22 August 2011

Ride to Work Day 2011.

| PedalPower
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Well today we saw how many Canberrans can turn out on their bikes to support (or oppose) a cause at short notice. It would be great to see how many bikes and riders we can get out on Wednesday 12 October to support national Ride to Work Day.

Pedal Power will be hosting a free breakfast between 7am and 9am in Glebe Park with enterainment and a few stands to give bike enthusiasts, and others, something to look at and chat about whilst they enjoy their breakfast.

Many workplaces around Canberra will also be hosting their own Ride to Work Day breakfasts. To register your event or simply that you intend to ride you can go to www.ridetowork.com.au Do you have anything planned?

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Tomorrow is Ride to Work day, so if you feel inspired to get on your bike then make sure you stop off at Glebe Park for a free breakfast. There will be a team from Lendlease cooking up a storm on the BBQs, some delicious treats from Baker’s delight and even some free bananas on offer? To keep you entertained as you eat there will be music, bikes to look at information on sustainable living. And if you are looking for something else to keep you going there will a team of physios on hand to eases any aching legs and to give practical advice on how to make your bike fit you better to stop any aches and pains. The event, organised by Pedal Power, will run from 7am-9am in Glebe Park, by the Rotunda.

interested_bystander9:33 am 16 Sep 11

Henry82 said :

bryansworld said :

That would be an illegal use of your horn. Whereas using the bell or your voice to alert a pedestrian you are passing is common sense. You don’t get knocked off your car if a pedestrian veers into you when startled as you drive past.!

How often do you ride? From what i’ve seen if you ring your bell (or yell), most pedestrians fan out and block the entire path. Usually i slow down to a little bit faster than them, and overtake.

That was actually me that said that, not Bryansworld. And yes, I ride often. If you signal early enough, there shouldn’t be a problem. And in any case, the more we model the behaviour we want on the roads and bike paths, the more all users becomes used to what should happen. Same goes for on road riding; if vehicles become accustomed to sharing the road there will be less catastrophizing about cyclists risking being smeared on the asphalt simply by daring to use the thoroughfare for its intended purpose.

OpenYourMind said :

errr, this thread was about Ride to Work. We’ve already done the ‘some people that walk/ride/drive are asshats’ discussion to death.

Get on yer bike. The weather is lovely and for me, at least, nothing makes for a better start to the day than a pleasant ride to work!

Seriously, trying to dictate the direction of any internet thread is like trying to herd cats. They’re always going to go off on tangents.

And goats, excellent description.

OpenYourMind9:21 am 16 Sep 11

errr, this thread was about Ride to Work. We’ve already done the ‘some people that walk/ride/drive are asshats’ discussion to death.

Get on yer bike. The weather is lovely and for me, at least, nothing makes for a better start to the day than a pleasant ride to work!

Gungahlin Al3:12 am 16 Sep 11

Phil_the_Printer said :

I like the description of pedestrians as ‘goats’… I am an fairly regular bike rider and I concur, you ring the bell and some go left, some go right and some do nothing! A group may include a mixture of those.
Ringing my bell is a recipe for disaster. On one occasion I was approaching a lady clown with frizzy red hair and a suitcase who was considerately walking close to the left by a handrail, I dinged, she stepped a little left then sharply right straight in front of me. I was not moving quickly but this made me twitch a little right on the narrow path and because I was moving very slowly I went off the gutter in front of moving traffic and into a square drain. My wheel was buckled and I almost came off under the cars going by. IMHO if I ding, the pedestrians should do nothing, hopefully they are walking neatly on the left and I will pass by on their right. So if I don’t ring, it makes no difference, if I DO ring, they scatter!

Well you clearly are not ringing your bell back far enough. Of course they panic if you ring it right on top of them. Give them a chance to get their crap together. One of the group will know the Keep Left protocol and haul them over. a polite “Just move a little to the left” as you pass will do wonders for educating pedestrians.

Gungahlin Al3:09 am 16 Sep 11

Jono said :

la mente torbida said :

Here we go again.

Daily I ride, I use my bell, me and the pedestrians work well together

Absolutely. I’m on the shared paths every day, as a bike rider, as a walker and as a runner. By being considerate to the others on the path and by paying attention to what’s going on around me, I never seem to have problems either (a) with pedestrians when I’m a cyclist or (b) with cyclists when I’m a pedestrian. With all of the complaints that seem to come from both cyclists and pedestrians, I wonder if I’ve just been incredibly lucky in this, or if there’s actually something in this paying attention and being considerate idea that others might try.

Every day as a cyclist I am pissed off by other cyclists whipping by very close with no warning. They should well know that I could dodge a bump or something at any moment. Use a bell! Common courtesy. And safer.

Phil_the_Printer12:21 am 16 Sep 11

I like the description of pedestrians as ‘goats’… I am an fairly regular bike rider and I concur, you ring the bell and some go left, some go right and some do nothing! A group may include a mixture of those.
Ringing my bell is a recipe for disaster. On one occasion I was approaching a lady clown with frizzy red hair and a suitcase who was considerately walking close to the left by a handrail, I dinged, she stepped a little left then sharply right straight in front of me. I was not moving quickly but this made me twitch a little right on the narrow path and because I was moving very slowly I went off the gutter in front of moving traffic and into a square drain. My wheel was buckled and I almost came off under the cars going by. IMHO if I ding, the pedestrians should do nothing, hopefully they are walking neatly on the left and I will pass by on their right. So if I don’t ring, it makes no difference, if I DO ring, they scatter!

la mente torbida said :

Here we go again.

Daily I ride, I use my bell, me and the pedestrians work well together

Absolutely. I’m on the shared paths every day, as a bike rider, as a walker and as a runner. By being considerate to the others on the path and by paying attention to what’s going on around me, I never seem to have problems either (a) with pedestrians when I’m a cyclist or (b) with cyclists when I’m a pedestrian. With all of the complaints that seem to come from both cyclists and pedestrians, I wonder if I’ve just been incredibly lucky in this, or if there’s actually something in this paying attention and being considerate idea that others might try.

Last time I was challenged for not ringing my bell “Umm, I did”.
Clearly, they weren’t listening.

s-s-a said :

When you are driving your car, do you honk your horn every time you overtake a slower vehicle? Are you shocked if driving in the slow lane on the freeway and a car overtakes you?

Rear vision mirrors are optional extras for pedestrians, but they’re an option no-one seems to order.

la mente torbida5:03 pm 15 Sep 11

Here we go again.

Daily I ride, I use my bell, me and the pedestrians work well together

bryansworld said :

That would be an illegal use of your horn. Whereas using the bell or your voice to alert a pedestrian you are passing is common sense. You don’t get knocked off your car if a pedestrian veers into you when startled as you drive past.!

How often do you ride? From what i’ve seen if you ring your bell (or yell), most pedestrians fan out and block the entire path. Usually i slow down to a little bit faster than them, and overtake.

interested_bystander said :

When you are driving your car, do you honk your horn every time you overtake a slower vehicle? Are you shocked if driving in the slow lane on the freeway and a car overtakes you?

I use the shared paths for walking and cycling, and it constantly amazes me the number of pedestrians who are startled by the fact that bikes are also using the shared paths. Particularly the ones who are walking along against oncoming traffic looking at the ground, or walking two or three abreast and blocking the path!!

That would be an illegal use of your horn. Whereas using the bell or your voice to alert a pedestrian you are passing is common sense. You don’t get knocked off your car if a pedestrian veers into you when startled as you drive past.

Interesting, in some developing countries, it is a common practice for cars overtaking others to honk their horns as a polite warning. The analogy here is a less than widespread understanding of the relevant rules – so ring those bells!

s-s-a said :

And ring your bell when overtaking pedestrians! I am a daily cycle commuter and am appalled at the number of cyclists that overtake pedestrians at speed without ringing their bells.

When you are driving your car, do you honk your horn every time you overtake a slower vehicle? Are you shocked if driving in the slow lane on the freeway and a car overtakes you?

I use the shared paths for walking and cycling, and it constantly amazes me the number of pedestrians who are startled by the fact that bikes are also using the shared paths. Particularly the ones who are walking along against oncoming traffic looking at the ground, or walking two or three abreast and blocking the path!!

And the really stupid ones react with utter confusion when you ring your bell and jump around like retarded goats and step into the path of an incoming cycle.

mkcully said :

In Canberra there will be a bike ride from Garema Place up to Parliament House, with music and speakers on Parliament House lawns, and then the event will end in making a human sign in the shape of a bicycle!
For more information, you can see the event page on facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=178509942218800

I’d better get to work organising a counter-protest with bumpkins in trucks!

interested_bystander4:04 pm 15 Sep 11

When you are driving your car, do you honk your horn every time you overtake a slower vehicle? Are you shocked if driving in the slow lane on the freeway and a car overtakes you?

I use the shared paths for walking and cycling, and it constantly amazes me the number of pedestrians who are startled by the fact that bikes are also using the shared paths. Particularly the ones who are walking along against oncoming traffic looking at the ground, or walking two or three abreast and blocking the path!!

That would be an illegal use of your horn. Whereas using the bell or your voice to alert a pedestrian you are passing is common sense. You don’t get knocked off your car if a pedestrian veers into you when startled as you drive past.

And ring your bell when overtaking pedestrians! I am a daily cycle commuter and am appalled at the number of cyclists that overtake pedestrians at speed without ringing their bells.

When you are driving your car, do you honk your horn every time you overtake a slower vehicle? Are you shocked if driving in the slow lane on the freeway and a car overtakes you?

I use the shared paths for walking and cycling, and it constantly amazes me the number of pedestrians who are startled by the fact that bikes are also using the shared paths. Particularly the ones who are walking along against oncoming traffic looking at the ground, or walking two or three abreast and blocking the path!!

markconley said :

Please take care to give pedestrians at least a metre clearance when riding at speed, and remember on pedestrian footpaths pedestrian have 100% right of way, mark conley

And ring your bell when overtaking pedestrians! I am a daily cycle commuter and am appalled at the number of cyclists that overtake pedestrians at speed without ringing their bells. Not sure about the right of way comment though…

markconley said :

Please take care to give pedestrians at least a metre clearance when riding at speed, and remember on pedestrian footpaths pedestrian have 100% right of way, mark conley

Hard to give a pedestrian at least a metre clearance on a metre-wide path.

Anyway, hopefully everyone imbued with common sense, courtesy, and the ability to stay left (pedestrians, cyclists, and cars) will have a pleasant and uneventful day.

Yep for sure, i will be riding my CBR600 to work on that day.

Please take care to give pedestrians at least a metre clearance when riding at speed, and remember on pedestrian footpaths pedestrian have 100% right of way, mark conley

I would like to put some of these posters up at our work. How can I get my hands on some? Thanks.

There’s another bike-riding event happening on the 24th September organised by the Australian Youth Climate Coalition in Canberra. These events are happening worldwide as part of 350.org’s International Day of Action. The theme this year is ‘Moving Planet’.
In Canberra there will be a bike ride from Garema Place up to Parliament House, with music and speakers on Parliament House lawns, and then the event will end in making a human sign in the shape of a bicycle!
For more information, you can see the event page on facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=178509942218800

Im in but can please not bring the rain this year? The last three have been pretty wet.

Sweet, won’t be hard to find a car space on the 12th then!

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