Leading Cork’s Cycling Campaign

WHEN Helen Guinan first arrived in Cork, she was astonished by how many hills the landscape had, to challenge even a fit cyclist like herself.

While a back injury put the brakes on her preferred mode of transport, the emergence of e-bikes opened up the cycle lane for her again and has enriched her life considerably.

“I started cycling an e-bike and then I found I was absolutely loving cycling and being able to cycle again. There was no pressure on my back when I was going up hills so I regained cycling fitness through that.”

Her conversion to using e-bikes came about thanks to her husband, Patrick, of City View Wheels on Blarney Street. He was one of the first people to import e-bikes into Cork City. Since then, it has been all downhill for Helen, who enjoys both the freedom, the boost, and the extended range e-bikes have to offer.

“It is the most environmentally friendly way of getting around, and e-bikes then give you that further range. I like the fact that on days that my energy levels might not be brilliant, or it’s windy, or I just don’t really feel like getting out there and exercising, I can jump on my bike and just go without having to think about that aspect of it.”

It’s an easy way to embed healthy movement into our daily lives, but its benefits are far beyond the physical.

As well as the physical aspects of it, the mental health benefits are just phenomenal.

She shares a story of how a man she met recently was on medication, and since he started cycling, he has been well enough to stop completely. Cyclists are present and experiencing a sensory cacophony (both good and bad, but mostly good, Helen assures me) that car drivers miss out on during their daily commute,

“We’ve isolated ourselves into these little square metal boxes,” says Helen of cars.

Her story from a recent Cork Cycling Campaign meeting sheds light on the transformative impact of a transport choice change.

“We have a new member who joined our campaign. She attended our meeting last Tuesday night, and came in all aglow and excited. She works in the CUH, and lives about 10km away. She decided she was going to take her bike out of the shed, dust it off and start cycling. She was on such a high from it; she said that she feels so much fitter and she rides to work in such good humour and good form.”

In addition to the feelgood fitness aspects, the member was also enthused about the shorter commute time and micro-interactions.

“She could get there so much faster, and she enjoyed the little encounters you might have along the way,” said Helen.

For those who are sick of long commute times and bumper-to-bumper gridlock at peak times, Helen said: “ I still think it’s the fastest way to get around the city, and you do have the good feeling that you’re not contributing to the traffic and you’re protecting the environment. It is the most environmentally friendly way of getting around.”

Helen and Patrick are both cycling and nature enthusiasts with a shared love of photography, and enjoy the functional commute benefits bikes have to offer, in addition to the leisure aspect of enjoying cycling holidays, not deterred by mountainous terrain.

We have some wonderful weekends away, and then, with the cycling campaign, I do a lot of social cycling. We organise events and do different things around the city, mostly.

When I ask about the barriers facing women cycling, we both erupt in laughter as she quips, “Hair!”

Helen is both a sophisticated and highly practical lady who believes every woman can cycle and be stylish. “You can be glamorous on a bike if you want, especially an E-bike, as you don’t arrive in a sweat.”

She added: “Even when going out at night, you don’t have to worry about walking to the restaurant. You can wear your high heels if you want to.”

In her role as Chairperson of the Cork Cycling Campaign, she speaks about her vision for Cork.

“I would love to see children cycling to school comfortably, cycling to meet their friends, and cycling wherever they want to go. Cycling to the shop with their parents, people cycling for their everyday activities as well. Also, for leisure, but for everyday activities so that they’re comfortable cycling around the city and suburbs.

“And that cycling is seen as a great way of going about your daily business as a safe, enjoyable, and climate-friendly way of doing things.

“Also, that people’s attitudes would be positive towards cycling. I would love to see people swapping out journeys they normally take in their car for cycling.

“If people start by swapping out even half the journeys they do now in the car for a bike or walking, that would be a huge achievement.”

What is needed to create this vision of a better tomorrow for Cork?

Helen has the answer: “A connected, well-maintained, attractive, world-class network of cycling infrastructure. Cork has committed to being climate-neutral by 2030, and transport will have to play a big part in that. I don’t think we’re being ambitious enough in joining the cycle lanes network and having really well maintained and attractive cycling infrastructure. It has to be attractive for a nervous cyclist or a new cyclist or a child. If there’s even one gap, it is perceived as dangerous, and they are deterred from taking that journey.”

As Chairperson of Cork Cycling Campaign, Helen is heavily involved in events, putting her wealth of educational experience to good use, sharing a diverse and busy schedule -speaking about cycling for a sustainability module in UCC, having meetings to make companies more cycling friendly, attending the Glucksman for an artists’ project on people’s feelings around cycling, giving talks on confidence in cycling... her schedule is hectic.

Her latest project is to work with young women who have a mild learning disability to give them confidence in cycling. It is work that is close to her heart, having been a primary teacher with children with disabilities at St Paul’s School.

For cycling novices or those whose last memories of cycling were several decades ago, she offers practical advice.

You could rent a bike for a weekend or a week and try it, and if you can, join up with one of Cork Cycle Campaign’s events to meet other people.

She shares that confidence is often the barrier for cyclists, and women in particular, but it is clear that Cork Cycling Campaign empowers women with nurturing and encouraging support.

“We assign a person from the campaign who lives near you to help you with routes into work or whatever routes you want to take. If somebody’s really, really anxious, we go and cycle their route with them. I’ve done that for some good few women, and it’s transformational for them.”

When we touch on the financial barriers to cycling and e-bikes, she is quick to praise the Bike To Work scheme but also sees its limitations.

“I think this more needs to be done to broaden it out from a social inclusion point of view. The Bike to Work scheme is really good, but not all companies do it. Then, there are the people who are not working, retirees, and those on social welfare. There’s a social inequity.”

Helen is quick to redirect the limelight away from her pivotal role within the campaign and instead puts the spotlight on others.

“They’re a great bunch, who give up an awful lot of their time to promote cycling and promote better infrastructure and better behaviour,” she said of those volunteering with Cork Cycling Campaign.

She also pays homage to those who began the campaign some 25 years ago.

The guys who started that, they’ve done a fantastic job in raising awareness with the city, the guys who fought that fight during the hard times.

The work of the Cork Cycling Campaign is to promote active travel and encourage cycling as a mode of commuting and leisure for everyone, advocating for cycling-friendly infrastructure and legislation, and community engagement. Rather like the terrain of Cork, it has a few uphill journeys to take before it is a truly accessible cycling zone for everyone. With Helen Guinan, at the helm, they are well positioned as the catalyst Cork needs to create changes that will benefit us all.

Learn more about the Cork Cycling Campaign at https://corkcyclingcampaign.com/