Thank you to The Sunshine Family for my recycled bike artist workshop!

Artist Studio. Creative Workshop. Innovation Space. Art & Design Workroom. Conceptual Atelier.

Call it what you will.

Having a designated space to produce original creative work is a blessing.

Most artists I know have some kind of space to produce work, leave out their tools, percolate ideas and have room to let their creative juices flow.

Very few people who are not full-time artists (with the exception of retirees and empty-nesters) are lucky to have such a space.

Personally, I’ve never had such a space.

Until recently….

Thankyou to The Sunshine Family for my recycled bike art workshop! Bicycles Create Change.com. 12th Dec, 2018.

This year I have been working hard juggling teaching, PhDing and a range of other projects. I like to have one creative project on the go to help keep me balanced.

One of my ongoing side projects has been making custom-made recycled bottle cap medallions made only of recycled materials.

Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with them.

I make them out of bottle caps filled with predominately bicycle inner tubes and bike parts, but also miscellaneous materials, discarded paper, buttons, board game pieces, broken jewellery and any other manner of opp-shop or scrap bits-and-bobs.

I love how meditative the process is. I often will set aside a few hours, pull out all my gear, have a beer, put on some good music and settle in for a crafternoon session.

I’ve been making these medallions for nearly two years now and have quite a collection.

I use them for lots of things.

In February, the medallions were Eco-Excellence Awards for the Bio-Bike roving performance Claire Tracey and I did for the Sustainable Living Festival (Melbourne, VIC).

Then in June, after completing The Art of Looping Workshop Intensive, each Looping participant was presented with a Looper Award of Excellence.

When I make them, I sometimes set up a ‘crafternoon’ workstation out the front of my house under the carport. I love working outside and the neighbors often drop in to say hi and see what designs I’m working on that day.

Invariably they’ll leave with a medallion that takes their fancy.

It still makes me smile when I see my recycled bicycle medallions on hats, coats and bags being worn around my community.

There’s a running joke around our streets that the locals are ‘supporting the arts’ by drinking beer and giving me the caps. Hilarious!

I often come home to find small bags of bottle caps in my letterbox or on the front steps. Gold.

Thank you to The Sunshine Family

But one particular family have gone above and beyond.

Four months ago, a family (who I’ll call The Sunshine Family because they asked to remain anonymous, but you know who you are!) offered me the use of their double-fronted shed as a designated art workshop until the end of the year.

Oh joy!

What an offer!

Hells yeah!

It is a massive, clean space and had everything I might ever need.

Having this studio meant I could have all my gear set out and ready to go.

I got so many more medallions done when I was in there.

Talk about productive!

Whenever I had the time, I’d get in there and easily smash out 50 medallions at a time.

One of the best (and most unique) features of this space is the double-fronted garage doors rolled up to look out on the private backyard.

So when all the local musos came over for the weekly jam session, I had a primo position to enjoy the tunes, banter and company!

Best studio ever!

But now it is the end of the year, so its time pack up my materials and return the shed.

This post is to say thank you to the Sunshines.

Thank you for letting me use the space so I know what it feels like to have a designated creative workspace, for the wonderful offer, for good company, for trusting me, for ‘supporting the arts’ and for giving me my first-ever studio space! I will treasure your thoughtfulness and generosity always.

To The Sunshine Family, a massive big, heart-felt THANK YOU!

27/10/201808/03/2019

Chicks in the Sticks 2018

Last weekend was the 2018 Chicks in the Sticks 3 hr Enduro event.

Chicks in the Sticks (CITS) is Queensland’s premier all-women’s MTB event. It has been running now for 4 years and registrations have been gaining steadily. This year there were 233 entrants.

I won’t rehash here the finer details of the event as you can check out at this post on the CITS 2016 which I rode as a team event or this one from the 2017 event.

CITS is all-inclusive race experience catering for both elite riders and those new to MTB and there is a strong emphasis on fun, community and giving riding a go.

The original date set in late August at the Karingal site was cancelled due to thunderstorms.

As luck would have it, the rain cleared on Sunday and a beautiful steamy and sunny day burst forth for our race day at Scribbly Gums Conservation Park.

How was the event?

I got there early and set up a little area for my gear and bags. The junior race started soon after and it was inspiring to see the under-10 girls giving it their all.

I got my race plate, chatted to a few people I knew and visited a few of the stalls. After getting a sense of where the senior race track was, I moved my gear to a position that was quick and easy to have a pit shop to replenish supplies during the race.

Unlike previous years, this time I was riding the full 3-hour solo. As the morning got more humid and hot, I could see that this change in weather was going to be a factor during the race and I was glad I gave some good thought to my water and race supplies.

My approach was to ride steady and see how I felt. It’s been 2 years since I’ve officially raced – and I was at CITS to support the event, not to ride hard and total myself. There were some elite racers out to smash it and many were there to give it a go and a surprising number of seniors were doing their first ever race.

I was not in costume, just comfortable MTB gear – a decision I was very grateful for later when the sun was blaring down and I saw many people in costumes suffering more so. I could see the heat taking a toll on the less experienced riders. By lap 3 (2 hours in) the field had spread out considerably, with quite a few calling it quits early due to the heat.

I rode with a few people who were struggling on the uphill fire trail – just chatting and encouraging. One lady had not eaten, so I gave her some of my food and keep her company up the hill. It reminded me how hard it was when I first started riding and how much I valued the insights and advice of my more experienced MTB mates. Their input saved me a lot of needless suffering – for which I am eternally thankful.

What else happened?

Interestingly, I was the only singlespeed riding- and the trails were perfect for it. Really, there was bugger all elevation, but lots of windy single track. The consistently tight turns and gravel spread the field right out. Confident cornering technique played a massive role in conserving energy and holding speed. Perfect conditions!

I chugged along at my own speed and chatted to a few other riders. My goal was to keep my head positive and enjoy the day – everything else was a bonus. So without any race expectations, it meant I could relax and enjoy the ride.

I found my groove after lap two and was feeling surprisingly comfortable. I ended up doing 5 laps 9kms laps in total without destroying myself in the heat and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

It was good to be part of this event. It was lovely to see how hard people were working and how different people deal with their individual race day challenges.

I had a great time riding and was glad I pushed myself to ride further than I have previously without destroying myself. It was a great day for a ride and the event was super fun. I will definitely be back next year! See you there!

Congrats to the organisers!

Kudos to the organisers and all the wonderful people that helped make this such a fabulous event like the participants, the RATS Cycling Club, volunteers and heaps of partners/family/friends.

The Chicks in the Sticks committee did a great job. A big congratulations to Barbra Neal, Lisa Toia, Amanda Harrison, Seb Mitaros and Christine McKay for all their hard work behind the scenes.

Congrats to all the riders – especially those who were riding for the first time.

Race Day results are available here.

More info about this event can be found on the CITS Facebook page and event pics at Element Photo and Video Productions.

04/10/201810/10/2018

Bike Palooza Bendigo

18/04/201819/04/2018

Ruby the trail dog

My trail dog Zoe (above) and I have had many adventures together, both on and off the bike (see Instagram). I continue to learn valuable life lessons from her and could not image my life without her. As a trail dog, she is energetic, attentive and runs with wild abandon and joy. One other such trail dog is Ruby – and if you have not meet Ruby before, you are in for a treat! Enjoy! NG.

Dogs and trail riding just go together – it’s a universal pairing.

For a long time, I have been a strong advocate to have more MTB locations that allow dogs and to have more rider-dog events and competitions.

This blog continues to promote more dog-inclusive cycling, like:

Xiaosa, the tiny intrepid Chinese dog that spontaneously joined a group of cycle tourists on their epic 20-day, 1,833km long trip and kept up with the 60kph pace for the whole time she was with them, outlasting some of the cyclists!
Riding for Rescues, which is an inspirational US program where bike riders raise money to help, rescue and sponsor animals (many of them dogs) to get them out of a high-kill shelter and be re-homed instead of being put down. Amzing work!
My #bikes_CISTA Instagram project, which I started last year, is a way to recognised and celebrate people out and about on their bikes with their dogs. #Bikes_CISTA stands for Cycling Interspecies Team of Awesomeness. There is a lot more to this project, but essentially, my criteria for including a photo in this collection is to have at least one rider, one dog and one bike – and that the subjects are strangers.

Coincidentally, the #Bikes_CISTA project was initially partly inspired by a photo I saw of Ruby ages ago (below), which was so exhilarating, that I used it as my first contribution to kick off the project…and that was how I found Ruby!

Ruby the trail dog

Ruby is a 5-year old Vizler. Ruby’s owner, Tom is a wicked photographer, keen MTBer and has created an impressive business brand and following based on Ruby.

Ruby has her own website which is filled with her adventures, extra material and more info about her. She is also on Twitter and Facebook.

My recommendation (and favourite) is Ruby’s beautiful and inspiring Instagram account @rubythetraildog. This is where I first encountered Ruby – and I am still an avid follower.

This account is exceptionally well curated and has endless stunning shots of Ruby out on trails, with mates, chillaxing, spending time with family and friends, celebrating holidays and just goofing around.

I have loved watching the development of Ruby over time. Her Instagram photos are not only a beautiful collection of images in and of themselves, but they also tell a warm and personal story of the various ages, stages and places that have contributed to making Ruby who she is – and her sunny personality just shines through.

Kudos to Tom, who has not only successfully and strategically developed Ruby into a successful personal brand that supports his craft and hobbies, but has done so in a way that is balanced and inspiring, and allows him to do what he loves most – wicked!

Why I love Ruby the trail dog

Well, er…. just look at the photos!

Who can argue with the happy, positive, healthy, outdoor, active and social sentiments that each picture so beautifully represent? Don’t we all long for such quality time? On our bikes, in nature, with our four-legged besties and a few mates riding somewhere spectacular with nothing else to do but to fully enjoy life.. hells yeah!

As a trail dog owner, I love seeing dogs out with riders. After moving to Brisbane, this became more difficult due to the militant dogs-on-leads rule. But we still manage to ‘be creative’ and get time riding tails with Zoe, although not as much as I did in Melbourne, or would like.

Ruby is my favourite go-to if I am ever feeling overwhelmed, disheartened with the news or the way the world is heading. Ruby reaffirms for me all the good things the world has to offer.

For me, Ruby is a salient reminder (as are all dogs) to live in the moment, enthusiastically enjoy riding bikes, have more fun, frolic in nature, rest when you need to, and love unconditionally.

So, grab a four-legged friend (or someone else’s!), ya bike and get out there!

Life on a bike is better with a trail dog.

Living the dream!

(*sigh*)

All Images: Tom @rubythetraildog

13/03/201818/04/2018

Holi Festival 2018

Video courtesy: Paviter Kumar Noori

Holi Festival 2018

Last weekend, I headed down to the Brisbane Holi Festival 2018 celebrations.

I was drawn to this event for a number of reasons: it is a wonderful cultural celebration, it was being held in an area of Brisbane I have not been to, and most importantly, there was an organised public bike ride to kick off the festivities!

I saw this community event on the Brisbane City Council website – and this is what is said:

Dress in white for the Holi Festival of Colours at Rocks Riverside Park and be prepared to get dirty when the colour throwing begins. Cycle to the event with the Two Wheels Bike Ride and try yoga, Bollywood dancing, delicious food and dance in the rain before the festival closes in an explosion of flying coloured powder.

What is Holi Festival?

The Holi Festival is known as the ‘Festival of Colour”.

It is an Indian cultural festival that celebrates community, fun and colour. It is the original event where people throw coloured powder over each other as a way of connecting people, having fun and celebrating life.

To find out more information about the significance, background and rituals of a more traditional Holi Festival, click here.

So what happened?

Here’s how I first saw the event advertised:

Which sounded right up my alley! I’m in!

So I called my creative collaborator, Claire. We packed the car up for the day with our colourful bikes, dressed in white and headed out to have some fun.

There was lots of Bollywood dancing, food stalls, demonstrations and lots of DJs that kept the dancing crowd happy – and continuous colour throwing!

After our ride along the river, we were a little hot and sweaty. So, we grabbed some delicious lunch and hung out in the shade. It was great to watch groups of kids getting crazy, families arriving and friends frolicking.

That was the best part of the day for me.

The DJs really started getting going around 1 pm. By then, the crowd had started built and was in full swing, so we headed into the main area for a boogie and to get amongst it.

We were instantly set upon by happy festival-goers (our clothes were VERY white and obviously needed some ‘help’) and while we were chatting and meeting new people, we danced around and got drenched by water cannons and splashed with colour.

The Indian community is so warm and friendly. It was so affirming to see so many ages, shapes, nationalities, ethnicities and mixes of people – it was a delight to be part of.

This kind of event represents the kind of community that I want to live in.

Awesome!

Leki was a real hit.

When it was time to leave, Claire and I grabbed our bikes to ride back…and we got accosted from all sides by punters wanting to have their photos taken with Leki (and the flower helmet beanie)!

How could we say no?

A minor hiccup

We had a minor hiccup on the day – we missed the organised ride.

Below is the ticket I received after booking. Claire and I (and Leki) happily took off on the day with our bikes to join the ride. The only problem was that we didn’t have enough info to find the location for the start of the ride in time.

The location was far too broad – We’d never been to this area before and the GPS stopped us in the middle of a busy street – eck!

We arrived and drove around and around – there were no signs on the main road indicating where the festival was. Finally, we worked out where it was, but by then, we were too late to join the official ride.

So, we went on our own little ride/mission along the riverside, which was great fun!

We had an equally great time exlporing the new bike trails ourselves and then we headed back to join the festivities. By then, it was starting to really get going in the main arena – perfect timing!

We had a great day! We danced, got coloured and we rode our bikes of colours.

By the time I got home, I was very tired – and very happy!

29/12/201702/01/2018

Bikes at Woodford Folk Festival

Hey Bike nuts! This week I was at Woodford Folk Festival.

Woodford is Australia’s largest annual outdoor cultural and folk festival.

This year, there were over 2,500 amazing musical gigs, performances, shows, talks, demos, roving performances, gardens and activities.

It is a truely amazing experience to wander around Woodfordia.

Bikes at Woodford Folk Festival

Here is a copy of the full program – EPIC!!

There is also the Speakers Program, which has over 70 talks on a massive array of topics – including many current social, political and environmental issues.

It is difficult to tell you everything you can see and do at Woodford, so I’m just going to hit the bike high points and let you explore the full shebang for yourself another time if you are interested (highly recommended!).

On arrival – bike parking

It was great to see that at the entrance, the ‘Bike Parking’ was already filling up and that cyclists had a direct and preferential access to the front entrance – rockstar parking for bike riders!

Wozwaste

I was delighted to see Wozwaste was not wasting anything – and their market stall looked great! I am super impressed at how their product range has increased since I last saw them.

I popped in for a good chat and catch up. they are doing great work with recycling materials. While we were chatting, I asked a few technical questions about issues I was having working with bike inner tubes. They had had the same difficulties I was experiencing and so had decided to switch over to using motorbike inner tubes now as a result.

I really appreciate Wozwaste’s philosophy and commitment. It is inspiring to know people are out there whereby up/recycling is the basis of their business. It was great to see their range first hand and see what they have achieved so far.

Roving Performances

The Rain Cloud

The heat and sun was super hot, so the organisers arranged to have the rain cloud bike roving to help cool off punters.

This is four person, pedal-powered bike which ‘rained’ a fine mist over those who stood near the clouds.

It was a great way to cool off, the drizzle was a very welcome reprieve. When the bike stopped, people were encouraged to sit on the float to rest and cool off – the kids loved it!

There were seven operators, all in various costumes who took it in turns to ride and/ore entertain as needed.

A very effective and impressive roving performance!

The Woodford Postal Service

This roving performance also served a legitimate service.

Within Woodfordia, there is the Post House, from which there is a team of Posties on bikes whose job it is to rider around, interacting with festival goers by ‘delivering letters’.

The idea is that you can stop a Postie (or they might ask you) to ‘send’ a message or letter to someone throughout the day/festival. It can be any message you like and you give a description to the postie and their job is to deliver it – which makes for some hilarious interactions as some of the descriptions are quite vague, so there are many posties going up to people asking them if they are so and so in an attempt to deliver a message.

In an age of instant text messaging, this kind of audience participation activity was inventive, creative and so much fun to be part of.

Everyone was getting into it and the posties did a great job!

Out the front of ‘The Post House’

Festival-goers on wheels

Woodfordia has a great path network and the access is well thought out, so it was great to see a higher number of many festival visitors on wheels getting around.

There were a few wheel chairs, but far more hand-driven chairs and recumbents and a few scooters.

Most notably, there was a very popular trolley stall which hired out wagons for families to wheel their tired kids around. This a great idea for storage, sleeping kids, having some shade, reserving some space and being able to find your people at a distance – GOLD!

Image: Rock n Roller Wagons

Bike Refreshments Stall

Throughout the day, I kept seeing Jeremy and his gorgeous pedal-powered refreshments stall rinding around. I had to go up and chat to him. He is a genuinely beautiful man and was so happy to be out and about. His happiness was infectious. Great shoes and what a smile!

Unknown Pink Bikers

These guys had a compound that was open at certain times and they were entertaining people with tricks, magic and activities.

Later on, I saw them riding around interacting with punters and generally adding to the overall cheer and colour.

Great to see more bikes getting around, but some of the older guys in glitter glam hot pink Barbarella-style costuming might have scared a few of the kids.

Opening Ceremony

I’m sure you will be able to get a hold of some footage of the official opening ceremony for the festival. There were massive puppets, fire work, a latern parade, an aboriginal welcoming ceremony and dancing, various singers to name a few.

Of most interest for this post was the use of bicycles during the later parade to help move the larger lantern around as needed – it was only when you looked closely could you see that bikes were instrumental in the latern below in particular.

Overall – a wonderful time!

Whether you are going for bikes or the music or the culture – Woodford has it all.

It was great to see so much wonderful music, vibrancy, creativity, colour, energy, care and community.

What a great was to end the year!

See you in 2018! Happy and safe riding all!

07/11/201718/04/2018

Kurilpa Derby

Last weekend was the 10th anniversary of the Kurilpa Derby in Brisbane.

It is a fantastic annual community celebration of life on wheels.

The Kurilpa Derby is a major social and community event where the main street of the West End (Brisbane) is blocked off for the afternoon and taken over by all things colourful, fun, family and related to bikes…and other environmentally-friendly people-powered mobility, such as skateboards, scooters, roller-skates, trolleys, prams and everything in between!

The Derby is hosted by West End Community Association and is open to the general public and showcases the best that the West End has to offer in terms of business, community and lifestyle.

I have not previously been to the Derby before and this year it came highly recommended. Boy and I glad I went.

I had a brilliant time.

What happened at Kurilpa Derby?

The event is a much loved, anticipated and popular event.

It was a stunning, sunny day – and there was a great turn out.

Leki was at her floral best and I went as a jokey to pay homage to the ‘derby’ theme and also for the upcoming Melbourne Cup.

The day started with the Kurilpa Derby Street Parade.

Leki and I joined in the street parade along with all the other participants floats, families and locals.

The Parade was colourful and noisy and a lot of fun. We were surrounded by colour and energy and lots of locals, families and community groups participated.

The effort and thought that people had put into decorating whatever parade mode they had and their costuming was impressive.

There was so much to see in the parade, like the Brazilian dancing girls, a ‘public pool’ (float), beautifully decorated rickshaws, couches on wheels, unicycles, a tall bike, lots of environmentally-themed mobile displays and a number of killer drumming troupes who keep the parade bopping along.

An amazing oversized water rat ended up winning the float first prized prize.

My personal parade favourite was the beekeeping team-theme float. This was an understand, but well executed exhibit that had a spunky lady dressed as a bee inside a box decorated as the ‘hive’ as their float. This hive float was pulled by two fully equipped bee keepers (in full bee keeping suits including smoke cans). This crew handed out ices-poles anyone who wanted them the whole time – brilliant!

After the Parade, the road remained closed and there were a range of activities, demos, novelty races and entertainment, such as a Pet Parade, a cocktail race, skateboard demonstration and heaps of other novelty races.

It was brilliant to see so many visitors and families out and about. Kids were roaring up and down the street in between races enjoying the freedom, safety and fun of having an allocated street to roam free and go wild.

It was such a delight to see the community – all locals and visitors alike – come together in such a celebratory and inclusive way.

As the sun went down the festivities continued. The bars, shops, cafes and restaurants did a roaring business and were keep buys all day and night.

Many people stayed on after to attend the Kurilpa Beggars’ Banquet, which is a brilliant community potluck dinner extravaganza.

If you have never been to the Kurilpa Derby before, be sure to put it on the calendar for next year. It is well worth it!

Below are a few pics from the day. See more photos at local Greta Pavlova’s Album.

Images my own, from Kurilpa Derby FB, @imogenbunting & @brisvagueness. Montage from The West End Magazine.

04/09/201718/04/2018

Riding ‘The Big Push’

This time last week, I headed in the afternoon with Leki into Brisbane city to participate riding ‘The Big Push for Road Safety’ event hosted by Space for Cycling (BNE).

It was an awesome event!

All the riders gathered in town where there were some speeches and time to socialise. It was great to see so many different types of bikes, and there were lots of kids, dogs in baskets, colours and smiles abound.

Then we had a lovely slow roll around town.

What happened while riding ‘The Big Push’?

There were constantly bells ringing happily, often punctuated by laughter and the constant ripple of riders chatting. I made sure to have a chat to the people I found myself riding alongside.

As we rode, I saw riders introducing themselves, passing compliments and sharing a few jokes. I saw pedestrians stop to wave and cheer encouragement. I saw riders trying to coax people out of cars with a laugh as we waited for red lights to change.

When we stopped, you could see the bike column snaking away ahead and behind – it looked amazing!

There were many active souls there that had upcoming bike related events- it was a wonderful opportunity to hear what was going on and link to the Brisbane bike scene.

I rode most of the way home next to an awesome couple on a tandem. It just so happened I was wearing my ‘I love tandem’ t-shirt! They were great company and had rigged up a massive speaker on their back wheel and were cranking out some funky riding tunes to keep us all bopping happily along! GOLD!

What a relaxed, fun and a social way to advocate for better urban cycling!

During our ride stopped off for a quick photo out the front of Parliment House, Brisbane.

The pubs were filled with Mayweather vs McGregor fight fans, so it was an added bonus passing open windows and hearing the cheering emanating from inside. Once the fight concluded, the pubs we passed were still packed, so we have a very jovial and supportive audience as we rode past.

I had to ring all my bells extra hard to match their happy cheering!

One of the highlights of the day for me was sticking around after the ride.

As others filtered away, it was an opportunity for me to chat with the custom low-rider crew (see photos below).

The range and style of their fleet is impressive and their owners happy to chat bikes. Each bike is personalised to suit the owner and it was great to see the multicultural, multi-age mix of low riders.

I accepted an invitation to ride one and was immediately smitten!

These low rider bikes are so comfortable and very cool to ride.

We chatted for a while, and they told me about an upcoming bike event they are hosting next month, which I am very keen to attend.

We exchanged contact details and am looking forward to spending some more time with these Kool Katz! Meeting them was an even better bonus on the day.

The event made the TV news on various channels, which was great for spreading the word. An unfortunate, but timely reminder given that five cyclists were involved in a road accident just two days prior.

The day was a success and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Congrats to all who made an effort to go and big kudos to the organisers!

Images: Taken on the day are either my own or from Space for Cycling BNE Facebook page.

20/08/201724/08/2017

Granny, Wait for Me!

Granny, Wait for Me! is a beautifully illustrated children’s book.

I first saw this book while at an independent publishing/meet the author book event at Little Gnome – my awesome local bookshop. This book is written by Sarah Owen and illustrated by Anil Tortop.

It immediately caught my eye because of the bicycle on the cover – and the delightful energy that the illustration exuded.

I flipped through the book and instantly fell in love with it.

What makes Granny, Wait for Me! so good?

There are many children’s books about riding bikes. But this one is a little different.

The story follows a young boy and his grandma who take their bicycles on an outing. In this book, the usual stereotypes are reversed, and it is ‘Granny’ who is speeding around, whizzing to-and-fro, racing and doing death defying tricks and the young boy who is struggling to keep up.

The pair have a day of grand adventures. It is lovely to see Granny in the position of being the strong, confident, fit, happy and able protagonist in this story. I see incredible value in children’s books presenting different ways of looking at life and in showing diversity in people, lifestyles and choices – and this book certainly sheds some new light on perceptions of what a Granny ‘should’ be, and do.

Books like these also help progress discussions about family, relationships, assumptions, social expectations and not judging a book by its cover (oh dad!).

The added bonus of the bike means discussions about positive impacts of riding, how cycling is wonderful for all people, regardless of age or ability – and that you can never really tell a people’s ability or history with bikes just by looking at them. With such a predominance in current society of cycling being associated with young, fit, male road-riders, this book provides a wonderful alternative perspective.

I have lamented elsewhere on this blog, that I find the lack of inclusion, appreciation or unconscious negative associations of older people and riding, to be serious social issue – as evidence in previous posts such as Cycling without Age and my meeting with the formidable Hubert and his tricycle.

But it is good to know that there are awesome parents (and others) out there who are actively engaging our next generation by reading these kind of stories.

This book comes with a warning!

In a review of this storybook for Reading Time, Heather Gallagher wrote: This beautifully illustrated picture book is told in rollicking verse. The story is a simple one, a boy and his granny go for a bike ride and picnic at the park. The Granny is no tea-sipping, knitting gran – she’s one who likes to swing on the monkey bars and speed off on her bicycle. In a reversal of roles, the boy is shown as the reticent one, while Granny craves adventure. This book could be used in a classroom setting to discuss different kinds of grandparents and what they like to do. It would be a good one to read on Grandparent’s Day. Just one word of caution, while the illustrations do depict a warm relationship between Granny and the boy, in practice she speeds off on her bicycle, leaving him in her wake – hence, the title. (Emphasis my own).

I really like that this book comes with a warning – that this seemingly harmless ‘whimsical and fun-filled story’ could be ‘misconstrued’ and need to be explained.

I understand how some children might find it challenging that Granny is so active that she could roar off on a bike (being abandoned). Of course this would need to be explained to a little kid who need reassurances of not ‘being left behind’ – but this is not made clear in Heather’s review. Although I am sure this is what she was implying, my mischievous brain also likes to think it is the notion of Granny ripping on a bike that is also challenging!

I like that this book is presenting Granny in a light other than being a stereotypical, gentle, frail and caring …… non-bike rider. The image of her enjoying a fast, fun and furious ride is a great equaliser for talking about any other rider gearing up for an MTB race, criterion and any other cycling event where the whole point is to ride hard, be adventurous and get ahead! What… older people don’t ride bikes? Like hell….Go, Granny Go!!

What a great conversation to have with children!

That in itself makes me love this book even more!

You don’t need to ride fast and furious to have my vote – you just need to be on a bike and going at whatever is your speed. Whatever age you are, whatever speed you go – just that you are riding a bike is what makes it awesome in my book!

More happy elders riding bikes, please!

So next time you see an elder out on their bike – be sure to give ’em hearty wave and a word of support. Heavens knows we need more like them reminding us all that biking is a wonderful activity for everyone in our communities.

Granny, Wait for Me! – cover illustration / time-lapse from Anil Tortop on Vimeo. Images in post courtesy of Anil’s Behance

14/08/201716/08/2017

The Big Push for Road Safety

Next Sunday (27th August), Space for Cycling Brisbane is hosting The Big Push for Road Safety ride. This is a well-timed event as it coincides with Queensland’s Road Safety Week.

From the information provided online, this event is a proactive, peaceful and family-friendly reminder from all manner of Brisbane cyclists to policy-makers for cycling to be featured prominently in Brisbane policy and infrastructure development.

What is The Big Push for Road Safety ?

The Big Push for Road Safety Facebook page describes the event as: “Speaking up for road safety’ and riding for Queensland Road Safety Week. Join us as we once again take a ride through the CBD asking for safe streets for people on bikes. Meet at Kurilpa Point Park under the Kurilpa Bridge at 2.00pm for a 2.30pm roll, we will ride over Victoria Bridge and complete a loop around the city before returning to our start point. Bring your family, bring your friends, bring your neighbours who haven’t taken their bike out of the garage for years….the more people who ride the stronger the message.”

Space for Cycling is an international organization with chapters in many major cities and is a non-for profit cycling advocacy group. This means that the organisation is where ‘Brisbane’s bicycle user groups and community cycling organisations have come together to create and work toward a vision for Brisbane where it is easy, convenient, and safe for people of all ages and abilities to ride a bicycle to their destination’. Activities undertaken by the Brisbane chapter include campaigns such as writing to your local councillor, attending local council meetings, keeping the general public informed of developments and organising community bike events.

They have also been tracking key cycling measures and progress on locations such as the Sylvan Road trial, Ipswich motorway connection and the Boggo Road Station – all of which are high-volume, high-interest developments for Brisbane cyclists.

Space for Cycling Brisbane held a similar event (of the same name) earlier this year in April. This ride was held on a glorious sunny day and drew a good turn out as seen in the pictures below and more here.

The Big Push for Riding - Bicycles cCreate Change — Source: Space for Cycling (BNE). The Big Push for Riding (April, 2017).

It makes good sense for this event to happen now also to capitalize on the current media interest and publicity surrounding recent road planning, shared road infrastructure and access and the urban cycling agenda.

Queensland Police marketing the Queensland Road Safety Week

It is interesting to see the Queensland Police marketing for the Queensland Road Safety Week. This week is posited on the offical Police website as begin a ‘chance for all Queenslanders to get involved in making our roads safer’ and that the initiative is ‘encouraging active participation’ for the weeks central theme of “Speaking up for road safety”. To this end, the police state that they are ‘encouraging the whole community to have their say on road safety. Communities, schools and workplaces are encouraged to support the week by hosting local events or sharing road safety information among staff, students, colleagues, family and friends’.

There are lots of official police and government sanctioned modes to ‘have your say and get involved’ on the offical website, so it makes me wonder just how ‘encouraging of the WHOLE community’ outside of participating int he competitions this week really is-and to what degree ‘alternative views’ of transportation and those of critics are ‘encouraged to participate’.

I say this as I am still embarrassed about how Queensland authorities/police have previously handled other progressive community cycling events – such as the WNBR, or the Super Sunday Count or even the Ride-to-school Day. In each of these three cases, the police ended up clamping down and responding with such putative measures (Ride-to School) or just flat out refused to even let the event happen in the first place (WNBR – only city in the world that was scheduled to, but did not participate – shame!!.. or in the case of the Super Sunday Count no mainland Brisbane council has even bothered to be register (only Whitsundays of goodness sake!) that the message for other thriving community driven bike events is loud and clear ….you can have your bikes, but don’t get too vocal, creative, organised or public about it. I am sure nothing of the sort will happen for next weekend’s The Big Push for Road Safety. I mention this here merely to justify my suspicion when faced with the hyperbolic use of marketing catch-phrase expressions such as the Police saying ‘we want EVERYONE to have their SAY’ and that they are ‘encouraging of the WHOLE community to GET INVOLVED’ …..I think……..mmmmm, REALLY??

Why will this event be great to go to?

I also like that this is a repeat event. It is a great way to piggy-back on the last event and get some of the same people returning- as well as inviting some new people to get involved as well.

With this in mind, I think next week’s event is a wonderful forum to get the pro-cycling agenda out and into the wider public experience.. It is so obviously non-threatening given the normalcy, fun, family, and overall localised and relaxed vibe for the ride. It will also be a great snapshot of Brisbane’s range of riders and a great showcase for the diversity in bikes, ages, skills, confidence, abilities, purposes and approaches to riding in and around Brisbane.

I’ve always been a big proponent for community ‘protests’ that include colour, fun, kids, dogs, bikes and music. It is hard to get angry, argumentative and putative with little kids in rainbow jumpers sitting happily in bike trolleys, listening to ‘Dancing in the Street’ while holding fluffy white puppies! (Aww bless. Viva la revolution!!)

For these reasons and more, I am very much looking forward to attending this ride with Leki.

If you happen to be in Brisbane – see you there!!

Tag: Family

Thank you to The Sunshine Family for my recycled bike artist workshop!

Thank you to The Sunshine Family

Chicks in the Sticks 2018

Chicks in the Sticks 2018

How was the event?

What else happened?

Congrats to the organisers!

Bike Palooza Bendigo

Bike Palooza Bendigo

What’s on?

The Yarn Ride

Ruby the trail dog

Ruby the trail dog

Why I love Ruby the trail dog

Holi Festival 2018

Holi Festival 2018

What is Holi Festival?

So what happened?

Leki was a real hit.

A minor hiccup

Bikes at Woodford Folk Festival

Bikes at Woodford Folk Festival

On arrival – bike parking

Wozwaste

Roving Performances

The Rain Cloud

The Woodford Postal Service

Festival-goers on wheels

Bike Refreshments Stall

Unknown Pink Bikers

Opening Ceremony

Kurilpa Derby

What happened at Kurilpa Derby?

Granny, Wait for Me!

What makes Granny, Wait for Me! so good?

This book comes with a warning!

More happy elders riding bikes, please!