If you’ve been to the cinema recently, you may have seen a short film in which a bike-riding pied piper draws cycles from the polluted city streets to the winding roads of the countryside. This is Cyclehero – a government-backed cycling campaign to reduce carbon emissions while also helping people to get fit.

The week, running from 14th to 22nd July, will also aim to address some of the negative publicity that cycling has been receiving recently. Earlier this month Jacobs Babtie, which advises Transport for London on sustainability, ordered its workers not to cycle to work due to safety issues.

But with events due to be held in over twenty-five towns this week, the organisers of Cyclehero hope to encourage just some of the four million Brits that drive less than three miles to work to use two wheels instead of four.

“It is easy for anybody to become a cycle hero,” says Adrian Dent, Cyclehero organiser. “If more people left their car in the garage and grabbed a bike from the shed, we would be well on our way to tackling climate change.”

And Cyclehero is just one of a number of initiatives promoting cycling in the UK. Last month we reported the Hovis Freewheel bike festival in the capital, while earlier this month the Tour De France set off from London for the first time in its history.

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