The Great Big We're Not Going to Take it Any More Bike Blog Roundup

No question what the story was this week - after the death last week of Philippine De Gerin-Ricard and her mother's horror that she hadn't stood a chance, the planned vigil and flash ride had bloggers everywhere calling for words not deeds from two wheels good to Cyclists in the city to Cycling Weekly - as Buffalo Bill says, the media only cover lorry deaths now because people have made a fuss. And with the police investigating if the road design led to her death, Vole O'Speed points out that, nice graphics aside, there's still not clear space for cycling - while Rachel Aldred points out that many road deaths are preventable. After the event, Mark thanked everyone for coming - all 1500 of them.

While changes have been announced at Aldgate East, Our Bicycle Lives considers what space for cycling means while Rachel Aldred explains how making CS2 fit for purpose would benefit everyone. The Guardian suggests legislation is needed while As Easy as Riding a Bike suggest that cycle routes shouldn't be designed for cyclists but for people.

Stepping back from the tragedy in London (and as we write this news is filtering through of another death by lorry there) where one in six drivers are also cyclists this week also saw the question of what makes a cycling town or city. Dave Horton observes the dismantling of Lancaster's Cycling Demonstration Town efforts, prompting Psychobikeology to consider the wider implications while even in Bristol one of its Cycling City bike lanes falls victim to a supposedly safer pedestrian crossing, ironically. As Glasgow starts to transform itself, finally opening its Bridge to Nowhere (although some of its other plans look to be reinventing the wheel), the Invisible Visible Man still finds it's a place where cycling and walking go against the grain. Adrian Lord tries to draw the lessons from British Cycling's marginal gains approach against a long history of neglect and incompetence. War on the Motorist looks at the case of Stevenage and concludes it's not that relevant to much of Britain, while Cycle Space considers the lessons of Rotterdam, and concludes that you need to get rid of your urban motorways to make a cycling city - after all they just make local traffic worse. This is one lesson Portland seems to have learned even if Seattle has not. In the start of a new series, Copenhagenize considers what makes Copenhagen so cycle friendly starting with the big picture, while NI Greenways wonders if Belfast could host Velo City 2017? Sam Saunders has a closer look at how much cycling there really is in Bristol (although impressive numbers on paper can turn out to be a drop in the ocean), while for anyone wanting to make broader comparisons between cities there's a new tool for that

With the Get Britain Cycling report to be debated in September, there was a timely piece from Streetsblog on why policy is not enough - you need the right designs, measures and implementation, while Modal Mom follows the debate on one street in Ottawa, with the chance of a three minute delay to drivers almost scuppering a plan to deliver a better environment for everyone else - Flying Pigeon suggests we should stop talking about bike boulevards because they benefit everyone. Transport for London outlines the rule changes it would like to see to make decent cycling infrastructure possible while in Illinois, the transport department is still struggling to change its own culture wile in Los Altos, a path so narrow you have to walk your bike is considered a good solution. In Newcastle, the council considers progress three years on while Cambridge Cyclist admires the CCC's Spoke and Wheel route plan. In the US, although the mayoral candidates appear to be vying to be the most bike friendly, it turns out they weren't kidding about tearing out bike lanes while another one mostly runs on more parking.

Are twitter haters really just exercising their rights to express an opinion? I cycle liverpool adopts the wisdom of Yoda when it comes to dealing with them online - but it's harder to shrug it off when you encounter it on the road - especially these dangerous clowns. With UK campaigners calling for road justice New York considers the benefits (and costs) of actually investigating serious crashes - while in Florida cyclists call for a vulnerable road user law and the Guardian looks at the ethical case for helmet laws (turns out there isn't one). Crikey considers why riding a bike share bike is safer than 'normal' cycling - although you might not want to ride too slowly in LA and risk getting ticketed for made up offences. As the Dutch (who else) look into making tram and train tracks safer for cycling, in San Francisco the tracks are so dangerous to bikes they've got their own t-shirt - as has this terrible driver in Kingston. And if you think being chased by a dog is bad thank your lucky stars it's not a wolf - but remember that the most dangerous animal out there for cyclists is the invisible gorilla.

As local businesses in Washington get all excited about a coming bike track, here in the UK the National Trust seems to recognise who the real big spenders in their cafe are. Local bike shops might benefit from a coming Boris bike strike, while in Silicon Valley employers aren't waiting for bike share, but one enterprise discovers that blocking a bike lane in Portland was a bad business move (they should have got themselves a disaster-ready cargo bike). Turns out they don't pay road tax in the US either - the Wash Cycle investigates whether gas taxes pay for US roads while Copenhagenize wonders what would happen if car commercials reflected reality. And as Citi bike in New York brings out the stylish gents in suits, Bikeable Jo wants to capture Edinburgh's biking style.

As Cambridge Cyclist points out that telling people to 'man up' fails women AND men, VitaminW explores the women's cycling groups springing up across the US, while the Glasgow Women's library invites women cyclist round for bikes and scones. Dead Dog Blog discovers the disadvantage of family cycling - you can't simply hide in the car sometimes, while Type2 Clydesdale cyclist discovers a candidate for husband of the year and as Hackney school children bike around the borough, in Ireland, more girls in secondary school drive themselves to school than cycle there - the ECF considers why the figures are so low.

Back in the UK, SE1 takes a first look at the plans for Elephant and Castle while in Islington they wonder if a little bit of Poynton could civilise the Nag's Head junction. In Edinburgh a 20-yard assault course shows the need for some more joined up thinking. With Sheffield deciding not to bid for the cycle city ambition grant money (due to what looks like lack of ambition) the Cairngorms are making good use of e-bikes in a place which could probably use them. In Leicester a handy contraflow has created a 'killer' junction. And with the first Sky ride kicking off in Leeds in Manchester the bikes get to join in the parade at last.

Further afield, Katja considers contraflows in Braunschweig while Kevin Mayne thinks we've a lot to learn from Germany's quiet cycle revolution - although Jan Heine draws the opposite conclusion from Berlin. As Bicycle Dutch's video of cycling in America continues to do the rounds there, in the Netherlands, it's the Americans who are making the videos and no, bicycle parking isn't really a problem there. As even Lincoln, Nebraska plans a protected bike lane, Milwaukee gets a bike share kiosk and Buenos Aires tackles congestion with cycling, Auckland starts to join up its cycle network. The Urban Country considers Citi Bike a game changer for New York - although the bike lanes help too, while bike parking makes it to the Calgary Stampede along with its first on-street cycling track. In California, cycle campaigning isn't just for the white middle-class areas (and it's for sports stars too), while Portland to Portland found the American drivers are much friendlier to bikes than in Ireland or the UK - hopefully they will say thank you to this man - as well as these people. And, ideal for summer, Amsterdamize discovers the perfect way to unwind

And finally, you wait ages for a flying bike and then two come along at once (caution, that first link plays a video automatically). Perfect for those occasions when you're being chased by a wolf...