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No Sky Ride for Birmingham this year

Council says it can't find date to close city's streets - but hopes event will return in 2015...

Birmingham has become the second major British city to cancel its mass participation Sky Ride – although unlike Edinburgh, which is focusing instead on racing with the ultimate aim of attracting the Tour de France, it’s hoped the mass participation event will return to the West Midlands city next year.

According to the Birmingham Mail, the Sky Ride will not take place this year because the council has been unable to find a suitable date on the calendar to close the city’s streets to traffic for the 18,000 cyclists who would have taken part.

Birmingham City Council said in a statement: “This year we have had difficulties in securing a date and a suitable route so we have regrettably had to withdraw from the 2014 Sky Ride Event.

"Our partnership with British Cycling is particularly important as cycling is one of our identified priority sports.

"We are working with them to establish a new route and date for the Sky Ride event in 2015."

A Sky Ride will be held in towns and cities including Manchester, Newcastle/Gateshead, Sheffield, Southampton and Coventry – the closest such event to Birmingham – this year.

According to the Birmingham Mail, the decision to scrap the event in the city this year was greeted with disappointment by members of the BirminghamCyclist.com forum.

One, referring to the city’s successful bid last year for £17 million in Cycle City Ambition funding from the government last year, said: "How can an organisation that can't organise a Sunday bike ride, be expected to deliver a cycling revolution?"

The newspaper pointed out that there will be other cycle events in the city this year, such as a Vintage Ride on 22 June and the Birmingham Bikeathon for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research on 21 September, the latter with up to 3,000 particpants, although neither will be on closed roads.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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9 comments

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JDebuse | 9 years ago
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What an absolute joke. Second City. Pffft. The one last year was pretty dire. I took my young lad. Riding around the streets of Digbeth having to dodge glass and other objects. Jokers.

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Peowpeowpeowlasers | 9 years ago
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Manchester doesn't have a problem closing the roads for its annual Great Manchester Cycle - and that event is always sold out.

What's the issue, Birmingham? It's only a few hours on a Sunday, if businesses need access then just create some manned pedestrian crossing points - it isn't rocket science.

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Stumps | 9 years ago
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Its still on in Newcastle and i'm taking both my kids so happy days.

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Chuck | 9 years ago
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The last couple of years seem to have been a bit half-hearted anyway. A lot of it has been round the University closed road system with very little actual public road closures as far as I can see.

Still a shame though.

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rich22222 | 9 years ago
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Oooh, that Vintage Ride sounds interesting....
22nd of June you say? And free!?
https://www.facebook.com/events/739632756068512/

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bobinski | 9 years ago
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Shocking.

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Some Fella | 9 years ago
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"Our partnership with British Cycling is particularly important as cycling is one of our identified priority sports."
Once again a council identifying cycling as a sport and not a means of travel that millions of normal human beings do (or *would* do if they stopped pissing about on these pathetic SkyRides and built decent infrastructure instead)

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girodilento | 9 years ago
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So that whole sharing the roads thing is only when it suits motorists then?

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Wolfshade | 9 years ago
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Another glorious moment in the cities illustrious history.

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