Cyclist.ie is delighted that another advocacy group also decided that the beginning of a New Year was an opportune time to invite people to celebrate cycling, sustainability, and active travel.

No sooner had Cyclist.ie’s “Cycle into the New Year” invitation been posted on social media than An Taisce – the National Trust for Ireland posted its own #NewYearTwoWheels challenge, which invited people to reconsider their travel choices during the month of January. 

Furthermore, An Taisce asked viewers of its tweet if they would consider supporting its cycling advocacy work by donating as little as €5 to to its campaign to support the National Cycling Coordinator.    

The An Taisce January campaign complements Cyclist.ie’s “Cycle in the New Year” campaign perfectly. The latter asked people to cycle on New Year’s Day. An Taisce was more ambitious and is asking people to reconsider their mode of transport during the whole of the month of January. We think #NewYearTwoWheels is a brilliant hashtag and are happy to add it to our posts. 

Below, we show you a selection of the photos posted on Twitter during the first week of the #NewYearTwoWheels campaign. They feature journeys by bike in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Clare, Meath and Leitrim. There are just under twenty days left in January, so if your county does not feature – or even if it does – why not leave the car at home for a trip and see if you can get to your destination under your own steam!

Since many people who posted their photos were either still on Christmas holidays or are working from home, most of the featured trips were for leisure purposes but Kevin Jennings, Galway, posted photos showing the popularity of #ShopByBike in Galway, while over on Facebook Leitrim Cycling Festival showed off a very colourful selection of veg from the Farmer’s Market!  

Also, in Galway, Justine Delaney admired some new bike parking.

Meanwhile Better Ennis observed that on a bike you have time to notice what is over the wall – and they encountered these dancing ducks!

Many people photographed stunning landscapes. The glorious weather we had last week must have been the answer to both a cyclist and a photographer’s prayer! Dave Anderson, Navan, for example took this beautiful photo of a peacefully meandering river Boyne from Ardmulchan Church.

In Galway, Mother on a Rothar captured beautiful images of bicycles at Silverstrand, as did fellow Galwegian, Richard Silke. Both posters remarked on how wonderful it is that the road to this beach is now closed to motor traffic making it a haven for people walking and cycling.

In Dublin, the Dodder proved to be a popular destination. Ciarán Ferrie, Siobhán McNamara and Sandra Velthuis all headed that way and Mairéad Forsythe was looking forward to the new Dodder bridge in Templeogue.

   

In Cork Maulvirane’s photo taken near Carrigaline caught our eye!

Many posters worked out loops which allowed them to cover a decent distance while remaining 5 km from home. Ross Boyd did his loop around Fingal on New Year’s Day and was pleased to discover that there were as many bikes as cars about!  

In recent months, the newly formed Cyclist.ie Rural Collective has introduced the concept of “Rothar Roads” to discussions of cycling infrastructure. Our final photo shows Jo Sachs Eldridge, of Leitrim Cycling Festival, one of the prime movers behind the collective, on just such a road on New Year’s Day. 

So, there you have it, urban or rural, regional or rothar, greenway, blueway, shops or sea, your bike can take you there! Why not see if you can rise to An Taisce’s call by substituting a car trip for a bike trip during January? And don’t forget to add your #NewYearTwoWheels photo to the collection!

You might also like to check out some of the lovely images posted to Cyclist.ie’s own ‘Cycle in the New Year’ article.