The wheel thing (From The Northern Echo)

The wheel thing

10:10am Friday 10th July 2009

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Cycling is clever and keeps you fit, but it simply isn’t cool. Lauren Pyrah meets the husband and wife team who are trying to get North-East teenage girls on their bikes and change the image of cycling forever.

IF cycling were a dog breed, it would probably be a poodle. It’s athletic and intelligent with a long, proud history – but its massive image problem puts people off.

On the face of it, cycling is genius.

Advocates would argue the Government could remedy at least two of Britain’s major problems – obesity and climate change – simply by building more cycle lanes and off-road tracks.

As well as unplugging youngsters from their Wiis and PlayStations it would also go some way to reversing the “cotton-wool kids” phenomenon, where children are so protected they have no idea how to cope in the real world.

But the public perception of cycling seems to focus on two enduring images of British cyclists – the gung-ho, Lycra-clad, helmeted urban warrior type who seems to relish mixing it with angry motorists; and the type of chavvy-looking, tracksuit-wearing youths who have one leg of their trousers rolled up as they race along on what appears to be their little brother’s bike.

So it’s little wonder, despite obvious financial, fitness and environmental benefits, that almost 80 per cent of women never cycle. According to cycling charity Sustrans, while many little girls have bikes, figures drop off during teenage years.

“Schoolgirls are happy to ride a bike. It’s when they reach their teenage years that we start to see a huge drop-off,” says Debbie Scott, Darlington’s BikeIt officer for Sustrans.

“The bicycle is seen as a toy, rather than a form of transport.”

This huge drop-off is what prompted husband-and-wife media team and Richard Grassick and Beatrix Wupperman to make a documentary about why teenage girls and young women in the UK reject cycling.

The couple, both committed cyclists, recruited fashion-conscious women and teenagers from Darlington for the year-long Beauty and the Bike project, which also incorporates a photographic exhibition.

German-born Beatrix, who still has strong links with Bremen, was the real inspiration behind the project, which is seeking to discover why cycling is a fashionable and accepted way of teenagers getting around in Bremen yet is shunned by Darlington teenagers as uncool.

The documentary follows a group of girls in Darlington and a group of girls in Bremen and looks at the barriers which might stop girls from cycling, from fashion to infrastructure.

“The fashion thing is interesting,”

says Richard. “That is how we got girls interested in the project in the first place. But when you get the bike in the picture, that doesn’t change.

The girls say the bike has to fit into their lives. If you are a fashion-conscious person, that doesn’t change when you start using a bike.”

THE German and UK girls have been in regular contact since the start of the project last year.

They met on an exchange in Bremen in April, and the Germans are back in Darlington for a week from today.

One of the main barriers to cycling explored in the documentary will be Darlington’s lack of infrastructure, compared to our European counterparts.

Richard believes this is a problem that can only be tackled from above, by politicians, and needs to be addressed before the world’s finite oil supply runs out.

“This is part of the climate change debate,” says Richard. “Even the girls who have overcome barriers stopping them from cycling still have barriers to overcome because of people who should know better. What the girls are saying is that we need more cycle paths on main roads. It seems to be so difficult for people here to get their heads around.”

But whatever barriers to cycling have emerged, it is clear the project has inspired the girls. It seems to have grown from a simple documentary film into the start of a new style of cycling in the town.

A spin-off from Beauty and the Bike is VeloDarlo, a pool of Dutch bicycles that are available to the girls in the project for a peppercorn rent of £1 a week, while those outside Beauty and the Bike can hire a bike for £3.

It is now hoped the pool, which has been funded through grants from Darlington Borough Council and Local Motion, could be expanded to provide a town-wide service, with the running taken on by the girls from the project.

“We started out just trying to make a documentary, but it’s turned into much more than that,” says Richard.

“The bike pool started because we had to find good, attractive bikes for the girls to ride during filming. We are now trying to make it a permanent thing.”

He thinks another interesting side effect of the project is that several girls who had been interested in cycling, but were not cycling were now using bikes regularly.

“There are at least three or four girls who have now started to cycle as a result of the project,” he says. “It is all to do with friendship. Having friends to cycle with and support them seems to be important to the girls.

“Hopefully, it will establish something of a cycling culture in the town.

I keep telling the girls they are the avant-garde of Darlington.”

■ bikebeauty.org/english

Pedal your way to fitness

GETTING on your bike regularly not only gets you where you want to go in an eco-friendly way, it also makes you feel better.

Everyday cycling, where the exercise leaves you breathing heavily but not out of breath, is an effective form of aerobic exercise, reducing the risk of serious conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and the most common form of diabetes.

Cycling burns the energy supplied by a chocolate bar or a couple of alcoholic drinks in an hour (about 300 calories). A 15- minute bike ride to and from work five times a week burns off the equivalent of 11 pounds of fat in a year.

Cycling can also have a positive effect on how we feel.

Moderate exercise has been found to reduce levels of depression and stress, improve mood and raise self-esteem, and has also been found to relieve symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. Physically active older people have much reduced rates of hip fracture.

A study carried out for the Department of Transport found that aerobic fitness was boosted by 11 per cent after only six weeks of cycling short distances four times a week. According to the Department of Transport study, people who do not exercise who start cycling move from the third of the population who are the least fit, to the fittest half of the population in just a few months.

AN international yoga event will take place in Harrogate between July 16 and 19. The event will be held at Harrogate Ladies’ College and more than 800 people are expected to take part in a weekend of workshops, practical classes and discourses on yoga and tantra. Information can be found at swan2009.co.uk

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