5 September 2006

Cyclists of the Shire, unite! (Nick Bowden, Brunswick Heads)



Who picked up on the irony in the account of last week’s Critical Mass bike ride (Echo, August 29)? Does a bunch of cyclists taking up as much road as a small truck and maybe getting a little carried away by the thrill of empowerment such a group enjoys (in contrast to the vulnerability of riding alone as most usually do) really justify impatience, hostility or aggression from other road users finding their own journeys delayed by a minute or less? Bicycle use in Australia is growing at a stunning velocity. More bicycles are being sold each year than cars, well over a million bikes a year. The website www.cyclingpromotion. com is an excellent starting place for anyone wondering why or how to take up and get the most from cycling at any age. Cycling is now the fourth most popular activity for adults in Australia, much more popular than golf, which is going backwards. While petrol prices skyrocket, wars are fought over oil and we’re told Australia has ‘epidemics’ of obesity and mental health issues, there is also increasing consciousness of the well documented health, environmental and social benefi ts cycling offers. Riding a bicycle is a great way to integrate exercise into daily life. It exercises the heart better than walking without the high joint impact of running. Physical activity has shown to be as effective as psychotherapy and medication in alleviating symptoms of depression. The bicycle is a human scale, adaptable, astonishingly effi cient, community friendly, life enhancing miracle machine. The Byron Shire Bicycle User Group (www.byronbug. org.au) is the offi cial channel for lobbying on behalf of local cyclists’ issues such as sealing road shoulders, signage, bike parking and driver education. Critical Mass rides offer an opportunity to demonstrate to the rest of the community the size of the constituency that the BUG represents and thus to encourage Council to move the further development of bike friendly infrastructure higher up the list of budget priorities leading to an exponential growth of usage. The idea of Critical Mass is essentially to celebrate cycling and assert cyclists’ rights on the road. It’s about raising awareness, being provocative but not confrontational and claiming a voice to ask for improved facilities. It’s about networking, building and strengthening community and solidarity. It’s an opportunity for people who may be nervous about riding in certain places to experience how enjoyable cycling could be if there were less cars and more bikes sharing our roads all the time. CM has no leaders, and no central organisation licenses rides. For more inforvisit www.critical-mass.info. So get used to seeing more bikes on the roads, folks, and get used to seeing a monthly celebration of bike power on the last Friday of each month around Byron. Join in!

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