Breakdown services for cyclists

Motorists often join motor clubs to ensure breakdown assistance or they take out breakdown insurance. Only recently did I find out that similar insurance policies are available for cyclists. It’s a good idea. A moments daydreaming and a pothole can lead to a bent or broken frame or wheel. When commuting this is probably not a serious problem as you can lug your bike to the next bike shop and have it repaired but if you are half way up an Alp and you need to be at the airport at six o’clock the next morning it is a completely different kettle of fish. If you are considering a European tour when the present excitement dies down it’s definitely worth buying one of these policies.

In general the insurance companies offer the following services, but as ever it pays to read the small print of the policy:

• A hotline emergency number open 24/7.
• In the event of a bicycle failure: onward and return journey service, rental bicycle service, breakdown and accident assistance, salvage, removal, bicycle transport service, bicycle storage, bicycle customs clearance and scrapping (abroad) and help with bicycle repair.
• In the event of illness or accident: overnight service, visit to the sick, return of children, bicycle return transport, patient return transport
• In the event of an unforeseen interruption of travel abroad: return travel service, help in the event of bankruptcy of the tour operator
• In case of emergencies: Immediate help in the event of loss of means of payment, document service, workshop service, key service

The following clubs and a company offer breakdown insurance. This list is probably not comprehensive.

Country - organisation	Breakdown Service	Cost	Comment
UK - Environmental Transport Association https://www.eta.co.uk/	Cycle Rescue Cover	£24 annually	Europe wide
Germany - Allgeminer Deutscher Fahrrad Club (ADFC) https://www.adfc.de (in German)	ADFC-Pannenhilfe	Free to members	Limited to Germany.
Germany - Allgeminer Deutscher Fahrrad Club (ADFC) https://www.adfc.de (in German)	ADFC Pannenhilfe PLUS	11.90€ for a single person annually 19.90€  for each member of family annually. Only members can join the scheme.	Europe wide
Germany - Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD) https://www.vcd.org/startseite/ (in German)	Plus Fahrrad-Schutzbrief	9€ annually for members.	Europe wide
Germany - ROLAND Schutzbrief-Versicherung-AG 50664 Köln https://www.roland-schutzbrief.de/privatkunden_1/fahrrad_schutzbrief/fahrradschutzbrief.html (in German)	Fahrrad-Schutzbrief	19.90€ for a single person annually 29.90€  for each member of family annually. Open to all.	Europe wide. It is the same policy as the one offeredby the VCD
Luxembourg - Automobile Club Luxembourg https://www.acl.lu/en-us/assistance-avantages/assistances-membres/nos-assistances-assurances/nos-assistances/acl-bike-assistance	Bike Assistance	25€ annually	Assistance within the Duchy of Luxembourg up to a distance of 50km outside the border

Bicycle expressways in and around Heidelberg, Ludwigshafen and Mannheim

The German Fedral Government plans to invest in new cycle freeways. These will be designed to take bicycles and e-bikes with a maximum speed of about 19mph, which means no pedestrians crossing the road, no junctions and lighting when dark. These routes are not designed for day rambles out into the country, but for commuters. The Mannheim region is planning to apply for financing for several routes:

East West: Heidelberg Mannheim Ludwigshafen and farther west in to Rhineland Palatinate.
A vaguely North South route from Mannheim to Darmstadt.
A southern route towards Karlsruhe.

I am a little dubious about the design speeds. It does not sound like much fun to ride for the slow moving like Judith and I. I just just hope I can see them before I have to hand in my bicycle clips for ever.

Ways of encouraging cycling to work

We are thinking of building a bicycle box for the front of the house and came across the Velo-Boxx which is manufactured in Belgium. It would appear that Belgian tax laws are very cyclist friendly:

Pursuant to article 64 (b) of the Belgian Income Tax Code (WIB of 1992; assessment year 2010), the Velo-Boxx is a 120% deductible expenditure;
ｰ all costs incurred or borne that relate specifically to encouraging employees to cycle to and from work to the extent that any such costs have been incurred or borne in order to:
- Acquire real estate, to build or renovate a facility for parking cycles during the
working hours of the employees; or
- Provide sanitary conveniences or changing rooms, with showers as appropriate.

An excellent idea.

Are we daft or what? Bikes without mudguards/fenders.

Judith is a member of the CTC, the British national cycling charity which is not as its name suggests an organisation collecting energy bars to enable poor cyclists to take part in day trips, but is better described by its original name "Cyclists' Touring Club". The original name is not fashionable anymore, as it was felt that that modern day cyclists could not grasp the concept. The club carries out a range of activities, not all of which of which are perhaps not directly connected with touring, but I do have the impression it was change for change's sake. The club wanted to move beyond mere touring, although the latest edition of "Cycle" the club's bimonthly magazine, has an off-road cycle touring theme. I checked the advertisements and of the twenty five advertisements with photographs of bicycles 60% showed bikes without mudguards and only 40% showed bikes with mudguards. (When tidying up the office I found another edition of "Cycle" and the ratio in that copy was 63% without and 37% with mudguards. This suggests the figures are reasonable representative.) Now I have not lived in Britain for 40 years, but I have visited the country practically every year during this time. It still rains there and frequently. It was actually suggested that some of the bikes without mudguards/fenders could be used for commuting.
Commuting? If it rains the road gets wet and road surfaces are dirty. As you ride over these surfaces your wheels throw up mucky water. If you have a bike with mudguards most of this spray is collected and drips back onto the road. If you've  not got mudguards, the muck and wetness collect on your lower limbs and clothing. You turn up to the office looking like a drowned rat and dirty with it. No way will I do this.
Obviously it is in manufacturers' interest to propagate the idea that either a bike does not need mudguards or that these are an added uncool extra. They can sell less bike for the same money or perhaps fit better components and keep the bike cheaper. However how much component quality you can get for the couple of quid that mudguards cost when bought in large quantities, I am not too sure. No mudguards are OK for sports machines where you can decide when  you go out, but for using the bike as a means of transport, forget it. Mudguards are absolutely essential.

Car Fasting in Lent

Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday, better known as Pancake Tuesday in the civilised world. We have been trying to convert the German nation to the true faith for years. In many parts of Germany between November 11 at 11:11 am and midnight on Shrove Tuesday people celebrate with increasing intensity the nearer it gets to Ash Wednesday. From the Thursday before Ash Wednesday (known as Dirty  or Womens’ Thursday when ladies in the Ruhr and on the Lower Rhine cut mens’ ties off) until Rose Monday and Fasnacht/Fasching/Karneval Tuesday there are Balls, street parades, variety shows with jokes of a simple kind, young men and women dancing in sequinned costumes which don’t leave much to the imagination, with costumed audiences including much cross dressing. It is definitely Saturnalia. We have tried over the years to persuade our neighbours that it is better to just have a plateful of pancakes with sugar and lemon on Shrove Tuesday than all this cavorting. We haven't had much success and I don’t rate our chances highly in future.
Afterwards on Ash Wednesday life in Germany resumes its serious Teutonic ways. People give up various practices for Lent.  They leave alcohol, tobacco or sweets out of their diets. The Catholic and Protestant churches in Rhineland Palatinate and in Luxembourg as well as the Roman Diocese of Aachen in North Rhine Westphalia have a new variation: Autofasten (Car Fasting). During the period of this action from 1st March to 29th March church members agree to using their cars less and this includes commuting. It is a voluntary action. Participants will travel by public transport, by forming car pools, by bicycle or on foot. It might well be difficult in this year as two trade unions are fighting for control in the German railway industry and there will be serious strikes. Apart from the strikes it does appear that the SW German/Luxembourg approach to fasting has a lot to offer and could well be taken up elsewhere. See the church's blog: http://blog.bistum-trier.de/autofasten/?page_id=3 (in German and French). Obviously the idea over the long term is to encourage people to use their cars less all the time.

Mannheim City and Province encourage bicycle mobilty

The Baden-Württemberg government has started a project to encourage sustainable local transport in four cities in the province: Lörrach, Mannheim, Stuttgart and Tübingen. The cost of this project (€3 million) is financed by the tax on motor fuels.  Cyclists can take their bikes today to a mobile service centre parked on the Mannheim Wasserturm (Water Tower) near to the main shopping streets of the town to have their bikes checked by an expert free of charge. The team will be there next week (23 June, 2012) on the pedestrian zone as well, as part of the third Mannheimer Radsalon, a fair with 20 exhibitors and a bike parade.
If you are passing in the afternoon we should be on the ADFC stand for a couple of hours.

Fashionable Winter Gear

We are in the words of one of neighbours not famous for our interest in fashion. However the growing interest, at least in the UK, in urban cycling has given rise to a number of specialist shops selling fashionable and reputedly utilitarian cycling clothing and accessories. They seemed to be designed on the premise that one can wear the clothing to cycle in and one does not look like a would be Lance Armstrong or cycle tourer in the office or pub afterwards.
Typical companies are Cyclechic www.cyclechic.co.uk, Cyclodelic http://www.cyclodelic.co.uk, the Danish firm Yakkay, http://www.yakkay.com/ who manufacture helmets that don't look like helmets and one of our favourites: Do You Velo, not only for its stylish website and the quality of its French, but also for its stylish but practical gear: http://www.doyouvelo.com/.
Unfortunately although we are pleased that urban cycling is becoming a normal activity, we ourselves will only become fashionable in winter when shower cap covered helmets, GoreTex jackets, Aldi MTB winter gloves and Rainleg leg covers come into fashion.

Wet legs?

We have written in the past about the inability of cyclists to agree jointly on any topic even for the greater good of the cycling community. For example one good way of causing a riot such that the Justices of the Peace need to called out, is to mention the topic of cycle helmets at any British or German cycle club meeting. One is thus loath to criticise any other group in the cycling community, but there are times when one needs to roll one's eyes in the direction of the heavens and stifle some mild oath. We recently received a copy of the "American Bicyclist" the League of American Bicyclists' bimonthly magazine and I was struck by number of bicycles pictured without mudguards or fenders as our US friends call them. We also read the literature put out by Ground Effect, a New Zealand manufacturer of clothes for the mountain biking community - excellent reasonably priced gear and a very amusing website/newsletter. (We have bought the odd item from Ground Effect.) It is seen in some circles as "dorky" to cycle with mudguards. Dorky, I gather, is a major insult. Just in case I may have given the wrong impression Ground Effect itself does not have any opinions one way or the other about dorky-ness of cycling accessoires. Some of their reviewers are given to these opinions. A lot of folks would rather have wet and muddy legs and the black stripe up the back than run the risk of looking sensible. Very odd! As my dear mother-in-law used to say of fashionable but uncomfortable garments "Pride is painful".
If you wish to go out and use the bike as an outdoor fitness machine on sunny days it is fine to cycle without any protection, however if you are going to commute and not just to the pub, then protective fittings are a big advantage. It is noticeable that in the two countries where people cycle extensively as a means of transport: The Netherlands and Denmark people cycle on bicycles with mudguards in normal clothing and with stands so that one can leave the bicycle standing up without having to find a convenient wall to prop the bike up. I know the lads in the Tour de France don't have mudguards or stands, but these guys are being paid to get wet through and have a team of mechanics to hold their bikes.
Rant over, just don't get me started on rucksack wearing on touring bicycles.

Allow more time!

Neil spent many years cycling between Viernheim and Weinheim every working day and could time his journey to the minute. Our tours and excursions often start by cycling into Mannheim to catch a train there. It is about 14 km door to door and we used to reckon we needed a maximum of 50 minutes, on laden bikes. Once recently we missed our first train and arrived panting 2 minutes in advance of our connection the other day. We don’t think we’ve slowed up appreciably but have miscalculated delays due to traffic lights, road works or other cyclists.
Though most of our route is on cycleways parallel to roads, there are several major junctions involving traffic lights. One of these has been rejigged because it now carries a tram route. Another involves crossing a dual carriageway where there is no link between the lights and very little space on the centre refuge.
As an attempt to boost the building industry and provide jobs Mannheim has received a massive package of Federal Government Aid to be spent on public works. All well and good but we were upset to find our main route past the Rosengarten Concert Hall/Conference Centre complex was virtually blocked by trucks, sand and in one case steps! However, cyclists do have some lobbying power here in Germany and we were relieved to see, on our next visit, that although the pavement renewal was still proceeding space had been left for cyclists and tarmac ramps replaced the steps.
As to our fellow cyclists there is little one can do about someone as wide as both of us put together occupying the middle of a cycle lane, someone just out to buy his morning paper wearing flip-flops and riding a bike perhaps older than either of us or a pair locked in a loving embrace straddling the cycleway...except allow more time!

Other countries, other problems!

We live in Germany and so do not suffer from the problems faced by cyclists in the UK, i.e. rabid motorists, pedestrians. A recent comment in the excellent AtoB Magazine (www.atob.org.uk) by a Dutch lady was "Only the mad people still ride bicycles in Britain." Germany is well equipped with cycleways that are not a foot wide painted strip down the side of the road. The cycleways do not come up to Dutch standards but in contrast to the UK, Germany is cycling heaven with 40,000km of cycle touring routes and excellent routes in towns and cities. We can cycle the 10-12km into the centre of Mannheim in about 30 minutes or the 20 or km to Heidelberg in somewhat over an hour following a mixture of quiet roads and motor free cycleways. There is one problem especially during rush hours: other cyclists. The folk who cycle these routes every day do not take prisoners and do not find it necessary to use a bell or even call out. One is ambling along enjoying the autumn sun and is suddenly almost shoved out the way by a muscular commuter on a mountain bike who shoots past us closer than either of us finds comfortable. There is an answer to this. We went cycling this summer along the Romantic Road with Experience Plus an American touring cycling company, as guides not as customers. We found out that their customers call out "Cyclist left passing"as they come up behind to pass and they wait until it is convenient for all parties that they pass. It makes for much more pleasant cycling.