The Great Big Morning After the Week Before Bike Blog Roundup

All right. Hands up all those feeling flatter than a tyre that's had a visit from the puncture fairy after last weekend's big rides have been and gone and the elections are over and we still haven't woken up in a hillier version of the Netherlands? Cheer up, because you've still got the Cycling Embassy AGM to look forward to. No, wait, come back ...

Even one week on, the stories are still rolling in from London and Edinburgh's rides. In London, As Easy as riding a bike found it was Picadilly that gave him a real sense of scale while Bike Minded loved the ride but winced a bit at the sea of bright yellow. Bromley Cyclists spotted a herd of zebra while Josie Dew (fresh from her triumph at parliament last week) managed to come home with one. Martha Says was visited by the puncture fairy while Kennington People on Bikes liked the quietness - and it was a big eye opener for some, even experienced cyclists.

Further north, thank goodness for the bloggers, giving Pedal on Parliament the news story they deserved but didn't really get - Roger Hyam would be cancelling his newspaper subscriptions, if only he had any. Edinburgh may not have had any zebra, but it did have a cycling lobster, a Labour MSP and 'POP' songster extraordinaire Phil Ward. Also there were Ellen Macateer, Richard Pelling, the Edinburgh Bike Coop, Greener Leith and 3000 others, most of whom seem to have blogged about it - and one of whom got knocked off her bike just two days later.

And,as it turned out, these weren't the only road safety bike rides with a fund raising event in memory of two Cumbrian brothers raising money for Roadpeace, while in Texas they pedalled on Austin City Hall.

Which brings us to the local elections, with the Guardian asking if a cycling lobby is being born. British Cycling and The Times covered the Mayoral hustings while Eco Hustler caught up with Londoners on Bikes, who were unimpressed with Boris and recommended a Jenny and Ken 1-2. Cyclists in the City wondered if Boris Johnson was finally beginning to take cycling seriously (or at least until he attended the hustings), but Vole o'speed was not convinced by Boris's late conversion and neither was As Easy as Riding a Bike. In the end, despite i bike london, and countless others, pedging to vote bike, it was Boris wot won it. And for any Londoners still in need of cheering up as a result, we are indebted to Jon Snow for this.

Elsewhere, where elected mayors have had a mixed record, it was also back to reality with councils trimming road safety budgets, preventing decent cycle parking, asking cyclists to dismount and other nightmares.

If there is a cycling lobby, War on the Motorist points out, it can't be built out of existing cyclists, even if existing cyclists are cycling more. So what's preventing more cycling? Could it be that cycling's just not lovable enough? Could it be getting bikes fixed? Or the perception of danger, which is certainly putting off two-thirds of us at the moment. That or the fact that there's a part of our National Cycle Network where it's illegal to cycle - and they still haven't put Pedestrianise London in charge of redesigning the UK's roads... Still, at least we don't have the Dutch problem of aging cyclists. Oh no wait, hang on...

It seems to have been a week for swapping places with Bicycle Dutch visiting London and failing to be impressed (the second video on that post is just embarrassing, frankly), while a Canadian moves to Amsterdam and only holds out a few months before getting on two wheels. Meanwhile a Portuguese anti drink driving campaign impresses in Copenhagen and in the Guardian, bikes sneak out of the environment ghetto. Even Addison Lee seem to have completed their u-turn

Across the Atlantic, it's bike month and Bikeyface is here to get you started while Copenhagenize makes the mistake of reading the waiver. Biking in LA explains why Southern California isn't quite the paradise for cycling its climate promises, while elsewhere cycling gets its own Greyfriars Bobby. The Bike League considers why Johnny can't ride to school - prompting Full Hands to wish that every day could look like bike to school day. Sadly, while nothing's too much trouble to protect children from paedophiles, protecting them from cars is apparently just nuts. Downfader, for one, wants no part in an American inspired war of supposition.

Bike bloggers often have harsh words for the police but not (for now anyway) the Pedal on Parliament team, while the Cycling Silk explains he's all for 'Going Dutch' but disagrees with Jon Snow. Elsewhere the legal system continues on its baffling way with an assault with a deadly weapon given four months suspended sentence and nobody is to blame for a cyclist's death at Bow Roundabout (perhaps the same nobody at the wheel of all those driverless cars. At least if the courts won't act, the insurers are taking dangerous drivers off the roads.

Let's not be downhearted. If we should be honouring the heroic routine of parking and shopping, how much more should we be honouring the city bike shop - Lovely bike gets bike shop envy and, frankly, so do we. If you're in the market for some biking and shopping, the Guardian investigates the cargo bike which could replace trucks in city centres - and Cycling Auckland goes further and gets their hands on one. Or perhaps a Jubilee Brompton is what you need? Or 'a beautiful bike maked of sticks' - or indeed a 100 mph bike made of saucepans. Or a sneak preview of Carlton's book? Or a whole lot of funding for your bicycle network plan (sorry, that last one is not available in the UK).  Or, for the cyclist who has everything, we leave you with The Hornster, and if that's not something to alert Smidsy to your presence, we don't know what is.

See you all next week.