On your bike for Cork cycling festival

A ‘wheelie’ good time is in store in Cork as the annual cycling festival rolls in to the city and its environs over the next nine days.

The festival starts at 5.30pm today when cyclists will leave the festival headquarters on Grand Parade and descends on the Half Door Cafe on French Church St for an exhibition.

Darren McAdam-O’Connell, a member of the festival’s organising committee, said the dozens of free events planned for the nine days of the festival will cater for cyclists of all interests, and vary from day-long excursions to lunchtime and evening trips.

“Our day cycles will go from 10am to 5pm, which covers a lot of ground, but it’s not about speed. It will be a gentle cycle with stops every hour to encourage people out on their bikes,” said Mr McAdam-O’Connell said.

“We’ll be going on trips out to places like the harbour and to the Lee Valley waterfall where we’ll be having a picnic.”

Evening events centre on social gatherings at Cork’s well-known pubs and cafes, while a treasure hunt across the city will satisfy those with a competitive edge.

Another planned event due to take place this Saturday is a ‘gig on wheels’, which will see a surprise guest band on a mobile stage pulled through the city by bike.

Next Wednesday’s ‘Cycle Through the Planets’ is a guided cycle through a scale model of the solar system from the sun at Patrick’s Bridge to Neptune at Blackrock Castle Observatory.

Participants will visit and learn about each planet in turn on their way to the observatory.

It is the first cycling festival since the introduction of the Cork bike-share scheme, and Mr McAdam-O’Connell said that many of the lunchtime and evening events are perfectly suited for those who want to use the rental scheme to participate in the festivities.

He said that the growth of the festival has mirrored the increased uptake in cycling seen in Cork across the last 10 years.

“There’s been a dramatic change since the first festival, which was very small,” said Mr McAdam-O’Connell.

“We’ve seen a big change in the culture of the city where more people are using bikes to get around. It’s not cool to drive around the city centre anymore.”

Meanwhile, Cork South Central TD Jerry Buttimer has called on the National Transport Agency to consider extending the bike share scheme to the Cork suburbs of Douglas and Togher.

For more information on the festival see facebook.com/corkcyclingfestival