This week I got an email from the Australian Walking and Cycling Conference organiser that started with…
Hooray!!
It was a lovely email to receive and I am very excited about doing this conference roundtable presentation.
I’m going to draw on insights, outcomes and learnings I arrived at after designing and managing some of my community art bike projects. The session will focus on providing some important, interesting and constructive considerations that could benefit other community bike events.
BUT!! The next couple of months are going to be a very busy time!
Funding submissions for the collaborative community art project The Albatross. 70 assignments to mark now, then a series of end of course exams. Also, need to prepare my PhD confirmation paper and presentation for early August. Phew!
So – that’s my limit for taking on any extra projects! My answer from here on in is NO MORE!
Bike Week is an annual cycling festival that hosts a range of events in and around Brisbane from Sat 6th May -to Sunday 14th May.
There were many events, meets, rides, conferences and seminars (as you can see below) that were registered events for this bike festival. You can get more info about the program here.
It is the largest cycling festival in Queensland and caters for a range of cycling disciplines, styles, levels and interest groups.
This event is organised by Bicycle Queensland and has been running since the 1990’s.
Source: Bike Week Queensland 2017
Bike Week Queensland 2017 – Ride2Work Breakfast.
I attended a few official (and unofficial events). Today I rode in early to meet with the rest of the Griffith University BUGS to participate in the Ride2Work Breakfast Event. I have ridden once before with the GU BUGS from Brisbane city to Uni, but today was extra special. We met at the Law Courts in town and Bicycle Queensland had pavilions set up, the QLD Minister for Main Roads, the Hon. Tim Bailey, spoke (and it was great to see he had ridden in on his bike as well) and there were stalls, prizes, coffee on arrival, a basic breakfast and lots of cyclists to meet. The police were there offering a service to photograph and log your bike to your license as a theft-protection service, which many cyclists took advantage of.
Bike week – Bike Summit (Friday 12th May).
I would have loved to have attended tomorrow’s Bike Summit, but alas it is my busiest day teaching at Uni. After such a positive experience discussing bicycle policy, programs and advocacy in Melbourne at the Bike Futures Conference earlier this year in Feb, I was keen to hear what the changes, trends and differences are in Queensland.
Although I was a little disappointed with the lack of detail in the program that was distributed – to me it did not give quite enough detail to really explain what each session would entail. I know there were many BUGs groups going in for the afternoon session, but the program scarcely recognised if/how the advocacy and Q & A sessions might be run – didn’t really instil much confidence.
So I stuck to attending the practical and active events this year and had a great time! See Instagram @bicycles_create_change for some additional photos from the day.
Source: Bike Week Queensland 2017
All in all
I had a great day today. I appreciate all the planning and hard work that went into organising the events that were held.
For those events I went to, I made an effort to mingle and make the most of the social and community participation aspects.
It was lovely to be around people who were happy to talk bikes and it was very reaffirming to see so many cyclists in one place.
If only this dynamic could be the mainstay and not only a once a year week-long event!
This year is a very special year, in addition to being the 200th ‘birthday’ of the modern bicycle, it is also the Giro D’Italia 100th edition Race – Horray!
The Giro D’Italia starts today and this year features a 3,572km course from Sardinia to Milan and includes six mountain top finishes as well as two testing time trials – I can’t wait!!!
What is the Giro anyway?
The first Giro D’Italia was held in 1909 to sell more copies of the local newspaper La Gazzetta dello sport.
In the initial first ten years, there were some major changes regarding classifications and format until its current race design was finally settled on. An Italian won every Giro for the first 40 years until the Swiss rider Hugo Koblet took out the event in 1950. It was pretty much an Italian only affair from 1909 – 1953.
After that, Italian champions often prevailed, but by then there were many other international riders winning such as Eddie Merckx (5 x winner) Bernard Hinault (3 x winner) and Miguel Indurain (2 x consecutive).
It took until 1988 for the first non-European, Andrew Hampsten (US) to win a Giro.
Source: Wikipedia
Who else is celebrating the Giro D’Italia 100th Race?
Er, anyone who loves the pro tours of course! ….and heaps of others people….. like you and me!
As you would expect, the media was in full celebratory flight, with the Independent, and the history of the race (and a focus on British rider successes of course) being promoted by The Telegraph. On a different note, Eurosport contributed 10 things to look for in this year’s race, whilst Sky Sports celebrated with a preview the 2017 race and a prediction that Nairo Quintana (who has featured on this blog before) will take out the gong this year.
I like Google’s humble and playful homage to the Giro, complete with a quirky little animation of riders going over the hills in the background, with today’s banner being:
Source: Google
What’s the fuss – it is just another Grand Tour race, right?
Well-known for its brutal weather and hill climbs, the Giro has a very special place in many cyclists’ heart. Famous for testing rider’s endurance, stamina and mental fortitude, the prominence of snow, rain and regularly produces a gruelling slog-fest race that is remarkable by anyone’s standards. On a number of occasions, the weather has gotten so bad, that races stages are flat out cancelled.
Hardest stages, whatever – I could totally to that!!!
I like this short 4.20mins video as it gives a super quick overview of just how brutal the Giro can be. It has some of my favorite historical stages like; ‘the day the big man cried’; when 81 riders started, but only 8 managed to finish; and (as a fellow Aussie who lived in the same areas where he grew up), I am extremely delighted to see the stage where Cadel Evan is wearing the leader’s jersey (Maglia Rosa) for one day during the 2002 Giro (which Cadel ended up coming 14th in overall).
So this month, be sure to yell ‘Forte!! Forte!! Rapido!! Rapido!!’ full volume at your TV on all of those unrelenting snowy mountain stages!! Woohoo!!
Every so often, I really leaving Melbourne – especially on days like today!!
Today was the Ginger Pride Rally 2017.
As a passionate and enthusiastic lover of redheads, I sorely missed not being able to support my fellow copper-topped brothers and sisters in person today (*sigh*).
The Melbourne event looked awesome!
It was not only a great opportunity for local redheads to shine, but the event also raised some valuable publicity about bullying issues.
The Ginger Net organised the event – and spruiked the event on their website thus:
Redheads and copper-tops of Australia, the time is nearing for the hottest event in the 2017 social calendar! The Ginger Pride Rally hosted by Buderim Ginger and our friends at RANGA s back in Melbourne for a second year and set to be bigger, better and more fiery than the last!
Assemble your ginger and redhead #squad to celebrate our super powers, unique fiery manes, enviable moontan complexions and unbreakable spirit with a ginger rally starting in Federation Square, marching to celebrate uniqueness and diversity in the community. The march will be followed by a finishing festival back at Fed Square with free ginger beer, vigorous games of ‘Ginger Beer Pong’, photo booth fun, a kid’s activity zone and for the first time ever ginger speed dating hosted by Singles Events Melbourne! Oh and plenty of shade and sunscreen of course.
You’ll also be bopping along to bangers from redhead bands including The Vanns, Luize Scott and X Factor standouts Brentwood. We’ve also partnered up with the Alannah & Madeline Foundation to help raise awareness and funds to stop bullying against children, including mini gingers to help deliver community education programs to make a valuable change in the life of so many kids.
Advance Ginger Cyclists!
For those of us who could/did not attend, it is a great opportunity to reflect, encourage and pay homage to the beautiful, robust, vitally important and wonderful flame-haired cyclists among us – whatever their age, bike choice or ability.
So in support of the Ginger Rally 2017, here are a few pictures of inspiring biker redheads through the ages and across all biking disciplines – Enjoy!
Source: Ana Rosa – Girls and Bikes GingerSource: Pintrest Redhead menSource: Pittsburg murals and pubic artSource: CyclingpigsBritish cyclist Jason Kenny by Bryn LennonSource: Colin Meagher (Pinkbike), Rider ??Source: Bause.at Rider: Angie Hohenwarter
There are a number of bike-related conferences coming this year that I would love to attend.
This year is the 200 year birthday of the modern bicycle, so I feel an extra special pull to get together with other like-minded bike enthusiasts and celebrate our common love of all things two-wheeled.
Outside of sports and pro-cycling meets, there are two main conferences this year that have caught my eye.
I would love to go to this one, but have a prior date booked that overlaps, so will have to hold onto this one for next year. Plus I will be post PhD confirmation by then, which means the Uni will pay for me to go! Woppee!
The simple acts of walking and cycling have the potential to transform the places we live, our economies and how we engage with our environment. The Australian Walking and Cycling Conference, to be held in Adelaide on 17-18 July 2017, explores the potential for walking and cycling to not only provide for transport and recreation but solutions to challenges of liveability, health, community building, economic development and sustainability.
The conference theme is Low tech movement in a high tech world.
After handing in my PhD Early Candidature Milestone Report last month, I am keen to take a step back from the theoretical, conceptual realm of ideas and connect back with one of the primary reasons I started my research – making positive community connections.
So I applied to this conference to do a Learnshop session based on some past Bicycles Create Change events.
I am planning a fun and interesting session – so fingers crossed!
Here is the abstract I submitted (parallelism much?!).
Today is ANZAC Day in Australia. April 25th is one of Australia’s most important national cultural holidays. ANZAC stands for the Australian & New Zealand Army Corps. ANZAC Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand men and women during the First World War. There are Dawn services, parades and events all day, all over the country.
I left my house early this morning and got caught up in a local ANZAC Day Parade being held down the main drag of my suburb. It was one of many events being held today. The largest ANZAC events are held in each capital city – and Brisbane was no exception.
As I watched the event pass by, I saw that many of the locals had ridden in to participate. A good idea considering roads are closed because of the parade, as well as traffic and extra parking difficulties.
It reminded me that I had heard about bicycles being used in WW1 and other conflicts. So I went home to investigate further and this is what I found …
Australian Cycling Corps
Before the official formation of cycling units, bikes were used for transport and other military needs. It is not well known that the AIF had cycling units that were used in many of the major battles during the First World War such as Messines in June 1917, and Passchendale July 1917. These units were deployed to the front line as well as undertaking cable burying, traffic control and reconnaissance work.
What kinds of bikes were used in WW1?
They were issued from England and manufactured from Birmingham Small Arms Company – better known as BSA. This company was also a major British arms and ammunition manufacturer since the Crimean War (1854-1856). These bikes did not come with bottle holders as today’s do. The men would carry water supplies like the regular army corps. Also the soldiers were issued with the Short Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE) .303 calibre rifles, having the option of either attaching it to the down tube of their bike or swung across their back.
Soldiers who were lucky, were issued with a Mark IV. This bike had a free wheeled hub, which basically means you were able to coast without having to pedal constantly – as with the Mark I to III. Those models had a fixed hub, which means they were Fixies (or Track Bike) – amazing!
The Mark IV was also issued with a hand operated rear brake. This brake would have nowhere near the stopping capacity of the disc brakes that are often on contemporary mountain bikes and some road bikes. These bikes did not have the luxury of knobblie tyres either (tyres that have protruding pieces of rubber for extra grip); but would have been a standard military issue of little or no grip, more like standard tyres, as can be seen in the bicycle below. This photograph was taken in Ypres, Belgium on 26 September 1917.
The humble military bicycle – then and now
The AIF cycling units have often been forgotten in military history but the humble bicycle played a very important role in the logistics of warfare. The simplicity of the bike made transportation quick and reliable.
Even in 2008 the Australian Military were using the bicycle in East Timor to improve flexibility of field patrols with a unit called Bicycle Infantry Mounted Patrol (BIMP) as seen on the front cover of Edition 1200 of the Australian Defense Force (ADF) Army magazine. Now 100 years on, and bicycles play an important role in military life, just as they do in civilian.
For further information, the book History of the First AIF/NZ Cyclist Corps 1916-19 CYCLING TO WAR by Ronald J Austin goes into detail of the Corps and is an excellent overview. Request it at your largest library!
This post is modified from a previous article by Ally Roche written for the Australian War Memorial.
Yesterday I attended the annual English Australia (Queensland Branch) PD Fest.
My ride into UQ, St Lucia on Leki my flower bike put me in a particularly good mood. It was a beautiful morning despite the clean up still happening due to (ex-) cyclone Debbie having passed through. Although I admit to stopping on the bridge to marvel at the state of the Brisbane River (click on the Instagram link at bottom of this post for more photos of Debbie’s impact). Once on site though, I found a great spot for Leki to chill out for the day just near the Conference entrance with all the other bikes. It was lovely to have other delegates come up looking for me and tell me they had seen my bike outside I knew it must have been me. Leki is far better than any name tag!
What is the PD Fest?
This event is primarily for teachers who teach English at various levels to people from overseas. Delegates come from a range of organisations all over Queensland. Participants are in various roles (not just teaching), but the commonality is that we all work with International students, migrants, refugees or any other ‘English as a second language learner’.
I presented at this conference two years ago and so can appreciate the effort that the presenters and organisers put into making this event happen. This year I was interested in attending to see if there were any new ideas to experiment with in my class and to see what other projects, practices and approaches other teachers were using. I made an effort to meet a few new people, all of whom were interesting company and had a wealth of teaching (and life) experiences. There was a good array of sessions that were thought-provoking and useful – as you can see from the schedule below.
$6 million Partnership Fund – anyone want some?
I stayed to the very end. I was keen to see the All Star Band play – and all day I been thinking about something that Patrick Mafenstein (Group Manager – International Education and Training Unit, Trade & Investment Queensland) had presented in the morning session. He had outlined the new Queensland state strategy focused on International Students and ELICOS Education – which involves a $6 million partnership fund. One of the stipulations to apply for this funding is that application needs to be a consortium (two or more organisations – to spread the resources, work and results around). Here is an outline of the Strategy and all its details: International Education Training Strategy to Advance Queensland 2016-2026
Source: International Education Training Strategy to Advance Queensland 2016-2026, pg 5.
During his presentation, Patrick asked if anyone was thinking of applying for some of the funding and as far as I could see only two hands went up in a full auditorium.
At this stage, one of the PD Fest organisers jumped in good-naturedly to tell the audience that the EA Queensland Branch was in a position to apply (was a consortium) and would welcome ideas on some projects.
Supply bicycles to international students studying in Queensland
So this is my idea for English Australia to apply for a slice of the international student funding.
To address one of the major strategic imperatives (specifically #17, as well as community engagement), I think Queensland should pilot a program where international students are supplied with bicycles for greater educational, employment and recreational mobility.
This idea could go in any number of ways and is only limited by the imagination (and interest and budget of course!). Part of the program could be safety and some riding skills as well as basic mechanical skills (changing a type etc.) needed to get started.
Additional considerations would be things like helmets, lights, reflector and locks.
To my knowledge, there is no ‘educational’ initiative that is specficially addressing international student transportation needs, so it would be ‘innovative’ as well as being sustainable, novel and practical.
The cost of transportation is currently high for international students and the impact of being isolated and unable to ‘get out’ can have serious negative impacts ranging from boredom to depression – but having access to a bicycle is mitigates such issues – it also means students are out and participating in social community life.
Mobility is an aspect of student life that is fundamental to community accessibility and interaction, yet is rarely discussed. Bicycles are a great way for students to also access other livelihood imperatives, such as health, fitness and vocational opportunities.
Queensland has some great weather for cycling, so there is even more of an impetus to get students out and about and enjoying it.
There could be an opportunity to link into other local community groups and programs or develop the idea to meet other strategic imperatives. WOudl be good to link into the local community via canvassing and collecting bicycles and collaborating with local organisations and bike and/or men’s shed to refurbish appropriate bicycles for use.
Anyway, that was the idea I pitched to the organisers at the end of the day – will be interesting to see what (if anything) happens…I’ll keep you in the loop!
The Indian Pacific Wheel Race (also known as the IndyPac or IPWR) also has some specific rules given that it is a long-distance unsupported road ride. It is very well managed and I am impressed with the level of technology used to track riders and how effective the communications and media coverage for this event is – by the race organisers, the riders themselves (see Jackie’s page below) and the race supporters and rider fans.
It starts in Fremantle, WA and ends at Sydney Opera House, taking in 4 main section:
1. The desert (incl the Nullarbor Plain);
2. Rolling hills of the famous wine districts of South Australia;
3. The iconic Great Ocean Road; and
4. The Australian Alps.
I admit to being completely biased as Jackie has been a dear friend for many years.
It has been amazing watching her transition from rock climbing to cycling and equally inspiring to hear about her rides, adventures and exploits over the years and and to see how devoted she is to riding.
Jackie is an inspirational woman and a phenomenal athlete. Her tenaciousness on the bicycle is nothing short of impressive. It has been great to see Jackie’s updates and videos as well as track her progress throughout the race via the Jackie Bernardi IndyPac 2017 Facebook page – which gives some great insights into the conditions, issues, tips and pure will power required to undertake and push on in a long-haul event like the IndyPac.
Source: Jackie Middleton
Update below shows Jackie coming in hot to Adelaide and setting a mean pace earlier this week for the half way mark.
Source: KO’s Facebook update.
Sad news cuts IndyPac 2017 race short
Today the IndyPac Race was cancelled due to the devastating news that early this morning, a car crash killed Mike Hall, one of the IndyPac cyclists.
At the time of the accident, the race was still underway. Mike was in second position and the lead riders were due to arrive at the finish line in Sydney later today (Friday 31st March).
This is going to be a great year for Enduro racing and it is awesome to see the first two rounds in the Antipodes – and with heaps of support, media and events going on there is something for everyone.
Here is where the series will be taking us this year –
Source: EWS
I’m stoked the first round is in Rotorua. It was raining pretty hard for a while, so now the tracks are pretty muddy and slippery – a real physical challenge!
Great to see the full 7 rounds being held at Redwoods – much better than last times liaise over the other side – much better management and track link-up.
Nice to see the new (old) illegal track (now legal) as well as Dodds, and some of Whakarewarewa Forest’s best double black diamond runs being showcased for the event (see map and track overview at the end of this post).
It will be interesting to see what happens for this round – and for the season. Personally, I’m hoping Sam Hill is in superman form and give Riche Rude, Damien Oton and Jerome Clementz a serious run for their money. I’m also hoping that NZ local boys Wyn & Eddie Masters and Matt Walker strut their stuff and show ’em how to ride NZ style on home turf – it would be awesome to see Kiwis on the podium. In the Elite Women’s, Cecil Ravanel, Isabeau Courdurier and Anita Gehrig are set to battle it out with the rest of the field. What a top line-up. If practice was anything to go by – many agree it is going to be a very exciting round!
So strap yourself in for a great EWS series full of some awesome racing this season – let’s get it on!!
Source: Pinkbike. Follow Fabien Cousinié down the 7 stages.
Along with millions of other homes in 179 countries and in over 7,000 cities, from 8.30pm – 9.30pm tonight, those homes who have registered are turning off all the power for at least one hour in recognition of worldwide climate, resource and environmental issues.
How bicycles are part of Earth Hour 2017
I am very proud to see this Australian event take off internationally and to see how bicycles have been incorporated more and more into the event – here are just a few ways cycling is featuring this year around the world for Earth Hour 2017.
There are heaps of bicycle-themed events going on this year for Earth Hour. Here are some innovative examples:
This year will be the first year that Colombia joins Earth Hour. Bogotá, Cali and Medellín cities have wholeheartedly embraced Earth Hour. This is not surprising, as previously featured on this blog, these cities love bicycles and have been working towards increasing more cyclists, and even ‘non-cycling’ Colombian locals who think they are not linked in any way to bicycles can have found that bikes actually feature quite prominently in Colombian life.
If you are interested – the short video below shows some of the highlights and impacts from Earth Hour 2016. If you are not already involved – and even if you are – perhaps you can host your own Earth Hour bicycle event! Good luck and have fun!!
