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Spring into the Saddle is a simple pledge to ride your bike every day in April!
What's not to love? Ride, snap away and share your picture.
We are calling upon all of our followers to spring into action and cycle every day in April! As an enticement we will be giving away a GoPro Session action camera and other fabulous goodies. Just share a picture or short video online with the hashtag #springsaddle18. We want to see your Scottish Spring Pictures!!!!
The most creative 'Spring Into the Saddle' picture or short video from each week will be entered to the independently judged competition to win a GoPro at the end of April. The winner of each week will not be left empty handed. You can win Local Food goodies from the Stirling Food Assembly.
Check out "What's On" throughout February, March and April.
We have free bike rides and walks to join, with great routes to explore as part of them. We also offer Dr Bike Pop-ups in Cornton and Braehead on Thursdays until the end of March.
Our Dr Bike at the Hub on Fridays will continue, too. So get your bike out of the shed and let Dr Bike check it over for you for free.
You can also pick up some bike maintenance skills as part of our popular Mug O' Tea & A Spanner training sessions in partnership with Recyke-a-Bike in March.
So head over to our What's On page for further details on the upcoming activities.
As usual you can get advice on cycling and walking from us at the Hub at Stirling Train Station. We also continue to offer 1:1 Essential Cycling Skills sessions (on a first come first serve basis).
Plenty to get involved in this Spring.
In February and March we will put on Pop-up Hubs in Cornton and Braehead on Thursday afternoons.
With help from our partners Recyke-a-bike we'll be bringing Dr Bike to help resucitate your bikes and get them back to full health.
If you've got an old bike in the garage bring it along and let Dr Bike work his magic - for FREE.
We'll also be on hand with lots of winter cycling information and advice to help you overcome those winter cycling fears.
Why not try out our electric bikes while you're at it.
Come join us this autumn on our 1st walk as part of our 4 week walking programme. This is designed for anyone who hasn't walked in a while or for anyone who wants to exercise in good company. There will be a led walk every week starting at a distance of 1 mile on the 1st week and building up to 4 miles by the 4th week. Walks will go at a steady pace with no one left behind. To motivate you there will be a written support guide and record card handed out. The 1st walk will be held on Tuesday the 7th November leaving form Kings Park at 1.30 pm and 6.30 pm. There will be a hot drink served after the walk. To book your place sign up through our eventbrite
Join us for a leisurely 44 mile ride, showcasing some wonderful traffic-free cycle routes and quiet roads in the Forth Valley. There will be a stop at the 27 mile point in Culross, with fruit, flapjacks, and drinks provided to fuel our return to Stirling.
It's big, but it's not too scary - the route is fairly flat and we will be going at a steady pace. No one gets left behind! If you've been enjoying our 10 mile Meander rides and fancy a bigger challenge, this is a great opportunity.
We have a limited number of our e-bikes and gravel bikes available to use on the ride free of charge. If you're interested in borrowing a bike, please call the Cycle Hub in advance to book: 01786 474160
If you're curious about the route, you can see it here: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/25679534
Spaces are limited so book your place today!
We are hosting a FREE Active Travel Breakfast to encourage you to ditch the car and get active. This will give you the opportunity to improve your health, wellbeing and the environment.
To receive your free delicious breakfast simply leave your car at home (or at the Park and Ride) and walk to the train station. Breakfast will be served in the Cycle Hub from 7.30 am and is provided by local producers from Stirling's Food Assembly.
To motivate you there will be a led walk from Braehead Community Garden FK7 7QZ leaving at 7.10 am and for those leaving the car at the Castleview Park and Ride FK9 4TW, there will be a led ride departure at 7.10 am (book via stirlingcyclehub.eventbrite.com).
What you have to do to claim your yummy breakfast:
Our Meander Rides are back in September. The Meander Rides are great led rides for those wanting to get back into cycling and gradually build up more confidence. We will plan a great route every week and a qualified cycle ride leader will show the way. We go at an easy pace and no one gets left behind.
Remember if you are joining us on one of our rides you can rent a gravel bike or electric bike for FREE.
So it could not be easier getting out on a bike. We have ride leaders, bikes; all you need to do is book by callling Active Stirling on 448 308, turn up, ride and enjoy.
Check out all the different rides and dates.
Join us for a FREE fun Active Travel Day at ACE Cornton (Stirling, FK9 5DD) from 10.30am to 1.30pm.
We'll have lots on for the whole family. On the day there will be an Active Travel Challenge, a short led ride and led walk around Cornton.
A FREE light seasonal lunch compliments of Grow Forth Network will be served and Recyke- a- bike's Dr Bike will be on hand to give your bike a health check.
Join the fun and get active.
We are hosting a FREE Walking Breakfast to encourage you to ditch the car. This will give you the opportunity to improve your health, wellbeing and the environment.
To receive your free delicious breakfast simply leave your car at home (or at the Park and Ride) and walk to the train station. Breakfast will be served in the Cycle Hub from 7.30am and is provided by local producers from Stirling's Food Assembly.
For those leaving the car at the Springkerse Park and Ride, join our led walk to the Cycle Hub. Departure at 7 am (book via stirlingcyclehub.eventbrite.com).
What you have to do to claim your yummy breakfast:
Let's get active come and join us
Learn how to fix your own bike and revive your bike this summer.
Free Bike Repair Sessions
These sessions is for people wishing to learn how to check their bike is roadworthy before setting off, do the very basic maintenance and acquire the skills to deal with the most common repairs. Thanks to the Big Bike Revival we are able to put on these free sessions.
Please book on one of the below sessions via Eventbrite or by calling us on 01786 474160.
Topics covered
All the tricks of the trade to help you continue your journey.
We are organising our annual Women's 100k ride again this year. Last year we had over 45 women riding with us.
The Women's 100 ride is about making cycling fun and social. In July the Rapha calls on women around the world to ride 100k in a day and we thought we do the same in Stirling.
It's not a sportive, so it's not about winning it's about inspiring and encouraging each other to ride and have a great day out together in the beautiful Forth Valley.
The 100k are split in to two halves. Each half starts and finishes at the Stirling Cycle Hub.
Book your ticket and let us know if you would like to do the FULL 100k or one HALF 50k.
We suggest a donation of £5. For this we will provide:
Our Meander Rides are back! The Meander Rides are great led rides for those wanting to get back into cycling and gradually build up more confidence. We will plan a great route every week and a qualified cycle ride leader will show the way. We go at an easy pace and no one gets left behind.
Remember if you are joining us on one of our rides you can rent a gravel bike or electric bike for FREE.
So it could not be easier getting out on a bike in Summer 2017. We have ride leaders, bikes; all you need to do is book by callling 448 308, turn up, ride and enjoy.
Check out all the different rides and dates.
Thursday Meanders
This Summer we offer two different rides on Thursdays. Both rides start and finish at The Peak.
Summer blog: Thursday 8 June to 27 July.
Sunday Meanders
Just as our Thursday Meanders these rides are social rides, go at a slow pace and we stop for coffee and cake half-way. All Sunday rides start and finish at Raploch Community Campus.
Spring blog: Sunday 4 June to 23 July
Come and help us to celebrate Stirling Cycle Hub's 4th birthday on Friday 19th May from 4pm @ the Hub.
There will be :
The ride will start at the Hub and finish at the Kilted Kangaroo just in time for our Pop-up cinema, where we'll be showing cycling short films from 7.30pm (Tickets £3 from the hub). Check our website for further details.
As usual keep an eye on our social media channels for news, events and general cycle fun (Twitter: @StirlCycleHub, Facebook: Stirling Cycle Hub, Instagram: @StirlingCycleHub).
Your Stirling Cycle Hub Team
We have put together a great selection of cycling short movies for our pop-up movie night. There will be something for everyone. So come along for movies, music and a bite to eat.
After the movie screening there will be acoustic live music (Flynn & Ferrie, Constant Follower, Niamh Baker).
The night will be at the cosy upstairs room at the Kilted Kangeroo (9 Upper Craigs, Stirling)
Hot food and drinks available on sale on the night.
Tickets are £3 from Stirling Cycle Hub or on the door.
***** Watch our amazing movie and band trailer. ******
Join Inner Forth Landscape Initiative and Stirling Cycle Hub on a guided group bike trip, taking in some of the historic Fife villages of the Inner Forth landscape.
We will be cycling along to Limekilns and back (approx. 16 miles return) along the Fife Coastal Path. We will stop for (free) refreshments in Limekilns.
There are wonderful views along the route, starting with the historic and fascinating village of Culross, and following the shore of the Forth Estuary for much of the way, with great views of the estuary's wildlife. We will make a brief tour to look at the impressive remains of the Charlestown Limekilns, once the largest industrial-scale limekilns in Scotland. We will turn back at Limekilns, a pretty seaside village, where we will stop for a break and refreshments. There will be knowledgeable people on hand to tell us more about the wildlife and history of this part of the Inner Forth estuary.
Please come equipped for the weather. We will be offering teas, coffees and cake, but you will need to bring any other food and drink.
To book your free place please register via Eventbrite or get in touch with Stirling Cycle Hub
Free hire bikes will be available if you don't have your own cycle. These must be booked in advance via Stirling Cycle Hub. Please contact us to book any cycle hire, tel 01786 474160, or email firstname.lastname@example.com us.
In August 2016 Markus Stitz became the first person to circumnavigate the world on a single-speed bike. In less than a year he had cycled 21,500 miles through 26 countries and more that 38 times up Mount Everest, all unsupported with as little equipment as possible and no choice to switch gears. With pictures and videos he will bring the journey alive, and tell you how a daily commute from Edinburgh to Bridge of Allan can be the best training for an epic adventure.
Join our free led ride to the venue and back to Stirling train station. This will be a great social ride via Bridge of Allan following the National Cycle Network with Markus joining on the return journey.
Departing 6.30pm from Stirling Cycle Hub (Stirling train station)
Spring into the Saddle is a simple pledge to ride your bike every day in April!
We are calling upon all of our followers to spring into action and cycle every day in April! As an enticement we will be giving away a GoPro Session action camera and other fabulous goodies. Just share a picture or short video online with the hashtag #springsaddle17. We want to see your Scottish Spring Pictures!!!!
The most creative 'Spring Into the Saddle' picture or short video from each week will be entered to the independently judged competition to win a GoPro at the end of April. The winner of each week will not be left empty handed. You can win a Local Food & Bike hamper (full of bikey, foodie goodies).
How to take part?
1) Take a pic or video showing your 'Spring into the Saddle' cycling
2) Use the hashtag #springsaddle17 with your pic
3) Share it via Facebook, Twitter & Instagram!
Our award winning Mini MTB'r sessions are back. Mountain biking is a healthy outdoor activity but more so a fun and exciting sport for kids to be involved in. So, with this in mind we are providing fun sessions that will give your child a basic understanding of the skills required to hit the trails safely. It is a fun way to spend an afternoon with other kids on bikes.
These sessions are for 5 to 11 year olds.
We have two Minit MTB'r session available in April.
Sessions run from 2pm until 4pm.
Booking is required. Please book the date of your choice on eventbrite.
Our 2017 events programme has been finalised.
Throughout the year we will offer a busy led ride programme, monthly free Dr Bikes, a movie night and more. So tell your friends, your neighbours, your Mum, your Dad and your Granny - anyone really who wants to get cycling in 2017.
We are kicking off the programme with our popular led rides. Our Thursday Meander Rides start 2 March & the Sunday Meander on 5 March. In addition there will be a fab wee Hub Club Ride on Sunday 5. Of course there will be plenty more.
How to find out what's on & when?
Our Hub Club Rides are aimed at people who want to ride in the Pedal for Scotland (50 mile ride) event in September. The rides are perfect for those who would like to build up their confidence and stamina on longer rides before the event.
The rides start at 7 miles in March and each month we add another 7 miles to help build distance and stamina in preparation for the big event in September. Every month we plan a different route and we go out in a group enjoying the great scenery the Stirlingshire has to offer.
Of course you're welcome to join us even if you're not doing Pedal for Scotland. It is simply a great social ride with other cyclists.
March – September: First Sunday of the month.
Please book your place for the Hub Club Rides via Eventbrite or call us on 01786 474160.
Our Meander Rides are back! The Meander Rides are great led rides for those wanting to get back into cycling and gradually build up more confidence.
This year we are offering more rides than ever to respond to the increasing demand. We hope you all join us and give cycling a go in 2017.
Remember if you are joining us on one of our rides you can rent a gravel bike or electric bike for FREE.
So it could not be easier getting out on a bike in 2017. We have ride leaders, bikes; all you need to do is book by callling 448 308, turn up, ride and enjoy.
Check out all the different rides and dates.
Thursday Meanders
This year we offer two different rides on Thursdays. We go at an easy pace and no one gets left behind. Both rides start and finish at The Peak.
Spring blog: Thursday 2 March to 27 April.
Black Friday will soon be upon us, with its flood of discounts, deals, queues, scrums and wrestling that everybody knows too well, but every year at the same time, we roll out our very own bargain!
Have you heard of BIKE FRIDAY? Instead of risking a punch for a TV, we, as cyclists, rebel against consumerism and get out on our bikes instead!
We are inviting anyone interested in any form of cycling to get out on their bike on Friday 25th of November and to simply post about it on social media under the hashtag #bikefriday.
Through doing this, we hope to show that spending time outside, on our own or with friends and family is a very valuable thing in life, so let's spread the word out there. The more folks we get posting about #bikefriday, the better.
If you fancy getting black with mud that day too, be our guest, and did you know? There is a direct relationship between the amount of mud between your teeth and your level of happiness!
Organise your own #bikefriday event:
We would love you to get on board, perhaps organise a led ride or small event to get people out and to help we have created a template poster should you wish to add your logo and use it. If you use Photoshop rather than InDesign please contact us to help with adding your logo to the poster. Please feel free to spread the word and encourage any other cycling groups, organisations or individuals you can think of to get involved. To see more people out on their bikes on #bikefriday is all we wish for.
Oh, and please, let us know via email or social media if you will be taking part in sharing all that muddy, queue-free fun so we can relay the information.
Countdown… ON!
The Stirling Cycle Hub (SCH) is a national pilot project, and a delivery commitment of the Scottish Government's Cycling Action Plan for Scotland (CAPS), which has been funded up until March 2017.
The pilot phase is slowly coming to an end and we want to evaluate the impact SCH has had locally, and further afield; and to consider how the Hub should develop in the future.
We are very keen to understand the impact the SCH has had on the people who have used it, and on the local community.
Please take a few minutes to complete the our survey.
By way of thank you, there will be a prize draw held for all participants, for a shopping voucher worth £25. Please provide your contact details at the end if you wish to be eligible for this. Please note, this survey is only open to adults aged 16 and over. The survey will beopen until midnight on Sunday 27 November.
The number of Nextbike rental stations in Stirling is set to double thanks to a £150,000 cash injection from the Scottish Government through Sustrans Scotland.
Daisy Narayanan, Acting Director of Sustrans Scotland, said: "Doubling the number of bikes available to the public in Stirling is a fantastic way of enabling peple to get around without having to rely on their cars for short journeys.We are delighted to be able to offer our support to the scheme and i hope that it will boost the number of people choosing a sustainable travel option. The benefits of cycling and walking are well evidenced: improving people's health, helping ease congestion and reducing pollution are just a few of them. I look forward to seeing just how much of a positive impact this investment will have for people who live, work and play in Stirling."
Nextbike was rolled out in Stirling in 2014 following an increase in demand for bikes to hire stimulated by the charity's active travel project, Stirling Cycle Hub, which is funded by the Scottish Government.
Director of Forth Environment Link, Clara Walker hopes the scheme's expansion from 100 to 160 bikes will see more people making active travel choices that are good for their health and the environment. She said: "Since its initial launch the scheme has been hugely popular, we've recorded over 13,000 journeys and usage is growing by 40% year on year. We're sure doubling the number of rental stations will see the number of cycling journeys continue to grow by encouraging more locals and visitors to our historical city to choose cycling as a way to get around."
The new bike stations will be officially launched by the Minister of Transport and the Islands Humza Yousaf MSP on Wednesday 2 November at the Albert Halls, Stirling.
The Big Ride is the last big ride for Stirling Cycle Hub and will be a 40 mile loop. We will stop half way for a tasty lunch and to rest our legs before setting off again.
You are in for a special treat at this years Big Ride. We have been invited to visit Arnprior Pumpkin Farm where we will be provided with lunch. Soup, yummy bacon rolls and sausages. This will definitely get you 'round the second half.
Check out the wonderful route for the day. It is hilly at some stage so bring along a choclotate bar to get you up that hill. On top of the hill we will check on everyone.
Here is the route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/17019336
Our Meanders are spreading! As part of Callander Pedals Partnership, Stirling Cycle Hub have organised a number of Meanders in Callander. These are easy paced, leisurely rides leaving from Ancaster Square in Callander at 10am on the following dates:
*On the 19th Oct and 6th Nov there will also be a Free Dr Bike session from 9am - 3pm.
If you don't have a bike then our friends at Wheelology will be happy to give you 10% discount on bike hire when you mention that it's for a 'Callander Meander'.
The rides are aimed at cyclists looking to increase confidence and gradually build fitness whilst learning some recommended cycle routes around Callander.
We are expecting these rides to be popular so please contact us at the Cycle Hub in advance to book your place to avoid any disappointment on the day.
The Big Bike Revival programme helps people in Scotland to bring their bikes back into use by providing bike health checks, sharing maintenance know-how and giving people more confidence in the saddle.
Join the events in Stirling on Sat 1 and Sun 2 October.
We have plenty of great things to get involved in over the course of those two days. Check it out and join the fun.
Saturday 1 October 2016
Free Health checks available for anyone passing or anyone attending Big Bike Revival events. Just come along with your bike and get it looked at.
You have a bike now it's time to set it up. We will help you making a few simple adjustments and your bike will be a perfect fit. Saddle position and saddle height. You will also learn how to do a fast and easy bike health check.
What better time to wheel into the office (or shop) than Cycle to Work Day on Wednesday the 14th of September?
Our dear hubbers have committed already: Susanne will be trekking from Edinburgh, and Ray from Falkirk!
And since every effort deserves a reward, we would like to invite you in to share your stories and routes into work in exchange for some coffees, teas, and pastries.
Doctor bike will be there from 8:30 until 10 to check your machines from wheel to wheel, and provide basic maintenance advice.
Exit through the free bike wash, and enjoy your day!
Explore the fascinating history of the Inner Forth by bike with Stirling Cycle Hub and Inner Forth Landscape Initiative (IFLI). You'll visit two historic towers, one of the first industrial scale distilleries in Scotland, and an ancient abbey.
This is a free event thanks to the way IFLI is funded by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Booking is essential as places are limited. Please book your place via the booking form or get in touch with us.
They are back again. You told us you loved the Sunday Meander Rides so we are putting on some more Sunday rides for you from September.
The rides are aimed at cyclists who are looking to gradually build fitness and increase confidence while learning some recommended cycle routes around Stirling. The Active Stirling Rides are at a leisurely pace and normally include a halfway stop for coffee and a chat.
These rides are run in partnership with Active Stirling and leave from the Peak (Thursdays) and the Raploch community campus (Sundays).
Dates for the Autumn block are:
Back for another year we are once again to proud to present the Stirling Festival of Cycling in partnership with Pedal for Parkinson's.
Join us for our annual 'Family Farm Fun Cycle' along quiet country roads from Forth Valley College to Briarlands Farm. Bring a picnic and have some fun as the little ones run around exploring all of the activities the farm has to offer including the giant jumping pillows, tractor go-karts, mini diggers, sand pits and play frames! Just make sure they have enough energy for the ride back home again!
It's Bike week again, an official excuse to get on your bike.
Here at Stirling Cycle Hub we have quite a few amazing events to help you along the way.
Check out our events and rides and join the fun during Bike Week 2016.
Join us on our 'Foodie Friday Ridie' as we cycle from the Hub to Leckie Farm, just outside Gargunnock, to celebrate the start of our 'Foodie Friday' summer season.
Want to learn the basic skills to get you out mountain biking on the trails but don't know where to start?
As part of the Callander and Trossachs Summerfest we are hosting our inaugural Callander Meanders! Join us for a free, easy-going and social ride setting out from the Meadows car park in Callander along the National Cycle Network Route 7 to the Strathyre Lodges cafe for some refreshments before returning via the same route. The full route is just under 10 miles long.
Join the Stirling Cycle Hub Women's 100 Challenge on a 100k ride (or 50k) on Sunday 17 July. Last year we had 50 women riding with us and it was a great day out for all.
The Women's 100 ride is fun and social. It is not a sportive. The ride is all about inspiring and encouraging each other to ride and have a great day out together in the beautiful Forth Valley.
Women's 100 is an event originally brought to life by Rapha. Rapha, a cycling clothing manufacturer, is calling for women to take the challenge since 2013. Last year over 8000 women went out to ride their bikes together. Let's join the fun.
Stirling Cycle Hub team have come up with a great format for the ride which we hope enables a lot of you women out there to join us on Sunday 17 July.
The ride will follow a figure-of-8 route allowing participants to complete 50k or the full 100k. A member of the cycle hub staff will travel with us as ride leader, providing us with route support, puncture repair assistance and a support car.
Join the fun and register.
It is spring and it is time for a wee Hub Spring Ride.
We will cycle out to Briarlands Farm to enjoy some tea and cake.
The ride will be roughly 16 miles on quiet back roads mainly. We will go at a social pace.
We will leave from the Stirling Cycle Hub at 10.30am.
Below is the route for your reference.
The Thursday Morning Meander rides are run in partnership with Active Stirling and leave from the Peak.
They are aimed at cyclists who are looking to gradually build fitness and increase confidence while learning some recommended cycle routes around Stirling. The Active Stirling Rides are at a leisurely pace and normally include a halfway stop for coffee and a chat. We ride roughly 10 miles.
The rides will be running on a weekly basis again from Thursday 2nd of June to 21st July (Summer block).
Places must be booked in advance. To book please call Active Stirling on 01786 448308.
Spring has sprung, the grass is ris,
I wonder where them cyclists is?
There they are, in the saddle every day,
Can they keep it going till the month of May?
(2015 Graham MacQueen - local poet)
Following excellent uptake from 2015: Spring into the Saddle is back.
Do you care about the environment?
Do you think more people cycling makes for a better world? Are you able to be enthusiastic about cycling and encourage other people to start cycling day to day?
If so come and work with us, you will love it!
For more information click here
The Cycling Swap Shop is back. The idea of the swap shop is that you can exchange your unwanted clothing, accessories, books with someone else's at our Cycling Swap Shop.
Remember that jersey you have not been wearing for at least 2 years or that drinking bottle kicking about? Come and swap it for something you might need or just donate it.
Easy as pie. You donate something and take something else away, so it's a double-winner.
Come join the swapping fun from Saturday 5th of March to Sunday 13th of March. We are open from 10am – 6pm.
This event is part of Zero Waste Scotland's Pass It On Week.
Birding By Bike is back
On Tuesday 15th March you will have the chance to visit some of the best birding sites on the Inner Forth by bike. At this time of the year there will be plenty of different birds to watch. Ride along RSPB bird expert David Anderson and Inner Forth Landscape Initiative's Kate Fuller who will help us spot birds as we ride.
We might see birds including dunlin, lapwing, godwit, curlew, knot, oystercatchers, and shelduck – and we might even spot some seals!
We will be riding approximately 7 miles from Grangemouth to Blackness Castle and stopping along for birdwatching. Wide tyres are advisable for this route.
Tea and coffee stop is included.
There will be a minibus driving us and our bikes to Grangemouth and back to Stirling.
Booking is essential due to limited spaces on the bus. To book a space, please fill in our Booking Form.
You can also join us at the Kinneil Lagoons on your bike at around 11am but PLEASE book via the above booking form so we know you are coming. This meeting point might change depending on the weather and it is therefore essential you book and we can keep you informed.
Like cycling and enjoy encouraging others to cycle? Why not become a volunteer with the Hub?
Come to our evening Drop In information session at Stirling Cycle Hub.
Is your family bike curious? Would you like to get cycling with your children but don't know where to start? Or do you want to move from baby seat to trailer or tagalong? This FREE event at Wallace High School will help you get pedalling with your children on board!
They are back!
Get these dates in your diary and bring your bike for a FREE Dr Bike check up at the hub.
The last Friday of every month we will be running these sessions in partnership with Recyke-a-Bike giving your bike a basic health check, ensuring it is well maintained and providing minor repairs, adjustments or referrals.
Back once again! Our monthly Hub Club Rides pedal off once more starting on Sunday 7th February and will be departing from the Hub at 10.30am.
If you haven't been along before or don't know what these rides are then let us enlighten you. Our Hub Club Rides happen on the first Sunday of every month.
May 2016 be a wonderful year for cycling and playing outside in this beautiful country we live in (because 34.6 Celsius degrees is too hot, we love the freshness of Caledonia!)
As we welcome the new year, the hub team looks back at 2015. What went well and what needs to be improved. For this, WE NEED YOUR HELP! Would you all be a star and fill in our End of Year survey with the chance to win a wonderful & super light Hub Water Bottle.
The hubbers are looking forward to Bike Friday and we have planned two led rides for Friday 27 Nov.
Waterproofs are advisable.
Our Christmas Night Light Ride is back!
Join us again on our magical Night Light Ride as we cycle approx. 10 miles around Stirling.
We're starting out from the Hub at 6pm on Wednesday 16th December for a fun and leisurely night ride round Stirling. So ti's time to look out for those bikes light (if you haven't already), grab the tinsel and some wrapping tape and bling up your bikes!
You never know, Santa may appear again, have you been a good guy?
Every Friday until Dec 11th we are going to have Dr Bike at the hub from 8.15am to 12pm.
Bring your bike if it needs any small repairs or to have it checked before the winter.
Bike Friday 2015: What is it & when is it?
Bike Friday is a fun and enjoyable alternative to Black Friday (the biggest shopping day of the year) and takes place on the same day -Friday 27 November.
On Bike Friday we as cyclists avoid the carnage in town, get out on our bikes and rebel against consumerism rather than spending the day stressing out and fighting over bargains.
Instead of watching people punch each other at the tills in Tesco, we will cycle, get muddy and have some fun.
We are inviting anyone interested in cycling to get out on their bike on Friday 27th November and take part in Bike Friday 2015.
Join us on Thursday 29th October for our penultimate meander of 2015.
The ride leaves at 10:30am from The Peak, to register please phone Active Stirling on 01786 448308.
Our special 300 year anniversary ride for the Battle of Sheriffmuir follows the Jacobites and Government forces from their camps, up Sheriffmuir and beyond, accompanied by our historian.
Starting on Wednesday 21st October you can join us on a series of mountain biking night rides where we blaze the trails to a local location for some stargazing with our night skies expert.
Stirling Cycle Hub has introduced a new fleet of electric bikes with the aim of opening up cycling to even more people in and around Stirling.
The new e-bikes will become part of Stirling Cycle Hub's toolkit to get more people, more often into the saddle. Funding for the new scheme has been secured from Transport Scotland and helps Stirling Cycle Hub continue to provide innovative ways to encourage cycling and active travel.
We've just taken delivery of our shiny new eBikes and we are very excited!
What are eBikes? Well, eBikes come fitted with an electric motor (hence the 'e') which assists the rider when pedalling the bike. It won't get you to the top of that big hill without you pedalling but it will 'assist' you making the whole experience much easier (whether that's to the hill, going up it or getting home again). Sounds good doesn't it?
It's the last big event for the Stirling Cycle Hub. Join us for this social ride where we will do 36 miles mainly free of traffic riding. As part of the ride we will have a cake stop at Denny which will be approx. half way through the ride.
All ages and abilities are welcome for this event which promises to be a great day out.
Please register in advance for this ride.
Contact us on 01786 474160 or firstname.lastname@example.com or Facebook Stirling Cycle Hub or Twitter @stirlcyclehub
Back once again for 2015! We've been busy organising our 'In The Saddle 24' mountain bike relay at Carron Valley in aid of Strathcarron Hospice. A worthy cause we're sure you'll all agree. Last year we raised over £500 and over a hundred laps of the full MTB trail loop were ridden in the 24 hours so this year we obviously want to go bigger, better and raise more cash!
The relay will kick off at midday on Saturday 19th September through until midday on Sunday 20th September. We will require some hardy souls to help us ride the relay laps through the wee small hours and we will release more details regarding this shortly but for the moment please pencil this into your 'MTBing' calendars smile emoticon.
Donations can be made at www.justgiving.com/stirlingcyclehub
We are launching our FOODIE FRIDAYS because we believe healthy food makes you cycle faster!
Bread from Riverside Bakery*
Eggs, veggies and jam from Green Routes
Organic veggie bag from Bellfield Organics*
*Pre-order essential to avoid any disappointments
Stirling Cycle Hub is running free bike maintenance sessions in conjunction with Recyke a Bike.
As part of the Cycle to Work day* we are organising a Bike Breakfast to celebrate and encourage more people to cycle to work.
Thursday 3rd September between 7am and 11 am.
There will be:
FREE coffee & croissants from local producers for anyone who arrives by bike
FREE Dr Bike here to give your bike the once over
FREE day trial of the Nextbike scheme for anyone registering with us on Ride to Work Day
Accompanied commutes (pre-register with the Hub before end of August by email to firstname.lastname@example.com)
FREE set of lights
This is a free weekly recreational cycle ride which starts out from The Peak. Bring your own bike.
The rides are for anyone aged 16+ and will take the format of an easy paced cycle to a nearby destination. The sessions are suitable for anyone with a basic level of cycling ability and the routes will vary each week.
Autumn Block starting on Thursday 3rd September at 10.30am
Places must be booked in advance. To book your place please call Active Stirling on 01786 448308
We are very excited about the first ever Stirling Festival of Cycling taking place on the weekend of 8 & 9 August. It will be a celebration of cycling for everyone.
Our aim is to create a local cycling festival that inspires people to get on a bike, have fun cycling and generally to share our enthusiasm and love for cycling.
There will be plenty of activities for the whole family to get involved in and great stalls around the King's Park Event Village. Come along and have a great day out.
Find out more about the festival on the Stirling Festival of Cycling website.
To say we are excited would be the most massive of massive understatements! We are celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the National Cycle Network with Sustrans and partners. We will be touring Scotland using the NCN, visiting projects around the country who, like us do fantastic work encouraging people to cycle. We would love for you to come and join us for part of the route. There will be opportunities to join us at the following points along the way, please contact us at the Hub or contact the other organisations directly for more details and watch out our Facebook page for further updates!
This a fun family cycle for all the family along quiet roads to Briarlands Farm (13 miles there and back).
We will be meeting at the Forth Valley College Car Park for 10.30am. Please bring your bikes and a picnic for our arrival at Briarlands Farm. Tickets are priced £5.30 (adults & children - children under 3 go free) and are available to purchase from Stirling Cycle Hub prior to the event or you can buy them on the day.
For further details or to register for this event please contact the Hub on 01786 474160 or by email to: email@example.com
As part of Recycle Week, our popular cycling Swap Shop is back but this time it includes books*
From Monday 22nd to Sunday 28th June we will be accepting your unwanted bikes, bits and books* to swap. Just drop your unwanted items at the Hub to participate in our swap shop. You never know what might turn up!
*Yes, even your Mills & Boon :P
Celebrating women's cycling!
Join the Stirling Cycle Hub Women's 100K Challenge on a 100K ride (or 50K) on Sunday 19th July 2015. Last year we had over 40 women that participated in this event!
This ride coincides with the Etape du Tour of Le Tour de France, the day that amateur cyclists are given a chance to ride a major stage of the Tour.
The Stirling Cycle Hub will be leading a challenge ride for this on fairly flat quiet roads around Stirlingshire at an easy pace – it won't be a race! The ride will follow a figure-of-8 route allowing participants to complete 50K or the full 100K. There will be refreshments at the hub for all the returning riders and a member of the cycle hub staff will travel with us as domestique, providing us with route support, puncture repair assistance and a support car.
Stirling Cycle Hub has celebrated another successful year at Stirling Train Station with the announcement of funding for a new partnership project.
Yeay! It's our birthday again and we are having a party at the green space opposite the train station.
We would love for you to join us as we are going to have lots on:
An award ceremony for our local hard core riders who took part in our 'Spring into the Saddle' challenge, cycling everyday in April #30DaysOfBiking
Cycle Friendly Stirling Schools of the year
Pop up Cycle Hub with Dr. Bike & recycled bike sales in partnership with Edinburgh Bike Station and Recyke-a-Bike
Cakes, soft drinks & the chance to pedal your own fruity smoothie!
Friday 15 May from 1 to 3 PM
New to mountain biking or thinking about giving it a go? Don't know where to start? Then why not join us on one of our 'Intro To MTBing' sessions? We will be running our introductory sessions on a Wednesday evening (when the light lasts a bit longer) throughout the summer starting in June.
If you want more info or to book onto a session then give us a call on 01786 474160 or email firstname.lastname@example.com
This a fun family cycle for all the family along quiet roads to Briarlands Farm (13 miles there and back).
We will be meeting at the Forth Valley College Car Park for 10.30am. Please bring your bikes and a picnic for our arrival at Briarlands Farm. Tickets are priced £5.30 (adults & children - children under 3 go free) and are available to purchase from Stirling Cycle Hub prior to the event or you can buy them on the day.
For further details or to register for this event please contact the Hub on 01786 474160 or by email to: email@example.com
Spring has sprung, the grass is ris,
I wonder where them cyclists is?
There they are, in the saddle every day,
Can they keep it going till the month of May?
We need volunteers to challenge themselves to cycle every day in April! Rides can be as small or as big as you like as long as you're in the saddle. There will be a random spot prize draw every day for people taking part, so get registered for the chance to win some fantastic goodies!
Please email us at firstname.lastname@example.com, message us on facebook or pop into the Hub to register!
See you in the saddle! (please mention it to anyone you think will be interested)
If you are a Strava fan, you can also join the group here
Our ever popular Mini Mountain Biker Meets return for 2015 with both Easter and Summer holiday sessions. The sessions take the form of a fun-filled afternoon for junior MTBrs covering the basics of mountain biking skills and finishing up with a mini-enduro.
As part of Pass it on week, join us on our second up cycling workshop.
We will demonstrate how to make a pair of lovely earrings using your old chain links or left over from your new one. We will also show you how to make special key ring for your friends or family.
All materials & tools provided but please feel free to bring your own.
Teas & Cake included!
To book a space please contact the hub on 01786 474160 or firstname.lastname@example.com
As part of Zero Waste Scotland's Pass it on week,
Stirling Cycle Hub is hosting a 'Cycling Swop Shop'.
Swop that cycling jersey you don't use for a pair of pedals or
an inner tube for a bottle handler or
a cassette for some brake levers or
anything you don't need for something you need!
7-15 March from 10am to 6pm at the Hub
This is a free weekly recreational cycle ride which starts out from The Peak. Bring your own bike or there are a limited number of bicycles and helmets are available for free.
The rides for anyone aged 16+ and will take the format of an easy paced cycle to a nearby destination. The sessions are suitable for anyone with a basic level of cycling ability and the routes will vary each week.
Spring Block starting on Thursday 19th March at 10.30am
Places must be booked in advance. To book your place please call Active Stirling on 01786 448308
Join us as we celebrate the legacy of the 2014 Commonwealth Games with a social ride on quiet roads to the Aberfoyle Bike Park. The Aberfoyle Bike Park project was awarded funding through the Legacy 2014 Active Places Fund (sportscotland).
The ride will be a round trip ride of about 40 miles and will leave the Hub at 10:00am. We will meet with friends from Bike Trossachs upon our arrival at the park*
*Jumping over and dropping off features is not obligatory but if you do want to ride the park then a mountain bike would be recommended.
Join us and Inner Forth Landscape Initiative for two cycle rides exploring the Inner Forth.
The first ride will be a slow pace, short distance 'Meander style' 10 mile ride to Fallin on Thursday 5th March.
The second ride is a bit longer and will be part of our popular Hub Club Rides. It's a 30 mile ride around the Forth on Sunday 12th April.
Both rides are free and they start at 10.30am from the Hub.
Tea and Coffee stops included!
For more information contact us on email@example.com
For more information about the Inner Forth Landscape Initiative go to www.innerforthlandscape.co.uk
On the first Sunday* of every month we will be heading out for two rides, a mountain bike and a road ride, and would love for you all to join us.
Our aim is to start the rides easy and build them up in distance each month with the ultimate aim of riding the 50 mile freshnlo Pedal for Scotland Glasgow to Edinburgh challenge ride. By starting with roughly an hour long ride at around 10 mph and building this up each month, come September we reckon we will all find the freshnlo Pedal for Scotland a breeze.
Rides leave from the Stirling Cycle Hub at 10:30am and are free of charge:
At the Stirling Cycle Hub we are constantly trying to improve the services we provide. We know that we are doing a great job, but unfortunately our word alone is not enough - what is the world coming to when your local Cycle Hub can't be trusted when blowing its own trumpet?! We would therefore be extremely grateful if you could take a minute to complete the survey below for us:
An evening of short cycling movies and premieres of our competition winning films.
Join the Hub and ride like Rudolph on our Red Nose* MTB night ride ripping up the Carron Valley Trails!
Back once again! Our Christmas Night Light Ride is GO!
We are running this course in partnership with Recyke-a-bike.
Recyke a bike and Stirling Cycle Hub bring you this free workshop.
SCOTLAND'S second largest self-service cycle hire scheme was launched today in Stirling, with operator Nextbike providing 100 bikes from 11 rental stations throughout the city. It is hoped the scheme will mirror the success of Nextbike Glasgow, which has seen nearly 25,000 hires since its launch in June.
Dubbed locally as Pedal Forth, the launch saw Stirling cyclists take to their new wheels following a welcome by racing champion and world record holder Graeme Obree, better known as The Flying Scotsman.
Since opening in May 2013 we have made loads of cycling friends in the area and to celebrate we would love for you all to join us on our big social ride of the year.
Sunday 19th October 10:30am Stirling Cycle Hub
Stirling Cycle Hub is running three free bike maintenance sessions in conjuction with Recyke a Bike.
Here are the full details regarding our Carron Valley weekender at the end of this month! Kicking off proceedings at midday on Saturday 27th the Hub crew and a bunch of trail hardy mountain biking volunteers are riding laps of Carron Valley for 24 hours as part of our sponsored 'In The Saddle 24' relay in aid of Strathcarron Hospice.
Calling all budding directors to send us your bike films!
All you need to do is suggest a name for the Stirling's scheme. The best name will win a year's subscription worth £60!
Great news for Stirling!
Following on from installations of Bristol, Belfast and Glasgow Next Bike's schemes, Stirling's very own scheme will be arriving in the historical city at the beginning of September.
There will be 100 bikes and 11 stations around our city.
There is a demo station at the Stirling Train Station with two bikes available for hire at the moment.
This is a free weekly recreational cycle ride which start out from The Peak. Bring your own bike or there are a limited number of bicycles and helmets are available for free.
Here we come again ladies! Join the Stirling Cycle Hub to ride an international cycle challenge with thousands of other women around the world on Sunday 20th July 2014. Last year there were over 4000 women that participated in this event and they expect to double it this year!
To celebrate the come back of women on La Course by Le Tour (27th July) and to coincide with the Etape du Tour (20th July), the day that amateur cyclists are given a chance to ride a major stage of the Tour, Rapha is calling for a second year to women across the world to ride 100kms of their choosing.
The Stirling Cycle Hub will be leading a challenge ride for this on fairly flat quiet roads around Stirlingshire at an easy pace – it won't be a race! The ride will follow a figure-of-8 route allowing participants to complete 50kms or the full 100kms. There will be refreshments at the hub for all the returning riders and a member of the cycle hub staff will travel with us as domestique, providing us with route support, puncture repair assistance and a support car.
As part of Stirling Bike Club's 'Crit on the Castle' event on Sunday 10th August we will be riding our retro bikes round a lap of the city centre Crit course.
This is a unique opportunity to dust off your tweed/flares/Hypercolor t-shirts*, look out that monocle and grab your Penny Farthing, BMX Burner, California Beach Cruiser or your Flying Scot road bike and ride it round the Crit course!
So tell your friends, your Aunties and Uncles, your Granny and Grandpa's and even your Great Granny and Grandpa! It's time to take those beloved old bikes for a spin!
*The choice is yours!
A treasure hunt by push bike on days of yore. Ye will be provided with yon manifest giving ye clues to checkpoints around olde Stirling - ride your trusty steed around the cycle wagon paths and medieval roads to answer yonder clues and complete ye challenges to win plentiful treasury prizes!
Age 14+ squires and womenfolk
Bring a bike and yon picture making camera device. Maps, quill pens, manifest and fun will be provided.
Join us as we ride 12 routes in 12 days in June to celebrate the launch of the new Stirling Cycle Hub Touring Map.
See our What's on calendar for meeting points and route details.
Join us on a gentle Orchard Cycle tour as par of The Big Woodland Event, a cycle tour of Cornton's scattered orchard with kids' crafts, fruit tasting & food miles activities.
If you would like to book a space, please email us on firstname.lastname@example.com or phone 01786 474160.
For more details of the route please click here
One of our most popular events from last year is back! Our Family Farm Fun Cycle to Briarlands Farm will be taking place on Sunday 25th May. This is a fabulous cycle for all the family along quiet country roads starting out from Forth Valley College to Briarlands Farm and back (13 miles there and back) with a picnic in between.
Tickets for entrance to Briarlands Farm for those coming along on the cycle are priced £4.50 for adults and children (normally £4.75 for an adult and £6 for a child). Children under 3 are free. Tickets are available to buy from the Hub now but will also be available to purchase on the day.
For futher details or to register for this event please contact us on 01786 474160 or email us: email@example.com
Following on from the success of our film night we are hosting a book night with Scottish author, Gary Sutherland. Gary and his brother embarked upon a 1000 mile cycling adventure round Scotland leaving from their hometown of Hopeman. The book, Life cycle, is Gary's account of that adventure interlaced with childhood memories of Raleigh Grifters, BMX Burners, wooden ramps in the park, nettles, ice cream and his brother's tendency to injure himself.
If you haven't read Life Cycle yet then we have copies available to purchase from the Hub prior to the event or you can purchase a copy on the night. Gary has recently enlightened audiences at the Aye Write festival in Glasgow and at the National Library of Scotland with his thoughts and slideshow on, "what you notice when cycling that you miss from behind a car windscreen". It promises to be a very entertaining evening in the Curly Coo!
To register for this event please contact the Hub on 01786 474160 or email us: firstname.lastname@example.com
Minister for Transport and Veterans Keith Brown also officially launched a cycle poster campaign with designs created by Forth Valley College students.
The posters are on display in Stirling, Larbert and Alloa train stations and it is hoped they will encourage people to get on their bikes more often.
Stirling's Cycle Hub – part of Forth Environment Link – approached the HND Visual Communication students at the Creative Industries Department in the College's Stirling Campus recently to see whether they would like the opportunity to pitch their poster designs in a live project.
The enthusiastic students jumped at the chance and ten of them submitted posters from which Cycle Hub had to choose three to display at the selected train stations. The winners were Tracey Sands (Cycle and See), Dale Evans (Stirling's better by Bike) and Nicola Ross (Sustainable Travel).
Graham McQueen Cycle Hub Co-ordinator, said: "We were very impressed with the standard of designs that were submitted by Forth Valley College students. Some of them were brilliant and we would have been delighted to have used more, but we could only pick three."
Forth Valley College Creative Industries Lecturer Hannah Keba, said: "It's been great working with Stirling Cycle Hub, there enthusiasm for cycling has really encouraged our students and having a live project has really given them a great experience of what it's like to work for a genuine client" .
Minister for Transport and Veterans, Keith Brown officially announced extra support for Cycling in Stirling in the form of a grant for the set up of a bike share scheme in the city and a one year extension to the funding of the Stirling Cycle Hub project.
It is planned that by the 23rd July there will be between 100-120 bikes over 10-12 bike stations in and around Stirling available for use either as a member of the scheme or as a passing customer. The scheme will be run by the same company as the similar scheme being set up in Glasgow, thus allowing members to use both schemes with the same membership.
The bike scheme is being launched with a number of key Stirling stakeholders including Stirling University, Forth Valley College, NHS, Stirling Council and Castle Business Park.
Since opening its doors in May 2013 Stirling Cycle Hub has assisted almost 4000 people in the Hub and organised and run over 20 events designed to get people of all ages and abilities into the saddle. It also developed some exciting, productive partnerships with local organisations.
The hub will continue to work with partners and the local people to encourage a healthier, greener future by encouraging as many people as possible to cycle.
Cycle Hub Customer Laurie-Lee Moodie said; "I have been following the Cycle Hub since it opened and have attended previous events which have encouraged me to cycle more often. The Cycle Hub has made it fun but challenging which has kept me interested and we as a family are always on the lookout for the next event."
Would you like to go mountain biking? Want to learn some off-road handling skills first though? Well, our 'Intro to MTBing' is for you.
Learn some of the basic skills you'll need for tackling the trails in our easy-going introduction. The content for these sessions comes directly from Cycling Scotland's 'GoMTB' training programme.
The sessions are intended as a taster for participants who can then progress onto the full programme if they so wish. The Hub are able to provide details of local 'GoMTB' providers for anyone that is interested.
Please register with us in advance for either of these sessions via: firstname.lastname@example.com or call us on: 01786 474160.
It's our birthday! We are one year old! So obviously, we are having a party!
During Friday the 2nd and Saturday the 3rd of May we will be celebrating a whole year of being open for general bikeness.
We'd love for you to come and help us celebrate, so come along and join us for cake, presentations, smoothie bikes, competitions, and other mega super fun stuff.
We will also be leading an easy 'Blossom Ride' to an orchard in Blairlogie on the Saturday 3rd of May which leaves from the hub at 2pm.
Please register with us in advance for this ride on email@example.com or 01786 474160.
We are extremely proud to announce that we are a winner of this years Greener Together Awards!
We are delighted to be one of five community projects from around Scotland to have been chosen to recieve this for working hard to make Scotland a cleaner, greener place to live. Go Team Hub!
The five winners are Stirling Cycle Hub, South Seeds, Gorbals Recycles Project, The Children's Wood, and Remade in Edinburgh.
Editors: Press release here.
Build your confidence on the bike with our Essential Cycling Skills courses developed by Cycling Scotland.
Depending on the abilities of those registering, the courses will take the following forms:
Course One (Essential Skills) Thursday April 17th 6-8.30pm
- Bike Handling Skills
- Essential On-Road Manoeuvres
- Road-Side Repair and Equipment
Course Two (Advanced Skills) Thursday May 15th 6-8.30pm
- Bike Handling Skills
- Advanced On-Road Manoeuvres
- Road-Side Repair and Equipment
Please register in advance by contacting firstname.lastname@example.com
or 01786 474160 and let us know whether you:
* are a new or returning cyclist
* cycle often but avoid cycling on road
* are an experienced cyclist but would like to learn more
Four afternoons of mini mountain biking fun for the juniors with mountain bike tuition, handling skills, trail riding to get to know the trails, picnics and then a mini-enduro (timed lap of the trail).
Wednesday 9th April 1pm - Wallace High School, Stirling
Wednesday 16th April 1pm - Mains Farm Trails, Thornhill
www.facebook.com/mainsfarmtrails Map
Thursday 24th July 1pm - Wallace High School, Stirling
Thursday 14th August 1pm - Mains Farm Trails, Thornhill
www.facebook.com/mainsfarmtrails Map
The event is for children aged 6+.
All children must wear a helmet and their bike must be in good working order. Please also bring a picnic.
Contact us to register on firstname.lastname@example.com or 01786 474 160
Another event coming up on Sunday March the 30th.
A nice little flat easy cycle down to Dunmore Woods to see 'The Pineapple' which is 26 miles in total. We also have access to the gardens at the building so we can have a picnic.
The distance of the cycle and the picnic would make this a great family day out but this may not be suitable for younger children.
We will leave the Hub at 10.30am and ride at an easy pace expecting to arrive at The Pineapple around noon. When we arrive we will have an hour or so to have our picnics then we will head back to the Hub. We should be back in Stirling by 3pm at the very latest.
Bring your own picnics.
Please register in advance - the ride is free.
For more information or to register contact the Stirling Cycle Hub team on 01786 474160 or firstname.lastname@example.com
And so finally folks, here it is...
This years most hotly anticipated cycling shorts film release, probably tipped to be nominated for 25 Golden Globes, too many Oscars to mention and of course the Cannes Film Festival Winners Choice Award, we bring you...
'The Stirling Pushbike (Cycle) Hub Song'. Much love.
Free Dr Bike safety checks and security marking at the Stirling Cycle Hub.
Give your bike a bit of lurving and enjoy some free coffee and cake while you wait!
Friday 14th February 7am-3pm
On the first Sunday of every month we will be heading out for two rides, a mountain bike and a road ride, and would love for you all to join us.
Our aim is to start the rides easy and build them up in distance each month with the ultimate aim of riding the 50 mile freshnlo Pedal for Scotland Glasgow to Edinburgh challenge ride. By starting with roughly an hour long ride at around 10 mph and building this up each month, come September we reckon we will all find the freshnlo Pedal for Scotland a breeze.
Rides leave from the Stirling Cycle Hub and are free of charge:
Hi all,
At the Stirling Cycle Hub we are constantly trying to improve the services we provide. We know that we are doing a great job, but unfortunately our word alone is not enough - what is the world coming to when your local Cycle Hub can't be trusted when blowing it's own trumpet?! We would therefore be extremely grateful if you could take a minute to complete the survey below for us:
Thank you soooooo much!
Our entry is ready for the Cycling Shorts Pop Up Cinema Night and we are so excited about it we thought we'd give you a little teaser.
Psssh Ooh Ooh Psssh Aaaah!
We have had some great entries to our film competition but we have decided to extend the deadline to Friday 10th January to give the rest of you the chance to work on yours over the festive holidays.
Entries will be judged by Cut Media, Reset Films and Creative Stirling and the winners will be shown on the big screen at the Cycling Shorts Pop Up Cinema Night on Friday 31st January.
Light up yourself and your bike and join us for a gentle night ride around the city.
Thursday 19th December.
Leaves 6pm from Stirling Cycle Hub.
Less than 10 mile / 1 hour ride.
In association with Tactran Connect.
We will be opening early for commuters this Friday with free Dr Bike safety checks and coffee and cake while you wait.
Get your bike ready for winter and come and say hi on your way to work!
Friday 15th November, 7am - 3pm.
In association with Dr Bike at The Bike Station.
An evening of short cycling movies and premieres of our competition winning films.
Dress warm or bring a blanket!
Hot food and drinks will be on sale from Loving Food.
Tickets £3.50 from Stirling Cycle Hub, Recyke-A-Bike or on the door.
In association with Cut Media, Reset Films, Creative Stirling, Recyke-A-Bike and Loving Food.
For more information contact the Stirling Cycle Hub team on 01786 474160 or firstname.lastname@example.com
We are busy collating some brilliant rides around Stirlingshire, Clackmannanshire and the Trossachs and would love to hear from you if you have any favourite middle/long distance routes in the area. Send them in to us on firstname.lastname@example.com and we will be your friends forever!
Calling all budding film directors - send us your bike films!
Winning films will be shown on the BIG SCREEN at our Cycling Shorts Pop-Up Cinema event in January 2014.
Films must last no longer than 5 minutes and can be about any type of cycling.
Submission deadline is 20th December.
Send us your films to firstname.lastname@example.com , drop them on a disc into the hub, or upload them to our Cycling Shorts Vimeo group at: www.vimeo.com/groups/cyclingshorts
Entries will be judged by Cut Media, Reset Films and Creative Stirling.
In association with Cut Media, Reset Films and Creative Stirling.
In partnership with Active Stirling we will be running a new led cycling group, once a week, every Thursday morning from the Peak. This includes every Thursday up to and including Thursday November the 21st 2013. The ride is suitable for anyone with a basic level of cycling ability and will be conducted at a very easy pace over flat terrain.
The ride will start at 10am outside the Peak and places can be booked on 01786 448308 or on the Active Stirling Website.
£3 per session or £20 for block of 9 sessions (can be transferred to future sessions).
Bring your own bike along or we have limited bikes to hire - costs £2 per session. Please book in advance to secure a bike hire.
The cycle path at Causewayhead Road is closed over the next few days as the bridge is being replaced so we'd like to alert you to a couple of other routes you can take if you wish to avoid pushing your bike over either of the bridges.
Via Cornton:
Via Lovers Walk:
Since opening in May we have made loads of cycling friends in the area and to celebrate we would love for you all to join us on our big social ride of the year.
Sunday 20th October 10.30am @ Stirling Cycle Hub
This is a 40 mile social ride for all ages and abilities. Leading you out from the Stirling Cycle Hub along flat and quiet roads we will head out along the NCN 76 and then the NCN 764, stopping for delicious cake in Culross. Riding back along the beautiful banks of the Forth, we'll then return in a loop via Alloa.
Places will be limited to please register in advance by contacting the Stirling Cycle Hub team on 01786 474160 or email@example.com
For more route details please see here.
Over the next four weekends from Saturday 14th September 2013, trains to Stirling from Glasgow and Edinburgh will be disrupted with a replacement bus service operating from Falkirk Grahamston to Stirling. Unfortunately there will be no provision for bikes on these buses - please pass this information on to any cycling friends planning on travelling to this area during this time.
The dates affected are:
Saturday 14th September
Sunday 15th September
Saturday 21st September
Sunday 22nd September
Saturday 28th September
Sunday 29th September
Saturday 5th October
Sunday 6th October
For more information please see here:
We have an opportunity for a young person between 16-20 years old. Through Community Jobs Scotland we are looking for someone to work 25 hours a week in the hub. The role will be supporting the Cycle Hub Officers in providing cycle-related information and referral services to the public and being an ambassador for cycling.
It's £6.24 per hour for 18-20 and £4.93 for under 18 year olds.
If interested please visit your local Job Centre or Skills Development Scotland office for further details and to complete an application form.
Further details here.
This is a family fun mountain bike time trial event on Saturday 14th September at the Callendar Estate Trails in Falkirk. (http://goo.gl/WLky3y)
The event will see a parent and child riding an individual lap of the Green (child participant) and Blue (adult participant) trails. Their two times will then be added together for their overall Tribe Trial position (child age category based).
What you will need: A fully working mountain bike, a helmet, snacks, fluids, and your race face!
If you wish to attend this event or require more information please contact the Hub team on 01786 474160 or email us on email@example.com
Learn some off-road handling skills with an easy going introduction to the basics of mountain biking.
Bring a helmet, a bike, water and some snacks.
Meet at the Greenrig Car Park, Callendar Estate Cycle Trails, Falkirk at 11:00am.
This event is aimed at adults and children of secondary school age as the content will draw directly from the GoMTB training program. (http://goo.gl/qz2G4Y).
We will undertake the training as we cycle around and session various bits of the different trails on the estate.
If you want to discuss any details regarding this or to register for the event then please call the Hub on 01786 474160.
Wednesday 11th September at 6.30pm (finish around 8pm), Stirling University Main Gates (Airthrey Road).
You will be provided with a manifest, giving you clues to checkpoints around the campus, a map and a pencil. Zoom around the cycle paths and campus roads to answer the clues and complete the challenges to win loads of awesome prizes.
Bring a bike.
Free entry.
All students and non-students welcome.
With kind sponsorship by Flying Fox Bikes, Recyke-A-Bike, RIG Bike Shop, Stirling Cycle Repairs and Tokyobike.
For more info contact the Stirling Cycle Hub team on 01786 474160 or firstname.lastname@example.com
We'd really love to know what you think about travelling with bikes on trains - if you have a minute please help with our very quick survey below. Thanks!
An afternoon of mountain bike fun at the Mains Farm MTB Trails in Thornhill (FK8 3QR).
The afternoon will consist of some mountain bike tuition, trail riding to get to know the trail, picnics and then a mini-enduro (timed lap of the trail) with some great prizes donated by our friends at Rock & Road Cycles, Wheels Cycling Centre and Mounter Bikes.
The event is for children aged 6+.
All children must wear a helmet and their bike must be in good working order.
We are going to be helping out at Recyke-a-Bike's Cycle Fun Day on Saturday 10th August. Come and join us - it's going to be bike-tastic!!
After a long hot cycling summer come along on Saturday 10th August between 10.00 - 4.00 at Recyke-a-Bike, Abbey Road, Riverside, Stirling and have some bike fun where there will be something for everyone.
This day will be open for all cyclists through Recyke-a-Bike and friends who will carry out safety checks on your bike (Recyke-a-Bike); security mark your bike (Police Scotland); improve your cycling skills and, for those with energy left, try the "Pit shop Wheel Change Challenge"; go out on a cycle route cycle ride with cycle leaders (Recyke-a-Bike and Stirling Cycle Hub) or, for the more adventurous a led off-road cycle ride.
Forth Environment Link will be providing "smoothie" bikes for when you get thirsty and cargo bike for you to try something different. If you want to relax, come along and watch some BMX stunts (Straitwurly), vehicle rescue demonstrations (Scotland Fire & Rescue Service), see inside an emergency response vehicle without being a casualty (Scottish Ambulance Service) or rummage through our bike jumble.
Times Event
10.30, 12.00, 1.30 & 3.00 Pit Stop Wheel Change Challenges
11.00 & 2.00 Cycle route cycle ride – open for all
11.00 & 2.00 Off road led cycle ride – over 14's only
11.30 & 2.30 BMX Stunts demonstrations by "Straitwurly"
If it is cycling information you are after there will be information from Cycling Scotland, Sustrans and the new Inner Forth Landscape Initiative to help you get out on your bike into our beautiful countryside with safety guidance for railway crossings (Network Rail). If you are not ready for the wild countryside, there will be information on cycle skills and bike maintenance (Recyke-a-Bike) and information from Active Stirling on getting fitter to get you out there.
For the younger cyclists there will be a chance to complete the cycling obstacle course, design and colour your own bike and persuade your parents to take part in a chance to win a £50 Recyke-a-Bike gift voucher.
Join us for more bike fun on a guided 7 mile cycle around Fintry on an undulating route (see map below).
This route has some challenging hills so we have recommended it for age 10+ years.
11am Saturday 13th July at Fintry Sports Club, Kippen Road, Fintry.
Bring bikes, a picinc and suitable clothing.
** Every Week is Bike Week has finished for the time being but keep an eye on our events for other introductory rides we have coming soon. **
Bi-weekly introduction to cycling rides around Stirling.
Why not use your bike every week not just on bike week!
These are slow paced rides along quiet cycle paths so why not come and join us!
We launched our weekly introduction to cycling rides during Bike Week on Thursday 20th June and have had lots of new cyclists and those just getting back into riding join us already.
Rides are approx. 4.5 miles with an estimated ride time of 1-2 hours.
Tuesdays 6.30pm and Thursdays 2pm
Meet at Toast Cafe, Unit 2A, Forthside, Stirling, FK8 1QZ
Next ride Tuesday 16th July 6.30pm meeting at Toast.
Join us for a cycle themed treasure hunt by bike around the City of Stirling at 6.30pm on Friday 21st of June.
You will be provided with a manifest, giving you clues to checkpoints around the city, a map and a pencil.
Plot your route and then cycle to each location to complete the challenge or question.
Loads of awesome prizes!
Bring a bike and your good self.
Free entry.
Meet at the Stirling Cycle Hub, Stirling Train Station, at 6.30pm.
Finish will be at around 8pm at the Cycle Hub.
In association with Straitwurly, Velocity 44, Cisco's, Halfords, Recyke-A-Bike, Wheelz and YSXC.
Join the Stirling Cycle Hub to ride an international cycle challenge with thousands of other women around the world on Sunday 7th July.
To celebrate the 100th year of the Tour de France and to coincide with the Etape du Tour, the day that amateur cyclists are given a chance to ride a major stage of the Tour, Rapha have called on women across the world to ride 100kms of their choosing.
The Stirling Cycle Hub will be leading a challenge ride for this on fairly flat quiet roads around Stirlingshire at an easy pace – it won't be a race! Using the Wallace Monument as a beacon, the ride will follow a figure-of-8 route allowing participants to complete 50kms or the full 100kms, with a final 5km Champs Elysee style parade for all the riders around Stirling City. There will be refreshments at the hub for all the returning riders and a male member of the cycle hub staff will travel with us as domestique, providing us with route support, puncture repair assistance and a support car.
A fun day out for all the family cycling from Stirling to Briarlands Farm and back with an afternoon packed full of activities at the farm.
An easy guided ride for children and adults, on quiet roads, at a slow pace, taking in 7 miles there and 7 miles back. A few hours will be spent at the farm with lunch (bring a picnic or buy food there), and full access to the activities at the farm including animal tours, jumping pillow and tractor go-karts.
Meet at 10.30am, Sunday 9th of June, at the Forth Valley College Car Park, Raploch.
Bring a bike, picnic, and suitable clothing.
Tickets (£4.50, kids under 3 go free) are required for entrance to the farm and can be purchased at the Stirling Cycle Hub or from a ride leader on the day.
For more information contact the Stirling Cycle Hub team on 01786 474 160 or email@example.com
We are recruiting for a Relief Cycle Officer at the Hub. For more details and to apply on the Forth Environment Link website.
** This position has now been filled - thank you for your interest **


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September 1989
The Restructuring of American Religion: Society and Faith Since World War II. By Robert Wuthnow. Princeton University Press. 374 pages. $25.
Some of the Souths more rumbustious fundamentalists execrate colleges and universities as abattoirs in which satanic professors murder the souls of unsuspecting students. Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow confirms their worst suspicions. Or at least he argues that the bearer of a college degree is likely to side with the modernists in the Great Divide that rives Christianity in America. College graduates demonstrate nearly twice as much support for abortion as the less educated, according to Wuthnow, and they evince much more tolerance of pornography, homosexuality, and elastic moral standards. That, mutters the fundamentalist, is godlessness.
The impact of higher education and the opening of the Great Divide play conspicuous roles in the restructuring that Wuthnow examines in this subtle and richly rewarding study. Other features of the momentous transformation include the decline of denominations, the explosive growth of special purpose groups such as the Moral Majority, the rise of megachurches and televangelists, and the rupture of the civil religion that unified Christians in the 1950s.
Wuthnow directs a keen eye at how government policies and programs have affected the churches and religious sentiment in general. The most salient instance is abortion, but Wuthnow pursues the topic into less obvious areas, as, for example, the way government aid to education has indirectly encouraged the watering down of religious views.
In the most chilling facet of his thesis, Wuthnow suggests that Americans are elevating technology into the new legitimating myth of a revitalized civil religion. Welcome to the 21st century, home of Technological Man and the Electronic Candy Store, filled with word processors and software.
The Spanish Civil War as a Religious Tragedy. By Jose M. Sanchez. University of Notre Dame Press. 241 pages. $22.95.
Tragedy aptly describes the Spanish debacle: both what was done to the Church and what the Church failed to do were surely tragic. Between July and December 1936, haters of the faith unleased a fury that devoured the lives of thousands of priests. When the war finally ended in 1939, the savage persecution had annihilated nearly 7,000 clerics (among whom were 13 bishops) and 283 nuns. It was, writes Sanchez, the greatest clerical bloodletting in the entire history of the Christian Church. The Spanish clergy compounded this horror by throwing themselves into the arms of Franco. As the Nationalists swept to victory, the Church remained silent as thousands of Spaniards were murdered in purges and reprisals. Tragedy fed upon tragedy.
During the civil war, and especially after Francos triumph, a vast ideologic mythology was created by both sides. The Lefts myth contended that a rich and oppressive Church had conspired with Franco to overthrow the republic. The Right charged that a Communist conspiracy had ignited the fury and then fed the flames of persecution. Even today, both myths retain their fierce grip on partisans of the opposing sides. Sanchez endeavors to hack through the thick jungle of mythology and open a clearing in which to view the horror with a modicum of dispassion. He succeeds admirably so well, in fact, that Left and Right alike will probably be appalled at his book. While discounting the mythologies of both camps, he does not blink away the ghastliness of Catholics sufferings, nor does he evade the Spanish Churchs grievous flaws.
One searches in vain among Spaniards themselves (whether Left or Right) for voices that combined justice, mercy, and love. Outside of Spain most men seized upon one mythology or the other to explain the brutal conflict. Four devout French Catholics Maritain, Mauriac, Bernanos, and Mounier who together spanned the political spectrum from Left to Right, chose a more difficult and perilous course: to repudiate the myths and to seek a truly Christian perspective. Perhaps Maritain said it best: It is a horrible sacrilege to massacre priests be they fascists they are still ministers of Christ out of hatred for religion; and it is another sacrilege, horrible also, to massacre poor people be they Marxists they are still the people of Christ in the name of religion.
Pilgrim to the Russian Church. By Jim Forest. Crossroad. 139 pages. $15.95.
To know the Russian Church is to know its beauty, a beauty cherished from the start. St. Vladimir, Prince of Kiev at Russias conversion to Christianity in 988, chose its Eastern expression because of the report of his emissaries to Constantinoples Hagia Sophia. We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth, for on earth there is no such splendor or such beauty, and we are at a loss how to describe it.
A millennium later the veteran peace worker Jim Forest provides an engaging account of his explorations of Russian Orthodoxy in renewal. He presents, first of all, a Church at prayer. Always there is the background prayer of the simple believer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. But the great prayer is the Divine Liturgy, rich in antiphonal melody, centered on the Eucharist, and reaching its crescendo in the jubilant celebration of Pascha.
Perhaps the key to the Orthodox spirit is the sacramentality of its icons. They are emblems of the transcendent. Through their mystic translucency, earth opens to heaven. For the Eastern Christian, the house of worship, walled with icons, is the point at which this life merges with the divine life begun in baptism and continued in every liturgy.
If we find the heart of Orthodox spirituality in Forests reflections, we also meet with reminders of failings only too human. The most serious is that the Russian Orthodox Church needs to look more closely at the continuing persecution of Ukrainian Catholics. And Forest himself needs to think more deeply about the charism of celibacy in the Catholic Church. Last, Forest and his readers need to learn more about the Eastern rites within the Catholic Church.
If perestroika is possible in secular Russia, the equivalent and more is possible in Catholic and Orthodox ecumenism. We might start by showing one another something of the tenderness of the familiar icon of Our Lady of Vladimir, Russias most holy treasure.
Letters to Marc About Jesus. By Henri J.M. Nouwen. Harper & Row. 85 pages. $12.95.
In one of the seven letters he wrote in 1986 to his nephew Marc, a Dutch teenager, Fr. Nouwen exposes the raw terror of existence. Despair, he observes, is our inner conviction that, in the end, it is utterly impossible to prevent anything from coming to nothing. Not fame, power, influence, prestige, or the plaudits of admirers not even, as in Nouwens case, academic appointments at Harvard and Yale can stave off the bleak moment of revelation: in the end all crumbles to dust. Except except what? One hesitates to say it, because, repeated endlessly and unthinkingly, it has been cheapened into an unctuous formula. Yet one cannot blink the fact; the answer to the terror is, as Nouwen phrases it, this: Living with Jesus at the center.
In Letters to Marc About Jesus, Henri Nouwen struggles to break through the fog bank of banality and to give graphic urgency to both the terror and the answer. He has a tough audience: an affluent, highly secularized, skeptical Western European teenager. Easier to be shipped to Borneo to missionize headhunters. Uncle Henri sugarcoats nothing for his nephew. Living spiritually is made possible only through a direct, uncushioned confrontation with the reality of death. Ones own death source of despair first, but then another death, the one that defeated death. The gospel is, first and foremost, the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and that story constitutes the core of the spiritual life. From the grave springs life, from contemplation of nothingness emerge hope and meaning. Christ reveals to us the descending way of love: God descended among men to suffer and to sacrifice himself. This contrasts starkly with the ascending way call it upward mobility of a godless society (Holland or the United States will do nicely) that provides infinite means to evade the shock of recognition when the abyss of annihilation can no longer be ignored. Christ reveals too the hidden way: Again and again, you see how Jesus opts for what is small, hidden, and poor, and accordingly declines to wield influence.
Nouwen wrote these letters, as he confides to Marc at the end, to awaken in you a deep love for Jesus. He also composed them for himself as part of a search for an answer to that most exigent of questions: How best to serve God? The last letter provides an answer. Nouwen writes it from Daybreak, a community near Toronto, where he had just arrived to begin his labors with people suffering from severe mental handicaps.
The Melody of Theology: A Philosophical Dictionary. By Jaroslav Pelikan. Harvard University Press. 274 pages. $20.
The Melody of Theology, Jaroslav Pelikans intellectual autobiography in the form of a philosophical dictionary, exemplifies the Lutheran ethos in top form; it radiates an air of sanity, common sense, and hearty good humor. Its rough and vigorous disdain for theological piffle is worthy of the master himself, Martin Luther. One can almost hear Br. Martin roaring his approbation at Pelikans acerbic swipe at contemporary theologys endemic tendency to capitulate to the Zeitgeist.
Unlike many theologians (Protestant and Catholic alike), Pelikan does not flinch at the words orthodoxy and heresy. He stoutly denies that the former is a synonym for obscurantism and repression; as for heresy, well, the modern world, so eager to dismiss the concept in the realm of religion, seizes with alacrity upon the necessity to stamp out heretical opinions in various areas of politics and social policy. (One strongly suspects, for example, that at Professor Pelikans own Yale University a strenuous opposition to, say, ideological feminism would quickly earn one a reputation for heresy.)
Pelikan lauds orthodoxys historic willingness to tolerate an astonishing variety and creativity within a broadly inscribed circle of theological discourse. This freedom promotes ecumenism of the best kind, a catholicity that permits Pelikan to number among his favorite thinkers such diverse figures as St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Dostoevsky, Cardinal Newman, and, oddly enough, Ralph Waldo Emerson. From Angel to Zion, Pelikan employs the 82 entries to express, as he quips, a completely personal set of prejudices. The robust orthodoxy that infuses these pages will invigorate those who hold by the enduring truths of the faith, while, one imagines, it will appall those who have succumbed to the blandishments of the latest theological craze to sashay down the pike.
Lister Hill: Statesman from the South. By Virginia Van der Veer Hamilton. University of North Carolina Press. 375 pages. $24.95.
For liberals who demand purity in their political heroes, Lister Hill fails the test. As Senator from Alabama from 1938-1968 he compiled an admirable record of service to the public good, save on one count: he consistently defended racial segregation. For those with short memories, this is shameful; to those who know something of Southern history, it is part of the Souths tragedy.
Shaped as a young congressman by the New Deal and his hero FDR, Hill devoted his long career to improving the lives of those too poor and powerless to make their influence felt. He defended the rights of organized labor and fought for the small farmer. His particular causes included TVA, hospital construction, medical research, and federal aid for education and public libraries. At home he contested the power of Alabamas Big Mules, those who represented the arrogance of corporations and vested wealth. In both Alabama and in the larger national arena he combated the ancient enemy, as he called the Republican Party. As a self-styled Jefferson-Jackson Democrat, he sought a more just, humane, and democratic society. Support of segregation was the price exacted by the white voters of Alabama to enable him to pursue his goals.
This sad circumstance was compounded in Hills case, for he bore two burdens that in his day generally disqualified a man for high public office in the Deep South: he was partly Jewish and he was raised a Catholic. Hill repudiated the Church when he launched his political career in the 1920s, a decade that constitutes the golden age of Catholic-baiting in the South. As for his Jewishness, he kept that a closely guarded secret.
Did Lister Hill pay too high a price to gain and hold political power? Blacks, Catholics, and Jews might reasonably say yes, but millions of Americans including a good number of blacks, Catholics, and Jews benefited from his efforts to extend the boundaries of the common good. Virginia Hamilton, herself an Alabamian, understands the web of circumstance in which Hill was trapped. Her splendid biography analyzes Hills career with the scrutiny of dispassionate scholarship, but because of her depth of understanding and her compassion for mortal shortcomings, her book is also a tribute to a decent and humane man who represented the best side of Southern politics in a grim and tumultuous era.
The Prince of Darkness: Radical Evil and the Power of Good in History. By Jeffrey Burton Russell. Cornell University Press. 288 pages. $21.95.
It is an ironic (diabolic?) commentary on human nature that a preoccupation with Satans existence can increase the sum total of evil in the world. A loathing of the devil and his sinister machinations repeatedly whipped Europeans (and briefly, Americans) into frenzied obsession with witches. This craze, Jeffrey Burton Russell observes, revealed the most terrible danger of belief in the Devil: the willingness to assume, that those whom one distrusts or fears are servants of Satan and fitting targets of hatred. Insistence upon Satans reality has also lured men into a baneful dualism that vitiates the majesty of God and, with its emphasis upon Satans fearsome might, engenders despair. A strain of fatalism can debouch from this, a view expressed mischievously by Flip Wilsons Geraldine, who, arms akimbo and face sporting a lubricious leer, saucily tosses her hair and purrs: Sugar, the devil made me do it!
The denial of Satans existence generates its own dangers, ones that have emerged clearly only in recent centuries, for not till the rise of the Enlightenment did many men even dream of questioning Satans palpable presence. We reap the results of such disbelief today. Russell argues: The flat materialistic assumptions of contemporary Western society have effectively censored concern with radical evil by expressions of contempt or condescension for transcendent views. Does Satan exist? Russell admits that if the existence of radical evil is clear, that of a personality controlling it is not. Yet, having elegantly traced the idea of the Evil One from antiquity to the present (this book condenses for a broader audience Russells earlier four-volume study), he concludes on a note to which a Mississippi Baptist or Tennessee Pentecostal could murmur agreement. If the Devil does exist, what is he? If the concept has any meaning at all, he is the traditional Prince of Darkness, a mighty person with intelligence and will whose energies are bent on the destruction of the cosmos and the misery of its creatures.
Intellect and Spirit: The Life and Work of Robert Coles. By Bruce A. Ronda. Continuum. 204 pages. $19.95.
Heaven knows we need a book about Robert Coles. But this isnt quite the one he deserves.
Oh, Ronda can be perceptive. For example, Coles sees the ways privilege undermines and weakens moral and religious sensitivity; Coles is an artist in lives who, in his empathetic conversations with common people, enables readers to see life from the bottom up. But while Ronda highlights these qualities in Coles, he doesnt fully appreciate them. He faults Coles for not succoring upper-middle-class people. Such a pity! Dont these people already have disproportionately adequate means for succoring themselves? Because Coles, a Harvard psychiatrist, happens to be in the upper-middle class he critically scrutinizes, Ronda sees him as having a self-hating side. This two-bit psychologizing from a distance is reckless, as anyone who knows Coles will tell you.
What really seems to bug Ronda is Coless distrust of ideological feminism, gay lib, and abortion rights themselves predominantly upper-middle-class causes. Hence, although Ronda allows that Coles is on record as a political progressive and economic egalitarian who favors, for example, workers ownership of enterprises, he wants to paint Coles as a neoconservative of some sort.
In this book we learn too much about Ronda and not enough about Coles. Ronda comes off as a single-issue, elite liberal. If one doesnt pass the litmus test of cultural liberalism, one has forfeited ones progressivism. Hence: Coles cannot imagine (at least in his published work) the possibility of a better future. This too is a reckless judgment.
The preciously liberal mindset at work here has gone a long way in making an invalid of political progressivism over the last quarter century. Dr. Coles has a cure but if the patient wont cooperate, what can one do?
Selected Letters of Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Edited by Joseph Frank and David I. Goldstein. Rutgers University Press. 453 pages. $29.95.
I am a child of this century, a child of doubt and disbelief, I have always been and shall ever be until they close the lid of my coffin. So wrote Dostoeysky in a letter of 1854. At the age of 33 he had arrived at candid self-knowledge; as Andrew MacAndrew, the translator of this splendid volume, has noted elsewhere, a painful ambiguity of belief plagued Dostoevsky throughout his life. Few figures out of the past speak more cogently to the 20th century: doubt and disbelief dog our heels tenaciously. In his terrible God-hunger Dostoevsky found one thing clear and sacred: To believe that there is nothing more beautiful, more profound, more sympathetic, more reasonable, more courageous, and more perfect than Christ. For such crystalline insight, and much else as well his comments on socialism, Catholicism, the West, his works in progress these letters are a treasure trove.
Vipers Tangle. By Francois Mauriac. Carroll and Graf. 208 pages. $8.95.
Francois Mauriacs novels are not in vogue. That may seem odd: sin sells, and Mauriac was a virtuoso at depicting the slackness of flesh and spirit. The problem is that Mauriac recognized sin as sin; our era more often labels it self-fulfillment, pursuing an alternative lifestyle, shattering bourgeois hypocrisy. For Mauriac, sin was sin, man a sinner, and grace the only answer: not a message guaranteed to enhance an authors reputation in the late 20th century. In Vipers Tangle, originally published in 1932, Mauriac limns the ugly face of sinfulness, in this case an avarice and hate that blot out the image of God and transform man into a monster of pridefulness and egoism. This is not a pretty story, but it is a profound one.

subset: commoncrawl


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TAMPA — Friends and family have a saying about Lee Thornton Davis Jr. Once you met him, even for just a moment, you knew him forever.
"He was the most outgoing person I'd ever met," Dick Greco said, which is something coming from Tampa's gregarious, 84-year-old, four-time mayor. "He believed in friendship to the nth degree and made everyone his friend in an instant. He had a personality that was impossible to forget."
Mr. Davis died Feb. 12 at 92.
He was a World War II pilot who test-flew fighter planes and a former secretary-treasurer of Florida Trend magazine who in the mid-1970s helped Harris Mullen, his friend and boss at the publication, develop an Ybor City cigar factory into Ybor Square — the Latin district's first modern retail attraction.
In the 1960s, Mr. Davis was commodore of the Davis Islands Yacht Club and president of Tampa Bay Estate Planning Council. As chairman of the Metropolitan YMCA in the late-1970s, he spearheaded the merging of that organization with the city's YWCA.
Despite his business and civic success, it was Mr. Davis' personality and adventurous spirit that distinguished him.
One example is his journey by boat to Cuba in 1965 to rescue the family of a Tampa man he'd only just met.
Fidel Castro was allowing those with a boat ride to leave the island. But by the time Mr. Davis and his rescue crew arrived, the window of opportunity had closed. Cuban military detained Mr. Davis on his yacht for nearly two weeks and contemplated imprisoning him.
By tricking his would-be captors into believing he was an important American, and by sharing his collection of Playboy magazines, Mr. Davis turned the tables on them. They brought him beer and eventually freed the crew. But before they did, Mr. Davis managed to send rare U.S. news reports from inside communist Cuba.
"My friends in college would beg to come home with me to go boating with my dad," said his daughter Sharon Davis, 69. "They loved playing cards with him, singing, hearing his dirty jokes and listening to his stories."
Among favorite tales told by the Richmond native was the secret staging of B-17 bomber dogfights over the Gulf of Mexico with a fellow pilot while they were stationed in Victoria, Texas.
That daredevil attitude never left him.
Mr. Davis would take his personal plane to family reunions in Virginia.
"He'd fly just over electrical lines, drop down quick to land on a small path between cornfields, and stop right before the pool," his daughter said.
Even into his late-70s, he would captain his granddaughter and her friends on boating trips featuring his alcohol-laced "Captain's Artillery Punch."
For his daughter, one childhood memory stood above all others.
While vacationing in Utah, the family came upon a crowd on a mountain daring one another to brave a rope swing that would send them over the canyon.
Davis' daughter boasted, "My daddy will do it," and he did.
"He later told me he was petrified," Sharon Davis said. "But he wouldn't let me down."


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The Astoria Performing Arts Center(APAC) is a great resource that offers free community programs for middle school students between 8-13 years old to develop playwriting and theatre performance. The Playmaking program is designed to engage and deepen students to understanding and knowledge of playing writing used to help explore their individual adventures on stage.
The Playmaking program at APAC requires the support of local members at its Homecoming Benefit to maintain and sustain the community programming. In support of the Queens theatrical scene, is Gina Argento, President of Broadway Stages, who joins the APAC to contribute resources to benefit middle school students. Contributions for the Homecoming Benefit made by Gina are used to secure financial resources for Playmaking program for children to continue to discover fantastical journeys through plays.
The APAC excels at giving students participants the freedom of imagination and interpretation of each play, playing a vital role in youth development. Recreational programs such as the Playmaking program are needed to express student imagination and highlight individuality. Join Gina in supporting and contributing to student recreational development and imaginative exploration. #GoGina


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McClure Autumn Colors
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Silicone Collapsible Travel Dog Bowl Grey
Water and food on the go with this collapsible travel dog bowl. No problem! This bad boy collapses to less than 1" of BPA free, FDA approved silicone. Easily clips to be readily available whenever you need it.
Medium (13.5 oz./1.75 cups)
Large (25.7 oz./3 cups)