Second Cycle Sunday on the Downs

Bristol Downs is set to be taken over by thousands of family cyclists, young and old, in the second of this year’s Cycle Sundays, on Sunday 12 July from 9 am to 12 pm. Following an incredibly successful first event on 19 April, which saw more than 2,000 cyclists of all ages whiz around the Clifton and Durdham Downs on roads often packed with cars, Cycle Sunday today announces its second event will have a family festival theme and will be attended by the Mayor of Bristol, George Ferguson. Event details:

• Cycle Sunday around Circular Road on the Bristol Downs, car-free.
• From 9 am to 12 pm.
• Cycle the entire length of Circular Road, from the junction with Ivywell Road to Ladies Mile.
• Join in the festival feel event – enter the best dressed bike and rider competition (winners announced 11 am); let Dr. Bike fix your bike; listen to Bristol’s Green Capital poet Martin Kiszko;  enjoy pedal-powered smoothies; watch tall bikes, penny farthings and unicycles whizz by.

Vicki Cracknell, founder of the Cycle Sunday campaign, said: ‘We are looking forward to another fun, safe, car-free Sunday morning on the Downs. We hope to welcome even more families who, like us, are keen to see parts of our city’s amazing and beautiful natural resource again free of cars and used to the benefit of Bristolians in this environmentally-sensitive, fun and sustainable fashion. ‘The largely flat, 400 acre Downs are the perfect place for local families to enjoy cycling – fast becoming both a favourite transport method and pastime in Bristol, the UK’s first cycling city. The local byelaw forbidding cycling on the Downs no longer seems to make sense, given the health benefits, low-cost, low environmental impact of family cycling. ‘Our aim with the Cycle Sunday events is to raise awareness of this mismatch and, ultimately, help secure a long-term future family-friendly, car-free cycling on the Downs.’ Cycle Sunday was established to expand opportunities for traffic-free family cycling in north Bristol. With its 400 acres of beautiful flat parkand, the Downs is the perfect location. In the year that Bristol is European Green Capital, the need for safe family cycling has become even more of a focus – however it can be delivered. Register to attend (free ticketed event) at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/cycle-sunday-tickets-15911174752