Cycling & Sustenance: #SpokesComp results

Yes, bikes and food are inextricably linked in so many ways .. and our super competition entries certainly proved that! Sourcing food by homebaking, foraging, cafes or shopping; Sharing food for family, for friends, for people in need, and even using it to promote cycling. Entries in text, photos, diagrams or poems; advice or amusement; serious or tongue in cheek – our lovely entrants had it all!

And if anyone wondered where to go for a bike-cafe crawl, we discovered that East Lothian is without doubt the place to be!

PRIZEWINNERS & RUNNERS-UP

See the full set of prize-winner and runner-up entries in this 10mb pdf [or lower-res 6MB pdf if your download is slow].

THEMES

Some of the main themes to emerge in the entries are listed below (in order of approx number of mentions). Obviously not all these themes are food-related, but as long as they were in an entry about food & sustenance they could be valuable additions.

• DIY food – e.g. home grown / home made / foraging
• Personal benefits and/or pleasures of cycling
• Importance of cafes
• Ethical & community aspects
• Practical advice, including recipes
• East Lothian (8 entries mentioned East Lothian, 2 Edinburgh, 2 ‘Lothians’, and 1 Midlothian)
• Spokes maps or other Spokes assistance
• Use of cargobike/trailer
• Specific named cafes

TOP ENTRIES

Second prize – Charlie Wood, Portobello – Bribing the kids

Family bike rides are still not all that common as the kids grow older. One of Charlie’s children commented: why can’t we just take the bus like normal people? Though, Charlie added: at least they said ‘bus’ and not ‘car.’

But – success! – and this entry shows how to do it – cafes, fish suppers, ice cream, hot chocolate and suchlike will work the magic!

RECOMMENDED CAFES

The following cafes were recommended by our competition entrants. Spokes, unfortunately, has not yet had the chance to try them all so we are relying on the comments (in italics) from our entrants here.

And our 6th prizewinner advised… “Never pass a tea shop or similar outside town without going in, this keeps you going and keeps them going, and means it will still be there next time you pass“

• Gifford: Lanterne Rouge [2 mentions][wide range of coffee, rolls & cakes; selection of cycling-related specials]
• Biggar, Carnwath: Apple Pie Bakery Cafe 3 Biggar Rd [apple pie & cakes to die for]
• Biggar, Thankerton: Tinto Tearoom Tinto Hill [Tea at the foot o’ steepness]
• Biggar, Elsrickle: Big Red Barn , Errington’s [is fantoosh]
• East Linton: Bostock’s Bakery [good coffee and variety of savoury & sweet treats]
• Tyninghame: Smithy [good coffee and variety of savoury & sweet treats]
• Humbie: Humbie Hub [tasty grub]
• Gullane: Cherish Vintage Tea Room [cakes o’ every flavour]
• West Linton: Olde Toll House
• Cockenzie: Cafe Filly
• Belhaven Bay: Shore Coffee van [good coffee and variety of savoury & sweet treats]
• Broughton: Laurel Bank Tearoom [wee gairden]
• Pencaitland: Rosearista [wonderful coffee, fresh morning rolls & home baking; outside tap for refilling bike bottles]
• Musselburgh, Eskmills: Company Bakery [Arguably the best cinnamon rolls anywhere local]
• Edinburgh Park: Patina [Delicious Danish pastries; croissant-bread French toast]
• South Queensferry: Dune Bakery [Delicious Danish pastries; croissant-bread French toast]
• Portobello Prom: The Little Green Van [Edinburgh’s finest hot chocolate]
• Haddington: Competition 3rd prize entry Not exactly a cafe, but free home made Dutch apple cake in the town centre 9-10am on the first Saturday of the month.

THANK YOU – OUR SPONSORS

The top prizewinner gets to choose their prize from the list, second chooses second, and so on.

• ScotRail Return ticket for 2 adults & up to 4 kids (age 5-15) between any 2 ScotRail stations
• Spokes £1000 voucher* towards purchase of a cargo-bike
• Spokes £200 voucher* towards purchase of an e-bike
• Spokes Full set of 4 Spokes maps plus Spokes Edinburgh buff**
• Cameo Picturehouse – 2 tickets
• Far From the Madding Crowd bookshop (Linlithgow) – The Cycling Chef on the Go by Alan Murchison, top chef & top cyclist
• Lanterne Rouge (cyclists’ favourite cafe, in Gifford) £20 voucher
• Dowerhouse or Rosebean Cafe £25 voucher valid at either cafe
• Edinburgh BikeCoop £50 voucher
• Edinburgh Festival of Cycling  One day free hire of the EdFoC Urban Arrow cargobike
• Laidback Bikes Electric or manual recumbent tour, solo or guided to Cramond OR one day free hire of a cargo bike
• Hart’s Cyclery One-week hire of an e-bike
• Camera Obscura & World of Illusions – Family ticket
• Spokes runners-up will each win 1 map or buff**

* This voucher may only be used for the purpose stated above. It may only be used by the winner and is not transferable. It must be used at an Edinburgh or Lothians independent bike shop which is not one of the major national chains. We will pay the shop direct.

** Your buff will show a section of our Edinburgh map (Midlothian buffs are sold out)

THANK YOU !!

Many thanks to you if you entered, even if you didn’t win this time.

Thanks also to the organisers from Spokes Resources Group

Thank you, the judges – Kate, Emma, Rosie and Dave from Spokes Resources Group and our external judge, Ben Seven, editor of the brilliant Edi.Bike weekly newsletter.

WHAT’S NEXT & WHAT CAN YOU DO??

• Look through our full set of entries carefully – do any inspire you to try the same?  Are there any you could recommend to friends and colleagues?
• If you’re in campaiging mood, how about emulating our 3rd prize winner in your local area? (we can put you in touch with other local members)
• See the results of our many previous exciting, amusing and/or interesting competitions here.
• If you’ve a great idea for a future competition, let us know!  A topic that is useful to other people and which most people are able to enter is what we need (so, for example, school travel would not be suitable)
• Please retweet our tweet about this article.