Cycling minister for more ‘everyday’ riders

Guardian News and Media/London

Britain needs more everyday cyclists, the sort who pedal a short distance in ordinary clothes with a basket on their bike, as opposed to a dedicated minority who speed along in Lycra, according to the new minister for cycling, Robert Goodwill.

The Tory MP, who took on the junior transport remit in October, himself often pedals around London on his Brompton folding bike in his suit, sometimes without a helmet.

Goodwill said journeys such as his ride to the office from his London home, or from the department for transport to parliament, impressed on him a cycling culture that is by no means welcoming to all.

“As I turn left onto Millbank and the other lights change there’s just a pack, a peleton of Lycra that comes whizzing past,” he told the Guardian in his ministerial office, the Brompton folded away in a corner. “I can see that the basket-on-the-handlebars type cyclist is possibly as intimidated by the Lycra mob as they are by the cars and trucks. “Therefore I want people to think cycling is for them, even if they are middle aged, or female, or overweight, or one of the other groups of people who don’t really get on their bikes. That’s the sort of cycling I think we’re missing out on to an extent: the sort of person who thinks cycling isn’t for them, when the fact is it could be for them.”

 Goodwill’s views on this point chime with those of cycle campaigners who want the UK, where currently a mere 2% or so of journeys are made by bike, to mimic places like the Netherlands or Denmark, where the equivalent figure is more than 20% and the vast majority of cyclists ride practical bikes at moderate speeds in ordinary clothes.