Cycling and the job search

Jeff’s Ten Reasons to Start Biking While Looking for Job

Cycling and the retired footballer

Ex-Wallaby, the gorgeous George Gregan has taken up mountain biking

Bike parking at work?

Commuters and would-be commuters, have a bash at Bicycle Victoria’s bike parking workplace audit 2009.

Two-wheeled paramedics

Paramedics cycle to emergency patients:

A spokesman for the London Ambulance Service said: “We have increased our use of fast response cars, motorcycles and bicycles to navigate London’s busy roads.”

[twitterer]

Cool and rugged

Can a folder bike be “cool?” Yeah, I think the Dahon Mμ UNO probably counts as cool.

On the other hand, the Montague Paratrooper is “the tactical mountain bike that folds.” Whoa! (There’s also a civilian version.)

Go and ride

Among the rides mentioned by YarraBUG radio, the Mums & Dads on Bikes Rides caught my eye:

Kids in bike seats welcome! Kids in trailers welcome! Kids on training wheels welcome! Kids on tag-a-longs welcome! Kids on own bikes welcome! Want to ride with your rides for fun, exercise and socialising? Join us on one of our easy rides to one of Melbourne’s many child-friendly destinations. Rides take place the first Sunday of every month. Rides leave from Jika Jika Community Centre, Plant Street, Northcote, Contact Kathy kbrunning@bigpond.com.

How cool is that?

It’s a fair cop

The Londoner’s stolen bike double-take

“Mr Fletcher? This is Fulham police station. We think we may have recovered your stolen bicycle.”

Braving a budget bike

Helen Pidd is trialling “Britain’s cheapest new bike”. It will be interesting to see how that goes.

That reminds me of Steve’s Bike of Doom and BT Humble’s Budget Bike.

Gadgets

• B.iCycle: iPhone as cyclometer

• Building a strong flexible bicycle trailer coupler

• I first mentioned the Gyrobike a few years ago and I’m pleased to see that it’s soon to be released for general purchase. This is a good thing.

Get off the grass

What’s stopping the bamboo bike from shooting into the mainstream?

I hypothesise that it’s a lack of a high-profile race winner on such a machine. But if ever there’s a bamboo bike Tour de France winner, it will become the bike material du jour for the ‘new golf’ set.

“Angular, dude”

The Bau Bike provokes some hilarious comments at MetaFilter

Doyle’s dream down the drain

The Lord Mayor of Melbourne had a dream of returning cars to Swanston St. A recent survey of options rejected that idea whole-heartedly, with most respondents preferring Option 6 “Decreased motor vehicle access”.

I’d caution excitable cyclists that this wouldn’t necessarily make Swantson St a pedaller’s paradise—avoiding tangling with pedestrians could become even more a factor than it is now.

World’s biggest, deepest velodrome

Hydroelectric power station Avce – Fixed gear heaven [via A Woman and a Fixed Wheel and Bottles and Chains]

Attitudes?

• Questioning attitudes towards cyclists

• I think this guys is confusing “civil disobedience” with “complete dipshittery” [twitterer]

• How Do You Respond to Bicycle Haters? [twitterer]

• Bike safety public service announcements “Are ads like this counterproductive to cycling advocacy?”

Biggest winners?

Government subsidies for people to lose weight and get fit [twitterer]

Biggest losers?

Connex and Yarra Trams dumped in favour of MTR and Keolis

Ride to work, reduce absenteeism

According to Dutch research firm TNO if the number of employees regularly cycling to work increases by 1%, employers would save approximately 27 million euro per year in reduced sick time. via [A view from the cycle path](http://hembrow.blogspot.com/2009/01/cyclists-are-ill-less-often.html) and Commute by Bike]

Golf is the new cycling

Hooray! Someone’s said it at last: Cycling is not the new golf [twitterer]

Bici d’italiana

Italians do it better. [twitterer]

Der Bergmönch

Bergmönch is an interesting variant on the folding bike: “hiking uphill, wheeling downhill”. [thanks tom]

Bus + Bike

According to the Christchurch News:

New Zealand buses could soon sport bike racks after a successful six-month trial in Christchurch.

[via e.Can]

Life is stranger than a B-grade movie

In what could be a B-grade movie plot, a woman staged an accident to cover-up the hit-and-run death of a cyclist. She’s going to jail. [twitterer]

Voice of (bitter) experience

Good advice from Surly Dave on how to avoid the worst that airline baggage handlers can dish out.

Media, attitudes and responsibility

Do Cyclists Have A Death Wish?:

We take for granted the dominance of the car in our transport system but the might-is-right attitude is downright undemocratic, and proclaims that as a society we believe someone in a $40,000 car is more important than a person on a $200 bike.

And on a related topic: Attitudes to cycling

And here’s some sobering reading on risks, safety and responsibility on the roads. And on a related topic, Risks from cyclists.

Electric bikes: not just for girls anymore

Apparently men can ride electric-powered bikes too. Who’d have thunk it?

Rather dashing

Facial Hair, Tweed, and Fixies in London

Bike rack designs for Los Angeles

Los Angeles is holding a bike rack design competition

The City of Los Angeles welcomes the creative energy of the greater community to assist in the creation of this important element of street furniture — the bicycle rack.

And why not? It seems to have been successful in New York.

Real-life Bicycle Repair Man?

Does Portland have a “bike phantom” super hero?

Sigh, inevitably: “Bicycle Repair Man, thank goodness you’ve come!”

Photo credit: untitled by lulazzo on Flickr

Almost every one of the school’s 370 students uses an environmentally friendly mode of transport to get to class.

The school’s bike racks are at bursting point, while scooters, skateboards and roller-blades are also favoured by students.

Isn’t that bloody marvellous?

It’s part of the School Travel Planning initiative by the Victorian Government—in fact Albert Park PS even features on the TravelSmart web site as a case study:

‘Travel Buddies’ was an initiative of Albert Park’s with the objective of connecting children who were neighbours or on the same routes to school. A less formal approach than the Walking School Bus program, it aimed to increase the number of children and parents walking together.

A great idea, with some unexpected extra side-effects:

Whilst schools such as Albert Park have seen a growing change in student and parent attitudes toward modes of travel other than the car, other spin-offs became evident. The focus on community connections (such as travel buddies, school neighbours and stories in the school newsletter), helped to develop friendships within the school community and, in the words of the school ‘it is through this lens that positive changes can be made to children’s health and environmental health’.

Check-off the benefits:

• healthier kids

• reduced exhaust emissions

• reduced traffic congestion around the school

• a stronger local community

And now ponder: why isn’t there more of this? Why is this news and not the norm?

On returning from a recent ride she reports that

I was fuming, not relaxed, having had several close calls with pedestrians in my path – yet again.

She needs to get a bit more relaxed about things. The quid pro quo of riding on shared pathways is—surprise, surprise—that you’ve got to share them with pedestrians. It’s a no-brainer, really.

The paths are well signposted, so why is it that pedestrians insist upon using the cycle path, sometimes two or three abreast?

Because people who are out walking together like to hold a conversation and they don’t necessarily appreciate that they are in a traffic lane.

Certainly, ringing the bike bell to signal we are coming up behind is an option, but I have found from experience there is a dilemma: to ring or not to ring? I have been abused for doing both. And ringing the bike bell doesn’t guarantee a response.

Ringing the bell in not an option, it’s the only option. I’ve found it consistently reliable for making groups of pedestrians sometimes two or three abreast collapse immediately into single-file or at least bunch-up to give room to overtake.

Holly should keep ringing her bell regardless of some occasional abuse. And instead of just complaining about it, she could have explained what the ringing of a bike bell really means—a missed opportunity to educate thousands of readers and maybe even change their attitudes.

The worst offenders are those who listen to music while they walk. They have no idea of what is going on around them. They amble along, oblivious, and then hurl abuse for startling them as you try to edge past.

Unfortunately many cyclists are also guilty of this one. It doesn’t really matter whether headphone-wearers can hear or not, when you approach them from behind you must assume that they can’t.

After she’s also railed at dog-walkers and pram-pushers, Holly finally comes across as not particularly willing to share. It certainly sounds like she’s not enjoying her riding.

Who knows? Perhaps it would be less stressful riding on the road.

Yeah, perhaps she should give it a try.

If any letters are published in follow-up to this it will be interesting to see their tone—no doubt they will be at the same level of reasoned discussion…

Incidentally I don’t agree with the conclusions Phil makes about this over at Spinopsys. I think that bike paths do serve an important purpose—as I’m sure the 4000-odd daily commuters on Melbourne’s trails would agree. But I don’t believe for a moment that they will lead to a magical world of cycling, they are merely another public resource that must be shared will all kinds of users. Just like the roads.

With regard to the cyclist, I feel sympathy for anyone who inadvertently takes a life but this incident occurred as a direct result of his own recklessness and he will need to reconcile his conscience to that as best he can. Certainly a fine for failing to stop at a red light is not sufficient penalty for the loss of life.

The broader implications—for the Hell Ride specifically and Melbourne cyclists in general—is likely to be profound, and without wishing to disrespect Mr Gould’s memory I would like to discuss some of these things here.

Before I go any further, I should clarify that I am not a competitive road cyclist, and I’ve never been on (or even seen) the Hell Ride. This means that I can only comment on this Melbourne tradition from what I know through reputation and report.

Then why am I qualified to comment at all? Because everything any cyclist does in this town reflects in some way on me and every other cyclist. The non-cycling public does not differentiate: to them, all bloody cyclists are the same.

Furthermore, I consider myself a considerate and law-abiding cyclist, which means that I ride a roadworthy machine, ride with consideration for other road users, and obey the road rules as they apply to cyclists. I do not under any circumstances run red lights. That’s not about taking the high moral ground, it’s about getting home safely in the evening and living to see my child grow to adulthood.

The collision

More information about the collision may or may not emerge. But at the moment more than a few questions remain, among them:

1. Why didn’t Mr Gould see the danger in time?

This isn’t about blaming the victim but Mr Gould was a local who regularly walked in the area, so he must have been familiar with how pack riders travel on Beach Rd. So what was peculiar about the conditions when he stepped out onto the road on Saturday? And what are the implications for someone who is not familiar with the Beach Rd pack riders?

2. Why didn’t the cyclist see Mr Gould?

At first, the answer seems obvious: pack riders watch the wheel in front of them—to do otherwise is to risk bringing down the whole bunch. But Simon Johanson said in his eyewitness account that There were cries of “slowing” and “lights” from several riders, so the riders at the head of the bunch had seen the lights change and were trying to stop the bunch. If a rider didn’t have a clear view, why wouldn’t they stop? And it sounds like several riders continued through the red light.

3. Is the penalty sufficient?

We are appalled when we hear of lightweight penalties handed out to drivers who are responsible for the deaths of cyclists. We should be equally appalled if this rider is punished only with the fine that applies to failing to stop at a red signal. I’m not interested in lynch-mobs or example-making, merely that natural justice should be done. The Herald Sun reckons that

under the right circumstances, cyclists could be charged with manslaughter, which carries a maximum 20-year jail term.

Conduct endangering life could carry a 10-year jail term.

Are either of these the appropriate charges for this cyclist? I really don’t know, but I think any fair-minded person would consider a fine of a few hundred dollars a woefully inadequate penalty for negligently causing the death of another human being.

Cyclists demand to be treated as equals on the road, and (as I’m fond of saying) certain responsibilities come with the privilege of using the road, so the cyclist should be appropriately charged. The media seems to be implying that cyclists are to blame for inadequacies or loopholes in the law that don’t allow the cyclist to be charged with culpable driving. However, if this cyclist is to be charged under another law (such as conduct endangering life) then as a society we must be prepared to accept that drivers could be similarly charged.

The Hell Ride

By its very name and somewhat glamourous reputation, the Hell Ride probably does tend to attract a thrillseeker element, not just those like Timboy who think of it as an important part of the training regime of many racing cyclists.

In commenting on the behaviour of the Hell Ride, we need to be careful not to over generalise. It seems likely to me that in the same way non-cyclists generalise about cyclists, cyclists who do not participate in the Hell Ride could demonise those who do. There probably are a goodly number of responsible riders in the Hell Ride pack and they have been unfairly tarred with the one brush.

But people freely choose to go on the Hell Ride, and as such they bear some common responsibility for what the group does. I’m not saying the group as a whole is responsible for the death of Mr Gould; but I do not find convincing claims by Hell Ride regulars that it’s being spoiled by a new ratbag element. A group that size has the social influence to make everyone play by its rules or go away, but it clearly has not been exercising that influence.

The Hell Ride needs to clean up its reputation. And it needs to do so for the good of all Melbourne cyclists.

Media feeding frenzy

The manner in which the media has reported this incident is not irrelevant. The mainstream media plays a critical role in shaping public opinion and attitudes, including the attitude of the non-cycling majority toward the cycling minority.

As expected the Herald Sun has had a bit of a feeding-frenzy on this issue, with lurid headlines that include such balanced phrases as “bike bullies”, “left for dead by speeding cyclists”, and “renegade cyclists”. Without reading any further, it’s easy to see what the editorial line is over at News Ltd.

Nice hook

I can’t help but conclude that the prominence given to this death is in large part due to the involvement of the Hell Ride. By way of contrast, on July 10 a 37-year old man was stuck by a cyclist while walking across a street in Brisbane; he later died in hospital. News.com.au dedicated four whole sentences to that death (and they were taken from the AAP feed). There was no other follow-up in the media on that equally tragic case.

What made the death of James Gould so much more newsworthy was a juicy, eye-grabbing hook: The Hell Ride was to blame.

Emotional

And there has been some emotional language used to describe the Hell Ride:

a speeding cyclist in an unofficial race called the “Hell Ride”

Herald Sun, 28 August

Speeding, eh?

The notorious Hell Ride is an unsanctioned weekly race in which up to 200 cyclists ride along Beach Rd and Nepean Highway at speeds of up to 60km/h.

Herald Sun, 30 August

Since when was travelling “at speeds of up to 60km/h” in a 60km/h zone considered speeding? And to the best of my knowledge, the Hell Ride is not a race, it’s a training ride.

the controversial “Hell Ride”, a thrillseekers’ weekend tradition along Beach Road since 1984

The Age, 30 August

Anyone who has ever encountered the Hell Ride will know it has been a whirring accident waiting to happen.

With no regard for the rule of law, it roars around the bay with adrenalin-charged abandon, the riding equivalent of bungy jumping with a frayed rope.

Herald Sun, 31 August

But to be fair, this isn’t new. An account of the Hell Ride from The Age in 2002 is equally emotive, saying that it:

tears down Beach Road and the Nepean Highway at speeds of up to 60 kmh.

This is the Hell Ride, Melbourne’s most famous and controversial cycling tradition…

…the Hell Ride has transformed into a heart-thumping, ferocious race, which at the height of summer attracts up to 200 cyclists.

Cyclists are heartless bastards

My favourite example of extremely emotive reporting of this issue is the claim by the Herald Sun that Mr Gould was “left for dead by speeding cyclists”:

Dozens of speeding cyclists failed to help a dying man knocked down by a rider during a dangerous bayside race.

Witnesses said up to 50 cyclists continued their 60km/h charge in the so-called Hell Ride after the elderly man was struck.

But in the same article we learn that:

only the 30-year-old cyclist from St Kilda who hit Mr Gould and a handful of others stopped.

And from an eyewitness account in The Age:

Another bystander and I rushed to the man’s side…Other riders pulled up to help, including a casualty doctor and nurse.

This is absurd. How many people does it take to provide first aid and call an ambulance? A maximum of three first-aiders and one person to make a call. Why do we not criticise all the motorists who drive past the scene of a road accident? It’s obvious: once there are enough people to render assistance, anyone else is just a sightseer and in the way.

Absolutely no benefit would be served by “up top 50 cyclists” stopping at the scene. This is pure malicious spin on the part of the Herald Sun and it’s a disgrace.

Cyclists react

Hell Ride participants

In general, I think participants in the Hell Ride have done a pretty bad job of managing their media image, in particular their tendency to duck collective responsibility and blame a small ratbag element is not convincing. For example, Robert Crowe was quoted in the Herald Sun:

We’ve all been worried about something tragic happening for a long time

Which prompts the question: if regular Hell Ride participants knew that this was an “accident waiting to happen”, why was nothing done to stop it? Maybe it was. Maybe the dangerous riders have been told to fuck off but they just kept coming?

But regular participant Timboy defends the Hell Ride on his blog:

Let’s get the facts straight. The Hell ride does not travel at 60km/h, the average speed is more like 40km/h. The Hell ride bunch doesn’t run red lights and takes up one lane of traffic for the majority of the ride. Furthermore, the ride rarely ever contains 100 riders let alone 200.

…the way the incident has been reported in the media suggests that a phalanx of 200 cyclists ran this poor man down running a red light at 60km/h.

Bicycle Victoria

I don’t think the comments made by Bicycle Victoria General Manager Harry Barber were particularly helpful:

These are the cyclists’ equivalent of illegal drag racers…A small group have started up this illegal activity. Their priority is to stick together and so they ignore traffic signals. The Hell Ride is the despair of the responsible riders. They are a tiny minority and they give all cyclists a bad name.

The drag racing analogy is a bit extreme, and the problem with it is that (as quoted) Barber doesn’t clarify what is actually illegal. Pack riding is not illegal. Ignoring traffic signals is. The trouble is, his comments make it sound like Bicycle Victoria thinks that pack riding is inherently a problem.

I’m inclined to agree with Timboy:

Likening the Hell Ride to illegal drag racing is irresponsible, and does nothing to improve the relationship between cyclists, pedestrians and other road users.

As pedaller rightly points out, Bicycle Victoria is not the only (or even most appropriate) body that could comment on this, but CycleSport Victoria is eerily silent about it: there’s absolutely no mention of this on their web site, although they have posted a number of other news items since the weekend. Although the Hell Ride is not endorsed by them, you’d think it would be in their interests to come out with some kind of statement.

The Hell Ride web site looks like it’s not currently active, but it looks like there’s been no special effort to publish some kind of comment there.

Better responses from cycling organisations have been made by the St Kilda Cycling Club, who have placed a short and sincere notice on their home page, and Wheels of Justice, who roundly condemned cyclists who break the law. Comments from the Amy Gillett Foundation were also reported in the Herald Sun.

Bike bloggers

Naturally, cycling bloggers have all had something to say:

With her Wheels of Justice helmet off, cfsmtb called for calm responses and good behaviour on the roads. Likewise, itemisation calls for riders to adhere to the road rules and laments that bike/car relations in Melbourne are reaching some sort of crisis point.

pedaller lambasted the media and then Harry Barber, and Damian M lambasted asshole cyclists (and took a swipe at pedaller as well). Surly Dave was equally scathing of Melbourne’s legions of cafe racer nobodies in the Hell Ride.

Interestingly, Sydney roadie Phil Gomes notes that a minority who seem to take particular delight in running the reds can also be found in other large pack rides—so it’s not just the Hell Ride that needs to get on top of this.

And from Chicago, bicycle diaries described the Hell Ride as a lycra critical mass fuled [sic] by amphetamines—surely he means adrenaline!

After the accident, the bikers gathered, not unlike massers after a bad confrontation with a cager, to blame their irresponsible colleagues and claim that these few idiots don’t represent the majority.

Hmm, this similarity to Critical Mass hadn’t escaped me either.

Other cyclists

From the letters page of The Age, Matthew Webber puts much of the blame on the police, and bugger personal responsibility:

Not once have I seen a red-light-runner nabbed by police, nor have I ever seen a policeman pull over a bunch for disobeying the two abreast rule.

This is, of course, pure bullshit.

More reasonably, Anthony Siepolt cautions that

the Hell Ride should not be confused with the thousands of other riders who safely and courteously ride on Beach Road every day of the week, getting together for fitness, training and camaraderie.

Or indeed, confused with cyclists getting their exercise on roads and trails anywhere.

Public perceptions

Apart from the media and cyclists, others have taken this opportunity to surface their antipathy towards cyclists, not all of them as hilariously as professional shit-stirrer Andrew Landeryou.

The author of the appropriately named Mangled Thoughts moves swiftly from the actual issues surrounding this incident to suicidal pedestrians on St Kilda Rd, a commie plot to have the roads handed over to the cretins (that is, cyclists), and his own thinly veiled lycra fetish.

At Diogenes Lamp we’re told that

There is no question that the greatest menace on today’s roads is the bicyclist. They take absolutely no notice of stop signs, traffic lights, or trams stopping to pick up passengers.

Apparently this is due to political correctness, and cyclists’ belief that

their moral superiority to the rest of the population allows them to flaunt every road law in the state

It’s nice that someone I’ve never met has taken such an interest in my psychology and motivations. In respect of my behaviour and attitude, they couldn’t be more wrong on all counts.

Quoted in the Herald Sun, motorcyclist Jodie Barret said There’s a cycle track along Beach Rd and [pack riders] should use it—demonstrating a profound misunderstanding of the conditions that racing cyclists need for training. 40+km/h on a bike trail, anyone?!?

In the letters section of The Age, Bruce Love of Kew makes a highly impractical suggestion: It is highly dangerous to have cars and cycles mixing, and the only way to avoid a continuing death and injury toll for cyclists is to have absolute separation of the two modes of transport.

And the Herald Sun has opened up a forum that (as usual) has quickly turned into a troll trap, while The Age has a readers’ poll: Should cyclists come under the same laws and penalties as motorists? Duh!

Why public opinion matters

Non-cyclists do not differentiate: any cyclists is as good (or bad) as any other. When one cyclist does something wrong, it reflects on all of us. Take as a trivial example, this anecdote from the recent “Red means stop, dickhead” thread on aus.bicycle:

…got to an intersection and stopped on the line at the red light. Another cyclist comes along and blows the red quite blatently. Driver in car next to me winds down window and hurls abuse at me.

“It might of escaped your attention mate, but I’m stoped wating for the green same as you.”

Here’s a possible line of thought for a non-cyclist:

1. The Hell Ride, is practically the same as

2. any other pack ride on Beach Rd, is practically the same as

3. any pack ride anywhere, is practically the same as

4. road cyclists generally, is practically the same as

5. all cyclists

Or more likely, many people would jump straight from 1 to 5: all bloody cyclists are the same.

This is clearly demonstrated in John Ferguson’s opinion piece in the Herald Sun:

Beach Rd in particular would be well served by an identification system, maybe involving numbered bibs, which would enable law breakers to be dealt with.

There could be no greater incentive to adhere to the rule of law than charging hell riders who endanger lives.

The same should go for bike paths.

[emphasis added]

See how quickly the hardcore competitive riders training on Beach Rd are equated with bike path trundlers? They are rarely the same people and their riding styles and speeds are completely different. But non-cyclists will probably never appreciate this distinction.

But at least Ferguson has some understanding that the reputation of cyclists is being degraded by a reckless and selfish few:

In the end, however, there is virtually no sympathy for the plight of the cyclist, no matter the age.

For that, you can thank cyclists who break the law.

Those who ride on the footpath, run red lights and swish past pedestrians at break-neck speed.

Or, if I may borrow the conclusion from itemisation:

If you ride a bike, you represent all of us, so do us a favour and don’t be an arsehole. At least TRY to follow the road rules and just maybe motorists will start treating us with some sort of respect.

Or at least, stop treating us with open agression and contempt. I live in hope.