Juveniles & Safe Cycling

The aim of the VCL bicycle safety course at secondary schools: raising the awareness of the juveniles for safe cycling and their behavior in traffic.
Some juveniles have never learned the good practice of safe cycling. Others tend to ride the bicycle in a quite aggressive, ruthless manner. Both types of cyclists endanger themselves. Participants of the VCL cycling courses receive first an interactive lesson on safe cycling. Then they learn in real traffic to ride a bicycle reliably and self-confidently on busy streets; behave like vehicle drivers; safely master difficult situations (left turn, roundabouts). In 2010 courses were given for the first level (about 33 students each) of the secondary schools at Balzers and at Schaan.

Contact: Georg Sele

SENIORS ON BIKES

Seniors, students of The Third Age University in Ljubljana, took part in a safe cycling course during the summer months.
The course was organized in cooperation with The Third Age University of Slovenia in Ljubljana, Road Safety Council of Slovenia and Municipality of Ljubljana, Faculty of Health Studies Ljubljana and other partners. The participants refreshed their cycling knowledge in the theoretical part of the course and tested their practical skills through balance games and on the test track. At the end of the course, they will undertake the challenge of cycling in real traffic on the road and a written test of cycling knowledge.

Contact: Ajda Jelenc

LIFE CYCLE at MOVE 2010

LIFE CYCLE will participate with a workshop at the MOVE 2010 congress in Frankfurt am Main with the aim of transferring knowledge, lessons learned and best practice for the promotion cycling for daily transport.
The aim is that LIFE CYCLE results are used and adapted by stakeholders working in similar environments or addressing similar topics.

LIFE CYCLE workshops address target groups young and old

Kindergarten children and pupils: What can institutions like pre-schools do to provide cycle training? How can schools encourage pupils to cycle to school?
Families / Parents: What can parents do to help their children cycle as their prime mode of transport?
Adults: What can employers do to get more people cycling to work? How can local authorities get more people cycling to shops or leisure destinations?
Older people: How can general practitioners/family doctors & organisations for the elderly get more people cycling, focussing on the health & social benefits?

Who should attend?

Kindergarten and school headmasters, school teachers
Town planners general practitioners (doctors), health insurance agencies
Chambers of commerce, employers associations, experts working for public authorities. health insurance
Organisations for elderly, experts working for social services, general practitioners, doctors

What can participants expect from the LIFE CYCLE workshop?

Experience developing an intervention plan to promote cycling
Ideas and motivations to develop your own intervention plan
Knowledge about the LIFE CYCLE approach (lifelong cycling) and the resources LIFE CYCLE offers including the LIFE CYCLE Intervention Manual, Best Practices Handbook, LIFE CYCLE website, contacts, and more)
A better understanding of the potentials and obstacles in your specific field of work and with your target group

For more information on the MOVE 2010 congress please visit www.move2010.info

Contact: Raymond FISMER (ADFC)
Downloads:
LIFE CYCLE workshop abstract

CityPilots in Erding

ADFC is leading cycle tours for new residents in 35 cities throughout Germany. In the Bavarian town of Erding, there's a new offer: ADFC CityPilots.

The CityPilot is an individual guide showing the optimal bicycle connections through the city. Four experienced tour guides can be booked by individuals, families or small groups via telephone. In personal communication the guide can give further informations and hints about cycling infrastructure, public transport, bicycle technics, and can help people who feel unsafe in traffic.

The concept of ADFC CityPilots is being tested in Erding in collaboration with the national ADFC organisation, funded by Life Cycle. In the future it will be expanded to more cities as a regular offer of ADFC groups.

Contact: Raymond Fismer

Cycling to shop in Liechtenstein

When walking or cycling to the local grocery store, customers can each time fill in a form to participate in the monthly drawings and the final ones.

In 2010 three companies with stores in 6 of the 11 Liechtenstein towns participate in the project: The grocery stores "Ländle Markt" (Eschen, Schaan, Triesen), the bakery stores "Bäckerei-Konditorei Mündle" (Gamprin, Mauren), the bakery store "Dorfbeck Dörig" in Vaduz. Whoever walks or cycles to these shops can fill in a form to participate in the monthly drawings at each shop and win a voucher valued EUR 75. All forms of each store will take part in a final drawing, individually for each store. In each shop, one lucky person will win a voucher worth EUR 750, to be spent at a bicycle dealer.

Contact: Georg Sele

European Cycling Lexicon

The European Economic and Social Committee published the second edition of its hugely popular European Cycling Lexicon.
The booklet-size publication was officially launched at the Velo-city 2010 Global conference in Copenhagen, following the tradition of cooperation between the ECF and the EESC (the first edition was launched last year during the 2009 Velo-city conference in Brussels).
The booklet covers all the main cycling terms in all the EU official languages, and more.
As a new addition to the second edition is a compilation of EU funding sources which can be accessed for cycling projects.

More information and the European Cycling Lexicon for download can be found here.

Contact: Randy Rzewnicki

LIFE CYCLE at Velo-City

LIFE CYCLE will be at 2 different Velo-City GLOBAL 2010 events in Copenhagen. Project staff will also be at the ECF booth throughout the conference.

Velo-city Global 2010 - Copenhagen, June 22-25 brings together a multitude of voices across geographical & professional borders for the exchange of experience, knowledge & inspiration.

Eye-opening plenaries combine with more than 80 different presentations and a dozen hosted stands in the streets of Copenhagen. On 23/6 at 10:30 Ders Nemeth, Hungarian Cyclists' Club, Hungary + Dirk Bauweleers, Belgium present Keys to success from bike to work campaigns in 2 countries.

at 15:00
Randy Rzewnicki, ECF, Belgium presents:
LIFE CYCLE Best Practices: How to make yours one of them

Contact: Randy Rzewnicki

MONTH OF CYCLING

In Ljubljana, May was dedicated to cycling and different activities were held under the name May 2010 - Month of Cycling, in cooperation with different partners.
Ranging from cycling to work in groups of three, Danish exhibition »Dreams on Wheels - Danish Cycling Culture for Urban Sustainability«, »Design Your Own Helmet« creative workshop for children, to presentation of different cycling accessories for greater safety, free bike repair shop and many other interesting events. As a part of the campaign and Life Cycle project, »Health On Wheels«, a workshop on health aspects of cycling was held and »Are You Fit Enough for Cycling?« free testing of physical condition with a 2 km walking test was organised.

Contact: Ajda Jelenc

KINDERGARTEN OLYMPICS

On Thursday, 27th May 2010, the annual Day of Kindergarten Jelka took place at the Police Academy's sports area, this year under the name Jelka Olympics.
The event started in the true Olympic spirit, with Olympic flag and flame, which children brought with Slovenian Nordic skiing champion Petra Majdič and other top athletes. In the sense of different Olympic disciplines, children and their parents took part in different workshops. As Life Cycle activity, together with the Road Safety Council of Municipality of Ljubljana, the cycling polygon was set up and children could test their cycling skills on the track with different obstacles and tricks.

Contact: Ajda Jelenc

1 year old, 3000000 km

Belgian LifeCycle project, Bike to Work, was 1 on March 21st. 3,000,000 kilometers cycled to work! On 18 May 2010 the 6000th cyclist was registered.
The Belgian LifeCycle project, Bike to Work, celebrated its 1st anniversary on March 21. The proud parents areFietsersbond & GRACQ. Bike to Work, or BTW for short, is only a “baby” they say, but just after her birthday later she welcomed the 5000th cyclist who joined up to start recording the days & km cycled to work. Over 100 employers, and DG SANCO support BTW financially. Not even 13 months old, and BTW reported 3,000,000 kilometers cycled to work! Going from strength to strength, on 18 May 2010 the 6000th cyclist was registered. More info available in EN, FR, NL at www.biketowork.be.

Contact: Dieter

Free time excursions

Krakow organizes free-time excursions to additionally promote LIFE CYCLE actions cooperating with regional tourist organization for cycling.
The action is called 'By bike for health' and consists of several weekend trips outside the city scheduled up until September 2010. It comes as a result of the cooperation with regional tourist organization which promotes touristic cycling. During the excursions LIFE CYCLE Krakow promotes healthy lifestyle on bike also by encouraging participants to use their bikes on everyday's trips to work or other places. The action, toegether with the project itself, has been promoting on the radio, turistic trades, municipal Internet site and paper magazine.

Contact: Korneliusz Grabka

Royal Mail Cycle Delivery

Royal Mail plans to replace its bikes with electric trolleys, claiming that posties on bikes violate health and safety regulations.
Royal Mail plans to replace almost all of its bikes with electric trolleys that will be shipped out to neighbourhoods by van. Royal Mail's chief executive argues that posties on bikes violate health and safety regulations. CTC says his comment that the increasing weights of postal deliveries necessitates new delivery technologies ignores the potential to use cargo bicycles and tricycles, already used in other European countries and by courier companies in Britain. CTC would like to see these cargo bikes and tricycles used to deliver larger weights of post rather than by van.

For further information please visit www.ctc.org.uk

Contact: Holger Schiller

New Implementation Guide

Packed with recommendations and experiences from dozens of recent active transport actions. Free download.
The LIFE CYCLE team proudly presents the first interim version of LIFE CYCLE Intervention Manual. Aimed at helping you implement actions to foster cycling, it covers all ages, from children to seniors. Packed with recommendations and experiences from dozens of recent active transport actions, it covers planning, measuring, partnering, and much much more.
Click here for the manual or see the DOWNLOADS section!

Contact: Dr. Randy Rzewnicki & DI Claus Köllinger

NEW Lifecycle product

Over 100 active transportation best practices from around the world available for free download
LIFE CYCLE presents its collection of active transportation best practices. It is food for thought for European traffic planners and others who seek solutions to reduce the personal, social and economic costs of insufficient physical activity in their communities.

Click here for the handbook or see the DOWNLOADS section LIFE CYCLE Best Practice Handbook.

Contact: Dr. Randy Rzewnicki

Kindergarten activities

Kindergarten Beltinci promotes active & cycling lifestyle with children, parents and among employees.
Kindergarten Beltinci promotes active lifestyle with children, parents and among employees. We reviewed their programme and added new cycling activities. The principal took over the coordination and we prepared many cycling events. These were: safe cycling, organised cycling on the World Health Day, getting to know the bicycle and its parts, encouraging parents and children to cycle. Kindergarten children and their teachers also took part in the European mobility week, through art exhibition, visiting the main event in Ljubljana and cycling polygon. In fall months there was a final cycling event for the season.

Contact: Ajda Jelenc

Cycling for seniors

The sports commission of Schaan had invited to a cycling afternoon for: bicycle check, test riding pedelecs and guided cycling tour through town.
Towards 20 people followed the invitation. The guided tour was offered by the VCL Verkehrs-Club Liechtenstein within the EU project "LifeCycle"; the office of public health is project partner in the campain bewusst(er)leben. "Safe in the saddle" teachers (Kathrin Ospelt-Hilbe, Robert Hilbe, Georg Sele) gave valuable tips for safe cycling. When cycling it es especially important to adhere to the rules and to feel and behave as steering a vehicle. Senior citicens are encouraged to use a bicycle as means of transport for their everyday journeys in town. For their own health and to protect nature.

Contact: Georg Sele

Cycling improves health

A report published in the medical journal The Lancet shows walking and cycling to reduce greenhouse gas emissions also has major health benefits.
A report published in the medical journal The Lancet shows walking and cycling to reduce greenhouse gas emissions also has major health benefits, including reduced cardiovascular disease, depression and dementia. Looking ahead to 2030, scientists estimated the health effects of alternative urban transport strategies for London and the Indian city of Delhi. The authors, led by James Woodcock from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, wrote: "Policy makers should divert investment from roads for motorists towards provision of infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists”.

More information at www.thelancet.com

Contact: Holger Schiller

New residents' tours

How do you successfully plan and implement bicycle tours for new residents? 19 activists from all over Germany met to share their experiences
Some of them have already been doing these tours, others would like to introduce them in their local tour programme. The meeting in Düsseldorf on October 21st started with a small guided bicycle tour, thus giving the participants a direct experience of the important features in planning a new residents' tour.
Most of the tours attract not only new residents, but tourists, people restarting to cycle, or simply longtime residents interested in seeing their city from another perspective. The combination of a low-level cycling tour with information and communication seems to be attractive.

Contact: Raymond Fismer

Oliveirinha school

In eight schools of the Municipality of Aveiro, a campaign and a set of activities related to cycling were launched to motivate the children to ride a bike to school.
A class of the 8th grade (13th years old) of Oliveirinha School accepted the challenge of planning and promoting the “lets bike to school” campaign within their school as part of their school project.
For a start, the twenty four students of that class made presentations of the “life cycle” project (its goals and objectives) for the whole school, in every classroom.
On top of this, the students of that class prepared a simple questionnaires to get to know the bike related activities that students would like to develop during this school year .
Currently the class is analyzing the results of the survey.

Blog News - Aveiro

Contact: Arminda Soares

Climate change and health

Health must be at the centre of our fight against climate change says the UK Health Secretary which is highlighted in a new report with key findings.
The report calls on health ministers and professionals across the world to recognise the danger that climate change poses to health, in the run up to the UN conference in Copenhagen in December. One of the key findings in the report shows that changes towards a low carbon transport system could reduce the health impacts of urban air pollution and physical inactivity. The Health Secretary makes the case for policies that improve health as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to help ‘tip the balance in favour of ambitious climate change action’.

For more information please visit www.wellcome.ac.uk

Contact: Holger Schiller

Cycling in Fall is fine!

The participants of the Fall leg of the Cycling to work campaign broke the belief that only Spring and Summer is cycling season.
More than 11K people performed the minimum 7 occasions to bike to work in the 4 weeks of the Fall turn of the Cycle to work campaign in Hungary. With this number we outdid not just the achievements in spring but our expectations as well. Despite the Fall weather the participants steadfastly biked to work, and of course, there were even more people who biked but did it less than 7 times. We organized 6 events and had 3 subcampaigns popularizing biking in skirts/suits, combined transport with trains, and involving university students as well. The next step is an interim winter leg in January.

Contact: Agota Pignitzky

2nd LIFE CYCLE Newsletter now available!

The LIFE CYCLE Newsletter provides you with information on the project as well as on ongoing and planned activities within the project. Furthermore you will find here examples of activities of the LIFE CYCLE Partnership in their own national language.

We are pleased to present you with the second issue of the LIFE CYCLE Newsletter, which gives you an initial overview of our project.

Contact: Fred Dotter

Right to ride to school

Another school in the UK has banned its pupils from cycling to school because of safety fears so CTC launched a Right to Ride to School Campaign.
A College in Wednesbury has banned its pupils from cycling to school because of health and safety fears. The headteacher says they are concerned that pupils will be knocked down on the busy road outside the school. Children are not allowed to bring bikes onto the site and two pupils who parked their bikes outside have had them stolen. Schools can only prevent pupils from leaving a bike on the school premises. In response to these concerns, CTC has released a campaigning kit for families who want their children to be able to cycle to school despite opposition from head teachers.

More information can be found via www.ctc.org.uk

Contact: Holger Schiller

France - Orléans finds LC

Direction Transports de la Région Centre (France - Orléans) officials were briefed by ECF on how to improve mobility for pedestrians & cyclists.
Seven officials from the “Direction Transports” were presented with options and information sources to help them improve mobility for pedestrians and cyclists. The officials noted that their previous campaigns have been very successful, and now they need to make some changes to handle the increasing demand, especially from cyclists. The LifeCycle was presented as part of the work happening on the EU level to promote walking & cycling.

Contact: Randy Rzewnicki

School's visits continue

Krakow continues to visit pupils at school within the Bike to school campaign. It is planned to prize youngsters for their participation in campaign.
Next visit to school within the Bike to school campaign is connected with giving gadgets as prizes for the children's participation in the campaign. Municipality of Krakow is waiting for the delivery of the various gadgets that are being produced for the LIFE CYCLE campaign activities. It is planned to receive this products that serve us as gifts for pupils in the end of November. Then during the next visit in school pupils will be gifted presents for their participation in Bike to school campaign. At the same time the post-surey questionnaire will be filled in by pupils.

Contact: Korneliusz Grabka

Winners: cycling to shop

About 600 individuals participated in walking or cycling to the grocery store. They could fill in a form at each shopping on foot or by bicycle.
Two companies with stores in 5 of the 11 Liechtenstein towns participated in the project: The grocery stores "Ländle Markt" in the towns Eschen, Schaan, Triesen and the bakery stores "Bäckerei-Konditorei Mündle" in the towns Gamprin, Mauren. In addition to the monthly drawings at each shop, one winner was drawn for each participating chain. Günter Schlegel won a voucher at Sigi's Veloshop valued 1'400 Euros; Stefanie Ritter at Martin's Fahrradshop valued 1'000 Euros. The prizes were financed by LifeCycle and handed over by the minister of health. See www.vcl.li >News for more details.

Contact: Georg Sele

European Mobillity Week

Cycling circle, cycling with the deputy mayor and mobile old-timer bikes exhibition.
During the European Mobility Week, more events were included in the LIFE CYCLE project. Road Safety Council of Ljubljana organised cycling circle in Ljubljana for school children, where an info point about health aspects of cycling was included. LIFE CYCLE was presented at a workshop about Ljubljana's Cycling Platform to professionals, media and others. cycling with the deputy mayor was organised afterwards on Ljubljana's streets.

Travelling exhibition with the society of old-timer bike collectors from Beltinci, DIMEKI, visited Ljubljana. Cyclists were dressed in the period costumes, suiting their bikes. Cycling through the city centre with a few stopsattracted many observers. Ljubljana Tourist Board also organised free bike tours of the city.

Contact: Ajda Jelenc

LIFE CYCLE in Copenhagen

Getting Babies on Bikes & Grampas on Trikes! LIFE CYCLE's Best Practice Collection presented by ECF project manager Randy Rzewnicki
Jan Gehl & Gil Penalosa gave inspiring presentations at the Move2009 conference. Their focus: Cities for people!

ECF Secretary General Bernhard Ensink presented cycling policy principles & the European projects PRESTO & LIFE CYCLE. The LIFE CYCLE Best Practice manual includes 99 cases selected.

A few of the BEST BITS

Bike to Work, Budapest (HU)
Citywide School Cycling policy, York (UK)
Shopping w/ Bike Bells Ringing, Flanders (BE)
Slovenia On the Move (SI)
Kindergarten & Mobility Graz(AT)

For more information see www.move2009 & www.ecf.com

Contact: Dr Randy Rzewnicki
Downloads:
The Life Cycle

Bike to school is ongoing

The Bike to school campaign in Krakow is ongoing. Krakow have started visiting pupils at school to implement Programme for pupils in Krakow.
During the visit at the school the employees of Municipality of Krakow conducted a research among pupils from a class from one selected school in Krakow. The research priority was to verify the level of physical activity of pupils. It followed with an educational campaign about benefits resulting from intensification of physical activity by means of cycling. The meeting started with the presentation of it's puropse, then the project was introduced presenting the aspect of health and mobility. After that the idea of Cycling Tourist Badge and Cycling Trip Diaries were explained to the pupils.

Contact: Korneliusz Grabka

Cycle to work and get fit

CTC will work with the Department of Health to deliver its successful workplace challenges to five new locations in the South East of England.
The UK Government has announced that CTC will work with the Department of Health and utilise its cycle commuting expertise to deliver £500,000 of workplace challenges to five new locations in the South East of England. CTC will be working closely with hospitals, general practitioners and local authorities to reach the health and environmental goals of getting even more people cycling to work, regardless of what facilities their employers have. The programme is a highly effective and unique way to help current cyclists to encourage their colleagues to take up cycling.

Contact: Holger Schiller

LIFE CYCLE Krakow meeting

The LIFE CYCLE consortium had its 3rd meeting in Krakow mid of October! The partners exchange their experience and created working plans for 2010.
During the meeting, the good experiences from the implementations in 2009 have been discussed and exchanged. The main points for the 2010 implementations learnt are

to increase the tailor-made approach to target groups by their interests and abilities even further
to work with a train-the-trainers approach where possible to result in self-sustaining activities after 2010 and
to upscale the activities to more participants in terms of locations included and people taking part.

The LIFE CYCLE kindergarten programme in Graz was also presented during the CIVITAS Forum Conference 2009 in Krakow (www.civitas.eu).

Contact: Claus Köllinger

Bike your way to a degree

Freshmen´s campaign during registration week "Bike your way to a degree". Raise awareness about the importance of mobility for a healthy fife.
The partnership between the municipality and the University established four objectives for this campaign:
1. Raise awareness about the importance of biking for their daily trips to the university during registration week 14 -18 September.
2. Organize a biking festival on campus, on the 21st of September, the first day of the freshmen´s academic year.
3. Establish three competitive grants for students candidates to be project promoters .
4. An ongoing awareness campaign throughout the academic year.

The first and second objectives have been already achieved. More than 350 freshmen registered to become regular cyclists.

Contact: Arminda Soares
Downloads:
Additional photos of the campaign

ORIENTATION CYCLING

Orientation cycling for kindergarten children in the city centre, on Car Free Day, September 22, was organised in collaboration with Kindergarten Jelka, Sport Federation of Ljubljana and Road Safety Councils of Slovenia and Ljubljana.
Children with their parents (whole families) attended the event. The course was comprised of eight stations with various tasks that participants had to perform. On each station they received a stamp for successful completion of the task and at the end they were rewarded for all collected stamps. On the first task they received instructions and were checked for appropriate cycling equipment. Other tasks were: to choose a cycling helmet out of many, use the traffic light correctly, pass the cycling pop quiz, guess the right bike parts, cycling obstacle course, art exhibition station, hydration advice with a reward.

Contact: Ajda Jelenc
Downloads:
Additional photos of the event

Safe cycling seminar for primary school teachers

Teachers from Primary school Bezigrad and Savsko naselje Ljubljana took part in seminar about safe cycling.
Theoretical part of the seminar introduced the health view on cycling, teachers polished their knowledge of first aid and traffic regulations for cycling, difference between road and mountain biking etc. In the practical part, they tested their cycling on the test track and roads, and tried out different games for motivating children for cycling. At the end, they could focus on individual work by asking questions and repeating some of the tasks, carried out during the seminar.

Contact: Ajda Jelenc
Downloads:
Additional photos of event

Better health - less cost

UK Government calls for promotion of active lifestyles, including cycling, to improve public health and cut costs for the National Health Service.
In a recent speech, the UK Health Secretary called on the National Health Service to make the promotion of active lifestyles “core business and not a peripheral concern”, to improve public health and cut NHS costs. This builds on the Olympic legacy and aims to move Britain up the European league table in terms of physical activity. Britain is in 21st place in Europe when levels of physical activity are compared. CTC will be urging the Department of Health to make a substantial contribution to the National Cycle Plan, which the Department for Transport will be drawing up during the autumn.

More information on the "Call for physical activity to be cornerstone of 21st century health" can be found here.

Contact: Holger Schiller

Cycling to shop in LI

When walking or cycling to the local grocery store, customers can each time fill in a form to participat in the monthly drawings and the final one.
Two companies with stores in 5 of the 11 Liechtenstein towns participate in the project: The grocery stores "Ländle Markt" in 3 towns and the bakery stores "Bäckerei-Konditorei Mündle" in 2 other towns. Whenever people walk or cycle to these shops, they can fill in a form to participate at the monthly drawings at each shop and win a present valued around 70 Euros. All forms will take part at the final sepatate drawings for the 2 partners: vouchers for bicycle dealers, one valued 1'400 and one 1'000 Euros. The winners of the months June and July are presented on the homepage www.vcl.li (click on "News").

Contact: Georg Sele

LIFE CYCLE at EMW 2009

This year during the European Mobility Week (16th to 22nd of September ) LIFE CYCLE get a chance to introduce itself widely to the Krakow's society.
During this year's European Mobility Week the LIFE CYCLE Krakow partner will have the chance to present the project locally on one day - 19th of September. It is planned to use one stand which is placed in the city centre, just few steps from the Square Market. LIFE CYCLE Team wil take the opportunity to find how large is the interest of cycling and health to the Krakow society. Additionally there will be informational actions prepared, including competitions and further surveing people on phisical activity and mobility patterns. This is also a great opportunity to meet more stakeholders.

Contact: Korneliusz Grabka

Bonn's hidden cycle paths

ADFC Bonn/Rhein-Sieg invites to a pleasant cycle tour of ca. 25 km through Bonn's city - their 100th new residents' tour!
The tour starts on Saturday, August 8th and is lead by experienced ADFC tour guide Gabriele Heix. She leads the route on quiet, tranquil hidden cycle paths through several districts of Bonn. A real high light for all who want to discover the former capital by bicycle off the busy main roads.
The tour specially addresses Bonn's new residents, but is also open for all long-time Bonners and for the city's visitors, too.

KINDERGARTEN CYCLING RACE

Youngsters at a chronometer race in Beltinci
Kindergarten Beltinci took part in a chronometer race in June, organized by the cycling club TIM Mlin Beltinci. Kids demonstrated their cycling skills in their category and on a special track. 20 children had to ride the bike for two minutes in 20 x 20 meters area, without stepping on the ground or moving out of the area. They also tried the obstacles track, driving with one hand, slowly as possible and punctual stopping. Everyone received a sports medal.

Contact: Ajda Jelenc

Belgium: Bike to the Moon

Belgium is warming up for the first team event (in september). And what a warming up! The Bike to Workers already cycled 4 times... Around the world.
In Belgium Bike to Work is not a one-month-campaign. The first cycling employees already rode 160.000km. Four times around the earth. And now they aim even higher: Let's bike to the moon! The more participants, the faster it goes. Job-kilometers are registrated online. The Bike to Worker that can guess by what time they will have biked 384.000km wins... a balloon flight! Bets are open. Betting vouchers are not paid with money but with collected biking points. The first 1.000 participants have registrated, not all biking actively yet, but hopefully soon will be. www.biketowork.be

Contact: Francis Marissens

Creativity competition in Kindergartens in Graz

Within the framework of the LIFE CYCLE project a creativity competition was organised in kindergartens in Graz in June 2009.
During this competition, the kindergarten staff and the children created fancy bicycle sculptures either from natural materials, recycling material etc or designed a new sculpture out of old bike parts. The best sculptures had been awarded a price.

The winner of the competition is kindergarten Kinkgasse (see image on the left), followed by kindergarten Mariatroster Strasse on the second and kindergarten Friedrichgasse on the third place.

Contact: Karl Reiter
Downloads:
1st place - kindgarten Kinkgasse
2nd place - kindergarten Mariatroster Strasse
3rd place - kindergarten Friedrichgasse
4th place - kindergarten Nippelgasse
5th place - kindergarten Schlossberg
6th place - kindergarten Triesterstrasse
7th place - kindergarten Josef-Huber-Gasse
Poster creativity competition

Cycling to work in LI

Nearly 40% of all employees in the principality of Liechtenstein were invited to participate in Cycling to Work: in teams of 2 people, in May & June.
13'000 employees (13 enterprises, the national administration, the 11 municipalities, including all schools) could participate in Cycling to Work not only for their own fitness and health, but also to win vouchers for bicycle stores. The 1st team prize was EUR 2'600, the 2nd 2'000 and the 3rd 1'300. To enter the raffle, each team member had to cycle to work at least 50% of the personal working days. 4% of the employees have successfully taken part. With 18% participation, Inficon Ltd became again the company winner, resulting in an additional drawing of EUR 1'300 among the Inficon teams.

Contact: Georg Sele

Municipal staff campaign

Promoting cycling as a healthy mode of transportation among municipal employees and set an example to private companies in Aveiro
The main goal of the campaign was to promote cycling among all municipal staff and disseminate the project throughout the municipality to expand to all companies located in Aveiro.
The “Ride a bike to work” campaign took place from March 23 and June 19. Participants formed "bike-teams" of 3 persons committed to go to work by bicycle or park & bike or, ride a bike (available) for work errands or for lunch. Every participant marked every trip run by bike in a panel at the entrance hall lobby.
At the end of the initiative, the team with more trips won a bicycle each and another bike
was awarded through a final draw.

Contact: Arminda Soares

Hungarian results&figures

More than 22 000 people registered from which 11 000 fulfilled the requirements, approximately 450 tonns of CO2 was not emitted.
During the Hungarian Cycle to Work! campaign growing interest was shown by the media and participants from all over the country as well. Cycle to Work appeared more than 150 times in news, daily and weekly papers. Wtih this and the help of numerous activists the campaign reached more than 22 000 people, half of them cycled 8 times. 600 companies registered officially, whose employees altogether represent 5 % of all Hungarian employees. One of the most important success in this campaign is that every 8th of the participants changed from car to bike. Look at our behind the scenes video to get a grip about the organisation of all this.

Youtube Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU21NYgd7rE

Contact: Dorottya Becz

50+ and 'Fit as a Fiddle'

The project Fit as a Fiddle will encourage people over 50 to improve their health and wellbeing by providing access to safe cycle sessions for them.
CTC Charitable Trust (Cyclists' Touring Club) is working in partnership with Age Concern - UK's largest charity working with and for older people. CTC will run various cycling activities for Age Concern's 'Fit as a Fiddle' programme. The activities will run over eight weeks and will include basic bike maintenance skills, cycle training lessons, the opportunity to train as a ride leader and to participate in a number of organised bike rides. The project activities will be linked up with local CTC cycling groups who will offer support. The project will cover areas in Sussex and Kent.

Contact: Holger Schiller

1.500 kindergartners in Graz learnt how to cycle

In the past month around 1.500 children from municipal kindergartens in Graz learnt how to cycle and also received valuable tips for eco-friendly trips to the kindergartens.
The basis for it was provided by a programme called "Cycling made easy", carried out by the municipal department of traffic planning in co-operation with the Youth Welfare Office and FGM-AMOR, Austrian Mobility Research in the framwork of the LIFE CYCLE project in municipal kindergartens. This programme not only taught around 1.500 "Junior-Armstrongs" how to cycle, but in addition thousands of children and their parents got noteworthy information about eco-friendly trips to and from the kindergarten. The little "run bikers" all received well-earned certificates.

CYCLING LICENSE TEST

Future cyclists safe on the road - cycling license test for pupils in Beltinci.
Cycling license test at Primary School Beltinci was enriched with practical skills and knowledge. Police was in charge of safety and realization of the test. Pupils used the theoretical knowledge at the practical part. With the right personal and bike equipment, escorted by teachers and police, they rode 11 kilometers to the test track in Murska Sobota, were the test officially took place. Traffic signalization, mastering of bikes and driving according to the rules were monitored by the exam committee. Pupils successfully passed the exam and safely returned to the school, this time licensed to cycle.

Contact: Ajda Jelenc

Cycle and health seminar

Seminar: promoting the benefits of cycling on health and transport to a variety of professionals (doctors, nurses, Physical therapists, teachers etc).
The main goal of the health seminar that took place on the 7th of April (World health day) was to promote health through cycling and demonstrate the benefits of this active and soft mode of transport for the environment and people’s mobility, to a wide rage of professionals. In a quite unusual format, the seminar gathered speakers from various fields of expertise -medicine, mobility, town planning and environment to debate the issue of cycling from different points o view. Some distinguished local citizens, who are regular cyclists, were also invited to give their testimony on cycling. More than 150 professionals attended the seminar.
Please find here the presentations given by Dr Joao TERRIVEL, Dra Margarida COELHO and Dr Basil RIBEIRO.

Contact: Arminda Soares

Bike to shop

To make cycling to the local grocery store more attractive creates a win-win situation for the shoppers and for the store operators.
The shoppers are healthier due to more physical activity and may win prizes. The store operators win local shoppers as customers and have more parking space available for those shoppers who must or want to come by car. Two companies with stores in five different towns participate in the project: The grocery stores "Ländle Markt" in 3 towns and the bakery stores "Bäckerei-Konditorei Mündle" in 2 other towns. Whenever people walk or cycle to these shops, they can fill in a form to participate at the monthly drawings and at the final drawings for 2 vouchers valued 1'400 and 1'000 Euros.

Contact: Georg Sele

Smart Cycling in Leipzig

The smartest itinerary for cyclists is not always the shortest one - even long-time residents could benefit from new residents' tour in Leipzig.
The local ADFC group in Leipzig offers four guided tours for new residents this year. The first of these tours started on a bright sunny evening on April 21st. It showed the participants the best connections for cyclists in Leipzig's town centre. Often the smartest route for cycling is not simply the shortest one, small detours may lead you to roads with less traffic, better surface or through a green park. Not all of the participants were new to Leipzig, anyway they had learned a lot while enjoying a sportive evening activity.

Bike Training Programme

The promotion of cycling, involving pupils of an elementary school (aged 10 to 15), was an educational program in two stages: raising awareness and training of biking skills.
Over a two week period every class of the school, accompanied by two teachers, traveled by bus to a special road safety school. The main goal was to raise the children's interest in the health, environment and transportation benefits of cycling and to test their biking skills at the same time, while they had fun. 500 children attended these classes, prepared especially for the LifeCycle project. The work with the school was highly rewarding, given that the group of teachers involved was very open for the issues and shared the objectives of LifeCycle due to the fact that this school is part of another European project promoting cycling in schools: Programme Comenius "On the way to Cy.R.On.Med".

Contact: Arminda Soares

Cycling art competition

Life Cycle inspired literary and art competition for primary schools.
In April and May, primary schools in Ljubljana took part in literary and art competition on the theme of safe cycling in traffic, on behalf of Life Cycle, organized by Road Safety Council of Municipality of Ljubljana and Police force. Primary school Bezigrad and Savsko naselje, which are target groups in our implementation, took part in the competition. The official results were announced on Thursday, June 18. In literary category, pupils from Primary School Savsko naselje won the first prize. School children also took part in municipal theoretical and practical competition »What do you know about traffic«. For your interest please have a look on our Picture Gallery.

Contact: Ajda Jelenc

Bike to Work in Belgium

The very first campaign in Belgium has started. A warm up for the September team event. But… it will continue. Bike to Work Belgium all year round!
In Belgium the first Bike to Work-project started end of April. It's only a warming up for the team event during September. But in Belgium it's not a one-month-campaign. Bike to Work will run all year round! The principle is simple: cycling employees mark their rides-on-bike online. They get one point for each cycling-day (also possible in combination with train/bus/carpooling). And points can be changed for prizes, promotions, gadgets... But their company/organisation should also subscribe & contribute. First 800 biking workers are registrated. Go and take a look: www.biketowork.be

Contact: Francis Marissens

Hungary cycled to work!

The whole country talked about cycling, 22,000 people participated during the Hungarian Cycle to Work campaign organized by Hungarian Cyclists' Club.
In LifeCycle project, Hungarian Cyclists' Club organized Cycle to Work campaign in spring 2009. The aim of the campaign was to show people who natural it is to cycle. Success: a lot of people got the message. The campaign and the "Cycle-contests" among companies, the website (www.bringazzmunkaba.hu) itself, number of newspaper articles and TV appearances generated a lot of talk about cycling: many people considered cycling as an ordinary way to get to work. "A colleague of mine arrived by bike to today - I would have never dreamt he would use a bike" - as one participant formulated. In two weeks time we are going to report about the numbers, e.g. the 22,000 people who registered on the website.

Contact: Dorottya Becz

Cycling in Braunschweig

New residents' tour shows Braunschweig from a cyclist's perspective
On May 10th, some 30 people participated in a cycle tour specially designed for cycling newcomers. Five ADFC volunteers who organized and led the tour showed them the best cycle connections and 10 points of interest throughout the town. Although most of the people had already been living in Braunschweig for years, the concept of the tour nevertheless seemed to fit for them, too: 4 hours and many impressions and discussions later, all participants were content and happy.
Informations about the new residents' tours are being announced to every new citizen by the municipality.

WHO:"cycling=Win-Win-Win"

"Cycling has strong positive impacts on environment, transport and health, a clear ‘Win-Win-Win' situation" 800 congress-goers at Velo-city 2009 heard
Life Cycle was prominent at the “Lifelong cycling” subplenary. “Life Cycle promotes cycling from the cradle to the grave’, said Randy Rzewnicki, from the ECF.
Karl Reiter from FGM-AMOR in Austria, said “We start even before the baby is born. Pregnancy is a good time to think about cycling.” ‘Cycling emotions for kindergarten kids’ had the audience smiling at storybooks featuring cycling, children writing stories including cycling, and kids running around on pedal-less bikes.
“22,000 people rode their bikes to work in our Life Cycle project in Budapest last month” said Ders Németh from MKK.

Contact: Dr Randy Rzewnicki

KINDERGARTEN CYCLING DAY

Life Cycle activites for kindergarten children in Ljubljana - cycling day 09. Different workshops, cycling polygon, traffic safety, healthy cycling.
On May 28, the annual day of the kindergarten Jelka was dedicated to cycling.Healthy Cycling workshop introduced children to first aid for small injuries, sun protection, necessary bike and cycling equipment and physical activity. Road Safety Councils of Slovenia and Ljubljana prepared the cycling polygon, workshop about traffic safety and cycling helmets for children and adults. Cycling federation of Slovenia demonstrated repairment of damaged tubes. Parents clicked their cycling routes with help from The Urban Planning Institute. Children's art exhibition on the theme of cycling took place. For your interest please have a look on our Picture Gallery.

Contact: Ajda Jelenc

LIFE CYCLE at ECOMM 2009

LIFE CYCLE had its first large EC-wide presentation at ECOMM 2009 in San Sebastian! ECOMM is Europe's largest conference on mobility management.
At the very first workshop session of this years ECOMM, the LIFE CYCLE partners Healt Centre Ljubljana and FGM-AMOR held a presentation to introduce LIFE CYCLE to the European community of mobility management. The presenters gave an introduction to the idea and objectives of LIFE CYCLE and introduced the first results of LIFE CYCLE to come soon, the best practise handbook and the intervention manual. ECOMM has been held in San Sebastian this year and was hosting more than 400 experts working in the field of sustainable transportation. Next years ECOMM will be the 5th-7th of May 2010 in Graz.

Contact: Claus Köllinger
Downloads:
LIFE CYCLE Presentation at ECOMM 2009

Bicycle Safety Course

The aim of the VCL bicycle safety course is that parents set good traffic examples and that they do not demand too much of their children.
What seems easy cycling for parents can be a great challenge for children because of the high coordinative requirements. The courses help parents to discover the bicycle again as a means of transport and are a contribution for a safe and independent way to school for children. Participants learn to ride a bicycle reliably and self-confidently on the main streets; behave like vehicle drivers; safely master difficult situations (left turn, roundabouts). In 2009 courses are given in Eschen, Schellenberg and Vaduz. All children of the primary schools are invited, together with a parent.

Contact: Georg Sele

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