Smack bang in the middle of the year already and the festival of all things bike is upon us.

If we’re lucky and the weather doesn’t then I’m afraid to say there are still a few people out there who might try and rain on your parade. They’ll tell you you’re doing it wrong, not wearing the right stuff, sometimes they’ll even single you out as a potential lawbreaker that needs a friendly talking to about the heinous acts you’re going to commit. My advice is ring your bell, smile sweetly and give them a wide berth, we’ve no time for killjoys in Bike Week.

Wear your favourite outfit and ride your favourite bike; summertime is the perfect time to demonstrate riding a bike is as normal as walking the dog or driving the car. If you feel more secure upon your steed sporting hi-viz and a helmet then be our guest – we’re not the fashion police!

A serious note though. If you’d like to ride a bike but don’t, would like to ride with your family but don’t, have a child or grandchild that’s just itching to ride to school but can’t, then please consider joining WitneyBUG and telling us all about it. For an infinitely-valuable-non-time-limited-one-off-fee of £5 our bicycle user group also works on behalf of potential bike users, like you, to make riding a bike as easy as riding a bike, even in Witney. Oh, and sign this (trust me, it’s not just about ‘cyclists’).

Bike Week kicks off on Church Green in front of St Mary’s Church at 10am this Saturday with a gentle, family friendly, Potter to the Pottery.

We have an Infrastructure Safari on the following Saturday where we look at the good, the bad and the just plain awful places our local authorities would like us to ride our bikes in order to shore up the capacity of Witney’s increasingly congested roads.

If you fancy going further afield you’ll find some lovely themed rides in Oxford as well – the cycle path along the A40 takes you all the way there and a coffee stop in Summertown and/or Eynsham is a pleasant way to break up the journey.

Throughout Bike Week it’ll be 2 for 1 entry to Cogges for everyone arriving by bike and we’ll be finishing up with a ride there on Sunday 23rd. That’ll mark the end of Bike Week for another year but we’ll be carrying on with regular meetings and rides at Cogges.

Enjoy the week. And remember – it’s not a crime…