question (which I can’t answer) is why Derby isn’t included.

A guide to Disability cycling has been published by Get Cycling and can be downloaded from here

The “Bikes not Barriers” website can be accessed here

Derby City Council have started work on some improvements to the cycle path between the Silk Mill and Darley  Fields, this being part of Route 54 of the National Cycle Network and is on both sides of Handyside’s Bridge which crosses the River Derwent. From there, the narrow path which runs along the river bank beside Parker’s Piece, off City Road, is being widened and re-surfaced. New tarmac is being laid on the other side of the bridge and the board walk which passes beneath St. Mary’s Bridge is being replaced. See photo. We have asked for the graffiti on the bridge to be cleaned off.  Whilst the work is in progress an alternative route using Sowter Road is available and this has been signed.