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Welcome to our weekly mailout. This week's news:

- Partnership with Southwark Council.
- Bike Is Best.

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Working with Southwark Council.

In the height of lockdown, Pedal Me worked with Lambeth Council to deliver over 10,000 food parcels to vulnerable people. We made the impossible a reality and although it was at times difficult and exhausting work, it is one of the jobs that we are most proud of working on.

Now, we have started to work with Southwark Council on a similar contract - delivering food parcels to vulnerable and shielding people in the borough.

Each rider is able to deliver 12 boxes of staple foods such as fruit, veggies, milk and butter to some of those most in need during the current Covid-19 crisis.

We spoke with Southwark about how our riders were getting on with the work, and they were full of praise. According to the council, Pedal Me is doing the equivalent work of 40 vans and it's estimated that we are doing this in half the time! A pretty amazing statistic considering only 12 Pedal Me riders have been assigned to this project each day.

Southwark said that "Pedal Me's excellence in operations and service is helping to combat air-pollution and congestion as well as helping the most vulnerable people in Southwark as they live with the threat of Covid-19."

We're delighted to be able to help and we are proud to be working once more with a local authority to help out those who are struggling in the current crisis.

Bike Is Best

Chris Dixon, our Director of Training, was recently interviewed by Bike Is Best and provided some of his expertise on riding a bike in London.

Here are a few snippets of Chris' advice:

Practically, there are 4 things you can do just in the park/off-road to develop your bike control skills which can enable you to more confidently communicate in the space.

Get comfortable riding the bike slowly: If you practice riding with the brakes half squeezed in a low gear, you’ll teach yourself balance in no better way, You’re riding your bike against pressure and improving your control.
Play with your gears: get comfortable riding in a low (fast peddling - low effort) and high gear (slow pedalling - high effort) in the safe space so you know what the bike can do.
Have the seat at the right height: you’ll find this will improve your balance (and will help you avoid back problems). High knees = inefficient and unstable bike. Don’t be afraid of not being to reach the ground with your feet when you are in the saddle. You’re not supposed to be able to! Practice stopping with the saddle at that right height too. Once you’ve got that…
Sit up straight and practice riding with one hand: Not just ‘signalling’ but riding one handed. Being able to give hand signals for affirmative communication means you can get reactions back from people, thumbs up, waves and nods of acknowledgment etc. Then you’re in a space where you’re cooperating with people and ‘making friends’.

All of this leads to better bike control, which can lead to better behaviour if used the right way.

Where's the best place to be on the road?

Depends on experience. If riders don’t know how to drive, it’s likely that they’ll have no idea of the convention of give-way lines as one example. It’s very simple and easy to tell people ‘be in front, or behind’, or ‘behave like a car’ but unless you have the confidence and the knowledge, acting on that piece of advice can be a long way from anything someone would feel comfortable with. The last thing we want is for you to get scared & discouraged. However, although this isn’t intuitive, some of the safest places to be are actually where you appear to be the most vulnerable. This is because you are ALSO the most VISIBLE. No-one can collide with you by accident if you are in full view on the driver’s side.