BikeIT like Ben!
Before moving up the big smoke for a second stint in London and to master the service design ways, I was lucky to live due south on the coast in Brighton. There, I got involved volunteering with Sustrans; in their own words they are the UK charity that make it easier for people to walk and cycle.
A core part of their work takes part in schools through their team of dedicated 'BikeIT Officers' who all go by their first names. I was lucky enough to work with BikeIT Ben, who is well known and loved in primary and secondary schools across Brighton & Hove, where he has been helping kids and parents to get on their bikes for several years. When he is not clocking up the miles - and the hills - around Brighton, cycling between schools on his fully-laiden Surly cargo bike, his work ranges from helping kids fix their bikes and getting them bike building from scratch, to leading bike rides to the beach and hosting cycling assemblies where the peddle-powered Smoothie Bike is always a favourite. Schools like Mouslecoombe Primary, with particularly engaged staff, have even worked with Ben to build their own BMX pump track! As a willing side-kick and cycling advocate, the most rewarding part of the experience for me was witnessing the joy that the simple act of learning to ride a bike - and then infinitely looping round the playground - bought to children over and over again.
And this is what I went back to interview BikeIT Ben about in more detail earlier this month. Now, typing up the transcript I realise, with all his experience he actually has all the answers - this interview is gold dust!
BM: Do we need to get everyone cycling? Autonomous electric vehicles are the next big thing apparently. What are your thoughts on all that stuff?
BS: I think autonomous vehicles will space traffic out. You’re going to know where everyone is, it's all going to be on a network. It's going to happen, we are going to have to live with it. But I really think that people need to be like Bill and Ted - people need to be excellent to each other. People need to be nice, people need to be tolerant. And I think through projects like mine, where we get loads of kids out, parents and whole families out - that’s the kind of soft end of how we get people on bikes; we are starting again at the beginning. It always generates smiles and I think there is so much power in that.
BM: When you said, ‘what we do is we are starting at the beginning’, what do you mean by that?
BS: People who cycled, quite often stopped cycling when they have kids. Because they become really risk-averse and they realise how ‘dangerous’ it is on the roads. They suddenly have this really precious, vulnerable thing, and they dress it up in cotton-wool and metal. With all the paraphernalia of having kids as well, if you haven’t got a well-thought out system of getting around by foot or by bike then you’ll just shove everything in the car and off you go. Mix that in with a little bit of weather, and all the comforts of being in a car, listening to music and kids falling asleep in the back and you get lulled into this world of going everywhere by car. Then your bike goes rusty and you don’t know how to fix it, and before you know it you’ve got rid of the bike. You might also live in an area where it is difficult to have a family load of bikes. People just forget how nice it was to cycle. If you can get the children back on bikes, babies on bikes, bascially get people more confident to ride with their children and show them ways to do that.
We haven’t got the infrastructure to ride wherever you want but with a bit of savvy you can get around this town really safely - I did with my kids. And they are just as soft and squidgy as the other kids, but you just have to look at ways where they will be less vulnerable I suppose, and maybe take more of a round-about route to get to places.
BM: Do you think it’s important then to find ways to get parents with young children on bikes, using cargo bikes for example? I've been wondering whether there could be more leverage when children are involved than targeting adults directly?
BS: Whichever area you look at, we’ve got a long way to go. You’re going to have adults that aren’t confident on bikes because they never got confident on bikes in the first place, and since the 70s we haven’t had a culture of cycling - a mass cycling culture. So that needs addressing. And, at the same time, you need to get kids cycling earlier, so that by the time they get to secondary school they are will be comfortable and confident on bikes.
In schools we set up stuff where you just play on your bike, there is no structure to it, in the same way there is no organised structure to a lot of play in playgrounds - we just introduce bikes. So you’ll have 150-200 bikes on a playground and loads of people running around and skateboards and scooters and people sitting down playing with dolls and all sorts - it’s all just added into the mix. People just make their own games; there’s no whistles, there’s no cones, there's no adults trying to organise games, it's just kids making their own games: they play chase on bikes, or they do some skills, they are just playing so they are getting more confident. If there are opportunities to do that, it really helps, so we do a lot of that.
People also need to be able to fix their own bikes cheaply. There needs to be education around who you go to to fix your bike, if you can’t do it yourself. There needs to be education in bike shops, so that people aren’t patronised whenever they go into a bike shop. There’s a big change going on in that bike shops are now becoming assembly plants, and maintenance places, rather than places where you go to buy your bike. A lot of people are buying their bikes online, and then going to bike shops to get them built. Or you’ll get a bike from Canyon, you’ll put the bike together, but you’ll want the bike shop to check it over, so they’ll have a standard price for sorting all that out - £40-50 - but it’s still cheaper than buying the bike from the bike shop. That is a model that’s happening and a lot of bike shops are going under because of it, because they are still trying to sell bikes. But you just can’t hold the stock compared to online brands like Cube or Canyon or Isla Bike. You can’t do it unless you’re a massive shop front for one of these big companies, or you’re really good at bike mechanics or you’re really good at a niche thing that no one else can do. So you might have a bike cafe or somethin, there are loads of different types of bike shops that still work, but it does take a lot of shape-shifting, a lot of moving with the times and a lot of passion, yeah.
BM: Are there any models that you’ve seen that do really work well?
BS: I don’t know what Brixton Cycles is like now, but that was always my benchmark. I loved it there. There are good and bad ones. Some of them are almost there. People need to feel listened to and valued, so that they get a good service. I think M Cycles are always good in Shoreham, as far as looking after people and going the extra mile to make sure that people get what they need, rather than get what you want to sell them.
BM: Obviously you work on the projects with kids in Brighton, but are there any other projects that you’ve heard about which you think are good examples of how to get more people cycling?
BS: Yeah, things like that really help. London Recumbents - I used to work with them so I am biased - they used to be really good in that you could hire loads of different types of bikes to try them out. This was for people who want specialist bikes, for people who had various different special needs perhaps, so they have a whole load of kit - we would adapt a bike, or trike, or several bikes, or could buy stuff in for you to try. Then if you liked that, we’d look at funding and charities that might be able to help you pay for it, and we’d take off the price of the hire, that always used to be the model. A lot of bike shops do that, where you’ll try out a bike and you’ll pay up front, because otherwise people will just go to bike shops, try a few bikes and then buy one online. That’s something that’s come along since I left the bike industry.
There’s some really nice stuff that some bike clubs do, BC Jubilee down here - getting young people on bikes, that’s kind of a sport thing.
There’s a really good Cycling Without Age initiative, lots of people are signing up. Things like that are lovely. I’d like to get young people cycling with old people, because there is so much to learn. Quite often when you’re with adults who are a lot older than your parents, you get on better with them than you do with your parent’s age, because you don’t feel patronised.
A guy who did my job down in Bournmouth, now does a similar sort of thing but in a bit more of a free way; he combines cycling with yoga and orienteering, things like that - just getting the love of the outdoors going. I think connecting people with places is really important, and cycling is so good for that. We do a lot of stuff where we take people to the woods, we want to be doing more Forest School stuff with them: we build a fire, make some hot chocolate, and then cycle back to school. There are loads of lessons you can learn from that experience, loads of mental health stuff that comes from that. We’ve done Beach Schools with Sussex Wildlife Trust; there’s lots of partnership working, because if we are going to essentially change a whole culture’s attitude to getting around in a more active way - cycling being a part of that - it’s got to filter right down through society. It can’t just be a fringe of people that get associated with a certain aspect of cycling. You go to Holland and everyone rides bikes, but not everyone’s a cyclist, not everyone calls themselves a cyclist, and that’s where we need to get to. They need to be ubiquitous, and I think the bike share schemes really help with that, because it's normal people just getting around. [Passing kids says hi to Ben]... Hello mate, how are you? Nice suit Harvey! Hiya, alright!
A core part of their work takes part in schools through their team of dedicated 'BikeIT Officers' who all go by their first names. I was lucky enough to work with BikeIT Ben, who is well known and loved in primary and secondary schools across Brighton & Hove, where he has been helping kids and parents to get on their bikes for several years. When he is not clocking up the miles - and the hills - around Brighton, cycling between schools on his fully-laiden Surly cargo bike, his work ranges from helping kids fix their bikes and getting them bike building from scratch, to leading bike rides to the beach and hosting cycling assemblies where the peddle-powered Smoothie Bike is always a favourite. Schools like Mouslecoombe Primary, with particularly engaged staff, have even worked with Ben to build their own BMX pump track! As a willing side-kick and cycling advocate, the most rewarding part of the experience for me was witnessing the joy that the simple act of learning to ride a bike - and then infinitely looping round the playground - bought to children over and over again.
And this is what I went back to interview BikeIT Ben about in more detail earlier this month. Now, typing up the transcript I realise, with all his experience he actually has all the answers - this interview is gold dust!
 |
| BikeIt Ben, riding the Undercliff Path Saltdean to Brighton. Image credit: @bikeitben1 |
A conversation with Ben Sherratt
BM: Do we need to get everyone cycling? Autonomous electric vehicles are the next big thing apparently. What are your thoughts on all that stuff?
BS: I think autonomous vehicles will space traffic out. You’re going to know where everyone is, it's all going to be on a network. It's going to happen, we are going to have to live with it. But I really think that people need to be like Bill and Ted - people need to be excellent to each other. People need to be nice, people need to be tolerant. And I think through projects like mine, where we get loads of kids out, parents and whole families out - that’s the kind of soft end of how we get people on bikes; we are starting again at the beginning. It always generates smiles and I think there is so much power in that.
BM: When you said, ‘what we do is we are starting at the beginning’, what do you mean by that?
BS: People who cycled, quite often stopped cycling when they have kids. Because they become really risk-averse and they realise how ‘dangerous’ it is on the roads. They suddenly have this really precious, vulnerable thing, and they dress it up in cotton-wool and metal. With all the paraphernalia of having kids as well, if you haven’t got a well-thought out system of getting around by foot or by bike then you’ll just shove everything in the car and off you go. Mix that in with a little bit of weather, and all the comforts of being in a car, listening to music and kids falling asleep in the back and you get lulled into this world of going everywhere by car. Then your bike goes rusty and you don’t know how to fix it, and before you know it you’ve got rid of the bike. You might also live in an area where it is difficult to have a family load of bikes. People just forget how nice it was to cycle. If you can get the children back on bikes, babies on bikes, bascially get people more confident to ride with their children and show them ways to do that.
We haven’t got the infrastructure to ride wherever you want but with a bit of savvy you can get around this town really safely - I did with my kids. And they are just as soft and squidgy as the other kids, but you just have to look at ways where they will be less vulnerable I suppose, and maybe take more of a round-about route to get to places.
BM: Do you think it’s important then to find ways to get parents with young children on bikes, using cargo bikes for example? I've been wondering whether there could be more leverage when children are involved than targeting adults directly?
In schools we set up stuff where you just play on your bike, there is no structure to it, in the same way there is no organised structure to a lot of play in playgrounds - we just introduce bikes. So you’ll have 150-200 bikes on a playground and loads of people running around and skateboards and scooters and people sitting down playing with dolls and all sorts - it’s all just added into the mix. People just make their own games; there’s no whistles, there’s no cones, there's no adults trying to organise games, it's just kids making their own games: they play chase on bikes, or they do some skills, they are just playing so they are getting more confident. If there are opportunities to do that, it really helps, so we do a lot of that.
People also need to be able to fix their own bikes cheaply. There needs to be education around who you go to to fix your bike, if you can’t do it yourself. There needs to be education in bike shops, so that people aren’t patronised whenever they go into a bike shop. There’s a big change going on in that bike shops are now becoming assembly plants, and maintenance places, rather than places where you go to buy your bike. A lot of people are buying their bikes online, and then going to bike shops to get them built. Or you’ll get a bike from Canyon, you’ll put the bike together, but you’ll want the bike shop to check it over, so they’ll have a standard price for sorting all that out - £40-50 - but it’s still cheaper than buying the bike from the bike shop. That is a model that’s happening and a lot of bike shops are going under because of it, because they are still trying to sell bikes. But you just can’t hold the stock compared to online brands like Cube or Canyon or Isla Bike. You can’t do it unless you’re a massive shop front for one of these big companies, or you’re really good at bike mechanics or you’re really good at a niche thing that no one else can do. So you might have a bike cafe or somethin, there are loads of different types of bike shops that still work, but it does take a lot of shape-shifting, a lot of moving with the times and a lot of passion, yeah.
BM: Are there any models that you’ve seen that do really work well?
BS: I don’t know what Brixton Cycles is like now, but that was always my benchmark. I loved it there. There are good and bad ones. Some of them are almost there. People need to feel listened to and valued, so that they get a good service. I think M Cycles are always good in Shoreham, as far as looking after people and going the extra mile to make sure that people get what they need, rather than get what you want to sell them.
BM: Obviously you work on the projects with kids in Brighton, but are there any other projects that you’ve heard about which you think are good examples of how to get more people cycling?
BS: Yeah, things like that really help. London Recumbents - I used to work with them so I am biased - they used to be really good in that you could hire loads of different types of bikes to try them out. This was for people who want specialist bikes, for people who had various different special needs perhaps, so they have a whole load of kit - we would adapt a bike, or trike, or several bikes, or could buy stuff in for you to try. Then if you liked that, we’d look at funding and charities that might be able to help you pay for it, and we’d take off the price of the hire, that always used to be the model. A lot of bike shops do that, where you’ll try out a bike and you’ll pay up front, because otherwise people will just go to bike shops, try a few bikes and then buy one online. That’s something that’s come along since I left the bike industry.
There’s some really nice stuff that some bike clubs do, BC Jubilee down here - getting young people on bikes, that’s kind of a sport thing.
There’s a really good Cycling Without Age initiative, lots of people are signing up. Things like that are lovely. I’d like to get young people cycling with old people, because there is so much to learn. Quite often when you’re with adults who are a lot older than your parents, you get on better with them than you do with your parent’s age, because you don’t feel patronised.
A guy who did my job down in Bournmouth, now does a similar sort of thing but in a bit more of a free way; he combines cycling with yoga and orienteering, things like that - just getting the love of the outdoors going. I think connecting people with places is really important, and cycling is so good for that. We do a lot of stuff where we take people to the woods, we want to be doing more Forest School stuff with them: we build a fire, make some hot chocolate, and then cycle back to school. There are loads of lessons you can learn from that experience, loads of mental health stuff that comes from that. We’ve done Beach Schools with Sussex Wildlife Trust; there’s lots of partnership working, because if we are going to essentially change a whole culture’s attitude to getting around in a more active way - cycling being a part of that - it’s got to filter right down through society. It can’t just be a fringe of people that get associated with a certain aspect of cycling. You go to Holland and everyone rides bikes, but not everyone’s a cyclist, not everyone calls themselves a cyclist, and that’s where we need to get to. They need to be ubiquitous, and I think the bike share schemes really help with that, because it's normal people just getting around. [Passing kids says hi to Ben]... Hello mate, how are you? Nice suit Harvey! Hiya, alright!
BM: What about the dockless bikes? We’ve got a few of those in London now.
BS: Yeah, as long as it’s managed and they are being used. I’ve heard of piles of bikes and it just adds to the waste. I hate waste of any sort really. We just need that tipping point, that critical mass - theses are all cliches that I’ve talked about all the way through really, but it just needs some really good personalities. I think we need to get people like Zoella, she’s a YouTuber. My kids watch YouTube all the time, there’s YouTubers who make a living from little shows, that are like snippets, not programmes, more like blogs. Kids know all these different personalities - I’ve got no idea who they are - but they are really influential for young people, and if they were to lead... Remembering when I was a teenager, you wanted to be individual, but at the same time you wanted to keep your head above the parapet. You don’t want to be the first one to sign up at school, you want to be a cool kid - speaking from my experience - but if you’re too different, you’re weird. You want to be accepted, so it's about getting those people who don’t care what people think about them, to get out on their bikes.
Another time when young people stop cycling is in teenage years, particularly girls stop cycling. I don’t think there is a model of how to do it properly in a way that you could see yourself doing it as a teenage girl. There aren’t those role models and the bikes aren’t there. The Dutch have got it sussed in that all their bikes look the same, it’s not about the bike, you just get around by bikes that are almost invisible. They are so popular that they are almost invisible. Everyone wears shoes, so you don’t spend your time looking at people's shoes - you do every now and again - but you take it for granted that all these people have got shoes on. And bikes are like that [in The Netherlands], they are so ubiquitous that suddenly you’re freed up to get around and do what you want to do but you just happen to do it by bike.
At the moment we are so far behind: anyone who cycles is lumped in with all the different negative images of cycling. I’m painting a very negative picture but I don’t believe it is negative, I’m just looking at the areas that we really need work on. One of them is image, the image needs to work in tandem with the confidence people have, and that needs to work in tandem with the infrastructure. I’ve always thought that if there was to be a Day of The Triffids moment, where everyone looked up at the night sky and there were these funny lights, and in the morning no one drove, and all the streets were empty and there were just loads of bikes everywhere, everyone would cycle and they would realise how amazing it was. If you could just wave a wand and get rid of all of these cars, millions, billions of cars, and they would just disappear, and then you’ve got this massive infrastructure of roads - which is perfect for getting around by bike. If you could just do that for a couple of days, people would remember what it was like and then you’re job’s done.
BM: How do you imagine we will get there? Do you imagine it is all these smaller piecemeal things that will reach a tipping point?
BS: I’d hate to think it gets to a tipping point because we run out of oil, or it is just so polluted that loads of people are dying, things like that. I don’t want it to get like that. I’d like to think it was a cultural tipping point that happens somewhere along the line. Like it was in Holland in the 70s where it was headed towards ‘carmageddon’ because it’s so densely populated, and they had all these plans for the cities to be overrun with massive motorways, but it didn’t happen because a load of parents mainly, were sick and tired of seeing kids dying in the roads. I’d love to think that something happens culturally, such a powerful message, where we just really want to do it [riding bikes]. Because we’ve got the climate for it, it’s not massively cold, its not massively wet, we’ve got the technology to get us over hills - I think electric bikes are amazing. It’s all there, everything is there to enable it to happen. I think people are just scared.
BM: Have you had any random ideas, that would be a good thing to start people cycling?
BS: Yeah, I was talking to someone the other day about making a film - because Brighton is so iconic. Have you seen the film 28 Days Later, where London is completely deserted? I’d like to make a film on a budget in the middle of London, at three or four in the morning in the middle of summer so it looks like daylight or early morning, and there is this lovely light, and there are no cars, no buses and you could just walk down the middle of the street. So, if we could get some roadblocks set up, empty iconic areas of Brighton, get loads of people riding normally, looking like they have just come out of their houses. Mates pull up on their bikes and they all ride to school. They get to school and everyone else just pours into school, just like that, in the Brighton that we all know, but it’s subtly different: everyone is cycling. A really well done film would go a million miles, and a good advertising campaign. If we could get the brains and the money that car advertising gets - because it’s so clever, car marketing is amazing really. If you want a rugged car that goes everywhere, stick bikes ontop. But everyone knows that if you get in a car, you’re going to get stuck in traffic, so you’ve got wifi, hands-free, they make it comfortable to be stuck in traffic; it's nice to be stuck in traffic because you’re in a really comfortable seat, you’ve got all your music, you can talk to your car and it will play any music you want, you can talk to your mates, you can have tea and coffee.
BM: Do you think we need those comforts on a bike as well?
BS: No. Often you can drag people kicking and screaming on a bike ride and they end up loving it. Once they have been on a bike and they feel safe, then they get it, and that’s where our project really works. You can take a whole class of kids, parents and teachers who are all bricking it because they are going to go through the middle of Brighton, but because they feel totally safe with us, after we’ve shepherded them through the middle of their city, then they’ll do it again. They’ve got the confidence to do it again. But they are not confident to start doing it, and quite often teachers are having kittens because we say, ‘We’ll take a class of thirty kids, or eighty kids, we’ll take them down to the beach for the day.’ And they say, ‘God! The risk assessments! What about cars? Do they need to do cycling proficiency? Do they need to do Bikeability? Do they need to have done a test?’ And we say they just need to be able to ride their bike in a figure of eight, use their brakes and not crash into the person in front of them. That’s it. And we get them down to the beach. And without fail they all come back and say, ‘This has been amazing, it’s the best bike trip ever.’ It works. So maybe the answer is fifty people doing my job, getting paid a working wage to do it, in a town the size of Brighton over a period of twenty years, and we’ll have it sussed, because everyone will have confidence to get around.
BM: Last question, what do you think of cycling proficiency, or Bikeability?
BS: It could be an amazing thing. Bikeability 1, 2 and 3, has got a place, like a driving test has got a place, but it’s not the be all and end all. It shouldn’t be a licence to ride. It gives you a standard which you can measure yourself against, but I’m always learning and I’m 47. I’d like to do it better, so it’s just part of that process. And I failed my cycling proficiency, because I was doing wheelies in the playground (laughs). So I think learning to handle your bike in a way is more important. But I agree it's important to teach young people, and people of all ages, that there is a time and place to muck about on your bike, and a time and place to just be respectful of other people.
BS: Yeah, as long as it’s managed and they are being used. I’ve heard of piles of bikes and it just adds to the waste. I hate waste of any sort really. We just need that tipping point, that critical mass - theses are all cliches that I’ve talked about all the way through really, but it just needs some really good personalities. I think we need to get people like Zoella, she’s a YouTuber. My kids watch YouTube all the time, there’s YouTubers who make a living from little shows, that are like snippets, not programmes, more like blogs. Kids know all these different personalities - I’ve got no idea who they are - but they are really influential for young people, and if they were to lead... Remembering when I was a teenager, you wanted to be individual, but at the same time you wanted to keep your head above the parapet. You don’t want to be the first one to sign up at school, you want to be a cool kid - speaking from my experience - but if you’re too different, you’re weird. You want to be accepted, so it's about getting those people who don’t care what people think about them, to get out on their bikes.
Another time when young people stop cycling is in teenage years, particularly girls stop cycling. I don’t think there is a model of how to do it properly in a way that you could see yourself doing it as a teenage girl. There aren’t those role models and the bikes aren’t there. The Dutch have got it sussed in that all their bikes look the same, it’s not about the bike, you just get around by bikes that are almost invisible. They are so popular that they are almost invisible. Everyone wears shoes, so you don’t spend your time looking at people's shoes - you do every now and again - but you take it for granted that all these people have got shoes on. And bikes are like that [in The Netherlands], they are so ubiquitous that suddenly you’re freed up to get around and do what you want to do but you just happen to do it by bike.
At the moment we are so far behind: anyone who cycles is lumped in with all the different negative images of cycling. I’m painting a very negative picture but I don’t believe it is negative, I’m just looking at the areas that we really need work on. One of them is image, the image needs to work in tandem with the confidence people have, and that needs to work in tandem with the infrastructure. I’ve always thought that if there was to be a Day of The Triffids moment, where everyone looked up at the night sky and there were these funny lights, and in the morning no one drove, and all the streets were empty and there were just loads of bikes everywhere, everyone would cycle and they would realise how amazing it was. If you could just wave a wand and get rid of all of these cars, millions, billions of cars, and they would just disappear, and then you’ve got this massive infrastructure of roads - which is perfect for getting around by bike. If you could just do that for a couple of days, people would remember what it was like and then you’re job’s done.
BM: How do you imagine we will get there? Do you imagine it is all these smaller piecemeal things that will reach a tipping point?
BS: I’d hate to think it gets to a tipping point because we run out of oil, or it is just so polluted that loads of people are dying, things like that. I don’t want it to get like that. I’d like to think it was a cultural tipping point that happens somewhere along the line. Like it was in Holland in the 70s where it was headed towards ‘carmageddon’ because it’s so densely populated, and they had all these plans for the cities to be overrun with massive motorways, but it didn’t happen because a load of parents mainly, were sick and tired of seeing kids dying in the roads. I’d love to think that something happens culturally, such a powerful message, where we just really want to do it [riding bikes]. Because we’ve got the climate for it, it’s not massively cold, its not massively wet, we’ve got the technology to get us over hills - I think electric bikes are amazing. It’s all there, everything is there to enable it to happen. I think people are just scared.
BM: Have you had any random ideas, that would be a good thing to start people cycling?
BS: Yeah, I was talking to someone the other day about making a film - because Brighton is so iconic. Have you seen the film 28 Days Later, where London is completely deserted? I’d like to make a film on a budget in the middle of London, at three or four in the morning in the middle of summer so it looks like daylight or early morning, and there is this lovely light, and there are no cars, no buses and you could just walk down the middle of the street. So, if we could get some roadblocks set up, empty iconic areas of Brighton, get loads of people riding normally, looking like they have just come out of their houses. Mates pull up on their bikes and they all ride to school. They get to school and everyone else just pours into school, just like that, in the Brighton that we all know, but it’s subtly different: everyone is cycling. A really well done film would go a million miles, and a good advertising campaign. If we could get the brains and the money that car advertising gets - because it’s so clever, car marketing is amazing really. If you want a rugged car that goes everywhere, stick bikes ontop. But everyone knows that if you get in a car, you’re going to get stuck in traffic, so you’ve got wifi, hands-free, they make it comfortable to be stuck in traffic; it's nice to be stuck in traffic because you’re in a really comfortable seat, you’ve got all your music, you can talk to your car and it will play any music you want, you can talk to your mates, you can have tea and coffee.
BM: Do you think we need those comforts on a bike as well?
BS: No. Often you can drag people kicking and screaming on a bike ride and they end up loving it. Once they have been on a bike and they feel safe, then they get it, and that’s where our project really works. You can take a whole class of kids, parents and teachers who are all bricking it because they are going to go through the middle of Brighton, but because they feel totally safe with us, after we’ve shepherded them through the middle of their city, then they’ll do it again. They’ve got the confidence to do it again. But they are not confident to start doing it, and quite often teachers are having kittens because we say, ‘We’ll take a class of thirty kids, or eighty kids, we’ll take them down to the beach for the day.’ And they say, ‘God! The risk assessments! What about cars? Do they need to do cycling proficiency? Do they need to do Bikeability? Do they need to have done a test?’ And we say they just need to be able to ride their bike in a figure of eight, use their brakes and not crash into the person in front of them. That’s it. And we get them down to the beach. And without fail they all come back and say, ‘This has been amazing, it’s the best bike trip ever.’ It works. So maybe the answer is fifty people doing my job, getting paid a working wage to do it, in a town the size of Brighton over a period of twenty years, and we’ll have it sussed, because everyone will have confidence to get around.
BM: Last question, what do you think of cycling proficiency, or Bikeability?
BS: It could be an amazing thing. Bikeability 1, 2 and 3, has got a place, like a driving test has got a place, but it’s not the be all and end all. It shouldn’t be a licence to ride. It gives you a standard which you can measure yourself against, but I’m always learning and I’m 47. I’d like to do it better, so it’s just part of that process. And I failed my cycling proficiency, because I was doing wheelies in the playground (laughs). So I think learning to handle your bike in a way is more important. But I agree it's important to teach young people, and people of all ages, that there is a time and place to muck about on your bike, and a time and place to just be respectful of other people.
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