By Sheridan Piggott, founder of Choose Cycling, who recently discovered that blogging was a great cure for insomnia…
Cycling is great. Just fab. Amazing, glorious and exhilarating. It simply makes sense in so many ways. The main reason I founded Choose Cycling was that it seems to provide the magical answer to so many of our society's current problems - climate change, obesity, congestion, pollution, isolationism to name just a few. I have for a very long time bored all my friends into their pints of beer with how cycling can do wonders for your health, fitness, thighs, mental optimism, bank account etc etc. Sorry guys.
However, it wasn't until recently that I realised at first hand the community benefits of cycling. I live in Milford, along the A6 north of Derby and regularly cycle into Duffield or Belper to do some shopping. Just after nine in the morning on Friday of last week I was cycling as usual to the Co-op in Duffield and I noticed something unusual. A slight, elderly lady was teetering at the top of a steep pavement along Station Road. She staggered several times and then fell on her face in the road. I cycled over as quickly as I could. She was unconscious and bleeding but still breathing. I put her in the recovery position and shouted for help as, unusually, my mobile was not with me. No one was about so I ran to the nearby Carwise garage. They were brilliant and help came out and helped until the paramedics arrived. I later learnt that Lucy was doing okay.
So, why is this instance so significant for my first blog entry? Well, when Lucy fell she fell off the road over the brow of a little hill. She could not be seen from cars passing on the road. It was a quiet part of Duffield and there were no pedestrians around. If I had not been cycling along, she could have been lying there for some time.
I think the incident really made clear to me how important cycling can be to our communities. In cars, we are separated from each other by artificial walls and the opportunities to make connections and to help are few and far between. There are no walls separating a cyclist from their community and they can be present in an emergency situation at a moments notice. It is interesting to that round the country, more and more emergency services are using bicycles as their chosen form of rapid transport.
In fact, we are working with St John's ambulance in Derby to help train a group of their new cycle responders. In case you didn't know, these are volunteer first aiders on loaded bikes who cover public events and respond to any situations requiring first aid. In these situations, bicycles can often reach people needing medical assistance more effectively than vehicles.
I experienced this at first hand last Friday. When I had drunk my second cup of strong tea and finished shaking, I felt proud to be a cyclist and to have been able to be there for Lucy. And to be able to bore my friends with yet another reason for cycling on my next trip down the Holly Bush Inn ;)