Category: Featured

Most recent post here is highlighted on the front page – good for topical reminders of past posts

Cycling in Zürich: An uphill challenge

After my time in Munich, I spent a brief few days in the Swiss city of Zürich, a city of about 400,000 people (although there are about 1.5 million in the greater urban area). Unlike the afore-mentioned German …

Unterhaching, Munich: Cycling and good planning

While I was in Munich for a week, I made a visit to one of the outlying suburbs of Unterhaching. Technically it is a self-contained town just 10 km away from central Munich (about 20 minutes by train); what …

Vienna: Cycling on the Rise

After the hustle-bustle of Velo-City in Nantes, I headed across the continent to the Danube and the Austrian capital of Vienna. With 1.8 million people, Vienna is a major European hub and also well known for its fabulous …

What can Christchurch learn from The Netherlands?

Having had a month ranging far and wide around The Netherlands (and a month since to reflect), I think I’m starting to see some common trends emerging in terms of what makes the Dutch get on their bikes so much …

Münster – Germany does Cycling too

While I was in the Netherlands I was based very close to the border with Germany. So it was an easy train ride to hop over one day and visit the German city of Münster, just 60km away. Why Münster? …

Reflections on a Month in the UK

My time in the UK during my sabbatical has now come to an end and I’ve moved on to the Netherlands (more on that in the future!). I’ve provided a few thoughts and photos on London and Bristol specifically …

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 …

Starting with a Solid Base

For anyone who has spent the past 20-odd months living in Christchurch, the importance of a solid foundation is pretty obvious. Otherwise sturdy homes and other buildings were no match for ground conditions that turned into quicksand when the big …