Recently by Graham Hankins

Ok, you have ridden your new bicycle along the local canals, adjusted the saddle to be exactly comfortable and discovered some fresh air, exercise and how to travel many miles, easily, but without creating that dreaded CO2! Now you want to cycle where you really want to go, from your home to where you work, let's say. But you have heard all sorts of scary tales about potholes, loads of traffic, big traffic islands and impatient drivers!

• Those potholes. Well, unless you are riding with your eyes shut, you will probably see 'em ahead? Potholes tend to be near the gutters and close to the kerb, which is also where drainage gratings are placed and rubbish collects, so a first rule of road cycling is

• Ride away from the kerb! Many cyclists tend to 'hug' the kerb, trying to keep 'out of the way' of the traffic. But you are ONE OF the traffic! The recommendation is to ride at least 1 metre away from the kerbline and, if the road is narrow, to ride in the centre of your lane.

• Loads of traffic. Well, sometimes there is, on the main roads, so ride in a position where they can easily see you. Become part of the traffic, not shy away from it. Or look at your 'Cycling and Walking Map of Birmingham' available from Birmingham City Council Transportation Strategy and find quieter alternative roads.

• Big traffic islands. As you gain riding experience and particularly if you do drive a car, you will learn to handle these too. Again, riding well away from the outer kerbline is essential (yes, despite what the Highway Code recommends), so too is making 'eye contact' with vehicles joining and leaving.

• Impatient drivers. Well, if you adopt a prominent road position you can make 'em wait! But be particularly watchful of the driver who overtakes and immediately turns left in front of you. Be aware, with mirrors or by looking, that a driver IS overtaking and be prepared to stop or turn with them if they do cut across your path.

There is of course much more to be explained buying bikes and safer road cycling, so I have compiled a presentation which is available to any individual or community group, For more information on this, please Email me! I also have my web site and I can offer training to any adult.

I have not mentioned public transport as an alternative to driving and you may want to combine your cycling with a train journey. With a few exceptions, taking a bicycle on a train usually involves pre-booking and all sorts of restrictions UNLESS you have a 'Folding Bike'. Yes, these clever machines give a normal ride yet, in a few seconds, fold down to the size of hand luggage! So if your journeys often involve trains, consider a 'folder'.

Finally I must mention 'Push Bikes' the Birmingham Area Cycling Campaign. Push Bikes meets with Birmingham City Council to press for improved conditions for cyclists in Birmingham and sends a quarterly newsletter to its members. Why not join us? Click here for the Push Bikes web site Next week's 'Lighter Footprints' blogs will come from Alexandra Haskyn of SuSMO. So cheerio and thanks for reading my 'blogs' about bikes!

Walking into a cycle shop can be bewildering - if you can get into the place at all! There may be loads of bikes outside, then more inside, leaving just a narrow 'corridor' for you to reach the counter and you are bound to catch a few protruding handlebars on the way. Try not to knock any bikes over!

Bikes come in different frame sizes - what size is right for you? Do you want a Mountain bike, or a Road bike, or a Touring bike, or a Hybrid bike? How many gears will you need? HELP!!

Don't worry! The basics are fairly simple:

• Frame size. Everyone has a different stature and, to be frank, 'inside leg' measurement, which determines which frame size will best fit you. Any experienced cycle dealer will have a good idea as soon as you have walked into the shop, so the question will probably not need to be asked! He will invite you to sit on a few bikes anyway to see which size is best for you and he might adjust the saddle height too.

• 'Mountain' bike. These are the ones with wide, thick, chunky tyres and, generally, straight handlebars. The tyres give good grip on poor surfaces and are very puncture-resistant so suitable for off-road (eg. canal towpath or forest track) cycling, but these bikes are heavier to ride on tarmac and the deep tyre tread can be noisy and create vibrations on the road.

• Road bike. Lighter frame than the 'Mountain', slimmer tyres and finer tread. An easier bike to pedal on tarmac but perhaps more easily punctured when venturing along a canal.

• Racing bike. Similar to the Road bike but lighter still, even slimmer tyres and 'dropped' handlebars to allow the rider to lower the arms and upper body. But body position and handlebar hold can be the rider's preference.

• Hybrid: A 'compromise' between Mountain and Road designs.

Maybe a Mountain or Hybrid is a common first choice. At its simplest level, a bike is a bike, and any of the above will give you your first and, maybe, every ride, provided care is taken to get the size right. But as most of my cycling - and eventually yours too I hope - is going places in Birmingham, I prefer dropped handlebars and a Road model. As for gears - go for as many as your budget allows!

So. You have bought your bike, ridden it a bit, the size fits comfortably and you have done some of Birmingham's canal towpaths. Now you want to actually make a journey - to shops, to work, to the library, the Leisure Centre - whatever. My final blog tomorrow will give some advice for traffic cycling, a bit about 'Push Bikes' and will introduce my 'Consider Cycling' presentation.

Hi! I'm Graham Hankins, a regular cyclist and secretary of 'Push Bikes' the Birmingham Area Cycling Campaign. Howard Boyd is one of our chairmen, which is how I got to meet Esther!

Now, personal transport in Birmingham is dominated by the car and sometimes I am one of them. Yet I agree that I shouldn't use my car for every short journey, and driving into Birmingham centre is beset with traffic congestion and limited parking! Walking is an obvious alternative - definitely 'green' and good exercise too, but I find that this takes too long to get not very far at all. So for many trips I get on my bicycle - much quicker than walking, still 'green', good exercise and always somewhere to 'park'!

So why aren't more of us doing the same thing and going some places by bike? Oxford, Cambridge, and increasingly London have many people cycling but Birmingham most certainly does not; at the moment, there are too few cyclists in the city to be reliably measured as a percentage of those travelling!

So why did I start to cycle? I used to drive three miles to work; parking was possible but usually tight, I was getting no exercise and any holdups created stress because I might be late. Then someone mentioned buying a bicycle! Did they still make bikes? Indeed yes, but my first visit to a cycle dealer left me amazed - so many types, how many gears did I want? What size did I need?

Anyway, the suggestion was made on a Thursday, so having decided to do this I bought my first bike on the Saturday; by the Monday morning I had 'got used to it' and rode to work using the roads I usually drove. Straight into the old but always empty cycle shed, conveniently outside my office door, on time or a bit early actually, feeling great! So that was that - decision made, cycle to work! Quick, door to door and always space to park because I was the only one who cycled! Ok, if it rained I leaped into the car (still do!) but I discovered how often it not rain. I don't wear 'Tour de France' clothing either but a Hi-Visibility band is useful plus paying as much and more attention to traffic as I try to do when driving.

So, can I persuade YOU to cycle a few trips occasionally? Doesn't matter how short your first rides are, you will soon begin to pedal further. And let me assure you I am not super-fit, far from it - I am simply a bloke who often cycles instead of driving. If you've never bought a bike but would like to ride some of the shorter distances to start with, in tomorrow's blog I will give the basics of buying a bike, before you go into a cycle shop for the first time!