There are many reasons why I love where I’m currently living and riding. I live on Narlang Quandamooka land which is Morton Bayside 25 km out of Brisbane (AUST).
In my neighbourhood, we have fantastic bayside foreshore pathways, heritage-listed Mangrove reserves, native bushland and swathes of green parklands. The natural environment was a definitive reason for us choosing to live here.
I’m often out and about on my bike and I love to meet people who are doing the same.
While I’m in the throes of data analysis and working hard on my PhD bicycle research, it feels even more important to keep connected with the two-wheeled community.
One of the early projects I started with this blog was my Instagram @bicycles_create_change.
I have a number of ongoing side projects that I like to keep percolating. My Instagram #Bikes_CISTA project is one I have not updated in a while due to COVID and I was delighted to have the opportunity to do so recently.
My Instagram #Bikes_CISTA project
Long-time readers of this blog will be familiar with my Instagram #Bikes_CISTA project.
This is an ongoing project I started in February 2017.
The ‘CISTA’ acronym of #Bikes_CISTA stands for Cycling Interspecies Team of Awesomeness.
The Cycling Interspecies Team of Awesomeness (or Bikes_CISTA) Project is a photographic collection of encounters I’ve had with biking strangers while riding Leki (my flower bike) around my neighbourhood. It features people I spontaneously see, introduce myself to, have a chat with and invite them to join ‘the team’ (completely optional).
The eligibility for a #Bikes_CISTA invite requires:
- at least one person
- at least one dog
- at least one bike
- all are happy to stop and have a chat with me
- are happy for me to share their photo and their CISTA story
It is a great way to keep me connected to my community, actively meet new people and celebrate one of the most important (non-religious) ‘holy trinities’ of being a positive and active community member that I hold near and dear: being on bikes, being with dogs and being outside enjoying nature and community….and all this at once.
I’ve previously written about the origins and perks of the #Bikes_CISTA and how instrumental it is in my community-social health practice.
COVID put a serious dent in #Bikes_CISTA activities. The last entry was #Bikes_CISTA #49 on November 2019. Considering at start of 2020 I was in West Africa for fieldwork and then COVID hit – I suppose no updates is actually quite reasonable! Since then, I haven’t given it much thought until this week I was presented with a golden #Bikes_CISTA opportunity I just couldn’t pass up.
So without further ado – meet John, his bike, Diesel and Roxy … who are our #Bikes _CISTA #50!
#Bikes_CISTA are back!
Meet John, his bike, Diesel and Roxy – #Bikes_CISTA
I was out walking Zoe during a PhD study break and I saw this awesome team riding towards me. The trailer caught my eye. Spontaneously I blurted out something to John as he rode toward me about how cool the trailer was and how great it was to see him and the dogs out on two wheels.
To my delight, John was happy to stop and have a chat – woo-hoo!
Diesel is the larger white bitsa in the front and Roxy is in the back. These two dynamos are rescue dogs and a very happy misfit pair – what a great outcome for all!
John lives in Cleveland and often rides Diesel and Roxy along the Morton Bay Cycleway for a regular cruisey Cleveland-Thornside-Lota-Manly return ride.
John’s dog trailer is simple but effective. He has modified a standard trailer setup to include shade ontop and Roxy’s basket on the end. He has to augment the axel a little to redistribute the weight for the two pooches.
There are rubber insulated mats on the floor plus a little extra cushioning for puppy comfort.
I was interested to hear he had put some barrier up around the bottom of the tray to make sure wayward tails didn’t get knocked about or accidentally caught in wheels, which was a particularly considerate addition.
We chatted happily in the afternoon sun about bikes, dogs, riding with dogs and riding this local route – all while the puppies watched on.
I love that John was wearing a ‘No bad dogs’ T-shirt as well!
Funnily enough the very next day after meeting this crew, I saw them again while riding Leki along the foreshore. I was cruising past a busy tourist area and saw John’s bike parked under a tree.
I stopped and left my business card, but then I saw John walking Diesel and Roxy a little further on. How lucky!
So we stopped for another chat. Hooray!
This dual interaction made me so happy. I loved the opportunistic randomness of the initial connection which was fun and interesting and genuine – and then to have it reinforced the very next day was just lovely.
I’ll be keeping my eyes open for this fantastic #Bikes_CISTA team from now on.
It makes me happy to know there are awesome bike-people-dogs like this cruising around my community spreading positivity, good company, and wholeheartedly celebrating the #Bikes_CISTA philosophy in their own engaging way.
Happy return #Bikes_CISTA teams!
