Wheel good

A while back, I wrote about Bristol being named the UK's first cycling city. And I wasn't happy. 'The hills,' I cried, 'The hills. ... Bristol: the cycling city. An oxymoronic concept if there ever was one.' Well, as is every girl's (though not always the law-abiding cyclist's) right, I've done a u-turn. Bristol: the cycling city is actually a pretty darn good idea. Yes you have to deal with a few hills, but as long as you've got gears, you'll probably get there in the end, and most likely be rewarded with a spectacular view. And really, when you're puffing and panting your way up the testing slopes of Park Street, no one's going to shake their head at you if you just get off and push. So here are five reasons to ride your bike in Bristol:
1. Bristol obeys the 30-minute rule (which I've just invented). Just the right size for zipping around by bike, I'd bet that you can get anywhere you like in the city within half an hour. So that's far enough that you'd think walking would wear out your shoes so instead you'd fork out hard-earned pennies for the bus, or drive (and waste the next half an hour hunting for a parking space), but not too far that you feel like you should have put in some training before you set off.
2. The three Fs of cycling: it's fun, it's fast and it's practially free. Could also add in 'it's the future' but the hackneyed nature of the phrase might make you gag.
2. One of Brizzle's most popular waterside venues is Mud Dock - cafe and bar by night, bike workshop by day. QED.
3. Venue magazine - a local mag and proud of it - devoted a whole issue to the cycling cause. What Venue says, goes.
4. Taking to the roads by bike is the only way to make continental Europe jealous of England. Paris, Lyon, Amsterdam and Copenhagen, to name a few enlightened cities, are all cycling mad with a network of cycle lanes rivalling the human circulatory system. And they have free bikes. Well, we can show them that Britain's not so traffic-filled and polluted. As the UK's first cycling city, with £22.8million of funding, a new 'Hourbike' scheme (that's pay-as-you-go, free-for-the-first-half-hour), and as home to edgy dressing, Bristol has got a chance to be the two-wheeled envy of fashion-conscious Europe.
5. And then there's the environment. Or should that be then there's the economy? Either way, cycling is good for the environment and good for the economy (at the very least your own economy - cycling should save a few pennies).

On your bike!