This week is Bike Week! I mentioned this last week, but you may have forgotten! However, something strange is happening, it seems to be raining. I cannot ever remember a Bike Week where it has rained. It must have happened but my memories of previous years have been warm sunshine all week and certainly not wearing waterproofs.

I just hope that the weather doesn't put people off from riding, it was a lot quieter than usual this morning on my commute to the office and although it was wet underfoot (underwheel?) it wasn't actually raining and was quite warm.

I also mentioned last week that there are some events planned as part of Bike Week, on Thursday there is a celebration of cycling on Poole Quay. The event starts at 5pm and promises to be a great evening on one of the lightest nights of the year. People of all ages are invited to decorate their bikes in the “Bling Your Bike” competition, using whatever materials and theme you choose and following a procession along the Quay, the Mayor of Poole will judge the winner at 7pm.

There will be displays from Zero Gravity mountain bike freestyle stunt show and Bournemouth BMX Club will be doing a jump demonstration. In addition there will be stalls from local shops and cycling related organisations, plus have-a-go on the latest bikes including electric cycles.

The Borough of Poole will be there promoting Pedal Again in Poole courses which are designed to get people back out on their bikes and also giving people the chance to have your say on where new cycle lanes should be built.

On Saturday the new cycle track at Slades Farm has it's official opening. There will be Cycle track demonstrations and taster sessions, 'Rollapaluza' simulated 500m static bike racing at high speed, Free bike health checks and lots more.

Personally I'm disappointed that I don't think I will make it to Slades Farm on Saturday as my day is already very busy, but I am really looking forward to having a go on the track. It's going to be very different to when I used to pedal my BMX from Merley to Slades Farm to ride the skate park over 25 years ago!

I notice the usual flurry of comments against any cycling related letters or articles; this last week there has been some discussion about the shared path at Whitecliff. I was surprised when the dividing line was removed a few years ago and the segregated path was replaced with the shared one - I was told that this was at the request of local residents.

I don't have many issues along there, in the years I've been riding along this route I can only think of two instances where pedestrians have been abusive and one instance where I was assaulted after an issue with an aggressive dog. On the whole it's quite a pleasant shared route and the vast majority of people seem to have no problems.

I do get regular issues where I have to stop or swerve to avoid out of control dogs or ones that are on these ridiculous extending leads. I was horrified to read about the young boy who was mauled by a dog in this area, in my experience the small minority of dog owners who don't control or clear up after their animals seem to cause a disproportionate amount of pain and upset for people around them. Why don't we hear more calls for dogs to be banned? There are always people shouting for cyclists to be banned from these areas!

Based on information supplied by David Brown.