Last year Aberdeen Cycle Forum commissioned some artwork for Deeside Way, opposite the wall we had painted a few years ago. The same artist – KMG Yeah – came up with the design and completed it just before Christmas last year.
We’re delighted with the end result which features a leopard – the symbol of Aberdeen – a surfer to represent the nearby beach, a local dog called Trufa, a cargo bike filled with local produce, and a silver-haired cyclist on a recumbent.
Action: you must re-subscribe, using the link below, if you want to remain a member of ACF
In the 21 years since ACF was set up, tech has moved on a bit! Our method of holding membership data, and using it to contact you, is outdated and needs to change. Like most other associations, we will now move to using a third-party provider as a means of holding data and communicating with you.
After researching alternatives, we have opted to use Award Force as the ‘provider’. We’ve already had an account with Award Force for a number of years and have used them as the basis of several competitions and campaigns. If you have ever made a nomination in our Awards, or entered one of our other campaigns or competitions, then you will already be registered*.
Within the next couple of months, we will stop using our current membership list, and if you want to remain a member of ACF you will need to ‘re-join’ by going to our new membership page via the link below.
We will issue another couple of reminders before the switch, but after that if you don’t ‘re-join’ via the new membership page, you will no longer be considered a member of ACF and will stop receiving our communications, although of course you will still be able to re-join at any point in the future.
We hope that everyone will take a few minutes to re-join. The work we do depends on having a solid membership base and Councillors (amongst others) are more likely to listen if they know we have a strong membership.
There is also a small change to our Data Privacy policy, just to reflect that your personal data (we only ask for your name and email address) will now be held by a ‘provider’ (Award Force). When you re-join you will can also:
Give us your postcode (or the first part of it) so we can tell if you live in the city or Aberdeenshire or somewhere else (optional)
Make a donation to ACF to help with our running costs (joining ACF will still be free but remember we are entirely run by volunteers on a very small budget)
You can set preferences for communications
Keep in mind that some work-place servers block messages so using a personal email address rather than a work one might be better – but it’s your choice
*Remember if you have previously registered with Award Force, then you don’t need to do anything else to re-join, except note the change to our personal data policy
If you get stuck, try our ‘easy steps’ guide at aberdeencycleforum.org.uk
You can view, or amend your data, or unsubscribe at any time via the Award Force portal
We look forward to having you with us as we face the challenges of 2025 and beyond!
How to sign up with ACF on the Award Force platform – in easy steps
Enter your email address. The system will recognise your address if you have registered before (during one of our campaigns or competitions) and will ask for your password. If you don’t know your password there is a password re-set function. If you have registered before, you don’t need to do anything further to join.
If you haven’t registered before, you will need to create a password. The system will also generate a code for you to enter – this is just to ensure that you are the owner of the email address being registered.
Once you have registered you will reach the ‘landing’ page. On this page is a link to our Paypal for donations (joining ACF is free but we do rely to donations to cover our modest running costs). You can ignore the ‘Entries’ as this relates to our competitions only.
From the landing page you can also follow a link to ‘profile page’
The profile page has 4 tabs: Profile – which displays your name and email address, you can also re-set your password here. Account fields – If you are happy to give us your postcode, it helps us to know if members live in the city, or Aberdeenshire, or somewhere else, but this is optional. Security – you can if you wish set up multi-factor authentication. Preferences – here you can check or un-check boxes relating to cookies and communications. We will use ‘broadcast emails’ to contact you, so please don’t un-check that.
All done! You can log out by clicking on your name in the top right corner.
On Tuesday our 2024 Best in Cycling Awards came to a conclusion with winners announced and certificates presented. The winners are:
Best Employer – NHS Grampian
NHS Grampian have made strides in recent years in improving facilities for active travel and encouraging active travel within the organisation. Judges were impressed by the range of activities including a pool of e-bikes for use by staff for work-related travel. High-quality cycle parking is provided across several sites. There have also been cycling lessons for inexperienced riders and Dr Bike maintenance sessions. A worthy winner!
Best new Cycle infrastructure – Ellon Wheel Park
This Award goes to Ellon Wheel Park – a great new facility delivered by a group of dedicated volunteers who managed to get through all the planning and funding obstacles that are part of delivering a significant project like this. There is a pump track, alongside a closed loop level track which can be used for training and a full range of activities. The next stage of the project will also add a dedicated skate park. Check it out next time you are in Ellon! Ellon Wheel Park | Sports | Gordon Park, Ellon, UK
Best public cycle parking – Balgownie, Lord Hay’s and St Ninians Court
Having somewhere safe and secure to park your bike can be a real problem for those who live in flats when hoiking a bike up the stairs everyday isn’t an option. We’re delighted that Aberdeen City Council have gone ahead and installed secure bike shelters at Balgownie, Lord Hay’s and St Ninians Court. We understand more are in the pipeline for other ACC locations.
Best School – Harlaw Academy
With initial support from Sustrans I-bike project, some dedicated staff at Harlaw have continued to deliver and develop cycling in the school, including a girl’s group as part of the #andshecycles campaign. The have become a Cycle Accredited School and recently secured funding for new cycle parking. Well done Harlaw!
Best Business – Ride the North
Many of you will be familiar with Ride the North and don’t need us to tell you what a great cycle event it has become and an established date in the cyclist’s calendar. The emphasis is always on fun, the communities, and on top of that, since 2011 it has raised in excess of £2M for a range of charities. We’re already looking forward to RtN 2025!
Cycle Heroes (Best community / volunteer project) – Cycling Without Age (Scotland) Aberdeen City
Before we say a bit about the winner, we were also impressed by the other worthy nominations so congratulations also to runners-up: Martin Sharman (CM Aberdeen), Clare Tayler (Harlaw Academy) and Middlefield Community Project Bike Hub. There are so many positive things happening in the world of cycling!
Cycling without Age (Scotland) has only been operating in Aberdeen for two years but they are making a huge impact and have recently been able to expand their fleet of ‘Trishaws’ such that they are now able to work with several care homes across the city. They are always on the look-out for new volunteer pilots, so get in touch if you can spare some time. Welcome to Cycling Without Age Scotland
The Cycle Raspberry – SUVs
Nominations for the Raspberry included some of our poor quality – or just missing – infrastructure, some bad examples of cycle parking provision, old and new, and one very dangerous roundabout. But the winner (voted for by the public) is SUVs. No one can have failed to notice that cars are getting bigger and the proportion of SUVs in the city seems to be increasing exponentially. Cars get bigger and bigger but our streets don’t, so the logical result is that there is less room for everyone else, including cyclists.
Aberdeen Cycle Forum is hosting the Best in Cycling Awards for 2024 next Tuesday 24th September at 7:30pm where we’ll announce the winners in the following categories: Best Business, Best Employer, Best New Cycle Infrastructure, Best Public Cycle Parking, Best School, Cycle Hero, and The Cycle Raspberry.
We’ve also got two guest speakers lined up: Linda Moreno Sanchez who worked for the Transportation Department in Mexico before coming to Aberdeen and Fiona McBain who delivers Bikeability in schools for Sustrans.
The venue is Aberdeen Methodist Church on Crown Terrace. Doors open at 7pm for a 7:30pm start.
Our annual litter pick is now done and dusted and we had another successful cleanup along the banks of the River Dee. Thank you to all the volunteers. As you can see we collected a lot of rubbish.
We even managed to do a bit of pruning of the overgrown path.
Aberdeen Cycle Forum is pleased to announce the launch of the 2024 Aberdeen cycling awards. We’re looking for nominations to recognise improvements in conditions for cycling.
We last ran the awards in 2019 with winners announced in 2020. This year entries close at midnight on 31st July 2024 with winners announced at a special event in September.
Register and submit your nomination now at the link below.
What is your name, where are you from and how long have you been in Aberdeen (if not local)?
I am originally from Italy, but I lived in Aberdeen between 2015 and 2022 – with some time in Glasgow for my postgraduate degree in late 2019-early 2020. I now live in Oslo, Norway.
How did you get into cycling?
I used to cycle as a kid and teenager, but then stopped from around the age of 16 – when I got my moped and then car licenses. I got back into cycling in 2020, when lockdown restrictions lowered and longer outdoor activities were allowed. My then-flatmate had two bikes and he took me on a couple of day tours around Glasgow. I then continued cycling using the city bikes there, as it was faster, safer (due to Covid) and more fun than using public transport.
What kind of cycling do you do?
I cycle for commuting purposes nearly daily whenever I can, just not when it’s -20C in Oslo – not yet anyway, I have cycled multiple times at -10C for short rides!
Between Spring and Autumn I also love to get on my bike to explore more of Oslo’s forests, usually once or twice a week, and to do grocery shopping.
What type of cycle do you use?
A Specialized Sirrus 2, with wider tyres from the X series. I bought this bike in Aberdeen, but then brought it with me to Norway.
I also use the Oslo City Bikes, also in winter as they come with studded tyres at that time of the year.
I did use a Tern HSD (an e-cargo bike) last year for Spring and Summer, for longer trips, grocery shopping, and generally when taking more stuff with me; I got the bike through an Oslo-based company called Whee, who rent out e-cargo bikes to “urban families” as their main customers. You pay a monhtly fee, and the bike is yours to keep home for as long as you are a member, plus they cover maintenance and theft (in the unfortunate case it happens).
Where do you cycle usually/any favourite routes? How often?
When I used to live in Aberdeen, often towards Seaton Park-Beach Espalande, or going up the river Don following the shared path to and past the Diamond Bridge. I also used to work at RGU, so the Deeside Way was also a favourite route; it has so much unfulfilled potential!!
In Oslo, there are virtually unlimited options, as something like 70% of the city council area is forested, with most tracks usually open only to walkers, cyclists and locals, and cross-country skiers in the winter.
I also like to cycle along the waterfront – often including a swim. People that have lived in Oslo for a few decades tell me that the waterfront is unrecognisable from the 90s, with a 2000-2030 initiative called Fjordbyen (the Fjord City) that is connecting 9km of waterfront with the city, replacing fencing and port zones with new residential, commercial and green space areas.
What would you like to see to improve your cycling experience?
With the new experience from Oslo, but also having cycled in Glasgow, Aberdeen has a long way to go. Even though I consider myself quite confident cycling, I still used to make detours in the city to actively avoid certain streets or roads. There are some main barriers across the city that I imagine stop people from cycling: (North) Anderson Drive and most bridges at both rivers are some of the examples I can think of.
For sure, more and high-quality cycling infrastructure is key, but quieter streets and contraflow cycle lanes can also enable a wider cycling network, at lower costs and faster implementation.
Another difference I notice between the UK and Oslo is how much more careful, and proactive, drivers are in prioritising vulnerable road users, pedestrians and cyclists, in the latter. I’ve rarely come across road rage, there seems to be a mutual understanding that we are all getting from A to B, just in different ways. The high % of electrification in the transport sector, both private and in public transport, also helps in the sense that I don’t breathe in bad air, and noise-wise streets are quieter too.
Finally, and again from experience, I can’t see a widespread cycling culture being a possibility in Aberdeen until public transport is taken seriously. If you want people to give up their cars, they need to have valid and complementing alternatives. Public transport and cycling really do go hand-in-hand.
Any top tips for someone considering cycling in the area?
There are some pleasant cycle or shared paths that if you are lucky enough to live near to are worth trying out: thinking about the Deeside Way, and alongside the River Don from Seaton Park to Diamond Bridge.
You also don’t need to buy a bike/commit to the purchase to try cycling a few times. Initiative like BeCycle and RGU BikePad can make access to a bike affordable.
I also really think that ebikes are a game-changer – at least they were for me! – if you are worried about cycling on hilly roads or with cargo, they really help. The Big Issue eBikes scheme can be a nice idea to try ebikes for the first time and see how you feel.
What is your name, where are you from and how long have you been in Aberdeen (if not local)?
Ben Martin. I’ve been in Aberdeen for nine and a half years, but I’m originally from New Zealand.
How did you get into cycling?
Dunedin where I grew up is not very suitable for cycling. I learnt to cycle at the age of 27 when I moved to Canberra. Canberra has lots of off-road cycle paths (and lots of hills!).
What kind of cycling do you do?
Mainly commuting to work (at the University of Aberdeen).
What type of cycle do you use
A Whyte Shoreditch hybrid.
Where do you cycle usually/any favourite routes? How often?
Along the Deeside Way to Cults or Newton Dee. My family and I went as far as Banchory once.
What would you like to see to improve your cycling experience?
Better cycling infrastructure, especially segregated cycle paths.
Any top tips for someone considering cycling in the area?
I cycle across town to work and back most weekdays. Some of the main roads are busy and unsafe, but there are often better routes that involve sticking to back streets.
On 3rd October we met to celebrate 20 years of Aberdeen Cycle Forum (ACF). Without being too pernickety about the exact date, ACF was formed around this time of year in 2003.
The meeting was introduced by current Chair, Gavin Clark, who gave a resume of some of the activities ACF has been involved in. Gavin also read a few paragraphs from Derek Williamson who was one of the founders and a long-standing former Chairperson. Derek and others recapped that ACF arose partly as a result of a spate of cycle fatalities around Aberdeen and the sense that “something need to be done” to improve matters. Of course we recognised too that although there has been some progress, there is much much more to be done and in some ways Aberdeen has fallen behind by not sufficiently recognising the benefits from cycling and providing the infrastructure to facilitate it. Despite our lack of high quality infrastructure, we also noted that cycling is in a good place with high levels of uptake of recreational cycling, and some “game-changers” like e-bikes on the cusp of bringing real transformation.
We had two guest speakers, firstly Emma Roberts of Aberdeenshire Bike Bothy, who told us a bit about the outreach and development work they do. It is mainly based around selected ‘travel towns’ in Aberdeenshire and doesn’t operate in the city, which is purely down to funding availability. We hope that might change.
Our second speaker was Alistair Gilmore who is Administrator and a volunteer ‘pilot’ with Cycling Without Age (Scotland). It was uplifting to hear about this project and something we look forward to seeing more of in the future.
The second half of our meeting was a Question & Answer with Councillors Ian Yuill and Miranda Radley of Aberdeen City Council. We had a good discussion and lots of interesting questions. Both Councillors were fairly candid in recognising that we aren’t starting from the best place in terms of delivery of cycle infrastructure. Both also seemed genuinely committed to get the current Administration working to change things, whilst also recognising that it won’t necessarily happen overnight. The recent decision to install a segregated cycle lane on central Union St (and hopefully the rest of Union St in due course) was acknowledged as a good ‘win’ and a signal of their intent.
Of course we couldn’t have a 20th Anniversary meeting without a birthday cake and ACF Secretary Fiona McDonald excelled with a tasty and appropriately decorated cake which was enjoyed by all. Cutting the cake we had Louise Napier of Aberdeen City Council and Sheila Rusbridge of CTC Grampian, who were the two individuals present who had been involved in the set-up and early meetings of ACF 20 years ago.
Aberdeen Cycle Forum 