Personality of the Month - Emma Osborne, Sustrans
What is your job or other main activity that involves cycling?
I am a Sustrans Bike It Schools Officer in Exeter.
How long have you done that?
Nearly 2 years
Where do you live?
I live in Exeter – I’ve lived here for 9 years and I love it!
What most encourages you about cycling where you live?
Firstly, the Cycling Demonstration Town project (and Bike It!) which truly is making the city more cycle friendly and secondly, the fact that you can almost reach out and touch the countryside from pretty much anywhere in Exeter so there’s plenty of motivation to ride out from the city as well as within it.
What most discourages you about cycling where you live?
Intolerant, irate and inconsiderate people – whatever their mode of transport…this issue is really nothing to do with cycling per se (although it is often raised in relation to cycling), but it’s simply a matter of common courtesy that people should be considerate to one another.
How would you describe yourself as a cyclist?
Just someone that really enjoys cycling for a whole range of purposes – for transport, for leisure, for sport and so that I can get away with eating just a little bit more cake than I ought to!
What is your earliest cycling memory?
Being given my first bike at the age of 9 – I thought I wouldn’t get one until I was ten because my older brother got his at that age, so I felt really really lucky to have one “a year early”!
Where is the best place you have ever cycled?
The section of the NCN between Ilfracombe and Lee Bay in North Devon – it follows a Bridle Path on the coast and the views are absolutely breathtaking!
What is your greatest achievement, in terms of encouraging more people to cycle?
There are so many fabulous teachers and families that contribute to making Bike It a success in the schools I work with, and thanks to our combined efforts, we’ve seen some really great increases in cycling to school in Exeter – some Bike It schools regularly have up to 20% of pupils cycling in now – I’m pretty pleased with that especially compared to the national level of 2%!
What single thing do you think would do most to encourage more cycling in the UK?
More Bike It Officers for schools AND in workplaces too.
What has been your favourite cycling experience?
What was your worst cycling experience?
The first time I rode up Haldon Hill (a reasonably big hill just outside Exeter) – it was the best and worst experience all at the same time! I really didn’t think I was capable of it and I was so chuffed when I made it to the top! Although it’s a dim and distant memory now, to be able to remember what it is like to find cycling really hard work to the point of it being unpleasant is a great asset in my job.
What is it about using your bike that you like the most?
I can’t quite put my finger on why, but cycling just makes me feel happy.
The answers given are the opinion of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of any organisation they may represent.
