by Alastair Smith (185pp., Awa Press, Wellington, RRP $35)
Here’s something that might be handy as a Xmas stocking-filler!
Over the years I have collected a variety of books on cycling for transport and urban cycle commuting. Invariably they …
Category: Cycle-centric ideas
Bright ideas about cycling
An Awesome Bike Rack from an Awesome Team
You may recall that the wonderful folks at the Ministry of Awesome held a bike rack design competition. After many entries, short-listing, and public voting, a winner was found in Jonathan Hall’s koru-inspired design. And just the other night …
Xmas: What to get the Biking-Nut in your Life
Shock horror, there are now fewer than 25 shopping days until Christmas! Unless you’re one of those really annoying organised people who gets all their gift shopping done by August, you might be starting to think about what to get …
The 1000-Day Challenge
The draft Transport Plan for central Christchurch has attracted a lot of comment both positive and negative about its impact on cycling. Now the Council’s Chch Transport Strategic Plan has just been finalised too, setting a city-wide 30-year vision for …
Will Christchurch be an Accessible City for Cycling?
CERA released its draft central city Transport Plan “An Accessible City” last Thursday (hmm, just before a holiday weekend – trying to bury things?). This follows on from the Central City Blueprint that we saw a little over 100 …
Christmas Shopping
It’s that time of year, Christmas shopping time and I’m looking for the best possible present for an old friend, the city of Christchurch. Yes, she’s had a hard time lately so she deserves the very best present I can …
Separated Bikeways in Portland
I know I rabbit on about places like Portland, Oregon, but it seems to me that they are in a similar place to us. A reasonable amount of cycling at present (~6% commuters) largely based on developing a network of …
Are you “Interested but Concerned”?
When trying to encourage more people to cycle, it’s helpful to “know your audience”. There’s an interesting theory that was developed in Portland, Oregon, to help understand who might want to cycle for transportation. Its intuitive logic has been so …
Hagley Park – Twisted Priorities
Dear City Council, I see that you have been really busy trying to get a big wastewater pipe across Hagley Park for the last couple of years. I understand that these things take time, and the earthquakes didn’t help.
Still, …
The AA does Cycling
You heard it right: the NZ Automobile Association, the champion of motorists in this country, has just released the latest issue of its Directions magazine, with a bumper crop of articles on cycling. And it’s rather nice…
The issue …
Spring River Festival – Labour Weekend
Looking for something to do this weekend? How about getting along and enjoying what the lower Avon River has to offer! 2012 is the inaugural year of the Spring River Festival to be held this Labour weekend all along the …
Cargo bikes
I recently came across this article about how Europe was using more and more cargo bikes to replace delivery trucks …
…“A growing number of businesses are using cargo cycles, a move towards sustainable and free-flowing city traffic that is
Googling your Way around Town by Bike
An interesting development was added to everybody’s favourite mapping service Google Maps in the past month. NZ’ers can now experience getting directions for cycling, which will make use of any handy cycling shortcuts such as off-road paths. Viewers can also …
Is Anyone Out There?
Sometimes it can be a thankless job trying to be a blogger. You put your ideas, experiences, frustrations, etc out there for the world to see and… nothing. Not a peep of response, whether to say “hey, I agree!”, “that …
How do we make the new Christchurch cycle-friendly? Fri 14th Sep
An interesting opportunity coming up to see some cycling inspiration both close to home and from around the world: To wrap up the University of Canterbury’s 2012 Eco Week activities there will be a “double feature” on campus next Friday …
Public Bikes for Christchurch?
An interesting news item in The Press on Thursday about a young entrepreneur looking to introduce public bikes to Christchurch. Bicycle Ventures director Robert Henderson has partnered with fellow public bike scheme Nextbike in Auckland, and already has trials …
Moving house by bicycle
Ok so this is just a dolls house, but it did have to go off to the city mission to unclutter our house and its pretty awkward to put on the carrier of my bike. No worries for a bike …
Cycling improvements in the central zone
Has anyone else noticed that the cyclists at the beginning of the ‘Introducing the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan’ video are not wearing helmets? I was expecting a huge outcry, in the same way we had in Auckland when the new …
Banana box challenge take-2
It’s scary how much stuff we need to put into boxes. I had another trip to the supermarket this time with the large 3 wheel bike trailer to carry boxes on and managed to get 24 boxes on without even …
Bike Rack Competition Ministry of Awesome
Ministry of Awesome are running a bike rack design competition, the winner of which will be built and installed in Cashel Mall. If you want to vote for your favourite go to here. If you’d like to vote for …