The Great Big Lazy Sunday Bike Blog Roundup

Stuck for something to blog about? Just take a leaf from our lazy blogger's guide to blogging and link to everyone else's brilliance instead. Like As Easy as Riding a Bike's guide to columnists which Tony Parsons seems to have taken rather literally (maybe he hates weavers, either way it was apparently too much effort for him to look into science behind why drivers hate cyclists).

Well may Marie Madigan ask where is everyone? - they were all on their travels, it seems, with I Cycle Liverpool crossing the border into Belgium, As Easy As Riding a Bike still digesting Amsterdam - and ibikelondon sending us not so much a postcard from Barcelona as a love letter to it. It wasn't just the Brits travelling either, with both Bicycle Dutch and Mr. Cycle Chic heading to Hungary. Ride Blog wasn't so keen on her ride around Stockholm (despite Sweden's increasing fondness for its congestion charge) while Kevin Mayne compares two Italian cities. Meanwhile Cycle Space takes Singapore as the starting point for a piece which takes in Transformers and dragon boats in a psychogeographical approach to cycling (or is that 'cycogeographical'?). Closer to home Kim Harding's relentless search for a cafe in Dumfriesshire continues, as does Freewheeler's relentless interrogation of York's status as a cycling city while in Bristol, Thinking About Cycling tackles the tricky question of hills

It's not just bike bloggers but ideas that are crossing borders, with San Clemente considering whether to 'go Dutch' and bike-friendly business districts reaching New York and the New York Times discovering why cities will have to ditch their attachment to helmets to promote cycling (something the Australians may have to learn the hard way). Lasesana looks at Ciclovias and wishes they could happen in DC, while the momentum for Boris bikes to cross into the suburbs grows and grows. Less positively, Yokohama seems to have mistaken Crap Cycle Lanes for a bike lane design manual while Pie Powered even found that fabled beast a Dutch ASL (it can't be a real one, though - there isn't a taxi in it).

Setting all that aside, could cycling utopia already be here in places? The CTC release a 10-step guide to creating 'Cycletopia'. And certainly both Kats Dekker and Mr. Happy Cyclist have found reasons to be cheerful (as did Kevin, who's finding three legs are better than one). Meanwhile Boris makes a remarkable claim about the future of Vauxhall and, amaxingly enough, there are signs of improvement. We're still putting our hopes on Clare Balding running for mayor (scratch that, make her Prime Minister) all the same.

Sadly, elsewhere it was more like cycling dystopia as councils failed to heed Cycalogical's warnings and instead followed the lazy guide to doing cycling. Take Twickenham, where two-thirds of residents wanted to keep their cycle lanes, so guess what the council have decided? Despite some confusion about what cycle lanes are for the council seems to be digging its heels in - Twickerati considers the wider picture. But let's not single out Richmond council unfairly - there's plenty of opprobium to go around, whether for the Trans Pennine Trail which seems to actively discourage bikes, the removal of the bricks from Brick Lane, Edinburgh encouraging of cycling while banning bike sheds, Croydon council's continuing obsession with parking, a Sheffield cycle lane that puts cyclists at risk and just generally, whoever it is who is responsible for Langholm. Special mention must go to Belfast for its response on illegal parking in bike lanes although at least it is standing firm on its bus lanes - perhaps a wise move as applications for the driving test in Northern Ireland fall.

On the political front, 'gategate' rumbles on with both Chester Cycling and Vole O'Speed pointing out that Andrew Mitchell was just doing what he was supposed to do and pretending he was a car - or perhaps he was just celebrating Critical Mass's 20th Birthday. North of the border, Dave McCraw considers the Scottish Government's perverse travel policies - despite unanimity among cycling groups at the Scottish Parliament. The UK minister admits that potential cyclists are just too scared to ride - yet despite the fact that we would be more productive nothing is done (and the signs are that Labour would be no better, if their conference is anything to go by). Meanwhile the dastardly Germans produce a cycle plan that might actually work (apart from the minor matter of actually funding it but never mind) - could it be that they've actually got the will to cut congestion on their roads? In London, the LCC urges you to vote early and vote often for Wheels for Wellbeing (just hope that the popular vote doesn't get discounted if the answer is wrong).

As ibikelondon asks if there are more women cycling on East London's roads, the question arises how to market cycling and bikes to women without patronising or objectifying them. Confused? Try this simple test but remember that, important as it is to our tiny pink polka-dotted brains, it's more than fashion (or indeed coffee) that will get or stop women riding.

Like safety, for instance. Do we need less forgiving roads and more forgiving bike lanes? Or do we just follow this cyclist's suggestion and simply ban cycling where it's too difficult. Don't listen to him - and don't listen to your body either (or not after it's just been hit by a car). Ibikelondon reflects on a year of campaigning and a summer respite (although the Paralympic effect has not penetrated the stony heart of one insurance company) while Boris finally sets the record straight on who's to blame for most injuries. Sharp Edge Trip asks if the criminal justice system is failing cyclists while Roadpeace welcomes the consultation underway on driving offences. With the release of the latest road casualty figures, the Times notes that cycle casualties per mile pedalled rose for the third year in a row. The CTC looks into some more of the detail while Drawing Rings maps pedestrian casualties, whether by bike or by car.

Somewhat less depressing are these mapping efforts - of desire lines and this mesmerisingly pretty visualisation of London bike journeys. And while we're cheering ourselves up with videos, here's a charmer (do Dutch kids grow up wanting to be cargo bike drivers?)

We'll leave you pondering that one until next week