Category: News

Tour of Britain to pass through Ipswich – 17th September 2011

Post author By alexoldman
Post date August 16, 2011
1 Comment on Tour of Britain to pass through Ipswich – 17th September 2011

The official Tour of Britain route will pass through Ipswich, and motorcycles mapping out the route have been spotted this week as reported in the Evening Star on Saturday.

Setting off from Bury St Edmunds, the penultimate stage of the tour (Stage 7) will pass through Lavenham, Hadleigh, Ipswich, Helmingham and Diss before heading into Norfolk, finishing at Sandringham.

This exciting spectacle will pass through Ipswich on Saturday September 17th. The route will have the peloton pass down Westerfield Road, past Christchurch Park and then out of town along London Road, finally turning West towards Hintlesham and beyond.

There is a route map here.

Ipswich Skyride on Sunday 12th June

Post author By alexoldman
Post date June 9, 2011

Imagine how great it would be to cycle around Ipswich in a traffic free environment. Well now you can find out. SkyRide is coming to Ipswich this weekend. An organiser told me they are expecting between 5,000 and 10,000 cyclists to congregate in Ipswich town centre on Sunday 12th June.

You can ride any part of the route you want, and possibly meet TV personality Jeff Brazier, Team Sky rider Alex Dowsett and Ross Edgar from the GB cycling team. There will also be related events and trade stands on the Market by Corn Exchange.

If you don’t have a road worthy bike, you can hire one from a variety of sources including the official goskyride.com website, or our very own Bicycle Doctor (see Cycle Shops)

You download the routemap here

News Recycling

Re Cycle your Old Bike

Today I had a great time volunteering at Re-Cycle in Colchester. This was the second day I have spent there lately and today I helped load a 20 foot container with 162 bikes and spares. The container was bound for a new partner project in Tanzania. When I put the seal on the doors at the end it was strange, and very exciting to think that in a short time the doors would be opened in a very different country, a long way away.

There is already a volunteer from Colchester, out in Tanzania, waiting to help set up the project and unload the bikes and spares we crammed in today. The container will also stay there as a workshop and store.

Re-Cycle partners with projects of various types in several African countries. The project might give free or low cost bikes to nurses , health visitors or HIV workers or to school children to help boost their attendance.

The gift of a bike is incredible. Workers can visit remote communities to help people, and students and adults can save valuable cash that they might have had to spend on bush taxis travelling to school and work.

Currently Re-Cycle is in desperate need of bikes. In previous years the Royal Mail donated 2000 old bikes per year. Last year that figure was 65 .

Today we packed 160 odd bikes off. Re-Cycle needs to fill a container every 4-5 weeks with up to 450 bikes ( see photo ) , that is a great number of bikes per year.

I have decided that the best way I can be of help to Re-Cycle is to increase the number of bikes I take down to Colchester.

So if you have a old bike or any bike related bits and bobs( pumps,tools, trailers etc) sitting in a shed somewhere Re-Cycle can send it will be hugely appreciated and make a massive difference. There is no problem persuading people to ride bikes in Africa ( unlike Ipswich ! ), a bike is a very valuable possession. Please ring me or email me if you have any to donate and I will collect asap.

You can see Re-Cycle’s website here http://www.re-cycle.org.uk

http://wwwbicycledoctor.blogspot.com/2011/01/today-i-had-great-time-volunteering-at.html

Tags africa, bikes, donate, recycle

general Ipswich - transport fit for 21st century News

Major scheme bid gets £25million funding!

Post author By alexoldman
Post date October 27, 2010

The Secretary of State for Transport, Mr Phillip Hammond, announced to Parliament yesterday (26th October 2010) that the £25 million major scheme bid has been approved. Known officially as “Ipswich – transport fit for the 21^st century”, this will provide improvements in traffic flow and management around Ipswich, including the upgrades of several cycle routes.

The Local Transport Minister, Norman Clarke MP visited Ipswich today, to view the proposal.

Cycle Ipswich provided a response to the major scheme bid, and will be taking an active interest in ensuring that our recommendations are adopted.

You can read the Cycle Ipswich response document here.

Events News Sustrans

Gavin Turk leads Les Bikes du Bois Rond

Post author By alexoldman
Post date July 17, 2010

As part of Fleet: Art in the Haven Ports, acclaimed Young British Artist Gavin Turk, a contemporary of Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, organised a 17 mile ride from Ipswich’s maritime to Felixstowe’s Languard Fort.

May of the bikes used were part of Gavins art collection.

This footage is close up and shows the art in action, as the participants cross the A14 slip road near Ravenswood Ipswich. The route followed Sustrans National Cycle Network Route 51.

Cycle Ipswich are calling for a cycle crossing to be installed at this site to improve safety and the speed to cross the road. The footage has been edited to remove the one minute wait before traffic is light enough to stop. This same crossing is regularly used by pupils and parents on the Nacton School Bike Train.