The name of this website is “Cycling in Christchurch”; as the name implies, it is focused on what is happening cycling-wise in our fair city (or occasionally what we could be inspired by from elsewhere). The name of this site is not “Lennyboy’s worldview of cycling in Christchurch”. So, while I do tend to write a lot of the posts on here (2/3 apparently), that is largely a consequence of few other people offering me material!
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy writing on this topic, and it is fun to see some blog posts get a life of their own in terms of discussion and being shared widely. But I can tell you that writing a blogpost takes a fair amount of time – and I tend to be fairly busy already… It’s one reason why I have tried to simplify my job sometimes by posting short “Photo of the Day” items or recently started delving into the archives to re-post some material on “Flashback Fridays”.
But what I really enjoy is getting contributions from you, our dear readers. No doubt your worldview on cycling in our fair city is quite different, depending on what you’re riding, where you’re riding, how much you ride, and maybe where else in the world you have ridden. Chances are there is someone else out there who, if they heard your story, might think “hey, that’s just like me!”
We’ve had some great contributions over the years from guest readers, both semi-regular and one-off, my thanks to them all. Some of the highlights for me include:
- Chris Morahan’s contributions from his own Talking Transport website, like his observations about the amount of cycling in the cold and wet
- Jan Jakob Bornheim’s idea of a regional cycling node network
Robyn Speed’s inspiring story of how she got back into cycling at age 50- Jim Slim’s thoughts on a new cycling network for Christchurch
- Meerkat’s dalliances with riding sans helmet
- Dan Hanson’s simple question about a “share the road” campaign in Christchurch
- Ian Chesterman’s creative thoughts on trialling street closures with temporary tools
- Taylah Mawson’s experiences from riding around the city
- Evan O’Donoghue’s great lessons learned from cycling around Chch
Some have been 100 words, some have been 1000 words; I have loved them all! If you have any doubts or concerns about adding your contribution to our little community here, hopefully these earlier words will dispel most of these.
So please, get on your thinking caps and drop me a line.
Hi Lennyboy, I relish the articles on here and share them widely, so thanks for your great work and effort. They are always well written and easily read.
For other topics, I have a few thoughts, and potentially more from a female riders perspective:
-choosing a comfortable bike seat and the height (women raise this concern more than men in my experience). Eg installation position on seat post, cushion vs flexure, the commonness of saddle sores and how the skin eventually toughens up – this curly aspect is worth being far more open about! And when is worth investing (eg Brooks when my saddle was worth more than my bike)
-Pannier and basket options, how these can attach, and how to avoid having to put bags on your handlebars (noting this is illegal which I never knew…)
-given ongoing changes to cycle rules, and others, and lack of awareness by drivers on these, any update on rule change process, including where rules are different here than elsewhere in the world.
-discuss idea for driver relicencing to include a current theory test to help reinform drivers of the rules esp with regard to vulnerable road users, and appetite from government perspective
-how to use courtesy on a bike to build positive driver rapport, and the pitfalls or less safe contexts (eg waved across multiple queued lanes by one driver, or waving thanks when it’s actually a road rule that the thanked driver observed )
-how would you constructive ask other cyclists to obey road rules where there is a good reason to do so, to build positive interactions between ourselves, eg ‘please don’t try undertake on my left, I don’t expect that’
-keeping left on shared paths, how to politely ask pedestrians to keep left, and the perplexing lack of arrows on paths (tactical intervention opportunity…?). Could mention the path width and surface quality issues in Hagley, and how to deal with pedestrians who like to run/walk with dogs and can hog the path
-role of suburban/local bike shops and need to support them over competing international shipping options
-chain maintenance and how often to change the chain (I was surprised often this needs to be done to avoid wearing cassettes and having to replace the lot, and maybe commentary on the fixed gear bikes with chain guards that are so common in Europe which largely avoid chain wear issues – a guest post opportunity… )
-how to lock your bike to avoid theft, ie lit public location, thick enough cable, include front tyre if can, and should you take your helmets and lights with you? Details to have recorded of your bike, police database Operation SNAP, and how to report a theft and try find your bike.
-snap send solve plug, and possibly feedback to the developers for a cycle specific category, and little proactive things we could do ourselves (eg rotate back twisted sign posts)
-how to interact with these users who can rarely indicate or manoeuvre as easily, and proactive ways to ease mode tensions eg moving scooters away from annoying parked places on cycleways, try a scooter yourself to understand how they work
-lack of cycle parking in CBD, and how to raise this, and where to park instead in a pinch, eg area trees ok, are poles/fences better, can you claim a vehicle parking area to make a point, are cycles exempt from restrictions/towing signs… Etc.
A big unorganised brain dump!
Some great ideas, Gracie, some that I have previously considered writing more on – thanks! Of course, you are always welcome to contribute some of your own thoughts on these (I suspect that you have a few things to say about some of them…)