Developments in Whakatane - When living in Whakatane I was one of Cycle Action Whakatane's trustees. I helped to raise funds for, and to provide volunteer labour for, some facilities in the Whakatane area which promote cycling. The most prominent of these are described below:

The bike trail at James Street School was officially opened on 21st May 2013. Local radio (1XX) covered the story: http://youtu.be/Y2SWm8dAmjI

Strawberry Jam

In February 2013, while I was asleep after working a night shift, several CAW members were busy organising a biking event at Onepu. Watch a video of this at http://vimeo.com/59619118. 

http://www.bikewise.co.nz/news/2011/05/31/apanui-school-students-set-hit-bike-trails

http://www.facebook.com/WhakataneBikePark

I attended bike conferences in North Shore in 2003 and in Lower Hutt in 2005, but this was New Zealand's first combined walking and cycling conference.

I thought that the best presentation was from Roger Geller, who explained about the resurgence in cycling in Portland, Oregon. Roger is Portland’s Bicycle Coordinator and is a really motivating speaker. During his 17 years with the city’s Bicycle Programme hundreds of miles of bikeways have been introduced and cycling has been embraced by many people. In Portland cyclists and pedestrians are considered whenever new infrastructure is being designed, and bicycle parking is replacing car parking spaces in many locations – very different from the situation in NZ. To view Roger’s presentation, see: http://cyclingwellington.co.nz/2012/03/roger-geller-how-and-why-american-cities-are-succeeding-at-bicycle-transportation/

I have posted below some photos from the conference:

A bike race for nutcases 

Check this one out! Not an event which I plan to participate in - you'll need to take your seasickness tablets before viewing this!

http://www.gadling.com/2011/03/03/downhill-bike-race-in-chile-is-insanity-at-its-finest/?ncid=&a_dgi=aolshare_email 

A different style of bike

I've never tried cycling on a recumbent bike, but I don't think I'd really fancy this version!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-akkbNyiXE

Batman movie shooting in Aurora, Colorado - long distance cyclists caught up in this

As reported on National Public Radio (NPR) "One of the survivors of Friday's shooting rampage in Aurora, Colorado, says he doesn't want to think about the shooter - he's just happy to be alive." That survivor, 22-year-old Stephen Barton, just happened to be in the midst of a cross-country bicycle adventure. He and his longtime friend, Ethan Rodriguez-Torrent, both from Southbury, Connecticut, were six weeks into their ride to San Francisco when they pulled into Aurora on Thursday afternoon to spend the night at the home of another friend. After a good day's ride, they decided to attend the midnight showing of the new Batman movie. Rodriguez-Torrent was unharmed in the subsequent shooting, while Barton and their other friend sustained serious injuries. "I guess I've chosen more to focus on … my own recovery" Barton said, "and how, you know, I can take some positive out of … this very tragic experience." Both cyclists hoped to finish their ride to San Francisco, leaving from the Aurora movie theatre and using the ride to raise money for other shooting victims and their families. Barton said he will gladly carry the scars from his wounds as a reminder of how precious life is.

Click here for the NPR story: http://n.pr/MErgQX

You can watch a brief interview with Barton at this link: http://on9news.tv/NnUJ1u

Bicycled

How about a recycled bike? Made out of car parts?!

http://www.bicycledbikes.com/

Bike with wheels made of ice

More for the lack of control freaks than for me, I think!

Binary Bike Cartoon

Every frame of the video is a photograph, with the rider and bike posed on a concrete floor, and the ground and trees drawn in later with a digital pen. Apparently, the two-minute video took 10,000 minutes of combined work to finish! Well worth viewing!

http://vimeo.com/69141190

Britain by Bike

A wonderfully whimsical animated video about pedalling a triplet (triple bicycle) pulling a tag-along, and hitching rides on a lake monster (Nessie) and an eagle, from John O'Groats to Land's End. I've cycled this route (albeit by a longer route, in the opposite direction) & would have appreciated the assistance!!

http://ow.ly/LrYNG

Cardboard bikes

Costing just $9, made by an Israeli man, and this isn't an April Fools' Day joke - they really work! Check them out on http://www.elementmagazine.co.nz/world/transport/9-bike/

Caroline's moment to shine

When Caroline Waugh first learnt to ride a recumbent trike after a car crash left her brain damaged, she never imagined that she would end up carrying the Olympic torch on one. But she carried the Olympic flame through Conisborough in Yorkshire, UK. There was a last-minute panic when the trike was damaged and its special torch carrier broken, but the Cyclists’ Touring Club’s cycling development officer Steve Marsden – who originally taught Caroline to ride – saved the day by helping to fix it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csphoy0H0oM&feature=player_embedded

Centenarian cyclist

Age need be no barrier to cycling: in September 2012 a French centenarian won his age group record for the 100km cycle. He completed 300 laps in a velodrome in Lyon, southeast France, in 4 hours, 17 minutes, 27 seconds - averaging 23.305 km/h.

http://road.cc/content/news/67941-update-100-year-old-frenchman-smashes-100km-record

Dutch bicycle band

Can you play an instrument while cycling in formation?

http://www.flixxy.com/the-dutch-army-bicycle-band.htm

Floating roundabouts for cyclists

Eindhoven (Netherlands) and Stavanger (Norway) each have distinctive infrastructure -  large bicycle roundabout which are built above the road junctions for motorised traffic - looking a bit like floating doughnuts, they ensure that cyclists can travel through busy junctions safely.

http://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/spectacular-new-floating-cycle-roundabout/

Folding bike helmets

A solution for people who may be hiring bikes but who prefer not to travel with a bulky helmet. 

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/17/folding-bike-helmet-wins-james-dyson-design-award?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Hövding- an alternative to hard bike helmets

This product was designed by 2 Swedes, Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin. I hate bike helmets (which are compulsory in NZ) and have an exemption from wearing one, but if these were a legal option in NZ I would consider wearing one. A comfortable, well researched and safe alternative which doesn't make your head sweat or obscure your vision. They are becoming widely used in parts of Europe (mainly in Scandinavia at present).

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/swedish_women_invent_an_invisible_bike_helmet_video_20131111?ln

http://www.hovding.com/about/

Motor Mania (1950 Goofy cartoon)

Goofy stars as a Jekyll and Hyde character, Mr. Walker / Mr. Wheeler. When he's a pedestrian he's mild-mannered and rational; when he's a driver he's mad and bad. Some things don't appear to have changed! But not all cyclists are law-abiding either (though we are more vulnerable than motorists). Some cyclists try to hog the roads too - we shouldn't generalise  that "all motorists do this” or “all cyclists are like that”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZAZ_xu0DCg

Nga Haerenga - the NZ Cycle Trail

This is a national project to build a world class network of cycle trails - check it out! 

http://www.nzcycletrail.com/

Pedal Power - the Big Picture

49 memorable images of cycling from around the world, collated by three photographers from the USA's Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/06/pedalpower.html

Pedal-less bikes!

The FLIZ pedal-less bike is certainly unconventional. It has no gears, so you won't get saddlesore - but you will wear out the soles of your shoes more quickly!

http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/fliz-pedal-less-bike-concept.html

Sky Path

It's crazy that cyclists (& pedestrians) have to pay to cross Auckland harbour (& can currently only go on the ferry) & even when SkyPath is constructed cyclists (& pedestrians) will still have to pay to cross! Check out the "Cycling on the Harbour Bridge" song, which was brought out way back in 2009 by the "Getacross Campaign".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZgq7lJlIjo

The Ride

A song by Luke Bloom, an Irish singer / songwriter who obviously enjoys his bike

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dGcmTzFbY8&feature=player_embedded

Trotify

Start a fresh craze by ordering Trotify's crazy gadget. The wooden device attaches to your handlebars and will transform your ordinary bicycle into a trusty steed, complete with equine sound effects created by knocking two coconut halves together, a la Monty Python!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC4rWA3pTg4&feature=player_embedded

Umbrellas for bikes

In my opinion this is an impractical idea, definitely unsuitable for people living in windy places!!

http://uberhood.co/

"Bicycles may change, but cycling is timeless."  

Zapata Espinoza

“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.”

Ernest Hemingway

"Next to a leisurely walk I enjoy a spin on my tandem bicycle. It is splendid to feel the wind blowing in my face and the springy motion of my iron steed. The rapid rush through the air gives me a delicious sense of strength and buoyancy, and the exercise makes my pulse dance and my heart sing."

 Helen Keller

"He envisioned a world where bears could tell jokes, chickens could sing, pigs could be stars, and they all could ride bicycles."

Frank Oz, on "The Muppets" creator Jim Henson

“Cycling does nothing if not make one single-minded and dogged (or perhaps the doggedness and monomania are already there embryonically within those that choose cycling).”

Matt Seaton, in The Escape Artist

“Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realise fishing is stupid and boring.”

 Desmond Tutu

“Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live.”

Mark Twain

“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.”

H.G. Wells

"I feel that I am entitled to my share of lightheartedness and there is nothing wrong with enjoying one's self simply, like a boy."

Leo Tolstoy, on learning to ride a bicycle at age 67

"My two favourite things in life are libraries and bicycles. They both move people forward without wasting anything. The perfect day: Riding a bike to the library."

Peter Golkin

Craig Stewart saw this car on Mangere Bridge (Auckland) on 21.05.2012!

Not a common sight in NZ...

(picture from NZ Herald)

R U a MAMIL?

That's a middle aged man in lycra! I'm not, but MAWIL doesn't have quite the same ring to it!