Beauty and the Bike

It would appear that whenever I find myself staring in the wing mirror of a car that's just passed too closely and wondering why i'm involved in cycle campaigning and should maybe take up crocheting effegies of the Minister for Transport to use as firelighters, something like this comes along...

A documentary is being released by Darlington Media Group examining why there is such a low takeup of cycling amongst women and in particular young women.

'The film reveals the damage that has been done by 50 years of car-centric transport policies. Whilst we fill our lives with debates about risk assessment, cycle helmets, cycle training and marketing strategies to try to persuade people to cycle more, the basic barriers to cycling remain untouched - generous urban planning towards the car, and the resultant poor motorist behaviour towards cyclists. Is it any wonder that most people find cycling unattractive in the UK, but attractive in cycling-friendly towns and cities?'

The film follows two groups of teenage girls from Darlington and Bremen in Germany (which is a cycling utopia by comparison) and between them they discuss what makes and stops them from cycling.

To find out more, the website is http://www.bikebeauty.org/

In the meantime, this 8 minute teaser is doing the rounds on YouTube. A book is going to be released to coincide with the film release.

I hope this is the start of more cyclists young and old getting in front and behind a camera. Brilliant inspiring stuff.