It may seem odd to some that I'm the Councillor cycling 'champion' in the City - I'm not what you'd describe as your typical cyclist, I'm overweight, not as fit as I could be, generally built for comfort over speed and until I became a Councillor I hadn't cycled since my early teens - so how did it happen?
The first thing to point out is that I don't drive, can't drive, and really not that keen on learning to drive. Normally this poses no problem to me, I live close enough to walk or catch a bus to anything I'd want to do in the City, and outside of that I enjoy travelling on Trains or, if we're going as a family then, Andy drives. The difficulty came when I started attending meetings that finished late and I was either walking through Bede Park in the dark (not recommended unaccompanied) or waiting at the end of Belgrave Gate for a bus (it was whilst the bus stops were changing) which I felt uncomfortable about doing. For a youngish woman getting somewhere on her own late in the evening a bike seemed a safer way forward.
I got my bike from the Bike Shop under the Town Hall and set about trying to work out how to not only ride it safely (quite daunting) but also equip it to take my kit and kids too! This was not straight-forward, and everyone had an opinion, the most important of which for me was Andy's who said early on he wasn't comfortable with the idea of the kids in a trailer behind my bike and we were battling for space in our small terraced property (we've since rented a garage on the next street) so we ruled that option out.
I was struggling to know what to try and quite concerned about spending money on something that wouldn't work. I was relieved when I read about a 'try it out' cycling event in Nottingham. We went and tried out every type of bike and child attachment possible, it was great, the kids enjoyed themselves and were able to tell us what worked for them and we were able to decide what felt safe and comfortable.
I fell in love with a fab bike made in Cambridge that has been given out in some London Borough to try and reduce school traffic. Great bikes that could take the kids and the shopping and were really comfortable to steer - problem was the price tag - nearly £2000 - not in my range!I eventually settled on wee-ride for Ella and a standard child seat for Ryan (for the 6 months until he got too big to manage). Being able to have Ella between me and the handle bars was brilliant and made cycling a really enjoyable and bonding experience. Sat there we were able to talk easily, she could see what I could, the bike felt really stable and I felt more able to protect her.
All of this got me talking to Officers and Councillors about cycling in the City and led to me setting up a piece of Scrutiny work to look at what we could be doing to make it easier to get around the City by bike. From there I started attending meetings with some of the great local cycling organisations Cyclemagic and Bikes4All, and also with national cycling organisations like Cycling England and the CTC and was really excited to be involved in the discussions about bringing SkyRide to Leicester.
Everything was going swimmingly until my bike was stolen last year as I attended a Groundworks Board meeting on behalf of the Council at Western Park, two weeks before the SkyRide. I was devastated! I got a new one in time (with a trailgate option for Ella - limited success) and had an amazing time at Skyride but I have to admit to missing my old bike!Getting a bike has enabled me to see so much more of the City, understand how simple changes as well as major schemes can encourage cycling, reduce my carbon footprint and meet some incredible people.
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