26 November 2008
Cycle
into Summer
Wellington City Council is having a whole month promoting cycling: Cycle into Summer.
Do go along to the events and help make it successful so they do it again. And, if you can, help out with Cycle Commuting Workshops, the next being on 4th December at 5-6pm, Wellington City Council Committee Room 2 (ground floor). If you have any hot tips, please let Christina (Christina@can.org.nz) know. Check out the programme on www.feelinggreat.co.nz
Volunteers Required!
Another reminder that volunteers are needed for a couple of events coming up, part of the Wellington City Council's Cycle into Summer:
Bike the Bays: the morning of Sunday 14th December.
We need 35 people to help as marshals at this event organised by the Wellington City Council. This will earn CAW $2,000 to spend on Bike Wise events in Feb 2009. Please contact Illona (email: illona.keenan@gmail.com) with your details if you or your friends can help. This is a wonderful opportunity to help CAW, meet people, and be involved in a great fun family event.
Battle of the BUGS (Bicycle User Groups).
Help organise a new event for Bike Wise week in February 2009. This will tie in with the Business Bike Battle but be more fun. There will be prizes - for, say, the BUG with the most legs, newest BUG, BUG with the best shower(!), greatest distance cycled in a month etc. - ideas welcome! It is envisaged that the prize ceremony will be combined with Go By Bike Day. Please contact Illona (email: illona.keenan@gmail.com)
Climate Action Festival Day - 6 December
On this day Claire Pascoe along with Gecko (Victoria University Environment Group) and Sustainability Trust will be running a Supermarket Challenge. People on bikes compete with people in cars (and maybe buses?), having to go into a supermarket (why not a more sustainable store? Ed.), purchase a list of shopping, load it into their vehicle, and then get back to the starting point. It was run in Christchurch a few years ago, with cyclists - predictably! - winning most sections. Contact Claire if you have a trailer and/or want to compete.
Frocks on Bikes
This is an
initiative to promote women on bikes wearing everyday clothes and/or
glamorous frocks/dresses etc., with the aim of helping to normalise
cycling, especially for short trips, in work clothes. Ultimately, it
hopes to encourage a culture more like the European one, with biking
for everyone in their everyday clothes and/or frocks/high heels
etc.!!
Louise Thornley and colleague Jude are co-ordinating this in the Wellington area. They have some funding from CAN's Walking and Cycling Micro-Fund to run lunchtime women's bike rides during February, and to undertake associated publicity.
They are keen to link up with anyone from Cycle Aware who may be interested in this idea.
An internet group has been set up, through the ‘Intersect' website, so feel free to join this or read the discussion...there seems to be a large amount of interest and enthusiasm for the concept!
See:
http://intersect.ning.com/group/frocksonbikes
http://www.frocksonbikes.org/
Ngauranga to Petone cycling improvements
Following on from the successful trial of green surfacing near the BP Horokiwi Service Station, NZTA will be making improvements along State Highway 2 (SH2) to ensure cyclists are more visible.
Green cycling zones are to be installed between Ngauranga Gorge and Petone.
Read more: http://can.org.nz/node/2926
Everything you need to know about cycle commuting in Wellington
See this neat and useful one-page guide by Patrick Morgan on the CAN website. Great for those who are new to cycling or new to the city. See http://can.org.nz/node/2862
New CAN website
Those who came to the last CAW meeting enjoyed a tutorial on the new CAN and CAW websites from Andre Cymbalista. It'd be great to see more of us sign up for a user account. It's easy and painless, and opens up the cyber-cycling world...
Great Harbour Way
There
has been a groundswell of support from local authorities in the
Wellington Region for the Great Harbour Way,
(http://www.greatharbourway.org.nz/).
Following the 12 October public meeting and submissions to Wellington
City Council and the Greater Wellington Regional Council, WCC has
included the GHW in its submission on the Regional Cycling Plan, and
the Regional Walking Plan includes investigation of the
Petone-Wellington link in its actions. Significantly, action on
fixing the Petone-Wellington gap has now been separated from the
"triangle study" - decisions about highways connecting
Grenada, Wellington, and Hutt.
The GHW is being promoted by a coalition that includes Cycle Aware Wellington, Living Streets Wellington, and Hutt City Rotary Club who are keen to develop the route, building on their experience in implementing the Hutt River Trail.
While it will still be some time before the gap is fixed for cyclists and walkers, the prospects are more hopeful than they have been since the original cycle path was allowed to deteriorate in the 1970s.
Next Meeting
CAW meetings are held regularly on the 1st Tuesday of the Month at the Southern Cross Tavern, corner Cuba and Abel Smith Sts. The next meeting will be CAW's Christmas Meeting! Come along on Tuesday December 2nd from 6pm for some choice Christmas Fayre, and hear Simon Kennett, our guest speaker, talking about his experience on the epic Great Divide Race he took part in earlier this year.
Contacts
Cycle
Aware Wellington (CAW),
website:
http://cms.caw.org.nz/
(present address for new site) or www.caw.org.nz;
email: info@caw.org.nz;
postal:
PO Box 27120, Wellington.
Chair:
Illona Keenan, email: illona@can.org.nz
Secretary: Alastair Smith, email: Alastair.Smith@vuw.ac.nz, phone: 04 463-5785
Membership: Teresa Maguire, email: laingmaguire@paradise.net.nz, phone: 04 971 1505
Cycling Advocates' Network (CAN): website: www.can.org.nz, email: patrick@can.org.nz (Wgtn office), secretary@can.org.nz, phone: 04 3854 967, postal: PO Box 6491, Auckland.