Countdown to the Tour de France

In the week running up to the Tour de France we took a daily look at the University and cycling.
Today will be like no other with the city expecting thousands of visitors as the world's premier cycling race comes to Cambridge.
Cambridge City Council has details on its website about the third stage of the Tour de France, where to watch it, what road closures there will be and much more: https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/le-tour-cambridge.
Each day we have taken a look at a different aspect of the city, University and cycling.
SUNDAY: We talk to the University's Professor Anthony Purnell who is a driving force behind technical development of the British Cycling team ahead of Rio 2016.
He tells us about his career and about his love for cycling which has seen him compete in the amateur leg of the Tour de France.
For the full interview go to http://www.cam.ac.uk/for-staff/features/four-wheels-good-two-wheels-better.
SATURDAY: Cycle of Songs – a project which celebrates Cambridge in song and was devised to mark the Tour de France’s visit to the city.
The project has involved hundreds of people in the city, many of them from the University. King’s College Choir and The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College are among those featured in the project and the new App which is available to download from today.
The Faculty of History, Faculty of Music (including the Cambridge Music Education Outreach – CaMEO – team), Fitzwilliam Museum, Kettle’s Yard, and Great St Mary’s are also among the many contributors.
Tomorrow will also see local school children performing  a big Cycle of Songs Sing outside the Fitzwilliam Museum from 10.15am until the cyclists depart.
Artistic Director Marcus Romer said: “What makes this great is the fact it is attached to a one off event. Children are taking part in something historic. The beauty of the technology of the App is there is a digitised, historical legacy, going into the DNA of the city.”
The Nine pieces commissioned from a wide range of composers and poets were inspired by historical research and based around original sources of stories at iconic locations along the Tour's route in Cambridge.
They are all available now on the new App which will play as you wonder the streets of Cambridge. To get a copy:

• From Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cycle-of-songs/id886117706?ls=1&mt=8
• From Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.calvium.cycleofsongs
• Onelink to URL http://onelink.to/sa3byv.png

For more information about the Cycle of Songs go to: http://www.cycleofsongs.com/.
FRIDAY: The new Hop on a bike map of Cambridge.
Designed in time for the Tour de France it is a free map showing the cultural treasures of Cambridge and the cycle routes between them.
The publication is a map and guide to 20 cultural venues across the city and includes information on key annual festivals as well as the locations for the Cycle of Songs commission.
The map will be launched at the Big Weekend on Parker’s Piece tomorrow (July 5) and will then be available across the city at the 20 participating venues and the Tourist Information Centre.
For more information see the University of Cambridge Museums website: www.cam.ac.uk/hoponabike.
THURSDAY: The Big Weekend. It starts tomorrow and this year runs an extra day to include the Tour de France.
University staff will be on hand in the annual University of Cambridge Fun Lab on Saturday, from 12 noon to 5pm, which forms part of the weekend on Parker’s Piece.
There will be hands-on activities with the Public Engagement team and the University Museums making and creating to celebrate the launch of Summer at the Museums (www.cam.ac.uk/museums/summer).
The activities include a chance to meet the beasts with the Museum of Zoology, a make your own fossil session with the Sedgwick Museum, and the opportunity to create brain hats.
The Big Weekend is centred around Parker’s Piece, where Le Tour will start from on Monday, and it features music, activities, food and a celebration of Cambridge.

• Friday - the main stage will be in the spotlight with live music from 6-10.15pm, including artists such as the Bay City Rollers and Billy Ocean.
• Saturday – Family fun day including the Fun Lab and the Vindis Cycle Village.
• Sunday – The Cambridge Mela (A celebration of Asian culture) is held. The cycle village continues. Big screen shows Le Tour as the cyclists make their way to Cambridge.
• Monday – Parker’s Piece is transformed into a cycling village there will be arrange of activities and the Tour de France teams and infrastructure will be there for the Stage 3 start.

Go to http://www.cambridgesummerinthecity.co.uk/big-weekend/ for more information.
WEDNESDAY: The University Travel Plan supports cycling among staff. While Tour de France cyclists get on their bikes for a living around 40 per cent of University staff use their bicycle to get to work.
According to last year’s travel survey 39.6 per cent of staff cycle to work – well above the 25.4 per cent national figure.
The survey also reveals that a higher percentage of staff walk, get the bus, or catch the train to work at the University than staff do nationally, while a lower percentage commute in single-occupancy vehicles.
Catrin Darsley, Environmental Coordinator at the University’s Environment and Energy team who is also the Travel Plan Coordinator, said: “I think the Tour de France’s visit is a fantastic opportunity for people across Cambridge to get more interested in cycling and for people to see how great the city can be for bikes. It is raising the profile of the sport and of cycling in general along the route.”
“We have a very high percentage of people who cycle to work, but we are very lucky geographically and with the infrastructure in the city. The Travel Plan includes discounts for staff on cycle accessories, and also has a range of other elements to support choosing sustainable transport and reduce their reliance on single occupancy cars.”
Commuter travel creates 8,341 tonnes of CO2, accounting for 3.4% of the University’s total carbon emissions.
The University has two schemes which offer financial help in buying a bike. One is the national Cycle to Work scheme, allowing staff to purchase bicycles and associated safety equipment on a tax-free basis through a salary sacrifice scheme.
Also available is the University's Travel to Work loan scheme which could help you buy a bicycle and equipment with an interest-free loan of up to £2,500. This scheme also offers discounts on annual travel tickets on bus and trains.
There is also a park and cycle scheme which operates like the park and ride scheme and is offered to all city-centre staff.
The benefits of not relying on a car all the time are clear says Catrin: “Active travel, be it walking, cycling, jogging or just reducing your dependence on a car is about greater health and mental welfare. It also reduces vehicle emissions. It is of real benefit to the individual and to the University."
For more about ways to save money on more sustainable travel, go to http://www.environment.admin.cam.ac.uk/what-are-we-doing/travel.
TUESDAY: The Polar Museum where a special exhibition has opened which looks at the surprising history of bicycles in the Arctic and Antarctic.
Timed to celebrate the Tour’s visit to Cambridge Reinventing the Wheel: Bicycles in the Polar Regions will explore the role bicycles and bicycle wheels have played in the exploration of the Poles, both as indispensable tools and as items of fun.
Using images from its comprehensive photo library, diary extracts from its archive, an early twentieth century model of a sledge and several bicycle wheels actually used on polar expeditions, the exhibition will show how wheels, attached to sledges and fitted with a device to mark each revolution, were the principal tool for measuring distances in sledge travel from the early nineteenth century right up until the 1960s and 1970s.
Working like a classroom trundle wheel, these ‘sledge meters’ were often made using bicycle wheels. They were essential for navigation and dead reckoning – an important method for calculating position in a featureless landscape.
The exhibition will also tell the stories of explorers who have taken their bicycles on expeditions and of their ill-advised attempts to cycle on ice and snow, often narrowly escaping death in the process.
Heather Lane, Keeper of Collections at The Polar Museum, said: "We are delighted to mark the arrival of Stage 3 of Le Tour de France in Cambridge by telling the marvellous and unlikely story of bicycles in the Polar Regions. The use of bicycles in polar exploration is testament to human ingenuity and endurance. This is also a wonderful opportunity for us to place some rarely seen items on public display."
Reinventing the Wheel: Bicycles in the Polar Regions runs from Tuesday, 1 July until Saturday, 6 September 2014 at The Polar Museum, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge.
MONDAY: The University Library.
Cambridge University Library's latest Special Collections blog promises to feature a daily image of cycling-related literature held there.
Today’s image is of the late 19th Century title, Bicycling for Ladies, by F J Erskine. It features this quote from the title: “The teacher, unless in exceptional cases, should be a man. Few women have the physical power needful to hold up a heavy learner and her machine for a long time.”
To view the blog go to https://specialcollections.blog.lib.cam.ac.uk/?author=4.