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Mural lets Southampton bike riders show their love of cycling

Artists take quotes from public and paint them onto canvas

Quotes from bike riders in Southampton expressing why they love of cycling have been turned into a mural by local artists.

More than 150 people completed the phrase "I love cycling because ... " and had their words painted onto the artwork, which is located on the city's Guildhall Square and took a week to complete, reports the Daily Echo.

The initiative was launched by local travel awareness campaign My Journey Southampton with the canvas painted by artists Kristian Jeffery, Cher Reynolds, Stewart Smalle and Kara Strachan of Street Advertising Services.

Jeffery told the Daily Echo: “We have been taking quotes all week from local people, and on Twitter. We have been finding out why people love cycling so much and there've been lots of varied reasons.”

Here's a selection of some of the reasons given by Southampton's cyclists for their love of getting on two wheels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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6 comments

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Judge dreadful | 9 years ago
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I've never had a problem with mixing it with the traffic in Southampton. I find the majority of the motorists round here, are fairly savvy, regarding cyclists, I've been cycling in the town center and out towards Chilworth (often at peak times) for many years, and I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've been caused any issues. There are quite a few shared usage pathways, and more 'away from the traffic routes' than people realise. Shirley can be a bit of an eye opener if your not confident in traffic, but other than that, it's by no means the worst place I've cycled.

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Housecathst | 9 years ago
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I find southamton to be hell for cycling. There does seem to be any simple to way to get through the town with out having to mix it with endless HGVs and the worse kind of white van drivers filling the roads all a hair trigger away from mowing you down and claiming the a bit of sun got in there eyes.

Since I now boycott the new forest thankfully I've no need to go anywhere near the place.

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daflj | 9 years ago
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Southampton does suffer from really poor cycling infrastructure so it can be frustrating for us Soton cyclists to see stories like this.

It's a shame because Southampton could be a fabulous city for cycling. The parks and Common mean that significant areas are already available for cycling away from traffic. Unfortunately there is no decent infrastructure connecting these areas and the roads are terribly congested.

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Kadinkski | 9 years ago
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I have the incredible power to read any article on this site and know what people will be whinging and moaning about in the comments section without even having to read them.

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keepontriking | 9 years ago
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While government funding is used to produce this artwork project, those who DO cycle have to content with sub standard facilities provided by Southampton City Council and the County Council  2
I know where I think the funding should go.

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keepontriking | 9 years ago
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While government funding is used to produce this artwork project, those who DO cycle have to content with sub standard facilities provided by Southampton City Council and the County Council  2
I know where I think the funding should go.

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