Blog - Chris Boardman

Blog Posts

Looking out for Keith

My dad, Keith, is 86 and having a bit of bother walking even short distances. But what he can do, as he has all his life, is ride a bike. In fact, having given up his car, it's his only transport, his independence, the way he shops, gets to the cafe and the station. I can't imagine what he'd do if he wasn't able to ride.

So, I was upset a few week ago, to see certain parts of the media continue their relentless campaign against cyclists, this time accusing those who ride self-propelled machines of 'turning our roads into death traps' when the reality is, the mortal threat posed by cyclists is lower than that of lightening and cows. Meanwhile, more than 1700 are killed each year by motor vehicles.

Glorious Gravel

Standing in the shower, cleaning my teeth - I’ve always been a multi-tasking type - I found myself unexpectedly crunching on a bit of grit. It took a second for realisation to dawn, and I started to grin when it did.

It’d been 24 hours since my gravel adventure in the most northern part of England, an escapade innocuously instigated by Matt from the Product team with the innocent inquiry, ‘Do you fancy doing a gravel sportive?’ “Sure, why not” was my reply, a simple three-word utterance that has, for time immemorial, got millions of middle-aged blokes like me sucked, unknowingly, into activities they are not prepared for….

Changing Gear

A little over a decade ago my daughter Aggie asked me a question that changed the path of my working life. She asked “can we ride to the park?” In fact it wasn’t her question that altered everything, it was my answer which was “no.”

We live in a typical northern seaside town, and the park in question was - I know because I measured it later - 549m away, a distance that takes a little over one minute to ride. I, an ex-Olympic cyclist, didn’t feel I could keep my daughter safe on our roads for one minute. And that felt very wrong. It wasn’t what I wanted for her and it wasn’t the place I wanted to live. So I decided to do something about it.

Playing Out

I used to be in a gang. There were 10 of us and we hung out in the street, with bikes and balls. Most days the door bell would go and it’d be one of our number asking ‘is Chris playing out?’ More often than not, I’d hurriedly pull my shoes on and run out to do what 8yr olds do.

Hadfield Avenue is were I learnt to ride a bike, where I proudly removed the stabilisers before hurtling off with the others to the next road and then the next. The whole neighbourhood was our playground. It was a perfectly normal thing to do on a normal British street in the 70’s.

Lightbulb Moments!

Every now and again, I come across an amazing bit of writing and want to share it. This is where I'm going to keep the links to those places. Check in from time to time and see if there's something that interests you.

Chris Boardman and Andy Burnham the Mayor of Greater Manchester

Made To Move

If we want people to use bikes, we need to stop talking about bikes.

Right now the term 'cyclist' tribalises people, sets them against each other. We need to focus on what people want not what they need and critically, talk about it in the language they choose, not the one we are comfortable with.

If you think helmets and high-viz clothing are the answer, you're asking the wrong question...

'Wear a helmet, it's just common sense isn't it?

'Common sense' otherwise known as 'An opinion that is widely shared by others but is not necceassery founded in any evidence'. It can also mean 'I haven't done any research but I have a very strong opinion on this topic and you are making me angry by not agreeing' And not many topics get people's dander up more than cycling helmets.