This weekend the Cycling Embassy had a fabulous AGM weekend in Leicester - you can get a flavour of the two days from the #CEoGBAGM hash tag - but it did mean that compiling the blog roundup had to take a back seat to the weekend's activities, so you'll just have to wait until next week to catch up with what has been going on in the bike blogging world.
I've been doing the blog roundup now for almost four years since the first one in October 2011 and in that time it's grown into something of a monster. The feedback we have is that people value it, but it can be a bit overwhelming - and if you feel that reading it, imagine what it's like compiling it. Since I started, the number of bike blogs I've been tracking for the round up has grown enormously (even the pope has started weighing in on urban design - although somewhat to my relief, it doesn't look as if His Holiness will be writing a regular weekly update on filtered permeability in the Vatican City), and the effort of compiling it week in and week out is starting to tell.
But don't worry, roundup addicts - we're not going to stop running it. We've had plenty of ideas about how to make it better (more pictures, a tighter focus on infrastructure, less infrastructure, themed posts, fewer links to follow ...) and I've decided that the time has come to both give myself a bit of a break, and let all those bright ideas flower by giving other people a chance to show us how it could be done differently.
Starting next month, the last blog roundup of the month will be open to someone else to have a go. We're inviting anyone who wants to to volunteer to take it on as a guest editor. You may have ideas about how to improve it, or know of blogs that we're missing, or you may just want to make sure that cycle campaigners around the world don't miss out on their weekly Cycling Embassy blog fix. If nobody can fill the slot, we'll leave an open post so that people can post links in the comments. And I will try and catch up with the blogs I've missed in the blog roundup that follows. Either way, I will get one weekend in four back - which will be something of a relief.
And finally - because we couldn't leave you with *nothing* - a reminder of how campaigning, not least through blogs, have changed things immeasurably (at least in London) over the last few years. We like to think that the roundup has played its small part in that revolution - and that it will continue to do so. Keep blogging, and tune in for a bumper edition next week.
If you would like a crack at the blog roundup, contact us on secretary@cycling-embassy.org.uk and let us know
Comments
SRD
29 June, 2015 - 15:01
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thanks sally! and great idea...
Like many I love the blog roundup. thanks so much for all the years of effort. looking forward to some quirky guest contributions too!
Kevin Love
30 June, 2015 - 02:18
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Thank you for the roundup
Please allow me to add my thanks for an excellent look at fascinating material from around the world. I read it every week.
And since you provided a link to Pope Francis, here is my favorite one. A news article from the Catholic Herald entitled, "Avoid fast cars and ride a bike instead, Pope tells trainee priests and nuns." See:
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2013/07/09/avoid-fast-cars-and-ride...