The "Big Wheels" of the cycling industry will be riding 180km from Taumarunui and New Plymouth this weekend to celebrate the opening of the first cycle touring routes under Nga Haerenga, The New Zealand Cycle Trail (NZCT).The cycle routes will be the first in a series of new cycle rides, comprising of largely on-road cycle routes around New Zealand.About 30 cyclists including Green Party MP Kevin Hague, Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown, Bike NZ Chair Richard Leggat, Cycle Action Network Manager Patrick Morgan and The Kennett Brothers will be joining NZCT project team members on the ride.NZCT Project Manager Jude Ellis says the new cycle touring routes will aim to appeal to a broad range of cyclists and encourage more tourists and New Zealanders to "go-by-bike"."They will also encourage cyclists to use more enjoyable cycling routes and steer them away from busy state highways and...
News: August 2011
Aug
The public will be asked their opinion on this in September, when the Council considers whether Coastal Pathway or another name is more appropriate for the award-winning shared-use route."There have been questions from users about whether walkers or cyclists have more rights on the Coastal Walkway, when the answer is that all users are equal," says Acting General Manager Community Assets Mark Bruhn.See full news release from the NPDC at:http://www.newplymouthnz.com/CouncilDocuments/NewsReleases/NewNamePropos...
Aug
Congratulations to the 2011-12 Cycle Friendly Award winners!Winners announced here.Finalists have been announced here, with the winners awarded at the 2Walk&Cycle Conference dinner in Hastings on 23rd February 2012.For a brief history of the awards go here http://can.org.nz/cycle-friendly-awards-history Here's your chance to recognise best efforts to promote cycling anywhere in New Zealand! Self-nominate, or nominate that local cycling project or champion you reckon is amazing! (You may nominate more than one project or person, but do use a separate form for each.) Download the two attached files for complete information. Nominations closed on 2 December 2011. Early bird nominations by 31 October 2011 go in the draw to win a Cactus Witness bag! Please spread the word to your...
Aug
There is a rather unlikely new vogue word in cycling circles: ambassador. I'm trying to get the images of the Ferrero Rocher ad out of my head (the euro-kitsch classic in which those almost inedible bonbons are handed round by flunkies at an embassy party: "Monsieur, with these Rocher, you're really spoiling us"), because actually the cycling ambassadorial role is a fine and noble one. Just this week, a bike shop in Portland, Oregon – which is widely seen as a countercultural cycling nirvana in the automobile-loving US – launched an initiative it's calling "21Ambassadors". According to the mission statement: "To ride a bicycle is to be part of a community, to share a common experience, as much as it is about good health and helping the environment […] We believe that as a community we should support each other in bad times as well as good. We, the 21 Ambassadors are here to help...
Aug
NEW YORK, NY (BRAIN)—The number of commuter bike riders in New York City increased 14 percent compared to last spring, according to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, who has been the subject of vitriol for her strong advocacy of bike lanes and other cycling amenities in the nation's most populous city. Commuter cycling has increased by 62 percent when compared to spring of 2008 and by 262 percent overall since 2000, according to data released by the city. The data is collected by counts of actual cyclists at major commuter locations. The consistent increase in the number of cyclists coincides with record lows in traffic fatalities recorded over the past four years and the continued expansion of the city’s bicycle route network, which has increased road safety for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. The city has...
Aug
DAMIAN Walsh is convinced of the financial windfall that cycling to work provides; it has helped pay for his home renovation and will pay his son's private school fees. While Mr Walsh, a Collins Street lawyer, cycles to work from Brunswick, his wife, Junko Kobayashi, uses the family car for errands and school drop-offs. They have been a one-car household since 1997. Mr Walsh said the money they have saved has helped pay for a $450,000 energy-efficient renovation to their home. ''Car insurance alone would cost us $1000 a year,'' he said. Figures out today in Bicycle Victoria's Ride On magazine will tell its 45,000 members that ditching one family car and riding a bicycle to work instead can be worth up to $3.5 million over a family's working lives. Ride Oneditor Stephen Huntley said the magazine wanted to be as generous as it could to cars to deflect any allegation of...
Aug
The first cycle touring routes under Nga Haerenga, The New Zealand Cycle Trail (NZCT) will be opened this month.The cycle routes will be the first in a series of new cycle rides, comprising of largely on-road cycle routes around New Zealand."The initial focus of the NZCT project has been to develop a series of 18 Great Rides, which are largely off-road cycle trails. The opening of these first cycle touring routes means that the longer term plan to expand the NZCT to also include a wider selection of existing scenic back country roads and cycle paths is now underway," NZCT Programme Manager John Dunn says."These new cycle touring routes will encourage cyclists and cycle tourists to use safer and more enjoyable cycling routes and steer them away from busy state highways and arterial routes," Mr Dunn says."The original idea for these cycle routes grew out of our desire to enable cycle...