Yellow Brick Road

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

2010-01-09T22:53:00.000-08:00

If you happen to have stumbled here, you've probably noticed this blog has become rather stale. For whatever reasons, I've stopped blogging even though I'm still obsessed with cycling and more generally thinking about the role of cycling in urban life. Today, however, I don't feel any need to add to the many voices that are already blogging on these topics. In the last year, I've had a lot of big changes in my life. I decided to quit my Phd studies, I've started working full-time in the area of sustainable transport, and I've become a father to baby Eddy. It seems quite funny to look back and think that this blog started four years ago with a canadian flatmate and broken bicycle. Since then, bicycling has become such a big part of my life that I sometimes get introduced as 'that bike guy'. Bike culture (for want of a better term) in Sydney has only got bigger and better in the last few years. Its been an absolute thrill to be involved with the many communities of people who are passionate about cycling.

Happy cycling,

Adrian

Lost irony

2009-05-27T20:20:00.000-07:00

(taken from: http://theinspirationroom.com)

I was recently given a TV (just in time for the Giro and the Tour!). Nevertheless I have been seeing a lot more advertising. One ad that took my attention was BMW's uber-modernist commercial “The art of driving” in which a Z4 Roadster does circle work with painted tyres in a Mondrianian aesthetic. In the commercial we hear the following lyrics:

“Do you believe in love at first sight?
Do you believe in fate?
I believe the good things
Only come to those who wait”

Just another car ad right? Wrong... what was completely lost on me and perhaps many others was the ironic use of this song. Originally written by the UK’s Black Box Recorder, “The art of driving” presents a much more sombre assessment of automobility as the lyrics contain a dialogue between a pushy man and women who cautions him for driving like such a jerk (cue more circle work in the Z4).

"I wish you'd learn to slow down
You might get there at the end
Don't think the accelerating pedal
Is the man's best friend
You don't have to break the speed limit
You don't have to break your neck
Another dead boy-racer
Cut out from the wreak

You've been driving way too fast
You've been pushing way too hard
You've been taking things too far
Who do you think you are?”

David Jones gets onboard

2009-03-30T02:15:00.000-07:00

Its not just Woollahra. Check out whats hot in David Jones latest winter fashions. Photo taken from DJ's on Market Street, Sydney.

Children's mobility

2009-03-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

I've recently read Hillman, Adams and Whitelegg's (1990) One False Move... A study of children's independent mobility. If I could sum up the book, these two quotations would do it:

Our analysis suggests that the increase in the personal freedom and choice arising from widing car ownership has been gained at the cost of a loss of freedom and choice for children. In our English survey's in 1971, we found that 80 per cent of 7 and 8 year old children where allowed to go to school on their own. By 1990, this figure had dropped to 9 per cent... Our survey suggests that it is principally the increase in motorised traffic that has been responsible for the decrese in children's independence.

Furthermore

Transport policies in all motorised countries have been transforming the world for the benefit of motorists, but at the cost of children's freedom and independence to get about safely on their own - on foot and by the bicycle that most of them own. This change has gone largely unnoticed, unremarked, and unresisted.

Another of Hillman, Adams and Whitelegg's claims is that campaigns to promote traffic safety for children have placed an unfair burden on children and parents to 'wear' the dangers of motorised traffic rather than address the dominance of motorised traffic as the source of danger i.e. by reducing traffic or slowing it down. Traffic was not really a problem in my own childhood. I was lucky to grow up on a street that had very little traffic in a sleepy town in the Blue Mountains. As kids, we felt like the road was ours and it was a place in which we rode our bikes, played cricket, tennis, and soccer late into the afternoon only occasionally having to stop to let cars pass.

By chance, last week I was able to take my nephew Josh our for his first bike ride on his 3rd birthday. A thunderstorm came through so we had to do the ride in the basement of my sisters apartment. I picked up a 12inch Huffy that have been left at the Sydney Community Bike Co-op and attempted to make my own version of a FirstBike by removing the pedals and chainring. The idea behind the first bike is to encourage children to learn to steer and balance before they learn to pedal. Sadly the bike was slightly too large for Josh and he could only just touch the ground when sitting on it. I reckon in a month or two he'll have gained a couple of cms and be ready to roll. At 3 years old, there is plenty of time to learn.

Bicyclism

2009-03-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

Just came across this not so new blog: Bicyclism. Its a great read.

On dromocracy

2009-03-08T16:11:00.000-07:00

(MacNamara Ave, Concord)

If you stand in a room with 10 bicycle advocates and ask them what are their three greatest demands, chances are: infrastructure, driver education, and lower speed limits will probably rate highly. The final demand for lower speed limits is often stated but also resisted as 'pie in the sky' thinking amongst policy makers. Culturally, we hold onto a belief in 'the inalienable right to speed’ not matter what the consequences may be in terms of deaths on the road, the environment, transport ineffectiveness, and the impoverishment of urban street space. There are resistances to speed in places such as ‘school zones’, but by and large these are exceptions to the rule that speed dominates. The French philosopher and urbanist, Paul Virilio, coined a term “dromocracy” which describes this relationship between power and speed. ‘Dromos’ come from the Greek word for race (hence we have velodromes). ‘Dromocracy’ therefore is the power to rule by speed. According to Virilio:

Every society is founded on a relation of speed. Every society is dromocratic. If you take Athenian society, you’ll notice that at the top there’s the hierarch, in other words the one who can charter a trireme. Then there’s the horseman—the one who can charter a horse, to use naval language. After that, there’s the hoplite, who can get ready for war, “arm himself”—in the odd sense that the word armament has both a naval and a martial connotation—with his spears and his shield as a vector of combat. And finally, there’s the free man and the slave who only have the possibilities of hiring themselves out or being enlisted as energy in the war-machine—the rowers. In this system (which also existed in Rome with the cavalry), he who has the speed has the power. (Virilio and Lotringer, Pure War. Translated by M. Polizzotti. New York: Semiotext(e). 1997, pp. 49-50) (qtd at Theosblog)

Jason Adams also writes in his MA thesis on Virilio:

Speed has never been distributed evenly, but has always functioned in the form of a hierarchy, such that the more powerful sectors of society are those that move at faster speeds, while the less powerful sectors are those that move at slower speeds, an observable phenomena from the Concorde Jet of the elite to the Greyhound Bus of the poor… Virilio contends that, as is also the case with wealth, the essence of speed is power; as he elaborates, "power and speed are inseparable ...”.

I think Virilio’s concept of ‘dromocracy’ is really helpful in thinking about the ways in which speed is directly related to social divisions and power relations, however this phenomena is rarely acknowledged in transport policy speak. It is a particular pressing issue for those advocating for more bicycle friendly cities in which cars slow down allowing for other forms of street life to take place. However, if ‘power and speed are inseparable’, there does seem to be a sort of fatalism in Virilio that no-one can put the brakes on. Then again, the relationship between speed and the bicycle is less than clear. The Slow Bicycle Movement celebrates a resistance against the desire to speed. In contrast, the concept of ‘effective speed’ indicates that bicycles are effectively much faster than most other modes of transport.

Reading and riding

2009-03-03T22:10:00.000-08:00

I love to read, I love to ride.

This week I’ve been reading Paul Fournel’s Need for the bike. Fournel is a member of the Oulipo collective of avant-guard French writers and he brings a literary panache to writing about cycling. Here is an extract from the novel:

“And then one morning I know longer heard the sound of someone running behind me, the sound of rhythmic breathing at my back. The miracle had taken place. I was riding. I never wanted to put my feet back down for fear that the miracle wouldn’t happen again. I was in seventh heaven.
I did a tour around the house, proving to myself that I could do four right turns (for a number of weeks I preferred turning right). I was no longer afraid of anything. I rocketed past the clump of nettles that usually scared me; I rode panic-free down the long lonely road behind the house and came out in front again, in triumph, but still unable to raise my hand in a victory salute.
I’ve never gotten over this miracle.
Learning to swim didn’t move me like this, and it was really only learning to read that equalled the intensity of learning to ride. Within a few months, then, I learned, in that order, riding and reading. At the age of five, that Christmas, I had arrived: I knew what my work would be, and my leisure”

In a similar vein, I’ve been listening to podcasts of the UK’s BikeShow on the best of cycling writing. The program discusses the development of a new magazine called The Ride Journal that works to publish such writing. Rather than getting fixated over cycling products, the journal aims to focus on the experiences of the rider. You can also hear about some haute écrit velo in the magazine Rouleur. If only I could read the original in French.

Cycling and the law

2009-03-02T14:17:00.000-08:00

Via Rob on FB.

A good investigation into cyclist, motorist and police interactions by FOX (of all networks!). One of the most interesting aspects of the video is the disjuncture between law and norms in terms of traffic behaviour and policing. Irrespective of the traffic laws, many police (and the general public) work within a cultural view that cyclists are less entitled to road space or that cyclists ride at their own peril. It is this out-of-jointness between laws and attitudes that creates so much conflict for cyclists in countries such as Australia and the US. As Tom Vanderbilt explains:

In traffic, norms represent some kind of subtle dance with the law. Either the norms and laws move in time or one partner is out of step… Laws explain what we ought to do; norms explain what we actually do. In that gap dwells a key to understanding why traffic behaves the way it does in different places. (Traffic, 2008, p230)

Penny Farthing Championships, Evandale

2009-02-25T02:18:00.000-08:00

Huw Morgan of the Dulwich Hill Bicycle Club has won his second National Penny Farthing Championship in Evandale last weekend. Read all about it here and checkout some photos here. Two days before the race, I learned to ride a penny farthing which much fear. I ended up racing in a few events on the weekend and was pleased to pick up a silver medal in the Penny Biathlon (2 x 400m running, 2 x 400m riding).

The championship weekend came at the conclusion of a wonderful two weeks of cycle touring from Sydney to Tasmania. I was only there for the final week cycling from Evandale to Hobart and back via the east coast. You can read all about it on Lindsay's diary at crazyguyonabike.com

Hodological Space

2009-02-08T20:44:00.000-08:00

I just came across the concept of 'hodological space' in a reading group discussion. Searching for the term, I found a good definition here.

The term 'hodological space' is derived from the Greek word 'hodos' , path, way. In contrast to the mathematical concept of space as presented on maps, plans, etc. 'hodological space' is based on the factual topological, physical, social, and psychological conditions a person is faced with on the way from point A to point B, whether in an open landscape or within urban or architectural conditions.

The concept of 'hodological space' was invented by the German social psychologist Kurt Lewin. According to Latane and Lui:

Lewin wrote that minimum distances in psychological space cannot be determined by a single metric or axiom as they can in Euclidian space. Psychological distance may be shorter than physical distance, as when travel is easy or pleasurable, or it may be longer, as when the route is unfamilar or frightening.

Hodological space is something all to clear to many cyclists. Selecting cycling routes involves many psychological and physical equations of gradient, scenery, noise, stresses, and safety before distance and directness. When the urban road system prioritises accessibility and directness for faster vechiles, cycling is often experienced through a maze unsignposted paths, alleys, and back-streets. This maze is not only disorientating, it is also stressful in that the new rider never knows when they will end up. It could be a quiet street or a 6 lane arterial road without a crossing? The anxiety generated from not knowing 'the way' is enough to put many people off cycling all together. However, paradoxially it is also a sense of disorientation that can contribute to making cycling such pleasurable experience. It is precisely because the view from the windscreen is so environmentally desensitising that many are attracted to cycling where one has to discover the world anew.

Product review: Gazelle Fuente Plus

2009-02-04T21:18:00.000-08:00

I've just written a review of the Gazelle Fuente Plus over at SydneyCyclist.com

Following up from my last post, there is a very timely article by Debra Mayrhofer on New Matilda called "Do Cyclists have a death wish?"

Sobering reading

2009-02-03T21:20:00.000-08:00

When a car hits a pedestrian or cyclist, conventional wisdom blames the victim. Jaywalking is ingrained in New York culture — it has been called the city’s secular religion — and most cyclists treat red lights as stop signs at best. This rule-breaking is generally attributed to carelessness, if not insanity, and is regarded as the reason for most pedestrian and cyclist deaths.

Yet the police accident reports obtained for this study tell of pedestrians struck down by speeders and red-light runners, or even on sidewalks. At any intersection, motorists can be seen forcing their way through crosswalks or otherwise infringing on walkers’ lawful right-of-way. This behavior impels pedestrians to bend the rules for the sake of self-protection. The chaotic character of traffic at intersections leads many pedestrians to conclude that crossing mid-block is safer, since one only has to look for cars coming in a single direction. Similarly, cyclists “slip through” red lights in order to gain one or two blocks’ respite from threatening motorized traffic; cyclists who wait for the green often find themselves bullied from their lawful place on the road by impatient drivers. If drivers, cyclists and pedestrians all flout the law, should they be held equally culpable in fatalities? No. Pedestrians and cyclists are not equivalent with drivers. Motor vehicle operators are licensed, their vehicles are registered, and insurance is required of them, precisely because of their potential for harm. By virtue of their weight and speed, motor vehicles are immensely dangerous machines, and the human body — even on a bicycle — is not.

(Charles Komanoff "Killed by Automobile: Death in the Streets in New York City 1994-1999", March 1999)

What has come to light may be summarised as follows. Drivers who kill 'merely' through carelessness are regarded by the judiciary as unlucky but often blameless: an implicit empathy – “There, but for the Grace of God, go I” – is evident. However, driving offenders who are also implicated in vehicle theft or drink and drug abuse are likely to be condemned by judges and magistrates as 'real' criminals, even if their standard of driving was no lower. Meanwhile Vulnerable Road Users may be held unfairly responsible for their fate: cyclists have been blamed for wearing dark clothing or no helmet despite it being the car and not the cycle which creates the danger, just as rape victims are blamed for wearing revealing clothing despite it being the attacker and not the victim who commits the assault.
The final research question regarded the ideologies and power relations behind the regulation of Britain's roads. Is it simply a coincidence that the vast majority of police officers, magistrates, judges and lawyers are drivers? And that those most likely to be killed by drivers, and least likely to be drivers themselves – the very young, the elderly, the poor – are also least likely to be policy makers and legal officials? And (perhaps running alongside or perhaps cutting across these themes) is there not a link between the fact that almost all drivers who are convicted of killing are male, and that almost three quarters of all magistrates and judges are men? The evidence indicates that this is no coincidence. Those policy makers and legal officials who are in a position to change matters are mostly drivers and have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.

(Jake Voelcker, Review of the Legal Penalties for Drivers Who Kill Cyclists or Pedestrians, 2007)

Woollahra Bike

2009-01-30T02:58:00.001-08:00

Riding down Queen Street Woollahra on Sunday I was shocked to see this amongst the displays of high-end fashion shops.

The bike is being sold at RG Madden: The Design Store. Follow the links through the website and the bicycle is listed under "Whats Hot this season".

ABICI Bicycle

The ABICI is a bicycle handmade in Italy; a beautiful hybrid product of old Italian hand crafting traditions teamed with modern design. Not only are they an object of beauty, but the craftsmanship and materials used in production are of superior quality ensuring that ABICI bicycles enjoy a long life.

ABICI bicycles are not for sale in traditional cycling shops – exclusive to RG Madden.

From AUS$2150

Colours

Pale blue, ivory, red, black, olive green and pale greyMaterials

18/10 stainless steel frame, leather saddle

Its easy to laugh at the idea of people actually buying these bikes and one wonders if they'd ever come out of the garage and actually get used. However, I think this display is a positive thing. The high-end bicycle market has for a long time been dominated by ultra-lightweight racing bikes and the blokey competitiveness over the latest wizbang technological gizmos. If the bicycle market is expanding to meet other desires, say something with a bit more style and fashion sense, then I think its ultimately a good thing.

Attitudes to cycling

2009-01-23T02:35:00.000-08:00

I just read the research study Attitudes to Cycling: a qualitative study and conceptual framework (1997) by DG Davies, ME Halliday, M Mays and RL Pocock published by the Transport Research Laboratory in the UK. One of the most striking features of the the paper was its ability to distinguish between given "rationalisations" (rain, hills, traffic) for not cycling and some more latent reasons for not cycling. For what appeared as a rather mainstream scientific study, I was amazed that it looked at issues such as social status, gender norms, sexuality, and control of ones environment (spatial mastery). Check out some of these conceptual diagrams (click on the pics to view properly).

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Stop me

2009-01-11T13:19:00.000-08:00

Via Copenhagenize

I'd never seen the original film clip to this Smiths classic. How could you not love Morrissey on a bicycle? It contains one of my all time favourite Morrissey lyrics:

An emergency stop
I smelt the last ten seconds of life
I crashed down on the crossbar
And the pain was enough to make
A shy, bald, buddhist reflect
And plan a mass murder
Who said lied I'd to her ?

Bicycles for Humanity

2009-01-06T22:18:00.000-08:00

I've been rattling the can for the last few days in support of Bicycles For Humanity. The organisation collects and repairs old bikes and sends them to developing countries. They are currently half way to raising $10000 to send a shipping container with 400 bikes to Namibia. The container will then be transformed into a bicycle workshop and an opportunity for employment.

I'm hoping to raise $1000 by swimming the 2km Cole Classic at Manly Beach in three weeks. If you'd like to sponsor me and support Bicycles for Humanity, please go to my page at everydayhero.com.au. I'm grateful to see so many friends have already kicked in and I'm almost a third of the way there.

Now, I better head off to the pool!!!

"Cycling" and "Cyclists"

2008-12-25T19:02:00.000-08:00

I've recently been doing some media analysis as part of one ongoing project on the hatred of cyclists and a new project that is looking at the reporting of cycling in the Australian print media over the last 5-10 years. One of the most alarming things I've discovered is the complex language politics between "cycling" and "cyclists". "Cycling" is an activity involving bicycles and can include anything from riding to the local shops to participating in the Tour de France. "Cyclists" are identified as people who ride bikes and therefore could be almost anyone.

One of the strange things I've found is that when you conflate cycling and cyclists and then look at all the positive and negative attributes associated with each in the media, the positives are almost universally associated with "cycling" as an activity (ie. its fun, healthy, environmentally good, and convenient) whereas the negatives are almost always associated or tagged on "cyclists" as a group of persons (i.e. cyclists 'are' irresponsible, dangerous, arrogant, inconvenient). For the purposes of clarity it would be nice to partition each of these concepts and analyse them separately, however like most things involving language, they tend to slide around and stick to eachother. For instance, we hear that ‘Cycling is dangerous'... because its an activity that involves exposure to motor cars and/or because cyclists are irresponsible and break the road rules etc. How then do we response to this perception of cycling/cyclists as 'dangerous'? What's the danger – cycling, cyclists or fast moving automobiles? The language we use to account for 'cycling' and 'cyclists' seems to be incredibly important in framing many of the political debates. My sense is that by focusing on/positioning cyclists as some (out)group, it is easier for the media to engage in the politics of blame and in doing so evade questioning what may be good about cycling and how we might want to encourage it.

Bikelove interview

2008-12-23T04:22:00.000-08:00

I was recently interviewed about some of my research on cyclist/motorist interactions by Jo Jones on 2Ser Radio 107.3FM. You can listen to the program at: http://bikelove.wordpress.com/

Welcome to Centennial Park

2008-12-17T05:20:00.000-08:00

Early Bird

2008-12-12T01:57:00.000-08:00

One of my favourite films from the recent Bicycle Film Festival was called Early Bird, written, directored and produced by the Melbourne animation artist Trace Balla. The film traces the thoughts that go through ones mind when considering the different experiences we have of traveling to work each day by bike and by car. You can now watch it at the Portable Film Festival's website.

Changes

2008-12-03T04:25:00.000-08:00

The public consultation on the proposed Union Street cycleway finished today. I took this time lapse photography of the current intersection just for prosperity. Hopefully in a few months I'll be able to take a new clip when the new cycleway is built.

Its a very exciting time to see some real changes begin to occur and slowly fill in some of the missing links across the city. Here are some pics of the soon to be finished King Street cycleway. King street has always been a major missing link in creating any east-west cycle network across the city.

Very soon, cyclists will no longer have to merge up the hill with 4 lanes of fast moving traffic turning off the Darling Habour expressway overpass.

Talk of the cycleways has been all through the print media and radio this week. Of course the Telegraph and its readers have been going off with the usual anti-cyclist tirade. One has to wonder what has happened to journalistic ethics when reporters begin news articles with sentences such as:
THEY are the bane of motorists everywhere and now they're set for an even bigger share of the city's roads.
Thank God the DT has warned its readers that the cycling-folkdevil is out on the streets and its coming to get them!

Sydney Community Bicycle Workshop

2008-12-01T02:41:00.000-08:00

For the last two Monday nights, I've headed to the Nunnery Bike Co-Op (now know as the Sydney Community Bicycle Workshop). It has only been two years since I'd been there, but in that time I'd moved twice and now the bike workshop had moved to the end of my street in Waterloo. Here is some timelapse photography of the workshop in action.

The high cost of free parking

2008-11-26T14:36:00.000-08:00

I just heard about this film from the wonderful collection of films at Streetfilms. Dr Donald Shoup has written a book called The High Cost of Free Parking and it seem to be getting some tread. For too long, the consequences of on and off street parking has been ignored by planners and urban policy makers. This film suggests that a pricing approach to parking not only makes it easy to park, it also reduces congestion and has the potential to make far more friendly urban environments.

Fuji Touring

2008-11-21T00:06:00.000-08:00

I've just bought a new Fuji Touring bike. It was one of those rash non-thinking decisions. My old Trek has been a mess over the last few months and I wasn't able to get it up and running well on my commutes. I also want to do some touring up the coast this summer then in Tasmania next year. I walked into Cheeky Monkey tried two touring bikes and said 'I'll have that one'. The Fuji is well priced, simple, rides well and has a good looking classic geometry. I don't care if its not the toughest most techy touring bike out there. I'm not really into fully loaded touring. I just want a good commuter that I can take traveling. To make room for the new bike, I've decided to pass on the Malvern Star and then I think the Trek will go as well once I've taken all the parts I want. So here is the new bike.

Oulipo One

2008-11-20T02:19:00.000-08:00

Come all ye crazy...

Sat 22 Nov, 10am-2pm | Meet Newtown Square, outside the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre

The French Oulipo are a colborating group of writers and mathematicians who use mathematical constraints to produce experimental writing. The results are often unusual and surprisingly beautiful. In homage to the Oulipo, we will be guided by a logarithmic spiral as we explore the city by bike. Bring your video or still camera or collect findings as you go. There will be an opportunity to publish and share our experiences of the ride online. We'll ride to the nearest train station when we finish at 2pm.

Ride type: experimental - roads, paths, laneways, alleyways, underpasses - whatever
Distance: no idea
Speed: leisurely with lots of stops - this ride is really about the journey
Oddness factor: high
Weather prediction: BOM predicts chance of showers and wind - we'll ride unless it buckets
Bring: your lunch or some money for a feed/coffee along the way, your camera, zip lock bags to collect stuff, a sense of curiosity

Sydney Bike Film Festival in pictures

2008-11-19T14:27:00.000-08:00

Its been a busy and wonderful few weeks for all things cycling. Here's just a few pics from some the events that have been happening round town:

Gilbert Grace's solo exhibition Road:Works at Regard Gallery, Wilson St.

Courier Fashion parade at the opening night party in May's Lane.

Praise be to gentrification. Art work from Rode exhibition At The Vanishing Point

E.T. inspired art from the Rode exhibition At The Vanishing Point

Cheeky Monkey Rock n' Roll Bike Parade

Full house at the Sydney Bike Film Festival, Dendy Newtown

The wonderful BikeSydney/BFF Sydney organising committee.

Luis (sometimes know as Lu-Gu) at the Deus ex Machina BikeSwap meet.

BikeSaint serves the best tofu burgers in town at the Cheeky Transport (very early) Christmas Picnic - more photos here.

The Escape Artist

2008-11-10T15:01:00.000-08:00

Cycling became my new home. The small society of racing cyclists offered another noble cause to fill that vacuum, without the ideological baggage. In cycling I found a way to recreate the sense of direction that had abandoned me when the Party softly imploded. But where the communist cause had been about constant refining of means towards endlessly postponed utopian ends, cycling, with its satisfying circularities, presented itself as an ideal project: one in which the means and ends were identical. (Matt Seaton, The Escape Artist, p136)

I've just read Matt Seaton's novel The Escape Artist. More than anything else, the book highlights the strange obsessiveness that comes with cycling and ‘the decision’ to be come a racing cyclist. For the outsider, cycling is a very strange obsession involving massive sacrifices in time and energy knocking up countless kilometres while others are out having fun, gaining valuable sleep, or attending to more serious responsibilities. What outsiders don’t see is the narcotic dimension of pushing oneself to the limits in the quest to become stronger and faster. The paradox of this obsession is its incompatibility with any other kind of life. To become a good cyclist, one has to get the kilometres in the legs that leaves little time for much else. Cycling simply becomes life. For the competitive cyclist, time off the bike it marked with a sense of guilt as one watches one’s precious fitness disintegrate while others improve. To be a racing cyclist, one has to be a monomaniac:

But cycling does nothing if not make one single-minded and dogged (or perhaps the doggedness and monomania are already embronically within those that choose cycling). (p176)

The Escape Artist is essentially a story of coming to terms with a cycling addiction and slowly withdrawing from it. Its a novel that I'd recommend to any amateur cyclist. In real life, Seaton went on to become the first cycling columnist of The Guardian newspaper.

I don't know about you, but I'm excited!

2008-11-07T01:52:00.000-08:00

More Big Bike Love

2008-11-05T17:03:00.000-08:00

Via Elaena at SydneyCyclist

The consequences of street design

2008-11-03T15:08:00.000-08:00

Just saw this great little video clip via: How We Drive

For an alternative look at how one can design roads differently, check out David Hembrow's recent post on the Woonerf sign in the Netherlands.

The blue sign shown here is that which you find in a woonerf, or in English "living street". This is the modern equivalent of a play street, and the sign shows kids playing as being larger, and more important, than cars.

David points out that similar signs were once common in England but disappeared over time. I would love to know if they ever existed here in Australia.

Bling!

2008-11-03T00:27:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, I went out to Peter Bundy cycles in Riverwood to pick up some steel track bars for my track bike. I've also upgraded the bike with a very comfy fizek saddle and some Conti supersonic tyres that are rated to 145psi. Its amazing how little you have to do to turn a bike from feeling ordinary to just amazing.

Later in the day I raced at Tempe as part of Dulwich Hill's Omunium series. It was not the best turn out with many people put off by the threat of rain, but we still had a great time. I discovered that my best event is the 3000m time trial in which I was second fastest in a time off (I think) 4mins 28secs (not that anyone was going to beat Simon). I hope to put more energy in to track racing in the future. Racing at Dunc Gray through winter has been great fun although the food at the Handle Bar Tavern leaves something to be desired. I find road riding a bit boring. Its very expensive when you consider the money and time costs that go into it. Most Opens are way out of Sydney taking up the entire weekend and I do like to have time for other things. At the opens, many of the Pro crews turn up in there big buses and don't really engage the commoner/club racer. However, the track has a much more convivial spirit. You race, have some fun, race again, watch the elite riders do their thing, then head out for food and drinks. Its not like you need a bus load of bikes and a support crew to be a trackie.

Road exhibition

2008-11-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

The Bicycle Film Festival's Road Exhibition officially kicked off on Saturday night with a cheeky fashion show in May's Lane St Peters. Check out Sydney Body Art Ride for a full review of the evening including some interesting dealings with the police. There is also some youtube film floating around from the night.

There are three more bike art events kicking off this week, including the Mystery Tour exhibition which I attempted to get in (but failed!). The details are below:

Tuesday 4 Nov 4:30-7pm | Road: Works
Regard Gallery | 372 Wilson Street, Darlington
Oil paintings, prints and sketches by Gilbert Grace inspired by the Sydney
Green Ring. Sneak a preview at http://gilbertgrace.com

Wednesday 5 Nov 5:30-8pm | Road: Mystery Tour
Cheeky Transport | 3a Georgina Street, Newtown.
Bike touring photographs with a twist.

Thursday 6 Nov 6-9pm | Road: Rode
At the Vanishing Point | 565 King Street, Newtown
Over 30 participating artists. Diverse mediums including painting,
sculpture, jewellery, installation, video, photography and interactive new
media. Spread the bicycle love around.

Mimesis, time, change

2008-10-27T16:58:00.000-07:00

Being involved in cycling advocacy it is often easy to feel very glum about the current state of things in this city. This blog is no more than a symptomatic account to such thoughts of which I stand guilty as charged. Sydney is not a very easy city to cycle around. The NSW government is the lowest spending state government on cycling in Australia. The political culture is dominated by the twin-engines of cab-charge elitism and petrol-headed popularism. It takes a lot of personal motivation to want to cycle in this city, to overcome a fear of traffic, to create a disjointed cyclists’ street directory in your head, and to find somewhere to lock up your bike. But then once you work it out, it’s hard to imagine any other way of getting around. Cycling is a source of joy and happiness in my life, although sometimes it’s easy for me to labour on all the bad things that happen like that former Roads Minister who said cyclists should ‘avoid peak hour’, that jerk in the ute who cut me off, and that deranged Daily Telegraph reader who likes to spread hatred. In such an environment, its easy to burn with resentment and indignation if that is all one sees in the world. But is that all there is to see?

This morning I went for a ride to Centennial Park which was packed with commuters and training cyclists. Cyclists were blooming like flowers coming out after winter. As I crossed back over Anzac Parade I saw panniers galore and a mini-peloton of cyclists had formed at the lights. I ride through Centennial at least twice a week and I see the park becoming busy with more people turning to bikes. Of course, such random observations have no validity and my own exposure to seeing more cyclists could create my own delusions of progress. But then again, counting the number of people who cycle on one day in August every 5 years is a rather static and hardly rigorous methodology for measuring the levels of cycling in a society. Seeing a crowed park of cyclists, I am drawn to think more positive thoughts. While cycling numbers may slowly crawl out of that mystical and abstract 1%, small changes of which have been noted can be very significant in shifting things over time. Exposure, multiplication and mimesis all reveal the tautological truism that when more people cycle, more people cycle.

According to Don Watson indignation is a ‘tiring emotion’. For those who want to battle the 'forces of evil', Nietzsche once wrote that one has to be wary of becoming a monster when fighting a monster. As people who want to see Sydney become a better city for cyclists, sometimes its important just to take a broad perspective and enjoy the positive changes that are slowly unfolding around us.

"You think thats a Schwinn?"

2008-10-25T14:11:00.001-07:00

I saw Burn After Reading lastnight at the incredible ripoff cinemas at Broadway. I completely enjoyed the film (like most Cohen bros films) although the use of Pitt and Clooney didn't really ad much. Not as good as Steve Buscemi or Javier Bardem. Being a bike geek it was difficult not to notice the many little bike jokes in the film. Chad Feldenheimer (played by Brad Pitt) is a dopey personal trainer who attempts extortion against a former CIA agent Ozzie Cox (played brilliantly by John Malkovich). Anyway, I won't spoil the jokes for you but there is even a strange product (dis)placement for Kryptonite locks.

Picnic Crawl

2008-10-25T00:22:00.000-07:00

Today I went on a ride called the Picnic Crawl organised by Jacqui @ Transport Impacts with the UNSW Bike Club. On this perfect spring day, we went on rolling picnic from Centennial Park to the Botanical Gardens and finally onto Jubilee Park. It was a lot of fun as we gorged ourselves on food, played frisbie and I had a go at using juggling sticks. There was even an impromptu bike maintenance courses by Chris from the Nunnery. The only thing missing was a rug, but a picnic wouldn't be a picnic unless we forget something.

Weighty matters

2008-10-17T19:48:00.001-07:00

I read in the paper this morning about a new Commonwealth Government intervention aimed at tackling obesity. I don’t watch TV so maybe its been around for a while. The program is called MeasureUp. Australia is the second fattest country in the world only beaten by the US. According to the website:

In 2005, 7.4 million Australian adults or 1 in 2 was overweight or obese2, and, irrespective of your height or build, if your waistline is getting bigger it could mean you are at increased risk of developing a chronic disease such as some cancers, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.

MeasureUp encourages people to measure their waistline, not check there overall weight because it focuses on measuring what is called intra-abdominal fat that is particularly problematic in terms of many preventable lifestyle diseases. The website even has a cutout tape measure which you can print on an A4 page if you are feeling very crafty.

Obesity is such a simple thing to understand yet surprisingly it is one of the most difficult things to beat. To loose weight you just have to eat better (more fruit and vegies) and exercise more. The massive weight loss industry promotes personal motivation as the key to weight loss, however I’ve always believed that it is much more about structuring habits within daily life. If you work long hours, drive a lot, and are time poor, your opportunities for regular exercise radically diminish and you'll put on weight. Add personal stress with comfort eating and obesity will be knocking at the door. As a twenty-one year old, I bulked up to a massive 115kg before deciding on a path of drastic action. I joined a soccer team and started swimming at least 5km a week and totally cut out rich foods. I lost 35kg in a year and have never gone back although I can fluctuate at times. For the last few years, cycling has been my main way of incorporating exercise into my life. I love it because I don’t have to think about being physically active, its just part of how I get around.

One of the most fascinating dimensions of obesity is its relationship with transportation systems and cultures, yet few people are aware of this. Human beings have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years and for almost all of this time have been walking and physically active throughout their lives. It’s only been in the last 50 odd years that a large proportion of the population in some wealthy countries have spent their lives moving around in cars and behind PCs. Then we then wonder why there is an obesity epidemic. The relationship between levels of trasnport and obesity is so clear as this diagram points out:(Source: Pucher & Dijkstra, 2003 taken from Vote For Cycling)

The MeasureUp campaign may provoke a few people to take action, but is this really sustainable health promotion? As almost any cycling advocate will prostheletise, obesity can only be reduced by making broader cultural changes in ways most people get around and the urban forms and transport policies which make such movement viable. American's spend 35 billion dollars a year on diet products, yet they would appear to have very little to show for it.

Ride to Work Day at MQ

2008-10-15T16:48:00.000-07:00

We had our second ride to work day breakfast at Macquarie Uni yesterday. The event seemed a bit smaller than last year that could have been due to the weather. I think Ride 2 Work is an important event but I'm starting to question how helpful it is in encouraging new cyclists. When I spoke to riders at the breakfast yesterday, almost everyone was already 'converted' to the cause. In this sense the event just served as a recognition or reward for continuing the activity. However, for critical perspectives on Ride to Work events, check out this article.

My sense is that new and potential cyclists need a lot more social support to start riding with the development of basic skills and confidence. Many people experience cycling as difficult for the first few weeks and will walk up hills, have a sore backsides and ride on the footpath when intimidated by cars. Single events without preparation can just confirm a false perception of cycling as hard and/or dangerous. In regards to the whole BikeEd thing, I recently learned about a new program to develop bicycle education called AustCycle:

Research carried out by AustCycle founders suggested that the Australian community was missing out on quality learning opportunities in cycling, other than in scattered pockets where committed trainers had worked very hard to meet a demand for cycling advice and experience.
As a result of limited opportunities, the level of ‘cycle-craft’ in society, that was once nearly universal, has narrowed such that cycling proficiency in 2008 is limited to a small proportion of the population.

I love the concept of promoting 'cycle-craft'.

You give me road rage

2008-10-13T18:04:00.000-07:00

Road rage seems to be something of a perennial topic on Yellow Brick Road. Well yesterday was another incident for the record. I was riding along Ramsay St in Haberfield at around 6pm on my way home from Uni. As I was riding, a man in orange sports ute rego BCR18W cut me off at high speed with barely a foot or two between us. As he passed, the driver stuck his finger up at me, clearly enjoying this action. As is almost always the case, I caught up to him one minute later at the lights but I kept well away. Anyone who rides a lot knows that there are certain drivers that seem to be more likely to cause trouble than others and while it is prejudicial to judge a person by their car, this phenomena has been studied in the 2002 article Drivers’ perceptions of cyclists.

When prompted, all the professional drivers, regardless of whether they were carrying goods or passengers, tended to be less accepting of cyclists’ presence on the roads they were using. They felt their livelihood was being interfered with – particularly if they were held up by a cycle, which was obviously slower than other vehicles, within their lane. It was reported that being caught behind a cyclist added further to the pressure on their work schedules. ... These respondents tended to be of the opinion that cyclists should not be on the road at all.
... professional drivers and some male domestic drivers tended to blame the cyclist for not knowing what he was meant to do, apparently through a lack of proper training and the absence of any obligatory cycling test. These groups also felt that cyclists were not responsible for the consequences of their actions, as they did not pay insurance and were generally free from enforcement, and so did not care about their behaviour.

When the drivers were placed under test situations in a driving simulator, the researchers found a relationship between the size of the professional drivers vehicle and the amount of consideration they gave to cyclists.

Analysis by driver type reveals some subtle differences in driving behaviour. Professional drivers of larger vehicles were more likely than other drivers to say that they would act more cautiously (86% reported they would slow down and wait behind the cyclist). The responses of professional drivers of smaller vehicles, in contrast, indicated this group was slightly less likely than other drivers to act cautiously...

In other words, while this would suggest that buses typically slow down, drivers of smaller vehicles such as utes, small vans and cabs are less likely to concede speed or give space to cyclists.

While it’s harsh of me to stereotype and pathologise anyone who drivers a ute as a potential cycle-hater, I do see a strong correlation between utes and a lot of cultural ideas about power and masculinity. One just has to think of the ads that are used to sell utes:

But then again, ads rarely live up to reality.

Talking up bikes

2008-10-12T03:19:00.000-07:00

I went to the Ashfield Council's Carnival of Cultures this morning to help run ASHBUGs cycling promotions stall. It was one of those perfect days where we were swamped with interest. There was no spruking, just a lot people wanting genuine advice and cycling maps. The bike love is contagious.On the topic of talking up bikes. Listen in to this great interview with Adam Spencer (mp3) on 2SER's Environment Show.

Polopalooza

2008-10-05T22:42:00.000-07:00

After spending the morning trying to weight up the pros and cons of TravelSmart workplace travel planning policies, I took a few hours off for a game of bicycle polo. It can be a rough game. I had quite a few collisions and my stem is pointing in a new direction, but I never hit the ground or got wacked by a polo stick. More than anything my legs are killing from pushing a 73 inche gear round a tinny basketball court for a few hours. Clearly the regulars have designed their bikes specifically for this sport.

"Taking the lane": Law or Custom?

2008-10-04T05:32:00.000-07:00

I recently had an experience of road rage on Wilson Street, Newtown. Details of the event are posted over at SydneyCyclist, including comments from many other cyclists who have experienced the same thing. In summary, I was riding in the middle of the lane of this narrow one way street to avoid car-doors and to stop cars forcefully over-taking me by crossing into the oncoming “counter-flow” cycle lane. I’ve ridden down this street hundreds of times in the last few years and rarely had any problem. However, on this occasion I caused the ire of one cab driver who honked his horn at me then dangerously speed past me.

“Taking the lane” is one of the key things many cyclist needs to learn to ride in traffic. Its a way of asserting your position on the road and riding in a predictable manner so don’t get cut off or driven into the gutter. Its about claiming a bit more space for your own safety. Sadly, “taking the lane” is also one of the hardest skills to teach new cyclists because it involves putting yourself in the line of moving cars. For an explanation of why cyclists “take the lane” check out this video.

This whole road rage event got me wondering where does the law stand when it comes to taking the lane?

Firstly, in the RTA Road Users Handbook it states that:
You must ride with traffic on the left side of the road. (Page 52):
Ok that seems fair enough, but on page 51 it says:
At times bicycle riders may need a full width lane to ride safely due to rough road edges and gravel. Be prepared to slow down and allow the rider to travel away from the kerb.
Hmm… so we can only take the lane but only when there is gravel or rough edges? That's not very helpful. But then again, the handbook also states on page 51:
Allow ample room in case a car door is opened
Hmmm… seems to me that the Road Users Handbook is pretty ambiguous on this issue.

I also checked out the NSW Road Rules 2008 and I couldn’t find anything. Next stop, I headed south to see what I could find and came across document called Share the Road (pdf):

Share the Road
Are cyclists allowed to occupy a whole traffic lane?
Yes, this may be necessary in narrow traffic lanes where there is not enough space for another vehicle to overtake a bicycle safely within the lane.

Bingo, cyclists can "take the lane" when necessary… however I couldn’t find it stipulated in the Victorian road rules. Why? Why not? Finally, I headed over the sea and found the New Zealand Road Code. Here is what it said:

What cyclists would like drivers to know:
Cyclists may ride away from the kerb or occupy a lane – not because they want to annoy drivers, but to:
* avoid drains, potholes or roadside rubbish
* be seen as they come up to intersections with side roads
* discourage drivers from squeezing past where it's too narrow.

Brilliant. Applause. Rapture.

"Taking the lane" is essentially like any other traffic signal. It is sending the driver a message that they should slow down if they want to pass safely because the cyclists should not be pushed into a marginal and dangerous position on the road. However, it seems to me, that this behaviour is generated mostly out of custom or courtesy. As is seen in the NSW Road User's handbook, the laws can be profoundly ambiguous and many drivers can be affronted by what they perceived as cyclists being "arrogant" "road hogs". Positioning oneself in the lane should not be question of psychological and spatial assertion, it should also be a matter of care and legal inclusion.

Pedestrian lights or Waiting for Godot?

2008-10-02T23:43:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I received an email from my uni administration informing all staff and students of an accident that had occurred on Herring Rd between the Macquarie Centre and the Uni campus. The email then warned us not to disobey the crossing lights for our own safety. I knew the intersection well and had seen the large number of students run the gauntlet illegally. Strangely, I received this email at the exactly the same time I was reading Vanderbilt's chapter on "Why New Yorkers Jaywalk (and Why They Don't in Copenhagen)". In one study, it was found in London only 25% of pedestrians waited at the lights while in Copenhagen, jaywalking was virtually non-existent. Vanderbilt originally thought that this must be because of some cultural factor such as the social egalitarian laws known as the Jantelagen. However, when he interviewed Jan Gehl he received a very different explanation.

When I offered these theories to the celebrated urban planner Jan Gehl as we sat in his office in Copenhagen, he brushed them aside and countered with his rival theory: "I think the whole philosophy of the city means you have good-quality sidewalks and frequent intersections. You know you only have to wait for a short while and then it gets green." By contrast, his firm had recently completed a study on London. "We found it was completely complicated to get across any street. We found that only twenty-five percent of the people actually did what the traffic planners suggested to do", he said. The more you make things difficult for pedestrians, Gehl argued, the more you downgrade their status in the traffic system, "the more they start to take the law into their own hands." ...
There is an iron law in traffic engineering. The longer pedestrians have to wait to cross for a signal to cross, the more likely they are to cross against the signal. The jaywaying tipping point seems to be about thirty seconds. (p225)

Such observations felt true with my own observations of Copenhagen. One of the most strong memories I have is of the pedestrian crossings and how they counted down the seconds so you would know exactly how long you had to wait until you cross. Knowing the time would offset any Beckettian anxiety about being stuck waiting. I did a little google search on Sydney's pedestrian crossing times and found that several people including Jan Gehl had made similar comments in this article.

The chairman of the Pedestrian Council of Australia, Harold Scruby, said: "If you did a trial you would start to see [that pedestrians would wait] 90 seconds and have 15 seconds to get across."

The Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, wants the State Government to allow timers in the city and stepped up her campaign this year after several accidents involving vehicles and pedestrians next to the Town Hall.

The visiting town planner Jan Gehl, a Danish architect, has been studying Sydney's pedestrians since May and says that it takes too long to walk across town.

In his home town of Copenhagen pedestrian lights count in red numerals the time before the lights turn green, then green numerals show how long the lights will stay green. The ideal car and pedestrian waiting times was 45 seconds each, Professor Gehl said.

A spokeswoman for the Roads and Traffic Authority said: "The maximum pedestrian waiting time at an inner CBD intersection is currently less than two minutes.

I'd never really thought of the significance of pedestrian lights until today, but then again if you think about it, waiting for a period of up to 90 seconds multiplied by walking 10 blocks of the city could be the equivalent of an extra 15 mins over a fairly short distance. Similarly, when you cannot cross a road but are forced to move towards an overhead pedestrian crossing, its not hard to see who's mobility is being given priority within the urban landscape. The absurdity of the contemporary situation has been perfectly captured in a picture by vished on Sydney Cyclist today.

Otesha Project (Aus) & Nunnery Bike Brunch

2008-10-02T19:37:00.000-07:00

Via: The Nunnery Bike Workshop

The Otesha Project (Aus) and The Nunnery Bike Workshop are hosting a bike brunch fundraiser on Sunday 12 October in Newtown… $5 all you can eat… 9:30-12pm

Bring your bike for a re-tune…

Money goes to a great cause, the Otesha Project (Aus.): Cycling for Sustainability which 17 crew members are involved with. Leaving in November on a 5 week bike trip - riding from Brissie to Newcastle stopping at High Schools along the way to talk about sustainability issues and perform a play on enviromental sustainability & social justice issues. Hoping to empower and provoke thought along the way.

Hope you can make it to the FUNdraising brunch!

We would love to have your support and hang out on a beautiful Sunday!

Details:
Where: 16 Sloane St, Enmore
When: Sunday 12 October 9:30am - 12
What: $5 all you can eat brunch
Why: to fundraise for Otesha’s 17 tour members to cycle from bris-newcastle to visit schools and engage kids on sustainability issues…

All the money helps us further develop our project and help pay for needed equipment and other expenses along the tour.

If you can’t make it perhaps you might consider making a donation to our cause by checking out our goal to get enough funds to support youth after we have left communities - http://otesha.org.au/biketours/nswtour

Also check out the event here -

http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=28651413084

Mixed messages

2008-10-02T17:29:00.000-07:00

Meet Mr Augustus Windsock the oldest living cyclist in the world:

"When you see an action, so gracefully, so correctly performed, you understand just why he's stayed alive so long"?

I think bike safety advertisments are a goldmine for critical analysis. Of course Mr Windsock has nothing on One Got Fat! Then again, it is funny how the oldest cyclist in the world is also not wearing a helmet.

Reading Traffic

2008-10-02T15:34:00.000-07:00

I've recently started reading Tom Vanderbilt’s book, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us). (Nb: A lot of bike bloggers seem to be reading this at the moment). Vanderbilt takes his reader on an amazing journey through the world of Traffic and looks to examine many of the driving cultures from around the world as well as the social psychology behind them. Its hard to imagine traffic being such a sustaining topic of interest within one book, but then again, just think how many episodes of Seinfeld where based on this theme. To give you an idea of whats in the book, here is an outline of the chapter titles:

Prologue: Why I Became a Late Merger (and Why You Should Too)
1. Why Does the Other Lane Always Seem Faster? How Traffic Messes with Our Heads
* Shut Up, I Can't Hear You: Anonymity, Aggression, and the Problems of Communicating While Driving
* Are You Lookin' at Me? Eye Contact, Stereotypes, and Social Interaction on the Road
* Waiting in Line, Waiting in Traffic: Why the Other Lane Always Moves Faster
* Postscript: And Now, the Secrets of Late Merging Revealed
2. Why You're Not as Good a Driver as You Think You Are
* If Driving Is So Easy, Why Is It So Hard for a Robot? What Teaching Machines to Drive Teaches Us About Driving
* How's My Driving? How the Hell Should I Know? Why Lack of Feedback Fails Us on the Road
3. How Our Eyes and Minds Betray Us on the Road
* Keep Your Mind on the Road: Why It's So Hard to Pay Attention in Traffic
* Objects in Traffic Are More Complicated Than They Appear: How Our Driving Eyes Deceive Us
4. Why Ants Don't Get into Traffic Jams (and Humans Do): On Cooperation as a Cure for Congestion
* Meet the World's Best Commuter: What We Can Learn from Ants, Locusts, and Crickets
* Playing God In Los Angeles
* When Slower Is Faster, or How the Few Defeat the Many: Traffic Flow and Human Nature
5. Why Women Cause More Congestion Than Men (and Other Secrets of Traffic)
* Who Are All These People? The Psychology of Commuting
* The Parking Problem: Why We Are Inefficient Parkers and How This Causes Congestion
6. Why More Roads Lead to More Traffic (and What to Do About It)
* The Selfish Commuter
* A Few Mickey Mouse Solutions to the Traffic Problem
7. When Dangerous Roads are Safer
* The Highway Conundrum: How Drivers Adapt to the Road They See
* The Trouble with Traffic Signs -- and How Getting Rid of Them Can Make Things Better for Everyone
* Forgiving Roads or Permissive Roads? The Fatal Flaws of Traffic Engineering
8. How Traffic Explains the World: On Driving with a Local Accent
* "Good Brakes, Good Horn, Good Luck": Plunging into the Maelstrom of Delhi Traffic
* Why New Yorkers Jaywalk (and Why They Don't in Copenhagen): Traffic as Culture
* Danger: Corruption Ahead -- the Secret Indicator of Crazy Traffic
9. Why You Shouldn't Drive with a Beer-Drinking Divorced Doctor Named Fred on Super Bowl Sunday in a Pickup Truck in Rural Montana: What's Risky on the Road and Why
* Semiconscious Fear: How We Misunderstand the Risks of the Road
* Should I Stay or Should I Go? Why Risk on the Road Is So Complicated
* The Risks of Safety
Epilogue: Driving Lessons

I guess, what I really like about this book is the way it undoes many of the blind assumptions about traffic management. Rather than being a creative field of thinking about how we facilitate mobility, traffic experts appear to be remarkably resilient to change and in testing or challenging their own assumptions. One can only wonder what would happen if we let some philosophy grads into the RTA? Perhaps I should send a copy of the book to the Minister for Roads as a Christmas present.

Vanderbilt has a great blog called “How we drive” which touches on many of his findings in the book.

So much randomness

2008-09-30T00:39:00.000-07:00

In relations to Treadly and Me's question (What's going on in NSW for Bike Week?), yes there has been plenty happening but I think its mostly been reported in the local papers. The previous Saturday, ASHBUG ran its second bike education training course working to improve basic bike skills. The course was well attended by 25 women (no blokes!). Last year when we ran this course, I remember having a rant about low quality department stall bikes and people who keep their seat too low. This year I was supprised to find the opposite problem. One rider had a beautiful $2K road bike but no bike training skills. The seat was correctly positioned for her height. The problem was she'd little experience just riding a bike, let alone a top quality racing bike. I tried to explain that it was like learning to ride a motorbike with a 1000cc engine. Anyway, we put the seat down and worked on some basic skills like pushing off and stopping. Again I have to wonder what the bike shop was thinking? (and I know the person who sold her the bike). It made me wonder if sometimes there is a pressure or desire to look the part of the roadie but without doing some time in the dag-land of the recreational cyclist.

One of the coolest bike week events I went to was at Willoughby Council. Not only did they do the regular courses and rides, but they ran their own version of the Bike Film Festival and it was really well attended.

On Sunday, Waverley Council did something creative by running a photo comp as part of its family bike day. There was no supprise in me not winning the photo comp, however I think I know the person who did and so I'm very happy for her. In other BikeWeek news, I saw that another local council had ran a competition for children where they had to colour in an image of a kid on a bike to win a helmet. I know the helmet debate is a nasty one and I've seen enough smashed helemts to want to wear one. However I'm increasingly drawn to believe that the use of helmets as well a bright fluro saftey vests offload the dangers of cars rather than making drivers more responsible roadusers. By making helmet use the message we use to celebrate Bike Week, we are perhaps consciously trying to promote bikes, but unconsciously supporting a view that cycling is dangerous and children and parents should be worried about letting there kids ride bikes. On a simlar point, Transport Impacts has recently highligted the real language politics of being identified as a 'vulnerable road user'. Dave Horton has also written about this issue in terms of childrens road education:

… rather than producing strategies to tame the sources of dangers on the road, road safety education tries instead to instil in ‘the vulnerable’, primary school children, a fear of motorised traffic, and then to teach them tactics to escape from road dangers as best they can. A minority alternative approach, road danger reduction, concentrates instead on making travelscapes less dangerous per se, by reducing numbers and speeds of cars, and improving enforcement of speed limits. In other words, current road safety education, perhaps reframed as citizenship studies in mobility, could be very different. We do not have to teach tomorrow’s adults to fear cars, or to adapt to the inevitability of motorised metal objects tearing through their lives by incarcerating themselves in such vehicles. ('Fear of Cycling', 2007, p138-9)

On the topic of road safety, I've just come across this cool website called Mental Speed Bumps. Its by the Australian "artist, social inventor and street philosopher" David Engwicht. Engwicht claims to have made the same discovery as Hans Monderman about the negative uses of signage and road design which encourages drivers to act more dangerously and denies the socal life of streets.

Another interesting Australian writer I've also just discovered is Dr Paul Tranter. Over has his website he has some great papers on the concept of "effective speed" which he has been pushing in his recent research.

Effective speed can be calculated using the formula:
“Speed = distance divided by time”, where
• distance is the total kilometres traveled, and
• time is the total time devoted to the mode of transport (including the time spent at work to earn the money to pay all the costs created by the particular mode of transport). In the calculation of car speed, the time required for car travel is rarely adequately considered. Most drivers consider only the time spent in the car while it is moving (and perhaps while it is idling) when estimating their average speed. They ignore the considerably larger amounts of time that must be devoted to their cars. As well as the time a driver must spend sitting in a car, he or she must spend time earning the money to make the car travel possible. During this time, the driver is effectively going nowhere; hence their speed for this time is zero. When this time is taken into account, along with other time devoted to the car, it is apparent that the car does not save us as much time as we think it saves us.

What I like about this concept is the way it bypasses ideology debates over cars vs bike vs public transport, but rather focuses on critically analysing the broader costs of car use in itself. This is an issue that doesn't seem to get much press.

Vain attempts at Bike Art

2008-09-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

For NSW Bike Week, Waverely Council is having bike photo competition (entries close today). Its called "Celebration of the bicycle". I've never really understood the way cycling has emerged as a sub-genre within the arts community but maybe David Byrne could explain it to me? Anyho, I've entered two photos in the competition. This one of a Sydney bike commuter which I've called: "Dancing in the Streets"

My second thought is I should have called it "Never trust a cabbie" but I didn't think the judges would go for that sort of thing.

Yesterday I took another sojourn into the world of bike art photography. I rolled out my personal mobility fleet with an attempt to create an arty bicycle composition shot. I called the photo "autobikeography".

The photo contains every bike I currently own including the red Malvern Star which I've had since I was 12 or so. None of the bikes are the same colour.

Why let car hoons have all the fun?

2008-09-16T17:44:00.002-07:00

More info at http://www.madeinqueensfilm.com/

Bike muzak

2008-09-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

Pop

Punk

Techno

Rap

Jap-Pop

Blow
Uploaded by myshot2004

Reggae

World Music

Rock

Jazz

Electronica

Cycling and the politics of fear

2008-09-14T05:30:00.000-07:00

Its been another interesting week in Sydney-town. On Thursday I was forwarded the details of an anti-cycleway flyer that had been put in mailboxes on the eve of the election. It seems that "Only in Sydney" could we get a campaign against the city's plans to develop a cycleway network.

Here’s what it said:

What the Council isn't saying before the election
YOUR PARKING SPACE COULD GO !!!
To make room for an unsafe BI-DIRECTIONAL SEPARATED CYCLEWAY
that many cyclists won't use.
COMING TO YOUR STREET SOON
After the election the City Council is planning to spend $34 million putting concrete block barriers along 55 kilometres of City roads including in your street to create the cycleway.
That's around $400 per domestic ratepayer!
These concrete block barriers will make life difficult for local businesses and residents. The cycleway will
_ Destroy local parking and amenity
_ Remove road access to homes and businesses
_ Cyclists will still use the roadway to avoid other cyclists
_ Turning motorists and cross traffic will have 4 lots of cyclists to avoid
_ “Wrong-way” cyclists on bi-directional cycleways have 10 times the accident risk at
intersections than if they used the roadway
_ Many residents will be forced to compete for parking in already crowded side streets
_ Where the street is wide enough to allow parking to be retained beside the cycleway
children will leave the car onto a 40cm concrete block in the roadway instead of the kerb.
DEMAND ANSWERS NOW!
There's no time to waste. Act now!
Ask what is happening in your street. Choose a candidate who will protect your interests as a resident, property owner, business person and voter! Insist Council involves you in decisions concerning your street Bourke Street, Darlinghurst/Redfern/Surry Hills is one of the first streets listed to have a bidirectional separated cycleway. The proposed design shows possible loss of trees, loss of parking, loss of local amenity and disregard for the safety of all road users.
Residents and businesses were not consulted until late in the design process and still have not received any answers to their many concerns. For more information and a list of streets we have identified so far go to:
http://www.sustainablesydney.net/55Km.htm
For more info visit www.sustainablesydney.net . (email: friendsofboukestreet@hotmail.com )
Authorised by: R Marriot, PO Box 319, Surry Hills 2010. Printed by: Officeworks 91 O'Riordan St, Alexandria 2015.

I have no idea who are the people behind the flyer and whether or not they are linked with that previous group of people who’d protested against the Bourke St cycleway, but I generally don’t try to get worked up about these things (too much). One of the funniest things I thought was how the flyer emphasised a fear of loosing car-parking spaces yet its website is called: www.sustainablesydney.net. That takes a lot of chutzpah. Maybe they meant some other car. This perhaps:

I'm no political analyst, although I do know a thing or two about workings of some resident action groups (nb: large pdf). However, it seems to me that this flyer was really about more than the cycleways/CoS cycling strategy. It was politics pure and simple: the art of revealing and concealing interests in the games of getting power and influence. I see the anti-cycleway politics as an attempted wedge-politics/politics of fear to get some traction against Clover Moore who has done much to champion cycling the City of Sydney. Why else would the flyers turn up on the night before an election? Fortunately it didn’t seem to work just as those other flyers didn't work for the Liberal Party when they were given to voters on the eve of the Federal election in Lindsay. Check out City of Sydney local government election results HERE to see how Clover and the Greens did.

To my mind, the anti-cycleway campaign may have been targeted at the wrong demographic. I recently read an article on gentrification and transport behaviour called, Modalities of the New Middle Class: Ideology and Behaviour in the Journey to Work from Gentrified Neighbourhoods in Canada, by Martin Danyluk and David Ley at the University of British Columbia. In a comparative study of travel behavior in three of Canada’s largest cities (Vancouver, Toronto, Montréal), they found:

Our results show that residents of gentrified areas are more likely than other commuters to ride a bicycle to work, even when controls are introduced to remove the effects of distance to the downtown core. At the same time, they are less likely to be users of public transport, despite their political support for the notion of the public household. This surprising disaffiliation may in part be the result of transit’s inability to compete with cycling and walking for short to medium-length trips. In addition, we see that, as surveys suggest, gentrifiers buy into the amenity package of inner-city neighbourhoods that greatly promotes walking and cycling while discouraging driving.

Funny stuff huh? It turns out that many inner-city people really like cycling and the forms of urban amenity that can be had when cars are not placed in the centre of urban life.

All the King's Horses

2008-09-09T00:28:00.000-07:00

The last week has been nothing short of amazing for political pundits in NSW. With the Iemma, Sartor and Costa trio all gone, a new generation of political heavies has taken over. One of the more interesting revelations was that our new Premier Nathan Rees is a serious road cyclist, as the Sydney Morning Herald reported:

Todd Smith trained with Rees for five years until injury and work commitments ended their cycling careers in the 1990s. When training for a race, they would ride every day and clock up 1000 kilometres a week. They would cycle more than 200 kilometres over six hours on a Saturday. "He was a very, very good rider, an A-level rider and very tough in the head," Smith says. "Nathan never got to the professional level but he could have, given the right circumstances and opportunities.

"He was very dedicated and very level-headed, a great guy to go training with because Sydney is a hard place to ride and a few of the guys would get worked up but Nathan would be the one defusing the situation."

So the new Premier knows a thing or two about road rage against cyclist. Thats good to know. Perhaps he might be interested in supporting a public education campaign on cyclists rights and responsibilities? NSW seems to be the only state without one.

In another random cycling & politics story, the new Health Minister John Della Bosca has returned from his post-Iguana-gate exile with a high profile portfolio and a slim and trim new look. As was reported:

It is understood Mr Della Bosca spent much of his time while he was suspended from cabinet swimming and cycling to lose weight.

It seems that the bike has done wonders for Della Bosca. Not that long ago he looked like this:

Or, as one cartoonist illustrated him:

So, this week has seen the ascendency of a new Premier who is a hard-core roadie and a new Health Minister who has taken to cycling for good health. But will this help the NSW Government actually do anything to improve cycling in the state? I can only hope so.

Sydney commuters

2008-09-03T17:47:00.000-07:00

Urban semiotics and ethical encounters

2008-08-19T21:18:00.000-07:00

According to a recent SMH opinion article by the British transport writer Christian Wolmar:

Oddly, one of the key catalysts for the improvement in London was also one of the cheapest: painting a green area at every traffic light which only cyclists had the right to enter when the light was red. Immediately, this sent a message to all road users that cyclists not only have a right to be there, but they even have priority at junctions.

Amazingly, it was the recent introduction of new laws allowing such developments in NSW which raised complaints by the NSW Oppositions road safety spokesman:

Opposition spokesman on road safety Andrew Fraser said the tough penalties suggested the changes were more to raise revenue than improve safety.

"While we need to be mindful of safety for cyclists, these bicycle zones at lights are dangerous," Mr Fraser said.

"You are inviting all cyclists to wait in the middle of the road rather than on the side of the road where drivers expect them to be. It is putting them directly into the path of traffic."

The final sentence is worth chewing on. It states some explicit cultural assumptions regarding the cyclists marginal position on the road. It was also a strange comment to make given that:

The RTA said the laws would bring NSW into line with other states.

The assumption of one cycling on the margins is not only spoken about in the media, it is also written into the urban landscape. Meanings as well as practices of 'cycling' are communicated through urban form and symbols. For instance, in the following photo from Queen Street Wollahra, the bicycle symbol is on the edge of the road, literally under the direct domination of the 4WD on top of it. It says, 'ride a bike and you can expect to end up under a 4Wd'.

In this photo from New Farm in Brisbane, the bicycle symbol is found at a midway point between the road and adjacent row of parked cars. It says something along the lines of 'you belong on the road, but keep well to the left and don't get in the cars way'.

Finally in this photo of Redfern street, the bicycle signs are centred in the middle of the road. This symbol asserts the cyclists' right to 'take the lane' and for the traffic not even to attempt to squeeze past (note the double marked lines).

Writing "bicycle" symbols on the middle of the road (to my mind) expresses an ethics of care and recognition for cyclists as road users. In distinction, placing the bicycle symbol on edge or in the gutter reinforces a marginal position as a socially devalued road user.

Thinking about these road symbols reminded me of an essay I'd read a few years ago about the importance of pedestrian crossings. In an article entitled "The Ethics of Pedestrian crossings", the Sydney University anthopologist Ghassan Hage makes some philosophical claims about the importance of pedestrian crossings as socialised spaces of ethical interaction, giving and recognition. Hage begins his essay describing the experiences of a mentally-ill migrant (Ali) who is enthralled when walking across zebra crossings.

I developed a liking for pedestrian crossings (laughting!) I spent hours crossing them again and again. I loved the moment cars stopped for me! It made me feel important. I thought it was magical.

In a commentary on Ali's experiences Hage writes:

Ali experiences ‘magical’ time at the crossing... Magic is also a kind of buzz generated by the moment of recognition Ali gets from cars stopping for him. It is what he experiences as being made to feel ‘important’. ‘Important’ here is not linked to social status as to existential status: the recognition of one’s importance as a human being.

[The pedestrian crossing] is a space where the dominant mode of occupying and circulating on roads, driving, is requested by social law to yield to a marginalised form of road occupancy, walking. This is what constitutes its ethical component and its character as a social gift. It is social because even when it is an individual driver who ‘offers’ the pedestrian the possibility of crossing, what the driver is offering is really society’s gift to the pedestrian. Otherwise there would be no difference between a pedestrian crossing and a crossing created by a driver who chooses to stop for a pedestrian on an unmarked part of the road. The fact that a pedestrian crossing embodies a social compulsion, a social law, that says ‘drivers must stop’ is what makes it a gift offered by soceity. No conjunctural practice - short of abolishing it - can change the nature of this space. What changes within it are the modes drivers use to ‘convey’ the gift and the modes people choose for receiving it. As we have already seen, there are drivers who offer the gift gracefully and those who offer it grudgingly. There are pedestrians who receive the gift gracefully and those who receieve it arrogantly or nonchalantly... But underneath all these possible modes of interaction remains the fact of the pedestrian crossing as a structually present ethical space. A space where people can enact a ritual of stopping and crossing, and through which society affirms itself as civilised (that is, ethical), as a place where it is understood that dominant modes of inhabitance need to yield, in some circumstances, to marginal modes of inhabitance.

Reading this essay five years latter, I am challenged to think what messages it may hold for cyclists, motorists and transport policy makers in the current climate of animosity.

Sustainability fair at MQ

2008-08-14T06:01:00.001-07:00

Most of this week I’ve been running a cycling promotion stall for BikeSydney as part of the sustainability fair at Macquarie University. It’s been a lot of fun talking about bikes with students and staff. It’s also been great to meet so many people who’ve recently got into cycling or who are interested in giving it a go. To try to make the BikeSydney stall more attractive, I borrowed this bicycle powered blender from Cheeky Transport. You can buy them online, but they’re built specifically to work with an xtracycle. Over the three days, I think we made over 30 litres of banana smoothies on the bike. This marketing ploy worked a treat as I'd pop quiz the students about their interest in cycling while they pedaled away for their smoothie.
A more depressing part of this week has been that I seem to have raised the ire of some people with a concern for ‘occupational health and safety’ in my department. More specifically, the presence of me loading the xtracycle in the hallway outside my office each morning has been identified as a ‘hazard’ and I've been offically warned about it. I find it rather funny that OH&S seems to work with some things and not others. For instance, the health costs of sedentary lifestyle diseases (heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes) don’t seem to rate a mention but they are surely the most significant OH&S issues to be concerned about. One of the Cycling Promotion Fund pamphlets I’ve handed out during the week claims that 54.2% of the Australian population are physically ‘inactive’. Australia also has the highest rates of obesity in the world. The total economic cost of this physical inactivity is $1,494,000,000 dollars per year. If only a few of these OH&S people could factor in some of these costs before giving me trouble over temporarily parking an xtracycle in the hall.

Update: I got interviewed at the fair. You can tell I've had no media training. I counted 8 umms!

Good things happen for those who bludge

2008-08-11T23:51:00.000-07:00

I've finally got a result at Heffron. After many a stupid turn on the front, I've changed my racing tactics around and have joined the league of the wheelsuckers.

MS Sydney to the Gong ride

2008-08-08T02:05:00.000-07:00

I've just entered in the MS Sydney to the Gong ride.

If you'd like to sponsor me, go here, or to sponsor team Dulwich Hill Bicycle Club go here.
A couple of clubmates and myself have decided to do the ride on fixies which should make for an interesting day out. Here is the course profile:

Cycle Touring Photo Exhibition

2008-08-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

Mystery tour: An invitation of submit images to an exhibition of cycle touring photography

Anyone who has toured by bicycle knows that it's often the unexpected encounters and unplanned detours that become the highlights of a cycle tour. At a suitable distance, even the challenge of overcoming a mechanical breakdown in the middle of nowhere, can become a tale of ingenuity and heroic triumph. For this exhibition, we are asking you to dig a little deeper into your collections of cycle touring images (no sunsets or posing with road signs) to reveal some of those unexpected moments. We are looking for images that document chance meetings with friendly (or unfriendly) locals; bush-mechanic-style innovation in the face of mechanical tragedies and magical places discovered by getting totally lost. Images selected for the exhibition will be printed as oversized postcards with the photographer's statement on the back.

SUBMIT: UP TO 10 LOW RES JPEG IMAGES [1mb each] FOR PREVIEW. Each photograph should be accompanied by a short statement (max. 20 words) about the image.�
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Friday, September 12 2008
EMAIL TO: fcurve@gmail.com
Selected photographers will be asked to submit high resolution files at a later date. Prints not required.

'road' - is a series of art shows tying in with the International Bicycle Film Festival, bought to you by BIKESydney and Cheeky Transport.

Just another week

2008-08-05T00:40:00.000-07:00

Taking a week off in Queensland, I flew back to Sydney yesterday with some reluctant feelings. In Brisbane, I’d seen some significant efforts in make the city more cycle-friendly. There was better infrastructure and bicycle parking. The Queensland state government had also set some very ambitious targets to make cycling 8 per cent of trips by 2011. There was even a road education program aimed at improving motorist-cyclist relations.

So why hasn't this spread south of the border? Here is one little observation about the different fortunes of cyclists in each state. When you enter the world ‘cycling’ into the search function of the NSW’s Ministry of Transport you get 9 hits, 7 of which contain the weasel-like prefix of ‘encourage/enhance/promote'… ‘walking and cycling’. Search for ‘cycling’ at Queensland Transport and you get 370 hits including one main referral page.

Catching up on the news in Sydney this week, I felt stuck in this quagmire of negativity. During the week the British transport writer Christian Wolmar was reported in the Herald as saying:

Sydney's cycling infrastructure is 10 years behind that of London. "And believe me, London is by no means at the forefront of cycling,"

And as we all know:

"You have to be much more careful here than in London because the drivers here are so much more hostile."

Over at his blog, Wolmar tells us what he really thinks of the State Government:

The state government, incidentally, seems to be run with the same underlying right wing values that characterise New Labour, and which ultimately get exposed by the voters – it is about as popular as Brown’s government and is widely expected to be voted out of office at the state election next year, but then the opposition is also in chaos, unable to know how to respond to climate change. It is fascinating how some of the same issues as in Britain arise at the other end of the world, specifically the cul de sac into which right wing Labour (or Labor, as they write it here) drive themselves when they get mesmerised by the business lobby.

Wolmar’s earlier comments were picked up on the Sunrise morning television program where two random guests with no knowledge of cycling where interviewed on the matter.

Find more videos like this on Sydney Cyclist

As one finds in the media, this issue of driver aggression was quickly pushed to the side, then each of the guests gave us some of their clichéd criticisms of cyclists before moving to great heights of comedy with some original jokes about lycra shorts.

Finally this week, what we all expected happened as the more-than-dubious Pope-Fest Authority Act has been used to legitimatise the removal of the Park Street bicycle lanes. Did we expect anything to get them back? Well maybe I hoped as much, but seriously, if they really need temporary bus lanes for World Youth Day, why did they use permanent red paint?

In highschool, Howard Scullard's From the Gracchi to Nero was probably the best book I ever read. It had some memorable stories that resonate in times like these:

I need another holiday!

'I want to ride my bicycle': Draft paper

2008-07-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a recent draft paper on cycling and urban planning. Comments/suggestions are always welcome.

Abstract: Cycling for transport has widely been celebrated by planning professionals as a key policy objective in creating ‘healthy’ and ‘sustainable’ cities. However, despite much enthusiasm, cycling remains a very marginal mode of transportation, particularly within Sydney, which is regarded as Australia’s most ‘unfriendly’ cycling city. This paper argues that in order to advance the profile of urban cycling, planners need to recognise that cycling is a complex cultural and psychological issue, one that cannot be fixed by simply building more bicycle lanes. Firstly, it is argued that planners need to develop a far more comprehensive approach to cycling policy and infrastructure, one that includes a more diverse understanding of different road users and mobility needs. Secondly, it is argued that cycling policies need to promote a more ‘embodied’ understanding of cycling skills and competencies to engender cycling practices within communities. Finally, it is argued that to successfully promote cycling for transport, planning students and educators need to be directly engaged in the experiential learning process of riding within urban environments. Effective policy-making can only be achieved with an intimate knowledge of cycling as a practice. Such learning can also facilitate critical perspectives on automobility as a far more malleable cultural norm.

Introduction
Cycling for transport is often promoted as an ideal when imagining plans for ‘healthy’ and ‘sustainable’ cities. When faced with a growing number of problems such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, rising petrol prices, oil depletion, congestion, pollution, and carbon emissions, it is easy to see why cycling has been heralded as a panacea for so many contemporary ills (see Cycling Promotion Fund 2007). Bicycles offer amazing opportunities for cheap, healthy and efficient personal mobility, but despite having so many clear advantages, cycling still remains a very marginal mode of transport within Australian cities. Instead of positioning cycling as an impractical or eccentric mode of transportation, planners need to develop a broader understanding of cycling as a mobility practice. More so, cycling is a mobility practice that can be broadly accepted or stigmatised within a culture whose norms, educational practices and legal codes can greatly influence how it is regarded.

What’s ‘culture’ got to do with it?
Bicycle use currently makes up approximately 1% of all journey to work trips within Australia. However, Rissel and Garrard (2006) note that there is no consistent data on cycling and journey to work census data is a poor measure of bicycle usage. Without a, accurate means of calculating bicycle usage, cycling is easily neglected by transport professionals who perceive it as marginal and unimportant (Schimek 1996). According to a recent report by Mees, Sorupia and Stone (2007, p.17):

Cycling is currently of negligible importance as a travel mode for the journey to work in all cities, accounting for around one per cent of trips everywhere except Canberra (where it is 2.5%). Although cycling rates are increasing, they are doing so from a very small base, with the result that the increases have no appreciable difference to overall travel patterns.

Such negative and static evaluations reinforce a marginalised view of cycling rather than analysing how cycling has become culturally marginalised as a mobility practice. A more culturally attuned approach to transport would recognise that transport behaviours cannot be reduced to the choices of archetypal individuals but are constituted within ‘the identities of individuals, organisations and indeed the wider culture’ (Skinner and Rosen, 2007, p. 95).

In the course of the twentieth century, cycling transformed from being a major mobility practice into a minor one within many industrialised nations (Horton 2007). However, for the last 50 years, the numbers of bicycles produced globally each year has continued to exceed the numbers of cars produced (Brown and Larsen 2002). Bicycles have revolutionised personal mobility for a great majority of the world’s people. According to McClintock (1992, p.4), ‘bicycles in Asia alone transport more people than do all the cars in the world’. Bicycles were also significant in changing many nineteenth century norms around women’s mobility in public spaces (Mackintosh and Norliffe 2006; Strange 2002). Women cyclists were among the first to publicly promote physical activity and to challenge prohibitive forms of fashion (Watson and Gray 1978). Bicycle organisations were also the first to campaign for better roads (Meakins 2000). In 1893, Joseph Pearson produced the first comprehensive road map of New South Wales as a guide for cyclists. An avid cyclist and member of the New South Wales Cyclists' Touring Union, Pearson also led a campaign to improve roads and road signage across the state (Fitzpatrick 1980). However, much of the history of the bicycle has been forgotten. For instance, automotive manufacturers such as Ford, Dunlop, Peugeot and Michelin all had their beginnings in the bicycle industry. The modern car simply would not exist if it weren’t for the new inventions and manufacturing techniques that were developed in the bicycle industry (Norcliffe 1997). Bicycle manufacturing remains at the forefront of technological research in contemporary materials and design. For instance, the Italian bicycle manufacture, Campagnolo, was once employed by NASA to produce its high-end aerospace components and materials. However, with the growth of the petroleum and automotive industries, cycling diminished as a transport mode within many industrialised nations. As automobiles became increasingly affordable, cycling numbers rapidly diminished in the latter half of the twentieth century (Horton 2007).

Within societies of mass automobility, bicycles are often regarded as a children’s toy, a middle-class sports fad, or a form of transport for those who are too poor to drive. Within less than three generations, cultures of everyday or utility cycling have disappeared within most industrialized nations. Those who continue to cycle for transport are often regarded with suspicion. According to Pucher et al. (1999, p.46):

cyclists suffer from a renegade image associated with disobedience of traffic laws, and a pervasive sense of cyclists as an alien presence on roads intended for cars. Indeed, the various images of cycling are so heavily determined in relation to automobiles that utilitarian cyclists are variously seen as too poor to own a car, “anti-auto”, eccentric, or deviant.

Negative perceptions of cyclists have been reinforced by a view of the road as a car-centric space. As roads came to be culturally dominated by automobiles, road design came to prioritise the speed and capacity of cars over and above any consideration for other road users (Illich 1973). Cyclists found themselves spatially marginalised in the gutter. Cyclists who remained on the roads came to be regarded as ‘subversive’ in challenging the spatial hegemony of the automobile. According to Horton (2007, p.145):

The cultural acceptability of cycling’s spatial marginality, particularly when combined with the cyclists stigmatised identity, is highly consequential. It means that those cyclists who do not stick to the margins, but either consciously or unconsciously attempt to ‘centre’ themselves, are experienced as threatening and unsettling…

Many cyclists within Australia are viewed with low regard. Recently within Sydney, a group of fifty elite racing cyclists were brought down in a crash by an irritated driver. News of these events gained national and international media attention. However, when several news stories on the events were published in the Daily Telegraph (see: May 8, 2008; May 9, 2008; English 2008), 142 online readers comments generally expressed contempt towards cyclists. Some were overtly aggressive:

Keep the losers off the road, when they pay as much rego as we do, they can have rights, but hangon, they dont pay any rego at all, therefore they should all be fined or charged for obstructing traffic... Chances are, this guy was beeping his horn at them and they started to mouth off at him, i would have done the same as him too i think, good onya bloke! (Daily Telegraph, May 8, 2008, online readers comment No.27).

Maybe they will learn their lesson now and not take up a whole lane in peak hour traffic. They really bring this all upon themselves. (Daily Telegraph, May 8, 2008, online readers comment No.121).

You wanna ride your bike? Go for it - though do it somewhere safe, otherwise quit your complaining and deal with the consequences - the roads are for motor vehicles - DEAL WITH IT! (English 2008, online readers comment No. 87).

While cyclists are theoretically and legally allowed on the road, they are culturally and spatially perceived as outsiders without recognition as road users (Horton and Salked 2006).

Cycling practices have been truncated within an automotive environment of high speed and driver aggression. Studies by Bell Dignam (1996) found that Australian cyclists are subjected to significantly higher levels of road hostility and harassment than other road users. Conversely, research by Rissel et al. (2002) found a large proportion of Australian motorists are not even aware of cyclists’ legal rights as road users. A consequence of anti-cyclist attitudes and behaviours is that ‘potential cyclists are deterred by the unfriendly and anti-social behaviour of many drivers who show scant consideration for those on bikes…’ (Whitelegg, 2002, p1). As fewer people cycle, cycling becomes objectively ‘less safe’ with motorists paying less attention to the presence of cyclists on the road (Bauman, et al. 2008). While studies by the British Medical Association (1992) found that the health benefits versus risks of cycling can be calculated at a ratio of 20 to 1, real experiences of fear as well as cultural perceptions of risk appear to take precedence over other evaluations of cycling as a healthy and safe activity.

In many Australian cities, cycling is dominated by a higher proportion of younger men who live in the inner-city (Mees, Sorupia and Stone 2007, p17). Consequently, cyclists are often negatively perceived as being ‘road warriors’ associated with ‘high risk taking behaviour’. An alternative way of understanding these cycling cultures is that those who cycle do so because they are the most confident riders in the context of a high-speed and high-aggression car culture. Cycling within a hostile environment requires greater levels of confidence to offset what many would experience as paralysing fear (Jones 2005). Consequently, less-experienced cyclists will illegally ride on the footpath or simply not ride at all. It is these cultural, psychological and emotional barriers to cycling that present a significant challenge to promoting cycling, and yet they are often overlooked in cycling policy (Horton 2007).

Embodiment and the bicycle
The popular saying “It’s like learning to ride a bike” is commonly used to convey a message that once a skill is acquired, then it will remain with a person for the rest of their life. Unfortunately, this saying is very misleading with regard to cycling. Cycling is a skill that develops with time and regular practice. Many Australians are taught to ride by their parents. After a few falls, most children develop some of the basic cycling skills of balance, control, and visual awareness that is necessary to ride a bike. However, once the training wheels come off, bicycle education often ends. In many cases, more developed bicycle skills such as using gears, braking quickly, lane positioning, scanning for traffic, cornering, bicycle set-up and maintenance are not taught and are widely absent within the adult Australian population. However, within countries such as the Netherlands and Germany, all children receive extensive instruction in cycling and traffic education by the age of 10 (Pucher and Dijkstra 2003). Such programs set out to provide young children with the basic skills needed to become confident cyclists. Cycling education also continues to teach older children and adolescents to develop their skills and road education so they can learn to ride safely within trafficked environments. Research by Telfar et al. (2006) found that bicycle training is fundamental to improving levels of cycling activity and enjoyment because they increased the participants’ skill levels and self-esteem. Training in physical education has been found to shape life-long trajectories in physical activity (Penny and Jess 2004); however bicycle education has a comparatively low profile within Australian schools.

Traffic regulations and driver education are also important to removing barriers to cycling. Within countries such as the Netherlands and Germany, driver education is more demanding and places greater emphasis on the responsibilities of motorists to ensure the safety of cyclists and pedestrians (Pucher and Dijkstra 2003). Within these countries, cyclist and motorist interactions are also far more respectful because most people identify with both ‘cyclists’ and ‘motorists’. While cycling and driver education programs cannot entirely remove the potential for conflict and danger, they can communicate greater awareness of cycling as a normative mobility practice for all persons and contribute to creating a more convivial environments for cycling.

Within cultures that marginalise cycling as a mobility practice, many children (and subsequently adults) do not develop the embodied skills or cultural values to become cyclists. The dominant focus of many ‘BikeEd’ programs in Australia is on helmet use and injury prevention (Carlin, Taylor, and Nolan, 1998). While such messages are important, road safety education programs can also create a self-fulfilling ecology of fear in which ‘vulnerable’ road users, including children, cyclists and pedestrians are represented as not belonging within the urban environment. In contrast, Horton (2007, p.138-9) has argued that:

A minority alternative approach, road danger reduction, concentrates instead on making travelscapes less dangerous per se, by reducing numbers and speeds of cars, and improving enforcement of speed limits. In other words, current road safety education, perhaps reframed as citizenship studies in mobility, could be very different.

Valuing cyclists, pedestrians and other more vulnerable road users requires not only a change in road design; it also requires a change in culture in terms of the norms that govern our perceptions of mobility and citizenship (Parker 2001). In a society where a driver’s licence has become the default form of identification, non-motorised road users are typically devalued.

To make cycling a sustainable transport practice within Australia, various cultural interventions are needed to make cycling a more accepted mobility practice for women and men, the young and the old, and the rich and the poor. Rather than seeing ‘cyclists’ as a homogenous class of road users competing for their own turf, greater awareness needs to be given to understanding how cyclists are differently placed as road users, who may travel at different speeds, with different abilities, and with different mobility needs. While cycling cannot solve all mobility needs, it is estimated that 38% of all car journeys within Australia cover a distance of less than 3km (Cycling Promotion Fund 2007). Such distances can be covered on a leisurely bicycle ride within 10-15 minutes although topography may lengthen some journey times. Cycling has a tremendous potential to become incorporated within everyday transport activities and to improve levels of physical activity across the community. The benefits of cycling reverberate through the population with improved health, environment and more sociable urban environments. However, to reach its potential as a mobility practice, a number of strategies are needed to physically, culturally, and legally enfranchise more Australians to cycle. Of particular importance is the need for more public education campaigns to promote broader acceptance of cycling as a fun, healthy and socially valued activity.

A comprehensive approach to bicycle planning
The overwhelming focus of bicycle planning within Australia is on infrastructure development (Australian Bicycle Council & Australian Local Government Association 2007). Bicycle plans often work on the untested assumption that: ‘if we build it they will come’. When councils develop bike plans, they often do so as a list of infrastructure works to be completed. Cycling budgets are often exclusively dedicated to the provision of off-road bike paths. While often popular with recreational cyclists, such paths can be highly inadequate for enhancing active transport. By effectively removing cycling to the edges of sports fields and riverbanks, cycling is spatialised as a leisure activity rather than something that can facilitate transportation between places of work, education, shopping and recreation. Bicycle planning is often left as a minor task within the responsibilities of road and traffic engineers (McClintock 1992a). Without either specialist training or a high level experience in cycling, bicycle infrastructure and facilities are often poorly designed and not co-ordinated with a strategic vision in mind. Cycling around a city such as Sydney, one constantly finds bike lanes beginning and disappearing along streets and as one traverses across council boundaries.

The relationship between bicycle policy and urban planning is also very poor. One survey of local governments found that only 43% of councils considered cycling in their land-use planning controls (Australian Bicycle Council & Australian Local Government Association 2007, p12). While planning policies universally support sustainability and integrated transport use, detailed development controls and standards in relation to bicycle parking are often absent from the mindsets of many planners. With the exception of some more progressive councils within New South Wales, most local governments have not developed suitable development standards for bicycle parking or end-of-trip facilities in residential, industrial or commercial zonings. Invariably, cycling is perceived as a recreational activity and little attention is given to understanding how it may be incorporated into strategic visions for a more healthy, safe, and environmentally sustainable city. One of the great difficulties with bicycle planning is positioning it within a much broader policy environment. However, bicycle policy is often conducted by persons with little interest in cycling or regard for it as an everyday mobility practice.

Cycling is an activity that cuts across many fields of knowledge and expertise such as transport, health, education, psychology, environment, engineering, urban design and road safety. Given the multiplicity of cycling knowledges, cycling policy requires both a generalist knowledge base as well as collaborative skills to work with others and provide strategic direction. As a profession, urban planners should be ideally placed to incorporate cycling as part of a more sustainable and healthy vision for the city. A focus on cycling as part of a renewed interest in public health could bring the planning profession closer to its nineteenth century origins (see Hall 2002). However, little is known about what levels of awareness exists about cycling within the planning profession in Australia. Further research is needed to ascertain the current status of bicycle planning amongst urban planners and within Australian planning schools. Studies by McClintock (2001) on pedestrian and bicycle planners in the United Kingdom found that most relevant skills and knowledges were acquired ‘on the job’ with only a small number of practitioners receiving dedicated training or benefiting from continuing professional education. Furthermore, a survey of United States planning schools by Balsas (2002) found that only 6 courses within 66 planning schools held subjects that were dedicated to non-motorised transportation. Comparative research by Meschick et al (2002, p. 91, in Balsas 2001) found that: ‘institutions in most European regions offer their students ten times more possibilities to study bicycle planning than North American universities’. According to Balsas (2001), a lack of knowledge or interest in cycling by planning educators creates a self-perpetuating phenomenon within the planning profession. Because bicycle planning was not taught to a current generation of planning academics, it has not been taken seriously as an object of study for future generations of planners.

Cycling praxis
Pedagogically, bicycle planning presents a significant challenge for planning educators as something new, foreign and potentially challenging to their own subjectivities. While incorporating an elective of bicycle planning would provide one way of improving the status of cycling within planning schools, bicycle planning could also be incorporated within a more general curriculum of social and environmental planning. As a pedagogical tool, the bicycle could be used as a way of destabilising many discourses of sustainability (Gunder 2006) through a more challenging confrontation with subjectivity and embodiment. According to Freire (1997, p. 47), ‘discovery cannot be purely intellectual but must also involve action’. By cycling on the edge of a dominant automotive culture, planning students may come to reflect on their own mobility practices and to more critically come to see how planning policies and decisions are significant in re/producing cultural norms and values that shape mobility practices within Australian cities.

Cycling through the city can give planners access to a non-automotive subjectivity that may be foreign, fearful and potentially destabilising. Riding on the road can help planners develop a much stronger understanding of the diversity of cyclist practices. Such experiences can challenge the many negative stereotypes of cyclists and may facilitate more empathic relationships. The experiential learning of riding a bicycle in traffic could also facilitate critical reflections on the place of automobiles within the built environment as well as a broader ‘auto-centric’ culture that holds car driving as an unquestioned norm. By riding through the urban environment, planners can come to experience the city in new and exciting ways that reveal the potential of bicycles to facilitate diverse mobility needs. By gaining a more grounded understanding of cycling, planners can begin to understand the many physical and cultural barriers that prohibit cycling as a more sustainable transport practice.

Conclusion
Bicycles can provide planners with a significant opportunity to make achievable policy gains in creating more sustainable, equitable, and healthy cities. Such gains are currently being made in cities such as London, however Australian cities like Sydney appear to be lagging behind and Australian cyclists still find themselves culturally stigmatised as ‘deviant’ and ‘illegitimate’ road users. At a time in which oil dependence is coming into greater question, re-knowing the bicycle can help planners to critically reconsider current and future mobility practices. To promote cycling, planners need to move beyond a determinist view in which cycling policy is solely interpreted as a question of urban form and infrastructure provisions. Interpreting cycling as a lived practice can present planners with more challenging questions about contemporary cultures of transportation, citizenship, and mobility.

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Walking the dog

2008-07-21T03:12:00.001-07:00

Sunday at Centennial. Cecelia brought Rufus Mutt and Yoko Omo for a spin in the bike trailer.

Tired Of Traffic?

2008-07-19T05:37:00.000-07:00

Tired Of Traffic? A New DOT Report Urges Drivers: 'Honk'

It's culture, stupid!

2008-07-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

Some random quotes from various readings.

Culture, custom and habit are important. While other factors listed below help explain which forms of travel behaviour become widespread and thus considered “normal”, countries with unbroken traditions of utilitarian cycling have an easier time maintaining that tradition. Where cycling is viewed as normal, people consider doing it when it is convenient, and they have access to the necessary equipment and knowledge. Similarly, motorists exhibit more respect towards cyclists, partly because they are more likely to cycling themselves or know others who do. In general, where there are few cyclists, cycling is considered abnormal and this climate tends to be self-perpetuating.
… cyclists suffer from a renegade image associated with disobedience of traffic laws, and a pervasive sense of cyclists as an alien presence on roads intended for cars. Indeed, the various images of cycling are so heavily determined in relation to automobiles that utilitarian cyclists are variously seen as too poor to own a car, “anti-auto”, eccentric, or deviant. The perception of cycling as lying outside he mainstream of American life discourage bicycle use. (p646)
Pucher, John, Charles Komanoff, Paul Schimek (1999) "Bicycling renaissance in North America? Recent trends and alternative policies to promote bicycling", Transportation Research Part A, 33, pp625–654.

In the UK during the twentieth century, cycling gradually moved from being a major mode of mobility to being a minor one. As the volume, speed and dominance of motorised vehicles grew, cycling was designated even more marginal road space…
The seemingly taken-for-granted dominance of automobility saw UK cycling in a perilous state across the latter third of the twentieth century. By the century’s end, cycling was spatially in the gutter… The cultural acceptability of cycling’s spatial marginality, particularly when combined with the cyclists stigmatised identity, is highly consequential. It means that those cyclist’s who do not stick to the margins, but either consciously or unconsciously attempt to ‘centre’ themselves, are experienced as threatening and unsettling, and are demonised – most visibly and powerfully within the mass media. So cyclist’ collective protests, such as Critical Mass, are particularly vilified. But even the least ‘political’ of cyclists will sometimes break from the invisibility of the margins and therefore challenge automobility’s spatial monopoly. (145-6)
Horton, Dave (2007) “Fear of Cycling” in Paul Rosen (ed) Cycling and Society, Ashgate, 2007.

Reducing car-dependence is not just a case of providing better public transport and cycling facilities, improving cycling infrastructure or the design of bicycles. It also requires the much harder job of unpicking the ways in which cars – far more than bicycles and other modes of transport – form part of the identities of individuals, organisations and indeed the wider culture. (p95)
David Skinner and Paul Rosen (2007) "Hell is Other Cyclists: Rethinking Transport and Identity", in Paul Rosen (ed) Cycling and Society, Ashgate, 2007.

Target markets

2008-07-15T03:26:00.000-07:00

I’m not a big fan of TV. I have a 28cm screen television that I inherited from a former flatmate. It has a bunny ears style aerial that I still have to wave around to get reception. I don’t have a video or a DVD player, preferring the movie theatre to the home movie theatre. In fact I’d be lucky if I watched more than one hour of television each week . In July, however, all of this gets turned upsidedown. Each night I get caught up in a battle between gaining hours of sleep and watching the Tour live. On the flat stages I can often block it out knowing full well that the winner will be decided in the final few seconds of the race. But in the mountains, I’m a complete sucker for tele-visual addiction. Might heart beats almost as fast as the riders as I watch the epic drama unfold. Who will crack first? Will Cadel dig deep on the Hautacam? But outside of this, one of the weirdest things I’ve found this month has been watching a large number of advertisements. It started gently with those sandcastle ads for Skoda cars and then moved onto the rather touchy topic of certain pills that would help ‘astronauts’ fire their rockets up into space. Finally, we’ve moved to Yvonne Allen & Associates with that annoying ad called Mr Single. In what I assume is an ad for some expensive dating agency, this ad efficiently scripts some rather banal fantasies about one’s aim in life being to get a dream car, a dream house and a dream woman. If you’ve got the first two, then Yvonne will complete the picture. You’d think they could have at least added a dream bike! Late night television advertising is renowned for marketing directly to the vulnerable. The three main products being sold are sexual fantasies, religious ‘meaning’, and the cult of body worship. As a Tour watching cyclist, I kinda hoped to be spared this humiliating spectacle of being marketed to as part of this demographic. But then I wonder, perhaps this is a sign that I really should get some sleep.

World Bike Day 2008 (Welcomes the Pope to Sydney)

2008-07-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

And he called to the twelve, and began to send them out two by two (abreast), and gave them authority over the road and the unclean automobiles. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a spare tube, tyre lever, pump, and money for coffee; and to wear good quality cycling shoes but not knicks made by Assos.

(Mark 6:7-8, New and Revised Cyclists translation)

it'z meh shimano

2008-07-08T19:01:00.000-07:00

My cat Augie has seems to be developing some attachment issues with my cycling clothing. Notice his claws are sprung out over my jersey. I am no cat therapist nor a pet detective, but I do sense that perhaps my cycling clothes are filling what Donald Winnicott called the transitional object, i.e. that little objective thing that stands in for ‘me’ as a defence against Augie’s catty anxieties about my absence. I wonder what kind of anxieties cats have? For instance, ‘will I get feed this morning or will I stave again because my nasty owner has been up late watching the Tour?’. I’ve also wondered if Augie may have an inter-species personality disorder for he is the most dog-like cat I’ve ever known. Cats are meant to be flighty and indifferent but Augie constantly demands love and attention. Or perhaps this is just another case of my own anthropomophic projections. What kind of owner would do that? Seriously.

DHBC Omnium No2

2008-07-05T16:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the Dulwich Hill Bicycle Club held its second ‘Omnium’ track event. Unfortunately I couldn’t race as I’d just come down with the flu, but I offered to help by holding the riders in position before the whistle blew. With no prior training, I was pleased not to drop anyone.

An impressive turnout saw four new riders (three of whom were women) decide to give the track a go. It reminded me of the first time I rode on the track just over a year ago. Within almost 5 second, my sense of riding was transform from complete terror to exhilaration as I rode up the steep bank of the velodrome in the knowledge that as long as I kept pedaling I would not fall.

Introducing BicycleParkingSydney

2008-07-02T18:01:00.000-07:00

I've recently created another blog called: BicycleParkingSydney

The idea had been floating in my head for a long time. As a BUG member, I've often done audits at my local train station, but I've never seen any comprehensive study of bike parking facilities across the entire CityRail network. Therefore, rather than spending months auditing stations that I never go to, I've put together an online survey so other cyclists can audit their local train stations. The results so far suggest Sydney's train stations are pretty inept when it comes to bike parking, but there are some that are better that others.

At present, the NSW Ministry of Transport do fund a program of bike lockers at train stations. Interestingly the funding for the program comes from the governments Parking Space Levy.

The Parking Space Levy (PSL) was introduced to discourage car use in major commercial centres, encourage use of public transport and to improve air quality. The PSL funds public transport infrastructure projects which make it easier and more convenient for people to access public transport services.

Every dollar raised is spent on building and maintaining bus, rail and ferry interchanges, commuter car parks, bus shelters, taxi stands, kiss and ride facilities, bicycle lockers, light rail systems and better passenger information and security systems. Recent projects include the Liverpool - Parramatta and North West Transitways, upgrade of the Parramatta Transport Interchange, building of new commuter carparks and the installation of secure bike lockers at railway stations.

The PSL applies to commercial parking spaces in Sydney's CBD, North Sydney/Milsons Point ($930 per space per annum) and at Parramatta, Bondi Junction, St Leonards and Chatswood ($460 per space per annum).

However, the bike lockers are administered by Bicycle NSW and are available at these train stations.

One of the interesting things I noticed when looking around at different policies on bike parking facilities at train stations, is that the Bicycle NSW program seems to be at odds with Bicycle Victoria. On the BV webpage

We have asked the Victorian Government to roll out parking prioritised by demand across the metro and regional rail system as well as tram and bus nodes.

Our proposed model is a card-access cage right near the entrance to the station that is properly lit and covered by CCTV. Access will be by smart card (possibly MiKi in future).

There are a number of lockers on the system. We are not supportive of lockers. A cage takes up less space - or parks more bikes. The cost per bike parked in a locker is high in construction and maintenance. When a locker is not being used by the hirer, it can't be used by anyone else.

I have to agree with BV here. The idea that every person rents their own bike locker seems a bit crazy to me. Could you imagine a public car park operating on such a model? However, in Perth I found another model of bicycle lockers that seemed to be much more user friendly.

The use of lockers is free. Users are required to provide their own lock (D lock or padlock)...

The options for bicycle parking and related infrastructure seem endless, but sadly there seems to be very little vision to improve bicycle parking in Sydney. For an example of what can be done, check out this awesome bike parking facility at a German train station:

However, with automindedness deeply at heart and the pervasive interpellation of the voting public as 'citizen/motorists', it seems that the NSW Government believes that building more car parks at train stations will be the solution to its current transportation headaches (and its prepared to spend big money to do this). Following this logic, commuters can now look forward to getting caught in traffic jams on the way to the train station rather than their places of work.

Is it really too much to ask for a more 'balanced' approach to transport policy?

Dunce of the Mountain

2008-06-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I headed off to Gunnedah with my fellow DHBC clubmates to contest the Keegan Downes Memorial Sundowner Sundowner Handicap race and the following days Gunnedah to Tamworth graded scratch race. The first race was a killer with 169 competitors split between 9 bunches all sent off at different time handicaps. I had a really good ride in the 3rd bunch and we worked very well together catching both of the two bunches in front of us. Eventually we were caught 15km from Gunnedah then rode together in a much larger bunch for a few km. On the last major hill we were split in half and the leading group went on to take victory. I hurt like hell over the last 5km hoping to catch up to the leading bunch, but to no avail.

The most eventful part of the day happened much latter when I found out that I’d been fined for supposedly crossing the middle of the road when I tried to win the King of the Mountain. Thinking this could be my one ever moment of glory, I attacked early on the hill but was beaten by one other rider from the Eastern Suburbs club. At the end of the race I was told that I’d crossed the middle of the road when attacking on the hill. I was fined $50. This news left me completely gobsmacked but I didn’t put up a protest.

The following days Gunnedah to Tamworth graded scratch race was not the most enjoyable but certainly the most relaxing race I’d ever done. I was in agony just getting on the bike that morning. Luckly I was placed in the bottom grade “F” and had a very easy day of riding. We rolled out of town like a training ride and chatted away with only a few minor attempted breakaways that were all chased down. Eventually it came to a bunch sprint. The problem for me was I had no idea where it was. My odometer has broken the previous day and there were no signs telling us we where near the finish. Suddenly the sprint had had started on this empty patch of highway and I was in the worst position possible at the back left of the bunch. I tried to get through the chaos passing along the gravel edge of the road narrowly missing two other riders and almost hitting one onlooking race commissioner. I finished in 5th place and won $50. The truth was I'd bombed the sprint completely, but there seemed to be something almost zen-like about finishing in 5th place and receiving $50 to pay off the previous days debts.

Bike parking blues

2008-06-26T05:57:00.000-07:00

I recently stubbled across this flickr photostream called Bicycle Parking 101. There's many international examples of good and bad bike parking but a lot appear to be from south of the border. It seems we have a lot to learn about bike parking in Sydney where its becoming increasingly difficult to find anywhere to lock up your bike. Today, when I went passed Redfern station I noticed that the "unofficial" bike rack along the handrails had reached maximum capacity. Redfern is the second largest train station in NSW, but you'd be lucky to find a proper bike rack.
Later I went down to Broadway Shopping Centre and I had to struggle to find a place to lock up my bike. Its kind of a nice thing to realise that the bicycle bandwagon is growing, but if it gets any bigger, they'll be nowhere to lock up my bike. We could even see fits of 'bike parking rage'.There were only 7 spaces at the shopping centre and all of them were all taken. Obviously the planners at the time assumed that 7 would be enough but that didn't stop them from allowing the shopping centre to build a few, say 1550 "first 3 hours free" car parking spaces on the edge of the CBD. Luckly I think I've come across a solution for this dilemma. I suggest that it be written in law that for every 6 bikes sold in Australia, we should remove one car parking space. And if we design them like this, perhaps no one will even notice the difference.
6 into 1, do the sums.

"Bike Heaven"

2008-06-23T18:47:00.000-07:00

Listen in here for a wonderful radio doco on cycling in Sydney, ironically titled "Bike Heaven".

There are many cities that could aspire to the title of 'bike heaven', cities where cycle paths abound and where governments and car users alike regard bicycles as a solution to traffic problems rather than a cause of them. Sydney isn't one of them.

So Sydney isn't "bicycle heaven"? Thats ok, I don't believe in heaven anyway. It features many well-known cycling identities.

Wheelie Good

2008-06-22T23:40:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this little video on YouTube and laughed myself silly. Amazingly, the Wham-O company is still around, but sadly I can't find the Wheelie Bar amongst it's list of products. Sad really, I can imagine a new market for this kind of thing. According to Wikipedia,

Wham-O's initial success can be seen as a result of the insight of its founders. Knerr and Melin aimed their products directly at kids, going out to playgrounds to reach them. They also did extensive research to find new product ideas, including traveling all over the world. For many years, the company's product strategy was to have a stable of eight to twelve simple and inexpensive products, such as Frisbees, Super Balls, and Hula Hoops. New products would be developed and added to the line for a tryout period, and old ones retired (either for a few years or permanently) as their popularity waned.

Welcome to C Grade, where you will spend the rest of your cycling life.

2008-06-21T00:57:00.000-07:00

One of the things you learn when you get into cycling is that success comes to only a few people and it doesn’t take long to work out if you are or are not one of them. Before my race had even begun today the goal posts had shifted again. I signed in for D grade at the Heffron crits as per usual. Then 5 mins later the race marshal came running after me.

Marshal: Adrian, right?, I’m putting you in C grade
Me: But I’ve never won a race?
Marshal: Yes, but you did 8 laps on the front the other week. You’re too strong for D grade.
Me: But I’ll have no chance of winning C grade
Marshal: Oh, you never know, remember that speed skater…what was his name?
Me: Yes I remember. Everyone crashed in front of him.

5 mins later on the warm up lap I caught up with Simon:

Me: Simon, you’re not going to believe this, they’ve bumped me up into C grade.
Simon: Yeah, that’s because you should be in C grade
Me: But I’ve never won a race.
Simon: That’s because you’re stupid and you can’t sprint.
Me: Oh, thanks Simon, I feel really great now.
Simon: Don’t worry, you’ve done a Grafton. That’s what really matters.
Me: Ok. I am feeling better now.

The C grade race was a lot faster. We were holding near 40km/h for the first 4 laps. Around lap 5, the decisive move was made. A breakaway of around 5 riders shot off. The main bunch hesitated, then I chased after the breakaway like a dumb dog. I got close to closing the gap then slowly watched them pull away. Eventually a small group of 4 formed a chasing bunch. We tried to catch them but they were far too strong. I rolled in around 7th or 8th, pleased that I’d finished the race. Like Sisyphus rolling his rock to no end, I expect to be chasing an elusive C grade victory for the rest my cycling life.

GetUp Campaign

2008-06-19T05:19:00.000-07:00

Finally we've some leadership over the populist petrol prices monster.

Go HERE if you want to donate money to put this ad on prime time television.

Bike culture, or the logic of fashion?

2008-06-18T16:07:00.000-07:00

In yesterdays Sydney Morning Herald (via Peddler), there was a great article on Danish bike culture following the launch of the Dreams on Wheels exhibition in Sydney.

WHEN the Danish urban designer Thomas Ermacora sat down to study global bicycle culture, he began by making a world map of cycling capitals. Unfortunately, Australia didn't make the grade. "Australia doesn't really have a cycling city," he says.

According to Ermacora, whose love of bicycles began as a child, cycling cultures in cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam are multilayered. "Even if you threw money at making cycle lanes, it wouldn't create a bike culture on its own," he says. It's a holistic approach that makes the difference, starting with encouraging children to ride, providing lanes for them when they are adults and making cycling attractive, he says.

So to have a “bike culture” we are supposed to have a multi-layered and integrated approach to cycling for all the community. More recently, I read another rather cutting definition of bike culture:

Bike Culture: A social clique organized around a certain style of bicycle and clothing. Members identify one-another through recognition of certain inside jokes and by displaying certain labels and brands on their clothing and bicycles. Periodically members of the “bike culture” organize events which only peripherally involve riding. Such events include: art installations; film screenings; and sitting on their bicycles for as long as possible without putting their feet down. Ironically, one can ride or race a bicycle every day for years without ever becoming—or even meeting—a member of the bike culture. Then one day one might stop into a bar for a drink and suddenly encounter 20 or 30 of them.

No points for guessing who wrote it. The popularity of his blog must be a testament for hitting on some truths that “bike culture” might be something of fickle fashion clique that was grafted out of an idealisation of courier culture.

And just to rub it in, here is another more recent link/post exposing a new book on bike culture:

In the wise words of the BikeSnob:

I do admit I'm sort of baffled by the "bike culture's" compulsion to preen and model and to photograph itself and its fashions and thereby emulate some of the more disappointing aspects of the larger culture, but I'm sure someone out there can tell me what I'm missing.

In Sydney, bike culture seems to be something that has evolved in the space between the larger ‘tribes’ of competitive and recreational cycling, but it also follows the global trends in the production of Bike Culture Inc. What irks me about the concept of 'bike culture', is it’s potential for in-group narcissism. We often seen this with the growth and demise of various 'youth', 'music', 'sub' or 'counter' cultures that ride in and out of style, making lots of money for trend spotting cultural producers like MTV. However, the word ‘culture’, in its most basic definition, has a lot more to do with farming than fashion. According to Raymond Williams, founder of "cultural studies" : “Culture in all its early uses was a noun of process: the tending of something, basically crops or animals”. Culture makes up the ordinary and acquired practices and habits that sustains life within a community. On this account, 'bike culture' should aim to be ubiquitous.

The 'blinkered' science of road rage

2008-06-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

I’ve recently started reading several articles on the topic of road rage and have been amazed to see what a strange science it is. So far I haven’t found any articles that have identified cyclist and motorist interactions as a dimension of ‘road rage’ and this has become a real cause of concern.

For instance, in the article, ‘Road Rage’: Media hype or serious road safety issue? the Australian Transport Psychologist, Barry Elliot, makes a number of claims. Most importantly, he argues that ‘road rage’ is a very problematic concept:

It can be defined as a term coined by the media to describe a range of anti-social behaviours and/or acts of aggression which occur on the road. The range of behaviours include minor instances such as gestures and use of car horn through to the more serious violent acts such as assault or even murder.

‘Road rage’ can include a number of activities such as:

Beeping the horn;
Pursuing a vehicle;
Flashing head lights;
Forcing a car off the road;
Gesticulation;
Forcing a car to pull over;
Verbal abuse;
Bumping into another car;
Tailgating;
Threatening another driver;
Breaking or slowing suddenly;
Damaging another vehicle intentionally
Deliberate obstruction
Physically assaulting another driver; and
Cutting off or swerving in front

Given the diversity of activities identified above, it is fair enough that one should want to develop different terms to distinguish between ‘road rage’ and road aggression. The concept ‘rage’ presupposes an escalation of aggression towards violence. According to Elliot:

The majority of motorists will experience one or more of the above road behaviours over a normal year or two. However, if we define ‘road rage’ as assault then it is a rare phenomena.

But it is here that we find the crux of the problem. No consideration is given to how other vehicles, such as bicycles, may experience acts of road aggression in a vastly different way. Personally, I can say that I’ve experienced 7 of the 15 acts listed above and that I’ve twice experienced the more malicious acts of being run off the road by a raging motorist. Thankfully, such events have been rare, but the lesser acts of road aggression are very common and would occur on a less than monthly basis. One can only speculate on what findings Elliot would have made if he’d asked different road users about their experiences of ‘road rage’/aggression?

The next problem I found with the article is a level acceptance it gave to road rage/aggression as a public concern. According to Elliot:

While there are good reasons to reduce levels of violence (‘road rage’) on our roads, doing so is unlikely to have any noticeable effect on road crash statistics. In essence, ‘road’ rage is not a road safety priority issue. It is an ‘issue’ for those dealing with violence in our community.

Just because an action of road rage/aggression may not result in injury or death, why would it then be considered a ‘low priority’ road safety issue? Why do acts of aggression have to be extremely ‘violent’ to become a cause of concern? While road rage/aggression may not be an issue for accident statisticians, it still affect people as an often unsanctioned form of social violence that takes place in a social field that should be governed by road rules/education.

Another concerning part of this article was on the causes of ‘road rage’. It was suggested that road rage is largely caused through a dynamic relationship between a perpetrator and a victim. According to Elliot:

The consensus among experts in this area is that ‘road rage’, even broadly defined, originates because of poor, careless or risking driving… Sometimes, perhaps mostly, the victim unintentionally or unwittingly raises the ire of the offender with no malice intended. But the recipient of the poor driving (the offender) takes the incident as a personal affront which involves an emotional reaction – usually anger… The critical contributing factor in ‘road rage’ in general is the behaviour of the victim which leads to aggression by the offender and so long as the victim retaliates the conflict increases. Accordingly, it ought to be possible to lower the level of possible road rage by: improving driving standards.

So what does this mean for cyclists? Given that there is substantial of evidence that many motorists (in Australia) don’t even know or respect the rights of cyclists to be road users, it would seem rather short-sighted to simply ‘blame the victim’ as the unfortunate recipient of aggression on the road. This victim/perpetrator model of road aggression doesn’t seem to be able to give an account how acts of violence and aggression can be completely unprovoked and without some sort of quasi-legitimacy.

While I haven’t read far enough into these matters, it seems to me that a lot of research on ‘road rage’ has been framed within the ‘blinkered’ paradigm of the automobile and that an analysis of acts of road aggression towards cyclists has been ignored and unspecified. Road rage research is most often conducted by criminologists, transport psychologists and crime prevention researchers. I wonder if they'd ask different questions if they rode their bikes?

Hating cyclists: some preliminary findings

2008-06-11T17:16:00.001-07:00

In the aftermath of recent events, I've decided to undertake a research project on cyclists/motorists conflicts from a psychological standpoint. I recently collected 570 online comments that were published in relation to the (alleged) 'road rage' event involving the 'Coluzzi bunch’ on Southern Cross Drive last month. My preliminary analysis found that 303 comments (53%) held positive representations of cyclists, 242 comments (42%) were negative, and 25 comments (5%) were identified as mixed or other.

Of the negative perceptions of cyclists, the following representations were the most common.
Each of these perceptions is discussed in further detail below:

1: Cyclists are inferior or illegitimate road users

This perception represented cyclists as an inferior class of road users. It was suggested that cyclists should not be allowed on the roads without some system of taxation, licensing and registration. Many commenters argued that cyclists were unpaying (‘free riding’) and undeserving because they were not being taxed. A perceived lack of individual and legal identification (registration and insurance) was also presumed to make cyclists unaccountable to both the road rules as well as any accidents they may cause as road users.

Examples:

In this era of user pays why is it cyclists can take up the whole road during peak hour without forking out a cent ? (1.28)

Do they know that cyclists in European countries have to pay rego to ride on the road? So don't complain when you are free-riding! (3.25)

When will cyclists realise they do not belong on any roads! If they want to be a road user - let them pay for it. At least then it would soften the blow of having to put up with them. Car, truck and motorbike owners must have current registration, which we pay for, a licence, which we pay for and Compulsory Third Party Insurance, which we pay for. We are then expected to give up the roads for non paying and hazardous cyclists. (3.27)

Cyclists don't pay road taxes as cyclists......yet they get all these great privileges. They need somewhere to cycle. Why can't councils and governments create dedicated cycle routes? If cyclists aren't paying for the roads then it's no big deal if they don't pay for the cycle paths. I drive along Beach Road and continually get pissed off with cyclists on the road...... (3.56)

The roads are paid for and upkept from car rego's and petrol. It is only obvious that if bikes want to use the roads then they should help pay. (5.35)

2: Cyclists are unlawful road users

This perception argued that cyclists were unlawful road users. Common proponents of this opinion suggested that cyclists did not follow the road rules, that cyclists ignored the laws by running red lights, riding on footpaths, and holding up traffic in large bunches.

Examples:

They can cry that they have as much right as a car to use the road but they should also follow the road rules too. (1.42)

there have been numerous reported cases where these large packs of cyclists have shown themselves to be irresponsible, law breaking goons who don;t give a crap about anyone else on the road as illustrated by the group that went through red lights and killed a man not so long ago... (1.68)

Excuse me bike riders, but you say that you are within the law to ride on the road. Well it also is the law to stop at red lights, stops signs and to give way at roundabouts. I'm sorry, but you can't hide behind the law when you don't abide by the law. (2.53)

And as for road rules they seem to have a secret set of their own. (4.54)

It seems to me that cyclists want to use the roads but not by the rules that apply to all the other road users. (4.109)

3: Cyclists are foolish road users

This perception constructed cyclists as being foolish, crazy, stupid, morons and idiotic. Generally, it was suggested that cyclists were devoid of intelligence by virtue of not acknowledging the risks or perceived dangers of riding on the road.

Examples:

Although it was a silly thing to do. I can understand this drivers frustration. What a stupid time and place to be cycling. Peak hour on a main road!! (1.42)

as far as it is concerned they are all a bunch of freakin morons... (1.168)

I can tell you that riding in a pack of 50 in peak hour on Southern Cross Drive is insanity. (1.77)

Cyclists have a right to use the road - but at their own peril. They are bloody idiots if they think they're going to be safe on Sydney's roads. (2.23)

Get one thing straight cars kill cyclists not the other way round. Only the mentally challenged would incourage thier children to do this. Do you educate the crocs up north to beware of dumb swimmers? (4.49)

4: Cyclists are arrogant road users

This perception identified cyclists as being arrogant and/or selfish road users. Cyclists were particularly characterised as being inconsiderate towards other road users. Cyclists were also perceived as being ‘tall-poppies’ or having a misguided sense of superiority. In many cases, cyclists were identified as elitist, righteous and pious.

Examples:

Ban these elitist wankers from the road and give the car driver a medal. (1.14)

You expect consideration to be showed yet most of you are inconsiderate when on the road (3.5)

Get these jerks of the road during peak hour, actually get them off the road period. If its pushed him to the brink of moving overseas good pissoff overseas. bloody latte sipping wankers. (3.35)

Bike riders are not Pandas and don't deserve special protected status. Bike riders should have some bloody manners on the road and act like any other road users. Its pretty simple guys, don't hold up traffic. (3.45)

Its great to see those holier than thou cyclists get their noses rubbed in it – (4.55)

5: Cyclists are ‘in the way’

This perception constructed cyclists as being ‘in the way’. Primarily, cyclists were perceived to be ‘holding up traffic’. Cyclists were identified as a hassle, pain, and a nuisance. The presence of cyclists was also regarded as frustrating, annoying and enraging for motorists.

Examples :

You hold up traffic and annoy the crap out of everyone. (1.82)

At peak hour, everyone is trying to get somewhere, they are simply clogging up the already crowded system and can do it somewhere else!(1.122)

I hate it wen im stuck behind cyclists, adding a xtra ten minutes on my trip when ive already spent a hour and a half driving.... (2.42)

Obviously they were blocking traffic. Obviously many many motorists were very angry and frustrated. (3.10)

I drive along Beach Road and continually get pissed off with cyclists on the road......with a bike a bike path about 1 metre away. Another thing to drive motorists crazy is when they hold up traffic while you try and get around them and then sneak up the inside at the lights. Then you have to go through the same thing again (3.56)

6: Cyclists are ‘to blame’

This perception identified cyclists as being ‘to blame’ for being hurt on the road. Some comments related to the specific incident on Southern Cross Drive while others characterised cyclists for being ‘to blame’ for generally riding on roads. In others comments, it was suggested that cyclists were ‘asking for it/trouble’, ‘had it coming’ or ‘should know better’. Some commenters sympathised with the actions of a ‘road raging’ motorist and believed that such events ‘served them right’ and ‘taught them a lesson’.

Examples:

Maybe they will learn their lesson now and not take up a whole lane in peak hour traffic. They really bring this all upon themselves. (1.121)

I must say that I am horified that these cyclist were targeted by some idiot. But really, what did these cyclists expect? (1.77)

So these cyclists rear end a car, because they were going to fast, then have a 50 bike pile up cos they didnt give themselves enough safe space to stop, and now the motorist is going to be charged?. (1.94)

Yes - I'm with the car driver. Many a time I have had to deal with great packs of riders taking up most of the road. It is dangerous and if they get hurt, then they generally have themselves to blame. (4.69)

if you go for a swim and get bitten by a shark is it the sharks fault your in their world?, (4.129)

7: Cyclists don’t belong on roads

This perception constructed cyclists as not belonging on the road. Many commenters believed that cyclists should be ‘banned from the road’ or at least confined to other ‘safe’ places such as bike paths or velodromes. Many commenters also assertively argued that ‘cars are for roads’ and that ‘roads are built for cars’.

Examples:

This is simple, if the riders where not on the road nothing would have happened. (1.110)

isn't there a nice velodrome out at homebush where they can ride around in circles for hours on end without having to worry about cars???? (1.132)

Well i think they should be banned of the road, the think they own it! (1.140)

When will cyclists realise they do not belong on any roads! (3.27)

You wanna ride your bike? Go for it - though do it somewhere safe, otherwise quit your complaining and deal with the consequences - the roads are for motor vehicles - DEAL WITH IT! (3.87)

This is only a very preliminary analysis of the data and there is a lot more work to do. The next step is to analyse the data in terms of mood, gender, uses of expletives, and most importantly to identify various emotions and to see how the may or may not correlate with perceptions. After reading through all the comments (and feeling very ill at times) it was great to find some people made really thoughtful comments. I thought that the following was probably one of the most insightful:

There are issues with both motorists and cyclists using roads.

Melbournians would remember the cyclist in the 'hell ride' who hit a pedestrian when they were trying to cross the road. The pedestrian was killed and a furore erupted about cyclists and road use.

The fact that these incidents can cause such emotional reactions shows there are deeper issues at stake. Like the ever more divisive nature of Australian society...its not simply about cars and bikes...its about consideration for other people, or the growing lack of it these days. (4.134)

Rudd: gutless on petrol

2008-06-10T14:49:00.001-07:00

(From the SMH)

"I think I've stumbled on a new law of politics: the harder life becomes in this capitalist economy, the more our supposed leaders soft-soap us. The harsher it gets, the harder they try to persuade us we're living in a Sunday school where no one plays for keeps."

Ross Gittins "Too gutless to give us the bad oil"

I Heart Huckabees

2008-06-09T03:34:00.000-07:00

Tidbits

2008-06-08T02:39:00.001-07:00

I thought these two recent comic strips at Yehuda Moon seems to have captured many of the problems we're struggling with here in Sydney-town.
On a lighter note, I absolutely love the simplicity of this comic by Jim Borgman:
And there has also been some great discussions about cycling on the ABC:
On ya bike! (via Rob at Sydney Cyclist)
The Bike Boom (via Treadly and Me)
Note: both segments are towards the end of program.

Love and the pannier

2008-06-07T16:48:00.000-07:00

I finished reading Michael McGirr’s Bypass this week. I accidentally got stuck reading another novel and non-fiction book and had left the final chapters for a few weeks. Originally, I thought the novel might be something in the genre of a road story adventure, but it ended up as something much more of a philosophical romance (if that even is a genre). One of the interesting things I learned was that the word ‘pannier’ comes from the Latin for bread (pane). A pannier is a kind of bread basket/bag. As one would expect from an ex-priest, McGirr observed that the word 'pannier' also has the same etymological root as ‘companion’.

A companion is someone with whom you share bread. It can also be a person with whom you share a pannier or even a plastic bag for clothes that haven't quiet dried. (p127)

Here is a snippet from the end of the book:

There are two common ways of musing about roads. The first represented by the stage directions at the of Beckett’s Waiting For Godot. Vladimir and Estragon sit by the side of the road, exchanging small talk and banter, waiting for someone or something to turn up. They have no idea what it might be. They wait passively as garbage bins. They are at the mercy of fate. The world, whatever that might mean, is indifferent to them.
A more common way of musing is represented by The Wizard of Oz. The yellow brick road will take you to the land of your dreams where you will find courage, brains and good heart. […]
Waiting For Godot represents a kind of fatalism in which people are powerless. They are roadside refuse. The Wizard of Oz represents a kind of individualism in which people are all-powerful. They can achieve anything and still be home in time for tea.
Neither of these ideas appeal to me.
The road can go in two directions at once. Maybe more. But the rest of us can only go in one. We are enriched by what we can’t do and even more by what we choose not to do. The secret of being human is leaning how to enjoy limitations. Just about anyone can ride a bike from Sydney to Melbourne on their own. But it’s impossible to squeeze a pimple in the middle of your back without help. If we could do everything, we wouldn’t need other people and we wouldn’t need a road. None of us is God. I just like to pretend sometimes that I am. Those have been the loneliest times (p300-1)

Cigarettes and Gasoline

2008-06-05T04:21:00.000-07:00

Reading the Herald a two days ago I came across this article about the measures many motorists are taking to save money on fuel. One of the most strange or amusing comments came from the pensioner Solomis Lazaris who was quoted as saying:

"There's one good thing about the price of petrol - I've had to give up smoking so I can drive my car."

Good on Solomis for kicking his smoking habit. However, the funny thing about his statement was it seemed to suggest that in his own psychic economy, he needed petrol far more than cigarettes. Anyone who has spent time with a cigarette addict knows that giving up is no small thing. We know scientifically that it takes around 8 seconds for nicotene to travel from the lungs to the brain switching various neurotransmitters that produce pleasurable and highly addictive dopamine. However, it seems that the effects that oil has on our minds and bodies is something that we are still collectively struggling to understand. I wonder if it will be the price of food that is the next big thing forcing us to kick the oil habit? By hey, there'll still be plenty for those who can afford it.

One thousand words

2008-06-02T22:08:00.000-07:00

[edit]
This image sends shivers down my spine. The driver was apparently drunk and had fallen asleep at the wheel. Full story in today's SMH. (Warning: this link contains a disturbing picture).

In denial

2008-06-02T04:26:00.000-07:00

Finally someone has put Nelson's little dummy spit on youtube. I wonder if he drives a 30yo Torana?

Amazingly, I read recently that this knee-jerk popularism is spreading. According to the Sun Herald the 'Oil crisis rage spreads' and the French president Nicolas Sarkozy is calling for a cut it EU VAT taxes on oil.

In the UK, Gordon Brown is facing petrol price protests:

In the US, Hillary is planning a petrol tax cutting holiday.

And in New Zealand, Helen Clark has sold out on petrol taxes.

Pop-psychologists say that denial is the first stage of grief. Are we there yet, or have we moved into anger?

A Saturday in Hell

2008-06-02T02:03:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, I returned to Heffon Park after a long absence to contest the D grade crit. I was determined to win, having placed several times but never getting victory. I thought it was time to win and time to move up to C grade. I was feeling strong. I’d trained well, ate well, slept well and was in a generally good state of psychic well-being. I’d said to myself before the race I wasn’t going to do all the work on the front. I would be tactical, I’d wait for my opportunity and take it when it came. Well the very best plans very rarely work out. Two minutes before the race I flatted on my warm up lap. By the time I’d changed the tube, I’d missed the first two laps of the race. Eventually, I joined the race on lap 3 under the proviso that I could not contest the win. It was to be a training ride for me. Angrily, I headed straight to the front of the pack and thought, if I couldn’t win, then I could at least ride these guys into hell. However, I think I was only person who went there in the end. For the following 8 laps (21km) I rode as hard as I could on the front averaging 36km/h. I don’t know what I was thinking.

Road Rage in Britain

2008-05-28T23:10:00.000-07:00

Part 1

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

True colours

2008-05-28T01:24:00.000-07:00

Ken Dinnerville Memorial Handicap

2008-05-25T21:04:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I did my third open road race at the Ken Dinnerville Memorial Handicap at Dapto. The race was a 90km handicap where the field was divided in at least 6 different groups sent off at different time handicaps. We had 14 riders from Dulwich Hill split across different groups. It was a quite exciting race and there were a few points when I was leading the race during the second lap of the course. My favourite moment was coming over the Marshal Mount Hill on the second lap. I was at third wheel and it was a huge buzz to see so many spectators crowed along the road cheering us on just like some of the mountain stages in the TdF. I managed to stay with the winning group of riders for most of the race but got dropped on my third and final ride over Marshal Mount Hill. The lessons learned were to always stay as close to the front if you have any hope of being a contender. Secondly, to climb hills at those speeds, I need to cut some junk from my trunk.

Psychopathologies of Driving

2008-05-21T17:29:00.000-07:00

Why, one might ask, should normally reasonable and considerate human beings behave in this fashion once they get behind the wheel of a car? What are the springs and sources of this combative attitude which is so much better controlled when the subject is on two feet?
...
Frustration, it is said, is the breeding ground of aggression; and, whatever else one may say about the public highway, frustration abounds. However, it would be too simple to explain ubiquitous displays of aggression on the road by arguing that such actions are the natural response to the abysmal stupidity and criminal carelessness of our fellow-citizens in their cars. After all, anyone who, late for an appointment, tries to walk briskly along a crowded city street, heavy with slow-moving shop-gazers, will not improve his speed of progress if he angrily pushes aside his fellow-citizens, swears at them, or threatens them with physical assault. Yet this is precisely what a number of drivers in their vehicles do when pressed for time. No doubt the isolation imposed by the design of the automobile confers a certain immunity from retaliatory action, but it is unlikely that most fist-shaking motorists give a thought to possible consequences should they encounter the victim of their vituperation in less avoidable circumstances. Mercifully, such confrontations are rare, and when they do occur most of us have the grace to apologise, while secretly bolstering our self-esteem by the belief that our behaviour was fully justified by the folly or negligence of the other person. Yet, isolation alone cannot be the whole explanation of these unbridled displays of anger on the road. Such anger may be aroused by the irritating behaviour of other drivers who seem joined in a conspiracy to impede our progress. Overweening impatience is in part a common cause of dangerous driving behaviour, yet a moment’s reflection should convince us that however hard we drive in crowded city streets the amount of time saved will be infinitesimal in proportion to the emotional energy expended and the danger caused.

Some years ago a contest was arranged between two cars to be driven across a city area. One driver had to observe all signs, traffic lights, and speed regulations. The other was allowed to ignore all three if he could do so without endangering the lives of other road users. The law-breaking motorist arrived at his destination just – and only just – ahead of his law-abiding antagonist. It follows, therefore that our reactions and behaviour on the roads are not determined by rational appreciation of the circumstances. Instead, we appear to be at the mercy of emotional forces which compel us to act as we do, often in total defiance of our best interests and knowledge of our real needs. (pp127-129)

F.A. Whitlock, 1971, Death on the Road: A study in social violence, Tavistock: London.

Shadenfraud with Dr Nelson

2008-05-19T01:37:00.000-07:00

From: http://www.moir.com.au/

From Today's SMH

The Climate Institute has released research showing richer households have more cars and use more petrol than poorer households, so have the most to gain from an excise cut.

In 2005, an average low-income family spent $28 a week on petrol or diesel, while a high-income family spent $62.

Nearly a third of low-income households had two or more cars compared with 84 per cent of rich households.

The institute says dropping the fuel excise will also boost demand for petrol and add to pollution by creating the impression of a permanent price drop.

To genuinely help shield lower-income earners from rising prices, the government should use better-targeted and more effective policies than cutting the fuel excise, the institute said.

Boosting public transport and lifting fuel efficiency standards would be a good start, it said.

According to Phillip Coorey in yesterday's SMH

Such stunts are the domain of populist, attention-seeking minor parties made safe in the knowledge they will never have to deliver them.

In the short term it may put pressure on the Government. In the long term it threatens the Liberals' economic credibility and creates a huge headache for whoever leads the party to the election.

Nelson framed it as consistent with the Liberal tradition of cutting taxes. He cited Howard's "decisive action" in 2001 to reduce excise by 1.5c a litre and abolish the twice-yearly indexation of excise to inflation.

Bunkum. Howard was motivated by flat panic, not altruism.

He had been caught trying to diddle people by 1.5c a litre when fulfilling his promise to reduce excise to ensure the GST caused no net increase to the price of fuel.

And just as he was caught, world oil prices soared. The GST fiddle was only a minor contributor to the price rise but the electorate blamed it for the lot.

It was an election year and Howard did what he had to do.

Otherwise, Howard always cited as economic madness calls to cut excise in response to rising world prices.

"It is easy to embrace opportunistic calls for reductions in the budget surplus and reductions in revenue," he said in 2000 of calls for a 5c cut.

"In the present climate of international levels of interest rates, of our concern about domestic interest rates, we see no merit at all in running the budget surplus down by the order of $1.5 billion to $2 billion."

An oil sheik need only fart and Nelson's excise reduction would be wiped out by the price fluctuation.

Angry consumers would be demanding another cut while the government was still trying to patch the original $2 billion hole in its budget.

It was a wildly irresponsible promise, especially when a pension increase, now one of the most pressing imperatives and something Nelson also supports, is going to cost billions.

And Milne in The Australian

The anti-Nelson Liberal critique of his formal budget-in-reply speech, which by any test wasn't bad in presentation terms, comes down to this: Nelson's commitment to cut 5c a litre from fuel excise in order to bring down petrol prices ends up with a much greater price tag than its $7 billion to $8billion cost to the budget.

And it is this: the decidedly populist commitment, without immediate offsetting savings, threatens the best political card the post-Howard Coalition still has to play: its credibility as an economic manager.

Those Liberals criticising the Nelson fuel tax initiative point out that it was an easy option continually rejected by cabinet during the Howard era. Why? Because of the huge hit on revenues and the relatively small impact on pump prices.

Don't get bitter...

2008-05-18T20:59:00.000-07:00

Contested Streets

2008-05-17T16:07:00.000-07:00

I've just stumbled across this doco called Contested Streets. It looks excellent. I've ordered a copy and want to organise a screening this year.

Brendan wants Bitty

2008-05-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

In Dr Nelson's budget response this week, we came to see an rather lame attempt at automotive popularism. Nelson wants to make a 5 cents per litre cut on the fuel taxes. He claimed that this proposal would be "modest but meaningful", yet it would also cost the government $1.8 billion a year in lost revenue. According to Dr Nelson:

This is a modest but meaningful way of helping all Australians - families, small businesses, pensioners and working people so dependant on their cars... Ninety per cent of Australian households have a car. Right now, they all need some help. Real help.

The short-term popularism of such a policy is embrassing. Rather that accept that world oil markets are changing (like a liberal), and that oil prices will increase as demand rises and production falls, Nelson is effectively trying lure an automotive public with a quick fix that might improve his popularity problem, but it won't improve peoples' mobility problems. Petrol prices will continue to go up, and the five cent saving will be made effectively meaningless if not already gobbled up by the oil companies. Remember the first home-owners grant? All it did was raise the bidding and further inflate housing prices. My guess is that Nelson wants to see if Rudd will cave in and follow the automotive popularism. However, I’m fairly confident that if Rudd wants to keep any green credentials he'll let Dr Nelson hang himself (or let Turnbull do it for him). We'll have to wait and see. The whole scenario of cutting taxes on petrol makes me ponder some more rather vulgar psychoanalytic thoughts. This is something I often do. I see the car as a breast like object that we are all supposedly ‘dependent’ on with petrol being the good mothers’ milk. Dr Nelson’s tax cuts are nothing more than an attempt to pacify the automotive public with a petroleum-like ‘dummy’. Nelson’s super-nanny state aims to make us feel better. In it, we are all addressed us as a nation of needy ‘motorists’ rather than a nation of citizens with different mobility needs.

Isn’t it time we grew up a bit Dr Nelson? Isn't it time we thought beyond this popularist BS*? This doesn't look likely, I think Brendan wants bitty:

Canberra trip

2008-05-16T02:24:00.001-07:00

Canberra Bicycle Museum

The Canberra Bicycle Museum has a wonderful collection of bikes ranging from the pre-safety 'hobby horses' right through to today's carbon time trial bikes. There were also some amazing creations including an ice bike, tandem unicycle (yes it is possible) and war bike with spring tires. Its well worth a visit if your in Canberra. There is also a great collection of films and archive materials that you can go through in the library. Unfortunately its only open on Wednesdays.

Dreams on Wheels
(don't despair, its coming to Sydney and Melbourne!)

The Dreams on Wheels exhibition has been setup to celebrate the re-openning of the Danish Embassy, and what better way to celebrate Danish culture than the bicycle. The exhibition presents and excellent overview of how the bicycle is intergrated into everyday life within Denmark. The exhibition celebrates Danish bicycle manufactures, Danish urban planning (with the work of Jan Gehl), and the history of competitive cycling. On the night I was there, Stephen Hodge gave a wonderful lecture on the Paris-Roubaix giving a first hand account of the cobbles and the experience of being a domestique for riders such as Sean Kelly in the late 80s. We then watched the Danish doco "A Sunday in Hell" on the 1976 Paris-Roubaix which was the best cycling doco I've ever seen.

Australian National University's "Go Green, Get Lean" Program

ANU is a probably the best campus for cycling in Australia. While I was there I visited the university's sustainability office ANUGreen. There is an excellent set of facilities for bicycle parking across the uni. ANU also has a bicycle co-op giving students bicycles for $50. The bicycles can then can be sold back to the co-op for $30 once students have finished their degrees. The uni also runs a 'Go Green, Get Lean' program. I found out that 40% of students and staff travel to uni by either bicycle or public transport. I also found out that if you take your bike on a bus in Canberra, you don't have to pay a fair. It appears to be the complete opposite as to what we have in Sydney where you can't take a bike on the bus, and if you take one on the train you pay double. Clearly we're still in the Dark Ages.

Canberra is a great city to cycle around, however I noticed that the drivers were actually more aggressive that I thought. I think most people in Canberra use the footpaths and the off-road bicycle lanes. So, when a roadie like me turned up, the car drivers were probably less used to seeing someone take the lane. I took my fixie down on the bus. It worked out to be the perfect bike to travel with because if I was traveling with a bike with a dereailuer and gear-levers, they would probably be much more vulnerable to damage. It took only 5mins to pull my fixie out of its soft bike bag then put it back together. The flat terrain of the city also made it perfect for cycling with only one gear.

No gears, is no problem in Canberra.

Bypass: The Story of a Road

2008-05-12T14:46:00.000-07:00

I’m heading to Canberra tomorrow to check out the Dreams on Wheels exhibition. I am lucky enough to convince myself that this activity is part of my ‘research’ when I should be cranking out the next paper or another interview transcript. To even further delude myself of scholarly productivity, I’ve taken to reading a novel called Bypass: The Story of a Road. Written by Michael McGirr, Bypass is the story about the Hume Highway as it runs from Sydney to Melbourne. McGirr, a 40yo washed out ex-priest, decides to ride his bike along the entirety of the Hume. As he goes from town to town, he weaves together a biography of the road with its history, local folk-law, personal observations and his own story of the journey. McGirr makes a lot of humorous comments. For instance:

Roads are political. Building them is a sign that somebody is the boss. Hitler built the autobahn to impress underlings. Osama Bin Laden built roads in Sudan in the early nineties after he had been exiled there, to let the people know he was a force to be reckoned with. There are men who concrete the driveway every time the daughter brings home a new boyfriend.

Furthermore, as McGirr rode through my old suburb of Ashfield, I had to crack up with laughter at the astuteness of his observations:

[I] had reached Ashfield where I turned onto the Hume Highway itself. There is a point in every city where the number of coffee shops and cafes is suddenly exceeded by the number of automotive businesses, a point where latte land gives a way to a fantasy of wheels. This is what delineates city from the suburbs and every year in Sydney the place moves a little further west. At the time I was riding it was easy to locate. It was marked by a hybrid business in Enfield where you could get your vehicle washed while you had a cappuccino.

So far, I’ve just rolled through Picton in the book and have learned the history of the Truckers blockade at the top of Razorback in 1979, which nearly bought Sydney to a standstill. I hope to read my way to Goulburn before my bus takes the Federal Hwy turn off to Canberra.

Jason and the broken kettle

2008-05-10T02:48:00.000-07:00

In Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams, there is a famous story in which he explores the problem of denial and unconscious thought processes. It goes like this:

.. the dream… reminded one vividly of a defence put forward by the man who was charged by one of his neighbours with having given him back a borrowed kettle in a damaged condition. The defendant asserted, first, that he had given it back undamaged; secondly that the kettle had a hole in it when he borrowed it; and, thirdly, that he never borrowed a kettle from his neighbour at all. So much the better if only a single one of these three lines of defence were to be accepted as valid the man would have to be acquitted. (Vol 4, Pelican Freud Library, p197)

For Freud, unconscious thought processes involve no logic or contradiction. Acts of denial and disavowal involve processes whereby one projects certain ‘realities’ about the way things are, such ideas can comfort us from the psychic injuries incurred by recognising we may have done something wrong, stupid or cowardly. Of course, life and our relationships with others are full of such happenings, the challenge for all of us is to be aware of when we are ‘acting out’ in such ways. Bart Simpson’s “I didn’t do it, no body saw me do it, you can’t prove anything” is a modern day version of the broken kettle. The story of the broken kettle indicates that sometimes in our effort to protect our conceptions of ‘reality’, we go too far and start to construct contradictory justifications that only serve to reveal the work of fantasy within our minds. In fact sometimes we can come up with also sorts of horse-shit to convince ourselves that we did nothing wrong.

Enter Jason of Claymore.

My car stalled
(then it magically got better and I drove off from the scene of an accident)

My girlfriend said there's no damage, its not our fault, lets go...
(but neither driver nor passenger had anyway of checking for damage because they were both too scared to get out of the car with the angry group of cyclists).

AND WHY DIDN'T YOU GO THE POLICE?
Because I don't sorta, I'm intimidated by the police, I don't like the police, I don't really like them that much... some are good, some arn't, I'm intimidated by the police, and I choose not to do anything about it, cause... there is no damage to my car, there's a tiny scratch on my boot where a handle bar must of hit...
(????)

I think we'll leave this one for the jury to decide! Another Bonfire of the Vanities.

"Ban these elitist wankers from the road and give the car driver a medal."

2008-05-08T05:39:00.000-07:00

Thank you Stephen (10:57am) from Quakers Hills

And hell gets hotter and hotter. Bad things comes in threes. Even our Olympic champions riding at up 60km/h have not been spared. Here is the story of today's horror in both the Telegraph and the SMH

Its going to take some time to digest all this. I've saved all the readers 187 comments from the Telegraph for little critical analysis. However, the 'buts', 'no regos' and the 'its their own fault for...' amass amongst the this pit of stupidity running (sorry, driving) through this city.

Go here to see Ben Kersten give a first hand account of the incident.

Your lucky day in hell

2008-05-06T01:58:00.000-07:00

Today has not been a happy day in the land of bike love. It seems to be one of those times where idiocy rules supreme and one wonders if they are slowly falling into a world of paranoid delusional fantasies and developing a persecution complex. Remember bumping into fellow Howard-haters a few years ago and they’d start talking about moving to New Zealand if Howard won another election. Did they go? Of course not, but they enjoyed thinking about the idea of escaping to another place. Well I feel like that right now. Something is rotten in the State of NSW and I’m not talking about the developer contributions or the electricity sell off. To begin with, it was reported that the NSW State Government plans to use 3 billion dollars from the sale of the States electricity to part-fund none other than another friggin private motorway (the M4 East). We’ve only spent the last 20 years building more private motorways (M2, M5, M7, Cross City Tunnel, Lane Cove tunnel, Harbour Tunnel, Eastern Distributor etc), while we've keep a railway system that has barely improved since 1915. All the motorways seem to have resulted in is more traffic and longer commuting times. As this recent report revealed, Sydney’s traffic is ‘crawling, not commuting’. The fact that petrol prices are ticketed to go through the roof is just the icing on cake. What a joy it is to live in such truly unenlightened times.
In other news, a local resident group in Surry Hills has started a campaign against the new separated cycleway that is planned to be built on Bourke Street this year. The cycleway is meant to look like this. Note all the trees.

However, some ambiguity in the planners report, has lead some residents to claim that the entire street would be clear-felled.
Of course, we know that the evil cyclists are really out to destroy the trees. That’s the kinda thing cyclists like doing. This protest has nothing to do with the fact that the residents may lose a few on-street car parking spaces (of course not!). Why would residents covertly aim to protect car-parking spaces when they really love trees?

And so the legacy of the Rum Corps and the Emerald City goes on. If ‘Red Ken ' is looking for a new job, please apply here.

Postscript
Hell is getting hotter. Today brings news that the only ‘actual existing’ bike lane in Sydney-town is about to disappear. Sure it will be a bus lane, great for 30km/h bike hoons like myself, but what about everyone else? The Boulevard of broken dreams – Park and William Sts – was meant to be the main east to west access way into the city. Then the state gov. got nervous facing a motorist revolt over congestion heading into the city and anger against the road changes brought about by the now-bankrupt Cross City Tunnel. So, they decided to take three blocks of bike lanes back to make one more westbound lane, leaving only a semblance of a cycleway in disconnected parts at the top of Park Street and the exit ramp head up to Kings Cross. In seems that the saga of bike planning in Sydney is moving from the ridiculous to the sublime.

Anamorphosis

2008-04-30T22:52:00.000-07:00

I've ridden along this street for the last 3 months and somehow not noticed this sign above Scooterworld.

"Life's Better On A Bug"... Now where have I heard that before?

Is David Byrne the Mao Zedong of bike culture?

2008-04-30T03:32:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, I flagged the idea that Talking Heads lead man – David Byrne – might provide something of a musical accompaniment to a post-automobile society. Little did I know that David Byrne is actually something of a cyclist and bicycle advocate (thanks to Michelle for tipping me off). In fact I’m now wondering if DB is actually the artistic mastermind behind the international development of bike culture. Reading his online diary, you can see that Bynre has become the doyen of bike culture as well offering his own artistic skills to designing New York's bicycle racks. In fact, all he seems to do in is life is to ride his bike, travel and go to gallery openings.

On Youtube, Byrne can also be found narrating his own journey as a NY cyclist.

While in a Streetsfilms video clip, he can be seen hanging out with cool NY cyclists as well as 'Subcomandante' Enrique Peñalosa, the Mayor of Bogota. A coincidence that these two men are together? I think not.

Could Byrne be the secret force spreading the velorution?
In the words of one fallen comrade, El socialismo purde llegar solo en biciceta

ANZAC Day Long Weekend Tour

2008-04-27T02:21:00.000-07:00

Day One: Campbelltown to Moss Vale

Day Two: Moss Vale to Kiama via Fitzroy Falls

Day Three: Kiama to Wollongong