BRAKE FAILURE

I had almost forgotten about this incident, when I rode in on Tuesday, once again I rode with my mate, which I must tell you was our quickest ride yet, it had been a good ride, we burned through Hurstville and Forest Rd had a bit of fun through the traffic that was backed up on the intersection that dissects the Princes Hwy. Obviously I had been using the breaks a bit especially the back one.

As we were pulling up outside my mates work right next to UTS my back brake cable snapped giving me a bit of fright, and the poor person I almost ran into. Lucky for me it was right near the end of the ride because when I tried to ride home that afternoon I kept forgetting I had no back brake, after a few scary moments I decided to jump on the train, I went straight my local bike shop and within ten minutes he had fixed the problem and I was back on the road. (I think one time soon I will need to by a new bike)

RIDE OF SILENCE

Just a reminder that the ride of silence is on this saturday, starting at Hyde Park at 10am.

FEELING THE HEAT

Today I road in at about 10.00 it was no where near as pleasant as cycling in at about 7.30 in the morning. The autumn sun is up blasting you with its rays and sniggering at your efforts. Was I feeling the heat? Too right I was, I just didn’t feel as comfortable cycling in by the time I got to Bourke St near Mascot I was buggered, but I pushed on going as hard as my dehydrating body could handle.

I arrived at uni not much slower than I normally would but a hell of a lot more buggered than I usually am. If I go at this time again I’m seriously going to have to consider using the showers at uni, but I don’t relish the idea.

CYCLING ADDICTION

Here are some photos I took the other day several of them are taken from the bike as I was riding. I love the strange angels you get as you ride a long it also allows me to look at what I missed while I was riding. I got to say I’m getting more and more addicted to this cycling caper, nothing beats it as a form of transport into the city, it beats city rail, car and bus, however using cycling and city rail to your advantage can make your trip even more efficient.

THROUGH THE FOREST

Today I road with my mate he's a pretty serious rider, rides a dual suspension mtn bike but before that he was a bloody good BMX rider. for the first half of the journey we went his way along FOREST RD and then we joined the bike track through to Mascot. We were going to go along Princes Hwy but I convinced him to take the track, once again it was a bloody good ride took us about an hour from Oatley. The maps you see are the route along Forest rd and the Bike Track through to Mascot. (To get a larger view just click on the image same applies for all the images)

TOMORROW

I'll be riding with my mate tomorrow, along the Princes Hwy so that should be a huge contrast to the ride I had on Tuesday. I'll let you know how I go.

SURVEY SURVEY SURVEY

JUST A SHORT SURVEY

The survey responses will be used by me to establish the experiences cyclists have in the City of Sydney. The responses will be used to build a research archive and will be central to the research findings. The survey responses coupled with my own experiences on the road will provide me with a enough informatin to produce a design outcome that reflects the research findings.

Why do you ride to work?

Why did you stop riding?

How did you get into cycling?

How many times a week do you Ride?

Approximately How far do you ride a week?

How long have you been riding?

What route(s) do you take to the work?

Most importantly what are some of the experiences you've had while riding?

RIDE OF SILENCE

Saturday, 19 May, starting at 10 am from Hyde Park.

Sydney cyclists will join a worldwide bicycle rally to raise awareness that cyclists, pedestrians and motorists all share the road.

Reason:

* To honour those who have been injured or killed on our lethal roads

* To raise awareness that we all share the limited transport infrastructure of

this city

* To ask that we all share the road in a considerate and safe manner

* To highlight the urgent need for suitable, safe infrastructure of cyclists

This is a worthy cause guys and if we want to better the cycling path in Sydney then this event is definitely one to look into.

NATIONAL RIDE TO WORK DAY, 17 October 2007

Last year Bicycle Victoria organised a ride to work day in Victoria, word quickly spread however and cyclists from interstate participated in the event. This year Bicycle Victoria are organising a national ride to work day. ABC Radio will promoting the event as its partner on the airwaves. Plenty of time to organise this guys so get a few people together from work.

'Welcome to the glorious world of cycling!'

THIS WAS AN EMAIL I RECEIVED FROM A CONTACT I MET THROUGH THIS PROJECT I THOUGHT PEOPLE WOULD BE INTERESTED IN HIS TAKE ON CYCLING.

Welcome to the glorious world of cycling! Your blog looks interesting.
It's a different angle on riding. There's heaps of stuff online about
biking in Sydney, if you know where to look. The best place to start
is Cheeky Transport. It's my local bike shop. They have a decent
website with heaps of links: information on cool bikes, bike routes,
bike culture. Also it's worth looking at Bicycle NSW's website.

When I was a youngster I rode all the time. My dad has been cycling
all his life and it was only natural his sons (I have two brothers)
ride with him. Every school holidays from about the time I was 6 we
would drive to the country then ride from town to town. Cycling is in
my blood. After a few years off the saddle, I've built myself a bike
(I love it more than my girlfriend sometimes) and it's the only
way I get around.

You're comment that bikes are a sensory experience is totally right.
Who wants to commute inside a climate controlled bubble when you can
feel the world whistling by your ears. When you drive you're basically
just sitting on a motorised couch. You feel alive when you ride. Plus
once you get your fitness up you can get where you're going faster
than cars.

The problem with ridding in Sydney is the bike paths are shit.
They go for a few hundred meters then stop. You're left to work out how to get
to the next section of safe path. This generally involves getting
on a main road; with all the danger that involves. The SBS show 'Cycling
Central' did a report on commuting in Sydney. They produced a statistic (you'll have to verify it) stating Sydney has the lowest kms of bike paths in the country. Having lived in Melbourne I can tell you this fact rings true. Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne all have comprehensive, city wide routes for recreational and commuting cyclists.

Because it's difficult to ride in, Sydney doesn't have much of a bike
culture. This means drivers have NO RESPECT for cyclists AT ALL. It's
fucked trying to ride on dangerous roads when you know some jerk who's
just parked his car might swing his door open right in front of you.
You're on edge all the time. You have to ride aggressively so at least
drivers know you're on the road. This leads to animosity (as
demonstrated by a report on A Current Affair recently) that could be
solved by laying some pain on the edge of few roads: problem solved.

Anyway, that's my rant on cycling. Hopefully it will give you a few
ideas. Don't hesitate to get back in touch if you have any further
questions. As you can probably tell I love cycling and I love talking
about it.

I'll be checking your blog.

See you on the road,

VISUAL EXPERIENCE

Here is a spread from my rides to and from uni yesterday you can click on the image to get a large view of the spread.

...I'M BUGGERED

Just got home from uni first day I've ridden the whole way to uni and then back...I'm buggered (I'll post the photos tomorrow)

LINKS

Here are two web-sites that I have come across that are worth checking out as well as the obvious one Bicycle NSW its a great web-site for new cyclists like myself.

Bicycle NSW
www.bicyclensw.org.au/

Bicycle Victoria
http://www.bv.com.au/

Bicycle federation Australia
www.bfa.asn.au

Critical Mass Australia
www.criticalmass.org.au

INCIDENT

I had a pretty tame incident on my way to meet the guys at Brighton a car came within about 10 centimetres of my handlebars, I was riding fairly close to the gutter in a lane that was 1 ½ cars wide if not more, he had plenty of room to go around. To get that close to me he would have had to swerve off his line and move over to the gutter, I guess he just wanted to let me know his feelings about cyclists.

MORNING RIDE

Well I just had the best ride of my short career as a bike rider in Sydney. I had arranged to meet up with three guys at Brighton-le-sands, one of which gave me the idea for this research project; at 7.00 their journey had started back at Cronulla where they ride from three times a week.

These guys are pretty serious riders and quick, I’d like to say that I kept up with them but it was more a case of they stayed with me. Meaning they could’ve gone a lot quicker. They normally take just over an hour from Cronulla to the CBD (one of the guys has a best time of an hour flat). I got to uni at 7.55 I would say they were probably about 10-15 minutes off their usual time.

Like I said I joined the guys at Brighton on President Avenue from there we made our way to a bike track that starts at the Fishos. (On the map this is where the route we took becomes blue the red part of the route is when we were riding on the road). The map only shows as far as the end of the bike track but from there you make your way through to Redfern, past Redfern Station down onto George St the guys continued on into the city, I peeled off at UTS.

It was a great ride this morning not too hot not too cold; the Track took us along the waterways that snake through Brighton, Rockdale and Mascot. The Sun was not far above the Horizon with not a breath of wind making the water look like glass. I got to appreciate my surroundings for a bit not having to worry about traffic. Things changed once we hit the roads, you have to be alert, aware, slightly aggressive and clever. So thanks to the guys, like I said it was one of the best rides I’ve had in my short time on the road it sure beats catching the train.

ANONYMOUS COMMENTS

George who filled out my survey brought it to my attention that my blog didn't allow for anonymous comments I have to agree with him that would be annoying (having to sign for an account just to make a comment). I have now rectified that anyone can make a post.

ROUTE MAPS

This is a map of the route I took yesterday from Tempe Station. The red line is my route and the blue line is Jonny's route. He proposed it in the comments section under 'on the road again'. Its a great route through this area especially once you get to Wilson st. I took this route this morning.

BIG ISSUE

I just bought the latest big issue, the cover story is about cycling in Sydney and Melbourne. Definitely worth a check as our southern cousins have it a lot better than us. (But we already knew that) it is definitley worth a look see though.

SURVEY SURVEY SURVEY

JUST A SHORT SURVEY

The survey responses will be used by me to establish the experiences cyclists have in the City of Sydney. The responses will be used to build a research archive and will be central to the research findings. The survey responses coupled with my own experiences on the road will provide me with a enough informatin to produce a design outcome that reflects the research findings.

Why do you ride to work?

Why did you stop riding?

How did you get into cycling?

How many times a week do you Ride?

Approximately How far do you ride a week?

How long have you been riding?

What route(s) do you take to the work?

Most importantly what are some of the experiences you've had while riding?

'me old mate'

Me old mate is a NISHIKI COLORADO I obtained him from my cousin who lives in Wollongong. I didn't want to spend heaps of money so I drove down to the Gong got the bike and I was away (if I continue this caper I'm going to buy a new bike). I refer to him as 'my old mate' because we have a history. I spent two years at Wollongong Uni doing Geography. I know. Now I'm doing Graphic design go figure. But that's a story another time and another blog. While I was at Wollongong Uni i use my cousins bike 'me old mate' to ride round the Gong, for Surfing, Uni and to generally get about. (The Gong is one cool town to ride around there are Bike tracks every where and a few hills).

When I rode for a surf I would just have my wetsuit on, no shoes and my board under my arm it was pretty hairy when there was a strong off-shore breeze blowing it was liable to grab your board with me still attached and blow me into the Bushes or on coming cyclists

'on the road again'

I'm on the road again had a quick ride from the shop up at Hurstville back to Oatley only took me 18 minutes not super quick but pretty happy. I got home about the same time as my dad who dropped me at the shop. here are some images from my dusk ride.

I rate Riding home at dusk the lights but watching the sun set and trying to beat it down is fun.

Ride 4 and 1/2

Afternoon people just completed my 4th and ½ ride into the city. I say 4th and ½ because I my last ride was when my old mate broke down. Today was HOT. 27 degrees and I felt it. My shirt was soaked through on the back from sweat, my legs were tired and my arms were tired. BUT I felt great, I felt (awake) I could literally feel the endorphins pumping through my body or maybe I was just giddy from tiredness. Either way it was a good feeling.



For this ride I rode from my house in Oatley over to Mortdale Station where I jumped on the train from there I rode next to the Train line past Sydenham station and made my way up to Enmore Rd. it was at this stage I came across a shared pedestrian/bicycle path I followed this for about a 1km but found the route was poorly sign posted because I kept wondering if I was still on the shared path I eventually gave up and joined the cars on the road.



My route then led me to Sydney Uni and from there it was a pleasant trip through the park (I forgot to get photos, I was enjoying the ride too much). It was then a short ride up Broadway which I didn’t enjoy the road was chokers with traffic.