Cycle Training Contract June 2009

We have just been awarded the contract by Cambridgshire County Council to deliver Bikeability cycle training to school children in Cambridge and surrounding villages! From September we will be teaching Year 6 children about safe cycling and encouraging as many young people to make cycling a part of their everyday activity. It's really exciting for us and we are already busy getting things prepared for the Autumn term. If you'd like to read more about this side of our work or apply for a job as a cycling instructor, please visit the Outspoken Training website.

New bicycle graphics May 2009

Our fleet of bikes now includes two with graphics from the County Council. With Cambridge a cycle demonstartion town, the council are keen to promote cycling in all forms but especially as a means of transport. The strap line, "The easy way to the office" is clearly aimed at commuters and it has been very satisfying for all the riders out in rush hour traffic, cycling past stationary cars with this great message. This picture was taken on Monday where we were acting as a Dr Bike, fixing punctures, on the cycle campaign's organised ride to Reach fair. By the way, our new newsletter is now out!

Jack on fundraising mission March 2009

Congratulations to Jack who took to the streets on Red Nose Day to raise money for Comic Relief. Jack wooed our customers and many others as he showed off his wonderfully defined pectorals. It was difficult to tell whether this was the real superman or Jack in disguise but he did a fantastic job of encouraging people to hand over their money for Comic Relief. Awesome work!



Down Right Kenya arrive! March 2009

After 5 months and 24 days, 11,000km in the saddle and 17 countries passed through, the Down Right Kenya team have finally made it to Kenya. A very excited PK got in touch to say they were beginning the festivities and Mark Nash has been on Radio Cambridgeshire this morning describing the latest of their exploits. We look forward to their speedy return to do some real cycling but for now we should congratulate their efforts and for raising over £42,000 on their way to a target of £60,000 which will build a secondary school in Kenya. For more information about their incredible journey and if you'd like to sponsor them, please visit www.downrightkenya.org.

Melinda passes her Bikeability! February 2009

We've been working on our manager these past few months to get her back on her bike after 20 years of not cycling. Mel is now very proud of her new Bikeability certificate and is especially excited as she passed before two of our couriers! To find out more and all our latest news check out our latest newsletter.

New website launched! December 2008

Having spent the last 8 months training our couriers to be safe and assertive on the roads, we have decided to set up a new cycle training business. Outspoken Training is now working with businesses, individuals and groups offering National Standards cycle training. We hope soon to be Bikeability accredited so that our three fully qualified instructors can begin training school children throughout Cambridgshire.

Farewell to Down Right Kenya 20 September 2008

It was finally cheerio to the 11 riders who are now well on their way, cycling 10,000km in aid of rural Kenyan Schools. The Kenyan High Commisioner bid them farewell on their journey and personally donated £500 towards their target of £60,000. For the full story, please visit the Down Right Kenya website.


Our first Wedding 9 August 2008

We congratulate one of our longest serving couriers, Mikey who got married at the weekend. He whisked his bride from the Church to the reception in rather unique style by riding one of our bikes (with a little adaptation!) with her sitting comfortably on the back. Well done guys!


German TV 11 June 2008

We've finally made it onto national TV and were see by over 1 million households across Germany last week. For a glimse at the footage, please visit this link and click on 'Video zum Beitrag'.



Outspoken Training 22 May 2008

One of our couriers, Pete Lever, is now trained as a cycling Instructor! Now that we are so prominent on Cambridge’s roads, we have made the decision to ensure that all our riders are trained to National Standards.


Pete, who is now in charge of our training programme will make sure that all our riders will be champions for good cycling in Cambridge and do much to continue improving relations amongst all road users.

New tops 14 May 2008
We are very excited by our new fleeces that have finally arrived from fair trade clothing company El alto. Do support this great organisation that sources all their products ethically and pays their Bolivian tailors a fair price for the very skilled embroidery. We are now waiting excitedly for our new polo shirts from local Cambridge business, Stitches in Time.

German Television 16 April 2008
We're going to be on national TV! Ok, it's not the BBC but the national German Broadcasters will be coming to film us shortly. They are producing a short documentary about ordinary people contributing to science and our work with the pollution monitoring team at the University (see previous posting and our article in the New Scientist) has caught the attention of many. Filming will start in just a few weeks and we look forward to showing you the end product!

209 Community Radio 7 April 2008
A few weeks ago we went to visit Cambridge’s very own community radio station, 209 Radio. Based at CityLife House on Sturton Street, the station is undergoing something of a Renaissance, with listening figures on the up and an eclectic mix of programmes that appeals to all tastes. They support a broad range of local initiatives and their (mainly volunteer) staff have a superbly can-do attitude. So, take a look at their website here, tune in to 105fm, and do support them if you can!

We’re off to Kenya... March 2008
Well not all of us…but at least two of the Outspoken Team are heading to East Africa in September this year on an epic overland bicycle trip to raise money for a superb charity. They’re joining Down Right Kenya, a 6,000 mile cycle rally all the way from Cambridge to Kenya.

The ride will take them through some of the most beautiful and rugged scenery in the world, and about 6 months to complete. It is being run as a rally, and therefore open to new teams of riders who are able to plan, coordinate and cycle the route independently.

The money raised is going to a Kenyan charity that builds school in neglected rural regions of the Rift Valley, and - especially with the recent unrest - they really need our help.

In particular, we’d love your assistamce with finding further teams of riders. Would you be able to pass the website details on to those who might be interested? Actually there’s a whole host of ways that your help would be appreciated…so please take a look at the site!

Our 100th Customer...a sheep!
We're delighted to have reached our tonne of customers, and even more so because the company involved is warm and fluffy: meet Molly the sheep, here shown riding one of our freight bikes! We are, of course, talking about 'Abcam', the internationally renowned antibody company based on the Science Park.

Online Bike Shop.
Ever ridden a bike with one gear and no freewheel? Trust us, it's brilliant fun! In fact, we like it so much we've set up an online shop selling everything from frames to sprockets, and specialising in hand-built wheels. Funnily enough, we've named the shop Outspoken Cycles...

Pollution Monitoring. Do not be put off by the fact that our bicycles have become ‘mobile environmental probes’! We’ve begun work on an exciting new project in conjunction with the University, collecting data on pollutants in the city, so relax if you spot our riders adorned with wonderful gadgetry. The data we collect will be used to see what impact there is on the health of people such as cycle couriers. For more information, please visit: http://www.escience.cam.ac.uk/mobiledata/.

Beer delivery! Finally we have fulfilled one of our early aims and delivered 2 firkins of beer from Milton Brewery to Jesus College. For pictures and a full story, please visit the Milton Brewery website.

In the Dark? On the night of 8th July last year, Outspoken Delivery joined up with 12 other cyclists to complete an overnight bike ride from Cambridge’s Reality Checkpoint to Dunwich on the beautiful Suffolk Coast. The route, covering over 100 miles, was an alternative version of the much larger and now famous ‘Dunwich Dynamo’ that journeyed up from London on the same night. The ride raised funds for ‘L2M2006’, a London-to-Monaco cycling expedition being undertaken by some of Rob’s old friends. We intend to complete the ride again this year, on 28 Jul 07

Please, a Plea! We’ve been delivering food to Sue, a local woman suffering from a rare condition called MCS - essentially a chronic form of allergic reaction - that means she has to live almost entirely isolated from many comforts we would ordinarily term essential. The website set up on her behalf explains just how incapacitating MCS is, and there is a fund for those generous enough to assist.

Free Delivery! Too good to be true? We’re offering free delivery for local charities that are unable to afford the cost of moving items within Cambridge. We do have a few limitations, but we’d love to get involved with a suitable organisation. Please just get in touch if you’d like to discuss this, or pass on details of a group you know could benefit.

Just Living runs a Cambridge ethical directory, aiming to collect, research and publish details of relevant organisations.

Lots of good organisations work tirelessly to promote cycling. For the best place to start locally and for links elsewhere visit the Cambridge Cycling Campaign.

Have you ever tried riding a single-speed bicycle? For cycling aficionados, single speed and fixed gear bicycles are the only way to go, offering unparalleled simplicity, feel for the bike, and ….pain! The guru of single speed is Sheldon Brown; the website tells it all, from buying your bike through to getting caught shaving your legs.

What would you like to see on this page? Please send in your suggestions!