Last week Trinity College Dublin hosted the Cycling and Society Annual Conference – the first time the event had been held outside of Britain. In this article, the National Cycling Coordinator of Cyclist.ie and An Taisce, Dr. Damien Ó Tuama, offers some reflections on the conference while drawing on the inputs of some of the delegates from Cyclist.ie member groups who participated. 

Cycling and Society (C&S) was set up as a group of researchers who wanted to share their studies and create a space for critical thinking in 2004. As explained on their website, they decided to have an annual symposium, keep it very low cost and make it very accessible. From the first edition in Lancaster, every year a local team takes on the organisation of the symposium.

I was delighted when I heard last year that the 2023 edition of the conference was being held in Trinity College Dublin. Cyclist.ie members have attended what is a top quality conference as far back as 2009 when it was held in Bolton University. This year there was a large share of the speakers who were representatives or members of Cyclist.ie. I highlight some of the contributions of these members below as well as drawing on other contributions. 

Overall Feedback
The C&S Conference was a terrific success by any yardstick. The planning and organisation of it was flawless, the attendance was terrific (it completely booked out with many people disappointed they couldn’t attend in person), and the quality of the presentations and discussions was top notch. 

As Mairéad Forsythe, Chairperson of the Board of Dublin Cycling Campaign CLG / Cyclist.ie, put it: “the conference was a great opportunity to meet with cyclists from around the world, most of whom attended in person. The presentations were interesting and stimulating – and the ones I attended were thought-provoking about groups under-represented in cycling: women, children, older people and other minorities”. 

Keith Phelan from Kerry Cycling Campaign and Vool agreed with Mairéad – he felt that the conference “provided an invaluable opportunity to gain insights from both home and abroad. I found that there was a good mix of topics, themes and presenter backgrounds. I found all of the presentations and discussions I attended insightful and engaging”. 

Meanwhile Cllr. Donna Cooney, an active member of Dublin Cycling Campaign (who was just back from curating the Bicycle Space at the Electric Picnic Festival – see here) thought that the conference was very valuable – “it was great to be the company of like-minded people with the same passion for the ability of cycling to bring so many benefits to communities and our future survival.”

The social cycle organised by Dublin Cycling Campaign on Thursday evening was a big hit – just what the doctor ordered after a full day of debate and bouncing between parallel sessions in opposite corners of the Trinity campus! For Clara Clark, from Cycling Without Age, it was a “brilliant fun event”; while, as Keith from Kerry put it, the cycle “allowed participants to experience how Dublin’s cycle infrastructure has improved in recent years. We traveled through some areas I hadn’t cycled in since I lived there in the 90’s, it was like a different city.” This was great to hear – we are making progress in Dublin City after three decades of campaigning! A big thanks to all of the Dublin Cycling Campaign and Cyclist.ie marshals for running the event.  

L to R: Ellen Cullen (Chairperson, Dublin Cycling Campaign), Gemma i Simón (Barcelona) and Thomas Van Laake (a Netherlander doing research at the University of Manchester) and other delegates enjoying the social cycle – Photo Credit, Miren Maialen Samper

The Minister and the Keynote Speaker
Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan (below) opened the conference by returning to some of his core transport campaigning points – “we have been designing for the car for far too long – for many decades – and need to change trajectory”. He re-emphasised the need to question what the function of a public road / public space ought to be while observing how it currently works for its users – and then stressed the need to reshape it according to its agreed function (and in line with the new National Cycle Manual as published earlier in the month – see as welcomed by Cyclist.ie in our recent article).

Minister Eamon Ryan opening the conference proceedings

The Minister also reminded us of the speech of Enrique Penelosa when he spoke in the National Concert Hall in Dublin at the 2005 Velo-city conference. The former Mayor of Bogota implored Velo-city delegates and the Irish Local Authority engineers in the audience to think of streets as places for kissing and for relaxation – and not primarily as conduits for the movement of ever bigger metal boxes. Streets are quintessentially social spaces! I also remember that speech back in 2005 – such an eloquent and powerful speaker was Enrique!  

The TCD keynote address, entitled “Is it all just words? How to get from cycling as storytelling to cycling as actual planning”, was delivered by Malene Freudendal-Pederson, Professor in Urban Planning Aalborg University. It provided a critique of ‘autologic’ and of the paradigm of motorised automobility. She condemned the technocratic solutions offered by a particular type of urban planning that is supported by traditional traffic models (where driving time is valued more highly than that of train passengers – a point that has been raised before at OECD workshops in Ireland as noted by Joan Swift in Sligo Cycling Campaign). There is a need, the professor argued, to sell ‘the lived’ and human scale city. And so powerful is the 15 minute city idea that it has engendered conspiracy theories around elites seeking to lock the public into these 15 minute zones! 

Keynote speaker, Prof Malene Freudendal-Pederson – Photo Credit – Miren Maialen Samper

For Miren Maialen Samper from Dublin Cycling Campaign, Professor Freudendal-Pederson’s address was really interesting as she reminded us, amongst other things, that “over 30% of car journeys in Europe cover distances of less than 3km, while around 50% of journeys cover less than the 5km. These distances can be covered within 15-20 minutes by bicycle.” These statistics are well worth repeating! The audience was also reminded that ‘at-point emissions’ from electric cars are still significant when one takes into account the fine particulates continually created from the wear of car tyres and braking systems. There was plenty more food for thought in the address, topics which are explored in her most recent book Making Mobilities Matter.  

Some Highlights from the Sessions
I note below a selection of topics and speakers that made a big impression on me and my Cyclist.ie colleagues at the event. Unfortunately, due to the (necessary) parallel session format, I missed many talks and discussions that I would love to have attended – so, no doubt, I am omitting plenty of fine contributions to the conference. I am just scratching the surface here. 

Cycling in Older Age
I was fortunate enough to chair this session which brought together four speakers who drew on some excellent qualitative research as they explored this under-examined sphere. Dr. Graeme Sherriff and Ian Cookson (from the University of Salford) conducted walking and wheeling interviews and ran mapping workshops in which older age participants plotted on paper maps the good, bad and inaccessible places to wheel/walk in their neighbourhoods – simple but very effective methods. 

Meanwhile Carol Kachadoorian (from dblTilde CORE) shone a light on the Older Adult Communities in the US, and on the nature of the processes of both cycling cessation and returning to cycling. Additionally, Clara Clark gave us great insights into her Cycling Without Age experiences, and afterwards commented that “it was an honour to have the opportunity to speak on planning for inclusive cycling for all ages”. All in all, this was a rich session – it was just a pity that, due to time pressures, we were unable to have a Q&A discussion immediately afterwards… but the conversations certainly continued over lunch and throughout the rest of the conference.  

Carol Kachadoorian in action

Mobility Justice, Car-centric Discourses and Social Dominance Theory
Amongst my favourite presentations at the conference were those exploring mobility justice (a central concept in mobility studies which concerns how power and inequality inform the governance and control of movement) and discourses of mobility. Dr. Robert Egan from TCD unpacked the car-centric discourses we are exposed to on a daily basis, and presented the bases of alternative discourses of everyday mobility. This is incredibly important research as we seek to denormalise movement in cars which are ever larger and create increasing congestion. Meanwhile Nadia Williams (from TU Dublin) drew on social dominance theory to help elucidate the processes around how blame falls on the subordinate groups in the public realm. It was also fascinating to hear about the challenges of carving out cycle friendly environments in the city of Tehran, as described by Mohammad Nazarpoor (from Tarbiat Modares University, Iran). 

A photo of from the presentation of Mohammad Nazarpoor

Local Authority Perspectives
For the Cyclist.ie delegates, the presentations from the engineers and officials in Irish Local Authorities prompted the biggest reactions. As commented on by Sandra Velthuis, a member of the board of Dublin Cycling Campaign CLG, on her own blog, “Conor Geraghty of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council raised pertinent questions about the need for, and nature of, public consultation. The local authority believes in citizen engagement and consults beyond its statutory minimum requirements, yet it is his experience that no party ever feels they have had enough of a say. Around 40% of time on projects is taken up by consultation processes and a further 40% by procurement processes. At this pace, climate change targets will simply not be met.” 

Conor Geraghty from DLR Council showing a sample of quotes from submissions received by the Council – Photo credit, Dave Anderson

For Keith Phelan from Kerry Cycling Festival, he was “really inspired by the contributions from the staff for the local authorities (Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Dublin City Council and Kilkenny County Council) as well as the NTA. It was really positive to see the vision for cycling in their plans and particularly to hear that cycling is finally being approached with a more holistic approach involving different departments and perspectives rather than being treated as simply a ‘transport’ concern.” And he added – “while Dublin is obviously on a different scale to other Irish urban centres, Caitríona Corr’s presentation on Kilkenny’s approach to designing a strategic cycle network was really relevant to smaller urban areas and showed the potential (and challenges) for cycling in regional towns.”

Caitríona Corr (South East Technical University and Kilkenny Co Co) speaking at the session on Engagement – Photo credit, Dave Anderson

Joan Swift from Sligo Cycling Campaign also highlighted the value of Caitríona’s contributions, with her emphasis on “collaboration, moving away from silos, expert facilitation, getting everyone in the same room, running cycling events, as well as planning, and positive messaging”.

Campaigning and Activist Perspectives
I was struck by the similarities in the characteristics of MUBi, the Portuguese cycling advocacy association, and Cyclist.ie – as gleaned from the presentation by Vera Diogo who is based in the city of Porto. MUBi was founded in 2009 as a non-profit association of volunteer urban cyclists and it aims to improve the conditions for cycling in Portugal, both as a way of transportation and recreation. It has more than 1800 members. The frustration of campaigning in Portugal was palpable from Vera’s talk with a clear lack of political leadership and funding for cycling in Portugal at present. 

I presented myself on Cyclist.ie’s experiences of engaging with the planning system and, in particular, on Cyclist.ie’s work (led by Colm Ryder, our Infrastructure Coordinator) in making submissions to Irish Local Authorities and An Bord Pleanála. There is a huge body of work carried out by the Cyclist.ie team, with much of it happening behind the scenes, and approx 100 submissions were made in 2022 and over 40 thus far in 2023. My presentation in full can be read here. 

Damien Ó Tuama speaking on Cyclist.ie’s work

Keith Phelan gave a terrific talk on hashtag activism and on the work carried out in the (brilliantly named!) Cycle Space Invaders project. Well worth checking out the website here.  

A screenshot from the Cycle Space Invaders website. 

Another fabulous presentation from the campaigners side of the house came from Anne Cronin and Conor Buckley from Limerick Cycling Campaign. Their focus was the “Evidence from the E-Cargo Bike Demonstration Project in Limerick”. The project was all about supporting families and businesses to make the transition from driving to more sustainable and active modes of transport, and demonstrating that there are cycling alternatives for most short-journey trips and even some trips considered longer.

Equally, the project provided an opportunity for people with disabilities / reduced mobility and families with a child with a disability to trial the potential of an electric cargo bike for certain trip uses. One of the main takeaways from the trial was that people love looking at and touching e-cargo bikes – these are feel-good machines! This is such a terrific project overall – I look forward to hearing about the next development phases of it. 

Cycle School Buses
The final topic I include here is cycle school buses. There was huge interest in this topic arising from the discussions of the researchers from Barcelona. 

For Mairéad Forsythe, her highlight was “meeting with Gemma Simón i Más and Anna Aretha Sach who are conducting research at the University of Barcelona on school bike buses. They were interested in seeing an Irish bike bus in action so I invited them to join the D12 Bike Bus from Crumlin Road to Riverview Educate Together Primary School on Limekiln Road on Friday morning. We escorted our charges safely to school and had some great celebratory bell-ringing at the brand new two-way segregated cycle track on Limekiln Lane. The discussion in the school grounds with Aodhán and Róisín was so interesting that Gemma and Anna had to cycle fast on their rented bikes to arrive in Trinity on time for their presentation. They are very keen to have Irish bike buses link up with their European bike bus network.” This was a sentiment echoed by Cllr. Cooney who said “it was good to link in with the school cycle bus program in Barcelona and we can send other bicycles buses their way into the international network”.

We were also reminded in the Q&A session following the bike bus presentations by one of the Scottish delegates of the gadget used in Glasgow to change the traffic lights – as reported on  by The Guardian in Sept 2022. Wouldn’t it be great to trial that in Ireland as well? 

In Summary
It is impossible to do the conference justice in an article like this one. As with any high quality academic gathering, there was a huge amount to digest and there will be many leads and publications to follow up on over the coming months. It was intellectually exciting, and it reminds one of the importance of university based research in shaping the thinking and practices of those outside of the academy.  

I was delighted to get my hands on Prof. Peter Cox’s new book, Cycling Activism: Bike Politics and Social Movements, and indeed to catch up in person with Peter who has been the heart of the Cycling and Society group since its inception. In fact, reconnecting with friends and with researching and campaigning colleagues from across Ireland, Britain and beyond was an especially enjoyable part of the conference.   

Congratulations again to the Cycling & Society Committee (and to Graeme Sherriff who represented them in person in Dublin!) for supporting the local hosts in running the conference. And a huge congratulations to Dr. Robert Egan, Prof. Brian Caulfield and team for running a top notch event. They even organised a sunny evening for the social cycle! Well done. 

Trinity College looking lovely in the sun – Photo credit, Dave Anderson

Cyclist.ie and Dublin Cycling Campaign have really enjoyed being part of the Global Green Area of Electric Picnic every year that the festival ran since 2009. In this article Conor Fahy reflects on EP 2023 and his experiences at the Bicycle Space. Cyclist.ie wishes to thank Conor and also Donna Cooney and all of the team who represented us so well in Stradbally this year! And thanks also to Donna for her photographs as used in this article. 

My name’s Conor and I was delighted to be a part of the Cyclist.ie – Irish Cycling Advocacy Network stand at Electric Picnic again this year. My role was to help with set up, takedown and volunteering at the stall throughout the weekend and, separate to that, I performed in the Village Hall which is also found in the Global Green area.

I think it’s fair to say that the weather really brings the best out of all the stands and punters throughout the weekend and the same could definitely be said for our stand. We really got to use the space around our stall this year, showcasing the different bikes kindly provided by Donna which went down a treat with all the punters. Everyone was mad to get a go on the penny farthing and they did quite well – with the same people taking a crack at the unicycle and not having the same luck (bar a few that had it down to a tee!). All successful participants were entered into a competition to win a t-shirt as well as being given some cycling lights.

The engagement that started with the bikes acted as a great conversation starter with people stopping to chat for a few minutes after riding the bikes – or else others started conversations at our bike space while their friends tried out the bikes. Many punters asked about what cycling advocacy groups were available to join throughout the country, and they were also keen to better understand the Cycle to Work scheme and to find out what is currently being done to improve cycling safety countrywide.

All in all, I would consider it to be a very successful weekend with a lot of engagement from punters young to old, and with an engaging team volunteering at the stand throughout the weekend. It definitely bodes well for another successful weekend next year when Electric Picnic will mark its 20^th Birthday.

More pictures from the Global Green Area of the Electric Picnic can be seen on their Facebook Page here.  

Bike Week was, once again, another action-packed week of events for Cyclist.ie. Our local groups organised a wonderful array of events for all ages and abilities countrywide. A credit to everyone involved for all of their brilliant volunteering work in running events. 

Below is just a sample of some of the events that Cyclist.ie’s groups ran over the course of the week in May. 

Ideally we would like to see Bike Week replaced by Bike Month so that we avoid having so many totally amazing events clashing – we would like to be able to visit and support our cycle campaigning comrades in adjacent counties. This is something Cyclist.ie will be working on over the coming months. 

If you have ideas for future Bike Week events, do please get in touch.

Cyclist.ie / National Level Focus events
Starting with an event organised by the Cyclist.ie Executive Committee (and thanks, in particular to our Vice-Chairperson, Dave Tobin here!) and run in collaboration with the Oireachtas All Party Cycling Group, we were delighted to facilitate the annual Bike Week Cycle with Oireachtas staff, TDs and Senators on Tuesday 16 May 2023. Following photos at Leinster House, the group took part in an easy going group cycle on the streets encircling the Oireachtas Buildings.

Full details at https://cyclist.ie/2023/05/politicians-get-on-their-bikes-for-national-bike-week/ 

Dublin Cycling Campaign
Dublin Cycling Campaign volunteers helped at a host of events all across the four Dublin local authorities, as well as organising a couple of events themselves. Here are just a few highlights: 

• A lovely Sunset Cycle in Phoenix Park on the evening of Wednesday 17 May, organised by Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, and the OPW. With the route closed to traffic, and fabulous tunes from I Bike Dublin, cyclists of all ages enjoyed a safe and relaxing spin around the Park. 

• Sandymount Community Cycle Bus cycle on Sunday 21 May, organised by Dublin Cycling Campaign and Educate Together Cycle Bus. About 120-150 people gathered in Sandymount Green after the event.

• Pedalpalooza Parade on Sunday 21 May, a joyous parade through Dublin out to Ringsend Park for Pedalpalooza. 

• Clontarf History Tour by bike on Friday 19 May:

• ‘Bicycle Kicks 2.0’ on Saturday 20 May in association with Bohemians FC: 

Also, Dublin City Council made a series of videos called ‘Why We Cycle’, one of which featured Chair of the Board of Dublin Cycling Campaign CLG, Mairéad Forsythe. The series is a vivid illustration of the diversity of people who cycle, and of the type of journeys they make. Watch here:

https://www.dublincity.ie/residential/transportation/active-travel/talks-and-events/bike-week-2023/why-we-cycle 

A full list of events organised can be read here – https://www.dublincycling.com/cycling/bike-week-2023 and see also the Community Gardens Cycle info below.

Fingal – Skerries Cycling Initiative (SCI) / https://www.skerriesca.com/cycling/ 

Skerries is now without a local bike shop, so as part of Bike Week 2023 this year SCI held its first pop-up bike repair session on 13 May at our Bike Shed (behind The Little Theatre), where we carried out repairs on eight bikes brought in by their owners on the day. We have also been working on bikes previously donated by Skerries residents which will be passed on to new owners. We want to develop a community bike workshop as a place to share bike repair and maintenance skills with those eager to learn such essentials as how to repair a puncture, fix the brakes and replace a worn-out chain.

On Saturday 20 May we had our community cycle, starting at Skerries Mills and finishing at the Seapole on Red Island. We were delighted that Stephen and Emma from Fingal Active Travel team could join us.

The Skerries Cycling Without Age trishaw was launched in early May and was  operating during Bike Week. Bookings can be made through the Fingal County Council website https://www.fingal.ie/activetravel/mobility/cycling-without-age-fingal.

Several members of SCI have been trained as pilots for the trishaw and report that bookings are increasing as people get to know about this great free service.

Galway Cycling Campaign 
Galway Cycling Campaign organised several well attended and very innovative events over the course of Bike Week. Here is but a flavour of them!

We organised a Family Cargo Bike Festival in Claude Toft Park, Salthill on Sunday 14th May. The sun shone on everyone, and we had huge interest from young and not so young. There was face painting and lots of refreshments on offer.

Most importantly we had lots and lots of different types of cargo bikes for people to try and to admire.

Biking to the match to support the Tribesmen

On Sunday 21st May we organised a bike valet at Pearse Stadium for the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship clash between Galway and Antrim. Working closely with Galway GAA County Board and Galway City Council, racks for 50 bikes were installed within the stadium for supporters to use. There were volunteers on hand to guide spectators arriving by bike to the racks and to supervise bikes during the match.

By half-time the racks were overflowing – showing the huge demand among local hurling fans for secure, convenient cycle-parking at games. We distributed loads of prizes and treats to kids arriving by bike, the star of the show being “hurling clips” which enable kids to attach their hurls to bikes securely while cycling to training. Everyone had a great day, and the Galway hurlers  won too!

Leitrim Cycling Festival – Ballinamore : 19th – 21st May 2023 / www.leitrimcyclingfestival.com 

Every year Leitrim Cycling Festival seeks to showcase the cycling potential and talented community of a different town or village in the county. But this year was a little different because, for the first time, a community has invited our roving festival to take over their town for a weekend of celebrations and cycling. And the community couldn’t have been more welcoming! We were so excited to share all of this with our festival goers.

L-R: Siobhán McNamara, Jo Sachs Eldridge and Dave Tobin 

The weekend celebrations started on Friday 19th May with a lap of the town, followed by the official launch by Cathaoirleach Ita Reynolds and Sean O’Suillebhain in the Island Theatre. Following the launch everyone joined the feast and the screening of the film ‘Women Don’t Cycle’ documenting what it’s like to cycle in different countries as a woman. After the film there was an opportunity to enjoy the exhibition launch in Solas Art Gallery and a trad session in Shortts pub. 

On Saturday 20th May there was a Dr. Bike Session and a Bicycle Haiku Workshop in the morning, followed by the 5km Integrated Community Cycle for All along the Greenway with a stop for a picnic and Jay Ryan’s amazing Flea Circus on the way. There was also free ice-cream at the end thanks to the Leitrim-West Cavan Branch of DSI. 

On the Saturday afternoon a balance bike workshop was held, along with the sharing of inspiring cycle touring stories in Oman and fat-biking in Finland, plus art workshops, the annual slow bicycle race, woodfired Italian pizza, a games night for all the family and music in McGirls pub. 

On Sunday 21st May there was another cycle for all with the Intergenerational Cycle along the Blueway to Aghoo. For those who continued on to Fenagh Visitor Centre there was free tea and scones. And for the closing tea there was Ukrainian sweet treats for all to share. 

All events were free thanks to the generous sponsorship of Bike Week, Leitrim Sports Partnership, Leitrim County Council and Leitrim Tourism. 

Leitrim Cycling Festival wishes to pay a special thanks to everyone who attended and enjoyed the events! 

Meath – Navan Cycling Initiative
Navan was full of cyclists of all ages on Sunday 14th when Navan Cycling Initiative held an ‘Intro to the Boyne Valley Lakelands County (BVLC) Greenway’ community cycle, showcasing Navan’s fantastic new greenway – see HERE. Organised as part of Bike Week 2023, over 70 participants cycled from Market Square in Navan town centre to the new BVLC Greenway, located on Ratholdren Road. 

Assisted by Community Garda Frank Scully and the Navan Order of Malta (all on bikes), the cyclists made their way to the greenway and out to the old Gibbstown Station, with some venturing further to Wilkinstown. The group included young children, teenagers, families and pensioners on a mix of bicycles, e-bikes, trailers, cargo-bikes and hand-cycles, and a great day was had by all.

The Navan section of the new greenway was recently opened and is already proving to be extremely popular, with lots of walkers, cyclists, joggers and families all out enjoying it. When completed later this year, it will run for over 30km as far as Kingscourt.

Navan Cycling Initiative Chairperson Ed Moynihan said “it was great to see such a fantastic turnout for the cycle, as well as a huge number of Bike Week events happening all throughout the week. It really shows how popular cycling has become and we are seeing more and more people use the bike not only for recreation but also to beat the traffic and get around town. The past year has shown us that residents of all ages wish to use their bike to get to school or work, to shop or go to the gym, but to do this we need a safe and integrated cycle network, starting with safe access to the new greenway.”

We also held a Boyne Road/Greenway Loop evening cycle on Wednesday the 17th, which was a leisurely cycle along by the beautiful River Boyne and soon to be Boyne Greenway.

Cycling Without Age / https://cyclingwithoutage.ie/ 

Monday, 15th May
Clara Clark spoke about Cycling Without Age at the Pedal Vintage symposium “The Future of Cycling in Rural Ireland”, at Castle Durrow in Co. Laois. An impressive line-up of speakers from Co. Laois, including Laois Council, Laois Tourism, Active Travel, Portarlington Cycling Campaign, Durrow Community Family Bike Hub, and others. Cycling Ireland and Cycle Ireland Community Bike Rides, as well as Joan Swift of Cyclist.ie on Rural Cyclist Collective.  Laois seems very committed to making active travel meaningful in the county.

Clara speaking at the Durrow Pedal Vintage Symposium, 15th May 

Tuesday, 16th May:
Cycling Without Age participated in a flotilla of bikes for a photo call and short cycle with politicians of all persuasions at the Dáil to promote Bike Week and Climate Change. This event was organised by Cyclist.ie and Limerick Cycling Campaign’s Dave Tobin, and was very well attended and promoted on social media by the politicians. See story above. Fingal Council, Dublin City Council, Dodder Valley Cycling and many other places with trishaws also participated in Bike Week events. 

CWA joining with politicians for a Dáil cycle on 16th May 

Sligo Cycling Campaign
Sligo Cycling Campaign organised three events for Bike Week. On Sunday 14th May we kicked off Bike Week with a Pedal Parade along the bike route from Doorly Park to Clevergh Park where pedallers were able to join in the skills and drills activities organised by Sligo Sports Partnership.

On Wednesday 14th we held two events, each of which was a first for us. At lunchtime we took fifty 1st and 2nd class pupils from Scoil Ursula along with 18 parents on a school cycle, cycle bus style! There was wild excitement in the school yard and at the ice-cream stop in the park! The event was deemed a great success and a harbinger of what could happen when work on  the Safe Routes to School / #SRTS has been carried out! 

On Wednesday evening we did a biodiversity cycle, visiting Cranmore Community Garden to hear about and see gardening for biodiversity in action and then we took part in a foraging experience with Gaby Wieland of Neantóg Kitchen Garden. Cranmore made us very welcome as usual and it was lovely to hear new participants say “Oh, I often passed by here but never knew what goes on!” The foraging was a revelation! Who knew so many edible plants were growing on our doorstep or that wild herb pesto and hawthorn lemonade would be so delicious!

Dublin Community Garden Cycle 2023
Dublin Cycling Campaign and Dublin Community Growers hosted a leisurely cycle tour of some of Dublin’s wonderful community gardens.

There were two main routes: Northside from Santry to Mansion House or Raheny to Mansion House

Southside from the Stillgarden to Mansion House

Forty people took part in the cycle (we had to close registration early due to demand!). Both routes stopped off at four community gardens on the way where they were welcomed by the gardeners who showed them around and gave a talk on the garden itself.

These gardens are often on former building sites or waste ground, and to see the work these gardeners have put in over the years is truly inspiring.

The two routes converged at the Mansion House where the Lord Mayor, Caroline Conroy, who was also on the cycle, hosted us for refreshments.

Each route took approximately 2.5hrs (okay the Southside route was late – my bad) and was open to all cycling abilities.

Thanks to John O’Donoghue in Dublin Community Growers and the marshals from Dublin Cycling Campaign for a great day out

Here are some photos of the day:

Lord Mayor, Caroline Conroy and cyclists before heading off from the magical Santry Community Garden on Dublin’s northside

Cyclists getting ready for take-off from the recently established Raheny Community Garden on Dublin City’s northside 

StillGarden, Inchicore – part of the StillGarden distillery. They use herbs from the garden to flavour their gin!

Flanagan’s Field, Dublin 8

Taplin’s Field, Dublin 8

Meeting up at Donnycarney’s hidden gem, Mucky Lane community garden

The new polytunnel at Raheny Community Garden

Another Donnycarney Mucky Lane photo

Participants in the Mansion House Garden. Tired but well fed and happy 

Bikes And Bugs Parade (Dublin)
Eamonn Ceannt Park, Crumlin, Dublin 12
2pm, Saturday 20th May 2023 (International Bee Day)

Celebrating the joys of cycling and the richness of biodiversity by dressing bicycles and riders up as bumble bees, grasshoppers, ladybirds and more, and cycling and walking all around Eamonn Ceannt Park. 

There was a great buzz and every one of all ages from 12 months old to those young at heart, had a wheelie great time on the parade which was accompanied by I Bike Dublin’s sound system. 

Thanks to The Bike Hub for hosting the making of many of the costumes and to volunteers from The Bike Hub, Cycling Without Age, I Bike Dublin, and Dublin Cycling Campaign.

The bugs and bikes in Sundrive Park!

Claire Anne Tobin,
Organiser extraordinare 
The Green Roots Project

Links to some posts on social media
https://www.facebook.com/thegreenrootsproject
https://twitter.com/thegreenrootsp1/status/1657894402952425476
https://twitter.com/thegreenrootsp1/status/1660234602852626433
https://twitter.com/Peteer/status/1660314280774844418

Naas Cycling Campaign
The Naas Biodiversity Cycle was a fantastic event held in partnership with Naas Biodiversity Group. It comprised a leisurely cycle around the various projects that the Naas Biodiversity Group has been working on over the last few years. 

The group ready to head off from Monread Park 

After a pleasant park cycle, the group took to the Naas streets to reach the canal, before checking out a pocket forest and learning all about native hedge laying and a local community garden. 

Areas visited included:
– Monread Park, which is being managed for Biodiversity, by encouraging wildflower meadows with mown paths and fringes 🌸🌼
– 🌿A recently planted native Hedgerow in Monread
– 🌿Naas Harbour with potential for biodiversity spaces, fruit trees and community growing

Checking out the pocket biodiversity spaces in Naas Harbour 

🌿One of the Biodiversity Group’s Pocket Forests, planted at K-Leisure earlier this year, which was in need of a bit of weeding! 😉

🌿Community garden at Jigginstown Green

An amazing evening of fun, learning, community, connection and meitheal 💚💪🏻🌱

Katie Smirnova explains about managed meadows and no-mow May

Many thanks to Katie Smirnova for leading the cycle and providing information on the work being done by the Biodiversity Group.

Cork Cycling Campaign
Cork Cycling Campaign delivered an ambitious programme of ten events across eight days, while catering for a wide variety of audiences. 

Vice-Chairperson, Kevin Long, kicked off Bike Week in Cork with Wheel of Time: Cork A Cycling Cities Initiative. The photo exhibit took us back in time with a selection of images of Cork (& bikes!) down through the years. 

Cycle to Zumba and Cycle to Yoga were enormous successes. With the support of Cork Sports Partnership and TFI Bikes in Cork, we hosted two wellness events for women with opportunities for people to pick up cycling for the first time in decades!

Cork Cycling Campaign focused on bringing the campaign, music and biking accessories to communities where cycling is re-emerging as a form of transport. Northside Cork City celebrated Bike Week with the campaign in Hollyhill and Mayfield and later in the week we were graciously hosted by Togher Community Garden.

On Wednesday, we visited the historic VQ where we hosted local business owners and, with thanks to City View Wheels, allowed people to take on the hills with eBikes! Over lunch, we discussed making bikes a key part of MacCurtain St. redevelopment.

On #5KFriday, Cork Cycling Campaign soaked in the sun with a musical cycle around Blackrock, concluding for coffee at the Marina Market. 

On Saturday, we held the Wobbly Bike Show with Cork’s The Circus Factory – a wonderful hour of entertainment and picnic with bells for all! 

Bike Week ended with a screening of Manon Brullard’s Women Don’t Cycle and Croatian delicacies and coffee to celebrate an extraordinary programme. 

Throughout, we engaged with hundreds of Corkonians – novice cyclists and long-term members and plenty of people considering the shift to cycling! We were graced with wonderful weather, a willing group of volunteers and excellent support from Cork Sports Partnership and Cork City Council. 

Athenry, Co.Galway – The Wheels of Athenry
Athenry CycleFest took place on Saturday on the 13th of May in Athenry Town Park. There was bike bubbles and face painting for the younger kids, and a safe cycle around the park on their balance bikes and trikes on our Wee Wheelers cycle loop.

For bikes that have been in the back of the shed for too long, we had our experienced mechanic on hand to give it a Bike to Basics health check.

In the afternoon we had the 9th annual Athenry Pedal Parade – a leisurely spin around the streets of our historic town. There were prizes for the best dressed, decorated bike (winner of the much sought after Golden Tricycle!), and youngest participant. 

For folk that didn’t have time to decorate their bikes beforehand, we had a Glam Your Bike station to make sure it looked the part for the parade!

We also had vintage bikes, the launch of the new Athenry Geo-Caching Cycling Hunt (located on our scenic cycle trails), A giant bike wheel, an information stand about a new Athenry Cycle Bus, cargo bikes, and specially commission cycle floats, banners, and wheel wind catchers hanging from the trees!

Over the last three years Athenry CycleFest has grown from 50, to 200, to nearly 500 people coming along!  We hope it’s a sign of change for Athenry. We’ve lots of challenges… but even more opportunities.

More further information on and photos of events, see:

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1251345535471599

Athenry CycleFest 2023 Video:

Facebook: https://fb.watch/kOO9DD5oJf/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WheelsOfAthenry/status/1662513002787008514?s=20

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/reel/Csx5InuMaFw/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Youtube: https://youtu.be/aBvNRlk-iR0

Poetry in Motion was a poetic pedal around the streets of Athenry – poetry to move you, with poems of love and nature and, of course, bikes!

For just over an hour, this group cycle took us on a journey around the streets of Athenry stopping along the way to read poems and verses that capture and heighten the spaces and places of our journey.

This cycle was designed to be suitable for an occasional or inexperienced cyclist.

For anyone who was inexperienced or had mobility issues, we had a six person ‘Spider Bike’ on hand to share the cycle.

We finished up with a provided picnic in the Town Park.

More further information on and photos of events, see:

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2172148249816403

Poetry in Motion Video:

Facebook: https://fb.watch/kOOGgZafLp/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WheelsOfAthenry/status/1662015834628280321?s=20

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsrUFU1Lwp8/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Youtube: https://youtu.be/5ueFM1TCh9o

Kinsale Loves Bikes
Kinsale Loves Bikes held a community Kinsale Railway Hidden History cycle on Wednesday May 17th exploring local infrastructure relating to the Kinsale Railway which was decommissioned in the 1930s. Over 20 enthusiastic participants turned up on their bikes and cycled to various sites to learn about Kinsale’s railway history from local history enthusiast, Brian McCarthy. The cycle concluded with a social chat with tea and cakes.

More images viewable at https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02TCpJoRnXgXH8EjWL5BAD3bKGrsZDuTeCN1Cr9GE3WgJFEkn5mrK9k5TMUbot5fJ9l&id=100064033932132

Clonakilty Bike Circus
With funding support from Cork County Sports Partnership, we kept Xmas Yard busy for all seven days of Bike Week. We offered free safety checks & minor maintenance on a walk-in basis all week long as well as trishaw spins on the Silver Bullet. Additionally, we offered a daily special event, typically a lunchtime chat, about subjects of current interest.  This year we highlighted assistive cycling and our plan to offer free assistive cycling tutelage and equipment for use at the new Silver Bullet Depot at the Model Railway Village.  

Special thanks are due to Yard Dogz Anthony, Bridget, Gonzalo, Graeme, Janet, Mick, Oscar, and Stephen all of whom lent a hand. Isaac and Bridget’s participation with their assistive tandem helped us highlight Clonakilty as autism friendly and underscored the Circus’s inclusiveness mission.

A more detailed report on the week’s events can be read here. 

All Week:   
We offered free bike safety checks, free Silver Bullet lifts, and information about upcoming events all week long. We cleaned, adjusted, and serviced approximately forty bikes during the week, mostly children’s, but had one or two rambling cyclists who stopped in to top up their tyres and check their gear while passing through Clon. The Silver Bullet was out and running every day. I touted our courses and pressed printed literature into all open hands. Non cyclists stopped to admire our gardens and offer their thoughts on the state of cycling in Ireland today.  We happily engaged these people and told them of our everyday cycling mission.  I played my favourite role, cyclevangelist. 

Saturday, 13/05 Family Picnic Group Cycle: 
This opening event was surprisingly successful. We had about twenty-four participants, at least one-third of whom were young children. We cycled out the Inchydoney Marsh Road and returned to Clonakilty’s Sensory Park at the Model Railway Village to eat and talk about family cycling. While there we walked around the site of our future Silver Bullet Depot discussing how best to present it to the public. 

Monday, 15/05 – Wind In Your Hair – Assistive Cycling: 
Like all of the themed talks, this morphed into a day-long subject chat as people came and went into the Yard as they pleased, ignoring my well-planned schedule. Over the day, about two dozen people expressed interest and were given talking tours of the assistive cycles on display.  There was considerable interest in the assistive tandem and in the hand cycle lent to us by their users. All six of the displayed bikes generated discussion of the right to ride a bike and use the public roads by everyone, even those who cannot ride a simple push-bike. 

Tuesday, 16/05 – Randonnée, Born to Ramble: 
This was our least successful topic, perhaps because the true long-riders are a quiet kind of elite. Three or four people drifted in during the day and we talked about panniers, one-by gearing, and stealth camping. The topics were fun and the discussion lively, but we never achieved a group of more than one or two at a time. If we do this event in future it would need better promotion, perhaps by spotlighting a particular adventure cyclist, Isabell or Graeme. We have long riders in Clonakilty, but they’re shy.

Also on our topic plate on Tuesday was how to ‘pre-flight children’s bikes’ for safety.  This, as previously mentioned, was a week-long task for our mechanics. However, about five groups drifted in with bikes to look at. Not-surprisingly, most of the safety issues identified were created by incompetent assembly of new bikes. This gave our mechanics an opportunity to grouse about cut-rate bike sellers. 

Wednesday, 17 May – Bike Fabrication & Modification: 
This event brought out Brian, a local creative artist who works in bikes. Oscar and Graeme, our own mad welders, created a kind of critical mass with Brian and the day was dominated by spins on silly bikes, including two which appeared spontaneously, and our own toy penny-farthing. 

Thursday, 18 May –  Ebikes Explained & Critiqued: 
Power bikes aren’t the hot topic they were last year, but there is still plenty of interest.  Of all our proposed topics, this one was the most diffused. However, over the Bike Week celebration, we had many engagements and, we hope, some of these helped increase understanding of the factors to consider in approaching an eBike purchase.

Literature of Cycling:
Our afternoon foray into armchair wanderlust was great fun. In attendance was our local long-riding adventuress, Isabell, who has cycled the Wild Atlantic Way and, just to get here, cycled from Switzerland to Clonakilty. 

Friday, 19 May – Keep on Bikin’:
The event drew no takers on the scheduled hour but was popular all week drawing casual visitors including a few older people from Clon who have never before joined us.  This pleased me as the senior demographic is notably lacking in the Bike Circus and in Clonakilty cycling.

Saturday, 20 May – Tour de Ville:
To my surprise and delight this little event was very well attended.  We had toddlers on draisines and even an old person (me) in the Silver Bullet.  Cycling for everybody was a reality.

Retrospective:
By my rough count, we had one hundred-fifty engagements over the week with a significant number of mothers with children and older people. Cargo bikes were of interest to the families and eBikes attracted the older people.  The interest in bike fabrication, modification, and power-fitting was perhaps our strongest shop draw. 

We serviced more bikes than anticipated, nearly exhausting our stores of cables, housing, and brake blocks. The Yard Dogzs were heads down and working most days. Thanks, gang. People were, of course, delighted to have consumable parts/supplies paid for by Cork Bike Week.

Notwithstanding my own default setting for shop-based events, the group cycles were clearly the most popular of our offerings. People enjoy getting on their bikes and riding as a group, being silly, blowing bubbles, and waiving at pedestrians.

We used the Bike Week festivities to advertise for Clonality’s own Bike Festival and the Circus’s educational ventures. This will prolong Bike Week into Bike Summer, we hope.

Finally, the events and buzz helped raise the funding necessary to move forward on the Silver Bullet Depot project. It should be in place and beginning to function this summer.

Cyclist.ie sends a sincere thanks to all of our groups who ran so many brilliant events during Bike Week 2023 – and who sent the reports above! All of these events are helping to make cycling more inclusive and part of our normal everyday lives. Maith sibh!