Riding the UK's Cycle Network with Laura Laker
The War on Cars
The War on Cars, LLC
4.9 • 937 Ratings
🗓️ 11 March 2025
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Laura Laker is a London-based freelance journalist who specializes in writing about cycling and urban transport. We talked with her about the year she spent riding around Britain on the United Kingdom’s 13,000-mile National Cycle Network—an enlightening and often hilarious odyssey that she documents in her first book, Potholes and Pavements: A Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network. We also got into her work in formulating and promoting the UK’s first Road Collision Reporting Guidelines, which detail best practices for the media and planning professionals to talk about road crashes and their prevention.
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This episode was produced with support from the Helen and William Mazer Foundation and Cleverhood. Listen to the episode for the latest discount on the best and most stylish rain gear for walking and cycling.
Save 15% on the amazing Arclight Pedals and everything from Redshift Sports with code WARONCARS.
LINKS:
- Find out more about Laura Laker’s work.
- Buy Laura’s book, Potholes and Pavements: A Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network, at our official Bookshop.org page.
- Check out the Road Collision Reporting Guidelines that Laura helped write.
- Learn more about the UK’s National Cycle Network and Sustrans, the nonprofit that promotes and maintains it.
Pick up official podcast tees and other merch in our official store.
This episode was edited by Ali Lemer. It was recorded by Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Transcriptions are by Russell Gragg.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Spring is just around the corner, and that means bulbs poking out of the ground, |
| 0:07.0 | buds on trees, a lot more daylight, and a whole lot of rain. |
| 0:12.0 | You've heard us talk about why we love Cleverhood rain gear. |
| 0:15.0 | Well, one of the biggest reasons is that it's designed for all four seasons. |
| 0:20.0 | After a cold, blustery winter, when you |
| 0:23.1 | could wear your rover rain cape over a warm jacket, you can still keep wearing your clever hood |
| 0:28.2 | through that typical March weather, when the temperature goes up, then it goes down, and then |
| 0:33.6 | it's accompanied by a sudden rainstorm. Just do what I do. |
| 0:38.1 | Because the rover takes up so little space, I stash it in my bike pannear or the bag I use |
| 0:42.8 | when I'm walking around. |
| 0:44.5 | As soon as the weather takes a turn, I'm good to go. |
| 0:47.7 | No amount of rain can stop my ride or break my stride. |
| 0:52.2 | Listeners of the War on Cars can save 15% on everything |
| 0:55.6 | in the Cleverhood store, now through the end of March. |
| 0:58.9 | Just go to Cleverhood.com slash war on cars |
| 1:02.6 | and enter The Rain March at checkout. |
| 1:05.8 | Again, that's code the Rain March at Cleverhood.com |
| 1:10.2 | slash war on cars. |
| 1:14.6 | We do have really dreadful pieces about cycling. |
| 1:18.3 | And you never get the same with motor vehicle danger, with driver danger. |
| 1:23.0 | There's really very much a kind of pass given to dangerous behaviour on the roads. |
| 1:27.6 | You know, it's getting worse. |
... |
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