A View from the Handlebars: Great Big Cycle Ride

For the Great Big Green Week, CycHull teamed up with Hull Friends of the Earth for a ride along the new Cottingham to Hull cycle route finishing at Rooted in Hull’s urban farm for a social and pizzas from Rights Community Action. Ride leader, Alan Gribben, reflects on the day’s events.

Tough act to follow

After the success of last year’s ride from West Park to East Park, I was keen to do something again – this time testing the new Cottingham-Hull route and offering nervous people the benefit of safety in numbers on a guided ride.  I also wanted to celebrate our city and show-off some of the areas you would not normally see whilst driving. 

This was my first time leading a ride. I was anxious and keen to make it as successful as before. Although I’m a confident rider there was the responsibility of looking after a large group of people – perhaps new to cycling. Would anyone turn up?  Would someone get lost?  Had I timed it correctly with the other activities being organised? Would our pizzas get gobbled before we arrived?

Park Life

We started at Pearson Park, a beautiful Victorian park restored using money from the National Lottery Heritage fund. I was relieved when almost 30 people turned up from different backgrounds and confidence levels. There were fantastic introductions and conversations with people about their experiences of cycling in the city.  BBC Radio Humberside’s Alan Raw joined us to record the event for his new Eco Time slot on a Monday evening. After giving a safety and route brief, we were on our way over Princes Avenue on the new parallel zebra crossing.

Bumps in the road

“What’s the point of a cycle route if you have to stop every time a car comes”?

That was what a participant shouted at me barely 10 minutes in.  Victoria Avenue has been resurfaced with speed humps and green painted cycle symbols. It’s smoother than before but double parking makes it impossible to pass oncoming drivers.  A series of negotiations have to be made about who has priority. As an experienced driver and rider I can usually cope but I had 30 people behind me – some nervous and they can’t just tuck into the nearest gap.

Taking a Chants

The next difficulty was crossing Chanterlands Avenue from St Ninian’s Walk.  For reasons unknown to CycHull the planned installation of a segregated route to the Bricknell Avenue roundabout and some parallel zebra crossings is paused.  People on bikes are left to chance a fast dash between 30MPH heavy traffic onto an inadequate painted strip.  Had I messed up badly on my choice of route despite it being promoted as a safe corridor? There are two schools and a sixth form college just beyond.  Thankfully we got across after one of our bold participants negotiated for the traffic to stop and let us all out.

On the outside

With my heart rate settled we progressed onto Bricknell Avenue where light segregation (plastic bollards) intermittently separates people on bikes from drivers. Feedback was more positive but inevitably people questioned why the lane hadn’t been put on the inside of the parked cars (known as floating parking). There are large gaps to allow buses to pull in and residents to park or access driveways – leaving us with only green paint for protection. 

We turned back at West Bulls and one of our experienced riders took “primary position” in the outside lane so we could safely turn back towards Chanterlands Avenue.

Ten-foot city

We took a slightly different route back to Pearson Park using a ten-foot behind Ella Street.Without oncoming drivers this felt much more relaxed.Generally people thought this was a better route than Victoria Avenue despite the uneven surface and possible safety concerns at night.

Green paint to Green Corridor

After returning through Pearson Park we turned onto the old railway line past Stepney Station.  This is known as the Green Corridor - after a locally-led project to improve wildlife habitat and pick litter.  It has been resurfaced to a high standard and feedback was very positive.  The crossing time over Beverley Road is too short – even for single rider.  Again, one of our bolder riders persuaded drivers to let us safely over in one go.  We’ve fed this back to Hull City Council and it is being investigated.

Take it to the bridge

We had an awkward crossing at Charles Street over Freetown Way – which we hope will be addressed in proposals that recently went out to public consultation.  Once across we paused in the gardens opposite Hull New Theatre - a small quiet oasis in the midst of the busy city.  After some photos we headed across the city centre.  Following the public realm works ahead of our City of Culture year, Hull City Council designated the pedestrian areas as shared space.  Despite the perception of risk, the scheme has been successful with no significant incidents that I’m aware of.  It was very busy so we slowed right down strictly observing the new Highway Code hierarchy of responsibility and giving way to pedestrians.  We had some great interaction with people asking us about the ride.

After riding over Murdoch’s Connection we paused by the Humber at Victoria Pier - the Deep providing a perfect backdrop for a group photo.  With tummies rumbling we headed through the Old Town, over Scale Lane Bridge arriving just in time for the end of the Enough is Enough march where attendees were supporting striking Royal Mail workers at the mail depot next to Rooted.  This was a great opportunity to engage with another audience about our work.

And relax...

Finally it was time to relax, enjoy the pizza and listen to local folk duo, The May Geslins.  We shared ideas for an environmental arts project with Rights Community Action. Many thanks to all those who came along; CycHull crew who helped safely guide riders; HFOE for bringing the overall day together; Alan Raw for his great coverage; Rooted for hosting us; Rights Community Action for free drinks and pizza; and everyone who gave us a wave or came to chat with us afterwards.