Pedal4PNG Bike Ride

Pedal4PNG. Bicycles Create Change.com 26th March 2020.

While looking at some pacific community bike projects, I came across the Pedal4PNG Bike Ride.

It sparked my interest as it was relatively small and specific and offered a unique riding opportunity through Papua New Guinea. It also provides some ideas for other organisations (like Village Bicycle Project in Lunsar, Sierra Leone who I have just returned home from) might consider as a way to increase exposure, contacts and fundraising.

Pedal4PNG Bike Ride

The Pedal4PNG Bike Ride was a 6-day event held in 2018 and run by Australian Doctors International (ADI) to raise funds for PNG‘s Healthy Mums and Healthy Babies programs.

ADI provide support in PNG which is only five km north of Queensland. But unlike Aussie kids, 6% of Papuan children won’t live to reach the age of five. ADI explain this in simple terms: for every soccer team of kids, that’s one not making it as far as kindy age.

Children die in PNG every day from preventable diseases such as diarrhoea, measles and pneumonia. Meanwhile, their mothers face a mortality rate of 250 mums per 100,000 live births, with under 50% of births medically supervised.

Proceeds of the ADI Pedal4PNG Bike Ride went to supporting the critical work Australian Doctors International carries out in PNG to provide better health outcomes for young children and mums.

Currently, ADI is working on the frontline with local authorities on a COVID-19 PNG taskforce.

ADI Integrated Health Patrols

Australian Doctors International has a unique model: conducting monthly patrols to rural and remote areas, where healthcare is generally inaccessible.

This is locally sustainable health care in action – prevention and treatment in the isolated communities where over 85% of the PNG population lives.

ADI teams provide a mix of skills and staff to deliver hands-on health care and save lives.

ADI doctors deliver clinical capacity building for front line PNG health workers to improve health service delivery in the areas of child and maternal health, malaria, TB and lifestyle diseases.

The Bike Trip

This bike trip was from Namatanai (in the north) down to Kavieng (in the South) covering a total of 260kms on roads throughout the New Ireland Province.

The trip was advertised as a ‘bike adventure’ and given the tropical heat (30C +) and physical challenge of riding through some varied terrain including some hills and it was best the riders knew about the conditions. But the riding was mostly on sealed roads, so the actual surface was not that difficult. There were a couple of longer days (up to 100 km), so doing some training was advised.

As with any international in-country charity bike ride, built into the itinerary was time for cultural events, meeting locals, time to explore local surrounds, have R&R and opportunities to surf, relax and visit some handi/craftsmiths.

This ride had a few other perks I hadn’t seen before, particular to only PNG of course, which was the option to go and watch chocolate making at Rubios as well as do some local scuba diving and fishing and explore the WWII sites and history along the island.

What I appreciated is that the trip number was capped at ten which is a good number for an adventure ride – enough to have some diversity in personalities, but not too much that the group is so large that it takes hours to get ready or do anything.

Trip Details

Sunday 13 May: arrive in Kavieng, welcome dinner and overnight at Nusa Island Retreat
Monday 14 May: transit to Namatanai, with visits to several different health clinics, afternoon visit to hospitals, unpacking of bikes and overnight at Namatanai Lodge
Tuesday 15 May: ride to Rubio’s (40km)
Wednesday 16 May: plantation tour, chocolate making, ride 110km to Fissoa
Thursday 17 May: 100km ride into Kavieng, visit giant eels, final dinner Nusa Island Retreat
Friday 18 May: depart (although we recommend staying the weekend for some diving!)

Along the way, riders stopped to visit healthcare clinics and hospitals that were supported by ADI, so they got to see first-hand some of the health issues and programs that were underway to meet the needs of locals.

Overall is looks like a great adventure ride to do. What appeals to me most is the small group number and how riders can go and visit clinics to better appreciate local health issues. ADI noted in their Annual Report 2018 that the ride had been a success.

It might take a lot of work to organise and I know these rides are not for everyone, but it is good to some diversity in charity bike ride offerings beyond the (dare I say ‘stale’) mass rides for cancer research events.

Best of luck ADI!

All images courtesy of ADI.

30/11/201904/12/2019

Bikes help break the poverty cycle

For this blog post, we are looking at how bicycles are being integrated into two programs run by Australian-based INGO Global Hand Charity.

Global Hands Charity

Global Hand Charity (GHC) is an Australian international NGO founded in 2008 that works to improve educational opportunities for children in remote communities in Laos, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and now Cambodia.

During their initial programs, GHC quickly realised that before children could learn, basic needs like access to drinking water and toilets or WASH (Water and Sanitation and Hygiene) needed to be addressed. So before working on education, they built wells, toilets and showers near the schools before introducing learning interventions.

GHC have a strong supporter base and links to a number of Australian universities (like Curtin University). 100% of all money raised by GHC go directly to people in need. They are completely volunteer-run and do not take any money for administrations costs. Their running costs are supported by government grants.

Two of Global Hands Charity projects involve bicycles. First, GHC’s Education program Bicycles Program: Bicycles break poverty program has provided bicycles to remote communities to help local Laotian children access schooling. Second, Trade school: building a sustainable future is a bicycle repair and trade skill workshop space to upskill children with diff-abilities (deaf and mute).

Bikes help break the poverty cycle. Bicycles Create Change.com 30th Nov 2019. — Schoolgirls in Laos

Bicycles Program: Bicycles break poverty program

In remote villages where schools are scarce, many kids walk on average 4 hours a day to attend school. Some travel up to 8 hours return. With a bike, these same children can ride the 10-15 km to get to their local Secondary School in less time, more safely and still have the energy to learn.

Currently in Laos, only 50% of students attend secondary school because they are usually further away. Most primary schools are located in villages, so the travel is less and attendance is usually about 85%. The transition from primary to secondary school is a critical aspect of continuing education – and bikes are a way to address this issue.

To test the program, initially 50 bikes were donated by GHC as well as another 50 bikes going to Sister Catherine’s Trade School (Laos). Since then, the program has expanded and more bikes have been distributed.

Trade school: building a sustainable future

GHC has built a bike and carpentry shed at the Disabled Children’s School for Deaf and Mute in Luang Prabang (Laos). The Shed is a place for students to learn how to repair and service bicycles donated through GHC’s Bike Program. This program is specifically for the deaf-mute boys at the school.

So far over 100 bikes have been purchased to enable children in remote villages to attend secondary school up to 20 km away. Working alongside the Bicycle Program, students who extend skills in bike repairs and carpentry skills as a way to build skills for future employment opportunities.

Another Trade School project taught girls commercial cooking, hospitality, hair and beauty skills to reduce the risk of girls crossing the border into Thailand and ending up in sex work on living on the street.

GHC Core Programs

Global Hand Charity has 4 core programs: Education, Schools & Buildings, Healthcare and Community. Here is an overview of some of their initiatives:

Education

Textbooks: Books for education (Laos)
Professional Learning: Teacher Education (Vietnam)
Bicycles Program: Bicycles break poverty Program (Laos)

Schools & Buildings

Dormitories: A Safe place for girls to realise dreams (Vietnam)
Community Centres: Community hubs for families (Laos)
Trade School: Building a sustainable future (Laos)

Healthcare

Deaf & Mute Orphanage: Hearing for the first time (Laos)
Mobile Eye Care Camps: Seeing a way out of poverty (Laos, Sri Lanka)
Medical Visits & Funding: Making lives easier (Laos)

Community

Clean Water: Tippy Tap saves lives (Universal)
Girls Hygiene Project: Laos girl power (Laos)
Hygiene Bags: Hoikor Bags (Laos)

Helping others

Global Hands Charity is committed to making positive change for rural kids in Laos and Sri Lanka which are among some of the poorest countries in the world.

In these rural villages, there are no doctors or hospitals and children stop going to school because it is too far and too difficult to walk.

GHC is providing community nurses and running free medical clinics in rural community centers, building schools, learning centers, dormitories and providing bicycles so kids can access education. They also provide specialist educational and medical programs, such as vision and hearing initiatives, that are not available in many parts of South East Asia.

Organisations such as Global Hands Charity can help improve education, employment and health opportunities for locals living in remote areas– and it is great to see bicycles playing an important part in these projects.

16/07/201917/07/2019

‘Thought control’ bicycle for spinal injury rehab

I am delighted to share this story. As well as being an incredibly inspirational story and testament to Dinesh Palipana’s unique fortitude and character, this story showcases some of the pioneering work that my university is doing. …And it is totally bike related! I’ve been working at Griffith for over 5 years now. I am continually impressed with the reach, impact and significant contributions Griffith makes to improve society. Last year, I posted about Griffith design graduate and PhD candidate James Novak’s global award-winning world’s first 3D printed bicycle – also unreal!! This story is about how Dinesh and his team turned an accident he had during his PhD into a scientific-bike research breakthrough. This article was originally published by Griffith News earlier this year. Here it is in full. Enjoy! NG.

Griffith medical graduate and Gold Coast University Hospital junior doctor Dinesh Palipana thinks about walking a lot, since a car accident left him a quadriplegic part-way through his medicine degree.

Now he’s thinking about pushing the pedals of a specially-adapted recline bike, and thanks to electronic muscle stimulation, he’s actually moving, in what is the first step towards a world-first integrated neuro-musculoskeletal rehabilitation program, being developed at the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct (GCHKP).

Griffith biomechanical scientists and engineers Professor David Lloyd, Dr Claudio Pizzolato and his team, together with Dinesh as both researcher and patient, are aiming to use their ground-breaking 3D computer-simulated biomechanical model, connected to an electroencephalogram (EEG) to capture Dinesh’s brainwaves, to stimulate movement, and eventually recovery.

Thinking about riding a bike

“The idea is that a spinal injury or neurological patient can think about riding the bike. This generates neural patterns, and the biomechanical model sits in the middle to generate control of the patient’s personalised muscle activation patterns. These are then personalised to the patient, so that they can then electrically stimulate the muscles to make the patient and bike move,” says Professor Lloyd who is also from Griffith’s Menzies Health Institute Queensland.

“It’s all in real-time, with the model adjusting the amount of stimulation required as the patient starts to recover.

“We’re in the early stages of research and we’re having to improvise with our equipment, however we know we have shown our real-time personalised model works, basically like a digital twin of the patient.”

Dr Palipana is excited to be part of such novel research in his own backyard.

“I have a selfish and vested interest in spinal cord injury research and I’m completely happy to be the guinea pig,” Dr Palipana says.

“We’ve had equipment for many years where people passively exercise using stationary bikes, and stationary methods where people get on and the equipment moves their legs for them. The problem is you really need some stimulation from the brain.

“As the years go by we’re starting to realise that the whole nervous system is very plastic and it has to be trained, so actually thinking about moving the bike or doing an activity stimulates the spinal cord from the top down and that creates change.”

This top down, bottom up approach is novel, with the model effectively providing a substitute connection between the limbs and the brain where it was previously broken when the spinal cord was injured.

The neuro-rehabilitation research will dovetail with exciting research by Griffith biomedical scientist, Associate Professor James St John, who has had promising results for his biological treatment using olfactory (nasal) cells, to create nerve bridges to regenerate damaged spinal cords.

Establishing new neural pathways

“You use the modelling to recreate the connection, and over time, with the science of Associate Professor James St John, you establish new neural pathways. So over time patients will be less dependent on the model to control the bike movement and it will move back to their own control, with their regenerating spinal cord and their reprogrammed neural pathways,” says Professor Lloyd.

Associate Professor James St John hopes to move into human clinical trials in the GCHKP within the next 2-3 years, and in parallel Professor Lloyd and his team hope to refine their rehab testing with Dinesh, and develop the technology with leading global companies in exoskeleton design. These companies, could in turn, be attracted into the 200-hectare GCHKP.

“In ten years we want to be a one-stop shop for spinal cord injury and complex neurological patients,” Professor Lloyd says.

“I’m just really lucky to be well-positioned here where it’s all happening and I want to be involved as much as possible as a doctor and a potential scientist,” says Dr Palipana.

“It’s my university, my hospital, my city – it’s just really nice to be a part of that.”

Further links:

ABC Australian Story, 26 February 2018 http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/australian-story/NC1802Q004S00
‘I might be quadriplegic, but I’m your doctor‘

Images and text courtesy of Griffth University News.

22/02/201908/03/2019

Wheels of change: bicycles fight air pollution in Brazil

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!

As government Ministers, city mayors and civil society from all over the globe head for the World Health Organisation’s first ever international conference on air pollution and health at the end of this month (30 October to 1 November 2018), one must wonder how big a problem the quality of the air we breathe has become.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

30/12/201827/01/2019

Farewell 2018!

Congratulations on making it the end of 2018!!

What an epic year it has been.

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.

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!

May your 2019 be a biking blast!

07/12/201801/01/2019

E-bike donated to cycling first-responder in recognition for saving 2,500 people

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.

E-bike donated to cycling first-responder in recognition for saving 2,500 people. Bicycles Create Change.com. 7th Dec, 2018. — 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.

It’s not about the glory, it’s about helping people. Meir Farkash.

31/03/201831/03/2018

MAMILS (Middle Aged Men In Lycra)

This blog prides itself on staying true to the essence of community and grassroots cycling and presenting the more local and personal side of riding bikes. This means on this blog you will not find any advertisements, product reviews and very little road riding – all of which are already overrepresented by cycling mainstream and online media. The road riding fraternity is often criticised for being elitist, alienating other codes of biking and being the sole domain of ‘rich white guys’.

As a counter to this, I think it is important not to tar all road riders with the same brush. So it is my pleasure to host this guest blog post from Denise Raward, as a wonderful example of how a group of road riders used cycling to create more positive personal and community change. Enjoy!

New Film: MAMILS documentary

Let’s be clear, this is not a story about bicycles versus cars.

It’s probably not even so much a story about bicycles, except perhaps as a metaphor for something that keeps you pedalling because if you don’t, you’ll fall over.

This was to be a story about MAMILS, those much derided Middle-Aged Men in Lycra, slowing perfectly clear roadways in their matching knicks, talking loudly about their next carbon frames, polluting coffee shops with their post-ride perspiration.

But it turns out to be a story about a couple of blokes who ride bikes to get them through what middle age can throw at men.

Here is the trailer for the MAMILS film:

Curiously, Australian filmmakers Nickolas Bird and Eleanor Sharpe struck the same phenomenon in their recent documentary MAMILS, a study of men’s cycling groups across three continents. They set out to take a wry look at the male mid-life obsession with expensive bikes but instead uncovered touching stories of camaraderie, community and hope.

Perhaps its most poignant case study was an Adelaide man who credits his cycling group with literally saving his life, staying his planned suicide with each ride. Steve Holmes understands how cycling can keep you hanging in there. In October 2016, he was diagnosed with a rare form of bile duct cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, the same one that had claimed his brother’s life only two years before. It was a blow he never saw coming. He felt like he’d played all his survival cards when he recovered from a broken neck he sustained in a crash of the lead pack during the Gold Coast 100 cycling event five years earlier.

It was during his eight-month lay-up, wondering how much of his paralysed body would return, that he conceived of the idea of an online resource featuring everything you ever needed to know about cycling events in Australia and New Zealand.

He followed it up with another site encompassing Southeast Queensland clubs, recreational groups, regular rides, events and retailers. An internet novice, he started building the sites with his one functioning left hand. “It was a passion,” Steve says. “Cycling is huge. I didn’t know how big it was. I was just the person who was trying to pull it all together. I could see where it could go.”

The sites were just beginning to gain traction in cycling circles, catching the attention of cycling tourists and corporates, when – bang – Steve was back off his bike.”I was on a ride one day when I thought I had a stomach virus and the next thing, I’ve got this cancer where the survival rate is nil – nil! What do you even say to that?”

Here is Craig and Franko being interviewed on Ch7’s Daily Edition about their MAMILS documentary:

Steve Holmes’ Story

Steve’s cancer story is a long tale of operations; complications; unsung doctors who appeared from nowhere to save him within minutes of death and pure, sheer, brilliant luck. The tumours, which an 11-hour operation painstakingly removed, came back with a vengeance and took hold on the outside of his liver. He was in so much pain, he knew he couldn’t have long.

Then his oncologist unearthed a trail for Keytruda, an immunotherapy drug being tested on rare cancers, being run out of Hamburg, Germany. “I was that sick, he virtually had to move my hand on the page so I could sign the consent form,” Steve says. “It was a long shot that I even qualified for the trial.”

The next thing he was in Brisbane hooked up to a Keytruda infusion. Four days later, he was on the floor, sicker than he’d ever been, but with each dose, things improved. One day, he realised he couldn’t feel pain any more but thought he must be just getting used it. “I spent a lot of time lying on the couch,” he says. “And I would think about riding and my cycling sites and how I was going to make them better. I’ll tell you one thing, when you’re preparing to die, it really helps to have a passion.”

Steve still can’t speak about the miracle that happened next without a few tears. It’s still too new and perhaps he doesn’t quite believe it yet. Last month, he got word he was in complete remission, one of only two known people in the world to escape the clutches of cholangiocarcinoma.

“When you’re ready to die and it doesn’t happen, it sounds ridiculous but you go through a ‘well, what do I do now’ phase,” he says. “But I knew what it was, it was getting going with all the ideas that came to me while I was dying.” He’s currently revamping and relaunching his cycling websites and newsletters, creating a BuzzFeed-style app with his curated cycling information and an online magazine. He’s back on his bike too – just twice a week, finding his legs again, being back out on the road with his old cycling mates.

Dave McCrossin’s Story

Retired paediatrician Dave McCrossin has his own tale of riding for life. Dave was an early adopter of cycling for fitness and mateship, certainly well before anyone had heard of a MAMIL. He started out on a sturdy hybrid bike wearing shorts and a t-shirt more than 25 years ago but later switched to lycra and has ridden in many of the country’s major recreational cycling events.

The former Director of Paediatric Services at the Mater Hospital, Queenland’s specialist children’s hospital, took an early retirement when Parkinson’s disease made it difficult to keep up the demands of his work.

He and his wife sold up in Brisbane, bought an apartment on the Gold Coast and Dave joined an old mate’s local cycling group. He found a bunch of blokes who took him under their wing. Someone would hang back with him if he was having a slow day but mostly they didn’t change too much on his account, just as he liked it. But Dave doesn’t move like he used to. Parkinson’s symptoms include shaking, increasing rigidity and slowness of movement. Yet cycling, preferably faster than you’re physically able, is clinically proven to alleviate Parkinson’s symptoms. Researchers believe the action of cycling improves connections in vital areas of the brain.

It was something Dave was already onto. Over a year ago, he switched to an e-bike, fitted with a small, silent electric motor, to help his legs keep pumping when he needed a boost. His mates particularly love it when he powers past the A-listers on a Sunday morning.

Be warned, sales of e-bikes are booming as recreational cyclists age and want to keep riding into their 70s, even 80s. Old MAMILS, it seems, never die… that’s why they do it.

Thanks to Denise Raward for this great article, which was originally published in the Fraser Coast Chronicle, on 25th March 2018. Images from the film.

26/03/201826/03/2018

30 days of Biking – 1 week to go!

As many of you know, World Bicycle Relief is one of the NGOs that is aligned with many aspects of my PhD bicycle research. Next week is April. That means a full month of extra happy riding! Why? Well, it’s 30 Days of Biking time of course! So get motivated and get amongst it! Now is the time to register! Have fun! Ride bikes! Do good!

What is the aim of 30 Days of Biking?

The goal is simple: Ride your bike every day in April, share your adventures online, and help your community provide life-changing bicycles to students in rural Africa!

What is the 30 Days of Biking?

Click here for the link to the official 30 Days of Biking website.

From the WBR website, the most important info to know is, you…

Pledge to ride your bike every day in April
Join riders from all over the world and make it more meaningful by fundraising for WBR
Share your adventures on social media using #30DaysofBiking

30 Days of Biking began in 2010, in Minnesota, USA. Today, it boasts thousands of pledged riders in dozens of cities around the world. #30DaysofBiking also encourages you to join or lead your own rides during April. It’s free to everyone, everywhere.

Whether you ride for exercise, environmental advocacy, socializing or for fun, you can make an impact.

There is no distance too short and no donation too small – keep riding and don’t give up!

CREATING IMPACT

Last year, the 30 Days of Biking community collected over 7,000 pledges and raised over $15,000. The aim this year if to unite as a global community and reach 10,000 pledges and raise over USD$30,000 for life-changing Buffalo Bicycles in rural Africa!

You can see a list of who pledges (as long as they are public) here. At the time of this post, the total number of pledges to date is:

HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED

Pledge by visiting 30DaysofBiking
Start your #30DaysOfBiking fundraiser to share your joy of riding with students in rural Africa!
Share your 30 Days of Biking journey on social media using #PowerofBicycles and #30DaysofBiking
Follow this global movement via Joyful Riders Worldwide Facebook page.

Further questions and inquiries? Email: Mary Beth Johnson at mbjohnson@worldbicyclerelief.org.

Image: Instagram #30daysofbiking

What kind of events can you do for 30 days of Biking?

Anything you want!

Limited only by your imagination!

You can host a regular weekly bike ride, a movie night, a family ride, a tiny bicycle shop concert (my personal favourite!) – or any other manner of social events that involve riding.

What a great way to build community and do some good!

If you already ride a lot and are keen to give it a go – now is the time to register!

To whet your motivation, here are some fun ways other US cyclists are kicking off the challenge (click here to see more events). Good luck with yours!

All images: World Bicycle Relief 2018

01/09/201704/09/2017

NGOs – Don’t take the bicycle’s name in vain!

My PhD is on community bike projects, so I read a lot of NGO policy. I came across an interesting NGO evaluation of a pilot study undertaken in Uttar Pradesh, India.

As a development professional, educator and community bike advocate, this report entitled: The distribution of Aquatabs through a bicycle entrepreneur model in rural India caught my eye.

Expectations .. ‘bicycle entrepreneur distribution model’

Having previously worked on health and community education programs in developing countries I’m always keen to see how development interventions integrate and use bicycles to further connect promote and support positive community outcomes.

When I saw the title of this report I got excited.

I’m always keen to see what is happening in India as it is a hub of social development innovation and experimentation.

I was also keen to read about the specific focus on the ‘distribution’ aspect of a ‘bicycle’ project – I was expecting to read a lot on the use of bicycles in the communities.

I had visions of local community health and WASH workers riding bicycles around rural communities distributing free water purification tablets increasing community awareness for hygiene and clean water practices.

The report is based on the 2011 pilot of PATH’s Safe Water Project. This project was focused on implementing innovative methods to enable commercial enterprises to produce, distribute, sell, and maintain effective household water treatment and storage (HWTS) products for low-income populations in developing countries. This project brief used ‘the bicycle entrepreneur distribution model’ – and it was one of the first of a number of pilot projects that PATH undertook in India and other countries to overcome distribution and marketing barriers that make it difficult for HWTS manufacturers to reach lower-income households and rural markets.

NGOs - don't take the bicycle name in vain - Bicycles Create Change.com — Source: PATH (2011).

So I had a look at the report.

After scanning through the first 20 pages, the frown that had formed on my brow got deeper and more pronounced.

I found the contents of the report challenging to read.

There was scarce little detail as to the use of bicycles. Ultimately, the only reference to the use of bicycles in the whole report was that the 8 salesmen used bicycles to travel around to sell the product.

That was it. That was the extent of how bicycles were used in this project.

Talk about a let down!

It had no detail about if bicycles were provided free of change, at a discount rate, were part of a team fleet, or if the ‘salesmen’ got to keep the bike afterwards. Nothing!

Sadly, the report was squarely focused on ascertaining commercial marketing and private sector avenues for product sales (of Aquatabs) – and not on assessing the ‘distribution’ or ‘bicycle model’ aspect of the project.

As I read the report, it seems decidedly incongruent with the ‘safe water for rural lower-income communities’ and NGO approach I was expecting to read. The report reads more like a business/economic assessment of a failed marketing case study rather than the bicycles-helps-developing-community first impression I had. Bummer!

I skimmed over the content as I looked for the content I was interested in – which was how bicycles were used.

I found this on page 7…

In this model, BEs sold Aquatabs to rural consumers at weekly markets and through house-to-house visits.

Then this…

The model was implemented in 200 villages with approximately 67,000 households ver a 12-month period (May 2009 April 2010). Eight BEs serviced this area on bicycles, following pre-determined routes and schedules. The BEs were recruited, trained, and supervised by MART and were paid a monthly stipend of Rs 1,500 in addition to their earnings from Aquatabs sales margins.

Then this on page 18..

‘Peddlers’ or ‘health champions’?

I did smile at the irony of a comment regarding training, support and monitoring, whereby:

“Additionally, the BEs felt that their current job lacked pride because they were perceived as “peddlers” (telewalah) rather than health champions, and this limited their ability to interact with local leaders as well as with the community” (p 40).

(Get it…’peddlers’ or ‘bicycle salesmen’..oh dad! Definitely cultural/vocab humour!)

Where was the ‘bicycle entrepreneur model’ in all this??

In my view, if the bicycle model term was important enough to put into the report heading, it is important enough to explain in more detail that what was provided.

Why is the mode of transportation used to get around important to mention in this project? You don’t see equivalent ‘walking entrepreneur model’ or ‘minibus entrepreneur model’ or ‘(insert mode of transport here) entrepreneur model’ – so what make the bicycle so special to mention here? And if it is special to mention – it’s reasoning needs to be better explained.

It is logical that bicycles would be used in developing contexts for project staff to travel in and around villages. Is this idea still such a revelation that it is still a new idea for NGO practice? I should think not! I was surprised that this was such a basic project feature was so prominently highlighted, yet not explained in this report.

I thought…Maybe it was bad report writing. Maybe the title was deliberately chosen to attract a certain audience. I couldn’t help but be a little miffed by ‘bicycle’ being in the report title where there was no further explanation of its use, especially considering the connotation of bicycles being synonymous with local, grassroots community development.

I felt this was taking the bicycle’s name in vain.

It kind of felt like false advertising. It was akin to supermarkets putting fresh produce into ‘green packaging’, relabelling it as ‘fresh farm produce’ and then charging double to capitalise on the current wholefood/vegan/natural eating health trend.

I ended up having to look elsewhere to find a Project Brief Document that provided some point of reference at least for the role that bicycles had in this project – which was minimal anyway. Surely this should have been in the assessment report? Even after finding this separate document, there was still a lack of detail about the provision, ownership and handover of the bicycle.

Below is as much info about how bicycles were used in this project as the NGO provided:

Note to self: Be wary of how ‘bicycles’ are represented in NGO and development documents.

What a disappointing report!

It was a salient reminder for me about the variation in approaches, purposes and communication styles of NGO programs. Equally, although bicycles are used in some NGOs projects, it is not always in the most productive and positive manner – sometimes bikes are just used to ride and get around!

Equally, although bicycles are used in some NGOs projects, it is not always in the most productive and positive manner.

It was a good lesson – a reminder to be vigilant and judicious when seeing that a ‘bicycle’ is included in a project somewhere. Be sure to look more closely and see to what degree the bicycle is actually used before automatically assuming the project is ‘good’ just on the basis that a bicycle is mentioned.

Despite my personal reservations, I am always supportive of more bicycles being used in communities.

Notwithstanding my critique of this particular report, it is still good to see bicycles being better recognised and incorporated into INGO community project discussions.

Viva la use of bicycles to promote greater health and community development!

08/10/201627/11/2016

OTEC E-bike research

This rise of the e-bike is a polarising phenomenon. Some people love them, some people hate them, many don’t care either way. Currently in a number of places in the USA, there is a concerted interest and investigation into the potentiality of the e-bike market. One such study was undertaken by OTEC and is particularly interesting as it provided 120 bike set up with GPS tracking as well as engaging the participants in a very interesting survey – the results of which are below.

I have had very little contact with e-bikes. A few years ago, my brother was using an e-bike to get around Melbourne, which, after getting over my initial amazement that my brother had been on a bike (ever – at all), let alone had bought one (even if it was an e-bike) was my first direct contact. I tried his e-bike on a track and was surprised at how comfortable the ride was. I had to admit that, although I am one of those people who has an immediate staunch mountain-biker aversion to e-bikes, I could see how and where there was a place for their use.

Recently I was in a mountain-bike event where one of the competitors was on an e-bike. In my opinion, that was not the time, nor the place for and e-bike. Based on the responses of other competitors, I was not the only one. However, I did find myself recommending to my 74 year-old father, that utilising an e-bike conversion (for uphills) on a tricycle (for stability) was a sound alternative for him to get around and stay active – an idea of which he loved. In the cases where age, mobility restriction, or those who are severely overweight but want to get out and start exercising, I can see the cost-effectiveness, comfort, mobility and access arguments for using e-bikes.

So it was no surprise that the infographic below caught my eye. It is a quick and easy report of the results of an online survey about e-bike usage in Portland, Oregon (one of the most progressive and up-and-coming bike friendly cities in the world). This infographic details in a succinct, balanced and visually appealing way, the responses, concerns and reasons for e-bike use. This is understandable, as it was produced by the Portland State Transportation Research and Education Center, which I applaud for undertaking as an online initiative and in the effectiveness of community awareness raising/promotion of e-bike use. I think this image goes a long way in helping to better explain to those who maybe totally resistant to e-bikes some of the more practical or uncommon dimensions of bike use.

I know many mountain-bikers who completely dismiss e-bikes for a variety of reasons (most often cited are accusations of laziness and ‘cheating’). However, this perspective is a knee-jerk reaction to something new based, and is based on their own personal fitness and lifestyle situation – which is certainly not the experience for millions of other people who may want to get out and about on a bike, but for whatever reason, may not be able to on a conventional bicycle.

To this end, I think this infographic is quite successful in being able to collate and communicate some of the more interesting aspects of e-bikes, so that people can have a better appreciation for such factors.