Cycling in Christchurch

What “Quick Wins” would you like?

Hidden beneath all the hoopla about the City Council’s Major Cycleways programme, there is another small but potentially very useful line item in the Council budget. $250,000 was allocated for each of the next two years for “cycleways targeted …

Riding Long Distances

When I told you the other week about the ride that my son and I took out to Sumner, I mentioned that we clocked up 30km on the trip. For some people relatively new to cycling, that might seem …

So what’s a Sharrow and do we want them here?

While cycle lanes and paths are all very nice, there are still many situations where it is not feasible or sensible to install them. For example, there may be limited road width to play with (and no politically easy way …

A Ride to Sumner (and the promise of things to come)

So last weekend, my youngest boy was keen to go on a big ride somewhere. OK, I said, how about out to Sumner? It’s been a long time since I biked out there and a lot has happened in southeast …

Cycling to Events

As the golden weather starts to kick in, we’re also starting to see a lot more fun events to get to around Christchurch. But will you be able to ride your bike to them? And will there be some bike …

Where should our next Open Streets be held?

For a first-time event, the recent Christchurch Open Streets ciclovía was a fairly successful activity (especially considering the so-so weather). Lots of people enjoyed various activities around town without the distraction of motor vehicles. So, on the assumption that we …

Dealing with Cycling Safety in NZ

In the fog of overwork during the last few weeks, one item I haven’t highlighted yet is the release of the final report by the Coroner’s Office of their investigation into cycling safety. As you may recall, this was …

Learning from the Dutch

There’s a stereotype about the hard-working Dutch, and Christchurch put that to the test over the past few days. As mentioned last week, the city was host to two visiting experts in cycle planning from The Netherlands, and they had …

Guest Post – Parking: The Critical Issue

Here’s another guest contribution from occasional blogger Robert:

If you drive a car, parking at the destination is always an important consideration for the success of the journey. Critical even. “Free parking“, “easy parking”, “convenient parking”, “handy parking” are all …

Cycling and Hills

So I’m in my new home now and it’s slightly up into the Port Hills. This means a speedy ride downhill at the start of the day, but a little bit of a climb at the end (only 400m of …

Cycling to/from New Places

So, as I mentioned previously, I’ve just moved house and that means a new ride to work and other destinations. It can be a bit disorienting at first to work out the best way to/from each place. So how do …

“Accessible City” Plan – What’s In it for Cycling?

At long last, the Government (through CERA) has released its final transport strategy for the central city, “An Accessible City”. It’s been almost exactly one year since the draft Plan was released, and about six months since it went …

Biking – Easier on the Body

I’ve had a few significant aches and pains lately (mostly self inflicted – don’t play football against your son’s team…) and have been feeling less mobile than normal. This was then exacerbated when I moved into my new house last …

Separated Cycleways: Which Separators are Best?

Separated cycleways are coming to town as part of the Major Cycleway Routes; we’ve already seen one recent instance along Ilam Road (still waiting for the coloured surfacing to go down there, by the way). There are a …

A Boost for Avon River network

We previously told you about the vision of the Avon-Otakaro Network (AvON) to have a corridor running along the Avon River through parts of the red-zoned Christchurch East for recreational activities, nature reserves and wetlands, and walking/cycling routes. Now that …

Guest Post: Cycling in the Netherlands

Here’s an interesting guest post from regular viewer Frank Dohmen (Cyclomaniac):

After been away for 7 years we decided to visit family and friends in our home country the Netherlands. Since our friends and family are quite spread over the …

Open Streets was a Blast!

Well it’s taken a few days (too much work in the day job…), but here are some pics from last Sunday’s Open Streets event in town.There are also some great photos on the City Council’s Facebook site.

It …

Velo-City Global Cycling Conference is coming to Adelaide 2014

Psst, want to go to a world-class cycling conference right on your back door? In case you hadn’t heard, the Velo-City Global cycling conference series is coming to Adelaide in May 2014.

Velo-City is something of an institution in …

Road Works Around the Rebuild

Earlier in 2013 following persistent complaints about the management of site safety around roadway work sites from people riding bikes, members of Spokes asked for a meeting with SCIRT (Stronger Chch Infrastructure Rebuild Team) to discuss how things can be …

The spirituality of cycling

I’ve always been convinced that one of the greatest benefits of cycling is a spiritual benefit – the sense of appreciating the beauty of the world & feeling more connected to it as I zoom around the Port Hills. I …

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