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.