Winter has finally decided to start showing itself to Christchurch, but that hasn’t stopped the opportunities to get on your bike or at least talk about bikes! Here’s this month’s run-down of coming cycling events; as always you can check out the full details on our Events and Activities Calendar.
- – First up this Sat 4th Jun from 1pm is a chance to reprise the postponed Frocks on Bikes ride in Halswell and Prebbleton. The weather forecast is looking a lot better than last weekend for this casual social ride. Starting from Westlake Reserve car park in Halswell, this ride will take you from Halswell to Prebbleton and back, taking in parts of the Southern Motorway cycleway and Little River Rail Trail, with a cafe stop in Prebbleton. At 25km, it’s a bit longer than normal, so make sure that you are OK with longer bike rides.
- – The team at RAD Bikes continue to hold their bi-weekly bike creation and maintenance sessions every Sunday (12-4pm) and Wednesday (5.30-8.30pm) at the RAD Shed in The Commons (cnr Kilmore and Durham Sts). Anyone is welcome to come along and try their hand at either working on their own bike or building a new one.
- – Next Wednesday’s RAD Bikes session (Wed 8th Jun 6-7pm) also sees the monthly Wheel Womyn Wednesday workshop. This is a casual monthly session run by the ladies of the RAD Shed to share knowledge, answer any technical questions you have, and just socialise with other bike peeps. This month’s topic: Chains!
– Need some bike entertainment indoors? Well I hope you already have your tickets to join the Big Bike Film Night at the Hollywood Cinema in Sumner. This is a festival of short films dedicated to all things biking, with plenty of action, drama, and humour to keep you loving the humble bicycle. The first night showing (Fri 10th Jun 8pm) was sold out, so an encore screening was scheduled for Sun 12th 6pm – now that’s sold out too! (maybe if you sweet-talk someone at the Cinema they can still find you a ticket)
- – Does your bike need a bit of TLC? The next ICEcycles Public Workshop will be happening on Sat 18th Jun 1-4pm at the Delta Community Support Trust (105 North Avon Rd, Richmond). Bring your bike along and the team will try to fix it, or show you how to fix it if you wish.
- – If you’re new to biking and still need a bit of assistance, then come along and join one of the Short Easy Rides for New Cyclists brought to you by Go Cycle Chch. Two rides are coming up in conjunction with other activities, one at 2.30pm on Sun 5th Jun during the RAD Bikes workshop in The Commons and one at 2pm on Sat 18th Jun during the ICEcycles workshop at Delta House. So why not take the opportunity to get your bike checked over first before your ride?
- – June brings us the depths of winter and that can mean only one thing – the Winter Solstice Night Light Bike Ride! For the 5th year running, come along to the Armagh St entrance of North Hagley Park from 5.30pm on Tue 21st Jun to celebrate the shortest day of the year with a cruisy ride around North Hagley Park. Decorate your bike with your brightest bike bling so we can create a continuous spectacle around the park. This is a family-friendly activity; parents are welcome to bring their kids along for the ride (wrap up warm!). Afterwards everyone can adjourn to to Fiddlesticks Bar and other local eateries for a beer or hot chocolate and discuss how to help make Christchurch a world class safe cycling city!
{While we’re busy brightening up our bikes for the Solstice Ride, that’s an opportune time to remind everyone to be bright every time you’re out and about riding, especially at night}
OK, once again there’s plenty of cycling activity happening around Christchurch – we hope you find something to take your fancy. Otherwise, just get out and ride your bike anyway!
What will you be going to this month?