New footage of the cycle lanes put down recently by Cardiff City Council. This one is from Wellington Street, through Cowbridge Road and along Castle Street, then Newport Road. This is one of the longest segregated lanes in Cardiff and you have a great feeling of security as you ride along it. The only negative, is at the traffic lights, these need to be prioritised for the cyclist, otherwise they won’t stop, and that makes it unsafe. Staying too long at traffic lights cools us down, better to keep the bikes moving, which helps remove traffic from the roads, freeing them up for everyone else. #CardiffCityCouncil #BikeWeekUK #Cycling
Bike Commuting – Cardiff City Center to Radyr
Filmed on an afternoon’s cycle home after a day in the office. The aim of the video is to show how easy it is to cycle now around Cardiff. In the last 12 months the Council have put in pop up cycle lanes and now recently, these have been converted into permanent segregated lanes in a number of streets around the city. The council are pushing through five main cycleways, more on this in another post, and though some are not yet fully connected, it’s only going to be a matter of time before they are and offer a safe space to cycle in.
This route that takes you from the City Centre to the outskirts of Cardiff in approximately 30 minutes. The elevation isn’t more than 80-85m, so it’s fairly gentle, except a last part that I end up pushing the bike up as the gearing is just not low enough to get me up the hill – going into Danescourt. Also, my bike is an old city bike that I’ve had about 20 years or so, and the gearing is the old-style Sturmey Archer, 3 x speed type, and probably not likely to withstand me pumping the pedals up this slope.
Future posts are going to look at some of these cycle lanes. So far, the most accessible ways are going into and out of the city. Perhaps new routes across the city will get a look in, in the future, but for the time being, the effort is going into making the cycle lanes into town safe, protected and welcoming.
It’s a Hill. Get Over It.
Inspirational advertising from Nike, to help us get out and into our running shoes. The last month has been poor, I’ve hardly run at all…a combination of ice, snow and generally cold, wet weather has meant that when I was free to run, the weather was against me. Hoping for better times in February, and whether or not there is a hill in the way, won’t matter…it will just be great to be running again and feeling fit.
Rise, Run, Rest, Repeat by Nike
Nike ads that help inspire us to get off the couch and run…and it’s true that ads like this help. All you need do is lace up a pair of running shoes and the outdoors awaits.
Show Up, No Matter What
If I could go back in time, it would be to tell my younger self to work harder in school, blame others less and take on more responsibility. That nothing can be achieved without effort, and if you’re not making effort then success in whatever I want to make out in life won’t come unless I’m prepared to work.
In my 30s I found this work ethic, but perhaps too late to make as much of an impact as I would have liked. nevertheless, better to have found it later in life, than not at all. It helped push me to travel, work in foreign places, learn new languages and push me out of my comfort zone. For that I am satisfied, that this has made all the difference.
And now, when I’m running or cycling, on days perhaps when the weather isn’t good or as warm as we’d like it to be, I go out anyway. I’ve learnt how great the feeling is when you achieve or reach your goals or get to where you planned to get to, and that you’ve not let anything get in your way. That this feeling is what makes us ‘tick’ and it’s what makes it worthwhile.
