Alive With Pedal Power

Manchester Friends of the Earth volunteers spent Friday and Saturday 15th and 16th April running the Love Your Bike stall, providing encouragement to the general public to make cycling a healthy, desirable part of their daily lives. Manchester Arndale kindly invited MFoE to hold this stall in a prime location in the Food Court, facing the main entrance, as part of their ‘Think Green’ event – showcasing how everyone can do their bit towards helping the environment. Other exhibitors at the event included the National Academy of Cycling, EMERGE and BikeRight!, as well as a stall by Manchester Arndale themselves drawing attention to their own sustainability initiatives. Retailers pledged to do their bit by encouraging the use of paper, biodegradable plastic and ‘bags for life’ over the course of the two-day event.

Centre of attention in the sun-lit mall was Love Your Bike’s bicycle-powered sound system, which many members of the public, young and old, took great delight in pedalling to keep the music strong! Cycle route maps, brochures for cycle training and other initiatives, as well as friendly information were all on offer, though the information flow was not just one-way – a great many people completed Love Your Bike’s survey on cycling in Greater Manchester, thereby qualifying themselves for the chance to win a brand-new mountain bike.

From a volunteer’s point of view, the event was very interesting. The general public’s level of enthusiasm for cycling surprised us – we talked to a great number of people, from a variety of ages and backgrounds, who extolled the virtues of cycling TO US! In particular, because most of MFoE’s volunteers are from south Manchester, it was good to engage with people from the north of Manchester, including many from up Rochdale way! Of the people we spoke to, many cycled (or were interested in cycling) for leisure and a good many cycled to work.

Among the benefits people shared with us were the financial advantages (commenting on the cost of petrol was popular), the handiness of being able to stop at the shops on the way home (which the bus/train does not offer), the health benefits and many other virtues.

For me, the highlights were the young teenagers who seemed addicted to cycling-to-provide-the-music and the gentleman who told us that two years ago the doctor had given him a serious warning to lose weight, so he had taken up cycling two miles to work each day. Not only had he lost four stone in weight, he had also already outlived his father who had faced similar warnings. When I asked him if, now he had got himself to a healthy weight, he would carry on with cycling, he said (and this was a common theme that day): “I wouldn’t want to be without the freedom that my bike offers me”.