We all
know that bicycles have a direct positive impact on quality of life.
There are umpteen ways bicycles improve our lives: health, fitness, environmental, friendships, mental health, transport, employment opportunities, leisure, competition, and travel are just a few.
Bicycles
can also play a key role in education and intellectual development.
Bicycles are increasingly being used in teaching and learning. For young learners, bicycles are familiar, yet have a complex technical component that makes their design, engineering and physics unique – also also perfect for math-related learning!
Previously, we have looked at how bicycles are used in higher education:
But it is also good to see bicycles being integrated into primary school math classes. Online, a number of proactive and innovative teachers have created and freely share their bicycle-related math lessons.
There are so many ways to improve numeracy and problem-solving skills using bicycles.
It is impressive to see how bicycles can be used to learn key math principles like patterns and algebra, fractions, decimals and percentages, angles, units of measurement, place value, operations, location and transformation, problem-solving, chance, shape, graphs and data, mathematics investigations and numbers skills – especailly at hte primary levels.
Image: Math puzzles and Brian teasers
Designing a bicycle Helmet – 4thgrade
One of the more novel bicycle math resources I saw was for 4th graders to learn about bike helmet design. I like this lesson, becuase it was not just about counting bicycle icons, but actually using different aspects of bicycle riding to explore a range of math concepts with early learners.
For this piece of work, students gain experience of the engineering principles needed to design safety gear. Students are introduced to the biomechanical characteristics of helmets, and are challenged to incorporate them into designs for helmets used for various applications. By doing this, they come to understand the role of engineering associated with safety products. To do this effectively, helmets must have some sort of crushable material to absorb the collision forces and a strap system to make sure the protection stays in place. The exact design of a helmet depends on the needs and specifications of the user.
This
comprehensive resource also includes info on Engineering principles, learning
objectives, educational standards justification, materials and a whole heap of
worksheets exploring different aspects of helmet design.
Image: Making the Connection, Women in Engineering Programs and Advocates Network (WEPAN)
Bicycle math in primary schools
There are also heaps of worksheets and online quizzes that can be used in class or for homework to reinforce and practice key math skills like multiplication, addition, fractions and calculating speeds, distances and other measurements.
Below are some examples of how bicycles are being used for primary school math. What a great way to promote bicycles and learn math!
I certainly would have been more engaged in my early math classes if we applied what we were learning to ‘real world’ scenarios with something as familiar, fun and useful as bicycles.
I’d love to see more bicycles being used in school curriculum!
This blog prides itself on sharing the grassroots stories, events and experiences of local and international community cyclists. Around the world, cyclists are grappling with many issues – and this story from JP hit a particular nerve in drawing attention to the issue of air pollution. The article republished here was an open letter written by San Paulo local bicycle activist JP Amaral for Global Call to Climate Action at the end of last year. Recently, I reported on Areli Carreón who is the first ever Latin American Bicycle Mayor (Mexico City) because it is important to hear more from our concerned and proactive Latin American cycling brothers and sisters. A big thanks to JP for sharing his thoughts, research and insights with us. We applaud your work and are sending you much support from down under!
I used to believe poor air quality was a major barrier to cycling in our urban centers and couldn’t understand the reason for my respiratory problems in my hometown São Paulo, where air pollution levels are 60% above the WHO’s safety limits and responsible for 6,421 deaths each year.
However, as I started cycling, the health benefits were immediate, especially for my respiratory system.
Image: The Conversation
Now, after 10 years working on sustainable urban mobility, being co-founder of Bike Anjo, a large national network of volunteers promoting cycling as a means of transport in Brazil, and an active member of the international Bicycle Mayor Network, I understand that the health benefits of cycling and walking outweigh the harm from inhaling air loaded with traffic fumes.
This is a message we always try to get across to the people we help in learning to cycle or tracing their daily routes. Moreover, research studies have shown that car drivers in heavy traffic inhale more pollution.
The biggest metropolitan area in South America (population: 21.2 million), São Paulo is notorious for its traffic; a recent study found that São Paulo inhabitants spent 86 hours on average in 2017 stuck in traffic (or 22% of total drive time), putting it in the top five cities for traffic congestion.
In this city, cars and motorcycles are a much-desired escape from long, arduous journeys on public transport, especially for the poor living on the outskirts who commute every day into the city centre.
Over the past decade, Federal government incentives to the car industry have brought down the price of cars, making them significantly more accessible. It is not surprising then that the main source of air pollution in São Paulo – as in several world cities – is the vehicular fleet, accounting for 80% of total air pollutants.
Despite this unfavourable scenario, cycling has been growing in popularity in recent years: we’ve gone from 100,000 bike trips a day in 2007 to 300,000 trips a day in 2012, and a recent study by the Secretary of Transport estimated over 1 million bike trips a day in São Paulo.
Cycling in Sao Paulo (Brazil). Image: Raw Story
Investments in cycling infrastructure and a series of incentives, such as 400 km of new bike lanes and bike paths, new bike sharing systems and banning car traffic in some of the city’s busiest streets on Sundays have contributed to this culture change. Surfing on this trend, Bike Anjo expanded its network of volunteers, helping “paulistanos” explore safe cycling routes and cycle with more confidence.
This year, our successful Bike to Work campaign has highlighted the health benefits of cycling, focusing on two women who agreed to ride their bikes to work for an entire month for the first time, whilst having their health monitored by doctors.
Having experienced so many physical and mental health benefits from this challenging experiment, they both decided to continue their daily bicycling commutes. We hope that this experience, featured on national television, has encouraged many Brazilians to do the same.
While behaviour change campaigns such as this one can make a difference, a long lasting change in transport culture must be underpinned by robust public policies that are conducive to active mobility. At the federal level, a progressive piece of policy framework was proposed as the “National Urban Mobility Act”, in 2012, putting forward active mobility as the prioritized mode of transport in Brazilian cities.
However, the national plan implementation depends entirely on the formulation of municipal urban mobility plans, which are either non existent or at early stages of implementation in most of Brazil’s municipalities. Through working with civil society actors, Bike Anjo and the Brazilian Cyclists’ Union (UCB) have been trying to assist municipalities in getting their plans off the paper and into action.
The gaps are numerous; from policy design to implementation, from federal to municipal level, and importantly, the tendency of treating issues in silos.
Health policies rarely engage in dialogue with mobility policies, despite existing evidence that reducing air pollution in urban centres through clean, sustainable transport results in better public health outcomes and significant savings in government expenditures.
Air pollution is now responsible for over 7 million premature deaths per year, globally. The urgency of reducing such mortality rates, coupled with that of mitigating the impacts of climate change, leaves us with no more time to tolerate carbon emissions from fossil fueled transport.
Image: Dublin Cycling Campaign
The latest UN scientific report has warned we may have only 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe if global warming exceeds 1.5C, singling out the transport sector as the fastest growing contributor to climate emissions
This first global WHO conference on health and air pollution is a unique occasion where national leaders from different sectors facing similar local challenges can meet and exchange experiences, learn from civil society and ultimately commit to agreed targets to meet the WHO’s air quality guidelines by 2030, matching the needs of reducing carbon emissions.
Image: WHO
Clean, renewable energy, electric vehicles, the elimination of fossil fuels subsidies, smarter urban planning, and better public transport infrastructure are some of the choices policy makers can make to avoid countless preventable deaths, drastically improve air quality and health, and contribute towards a safer climate.
At the conference, I plan to highlight how cycling can play a major role in transforming mobility around the world. Given the convenience, health benefits and affordability of bicycles, they could provide a far greater proportion of sustainable urban transport, helping reduce not only air pollution, but energy use and CO2 emissions worldwide.
Active mobility is often underestimated, but if you think about it, bicycles could be the ultimate icon of sustainable transport. As the far right takes power in countries across the planet, including most recently Brazil, city level solutions offer real hope and the best bet for change.
Image: WHO Image: WHO
About the author JP Amaral is an active member of the international Bicycle Mayor Network initiated by Amsterdam based social enterprise BYCS, and co-founder of the Bike Anjo Network (bikeanjo.org), currently coordinating the “Bicycle in the Plans” project. He has a bachelor degree on Environmental Management at the University of São Paulo and has been working in sustainable urban mobility since 2008. He is certified as an auditor on the BYPAD methodology – Bicycle Planning Audit, and is the Bicycle Mayor of São Paulo. He is also fellow member of the Red Bull Amaphyko network for social entrepreneurs and of the German Chancellor Fellowship program for tomorrow’s leaders from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, working with international cooperation towards cycling promotion, especially between Brazil and Europe.
Bike Anjo (Bike Angels) is a network of voluntary cyclists who engage people to use bicycles as a mean of transforming cities – from teaching how to ride a bicycle to identifying safe cycling routes for São Paulo inhabitants and building national campaigns.
The Bicycle Mayor Network is a global network of changemakers – initiated by Amsterdam based social enterprise BYCS – that radically accelerates cycling progress in cities worldwide. The individual use the power of their network to influence politics and the broader public to start cycling. Bicycle mayors transform cities, cities transform the world.
This time last year, I was down in Melbourne performing our roving performance The BioBike Your Future Thanks You! at the Sustainable Living Festival. This just happened to coincide with Bike Rave Melburn 2018 Pink Flamingo – which of course I went to. I took the BioBike with me, met up with some mates and got amongst it at the rave. As always, we had an absolute blast! It was awesome being back in my home town, catching up with old crew, making new friends, checking out people’s wicked pimped out rides and cruising around Melbs as the sun when down to pumping tunes – all on two wheels (*sigh*).
FB: @Bike Rave AUS
Brisbane, my dear, when are you having a bike rave?
Sat 16th February was the 2019 GOLD – Melbourne Bike Rave!
Hells Yeah!!!
Thanks to everyone who sent through pics and well wishes – I missed being with you all this year…but was stoked to see such an awesome turn out!
“Dare to love yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends.”
Bike Rave is a free event – but we ask you to bring along a cash donation for charity Bicycles for Humanity. We will be collecting throughout the evening.
THE MUSIC: We have curated a whopping 4.5-hour mix from some very talented DJ’s for this Bike Rave. The mix is full of pumping party tunes to keep you dancing all night long. You should download this and put it onto an mp3 player.
SOUND: Bike Rave is a DIY event. Grab an MP3 player and put the mix on it. Bring your own speakers, build a sound bike, be creative! Need sound for your bike? Get a basket and some computer speakers, or head to Jaycar, JB-HIFI, etc to set up a self-contained set. There are some great solutions from $15, and some pretty impressive creations. Just remember to charge those batteries.
BRIGHT LIGHTS: Think bright lights, reflective jackets, fluoro hair, glow sticks, EL wire, or anything else that flashes and blinks. This isn’t just about making sure that you look awesome, make sure your bike is pimped out also.
DRESS UP: Gold, shiny, shimmer, bling, the ol’ razzle-dazzle. We want the Bike Rave to be a shiny shimmering mess as we ride along the river into the sunset.
THE WEATHER: If it’s nice out, we ride. If it’s cloudy, we ride. If it’s raining a little, we might ride. If it’s pouring, we don’t ride. Our speakers will get messed up. If you aren’t sure, show up anyways. Someone will be there from 5:30pm to let people know if the ride is canceled.
Bike Rave was founded in Vancouver but is shared around the world.
@alleyratlowriders
RAVE RULES: There are a few rules that we would like you to follow to ride the rave. This makes it safer for everyone and avoids problems on the night. We’ve never had an issue in the 6 years of running this event, so let’s work together to keep it that way.
Protect Your Head Stay to the Left Stop at Lights Ride Straight Don’t Hate Pack Your Trash Don’t Get Smashed
IMPORTANT! We are not responsible for your safety; YOU ARE! We have done our best to ensure that the route is well lit and safe, but it does involve a little riding on the road and in the dark and past people. We should attempt to obey all traffic laws. If we get split up, we can rejoin at one of the several stopping points along the ride, so please stop at red lights and stop signs.
Bike ravers around the world unite! See you all next year!
The 2019 Brisbane
Bicycle Short Film Festival is fast approaching.
This year, it’s on Friday 29th March at the Schonell
Theatre (UQ) St Lucia, Brisbane.
This Bike Festival
is a great night out and Space
for Cycling Brisbane does a great job of putting this festival together.
It’s not surprising
that tickets sell out quickly.
To start the night you can join the Style not Speed social ride to get there. On arrival, there is usually some bicycle-themed entertainment and a chance to mingle and chat about all things bikey.
Image: Style Over Speed (Brisbane)
The festival is divided
into two parts.
The first half
showcases the finalists of the Brisbane Bike Bite entrants. These are local
short films of no more than 5 mins and are often the most popular part of the
night.
This film’s synopsis
is 2600 kilometers, 420 dollars, 30 days, 5 bikes, 3 cameras, 2
guitars, 1 voice, and one of the most influential novels of the 20th century –
The Bikes of Wrath is a story of adventure, physical struggle, human
connection, cultural commentary and the American Dream.
Looks super interesting!
So, if you have not
done so already – get your tickets!
This book details 200 of arguably ‘the best places in the world to ride a bike’. The book is a colorfully illustrated hardback and is a delight to read.
It was published in 2016, so is still pretty current, although I’d love to hear how they decided on what rides to include and what to leave out.
Key Features
The book is divided into continents chapters. This means you can quickly find what you are looking for and get info on exactly what you’re interested in.
Each entry has a visual grading: green for ‘easy’, blue for ‘harder’ and red for ‘epic’.
It covers all types of cycling: individual, family, sightseeing, road, mountain biking, bikepacking, urban rides and a heap of ideas for those into epic off-track adventuring. off the beaten track.
Each ride is accompanied by awesome scenic photos and a map. There are also toolkit and advice boxes to help with the practicalities of planning that particular trip.
The photos are ohhhh, sooo very motivating. I like how they include not just cycling and scenery, but also lifestyle, people, culture and travel vignettes that really showcase the uniqueness of riding in the region.
The locations included show judicious selection. What wonderful geographic spread: Moab, California, Canada, India Himalayas, NZ, Vietnam, Norway, Argentina, Japan, Denmark, Wales, Thailand, Australia … and heaps of other places. Impressive!
At the end of each section (which is more descriptive), there is a short factual ‘more like this’ section, which includes suggestions for other rides elsewhere in the style of that ride – what a great idea!
It was really inspiring reading this book. I’ve definitely added a few more thumbtacks into my bikepacking map of the world!
Regular BCC readers know that making biking accessible for all ages, stages and types of people is a key focus for this blog. BCC content loves to celebrate community-based, grassroots implemented and social issue-driven projects, people and events.
So usually, big international commercial trade-shows and exhibitions like the second Dubai International Bicycle Exhibition which was held on 10-12 January don’t usually feature here – so why is it included?
Read on!
What is the DIBE?
This expo is primarily mercantile and retail in nature. It focuses on developing networks, promoting brands (and pro teams), and extending business-to-business exposure. Events like this is where local, regional and international bike companies and manufacturers sell products and services to regional retailers and distributors – and showcase new developments in cycling technology, design and innovation.
This event is the largest professional bicycle exhibition in the Middle East and North Africa. Apparently, over 7,000 visitors, enthusiasts, professional riders and business owners attended. International brands and exhibitors came from Italy, Germany, India, Australia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, the United States, China, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan.
The event was supported by the royal family and was touted as being ‘the most important cycling business event in the MENA region.’
So what is interesting about the DIBE?
While I was looking at the expo online, two particular features jumped out.
One was the number of female expo representatives/ambassadors (like @jeddah_woman) and that there at least some representation of sustainable/alternative bicycle approaches via India’s Bamusa bicycles.
Small, but productive steps!
Image: @Jedda_Woman
Female representation
Jedda_Woman I was very pleased to see @jedda_woman listed as an individual ambassador for this event. This social influencer (Followers: Instagram 7, 343 and Twitter 666 #jeddah_woman1) has been promoting local cycling and organising rides, events, educational/social meet-ups and practice days to get more people on bikes. I was hoping to find out more about what she is doing and contact her, but she has not been on Insta since 27th Nov 2018, or Twitter since 14th Dec 2017. So I will see how I go contacting her.
Velo Vixens The Velo Vixens are a friendly, supportive, enthusiastic group of over nearly 1,000 (predominately expat) women who ride, train and compete. This is a very popular, active and well-organised group who host lots of rides, training and competitions.
Another highlight from the mainstream branded manufacturers at the expo was India’s foremost hand-crafted premium bamboo bike company Godrej Bambusa Bike. It was great to see representation of sustainable materials and alternatives to the big manufacturers/supplies as an option for the usual (overfocus?) on ‘state-of-the-art’ frame design, process and materials like carbon-fibre.
The Banusa company loves to tell the story of two teenagers who undertook an epic 4400 km test ride (on their bikes) which went from Kanyakumari (far south India) across the country and over the Khardung-La Pass (world’s highest road) to north India. Solid as!
Image: Godrej Bambusa Bike
2019 Expanded program next year
This year it was just an expo, but next year there are plans to have sessions on bicycle infrastructure, products, innovation, technologies, safety, maintenance, and fitness and nutrition.
There is also talk of including a demo area and a Bicycle Training Workshop Area.
I am hoping that this expo will continue to include and promote the wide range of riders, biking types/codes and diverse organisations that make up our amazing cycling community. We’ll see next year!
If any Brisbane riders are looking for some extra motivation or want to meet some like-minded people, Chicks Who Ride Bikes (CWRB) have just announced their first event for 2019 – it’s a breakfast panel!
I’m looking forward to this event and have already got my ticket.
If you don’t know who CWRB are, or have not yet heard about the Climb Every Mountain Breakfast Event – then read on!
Image: Chicks Who Ride Bikes
What is CWRB?
Chicks Who Ride Bikes is a social network connecting women around the world through a shared passion for cycling.
Founded in Brisbane in 2013, CWRB is the fastest growing women’s cycling community IN THE WORLD!
CWRB hold some great events and work hard to build a welcoming and engaged community. Head Chick Jordana Blackman must be one of the busiest people I know because I not only run into her at cycling meets, races and CWRB events, but she is also often travelling all over the country (and beyond) working on all manner of major cycling tours, events and media junkets…Impressive!
For this event, CWRB is hosting a breakfast with a panel of three Aussie female cycling icons.
I really like the idea of merging breakfast with the panel event.
The panel has a great line up (see below) and I’m keen to hear the speakers unique experiences, advice and stories. It will also be good to meet other attendees.
Here are the event details that CWRB released this week.
Join us for a lovely breakfast and coffee, meet some like-minded ladies and ‘climb your mountain’.
The event is hosted by Olympian and cycling commentator Katey Bates who will be joined by a panel of legends including Chief CWRB Jordana Blackman, Aussie cycling legend Loren Rowney and Media guru Jane Aubrey.
The panel will share the ups and downs of their life and career, their strategies to tackle challenges, embrace the stumbles, and come out on top… or at least come out with a smile on their face and some good stories to tell!
We’ll have some incredible door prizes and our full range of 2019 CWRB kit to try on.
Image: Compfight cc
The Host
Katey Bates An Olympian and world champion cyclist, Katey loves her cycling like Eskimos love their ice. Fuelled by a passion for two wheels, she scaled the heights of international cycling.
Her stacked results sheet is highlighted by winning a coveted rainbow jersey with world championship victory in the points race, Commonwealth Games GOLD at back to back games, and a green and gold National champions jersey o the road.
Katey is one of only two Australian women to represent Australia at the Olympics in both track and road cycling, and since retirement, works in broadcasting, commentating on major international cycling events such as the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, World Championships and the Tour Down Under.
The Panel
Jordana Blackman Chief Chick at Chicks Who Ride Bikes, Jordana was drawn to cycling after a shock cancer diagnosis in her 20s. While in recovery, she saw a poster for a Ride To Conquer Cancer event at her local cafe, and decided to challenge the 200km in 2 day ride ….. but there was just one problem.
After buying her first bike (and falling off it on more occasions that she’d like to remember), she rode her first charity bike event alongside her partner and 2,000 other fundraisers – each of which had been touched in some way or another by cancer.
She spent a lot of time training on her own or on an indoor wind trainer because she couldn’t find a group of girls to ride with at her pace, so when she moved interstate in 2013, she decided to create a Facebook group to make friends and meet other women who rode, and Chicks Who Ride Bikes was born.
Loren Rowney Over half a decade, Loren Rowney was a highly sought after rouler in the international cycling scene. Riding for the world’s best teams including Mitchelton-Scott and Canyon/SRAM, as well as wearing the green and gold for the Australian National Team, Loren was known for her tactical know how, resilience, and ability to make her team mates smile.
An avid blogger about mental health and the challenges she has faced while transitioning from a professional sportswoman to civilian, Loren remains a keen road and MTB cyclist, with a passion for seeing women achieve equal rights and equality in sport.
Jane Aubrey Over the last two decades, Jane’s career has spanned journalism and production working on the world’s largest sporting events including Olympic & Commonwealth Games and has held media and operational roles in UCI teams, WorldTour events and the inaugural Indian Pacific Wheel Race.
A former Editor at Cyclingnews and Cyclist Australia & New Zealand, Jane has also worked in the Public Affairs Unit teammates Department of Defence of Australia, and as Media Manager for Basketball Australia and Athletics Australia.
Now providing consulting advice in communications and public relations, Jane’s spare time is spent preparing to take on some of the world’s highest mountains and she’s working on a plan to conquer the Seven Summits.
Register for tickets
The breakfast is being held at the Shipp Inn (Southbank) on Thursday 28 February 2019 at 7:00 am – 8:30 am AEST.
This year was full of highs and lows and presented some incredible opportunities.
As we draw to the close of 2018, this is the perfect time to review what worked, what didn’t work, changes that need to be made and what will be the primary focus for 2019.
In previous years, around this time, husband and I have been in Rotorua, New Zealand mountain biking. But this year, we are conserving and consolidating – we are also using the time to experiment with our bike packing gear and setups and using the time to get some kms in the legs.
My next year is going to be dramatically different. In 2019, I’m working on my bicycle PhD full-time, reducing my teaching load drastically and undertaking more bike packing than MTB adventures.
Who knows what new opportunities and challenges will emerge for each of us.
Whatever your experience is, I wish you the best of luck and oodles of positivity in doing what you need and what to achieve in 2019.
If 2019 is going to be anything like 2018, it will be jammed packed full of surprises, tests, success and possibilities.
Image: SF Bike Party
Remember what happened in 2018?
Here’s a quick recap from online news about the year that was.. remember these?
Internationally
North and South Korea vowed to formally end the Korean War
Cuba announced a new president ending the 59-year Castro leadership
Iraq had its first parliamentary elections since the defeat of ISI int he country
Canada became the second nation in the world, after Uruguay, to legalize marijuana
Mexico is selling its $218.7 million presidential plane to use funds for poor communities
South Korea closed its largest dog meat slaughterhouse
Meghan Markle became the first woman of color to join the British royal family
Human rights
In Saudi Arabia, women are finally able to drive
Ireland voted and repealed its abortion ban
India’s Supreme Court decriminalised consensual gay sex
Scotland became the first country to back teaching LGTBI issues in schools
The “Year of the Woman” went global
Africa saw a huge and significant decline in female genital mutilation
For the first time in Iran, women were allowed to attend wmen’s sporting events
The environment
We discovered 157 new species in Southeast Asia
New Zealand may have killed its oil industry to combat climate change
Major fashion brands united against climate change
A growing number of Americans now believe climate change is happening
Scientists came up with an idea to stop glaciers from melting
British fashion house Burberry says it’ll stop destroying unsold goods and using fur
Scientists developed a plastic-eating enzyme
Health & Science
A woman gave birth to a baby after she received a uterus transplant from a dead person
The UK has exceeded UN targets for HIV diagnosis and treatment, proving efforts to control the epidemic can work
Researchers developed a 10-minutes cancer test
A new Ebola treatment trial began
A new peanut allergy drug has provided fresh hope
A study found dogs can be a powerful tool in diagnosing malaria
Best of luck for 2019!
What ever you plans and goals are for 2019 – I wish you all the best!
While researching how bicycles are used in communities in the Middle East, I came across this story from Israel about Meir Farkash. Farkash has been using his own bicycle as a volunteer bicycle emergency (EMS) responder in Ramat Hasharon (a coastal city located south of Tel Aviv).
I love this story because it showcases how positive one person on a bike can be in a community. I love that Meir is a student, a volunteer, that he has been so incredibly effective at saving lives as a bicycle emergency first-responder, and that now he is somewhat of a community icon as he makes his way around town. What a wonderful example of how cyclists can make significant positive community change. This story was first published in Israel Rescue. Enjoy, NG.
Image: Israel Rescue
Ramat Hasharon Hesder Yeshiva Student, Meir Farkash (25), is known to be the pinnacle lifesaver of his city. Over the past four years in which Farkash has been a United Hatzalah volunteer EMT, Farkash has responded to more than 2,500 emergency calls.
Among his myriad of emergency calls, more than 300 have been life-threatening. What’s even more impressive is that Farkash has responded to all of these calls on his personal bicycle.
In honor of his continued dedication to saving lives, United Hatzalah has given the active volunteer a first response e-bicycle that was donated to the organization for him by the residents of the city to honor Farkash’s selfless work.
Over the past four years, Meir Farkash has become somewhat of a local celebrity in Ramat Hasharon. The image of him pedaling through the streets in order to rush to a scene and save someone’s life is residents of that many residents have come to know and support.
“Today there are lots of people who say hello to me as I pass them on response e-bicycle. I say hello back. I have come to know many residents, and residents of me, through the EMS activities that I undertake and the calls that I respond to,” said Farkash.
The day before Farkash received the bicycle, he saved the life of one of the city’s citizens. He was dispatched to the car of a known lawyer from the city who had lost consciousness while he was with his family. Farkash, who arrived in just moments with his bicycle, began CPR and help resuscitate the man with the Intensive Care ambulance team that arrived at the scene. Farkash joined the ambulance team in transporting the patient to the hospital, and the man was released a few days later, alive and well enough to go home.
When asked if he knew the total number of lives he has saved, Farkash said:
I have never really thought about it. Now that you mention it, it gives me a really good feeling. Truth be told, even calls that are more general and do not involve a life being saved per se, they too give me and other volunteers a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction knowing that we helped somebody who needed us.
In every case we respond to, you meet a person who is incapable of helping themselves at that moment. You help them, you comfort them and you make sure they receive the best care that they can. That is the job of being a first responder. It’s not about the glory, it’s about helping people.”
When asked if he knew the total number of lives he has saved, Farkash said that: “I have never really thought about it. Now that you mention it, it gives me a really good feeling. Truth be told, even calls that are more general and do not involve a life being saved per se, they too give me and other volunteers a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction knowing that we helped somebody who needed us.
In every case we respond to, you meet a person who is incapable of helping themselves at that moment. You help them, you comfort them and you make sure they receive the best care that they can. That is the job of being a first responder.”
It’s not about the glory, it’s about helping people. Meir Farkash.
Dutch cycling enthusiast and designer George Barratt-Jones has created a human-powered automated bicycle-knitting machine called the Cyclo Knitter.
The Cyclo Knitter is essentially a bicycle-powered loom that is activated by light exercise.
George’s modification of a standard bicycle attached to a wooden frame and loom is such that when a rider cycles, the automatic loom attached to it will knit a fully completed scarf in 5 mins.
To launch his invention, the Cyclo Knitter was installed on a Dutch railway platform – as homage to the original inspiration for the machine, which was how to use the spare time waiting for a train in a productive manner.
A train platform is also an ideal place to showcase the Cyclo Knitter given that many commuters are already waiting on the platform for trains to arrive, so they had a spare 5 mins – and the novelty bike was a welcomed curiosity.
Best of all, those who trialled it were also rewarded with their very own ‘bespoke’ cycle-made scarf (*Aww DAD!! Not in front of my friends!!*).
Design and functionality
The Cyclo Knitter is a remarkably neat and compact invention. It is functional, quirky and innovative and is also very beautifully crafted and skillfully designed.
The Cyclo Knitter is set-up so that when the pedals turn, the spinning front wheel powers a knitting machine placed on top of a wooden tower at the front of the bike. As the rider pedals, they can watch in real time, as the knitted fabric comes from the top of the tower and is woven into a brand-new custom-made scarf. Awesome!
When George set up the Cyclo Knitter, the sign alongside it read:
Bored? Cold? Create!
Genius!
Here’s a quick video of what happened on the train platform…
“Imagine it’s the midst of winter. You are cold and bored waiting for your train at the station. This pedal powered machine gets you warm by moving, you are making something while you wait and in the end, you are left with a free scarf! That you can decide to keep yourself or give to someone who needs it more. Its all about spreading joy and making those boring moments more fun.”
It is great to see such an innovative design, fun and functionality coming together in this unique bicycle modification.
It has a sleek design and aesthetic, but the whole assemblage also folds down into a convenient and portable flatpack item, which is ideal for moving between locations (see below).
It is wonderful to see such a refreshingly new utilisation a bicycle – and an approach that makes cycling AND knitting more interesting -and accessible – to the general public.
The added bonus of a free rider-made scarf is genius.
I hope we see more creative and community orientated bicycle projects like this in the future.
