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Feedback from EdFoC 2016

We have finally gotten round to analysing the feedback from EdFoC 2016 and thought we’d share the highlights with you. A big thank you to all those who took the time to fill out the survey. We are pleased to see that you clearly liked the Festival, with 82% saying that it was Excellent or Very Good, 14% rating it Good and only 4% saying it was Poor.

Comments about the festival included:

“well done! Do it again!” and “Great fun for all!”

We’d just like to say a big thank you to all who gave us feedback.

So what did people think of the individual events? Here are a few of the comments:

An evening with Julian Sayerer

Excellent – “Much more varied than I was expecting, jumping from politics, to touring the world to courier work in London. Made it all the better and quite easily convinced me to buy his books on the spot”

Belles on Bikes & Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative Ride

Excellent

Bike Curious Family Workshop

Very Good

Bikey tales of adventure – Jenny Tough

Excellent & Very Good – “I feel a lot of cycle-touring talks are usually a case of the converted preaching to the converted. As someone who has never been on a long trip, it was truly inspiring to hear someone talk about how easy it was to do with no previous experience.”
“Well done and the wee film was a nice touch”

Cycle Speed Dating

Excellent & Very Good – “I met some really nice people, the venue was good and well hosted”
“Nice relaxed environment”

Cycling and the Law – Cycle Law Scotland

Very Good – “Presentations and speakers great. Good content. Venue a little too squished” [sorry about that, was more popular than anticipated]
“Very interesting presentation, would have liked a bit more time for discussions at the end.”
“Good interesting programme, well presented.”

Essential Yoga for Cyclists: Union Yoga

Excellent

King of Kaimes Hill Climb

Very Good – “Low key event with the correct amount of craziness to make it an attractive option”
“Great fun for all”

Ligfiets Zondag

Excellent – “Ideal opportunity to try a different form of cycling”

Meadowbank velodrome taster sessions

Excellent – “Completely amazing, weather ended up being perfect, phil [of ERC] got us up and running no problem. One of the most fun things I’ve done”

Mind is the ride with Jet McDonald

Excellent & Very Good – “Jet was an excellent choice by the festival programmers. More than anything, talks like this are very inspiring, especially if you had ever considered (ro dreamed about) similar experiences. Although it wasn’t a full house at all, there was a lot of engagement in the Q&A part, which shows how inspiring these events are.”

One pedal at a time – one woman’s journey to the top – Genevieve Whitson

Very Good – “Very interesting and show the dedication required outwith British Cycling envelope.”

Original Edinburgh Night Ride

Excellent & Very Good – “It gets better and better. Very well organised. A pleasure.”
“Cycling during a mild and still quite light June night with others on a mystery tour with pre-arranged stops and meals at a non-competitive pace is absolutely fab!”

Pantani – the accidental death of a cyclist [and other films at Balerno]

Excellent & Very Good – “Cinema ‘staff’ all very welcoming on arrival, free beer was a lovely gesture, audience were appreciative and civilised, all three films were excellent, it was a very enjoyable event, thank you!”
“Excellent programme and presentation and value”

Ride to the Sun

Excellent – “Fantastic atmosphere, well done to the organisers”

Spokes Bike Breakfast

Excellent & Very Good – “Great veggie breakfast and free maintenance”
“Well done to organisers of this one!”
“Free breakfast, chain cleaned, bike ID applied by police, and lots of other stalls! … What’s not to like? Apart from the dreich weather, but at least it wasn’t raining!”
“It was a nice event and opportunity to meet other people.”

Spokes public meeting on cycling and health

Excellent & Very Good – “Good format. But then it’s been tested often 🙂 ”
“Interesting content, but preaching to the converted? … Good to see event well attended … Good to see gender mix panel. (No all male panel)”

Very Beginners Bike Maintenance

Excellent – “I really enjoyed the bike maintenance class. Hannah [of Cycle Service] was enthusiastic and answered all questions as if they weren’t daft. I looking forward to getting stuck into maintaining my own bike now!”

Women’s learn then ride

Excellent – “I was somewhat skeptical about how useful this was going to be given I’d ridden bike in past (albeit a very long time ago) … however, [it has] been very useful in helping users think about balance, and good tips (and practice) on road procedure. Very encouraging for all participants, and helpful on getting us enthused, and importantly getting us linked into ‘Edinburgh Belles‘ and ‘the festival’.”

Womens Cycle Forum Scotland launch

Excellent & Very Good

At the weekend EdFoC was invited to the Bikes vs Cars Future Vehicle Showcase at the Edinburgh International Science Festival to show our Urban Arrow cargo bike. We we very please by the level of attention it got, even if some riders were a wee bit wobbly at first.

Robert Llewellyn trying out an Urban Arrow cargo bike, thanks to James Nikitine for the video.

What the video doesn’t show is just how quickly Robert over came the initial wobbles and was able to ride the bike with ease. However, the manic giggling does give you a sense of just how much fun it is to ride. If you’d like to find out what it is like to ride an Urban Arrow cargo bike, ours is for hire.

We are pleased to announce that this year the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling will have a new transport partner, Urban Arrow.

There is more to running a festival than just turning up at a few events, there is always lots of stuff to move about, such as the 10,000 programmes which are about to be printed. Over the last couple of years, this has been something of a logistical headache, although one made easier last year by the loan of a cargo bike from Laid Back Bikes. This year we have negotiated with Urban Arrow to provide us with one of their bikes at a preferential rate and are buying it with the help of the Energy Saving Trust.

The Urban Arrow, with its modular design, is one of the most versatile cargo bikes around. Although we are buying it in the family configuration, we may well buy a cargo box at a later date. When the bike is not in use for EdFoC business, we intend to make it available for hire at a competitive rate, which is part of the reason that we went for the family version.

We did also consider other cargo bikes, such as the Danish Bullitt (of which there are a couple already in Edinburgh), and the German Riese & Müller Packster and Load. However, in the end we decided that Urban Arrow suited our needs best and offers the best value for money. If you would like to try out an Urban Arrow for yourself, our bike is available for hire (when we are not using it).