We're back! (Where've we been?)

2015’s shaping up to be a big year for cycle.travel. Here’s a hint of what’s coming up in the next few months.

You’ll have noticed that we’ve not updated our news content over the winter. That’s because we’ve been concentrating on the technology behind the website – the software and hardware that makes our route-planner and mapping tick.

We’ve developed new software so our route-planner can update faster and more reliably than before, with a full refresh every fortnight; and we’ve installed a massive new server, stuffed to the gills with all the memory we could find, so that your route-planning isn’t interrupted as we refresh the routes.

This lays the ground for us to expand the planner in 2015, covering more countries, bringing in more bike-specific data, and with new features to suggest great routes when you just want to get out and ride. We’ll also be improving the step-by-step directions, and making the route-planner easier to use on a mobile phone.

cycle.travel’s mission is to help you find somewhere great to ride, whether for your daily commute, your weekend rides or your touring expeditions. We’ll be doing much more of that this year. Come along for the ride.

Cardiff: Wales’ first Cycling City?

Cardiff cyclists have launched an ambitious bid to create Wales’ first Cycle City – and “the best cycling city in the UK”.

In a manifesto unveiled this week, they call for:

• A joined-up network of cycle routes across the city
• Two London-style ‘cycle superhighways’
• 20mph speed limit across the city
• A city centre bike hub and at least 1,000 new bike parking spaces
• Cycle training – including for bus and taxi drivers and council planners
• Affordable bike hire
• A publicly appointed Cycling Commissioner
• A cycling team within Cardiff Council

All of this, they envisage, should be supported by a £15 spend per person every year.

The campaign has been launched by local cyclists and national cycling organisations. Gwenda Owen, from CTC, said:

“We are delighted that cycling groups and individuals are working together in Cardiff to make the case for investing in cycling. Cardiff is the youngest capital city in Europe, and has the potential to grow up to become the Amsterdam of the UK.”

Cardiff is one of the flattest cities in Britain and has more green space per person than any other UK core city. Between 2001 and 2011, the number of people cycling to work in Cardiff increased by 65%. But despite this, the city is still clogged with car commuters – not least those arriving from nearby towns.

You can find out more about the campaign at cardiffcyclecity.org.

More cyclists in London than ever

Cycling in London is now at its highest rate since records began in 2000, according to Transport for London. Across London’s main roads, cycling levels from September to December were 10% higher than in the same quarter the previous year, and a further 12% rise is predicted in 2015. Bikes now make up around 16% of traffic in Central London, rising to around a quarter or even half of all journeys on some routes during peak hours. London Mayor Boris Johnson said: “Last week I announced my final intentions for the new East-West and North-South superhighways. These amazing numbers show how cyclists are becoming ubiquitous in London and prove, if further proof were needed, why we need to crack on with catering for them.”

Another east-west cycleway - and this one floats

London may be getting a new east-west Cycle Superhighway soon, but that hasn’t stopped a team of architects from proposing a second one.

And whereas Boris’s route will run along the Embankment in place of a traffic lane, this one is rather unusual: it’s conceived as a ‘floating deckway’ along the South Bank of the River Thames.

The £600m Thames Deckway would run from Battersea to Canary Wharf, a seven-mile floating cycleway with regular links to the shore. Because the Thames is tidal through central London, the plans envisage a pontoon that would rise and fall with the tide.

The route has been devised by architect David Nixon and ‘space entrepreneur’ Anna Hill. As yet it remains just a proposal, but they claim to have signed up construction giant Arup as part of the River Cycleway Consortium. The deckway would be funded by private sponsors and by a toll of £1.50 per journey. Dezeen quotes the promoters outlining their intention:

“London needs to think outside the box of conventional solutions to solve its deep-seated traffic and pollution problems. The Thames offers vast, untapped potential to ease and improve London's infrastructure problems. What is needed is imagination to unleash it.”

But such a route will need more than imagination to overcome the physical difficulties. With frequent ferry services, commercial barges and leisure traffic along the Thames, any floating cycle route would need to weave behind the piers built for existing river users.

There are docks at Rotherhithe to negotiate, not to mention the HMS Belfast. The reaction of riverside attractions and property owners to a new, modern-looking imposition on their ‘moat’ can only be imagined. And then there’s the challenge of the eastern end: how would cyclists cross from the south bank of the river to Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs?

The Thames Deckway is the latest of several fanciful proposals for futuristic cycleways in London. Architect Norman Foster proposed elevated cycle paths above the city’s railways, while a design competition advocated a raised route above the historic Regent’s Canal – an idea quickly dismissed as “potty” by the Canal & River Trust.

Britain's first women-only bike shop

Surbiton in Surrey is to get the country’s first ever bike shop “focused solely on the demands of female riders” – bikes, accessories and clothing. Bike Biz quotes owner Peter Robson as saying “there’ll be no making do with rebadged men’s items – all stock will be specifically designed for the female cyclist”. Bella Velo opens later this month.