With the Olympics Part 1 drawing to its close, our minds turn naturally to what the legacy will be - Carol Ann Duffy putting it best, as befits our Poet Laureate. Up in Scotland, Pedal on Parliament knows what it would like to see: a network of Cycle Super Hoyways - starting in Leith and Glasgow. Road.cc picks up the story - while War on the Motorist points out there's no excuse not to do something on Leith Walk. Greener Leith carries on battling, having got some good news earlier , while Glasgow lags ever further behind.
Elsewhere, it seems that in Bath the future of cycling may be going round in circles. In Richmond, the opposition politicians show some ambition - unlike in Brent. Even the Peak District has hopes for an Olympic legacy but on Friday all eyes were on London for Boris's announcement about the cycling legacy, only to be bitterly disappointed as Boris simply reannounced a big Sky ride with knobs on. London Cyclist wanted to know about the other 363 days of the year while the Vole o'Speed was beyond unimpressed - and even TfL's claims to be on track for increasing cycling don't bear close inspection.
One Olympic legacy we'll be pleased to see the back of is the shoehorning in of Olympic and medal references to innocent blog posts - handing out medals for infrastructure, mixing sporting metaphors somewhat in Coventry, proposing new Olympic sports or just wondering what our Olympic visitors think of the cycling. It's possible, indeed, that the only lasting Olympic legacy will be the return of Freewheeler to the blogging scene - asking why more people weren't cycling to the Olympics, skewering TfL's response to Dan Harris's death, getting stuck in an Olympic Lane and finally giving us that Olympic legacy in full. It's been fun being heroes, though, and we're sorry it's over.
Certainly the roads are no safer than they were - and in places may have been made more dangerous, despite a spirited if mad attempt to make a separated lane on the Bow Flyover with some cones. Nor is the danger confined to London - with Hampshire's cycling injuries second only to London's, Southampton Cycling Campaign are calling for strict liability, while in Wales, where another cyclist was killed in Newport, Welsh councils wonder where the money is to make the integrated network of cycle routes the Welsh Assembly wants happen. Meanwhile the driver who struck a paralympan last year was half blind and blind drunk - but claims not to have been dangerous. It's not often (for sad reasons) that we get the cyclist's point of view in a bike v. HGV but Cyclists in the City provides one. And there's another survival to celebrate as a Poole cycle campaigner is on the mend.
In short, enforcing the law matters as most pedestrians and cyclists (in the US at least) are killed by drivers who broke the law - which makes this novel idea all the more important. But are the police wasting their time enforcing 20 mph speeds? Joe Dunckley skewers the story on increasing casualties in 20 mph zones for good and for all - it's a shame that nobody will listen. Meanwhile, a cyclist clipped by a lorry (or even flung into a hedge) leaves the police uninterested, while Dr. Hutch considers the traffic law that isn't (except in every driver's mind): the cycling to a breast problem. One law we feel sure the police would diligently enforce would be any helmet law - despite the fact that they appear to disproportionately discourage safer cyclists, prompting the Road Danger Reduction Forum to ask if cyclists should even be allowed to wear them.
As the Guardian asks if cycling should be part of learning to drive, Joe Dunckley wonders why we cling to softer measures - such as secure parking instead of doing a proper risk assessment. Maybe we're just a nation of well, you know. Kim Harding gives a more measured response. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic Chafe City reminds us that cycle lanes are an invitation more powerful than anything else
For what we need are hard measures, and for that we need councils, which is a shame. Councils that plan to remove cycle lanes to widen a pavement, or whose sustainable transport plan misses some opportunities. Cycle Fife creeps forward by at least identifying who to blame while Cycling Dumfries half welcomes a path that's only a bit rubbish. While Life Cycle UK looks at the runners and riders for the Bristol mayoral election, in Russia they have a more direct and artistic way of naming and shaming their local officials. Perhaps it's a bike uprising we need - how things have changed in New York in 25 years.
But let us give praise where it is due - the LCC is impressed by a visit to Cambridge (although let's remember what spearate where necessary, mix where possible really means). A new cycle route is to be given a feasibility study near Portsmouth - while Horsham has been made that little bit more civilised. Boris bikes hit the million mark in July while Belfast looks forward to getting its own. Kats Dekker finds some cycling infrastructure that didn't come from the Ministry of Silly Walks - the only catch being it's in Germany.
Further afield, Portland installs the US's first bike counter while closing a junction to cars to prevent right hooks. In Seattle they hold a cargo bike 'roll call'. Minneapolis shows that fierce winters are no impediment - while it's been grassroots support that grew the bike network in LA. One Speed Go finds one way to reimagine a city - but lest we get too starry eyed, in California, tiring of driving at them, people take to shooting cyclists instead. Cycling may be up in Dublin - but could it be about to get its own trambles? Streetcar tracks have led to tragedy in Toronto, although Lady Fleur finds you don't need tram tracks to encounter a trap for the unwary wheel.
No wonder Beauty and the Bike choose to do their pootling to Copenhagen - although when they got their they found it rather more 'cycle quick' than cycle chic. Bike Peace New York reminds us that kids are the true originals of cycling in the (funky) clothes you have. Cycling Info considers whether cyclists are best considered as vehicles or pedestrians (which might help People Powered solve his ethical dilemma.
Too much reading of cycle blogs may leave you wondering if it's worth the risk of getting on two wheels at all, yet still we roll. Luv2Cycle takes to her 'Rolls Royce' while Chafe City has a vision of another way - and finds a use for a stuck HGV. A reporter cycles in Florida ... and lives to tell the tale and Lady Fleur finally rides to school 30 years on.
We leave you with the first in an irregular series of unlikely cyclists in history: like Elgar. Or even in legend, like the patron saint of cycle campaigners everywhere: Don Quixote
We'll be back tilting at windmills next week, folks - and no, that's not an Olympic sport...