Personality of the Month - Paul Salveson, Northern Rail
What is your job or other main activity that involves cycling?
I’m Head of Government and Community Strategies with train operator Northern Rail – cycling strategy comes into my brief.
How long have you done that?
Just over three years
Where do you live?
Slaithwaite, the Colne Valley, near Huddersfield
What most encourages you about cycling where you live?
A good off-road cycle route down the valley
What most discourages you about cycling where you live?
The hills! I only go eastwards. Sometimes I’m really lazy and catch the train back.
How would you describe yourself as a cyclist?
A cyclist who keeps wishing he had more time to cycle and doesn’t do enough about it
What is you earliest cycling memory?
Learning to ride a bike at my cousin’s in Surrey, when I was 7 – and going into a wobble and falling off! (with only minor bruising – it didn’t put me off)
Where is the best place you have ever cycled?
On the moors above Bolton – hard work getting up there, but once you’re ‘on the tops’ it’s great and you’re alone with the birds and sheep. Or at least you were in the 1960s – but it’s still beautiful and not much traffic on a weekday.
What is your greatest achievement, in terms of encouraging more people to cycle?
Two things really. Re-printing, back in 1985, Allen Clarke’s ‘Moorlands and Memories’ – first published in 1920 and a lovely book about cycling around the Lancashire moors; secondly Northern Rail’s ‘Cycling Strategy’ which helped persuade cyclists that the train companies didn’t hate them, and wanted to see them using the train.
What single thing do you think would do most to encourage more cycling in the UK?
It’s got to be more off-road cycling routes. Newcomers to cycling are –understandably – scared of riding on busy roads. It’s amazing to see the number of people who will cycle on off-road routes if they have the chance to.
What has been your favourite cycling experience?
Turing up at the Nelson Star Cycling Club one summer’s evening after a very long and gruelling ride and dying of thirst – and being welcomed by a group of old chaps in their 80s who told us ‘It’s ages since we’ve had any cyclists in here!’. The beer tasted like nectar. But can I add another? Having my chain break high up above Pateley Bridge. I was exhausted, pedalling in the face of a strong wind all the way from Northallerton. I was glad of a break! I left my bike with a farmer and started thumbing a lift, hoping I’d get home to Bolton that night. The first car which appeared (after ten minutes!) was going straight past my house in Bolton! I’ve always been lucky….
What was your worst cycling experience?
Emerging from a performance of a play about the Winter Hill mass trespass in a Bolton pub to find my ‘Malc Cowle’ bike (the first frame he ever made) had been stolen. I couldn’t believe it, I was heartbroken. This was 1982. I’ve had other bikes stolen since but that really hurt.
What is it about using your bike that you like the most?
Getting out on my own, into the country, and feeling you’re part of the landscape, not a spectator inside a tin box. I spend a lot of time now in the South Lakes and love riding the quiet lanes of the Winster and Lyth valleys. Bliss – any time of the year.
The answers given are the opinion of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of any organisation they may represent.
