The Great Big On-the-Political-Agenda Bike Blog Roundup

Could it be, that after years of being considered a fringe thing, this marked the week when cycling got onto the mainstream political agenda? Certainly the Space for cycling protests seem to be having an effect with improvements planned for Holborn and Aldgate and the City of London adopting 20mph limits (Although really 20 mph default speed limits should be everywhere). The Lib Dems have adopted many of the recommendations of the Get Britain Cycling report at their conference and the issue is important for Labour too while better streets in general are on the agenda at all the party conferences - and cycling even makes it into the Assembly at Stormont. With MPs digesting the Portland to Portland report - and Sir Chris Hoy all but putting himself forward for the position of Cycling Champion - you'd be forgiven for a little optimism. But then again the government response was thanks but no thanks, so we need to keep the pressure up - including a Sapce4cycling ride planned at the Conservative conference in Manchester. Come the next election, it will be interesting to see if cycling levels reflect political values in the UK as well as in Australia.

Perhaps the Scottish Government should snap Sir Chris up, if only to help them with their maths homework: while the transport minister welcomes additional funding for active travel, the latest budget figures leave even Spokes bewildered - when is £20 million not £20 million? MSP Alison Johnson isn't getting any answers on the Niceway Code, while another MSP, Kezia Dugdale - while happy to take to two wheels - is one of many who needs to be convinced that cycling on Scotland's roads is safe.

Perhaps what's needed is to make more of the economic case for cycling - certainly one Portland retailer is building their business model around bikes - although here in the UK it's still seen as a bit eccentric to shop by bike, possibly because nobody seems to be properly equipped for it. With the Federation of Small Businesses looking into the impact of Ride London on Surrey businesses, in the US they're finding that the effect of new bike lanes can be dramatic - or can just be neutral but generally won't harm businesses in the area; an ex mayor and a bike advocate chew over the issues in Atlanta, while Manifietso considers if we can afford to implement the Get Britain Cycling Report. and while bikes, unlike money, can buy (cities) happiness, for the rest of us, our cycle spending can at least promote a good cause (or at least get some coffee).

Or perhaps we need to get our politicians to think of the children: while kids in well-designed neighbourhoods get more exercise the rest of us have to fight the social norms of doing the school run by car (even for a child of cycling parents). As Richmond LCC try and map the barriers that keep people from riding to school with their children Kennington People on Bikes finds that Lambeth planners don't envisage any kids cycling to school - no wonder it's not so much bike to school day as don't bike to school day, everyday, in the US.

But here it was at least National Cycle to Work day - Cycling Weekly looks at measures to get people cycling to work (while Kevin Mayne discovers that even in a cycling organisation people need a little nudge sometimes). Certainly, cycling can be contagious - and sometimes, one of those people you infect returns the favour - as is the fact that often cycling is just quicker than anything else. Or perhaps we need to try and make driving the new smoking.

When it comes to counting the resulting numbers on two wheels, Flying Pigeon wonders why it's left to volunteers - and why if you're doing it for fun it doesn't count. Ellie Blue asks if, instead of disapproving of them, we should be counting salmoning cyclists - as an indication of a city's desire lines - certainly they suggest Ottowa could do with more contraflow lanes - and with a bit less habitat loss, perhaps the UK's cyclists wouldn't be threatened with extinction.

With the integration vs. segregation debate refusing to die, in many quarters the argument has moved on - like do you need more than just cycle tracks to get a non-cycling nation cycling? And are buffered bike lanes in Chicago an improvement or a missed opportunity? (especially when some of them are already fading away). How best to reallocate space to make better streets - or where best to put your fifty bollards to create some filtered permeability. While the US Federal Government backs the NACTO design standards, Coventry policy is firmly against segregation (at least of people on bikes and on foot) - but perhaps what we need is better design teams. As Rachel Aldred looks at what's wrong with ASLs, the Ranty Highwayman raises a question from the Sheppey pile up - why are we not restricting access to old links when we build new ones? And with Washington residents opposing any removal of parking, Streetsblog considers just how American cities got so overrun with parking spaces - and the Green Lanes project discovers that the best place to remove parking is paradoxically from the places where there is the least. Good luck explaining that to Eric Pickles

With Bristol Traffic attempting to explain queue theory in terms even a local newspaper commenter can understand, elsewhere twisted logic prevails with the prize going this week to worries that 20mph limits might be dangerous, followed by a safety campaign that suggests cyclists not use bike lanes and a guide to urban cycling that unintentionally highlights everything that's wrong with cycling in the UK (would it not be easier just to fix the design of the road?). In America, some wildly over inflated claims about the impact on traffic times of bike lanes deserve an honourable mention, while in LA, a case of political amnesia threatens plans for Complete Streets. While habitual drivers and cyclists both misunderstand each others' motivation - and are equally prone to the tyrranny of the conservation of momentum - we're probably not going to win the twitter battles so we probably shouldn't try.

In the week that we learned that, never mind helmets, we should all be wearing body armour - oh and carrying lasers - perhaps we need to stop talking about helmets saving people's lives and concentrate on the things that endanger them - like lorries without side guards - or just lorries full stop. Magnatom gets a reminder of his own vulnerability through someone else's video for once, while in the US, there seems a worrying complacency over cycling and pedestrian safety.

In this week's guide to the law we learned that if you must go on a pavement make sure you're in an SUV and not on a bike (and only hit ordinary people, not film stars). While the law - or the Daily Mail catches up with one driver, don't worry drivers it's not your fault after all hitting the accelerator instead of the brake could happen to anyone. And even when drivers are convicted, sentences are often woefully short. Of course, it would help if those enforcing the law knew what it was and how best to enforce it. But it wasn't all bad news - with the Portland Transport Chief getting her stolen bike back while in Broken Britain, a gang of lads on a night out ... fix a broken bike rack.

With the Guardian lamenting the woeful marketing of bikes to women - do they not know women spend billions on bikes? Sweet Georgia Brown unpicks the real issue with cycle chic - the way women are seen as some sort of monolith rather than individuals - such as some of America's most innovative cycling advocates - whatever they choose to wear.

Meanwhile, back in the UK, Manchesters successful funding bid launches Velocity while the Two Tunnels route gets a European award. 20mph limits for Oswestry inch painfully slowly towards reality, while after a mere 10 years a street in Leeds finally gets a contraflow. In Sheffield the powers that be give with one hand and take with the other while in London the royal parks often form a a barrier instead of a route for safer cycling, and Kensignton and Chelsea are consulting over Notting Hill Gate. Move over David Hembrow: Belfast launches its cycling study tour complete with the world famous Belfast bin lanes.

Perhaps they could do the same in Australia where one roundabout sets a new bar for bike hostility. Elsewhere Bruce McVean of Livable London visits livable Montreal, we had a brief tour of Toronto's first segregated bike lane (although other cities in Canada just go ahead and build them) while Denver gets a protected lane. Twenty's Plenty reaches San Diego while complete streets reach small towns in Florida. In Dublin a hostile road is to be made bike (and hopefully tree) friendly and in San Francisco a new bridge brings a spanking new bike path. In Portland there's a look back at how the city got its vision - and whether it now needs a new one for the next 40 years - and in the Netherlands where even the bus stops have more bike parking than most UK train stations, it turns out that sometimes even they can get it wrong, complete with a rare sighting of a Dutch 'cyclists dismount' sign.

And finally, we bring you news that you've been wasting your time reading this whole thing... because bike blogging is over. Come back next week for our virtual-reality based hoverboarding internet round up. Or something.