Burnt Flesh

The cycling grapevine yields more fruit! 

If you haven’t got anything planned for this Sunday, do not fear! Cheeky Transport is here!

Cheeky VeloSocial Barbie/Party Sunday Dec 17 Pyrmont Point Meet 2pm @ Cheeky Transport (3a Georgina St Newtown) http://www.cheekytransport.com.au/ Loose plan is: * 2pm leave Cheeky Transport with crazy bikes and kids (crazy or not) to ride a nice flat, low traffic, scenic ride to the park.

* 2:30-3pm Fish markets to pick up food supplies

* 3-4pm Pyrmont Bottleshop for drinks supplies and then to the park to rellllllaaaxxxxx! Campari first I think. then out with the bicycle blender!!! Apparently John was known in certain parts of London for his cocktails

* 5pm Food supplied by the amazing Campbells. BYO meat. There are barbies at the park to do your meat on.

* 8pm? Watch the sun go down

Meet at Cheeky transport at 2pm for a convoyage to Pyrmont Point Park (3pm) for a vegan barbie (BYO meat. BYP kids. We will take the Christiania full of ice and beer and a bicycle powered blender for cocktails. There will be music of some kind and some prizes for outfits and some events like skids and trackstands and some other cool stuff. Very low key, it’s a real nice spot to spend the afternoon and watch the sunset All welcome as long as you come by bike.

ABCycLister Down

So who is the ABC’s “PLASTERED PRESENTER”? None other than one of our own ABCycListers.

In the dog-eat-dog media world, Presenters live in mortal fear of having their chair pulled out from beneath them. James Valentine can now at least say that he already knows what it feels like. It hurts. 

According to radio-writer Sue Javes from the Sydney Morning Herald’s “the guide” section today:

702 ABC’s afternoon presenter James Valentine will be in plaster for six weeks after coming unstuck while cycling to work last week. Valentine was cycling uphill in Bondi last Monday on his regular route to the ABC in Ultimo when the bolt securing his bike seat flew out. “The seat dislodged and I literally pedalled my foot into Birrell Street,” he says. He broke bones in his right leg and ankle, which required surgery. Valentine spent the week in hospital and reckons half of Bunnings Warehouse is keeping his ankle together. Ian Rogerson is filling in on the 702 afternoon shift but Valentine hopes to be back on air in a few days.

But, more importantly, when will James be back in the saddle?

Meanwhile, in a bid to cheer the poor bloke up, the ABCycList would like to hear from anyone with their own cycling tale of woe – especially all those self-inflicted injuries. Got something better than a loose seat-post bolt? I had a gap-toothed schoolmate who lost his front tooth after cycling into the back of a parked car – at the time he was riding uphill and had his butt out of the seat and his head low – not looking ahead - and pedalled slowly but forcefully into the stationary object in his path. From my vantage point on my bike behind him, it was truly one of the funniest things I ever saw.

Got your own story? Let’s hear it – best yarn wins a copy of The Mountain Bike Book from the Book Barn.

I like it, but is it Art?

ABCycListers,

 

Here’s an offer too good to refuse from ABCycLister (and Sydney Body Art Ride organiser) Jake Lloyd Jones - free nibblies… free drinks… and acres of bare flesh. Well, photos of not-so-bare painted flesh anyway. Once looking at the sort of stuff on show tonight (Wednesday Sept 13) would have got you locked up. If you, like me, could think of no greater crime than to expose yourself while astride a bicycle saddle, why not go check out the images of those who aren’t so inhibited (or perhaps just have better bodies to show).

6.00pm Wednesday 13th of September
Pine St Creative Arts Centre, 64 Pine St Chippendale This community exhibition comprises the best Artistic photographs of our event and a slide show of some of the best event photos. In its second year the Sydney Body Art Ride has already become an important event in Sydney’s artistic calendar. The ride has raised over $20,000 for Children’s Cancer Research and gives ordinary citizens a chance to be artists for the day creating a unique living artwork “The Human Rainbow”. Please join us on Opening Night as the exhibition will only be open for a short time. Free drinks and nibblies will be provided. Photos will be available for sale to raise funds for next year’s ride which will be another fundraiser, with 100% of money raised going to Children’s Cancer Institute Australia. Contact Jake Lloyd Jones – 0419 279 759 or sbarhq@yahoo.com.au

Enjoy!

Ride2Work Day

Is this a reflection of how you feel about your bike? Or your partner? Or both? Thanks to ABCycLister Mark Cash for contributing this… possibly as a reminder to all of us that a good bike, properly cared-for, will always be there for you when you need it most. Or something like that…. 

A few ABCycListers have shown an interest in organising a gathering on Ride2Work Day on October 4. Its been suggested that we could gather on Level 7 of Ultimo B for a morning tea. Another option would be BBQ’d bacon and egg rolls on the Dot Strong Terrace with lashings of strong coffee. If anyone has any better/different ideas, your comments are welcome.

There’s also been some good feedback from those who have had a chance to navigate their way through the new ABCycList - but don’t forget to leave evidence of your visit by posting a comment. Just push your cursor onto “Comment” below, click and you’re well on your way to blogdom.

In fact for anyone new to Blogging, there’s an endless array of sites out there awaiting your perusal… but hell, who gets the time? That’s why I reckon its worth posting interesting blog-tidbits here on ABCycList.

 A Sydney blogger known as Pedaller recently posted some thoughts (see below) on how businesses/employers can help encourage bicycle commuting. I particularly like the idea about interest-free loans to buy bikes and equipment.

Pushing the pedal revolution

The Asia-Pacific regional director of professional services at VeriSign, a global IT company, is one of thousands of Melburnians who regularly commutes to work by bike. He believes that having senior staff support the practice has motivated others in the 40-person Melbourne office to discover a healthier alternative to sitting in a car stuck in traffic.

It also helps if Senior Staff ride because then the business is more likely to cater for the needs of cyclists in terms of storage, showers etc. I think his following comment is very important,

“I think having a lot of senior management including myself cycle gives it some sort of respectability

I couldn’t agree more. Maybe it’s time to turn the “company car” and “cabcharge” culture into the “company bicycle” culture? (or maybe the “pedapod ride” for those a little less activity inclined?) Verisign has also recognised the importance of building a sense of community in the organisation which is one reason they supply Verisign branded cycling jerseys, but they are also aware of the marketing potential of these jerseys being seen by others as employees make their way to and from work. This kind of marketing is cheaper than a BusPak poster, a car wrap, or a billboard. And Bicycle Victoria is doing its best to help to promote and support workplace BUGs. While I’m not sure that an IT company, for instance, would really like to associate ‘bug’ with their name for obvious reasons (even though some might argue that a Microsoft bug might be fitting), there are other, far more creative alternatives,

such as the “Wigs on Wheels” at the Victorian Bar, and “Brains in Gear” at Alzheimer’s Australia

And Arup deserves a special mention for its cycling initiatives which include,

piloting interest-free loans for staff to buy new bikes and accessories, and also organised Bicycle Victoria to run a bicycle safety awareness session.

So, come on Sydney, let’s hear about what your businesses are doing.
While some organisations have participated in the City of Sydney’s Cycling in the City program, I know of one business in Sydney that is really leading the way, Ecological Engineering, where every staff member cycles to work and they use bicycles to get between their office and meetings. There must be other similar pioneering businesses out there.

So, does anyone out there know if Mark Scott rides a bike? 

 

Welcome to our newly created Blog!

Dear ABCycListers,

The ABCycList was created as a forum for ABC Ultimo staff who are cyclists. Despite the roaring success of our emailing list, that version of the forum did pose some logistical/technical problems. Some ABCycListers did not want to receive every email, while others chose to restrict their own contributions to certain individuals, which ended up making it a bit confusing as to who received what. It was looking like becoming a huge job to co-ordinate the email traffic.

So the ABCycList Blog was born. This blog has no formal association or endorsement from the ABC (so its a bit naughty using the logo – I wonder how long it will be before we get shut down?). But really, this is little more than an electronic notice board for the fifty-five or so cyclists who have joined the list.

I’m still a bit new to this whizz-bang new-fangled stuff, so right here at the outset I’ll beg your patience in advance of things invariably stuffing up (and apologise for the crappy graphic art). However, hopefully, this blog should make the ABCycList easier to manage.

Below I have exported some of the correspondence generated by my earlier emails. I hope that’s okay with the authors – if anyone wants me to delete anything from the blog, send me an email direct. For anyone new to blogging, if you read through the “posts” and the “comments” attached to them, you’ll get an idea of how it works. In due course we can add new posts on specific subjects and open them up for “group discussion”. We can also add links, photos and other images.

Of course blogging does carry with it certain pitfalls, as one blogger in France discovered. Her story appears here:

So please keep it clean, and try not to defame anyone.

Meanwhile stay tuned for news on what’s happening on Australia’s national Ride2Work Day on Wednesday, October 4th.

Cheers, the ABCycList Spokes-Man.

Listen up Spokesfolk!

At a loss for what to do tomorrow?POETICA with Mike Ladd – The Art of Bicycling. Saturday 12 August, 3pm, repeat Thursday 18 August, 9pm. Featuring a selection of poems based on the many aspects of the bicycle and bicycling. Includes work from David Malouf, Seamus Heaney, Pablo Neruda, C.J.Stevens, ‘Banjo’ Patterson, Brenda Brooks and Lauris Edmond.

Also as a podcast, the greatest australian bloke on 2 wheels…..

& keep an ear out for Street Stories on 24/9 @ 1:30pm (repeat 1/10 @ 8pm).

radio national, the cyclist’s friend.

jc.

(John Cochrane)

Just a bunch of bloody Marxist vegans…

God speed to anyone joining the Manly Dam ride tomorrow. I’ve only recently changed by bike’s tyres from knobblies to slicks – little suspecting that this offer to do some XC/Trail riding was just around the corner. That said though, I love how much easier and faster it is to ride with slicks on the roads.

I’m off on leave next week (heading to the snow to tackle some mountains on skis), so you’ll have to nominate a different SpokesPerson if needs be.

Meanwhile, here’s some stirring words to psych up any ABCyclists hitting the trails this weekend…

“IT’S TIME to get bikes off our roads. As a mainstream form of transport, the bicycle has proved itself the equivalent of communism: a lovely idea that failed dismally in practice. Bikes are dangerous to ride and slow traffic, which creates more pollution.… Today, fewer than 1 per cent of all trips in Sydney are made by bike. The bike activists blame this on the paucity of bike lanes and tracks, but this is like Marxists excusing the failure of communism in the Soviet Union by blaming the nature of its regime.”

Those insightful thoughts were penned by ABC Radio National’s own Michael Duffy on December 3 last year. Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, his opinion piece was entitled “Off yer bike – for the sake of all of us on the roads”. Michael warned his readers that “Bike riders tend to be unhappy and resentful people.” (Personally, I struggle to imagine how anyone could stoop so low as to exude unhappiness or resentment anywhere near the sweet-natured Mr Duffy).

 For her part, Miranda Devine recently narrowed her sights on that most gentle of species, the herbivorous bike-rider. In her SMH Op-Ed of June 15 this year, “Traffic hazard ahead: vegan cyclists”, Miranda took a bead and put her foot down and let rip.

“Sydney is reaching gridlock and motorists are not to blame, writes Miranda Devine… Sydney has too many hills, too many narrow streets, too much traffic, too many buses, is too spread out and too hot and humid, to make riding a pushbike to work feasible for more than a handful of people…The road is not there to share. It is for cars.”

In fact, succumbing to triumphalism, Miranda celebrated the state government’s recent decision to scrab a bicycle lane on William Street and restore “what was once a beautiful six-lane road”. You go girl.

Our Growing ABCycList

Dear ABCycList,

How do you like that as an informal title for our growing mailing list? I’m quite pleased (if I do say so myself) with the little play on it being a “Psych List” – geddit? – as in, we can psych each other up to greater cycling heights (not to be confused with the Psyche List, which is that rather well-subscribed mail list of ABC staff who like to share their innermost thoughts about their tortured psyches). Anyhow, if you think “ABCycList” sucks, let me know.

Since my last email, we have gathered quite a few more names: Annabelle Quince, Ronald (Ron) Foley, Tim Palmer, John A. Thompson, Mark Tamhane, David Mark, Mark Cash, Gary Bryson, Gretchen Miller, Angus Kingston, John Jacobs, Brent Clough, Phil Carrick, Damien Beaumont, Justine Langford, Chris Norris, Steve Burstow, Maryke Steffens, Geoff Pow, Kevin May, David Garlick and Leah Abernethy. Cycling legend John Shovelan (the former Washington correspondent who kept ABC Radio listeners enthralled with his regular bicycle-saddle reports on his US trans-continental road trip) has also been nominated by Tim Palmer to serve as ABCCycList mascot and club captain in absentia (he’s still in the States). Personally I like the idea of Shov becoming a Boonie-Doll style hood ornament that we could all strap to the front of our bikes. Perhaps we should contact some manufacturers…. If we were to add Shov’s US email address to the ABCycList, it would bring us up to a total of 50 names now on the list – which when you think about it adds up to 100 tight butt cheeks (steady Alice).

 That’s certainly a force to be reckoned with, and maybe we could seek to us our numbers to exert some pressure on the ABC to address any bicycle-related issues that might exist. For example, MediaWatch EP Peter McEvoy has written with one suggestion:

“Dear ABC Bike Club coordinator, What about agitating for better bike racks and more spaces? The big racks down there are pretty useless – they don’t have many options for locking your bike and my bike has mudguards so can’t even fit. I suggest we take it to the Board. Peter.”

Of course we all know what a rabble-rousing trouble-maker Peter is, but he raises a good point. Does anyone else have difficulty? Can anyone suggest a better design? Another issue I’ve encountered is the slipperiness of the carpark floor, especially at the base of the entry ramp, where the corrugated surface gives way to polished concrete just at the point where you have to turn. Its treacherous when the floor is wet. My bike slipped out from underneath me there once, despite having knobbly mud tyres. I emailed ABC Building Services about it and suggested they should have some kind of textured surface there instead… perhaps a few board members nailed to the concrete would help, eh Peter?

Regards, Nick.

PS. Here’s Mark Whitfield’s contribution to the ABCycList.

Manly Dam MTB ride this weekend

Hi Fellow cyclists,

As Nick stated I regularly organise or am involved in group MTB rides. Sometimes they are XC/Trail rides, sometimes we do some DH shuttles, sometimes some semi long distance rides (ie to wollongong). Upcoming rides will include The Oaks at the blue mountains, a ride to wollongong, roadie miles at centennial park & trail riding and DH at Oxford falls.

There is a ride on this Saturday that you are all welcome to attend. Here are the details:

What: All day mountain bike ride in the hills behind Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Geared towards singlespeeders, but everyone is welcome.

When: Saturday 8 June. Meet at the Manly Wharf Turd 9:00-9:30 (8:45 Ferry departing Circular Quay).

Where: Rough route as follows:

Cruise along the surf beach bike path from Manly Wharf. Ride up Manly Dam. Follow the Pipeline through to Red Hill. Ride the trails through to the Wakehurst Parkway. Cross over to Oxford Falls. Ride ‘Rode to Nowhere’. Walk or ride if you are brave to the waterfall. Follow Deep Creek out to the Parkway again. Lunch at Narrabeen. Return through Red Hill and the back of the sports and rec centre. Pipeline to The Dam. Descend to Manly.

It is flexible though depending on the day.

Why: FUN

Cheers
Rod O’Hara

Here is my Youtube contribution:

On Yer Bikes!

Dear Assorted Bicycling Colleagues,

I’m pleased to report that there’s been an enthusiatic response to my original email, and I’ve received several names to add to the list.

The distribution list now includes Mark Whitfield, Stuart Miller, Rod O’Hara, Dav Verrecchia, Dave Martin, Sandy Sharp, Roland Clifton-Bligh and Antony Green.

The Chaser’s Alison McClymont and Oz Story’s Ben Cheshire have welcomed the mailing list, while Jonathan Harley, sounding exactly like the 7.30 Reporter that he is, has opined that it can help us all make a valuable contribution to the national debate. Hear hear.

For her part, Jennifer Macey has demonstrated the kind of initiative and drive expected of Rcaff reporters, vowing that she will not rest until Miranda Devine has become bicycle roadkill.

Alice Brennan strikes a more conciliatory stance – she reckons Miranda is really a fellow-traveller who is simply in denial – AB suspects that behind closed doors Miranda is secretly sliding her body into lycra. Perhaps she also likes to don dark glasses and go incognito to hang out with the unwashed bicycle couriers who make Barrack Street in the CBD look untidy.
Also, as you might have read elsewhere, Alice Brennan is keen to gather on Level B2 with anyone with a tight butt. In fact, Alice’s proposition leads us into a discussion of organising a “gathering”, an idea suggested by several of you. For example, Christopher Zinn has suggested a lunch-time bike outing, perhaps to a nearby harbourside park. Others have proposed a picnic. Perhaps with a tight-butt parade for Alice’s benefit.

Rod O’Hara meanwhile has pointed out that he regularly organises/attends mountain bike rides and has offered to pass on details of any upcoming “Epic”, “Downhill” or “X-Country” events.

If you’re more interested in recreational mountain biking, Josh Mullane reports that he rode the Manly Dam bike track last weekend on his brand new Trek dual-suspension mountain bike and had a hoot.

Finally, the ABC’s own resident nudist-on-wheels and Sydney Body Art Ride organiser, Jake (A lick of paint would work wonders) Lloyd Jones, has also embraced the concept of the mailing list. He’s also upped the ante with his own video link offering:

Not to be outdone however, I’m volleying back with this one: