The Great Big Late-Running Bike Blog Roundup

Apologies for this roundup being a day late, which was due to the wrong kind of internet on the line. And, just to delay you a little more - please take a moment to sign the petition in support of the Get Britain Cycling report if you haven't already - oh, and book your place on the Cycling Embassy gathering and AGM while you're at it. It's all right, we'll wait.

Of course the Get Britain Cycling report was the big story this week, with the Times Cyclesafe campaign launching its petition. Reactions to the petition were generally positive with the Cycling Silk, ibikelondon, icycleliverpool and Cycle Nation, among many others, all offering their support - and although transport is a devolved matter there was support in Scotland too from Magnatom and Pedal on Parliament. Reactions to the report were also generally positive - the Road Danger Reduction Forum offers a thorough review of the summary and wonders if Chris Boardman (whose kids can't even ride through their own village) is right to be angry at the PM's response. Both the Ranty Highwayman and James Gleave welcome the report but feel it needs real political will behind it, Bike Biz rounds up the wider reaction while Richmond Cycling wants to bring the campaign to the local politicians too. As to the Government's response, BikeBiz suggests we may be getting an Office for Active Travel.

With David Cameron more or less passing the buck onto local authorities, how is that likely to work out? Not great, according to WillCycle, while The Cambridgeshire council candidates' responses to Camcycle's questionnaire are illuminating. While Countercyclical attempts to educate the UKIP candidate about tax, TwoWheelsGood points out it's not warm words but specifics that are needed from politicians. Elsewhere, Rachel Aldred writes in about the plans for Picadilly while Cyclists in the City gets an encouraging response from the Crown Estate and Lambeth seems keen to raise its game. In Richmond resurfacing work goes ahead without safety improvements but the council assures cyclists they are not forgotten, Velovoice gets a pothole fixed, while performance issues dog Boris's flagship bikes. In Edinburgh, plans for Princes street are criticised while an opportunity to close a gap in the city's bike network looks likely to be missed - Greener Leith has some suggestions. Further north, a bike symbol reappears in Inverness (well, if you squint a bit) while NewCycling supports the Newcastle City Cycling bid.

Further afield, In the US, where driving continues to decline, bike organisations take things to their logical extreme and set up a PAC to help get friendly politicians elected. Delaware needs the investment while in Florida a $50 million coast-to-coast trail is given approval and the German parliament votes to stimulate cycle tourism. As the latest in a line of Dutch bicycling monarchs continues a long tradition, Amsterdam Cycle Chic enjoys a spin with an ex mayor of Amsterdam and across Europe the ECF continues to push for better accommodation of bikes on trains.

Meanwhile, bike campaigners continue in all their variety across the world. Holyrood magazine looks at the picture in Scotland - as does Bikeable Jo - and Spokes finds out what its members think. Pedal on Parliament recruits one of the world's fastest men for his slowest ride ever - and Phil Ward continues to set its manifesto to music. In the rest of the UK, Solihull Cyclist has a dream while Chris Boardman feels helmets are distracting from the real issues. Cycling Weekly considers whether the Olympics have really boosted cycling or just Sky Rides and Cycling South Tyne wonders if policeman outfits and survival kits are really encouraging novice cyclists. Cycle Nation reports from its AGM. In America, Elly Blue suggests a bike-borne pub crawl is a powerful campaigning tool - or you could have a bike party or just play bike month Bingo - either way People for Bikes thinks this should be spectacular summer although Bikepedantic thinks Bike to Work Day needs a new sponsor. The LA CicLAvia is certainly getting almost too popular for its own good - it needs more road if only so this stoopidtall bike can safely keep rolling (that video clip is not for the vertigo inclined, btw). Meanwhile in Poland Critical mass looks like achieving some sort of critical mass.

If Critical Mass is not your thing - how about a kiddical mass? Imagine if this was what the Edinburgh school run looked like every day (and, if I'm allowed to plug my own blog, the rural school run too...) Further afield the San Diego mayor joins a local school bike train while in Auckland a teacher says you don't need to put cycling on the curriculum, you just need to give kids opportunities to ride. Getting them even earlier, Mango and Lebs find plenty of car parking but nothing for bikes at the nursery - the owners must not have heard that if you want to get your new business noticed you need to install bike parking right outside.

It's spring at last, which seems to bring out the bike haters as surely as it brings out the lambs and the fresh leaves. This week we learned from the Observer that we shouldn't cycle in cities while the Spectator objects to cycle tracks in the country, a Devon councillor doesn't want them going through the village, a Texas mayor seems to want to harass them out of town. Perhaps we just need to become the ideal cyclist before we can cycle anywhere? The Toronto Star seems to think even wasting half your life away in traffic is better than riding a bike, while the Calgary Herald wonders if we need an urban cyclist etiquette guide - although even that might get the goat of the New York Post. Sometimes, you do have to sympathise, with two older pedestrians getting their own back on a pavement cyclist. Still, at least the Telegraph has discovered that bikes might sell newspapers, while Bike Snob deals with the objections to the NY bike share scheme. Next!

Of course, often it's bad design that puts cyclists in conflict with other users - such as something that looks like a cycle lane but is in fact a danger zone. As Easy as Riding a Bike talks bollards while the Alternative DfT thinks TfL aren't just reinventing the wheel they're wondering what it should look like. Kats Dekker looks at how 20 mph needs to be by design not just by sign - and here's a graphical illustration of why it matters, while Cycling in Christchurch considers turning right. Pie Powered discovers armadillos and floating bus stops in Majorca, while a trip to Copenhagen illustrates the importance of consistency in building cycle infrastructure (Cycling in Heels is just smitten). The Green Lane project makes the case for protected bike lanes while Dutch cycling expertise reaches Zagreb and researchers consider the impact of bike share schemes.

With the driver pleading guilty to dangerous driving in the Bristol tandem deaths case, a road raging van driver isn't charged because it's a first offence (although the online lynch mob has no such compunction). Dave McCraw encounters a completely unrepentant driver and an injured US cyclist has to persist to get any action taken against a driver but Cambridge cyclist finds a sympathetic policeman, which makes a change, and Uberuce wonders why legal firms that promise to get motorists off the hook don't cause more of an outcry - perhaps they'd get short shrift up in front of this US judge? Addison Lee takes its bid to drive in bus lanes to the appeal court while Brenda Mitchell in The Scotsman busts some myths about strict liability. If you don't have a helmet cam (and are in Portland) here's a handy guide to where best to get knocked off your bike - and scientists (beware, this is via an insurance company) may have discovered Smidsy in the wild. What does it mean that women get more space than men on the road? Perhaps it's because they've encountered Accidento Bizarro or Chafe City who both seem to take delight in messing with their minds. Meanwhile a dooring leads to true love and an unlikely romcom...

Bike thieves get Bikeyface wishing bikes were more like cars but sometimes a bike thief does the right thing and sometimes a police officer goes the extra mile. Sadly, neither seems to have been able to help this particular victim, in the saddest stolen bike note ever.

And finally, if you'd rather buy your bikes than nick them - here's your chance to own a piece of political cycling history, the plebgate bike - and all for charidee

We'll be back with more links, lost, stolen or strayed, at hopefully the normal time next week