News Archives - Edinburgh Festival of Cycling

EdFoC is on Mastodon

This website has now joined the fediverse with ActivityPub, to broadcast a wider audience. So if you are on Mastodon or any other federated platform, you can now follow us at @edfoc@edfoc.org.uk. However, please note that the software running this automated feed is new and maybe a bit buggy.

Something to note though, only new posts going forward will be available in the fediverse (i.e. after this one) and anyone who follows this site, will only see new posts we publish from that moment on. You will never see previously-published posts in your Home feed. This process is very similar to subscribing to a newsletter. If you subscribe to a newsletter, you will only receive future emails, but not the old archived ones.

Hope this is of interest to at least some people. It is possible that in the future, that as more platforms join the fediverse, (Meta, the owner of Instagram and Threads, is talking about it) you will be able to follow from those too.

This year’s cover

The cover to this year’s Edinburgh Festival of Cycling programme is a special commissioned Linocut from Emma Jones of Wee Blue Press.

The brief we gave Emma was ‘animals on bikes’ and after lots of discussion and very hard thinking(!) it became the hare and the tortoise was a theme that worked with the Edinburgh Festival of cycling’s ethos of cycling for everyone. Then the final image was carved into lino, hand printed and scanned digitally so that we could use it for the cover of the printed programme and poster.

One of the early sketches of the hare
One of the early sketches
Another early sketch for this year's cover
Another early sketch for this year’s cover
Early cover mock up
Early mock up of the cover
The first print of the lino cut
The first print of the lino cut ready to scan

When it came to the layout of the final cover image, it was decided to flip the image over digitally to be able to add text to the right of the cover.

The 2019 Edinburgh Festival of Cycling Programme cover
The 2019 Edinburgh Festival of Cycling Programme cover

As the cover has been so popular we have decided to make the cover image available as a series of limited edition prints (as each print will be hand finished they will all be unique) and t-shirts. These will be printed from the original Linocut, so the image will be the un-flipped. These limited edition prints are priced at £45 plus £3 P&P and the t-shirts at £25 P&P

Order prints here, we hope to have t-shirts soon, contact us for more details.

Here is a wee bit more about the production process, note that it takes around five days to dry the inked paper enough to watercolour for the final finish.

Carving the Lino cut
First carve the Lino cut
Test on paper - roll ink onto the block and print on cheap paper
Roll ink onto the block and print on cheap paper to test
Test on paper - roll ink onto the block and print on cheap paper
Test on paper – roll ink onto the block and print on cheap paper
Outline print ready for hand colour finishing
Outline print ready for watercolour finishing.

Winner of Writing and Reading Competition 2018 announced

Our Writing and Reading Competition took place again this year, following the success of last year’s.

They put out an open call for all writing cyclists and cycling writers to send them their short fiction and poetry about cycling and the bicycle. They were looking for original and well-crafted pieces that will help to communicate enthusiasm for cycling in all its forms, at any age.

Marco Colombo was chosen as the winner of this year’s competition for his short story One-Hundred-and-Two. He will receive a prize package from the Rare Bird Books Club, consisting of:

  • A six-month subscription to the Rare Bird Books Club
  • Moleskin notebook and pen
  • Writer’s toolbox creative game set
  • Stephen King’s On Writing memoir (book)
  • Reading Like a Writer (book)

Saul F Boyle was also given an honourable mention as the youngest entrant for their poem ‘Glentress’.

EdFoC visitor survey volunteers needed

As you know the annually Edinburgh Festival of Cycling (EdFoC) is an exciting festival from the 7th to 24th June 2018, which aims to celebrate all facets of cycling culture in and around Edinburgh.

In order to evaluate the visitor experience and satisfaction with the festival’s events, as well as the participant’s cycling attitudes, motivations, habits and the perceived local barriers to cycling we are currently looking for motivated volunteers to help us conduct visitor surveys at festival venues and events.

The survey will focus on:

  • The event attendance, visitor experience and satisfaction
  • The knowledge / practical skills related to cycling gained through the EdFoC
  • The participant’s attitudes, habits, motivators and barriers to cycling (in Edinburgh)

Volunteers can gain:

  • Practical research skills conducting on-site surveys
  • Greater understanding of event management, visitor expectation and satisfaction
  • An insight into the public opinion regarding Edinburgh’s challenges and potential to
    become a sustainable cycle-friendly city
  • Reference letter stating the active participation conducting the onsite surveys
  • Free entery to the events where the survey is being carried out

Please contact the EdFoC team to let us know, which of the days during the festival you would like to be part of the visitor survey team!

@edfoc
Cornelia Moarcas
Edinburgh Festival of Cycling
+49 (0) 1629092556
conny@edfoc.org.uk

The survey is also an integrated part of the MSc thesis:
Social impact assessment of the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling, regarding the bottom-up implementation of the City of Edinburgh Council’s active travel goals, Edinburgh, Scotland

Background of the research:
Edinburgh aspires to become a cycling city! In 2009 the Council of Edinburgh signed as Uk’s
first city the Charter of Brussel, setting the target to achieve 15% bicycle modal share and reduce bicycle
road fatalities by 50% by the year 2020. In this context, the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling (EdFoC) plays an important proactive role to motivate, inspire and encourage people to cycle more, in order to achieve a healthier, safer, cleaner and happier urban environment! Come help us to assess and demonstrate the EdFoC social impact and bottom-up implementation of Edinburgh’s sustainable active travel goals (Charter of Brussel). Furthermore, we would like to help the City of Edinburgh achieve a more cycle-friendly street design, by analysing the participant’s cycling attitudes, motivations and habits as well as the perceived local barriers to cycling.

Writing & Riding 2017: and the winners are…

Writing & Riding 2017: and the winners are…

This year as part of the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling we ran a literature competition with two categories, poetry and short story. We were not sure what to expect, but were delighted with the quantity and quality of entries, with a total of five short stories and twenty individual poems submitted. The high quality of the entries made the job of the independent judging panel that much harder. Congratulations to the winners! There could only be one winner for each category, and it was the poetry competition which led to he most debate among the panel.

So without further ado, we are delighted to announce that the winners are (Drum roll):

  • Sarah Whiteside for her short story Freedom Of Movement
  • and Beth McDonough for her poem Cycling flat
  • with Finola Scott being highly commended for her Nolly Berries.

The two winners receive four books each, generously donated by Canongate books.
Our thanks to everyone who entered the competition, to our judges for giving freely of their time and to Canongate books for the prizes.

Prizes by Canongate Books

Mike Hall RIP

There was sad news from Australia last night, Mike Hall the world-renowned ultra-distance cyclist died after being hit by a car whilst competing in the inaugural Indian Pacific Wheel Race. Mike’s untimely death is a great loss to the ultra cycling community, including many friends of EdFoC, our hearts go out to all of them. Two members of the EdFoC team met Mike at EuroBike last year and we were hoping that he would be a part of the Festival this year. We are deeply saddened by his death, rest in peace Mike, you are already missed.

If you would like to help Mike’s family in this difficult time, TCR rider James Hayden has set up a Justgiving crowdfunder.

Mike Hall RIP

There is a fitting tribute here.

Writing & Riding

We are thinking of holding an EdFoC Creative Writing Competition, Writing & Riding, so we are calling all writing cyclists and cycling writers – send us your poems and short fiction about bicycles and cycling, for a chance to win (well we will work something out) and to have your work published by EdFoC. We’re looking for original and well-crafted pieces that will help to communicate your enthusiasm for cycling in all its forms, to people of any age.

Rules, there’ll have to be some form of guidelines, probably something along the lines of word limits – 40 lines poetry (and max 3 poems per entrant). Short story fiction, around 1,000 words max – esp as judges’ time is likely to limited.

Let us know what you think…

Feedback from EdFoC 2016

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

Give us feedback and win prizes!

Give us feedback and win prizes!

Now that the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling 2016 is over we need your feedback, tell us what you though of the Festival this year and help us to make it event better next year. We have created two surveys for you to fill in, one for individual events (just five questions so it is really quick and easy), and a survey to cover the whole festival. As an incentive we are offering entry to a prize draw to all those who complete the surveys.

We have some really great prizes on offer these include: LIMITS power meter worth £250, Cycloc Hero bike storage solution, a copy of Bikepacking by Laurence McJannet, and much more.

 

LiMiTs Power meter

The LIMITS power meter is a new invention which is designed to fit between the pedal and crank arm removing all compatibility issues normally associated with the frame, crank arm and pedal. The design ensures you do not need to replace any of your existing components. LIMITS can be installed by you in minutes with easy software upgraded as enhancements are made as well as quick and easy replacement of batteries. The power meter can connect to any smart phone via Bluetooth or any ANT+ compatible wireless cycle computer able to display power. Designed in Scotland.

Edinburgh Festival of Cycling