Narrowly missed clipping a black Holden, buses bully me into the curb, diesel fumes are the least of my worries. Do I ride through the deep and widely slatted grate or skirt it and merge into the dual carriageway? Someone honks as I'm forced to cross four lanes on Manukau Rd and become sandwiched between a truck and a courier van... it's not my fault. I'd just navigated by bicycle Onehunga to work in central Auckland. It takes between 30 and 45 minutes depending on the lights, road works, weather and chances of near carnage. At work, still puffing and mind trekking between curb and bonnet, I meet a colleague and fellow cyclist and am surprised by his calm demeanor. He tells me how much he enjoys the chance to think about things on his bike before starting his day. Time to think? Surely he means time enough before seeing the car door open in front of you. No, he actually...
News: September 2009
Sep
I'd like to thank everone that contributed articles for the "September" issue of Chainlinks. We wanted a special emphasis on New Plymouth, Taranaki and the events there in November There were a lot of articles - probably more than Miriam can fit into the 20 pages. it was a mixture of local group reports, articles that had been planned and discussed, and articles that arrivad out of the blue. Some material may have to get held over untill the following issue The volume of material actually caused a few workload issues with the chainlinks team and it will probably mean that you'll get it in the first week of october. Thanks again, Stephen Wood, contributions Manager for Chainlinks.
Sep
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/fashion/10bikes.html?_r=4&ref=style "While some cyclists outside the fashion world expressed mixed feelings about seeing their trusty mode of transportation turned into the next gladiator sandal, others looked on the bright side. Even if new riders buy a bike only because they’re the cool new thing, they’re still buying a bike, wrote Matt Simonds, a cyclist who works at a nonprofit agency, in an e-mail message. In such cases, he wrote, “it’s kind of strange what happens when they got on a bike after a long period away from one — they remember how awesome it is to ride one.” "
Sep
The last CAW meeting agreed to nominate Paul Barker of WCC for the Cycling Champion of the Year category in this year's CAN Cycle-Friendly Awards. I've drafted up the nomination (attached). Any suggested changes? Would be particularly interested in help with a list of Paul's achievements.
Sep
In 2008 we ran free workshops for newbie bike commuters. WCC (Leanne Parsons) has asked if we want to do them again. I am keen, and need some helpers - any volunteers? Patrick (385 4967) Tue 3 November 12-1, and 5-6pm Tue 1 December 12-1, and 5-6pm Here's the guff from 2008: FREE workshops on how to commute Discover how easy it is to commute to work by bike and get your summer off to a great start. Learn everything you need to know about commuting to work or school with practical demonstrations about all the gear from Cycle Aware Wellington. Wellington City Council, Committee Room Two (ground floor) Just turn up, there is no need to book.
Sep
A group of Christchurch women is out to make cycling fashionable. The women are part of Frocks on Bikes, a national group for female cyclists who like to keep their sense of style. Christchurch organiser Meg Christie said the group, which started in Wellington and Auckland, wanted to encourage women to use bikes. "There's a big gap with a lot of women not cycling for utility trips. There are some women who go biking for leisure, but not that many using their bikes to get from A to B," she said. The group was trying to get rid of the perception that unflattering cycling clothing was needed by women, she said. "You don't need to be in Lycra or hard-out fluoro. You can just wear your everyday clothes, and Christchurch is pretty flat, so it's perfect for cycling," Christie said. Looking stylish while cycling also helped to ease the tension between cyclists and motorists...
Sep
Photo: Messe Friedrichshafen, www.messe-friedrichshafen.de Eurobike closed a successful week in which records were broken for trade visitors, public attendance, and submittals for the esteemed Eurobike awards. For the second year, a Eurobike Green Award was given to a product that "exhibits particularly significant ecological and sustainable value." This year's green award goes to a gadget a lot of people have been waiting for: a universal charger for harvesting pedal power to charge any music player, mobile phone, GPS or other electrical device. More on specs and availability of the charger for powering any gadget you own below. The Eurobike Green Award Winner If you enjoy having your bicycle lights powered by your hub dynamo, the E-Werk can take you to the next level. In the words of the award jury: E-Werk is based on a very appealing idea -...
Sep
Wellington City Council – Employment opportunity Sustainable Transport Coordinator Infrastructure The Transport Unit is responsible for planning an effective, efficient and safe transport network to all road users throughout Wellington. We are looking for a person who can understand and manage the challenging demands on our transport network with a view towards improving sustainability. Someone who can use effective travel demand management tools to effect behaviour change in the community. This role includes:· Planning, managing and delivering a range of initiatives to assist the community in making decisions to support sustainability in our transport system.· Working closely with schools, tertiary institutes and other organisations to support the travel...
Sep
CAW has been asked for comment/support for two nominations for the CAN Cycle Friendly Awards, due 18 Sept. 1. GWRC: "The Greater Wellington Regional Council have negotiated an arrangement for all Met-Link train services to carry bicycles at no charge. This covers all Wellington suburban area trains, and services to the Wairarapa. " 2. NZTA for the improvements to SH2 Ngauranga-Petone: cycle warning signs, marked cycle lanes, etc. I know that there are reservations about these intiatives. Some people would like to see charges for bikes on trains brought back, in the hope that it would make carriage of bikes less of a lottery; the SH2 improvements are a long way short of what is really required to provide safe effective cycling on this stretch. But my feeling is that nominating the projects for Cycle Friendly Awards is a good way to recognise attempts to improve conditions for...
Sep
This advertorial came through to me yesterday. Would you want to ride one? "Here's a fantastic new mode of transport launched today - Christchurch funded and invented, NZ made, and just the bees knees. Not cheap but talk about cool, not to mention environmentally savvy." see www.yikebike.com
Sep
NYC bike path A pictorial history of transport changes through the ages in Manhattan, New York. How New York City is becoming a cycle-friendly city, and leading the way on Sustainable Streets. From Pricetags.ca
Sep
BikeNZ has started a 1.5 metre campaign: From the BikeNZ material: Would you stand on the spot with your back towards a truck as it drives towards you at 100km/h, knowing it was going to pass within a metre? Plain lunacy? This is an everyday occurrence for cyclists on our roads. 1.5m to survive is your call to action! (Sign Petition NOW!) There are nearly 1.5 million of us riding bikes in New Zealand, yet the Ministry of Transport's 10-year Road Safety Strategy discussion document has little to address the safety needs of cyclists. We must act now, (right now...September) if we want cycling conditions on our roads to improve in the next 10 years. This is your moment to speak out!! Submissions close Friday October 2nd, 2009. more Note: CAN is putting together a detailed submission on the Road Safety Strategy - find out more here.
Sep
Work Starts On-site for Coastal Pathway Bridge From the NPDC's website:"Construction of the Coastal Pathway’s shared pedestrian/cycle bridge moves into the public eye with work starting on-site at the Waiwhakaiho River on 1st September.There will be a blessing of the site on the city side of the river Tuesday morning, then earthworks will begin as part of construction of the bridge abutment.“Work has been under way for many months on constructing the bridge itself, but this is the first element of the project that the public can see taking shape,” says Manager Projects Team Jeff Bondy.The bridge is a key part of the extension of the Coastal Walkway northward to Bell Block.When completed, the extension will give cyclists and walkers an off-road link between Bell Block and the central city through to the port.The route of the pathway north has almost been finalised. Mr Bondy says the...
Sep
350 ride Wellington There's the one 350 photo and a short 2 min video of the ride on the 350.org.nz site here: http://www.350.org.nz/wellington/events#past There's a couple more on the event invite for the ride on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=117501502265&ref=mf
Sep
More than 52,000 bicyclists have been killed in bicycle traffic accidents in the U.S. over the 80 years the federal government has been keeping records. When it comes to sharing the road with cars, many people seem to assume that such accidents are usually the cyclist’s fault — a result of reckless or aggressive riding. But an analysis of police reports on 2,752 bike-car accidents in Toronto found that clumsy or inattentive driving by motorists was the cause of 90 percent of these crashes. Among the leading causes: running a stop sign or traffic light, turning into a cyclist’s path, or opening a door on a biker. This shouldn’t come as too big a surprise: motorists cause roughly 75 percent of motorcycle crashes too. http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/who-causes-cyclists-dea... http://www.projectfreeride.org/team/cycling_health_and_safety/index.php?...
Sep
"We are preparing a road safety strategy called Safer Journeys to take us through to 2020, and we want to hear what you think about our ideas to improve road safety in New Zealand. We have launched a discussion document that presents New Zealand's key road safety challenges and outlines 60 possible initiatives to address them. It is not the intention to introduce this many initiatives, but we want to have a public discussion which gathers together all possible interventions and considers which are the most important to adopt."Points to make from a cycling point of view: "Safer walking and cycling" is only a medium concern No recognition that increases in active transport such as cycling and walking reduce the number of vehicles and improve safety[17 Sep] A draft submission by the Greens is attached(22 Sept) A discussion document from the Automobile Association is attached-...
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