Gallery Page 30

photo of Bob and Cris Birch on recumbent trikes

Have Trike Recumbents - Will Travel

Bob and Chris Birch of Conwy may appear laid back about cycling - but when it comes to visiting places others only dream about, they're dead serious.

Visit their website at http://www.coed-y-bedw.toucansurf.com/

Coastal Erosion (National Cycle Route 5, Old Colwyn, North Wales).

Urgent remedial work is being carried out to stabilise the sea wall at this exposed section of coastline. Startling splits in the track surface opened in a matter of days. So far this has not affected access by walkers and cyclists. (201009)

Our obesogenic society decrees that much of the money spent on encouraging cycling, should actually be spent keeping folk out of the saddle. 'End of Cycle Route' and 'Cyclists Dismount' signs are springing up everywhere like triffids. At Conwy in North Wales, a cycle path with a tunnel headroom of 7'7'' is deemed grounds for ordering cyclists to get off and push. This rider is over 6' tall.

Perhaps there is some sense somewhere. World heavyweight boxer Nicolai Valuev, 7' tall, might just decide to give up prize fighting and take up Penny Farthing bike racing instead.

Mike Cross, President of CTC Chester & North Wales, presenting Doreen Lindsey with a Certificate of Merit for her outstanding contribution to the running of the Eryri Section

Rhyl Promenading Bicycle Chic - have dog will travel: Kim has found a way to enjoy exercise herself - and give her dog a run at the same time. For their next holiday Tim and her partner are planning to rent a cottage near Stoke on Trent. With four feet on pedals, and four paws on the ground, they aim to explore the canal towpaths. If you'd like to see other chic cyclists click here. (060110)

Photo of two cyclists with Snowdon in background

Winter in Snowdonia: With Snowdon as a backcloth, Dilwyn and Gareth head for Pen y Groes from Rhyd Ddu on a training session.. If you fancy trying your hand at cyclo cross, why not contact Gareth at http://www.revolution-bikes.co.uk/. He tells us the emphasis is very much on having fun! (010210)

Harp Playing and Cycling - Poetry in Motion.

Professional Harpist Nerys Hewitt adores her cycling. She has recently completed a cycling tour of Holland and plans much more in the future. She's seen here riding along the Afon Clwyd Cycleway between Rhyl and Rhuddlan en route to Sty Asaph. Like your editor, Nerys believes cycleways breath life into communities and could contribute so much to the beautiful Vale of Clwyd.

If you want to know more about this delightful lady and relish her exquisite playing , click here (290410)

Feeling down in the dumps?

This Wirral cyclist was almost dumped when this pothole suddenly appeared on NCR5 at Old Colwyn after a coastal storm in the spring of 2010.

Thanks to Ron Povah of Wirral Cycling Campaign for this snapshot.

To see another cyclist with a yen to nosedive: click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pi6GIAMIx(190910)

Late Summer Wine

When having a few hours break from their prestigious Greenwood Forest Park, Felinhelli, Stephen and Andrea Bristow love nothing better than going for a bike ride to harvest the local hedgerows for elderflowers and elderberries. See more of Stephen & Andrea at http://www.greenwoodforestpark.co.uk/awards.php (270910)

"So you recognised who knocked you off your bike into the ditch?"

(This is an old sketch from the Illustrated London News. It is in the shop window of a Chester barber indicating that the proprietor supports the Chester Cycling Campaign. http://www.chestercyclecity.org/ The above caption is our own creation.

James T Lightwood's 1928 account of the first fifty years of the CTC, ''The Romance of the Cyclists' Touring Club', refers many instances when draymen or horse riders deliberately ran down cyclists. There was an occasion when a touring party was cycling through Little Sutton, near Chester, when the driver of a trap tried to upset them. The case came before court and a conviction seemed assured. One of the magistrates addressing the defendant said 'You belong in Lancashire, don't you?', to which the reply was 'Yes Sir'. ''Then what are you doing in Cheshire' said the JP, 'why don't you ride about in your own county' - and promptly dismissed the charge.)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, tricyclist, circa 1900. (From the book, 'Romance of the CTC - the first 50yrs'. - James T Lightwood 1928)

In the year 1887, Walter Dutton and his sister Amy also relished their Rotary tricycling.