Beauty and the Bike-What Happened Next?

The excitement of the film premiere is over. Back we go to "normal" life in Darlington. We've managed to keep the beautiful dutch bikes - in fact we're going to buy 40 more this year and expand the bike hire scheme. But how many girls will keep on cycling? We know that cycling is still "uncool" for many UK teenagers - perhaps because it feels so unsafe on our meagre infrastructure? Here, one of the girls from Beauty and the Bike, Lauren Pyrah, comes behind the camera to ask what is happening to the Darlington girls now. Kate, one of the original group, is joined by Francesca to shout the praises of everyday cycling. But Ashley has stopped. Why? And will politicians listen?

At the Film Premiere in Darlington

The big day has finally arrived. After a great world premiere in Bremen on the third, yesterday we organised the UK screen premiere to a packed-out audience at Darlington Arts Centre.

Tour of Britain Ride Out

Today, some of the Beauty and the Bike girls led out the Tour of Britain from the centre of Darlington. Nice excuse to show that there are other ways to cycle. You can spot them by their lack of helmet.

Bremen Girls Visit Darlington

It's the final week of filming for the documentary. The girls from Bremen have spent a week checking out what it is like cycling in a typical British town. Darlington Cycling Campaign organised this farewell party at Darlington Media Workshop on the last night of their visit.

So filming is now over, and the team are about to hide themselves away for a month with over 20 hours of footage. The first online glimpses of the final documentary will appear here in September.

Meanwhile, photographers Sabine Bungert and Phil Dixon are continuing to work on their material, which will feature in a book about the remarkable phenomenon of teenage girl cycling in the UK.

Lauren Pyrah’s Story

Back in Darlington after a wonderful and informative trip to Bremen, the girls in the project now find out if their cycling habits can become permanent in Darlington - even when our cycling infrastructure is still in its infancy.

This short video edit follows one of the girls, Lauren Pyrah, from her original interview in July 2008 to her current impressions, now she has been to a cycling-friendly city and returned to Darlington.

Lauren has hired one of the Velodarlo Dutch Bikes. She will be blogging her experiences on Darlington's streets on this website. Just select "Lauren's Blog" from the BikeBeauty Blogs drop down menu on the left of this page.

Bremen Day 2 - Kate

Kate sums up the second day in Bremen.

Bremen Day 1 - Sofija

Sofija Kriauciunaite has just arrived in Bremen with the rest of the Beauty and the Bike girls from Darlington. Here she gives her first impressions of the place.

Why Do Girls Stop Cycling?

Our project is founded on the fact that girls in cycling friendly countries continue to cycle into adulthood, whilst in other countries - like the UK - they tend to give up during the teenage years. Why?