Strava privacy

Following the interview with Stolen Bikes Bristol, I have changed the privacy settings on Strava. As it will be becoming more visible though my project I feel it is important that the location of my house, and bike, remain hidden. It might only seem like a little change but I had never really thought about it before and I think safety should be of importance.

Terry response

Earlier in the year, I was meant to go on an infrastructure ride with Bristol Cycling campaign. I wanted to go on the ride to take so photos for the featured image on my future of cycling piece.

As it happened, I took a nasty squash injury that week so missed out on it. I did however, manage to get hold of the email address of the ride leader.

He got back to me today with very detailed list of all the places they took in on the ride. From here, I can use the information to go around and hopefully find some great locations to shoot.

Stolen Bikes Bristol interview

Having changed one of my feature ideas, I managed to secure an interview with Stolen Bikes Bristol. This is run by a guy called Anthony, who wished to remain slightly anonymous due to the nature of the site. However, I do have his last name and that is included in the notepad I have submitted.

Anthony was really open about his past experiences and what drove him to set up the site. We ended up having quite a long phone interview and it should make for a nice piece.

Fact checkable quotes

Following my interview with John Richfield and his attempt to have ‘editorial control’ over my work, I sent him this email with the quotes I intent to use and that he may fact check anything he wishes.

FOI request

I submitted an FOI request to Bristol Council, hoping to get a break down of their spending on cycling infrastructure over the past five years.

However, whether I get a response in time will be very close. The 20 day limit will be 1st May.

Police Press office say no students

I rang up Avon and Somerset police today in order to try and secure an interview with a police officer, hopefully Inspector Rundle, about bike theft in the interview.

However, apparently the police don’t talk to students. I was really angry at the time. The project will be going into the public domain and my status as a student should not hold me back. How am I meant to get experience if they won’t speak to me?

After informing Caragh of the situation, I then messaged Inspector Rundle via a contact page. Hopefully that will yield better results.

FOI Request – Police

Now that I know I am swapping one of my features from Routes to bike Theft, I have submitted a FOI request to the police, asking for a break down of bike thefts over the last five years.

Some statistics could really add to the authenticity of my piece.

Critical Mass turn down an interview

Having managed to track down someone who regularly takes part in Critical Mass, I contacted them requesting an interview for Biking Bristol. 

Sadly, as CM is a collective, they declined the interview. I think this is a real shame as CM has been a big part of Bristol over the last 10 years, and I think what they are trying to achieve should be spread via the media. 

If they never do interviews, will it every make a change in the city?

Colin Adams guest post

Colin adams left this really emotional post on Biking Bristol, which he later allowed the use of through the project’s blog page.

Interview with Louise Rutterford

After being bounced around the Better By Bike website, trying to secure an interview, I finally got in touch with someone who was willing to talk to me, even if that person would only say so much.

I think that is one of the problems with the council, anything that anyone says that relates remotely to them, it has to be ‘on message’, so to speak.

I did get a few good quotes about how they help people by providing routes though, rather than specific safety advice. This fits quite nicely with what Sustrans said so I know have the focus of my feature.