Cycling in 'Stralia

[bikemonster]

Hello My Imaginary Friends

 

I’ve been in Aussie for a few months now, and have re-started my riding. I ride with a shop squad in Lane Cove, in North Sydney. Saturday morning rides are around 60-80 km, and include some very pretty scenery and some good climbs. So I thought I’d share some it with you.

 

What is really, really different from riding in South Africa is the relationship between cyclists and motorised traffic. Let’s face it, it makes a mahoosive difference having drivers who a) all hold licences and B) none of those licences were bought. (On a related note, the waiting period for the NSW licence test is around 2 weeks, and a credit card licence, with photograph, is issued while you wait.)

 

The squad that I ride with takes up a lane when we ride on multi-lane roads. The guys at the front raise an arm to signal to the guys at the back that they want to move across into a lane. The guys at the back signal to the traffic that they want to move to the right. The traffic makes space, and the squad moves across, starting with the guys at the back. Once they “own” the lane, they yell “Over!” and the rest of the squad moves across.

 

When the squad encounters a red light, there are two new things for a transplanted Saffer to learn. 1) we stop at the red light. Weird, or what? 2) when we stop at a red light, we stop where we are in the traffic stream, we don’t lane split through to the front of the queue.

 

This morning we drove over a busy bridge (2 lanes) and the climb of approx 2km once past it, which has no shoulder to speak of. The whole way, traffic drove around us. Nobody hooted once, nobody monstered us. Just wonderful. Oh, and no minibus taxis either. Lovely.

 

The bike that I have borrowed lives outdoors, behind the house that I am staying in. Yes, it is locked up, but it’s locked to a mild steel bracket. Next to it live two BMX bikes that have never been locked, and have been hanging there for several years.

 

There are two major down sides to cycling in Aussie: 1. As far as I can tell there is no equivalent of the Hub. There are forums, but none as vibrant as this site. (Possibly ‘cause they never discuss whether Darwin or baby Jesus did it.) 2. There is no equivalent of the PPA with its weekly races. Those of you who bitch and moan about PPA, hush your mouths, you do not know how good you got it!

 

As you were!

 

James

[Slowbee]

hey BM .. good to hear things are ok.

[DaLoCo]

Do you ever head out to the Blue Mountains. I saw a squad every Saturday morning in Norwest at the Gloria Jeans. Lane Cove area has some very nice riding, and there are some nice climbing areas. My stomping grounds was the Kellyville, Baulkham Hills area, I was a student at Hillsong.

 

I miss those areas, and hope to see them soon on a more permanent basis.

[udxcob]

Wow what a novelty bikers obeying the rules of the road but then it is very policed (I hear?) Sounds too good to be true

[TNT1]

it is very policed

 

A little too much if you ask me.

australian-state-bans-swearing

[Andyr249]

Awesome! Glad you having a good time there.

 

When I was at Paris-Roubaix in April I chatted to some guys from America, UK, Poland and a few other places. As far as races go SA is actually very good in terms of the number of races that we have compared to the other countries. Something to be thankful for.

[HeartCoppi]

I missed you dude.

[E1A104]

A little too much if you ask me.

australian-state-bans-swearing

 

rather too much than too little.