News

We all win when more people bike, more often

Opinion piece for DomPost, (printed with minor edits, 24 January 2012, pB5)

Riding a bike is fun. Most of us remember the sense of freedom when cruising round the neighbourhood as kids. It is a convenient way to get around. It eliminates parking worries. Our air and waterways are cleaner.

Biking makes you feel good.

So why do we waste time and money by bickering?

It's a familiar pattern.

Someone riding a bike gets knocked off, assaulted, or is seen running a red light.

A...

A WOMEN-only cycling group that aims to build up the confidence of road-shy cyclists around Warwick district will launch with its first ride next weekend.

Dawn Rahman of British Cycling will lead a leisurely-paced and traffic-free cycle along cycling paths and canals as part of a national campaign - Breeze - to get ladies back on the saddle.

Dawn, who lives in Warwick Gates, is the organisation’s recreation manager for the West Midlands, but she is giving up her free time to act as a ‘Breeze champion’ in the hope that more women will feel safer and happier about travelling by...

There are a lot of imaginative uses for abandoned railroad tracks out there, from awesome urban parks like New York's High Line to bike and pedestrian highways. Lloyd, however, points out the downside to permanently removing tracks:

I have the same concern every time I look at the work of the Rails to Trails Conservancy. They have a great message, promoting investment in bicycling and walking, but every time a set of tracks is torn up, an opportunity for restructuring our transportation system is lost.

But the "O," from Italian designer Davide Bonanni, finds a middle...

For some, riding a bike is transportation, a healthy, environmentally friendly way to get from A to B. For others it's recreation, an activity to test their own physical capabilities, stay in shape. For some local cyclists, the bike has become a vehicle that can change lives, maybe even make the world a better place.

Cycling helped Kelyn Akuna see the world. Now he's hoping it will help aboriginal youth see their way in the world.

Akuna, 28, is a former member of the United States track cycling team. Since he started riding at age 16, he raced at events in France,...

A cyclist was killed yesterday (8 January) when he and a cycling partner were hit by a car on a busy road in Tauranga.

The 50-year-old local man was travelling with a female cyclist on State Highway 36 at Pyes Pa.

Emergency services were called just after midday to the critically injured man, who died soon after.

The woman was rushed to Tauranga Hospital, where she was treated for minor injuries and discharged later in the afternoon.

Senior Sergeant Robert Glencross said the serious crash team were still investigating the crash.

"An initial assessment...

This article was written for CAN's Chainlinks magazine, but we are only printing an excerpt of it in Chanlinks, due to constraints on space.

Authors: Alistair Woodward, Graeme Lindsay, Alex Macmillan
School of Population Health in the University of Auckland

The risks of cycling are mostly obvious. Many riders have suffered injuries as a result of a crash, or know of people who have been injured. In a study of those who took part in the 2006 Taupo Cycle Challenge, one-third told us they had suffered a...

Bicycles and summer go together, and kids of all ages will be heading out on new bikes this Christmas.

Cycling Advocates' Network spokesperson Patrick Morgan says a bicycle is often near the top of the Christmas wish list.

In 2005 a BBC poll ranked the bicycle as the favourite invention, ahead of electricty and the internet.

For those lucky enough to find a bicycle at the foot of the Christmas tree, Cycling Advocates' Network has some tips:

Cycling is fun; having fun is more important than going fast
Learn how to use your brakes
Get started with firm...

This research, which was conducted from July 2008 to January 2010, investigated what type of cycling infrastructure would encourage 'new cyclists' (i.e. people who either do not currently cycle at all, or people who do not currently cycle for utilitarian trips) to use cycling as their mode of transport for daily activities in New Zealand.

The research involved undertaking an international literature review followed by national surveys and Christchurch-based focus groups, to gain an understanding of some of the motivations and barriers associated with utilitarian cycling, and to...

Some of the most powerful things that have effected change throughout history appear to have been symbols.

Symbols hint at something bigger, deeper, beyond.....

Our household was blessed recently to have hosted Hutch - a wonderful kind man in his seventies, cycling the world, meeting people...and planting seeds of hope.  www.cyclingpeace.org 

(We have met some wonderful folk through the "Warm Showers List" - where people from all over the world offer hospitality to cycle tourists.  "Sign up!" is my advice!)

So bicycle as symbol resonates as we explore new territory...