Cycling / Bristol
Tips to make cycling in Bristol less sh*t
One of the world’s most popular cycling channels on YouTube has turned their attention to the streets of Bristol.
In a new video on the Global Cycling Network, former pro road and mountain bike racer Simon Richardson travels around his home city, asking is cycling in Bristol really that bad despite the rubbish bike lanes, multiple potholes, volume of traffic and ridiculous junctions.
The video, provocatively entitled ‘My city is sh*t for cycling!’, also sees Simon speak about Bristol’s cycling infrastructure to Ed Plowden, former head of local and sustainable transport at the city council and now a Green Party councillor for Windmill Hill
The video takes Richardson to Bedminster, Clifton, Hotwells and the city centre, and even sees him crash into the infamous tree in the middle of the bike lane on Coronation Road.
“I don’t actually think it’s necessarily about less traffic or more bike paths,” says Richardson.
“Sometimes I think we just need to look for alternatives because I think the biggest mistake that many of us make is simply riding the same routes and roads as we drive.”
Richardson recommends taking different routes that might be longer because bikes do not get stuck in “soul-destroying traffic jams”, can simply be a nicer way to travel “and is a heck of a lot more fun”.
Simon Richardson (left) talking to Ed Plowden (right) – photo: Global Cycling Network
“It’s easy to paint a line on a road but that doesn’t necessarily make for good cycling infrastructure,” says Plowden, who also takes a swipe at mayor Marvin Rees for not pushing the cycling agenda leading Bristol “to stall a bit”.
“If you’re going to do it well, you want proper segregation and that costs money.
“I think cities across the world, more and more, are recognising that the car gives us great freedom and great amenity, but actually, it is not right in the city that everyone should be in a car because it just doesn’t work.”
Main photo: Global Cycling Network / YouTube
Read next:
- ‘It is nonsense to say Bristol is one of the best places in the UK for cycling’
- Hundreds of people very politely demand safer cycling
- New segregated cycle lane proposed for notoriously dangerous road
- The world’s steepest climb on a bike is in Bristol
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