Capital of Cycling 
There’s a wide range of events happening in Bradford over the next few weeks.
Here’s a taster:
- April 30th: Women’s Ride, Lister Park to Roberts Park (associated with TdY)
- April 30th: Tour de Yorkshire Stage 3, Bradford (http://letour.yorkshire.com/
2017) – loads going on! A great day all round! Capital of Cycling are organising a range of events to celebrate. - May 4th: Women in Cycling Conference, Dubrovnik Hotel, 3 Oak Avenue, Bradford BD8 7AQ
(www.activebradford.com/women-and-cycling- conference-2017) - May 11th: “Cycle City, Active City, Bradford” Conference Day 1 (www.landor.co.uk/
cyclecitybradford) – Evening Cycling, Bike Ballet, Bike-in Cinema, “Party in the Park” (City Park) - May 12th: “Cycle City, Active City, Bradford” Conference Day 2 – City Park Cycling Activities and Market Place (Launch of the updated Bradford Cycling Strategy planned at the conference)
- May 13th/14th: One In A Million/Packett’s Insurance 2nd Annual Charity Ride Bradford to Masham and back (many Bradford business people involved in this testing charity challenge ride)
May 14th: Bradford City Cycle – mass ride on closed roads in Bradford City Centre (building upon the success of previous Sky Rides) – all welcome (see below)- May 22nd: Brownlee Foundation Schools’ Triathlon Bradford, Bradford Grammar School
- May 24th: Horton Park Cycle Track Opening (Bradford Junior CycloX World Champ and Junior Paris-Roubaix Winner Tom Pidcock attending).- Horton Park Primary School
- Plus Cycling UK Big Bike Revival 2017 ongoing throughout the period! (www.bigbikerevival.
org.uk)
So, plenty to get involved in, and the purpose of this update is to encourage your participation and support for all of the above.
Party in the Park – Thursday 11th May
The mid-point part of the “Cycle City Active City” Conference will be marked by an invitation to all 500 or so delegates to come down to City Park for a “Party in the Park” which will include a Bike Ballet performance, a Ride-In Cinema (pedal-powered) and will finish off with live cyclists’ band “53/12” and a mix of lights, fountains and water in an around the spectacular Mirror Pool. Everyone is welcome to come down to this free event, on a bike if you can, and just enjoy a really great night (also a chance, if you haven’t already done so, the explore the quite incredible Sunbridge Wells complex!).
Market Place and Activities, City Park & Centenary Square – Friday 12th May
From 9am – 5pm on Friday 12th May space is available for all sorts of local organisations and initiatives to set up and promote what they are doing in terms of cycling and other related active projects in and around the Bradford district. This will be alongside other activities put on by CityConnect and also the existing “Capital of Cycling” activities that are already going on (see below and also attached photos). This is specifically for non-commercial groups, clubs, initiatives and/or organisations, and space on the day will be provided free. Exhibitors will have to provide their own equipment (gazebos, tables and the like) and there are certain protocols to be followed, but please contact me as soon as possible if you are interested in taking part and I can send you an appropriate booking form.
Bradford Cycling Exhibition
There is also a plan for a cycling exhibition to run during the “Cycle City Active City” Conference which it is hoped will be in the Forsters building at City Park (under the big TV screen).
In outline, this will contain:
- Old Bikes/Memorabilia – we’d like to do a display of all Bradford related cycling jerseys from past and present as part of this, as well as gather as many photos and images of cycling in Bradford as possible, past and present
- Existing types of bike – a (clean and sparkly!) example of every possible type of bike with some explanatory text: road, city, hybrid, shopper, mountain, bmx, cycloX, time-trial, track, hipster, electric, tandem, tricycle, cargo, recliner, specialised, etc.
- Bike technology (including that manufactured in Bradford) – frames, gears, components, kit, equipment, etc. Bradford’s strapline is “Producer City” and we want to emphasise the economic contribution of cycling and related activities to a traditional engineering-based economy, all the way from production to sales and maintenance and aftercare
- If you have any contributions that you think you can make to this initiative please do let us know. The longer term aim is to see whether we can create a permanent cycling museum in Bradford