Spinopsys

Friday roundup

Posted February 23rd, 2007 in The Desk

As far as the issue of the week went, Pedaller had a very good day business wise. Pedapods make a good way to get around town when the Queens of the ocean come to visit and the punters come far and wide to gawk.

200,000 people came into the Sydney CBD on Tuesday to see the QM2 and the QE2 according to the Sydney Morning Herald, and to see the night time fireworks. And yes it led to a bit of traffic congestion during the day, and even more at night, and not just on the roads, also on the footpaths and on the water. Premier Iemma got caught in the traffic and apparently isn’t happy about it. Pedapod did a roaring trade ofcourse, more customers than pedapods on the road in fact. By 5pm all our pedapod pilots were totally exhausted, and we pulled out of the city a little after 5pm.

Treadly goes local in discussing a new bicycle path that has been built in an environmentally sensitive area of Victoria. It’s a very interesting post.

But to suggest that the impact of a meandering 3m-wide path is in any way comparable to the a multi-lane motorway is ludicrous. Conspiracy theorists may want to believe that there is an anti-cyclist agenda being pushed by News Corp all the way down to your local rag (especially when you consider this publication’s unfavourable coverage of the proposed Wantirna Road bike lanes last year).

Bicipolitics is obviously getting in a fair bit of chamois time so his focus is on the week that was.

Sunday: St Kilda Crit+track training 50kms. Absolute nightmare of a day- My rear tyre exploded in the back of the car on the way to the crit. This meant I had to borrow a wheel because I had left my track pump, tubes etc at home. The new wheel worked fine in warm up, but every time I went for a sprint the gears were ghost shifting.

Jo of Bike Love has had her London cycling interrupted by a little fluffy precipitation and posts an image that tells the story. I dunno about everyone else but I miss my weekly 2SER cycling love in. Check out the archives.

Sometime ago Timboy was talking about putting together a cheap single, I was supposed to do the bike frame part of things but I’m a lazy bastard and haven’t got around to it. Now I don’t have to because Cycling the Yellow Brick Road has finished a project along those same lines. Check it out, it’s a nice little rig.

After 15 years in retirement and two months of fiddling, the Star has finally made its way back onto the road again. Thanks to Mark and the people at the Nunnery for helping me make the final adjustments. Here are some photos from its maiden voyage to Ashfield shops this morning.

Le Rayon Vert made it up Mt Lofty. The biggest achievements in cycling are the ones you never hear about. It’s daily personal victories like this one that make cycling so satisfying.

Yesterday I had another go at Mt Lofty on my bike and this time I made it to the summit. Sure, people ride up there all the time, but I’m hardly known for my physical feats so I thought it was a good achievement.

Lelak points us to a couple of bent riding Dutchies on a cycling tour through the happy isles of oceania. Judging by their awesome photos of New Zealand (is it possible to take a bad picture in NZ?) they are having a much less grumpy trip that Paul Theroux did. Follow the links.

I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Glennon and some of the Dulwich Hill CC lads last Sunday. He’s posting more about cycling than sailing at the moment, this one about scratching a New Year’s resolution off the list. I think EBay’s business model is safe for a while yet.

My new year resolution in 2006 was to sell something on ebay. I decided late in the year that I had better do something about that resolution. I scoured the house for things to sell and was able to sell a heap of things, including old furniture, tools no longer being used and SURPLUS BIKE parts.

Noel Davies’ struggles continue, but he’s racking up a few new personal bests lately. Judging by this post, I think we have a pretty good idea of what his ultimate PB will be.

Noel’s attention has already begun to shift back to cycling … on the weekend, Bill and I will begin tracking down the chequerboard of payments and shipments for Noel’s “dream bike” — the one that he is assembling, piece by piece, from online shops and eBay purchases. Apparently there are orders that have been paid for but have yet to arrive.

The Nunnery Bicycle Workshop toots it’s own horn about some good local press. The South Sydney Herald has all the news that’s fit to print. At least on this occasion.

I think the article did a rad job at covering all the issues thanks to great quotes from Tash, Brianna, and Mark. The article did a fine job at covering the best parts of having a bicycle co-operative. The ramifications of having a co-operative in communities to help divert waste, encourage poor bikes from ending up in a trash bin, and reusing bike parts.

Lastly, Everyone should regularly check out Wheels of Justice for some good advocacy stuff. The latest post leads us to a news story about a SA Greens MP who has started a Parliament House BUG. I’ll admit to getting cranky with the Greens, sometimes wrongly so, but I should say that if cyclists are to vote on their issues alone then there is no choice - Vote Green.

It’s wonderful to see this grow and to see the efforts of so many fine people - through blogging, we get to know each other by what we write and become engaged in the issues of the day. Blogging is a participatory media, but it’s also the leading edge of an emerging participatory democracy. So head on over to these great bloggers and blogs and join your fellow citizens in conversation.

technorati tags: cycling, bicycles, australia, blogs