Write to the desk

The address

Editorial: desk@bike2work-day.com — the working inbox for everything editorial: pitches, letters, route submissions, corrections, disagreements worth having. Email is read most weekdays; anything sent from a press-release cannon is read never. Put a category word in the subject line — Pitch, Correction, Route, Brief (to join the newsletter, see the sign-in page), Programs (employer questions) — and sorting happens at the speed of one glance. We answer real letters; the culture pages and the weekly Commuter Brief both run on reader material, so writing in is genuinely the fastest way into the magazine.

Pitching: what the desk wants

The magazine's four practical pillars — gear, routes, health, weather — and its culture section define the brief. Strong pitches share three traits: ridden, not researched-from-press-releases; specific (one city, one season, one junction is a story; "cycling in Europe" is a category); and useful to the rider who reads it on a Tuesday with a commute to do. Formats we love: the route anatomy (a real commute drawn and explained, like the Brief's route slot), the long-term test (a piece of kit after two winters, not two days), and the scene from the lane (see the gallery for the register). Rates and terms are discussed like adults, by reply. The strongest thing any pitch can contain is the sentence "I ride this route myself".

Corrections: the public promise

We get things wrong and fix them in public. Every correction runs at the foot of the corrected page, dated, with the original error named — silent edits are for websites with something to hide. Factual corrections (numbers, names, history, product facts) are actioned within a week of verification; judgment calls get argued about first, which is slower but more fun. The corrections log and the desk live at the same address; put Correction in the subject and quote the sentence at fault. Our standards are summarised on the about page, including the no-affiliate rule that keeps the gear coverage honest and the independence policy that governs everything else.

Reader routes: the standing invitation

The magazine's best recurring feature is yours to feed: send your commute — city, distance, the difficult junction and the decision you made there — and it joins the queue for the route slot in the Brief and, at its best, a full anatomy in the route section. What to include: where the ride starts (neighbourhood, not address), the boring kilometre and how you fixed it, the season that changed everything, and one honest detail the maps miss (the gate that is always locked, the light that never changes). Submissions are credited; anonymity is fine; e-bike, cargo and multimodal commutes are all wanted, because the lane contains multitudes.

Employers and programs

Workplaces running — or arguing for — commuter programs get a straight answer and the full playbook in the employer's guide; write with Programs in the subject for format notes, league kits and the challenge rules in printable form. We do not run sponsored programs, sell challenges or license the name — the formats on this site are open, run them yourself, and write only when the standings deserve gossip. Privacy, for the record, extends here: addresses of correspondents are never published, sold or added to lists; if your letter appears, it appears with your permission and your name as you choose it.

Response times, honestly

Letters and routes: inside a week. Pitches: two weeks, occasionally three when the riding is good. Corrections: verification first, then a week. Programs questions: inside a fortnight. Angry letters: answered first, because arguments are this magazine's favourite genre — bring evidence. Everything else — the challenges (Commute, Summer), the archive, the manifesto — hangs off the front page. The desk is a person on a bicycle, not a funnel: write like one reader to another, and it will be read like it.