Anyone who happened upon Custom House Square on July 31 last year may remember an odd sight, 60 to 70 fantastically attired pedal cyclists had gathered to undertake a leisurely jaunt along one of the cities cycle paths.
This was the debut of the Olde Belfast Velo Jaunt and it must have been a worthwhile adventure as the organiser has decided to rally the pedalers once again.
On Monday 19 cyclists of all persuasions are invited to don their fanciest cycling attire, whether they be plus-fours and a knitted sweater or a one-piece lycra bodysuit, pack a sumptuous lunch and mount up for a gentle trundle out of the city towards the eventual grazing point of Hazelbank Park in Whiteabby.
With the second event only a few weeks away I meet Ryan Fitzsimmons, the man behind all this good clean fun, to find out the whys and what fors.
So this is the second jaunt and it’s happening earlier this year?
Ryan: It’s the second one now, after the inaugural one, which was in August last year
I thought it was July?
31st of July, your right, but we plan to do another around that time as well.
You’re going to do a 3rd one?
Yes definitely going to do a 3rd, unless this one dies… (Laughs) I got a feeling there was a demand to do one soon, it was a long autumn and winter and I think quite a lot of people who participated in the first jaunt where disappointed there wasn’t one in the autumn, but I just wasn’t in a place where I could give the time to put it together. I would have loved to get one in there but it didn’t work out, I had too much stuff on my plate with my wedding.
You’ve picked a great weekend to have the event, it being a bank holiday…
Yeah I thought so, St Patrick’s day is on the Saturday and Mothers day is on the Sunday, which is what I originally conceived, I like the jaunts being on a Sunday and I particularly wanted this one to be on a Sunday because of the bank holiday, people could just be relaxed, they could have a drink if they want but… you can’t upset your mother. It’s just a no go.
It is also a nice alternative for people to fill the day, what else you would do on that Monday, go shopping…
This is the problem with bank holidays, people seem to gravitate towards shopping malls for no apparent reason. It’s nice to have something to do on bank holiday Monday. If I have a day off and it’s nice, I’m out on my bike usually.
What’s involved in the official side of organising the jaunt?
You have to contact the parades commission and inform them what is happening, the nature of the event, how many people you would anticipate, where your going to be and at what time.
Because of the way we organise the velo jaunt, unlike tweed run…
Which is the inspiration behind the velo?
It is absolutely the inspiration. Initially I was going to contact the tweed run and ask if they’d be interested in doing one here and I would facilitate it, but the way the tweed run is set up, in that you have to register, you get a number and there is a fee, I didn’t particularly want to have to do that. I wanted to offer people something free, plus I didn’t want to get involved in the scenario where I was administering finances, I thought there was an easier way to do it.
Why we decided to do the velo jaunt is because I couldn’t go to the tweed run last summer and I thought we could do it ourselves, so we did. But the nature of the jaunt is that put it out there, there is no pre-registration so you don’t know how many are going to turn up so even if I was aiming for 20 or 30 and 50 turned up it’s best just to comply with whoever needs to be complied with.
Is that a difficult process?
Not at all, you fill in a form called a PC1, with all the relevant details of the parade and you as the organiser of the “parade”, as they call it, that form must be delivered in person to the nearest police station to your starting point. There is a specific sergeant to deal with those applications, and they look at the event from a policing point of view. They then forward a copy to the Parades Commission (PC) and essentially what happens at a Parades Commission level is they put it on their website and if anyone has any objections they’ll get in touch with the commission. If it receives any objections the PC will then get in touch with the organisers and try and resolve that.
The PC have no interest in interfering with something unless other people make objections, they’ve got absolutely no interest. You can do whatever you want as far as they are concerned, there is a right to self expression inherent in human rights legislation, inherent in common law, they are simply there to filter through and if there are any objections to try and deal with them.
It takes a little bit of time, it’s a half hour to fill in the form, its maybe a half hour at the police station and a couple of phone calls but it just keeps everything organised. As safe as it is to ride a bike on a bike path it’s nice to know that the police are aware of what’s happening and if there are any problems they’re there for you. You also get a telephone number for local police on the ground should you need to use it, they’re aware of your event, who you are and where your going to be and they can respond quickly. So it’s worth doing.
I assume you didn’t receive any objections last year?
None at all.
And you don’t forsee any for this year?
None whatsoever.
Is the route the same as last time?
Absolutely, same route, cycle path 93. Which goes from Custom House Square, out to Whiteabbey, and on round, if anyone wanted to make a later run, to Lisburn.
And what are the details? Times, etc…
People must gather at 1 o’clock. We’ll leave at 1:30, and we’ll allow an hour, an hour and a half for people to get out there, which I think will cater to people of all abilities, right down to children.
We found last year that most people had completed it in about 50 minutes, at a slow pace, and we do encourage people to go at a relatively slow pace. Its not a race, it’s a bit of fun. It’s trying to claim back a little of a more civilised time where people seen the bicycle as a practical tool, a fun tool, they were able to go to wherever they wanted on it without anyone interfering in what they’re doing.
A lot of people who attended last year dressed up, is that something you hope happens again?
Absolutely, when we put the event together what we had in mind was the idea that people would dress in a fairly flamboyant fashion. It adds to the spectacle of it. You don’t have to have a vintage bike to look the part at the velo jaunt, you just have to have some nice clothes, you won’t really notice the bike as much as the clothes.
And will you be having prizes again this year?
Yeah, it’s happening again. There will be a prize for best-dressed lady and best-dressed gent and best bike, or velocipede as we would call it, which will be judged by Joe from Café Velo Magasin.
There will also be a new prize this year for best picnic, mostly because I’m going to judge it myself which means I get to try people’s picnics. I was really surprised by the effort people went to last year with their picnic’s, people bought along all kinds of stuff and I thought it would be nice to reward that.
The velo is not all cycling, it’s a good bit of the day spent at the beach, chatting to people, eating some nice food.
What about Northern Ireland’s notorious weather?
Like many sporting events and almost everything on the island of Ireland you have to wait to the morning, which is unfortunate. It would have to be particularly inclement, to the point where it’s dangerous, for me to make the decision not to run the jaunt. People really look forward to it, they invest themselves in it and people spend a lot of money on it. There were a lot of people buying new outfits last year specifically for it and tweed is not a cheap fabric to buy, as we know… (Laughs)
Plus it can become quite heavy in a significant downpour.
It does get very heavy in the rain. My advice to anyone who wants to wear a lot of tweed is to think about mixing your weights up, to think about how much tweed you need to wear, although from my point of view there is never enough…
I can absolutely assure people that I would not cancel the jaunt for a little rain; it would only be where rider safety was compromised.
I pressed Ryan for details on Velo 3 but he was keeping schtum, saying only that it would be more static event within town, “a significant amount of city centre space” as Ryan said, and would involve some kind of sporting events. “An Olympiad style event.” Intriguing… When I know more, you will.
The Olde Belfast Velo Jaunt runs on Monday 19 March. Gathering at Custom House Square at 13:00, and setting off at 13:30. Everyone is welcome.
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