Barnet Cycling Campaign – building a better biking borough – part of London Cycling Campaign
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To start with we will run through all our cycling business and the various officers’ reports. Then after the tea break Ian will run his stupendous Quiz – with stupendous prizes!! ……well as stupendous as the treasurer will allow). A bit of fun to end this session of monthly meetings before our summer break. The next meeting is Thursday 26thSeptember. All welcome.
Meet: 8pm Carey Hall, Trinity Church Centre, Nether Street, North Finchley N12
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Last Friday, a group of Enfield residents went on a tour of Waltham Forest’s low traffic neighbourhoods, to see what they could learn for their own area. What they found, on a lovely sunny June day, was a paradise for pedestrians, on a network of streets full of greenery where walkers have priority over traffic.
With them were four Enfield councillors and their tour guides were Walthamstow residents Paul Gasson and Dan Kelly, who have worked closely with Waltham Forest council to shape their ‘Mini Holland’ scheme.
To start with we will run through all our cycling business and the various officers’ reports. Then after the tea break Ian will run his stupendous Quiz! A bit of fun to end this session of monthly meetings before our summer break. The next meeting is Thursday 26thSeptember. All welcome.
Meet: 8pm Carey Hall, Trinity Church Centre, Nether Street, North Finchley N12
FreeCycle is a major closed-road event where everyone can cycle round an 8 mile car-free circuit past major London landmarks. The LCC is promoting the event which is part of a festival of cycling sponsored by Prudential. NB it is necessary to register in advance.
Participants may find their own way into London or join an LCC organised group from Tally Ho Pub, North Finchley N12 0BP at 10am.The group will ride (approx. 10 miles) from North Finchley to the Museum of London, London Wall/St Martins le Grand (EC2Y 5HN) in Central London. The group will be led back to North Finchley at 3pm
from the Museum. Please note the ride from North Finchley and return is considered a long distance ride into and out of London on roads with traffic and hills – suitable for experienced riders.
Volunteers will participate as marshals and other volunteers are invited from Barnet
Cycling Campaign as marshals for the North Finchley-led Group. We have two members volunteering as marshals but more are needed.
Please see the link  https://www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/ for more information and to register for the ride. Please speak/email Alison Ewington or Charles Jennings (see Contacts) if interested in being a volunteer marshal to help lead the North Finchley Group into London.
Monthly Meeting: The ‘M25 Ride’ continued…….
There is quite a lot happening on the campaigning front in Barnet at the moment and we will catch up with this in the first part of the meeting. Then after the coffee break we will continue round the M25 in the company of Doug Nevell. This is a continuation from the April meeting, and we are keen to hear about the rest of the route round the south and east of London mirroring the M25. All welcome.
Meet: 8pm Carey Hall, Trinity Church Centre, Nether Street, North Finchley N12
British scientists do the maths and find that we come up short for cobalt, lithium and copper.
The UK Committee on Climate Change report received criticism that it was too much business as usual, particularly with its suggestion that electric cars could replace all the ICE (internal combustion engine) powered cars in the UK, and its lack of interest in alternatives.
Now, a letter from the Natural History Museum’s head of Earth Sciences, Professor Richard Herrington, along with other experts, points out the scale of the problem of building so many electric cars. They calculate that, even with the most efficient batteries available, full electrification of the auto fleet by 2035 would need a lot more mining.
The worldwide impact: If this analysis is extrapolated to the currently projected estimate of two billion cars worldwide, based on 2018 figures, annual production would have to increase for neodymium and dysprosium by 70%, copper output would need to more than double and cobalt output would need to increase at least three and a half times for the entire period from now until 2050 to satisfy the demand.
Energy costs for cobalt production are estimated at 7000-8000 kWh for every tonne of metal produced and for copper 9000 kWh/t. The rare-earth energy costs are at least 3350 kWh/t, so for the target of all 31.5 million cars that requires 22.5 TWh of power to produce the new metals for the UK fleet, amounting to 6% of the UK’s current annual electrical usage. Extrapolated to 2 billion cars worldwide, the energy demand for extracting and processing the metals is almost 4 times the total annual UK electrical output.
And then, of course, there is the electricity required to power all these electric vehicles. Building wind farms to generate that much would require more copper and more dysprosium, and building solar farms requires yet more high purity silicon, indium, tellurium, gallium. Professor Herrington notes:
“The urgent need to cut CO2 emissions to secure the future of our planet is clear, but there are huge implications for our natural resources not only to produce green technologies like electric cars but keep them charged.”
We have to stop talking about how electric cars will save us; it takes too much stuff to make them all, puts out too much upfront carbon, and nobody is going to make enough of them fast enough. All that copper and lithium and nickel and aluminum and steel has to come from somewhere. We have to look at getting people out of cars, at making it easier for people to use e-bikes and cargo bikes, transit and feet.
What is the best tool for the job? Cars are convenient for some, but we can’t just build electric powered two and three ton boxes moving one person a few miles. We have to look at alternatives that use less stuff more efficiently. Electric cars won’t save us.
Based on this original article
The event is not until August but it is necessary to register in advance. FreeCycle is a major closed-road event combining a free solo or family-style ride in central London. LCC is promoting the event which is part of a festival of cycling sponsored by Prudential.
The actual FreeCycle 8 mile ride is in Central London on Saturday 3rd August 2019. Participants may find their own way into London or join an LCC organised group from the park adjacent to Tally Ho Pub (N12 0BP) at 1000 in North Finchley which will ride (approx. 10 miles) from North Finchley to the Museum of London, London Wall/St Martins le Grand (EC2Y 5HN) in Central London. The group will be led back to North Finchley at 1500 from the Museum. Please Note the ride from North Finchley and return is considered a long distance ride into and out of London on roads with traffic and hills suitable for experienced riders.
Volunteers will participate as marshals and other volunteers are invited from Barnet
Cycling Campaign as marshals for the North Finchley-led Group. We have two volunteers volunteering as marshals but more
are needed.
Please see the link https://www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/ for more information about the ride and to register for the ride. Please speak/email Alison Ewington or Charles Jennings (see Contacts) if interested in being a volunteer marshal to help lead the North Finchley Group into London.
Public exhibitions at the station on 13 June 2pm-9pm; 14 June 2pm-8pm; 15 June 10am-4pm.
Don’t forget to visit this exhibition today, tomorrow and Saturday this week.
It is the launch of their consultations for the site, and is the first of a number of events being held over the coming months to gauge the views of the community and how the proposals can benefit the local area.
An interesting part of the proposals is a ‘bike hub’ with a cycle shop, better cycle storage, charge points for e-bikes, etc. Cycling is a key part of the proposals and driven by TfL’s wider brief to switch more people to cycling.
So why not cycle there and give them your 2 cents worth of suggestions and endorsements? Also get your free cup of coffee!
In contrast to the short easy ride in May (let’s call that a 1-star ride) this month we move up a notch to a ‘2-star ride’. Longer distance and a little brisker in pace. To allow enough time there will be one start point at The Spires in High Barnet at 10am. The route will go via Bricket Wood and the Gorhambury Estate to lunch at the leisure centre cafe in St Albans park. Distance to lunch will be around 20 miles – there will be a brief ‘comfort stop’ but no coffee! Bring a snack if needed.
Additional info:
There will be an additional, slightly shorter ride to Gorhambury and the same lunch stop led by Kathryn, which will also start at 10am from the Spires. Do note this will be only slightly shorter distance than the faster ride so bring a snack if needed.
The route has off-road sections which are suitable for all bikes except road with skinny tyres as there is some gravel. A tea stop is planned at the White Hart in South Mimms.
Meet: 10.00am outside Waitrose, The Spires, Barnet – by the bandstand (NO Tally Ho pick up).
Ride Leader: Talia Ross tel. 07816 767212
Not a Barnet Cycling event per se, but the Barnet Medieval Festival returns to Barnet Elizabethans Rugby Football ground and the Byng Road Playing Fields on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June. This community history event will feature over 350 re-enactors, a living history camp, combat and weaponry displays, battle scenes, a medieval market, children’s activities, community stalls and refreshments. The Medieval Festival is organised by the Barnet Medieval Festival Committee, a charity which aims to educate the public about battle that was fought just north of Chipping Barnet on 14 April 1471 during the Wars of the Roses.
Limited public parking in Christ Church Primary School playing field and vehicles will be directed to enter and exit the field at the top gate.  Avoid the hassle and cycle right up and into the fields – watch out for flying arrows and spears in the battles which can puncture tyres!! Battles and displays including smoke and loud bangs will take place in the arena between 11am and 5pm.Â
Barnet Cycling Campaign 