PedalAid, the Isle of Wight dedicated app that encourages cycling, is seeking monthly sponsors for the rest of 2023, as well as new cyclists to take up the regular challenges.
PedalAid sets a monthly challenge for everyone using the app, and if the collective target is met, the sponsor donates £200 to their designated charity, with £100 donated if the target is not met.
The routes covered by the PedalAid challenge are mostly off-road, including the Red Squirrel trail from Newport to Shanklin, with a circular route from Merstone, and Cowes to Newport. In addition, there are routes from Yarmouth to Freshwater and some other routes to and from Newport.
Councillor Julie Jones-Evans, cabinet member with responsibility for business development, leisure and tourism said:
“PedalAid is a great way to get into cycling or to motivate yourself to pedal a little bit more. There are opportunities for people to select some short off-road routes, go on a family outing, include a commute, or perhaps go on a longer journey. At the same time everyone will be working towards helping an Island charity, so give it a go and download Pedal Aid.
“For potential sponsors this is a great way to involve your business in promoting healthy lifestyles and supporting good causes on the Island for only £200, so please do contact the Isle of Wight Councils Sports Unit at [email protected] if you are interested in getting involved.”
Potential cyclists and businesses can find out more at www.pedalaid.org, including links to download the app.
Just what we need, cyclists on the road gawping at their phones, oh hang on, is it illegal for cyclists to be using a mobile phone while riding, if not, it should be.
It doesn’t work like that. It counts the miles while sitting in your pocket any 95% of routes are cycleways anyway
As the article clearly states: “The routes covered by the PedalAid challenge are mostly off-road”
“In the Know”?
“Dunno a Fing”, more like.
“mostly” hmmm let’s see.
All pavements are cycle lanes………..
Mostly because there aren’t many separated cycle lanes so in many places you can either ride on a pavement or risk cars passing you by at 30-50mph which feels super dangerous with no infrastructure other than paint to protect you.
Given the choice between a safe cycle path (like Red Squirrel) vs pavement vs road, I choose the first option always. But it’s not like there are many routes like that, we need more options. So far it’s impossible to go shopping in many places without touching the high-speed road.
Mayby stop being a hippy and buy a car then, much more enjoyable than getting soaked and holding traffic up
I find it more frustrating being in a car, held up in traffic. Much more fun on a bike, i nip in and out of traffic, hop onto the pavement and cycle through red lights, much more fun.
Heh, regarding red lights – have you seen cycling intersections? They get red to stay away from cars but then green light for bikes is on for ALL directions at once because bikes coordinate so well they don’t really need any traffic lights – low speed, human-sized vehicle, simple gestures are enough to coordinate bike traffic.
NotJustBikes channel on YouTube made a video recently about it.
We need traffic lights ONLY because we have cars. Without them, there’s no need for lights at all.
I really recommend to check it out, mind-blowing thinking from first principles about urban design.
Sorry, it was a Short, not a full video. Here you go: https://youtube.com/shorts/jgacSmLBSIQ?feature=share
(fingers crossed links work in comments!)
Thank you for the link, I had a look. Yeah definitely a interesting way to monoeuvre cyclists around!.
Hello.
I can’t drive. Literally law doesn’t allow me to do a driving license due to my medical conditions.
I think it’s not unreasonable to expect some kind of cycling infrastructure in year 2023 on a small island that could be crossed on a bike in an hour, don’t you think? 😉
Dutch __children__ have this saying: You aren’t made of sugar, you won’t melt in the rain, sweetie 😉
Plus, X minutes of commute by bike means X minutes of exercise. Double win!
Oooh great. Another excuse to put on poncy lycra and annoy motorists.
As the article says, these are mainly off road routes. If you want less cyclists on roads it makes sense to support this.
I guess cycling on footpaths is oK then, as it is off road?
Peasant losers the lot of them!!
shame no cycleway from Ryde esplanade to Newport..
What I want to know if cyclist need not have insurance to be on the road , what happens if the hit a pedestrian injure them/ kill them or do any other infringement that causes suffering to someone like damages property or whatever what happens who picks up the pieces
Simple.
You sue them and there are plenty of no-win-no-fee legal firms who will do that for you.
That’s why most competitive cyclists are insured and plenty of cycle commuters are too.
I’m insured with British Cycling for several £million 3rd party and legal representation.
It also works both ways. When I was knocked off by a driver who cut me up, my insurance paid for my claim against him. New bike and a 5 figure sum in compensation for my injury.
In a civil proceedings, they’ll just pay from their own money, just like a pedestrian would who bumps into another road user.
But also Tthe force of a bike is 500x less than a car – at a minimum! Statistically accidents with bikes and pedestrians are way less serious than with a car. Bureaucracy of controlling those insurances would bring you far less value than actually having them in place.
Compared to cars, bikes are levels of magnitude less dangerous.
Might as well demand insurance for walking or sitting on a chair.
What happens if pedestrian hits a pedestrian? I demand the specialised leg-walker insurance!
And what if I trip on a baby? I demand all strollers to pay VED!
signed: your typical reasonable Brit
/sarcasm
Nice to see no end of comments from people that convince themselves that because bicycles do not need the same legal documentation to be on the road as car drives allows them to use their car as a weapon against cyclists. 1.5m distance when over taking a bike. Not ‘as close as you can’ to scare them so they stop using the road.
As an AA safe driving school instructor I can 100% recommend having a phone attached to handlebars, record your journey (there are apps that record both front and back camera at the same time) and report any dangerous drivers
I’d report any dangerous driving from my car camera as well.
Driving 3000kg of steel has to be taken seriously. We don’t need bad drivers with big egos to endanger us all.
You can report any dangerous drivers, vehicles parked on double-yellow lines etc. to https://www.hampshire.police.uk/police-forces/hampshire-constabulary/areas/hants-snap/hantsnap/
Let’s make our streets safe!