Bristol has been named as the UK's first "cycling city" after pledging to double the number of people biking on its streets over three years. Photograph: Dave Penman/Rex Features
As a Bristol cyclist I'm delighted by our new status as the UK's first cycling city, and just a little perplexed.
Is the accolade supposed to reflect things as they are? And, if so, did Ruth Kelly try biking around the city before she made the award?
Not that life for the bicycling Bristolian is all bad. Although we suffer the usual pot holes, dead-end bike lanes and aggressive motorists, the presence of Sustrans has given us a vibrant and vociferous biking community, while the city council has made serious efforts to improve our lot. Free local authority maps show cycle routes around Cuba (Counties that Used to Be called Avon), and you can generally navigate without them since most routes are well signposted.
Several excellent cycle routes run in and out of the city, of which the Bristol to Bath railway path is the best-known example. Fifteen miles long, flat and traffic-free, this path is a pedal-powered commuter's dream, and at weekends it offers families a rare opportunity to ride safely into the countryside.
Presumably the thousands of youngsters who are due to be trained up under the Cycling City scheme will practice on this and similar paths. There's one where I live called the Malago greenway, which offers a good stretch of car-free tarmac for young riders. In fact it's probably the only safe place for trainee cyclists to learn their craft.
Since my children are keen riders I was pleased, and relieved, to discover that there are now plans to extend the opportunities for young cyclists, with a dedicated cycleway to link the suburbs with the city.
I say relieved, because only recently I learned that local transport chiefs are - or were - planning a rather different strategy: a bus rapid transit network designed to rush commuters from ex-urban park and ride sites into the city. Maps drawn up by the West of England Partnership and obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show these projected bus lanes replacing existing cycle paths, such as our local Malago greenway.
Even the Bristol and Bath railway path has been earmarked for conversion into a high-speed bus route, although local MPs and city councillors recently withdrew their support for this line in the face of public protest. Is the path now safe? Nobody knows.
This Sunday the main road running along the Avon Gorge beneath the Clifton suspension bridge will be closed to traffic for Bristol's Biggest Bike Ride, an annual event that attracts thousands of cyclists of all ages.
Riding along, you can easily imagine a city designed around the bicycle. It remains to be seen whether Bristol can be that city.
How easy is cycling in your local area? Share your thoughts below.
• James Russell is the author of How to Turn Your Parents Green
