Ghost Bikes

You may or may not know that I have become an avid cycling commuter over the last 5 years or so. This is not just because I don't own a car - if I did have one, I probably wouldn't use it to get to work. It turns out that once I had invested in a half decent, comfortable bike, that I actually quite enjoyed cycling, and arrived at work feeling like I had already achieved something for the day. Cycling to work in Vancouver was fantastic and very rarely did I miss an opportunity, even in the snow.

However, since moving to Melbourne 2 years ago I have become sufficiently concerned by the attitude and arrogance of Melbourne drivers to cyclists, that I find myself cycling less often now. This is despite Melbourne's supposedly excellent cycling infrastructure - you can put a bike lane in, but cars will just use it for overtaking, and beep at any cyclists that get in their way (to make a glaring generalisation). What wouldn't I give for Copenhagen style bike lanes?

Cyclists are frequently injured or killed on the roads, too often due to motorists' lapse in concentration and judgement. Of great concern, recently there have been two incidents in Australia (that I know of) of motorists purposefully ploughing into a pack of cyclists. And while it is well known that the 'safety in numbers' approach to cycling does help to reduce the risk of injury on the road, it is very difficult to convince people to cycle when they are understandably concerned about safety.

But what attempts are being made to change perceptions of cycling and cyclists?

The Victoria Police recently released a Google maps application that pinpoints the locations of all Victorian road fatalities, including an alarming number of cyclists. However, I am not clear how this will help, other than to highlight cycling black spots to those who choose to look at the application.

Advocacy group Bicycle Victoria provides a variety of services for members and non-members, including organising cycling events for all ages and abilities, lobbying local and state governments to improve cycling infrastructure, providing advice on safe cycling routes, the rights and responsibilities of road users, how to deal with aggressive drivers, etc. I am a member of BV.

Another approach, that I first heard about only yesterday, is Ghost bikes. Ghost bikes are art installations of sorts serving as memorials to cyclists killed on the road. They are typically old disused bikes, stripped of parts, painted white with a plaque bearing the cyclist's name, and locked to a fixed point at or near the site of the crash site. Ghost bikes have appeared in at least 68 cities around the world, and yesterday a ghost bike 'appeared' in Melbourne. So I went to see it:


This ghost bike was placed in honour of Carolyn Rawlins, a 32 year old solicitor who was cycling to work through the Melbourne CBD on October 14th 2008, before being struck and killed by a tour bus. Sadly, she was 12 weeks pregnant at the time. Sadder still, her husband only found out about her death when he read about it online.

Whether or not ghost bikes do any good is debatable. While they act as striking reminders of the dangers that cyclists face, they may also serve to scare off potential cyclists.

What is critical is that cycling conditions be improved so that cyclists will feel safe. This in turn will facilitate an attitude shift among all road users, to further improve conditions for everyone. For me the bottom line is, more cyclists on the road means less cars on the road. This should improve traffic conditions for everyone, not to mention the obvious environmental and health benefits.

I hate you Fate!!

As I was climbing on to my bicycle this morning, ready to head off on the 12 km trip to work, I said to Bryan, "I think the rain will hold for a couple of hours yet". Obviously, it started raining 10 minutes later and I got soaked. That's fate for you, and I mentally rapped myself over the knuckles for tempting her as the rain trickled down my neck.

But I said absolutely nothing about flat tyres as I was leaving the house! Not a whisper. I clearly did not say "Gosh, its been ages since I last had a flat tyre", or "How much would it suck to get a flat tyre in the rain?" But a flat tyre I got, and I had to walk the last few blocks in the rain. How could you do that to me, Fate? You suck!

Oh dear, I've angered her. I'm probably going to get struck by lightning now.

Mother's Day Classic

On Sunday, Bryan and I represented TeamMONASH in the Mother's Day Classic 8 km run around the Melbourne Botanical Gardens. This was the 10th anniversary of this event, with 22,000 participants raising money for Breast Cancer Research.

I noticed a lot of the runners were wearing a dedication card on the back of their shirts, with words to the effect of "I'm running for my mum" or "I'm running for Mrs. Jones", who presumably had suffered from breast cancer. I am very fortunate in that no women in my family have had breast cancer, minimizing my own risk factors considerably. So I ran the race without a dedication card, feeling blessed that I didn't have any names to write on one. However, I did bear in mind the possibility of having names to write down in the future, and that's one of the reasons I wanted to run in this event.

Other reasons for running in the event included seeing the Botanical Gardens (still on my Melbourne to-do list), running with a group of people from work, and proving to myself that I could do it - it is only seven years -and still fresh in my mind- since I made the decision to maximize my life expectancy by ceasing to be an overweight couch potato.

However, for various reasons I did not really have the time to train for this event. That's not to day that I am unfit, as I cycle 20 km most days and attend yoga classes regularly. I have previously run much greater distances (Sydney City to Surf 2004, 14 km in about 100 mins) but not in the last couple of years.

I ran most of the 8 km feeling fit enough in the cardiovascular sense, but with considerable muscle pain in my legs for the last 3 km. I worked through the pain, determined to finish. I crossed the finish line at 50 minutes and 22 seconds after sprinting the last 200 metres. I had great difficulty walking back to the team meeting area, but eventually made it.

The next day I almost fell over as I tried to get out of bed. The pain was excruciating, and I felt ridiculous about it - it was only 8 km dammit! Clearly I had been using muscles to run that I never use when cycling. I hobbled around for the next few days. I woke up this morning feeling much better.

I think I'm going to try and keep up the running at least once a week from now on to try and avoid this ridiculousness in the next event I enter.

108 minutes of yoga

My upstairs neighbours talked me into going with them to the Yogathon at Plaza of Nations today. The yogathon was organised to raise money for Camp Moomba, a camp for kid living with HIV/AIDS.
I am by no means a yogi - I have a yoga mat but I've never used it. But I've done a few downward dogs and sun salutations in the past, so I decided to go, although feeling like it was going to be the most tiring 108 minutes of my life.
To my surprise, I was able to keep up with everything quite well. I knew most of the poses from other exercise classes I've done (I just didn't realise they were yoga). For the most part it was really fun, and quite energetic. But after about 90 minutes I was starting to watch the clock, waiting for the cool down poses to start. Now I'm tired and I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow.
On the way home I was very conscious of the fact that I was walking through Kitsilano, wearing yoga pants and carrying a rolled up mat. All that was missing was a chihuahua and a venti and I would have looked just like a Kitsilano soccer mom.

Not again!!!

Only 2 weeks since a similar incident, a couple of days ago I again came within a foot of being hit by a car. This time it was a big black SUV, the kind driven by a Kitsilano Soccer Mom, talking on her cell phone and in a rush to pick up her venti Starbucks coffee, drop the poodle off at the canine massage and acupuncture therapist, and get to her yoga class.
I was riding my bike slowly up the hill to UBC on 15th Ave, I came to an intersection with a 2-way stop. I had right of way so I plodded on through the intersection. I saw the SUV approaching the stop sign. It stopped at the stop sign. At this point I was in the intersection, going slowly because I was tired from the hill. The SUV started to move off from the stop sign towards me, while I was directly in front of it!! I was going way too slow and in the wrong gear to make a quick dash to safety. If I put my brakes on I would have just stopped in front of it. I had nowhere to go. She hit the brakes just in time, and again I escaped the clutches of possible broken bones, road rash and a twisted bike, or worse.
By the way I was very visible - there was plenty of daylight and I was wearing a bright green cycling jacket and other reflective stuff. I just don't get what the driver was thinking. Was she thinking? The point of stopping at a stop sign is to take note of cars, bikes, or pedestrians in or near the intersection that may be on a collision course with you, and AVOID hitting them!!! Maybe she thought she gave me plenty of time to get out of the way, but that would make her a very bad judge of distance and velocity, because there was no way cycling up a hill that I could clear the intersection in the time she allowed me. But I'm pretty sure this was a case of SUV mentality combined with lack of concentration on the road. People on the road simply weren't as important to her as her yoga class and venti coffee, and she had the never off-road SUV to prove it.
I've known for a long time that distracted drivers are just as bad as drunk drivers. Yet another study came out last week that confirmed my belief. Holding or dialling a cell phone, applying makeup, reading a map while you're in the driving seat...you may as well be drinking beer! But will anyone do anything about it? Change their habits? Pass a law? I strongly doubt it.

Still here

I came within less than a foot of being hit by a car this morning, while riding my bike across a pedestrian crossing. All of the other cars had stopped - why did one car feel it wasn't necessary to stop for me until it became clear we were on a collision course? Actually, he already had stopped at the crossing, but then decided to hit the gas, apparently anticipating that he could zip on through before those pesky pedestrians crossed in front of his car. Not only was he wrong about that, but he merely gave me a wave when I glared at him. Grrrrr.

Masquerade party

On Saturday night, Carly and her housemates held a masquerade cocktail party. Originally I was planning to wear a bridesmaid dress, but I chickened out at the last minute and wore a slinky number I had hidden way in my summer wardrobe. I spent all day slaving away making my mask. Here it is:


Notice all of the rhinestones, glued on individually by moi! Needless to say they fell off individually throughout the evening. Here's an action shot:


Do you see how the mask matched my dress? Huh?

Anyway it was fun. There was too much booze, and I reintroduced myself to the concept of Baileys and Frangelico (equal parts of each, its delicious).....several times. And after a few of those, this is the kind of thing that was caught on camera:


I had a slow start on Sunday, but I still got out to enjoy the sunshine on my bike. I've got photos to prove it! [Note my exposed ankles...a sure sign that spring has sprung, although I have not yet foregone the ear warmers.]



Update: Carly has posted lots of photos from the party.

A valuable lesson...

Cycling in snow is not smart. Ok, so I was going faster than the cars for some of the trip to UBC this morning, and it may even have been faster than taking the bus, but how many times did I fall off my bike? Luckily, not enough to break a wrist.

I think the snow just turned into rain, so the roads may be clear by the time it comes to going home tonight. If not, I'm walking.

New wheels

Since I came to Canada (more than 2 years ago now, my how time flies!), I've been using an old green Raleigh bike to get around. It was ok, but a little too small for me and I would sometimes get knee pain after a long ride. It was kind of slow, the gears were a bit funny, and going up a steep hill was not pleasant at all. After a while I started opting to take the bus or walk rather than take my bike.
For a while Bryan and I have been discussing with our bike riding friends about going on a weekend biking trip to Galiano Island. This was met with much enthusiasm but I didn't think I was going to enjoy it as much on my old bike, as Bryan, Rhonda and Carly would on their lovely, shiny, relatively new bikes.
Even though I've wanted a new bike for quite some time now, I've been putting it off due to the cost. Then all of a sudden, two weeks ago I was so overcome with the urge to have a shiny new bicycle, that I decided to take the plunge. The fact that my magic bus pass was about to expire may also have played in to my decision.
I went out to a few local bike stores to check out what was available, and was delighted to find that most bikes were on sale. After several test-rides, I ended up settling on a Norco Vermont, a 'comfort hybrid' bike. It has suspension!!!
I've been riding to work on it for the last 2 weeks, and I love it. Even the scary hill heading up to UBC is not so scary as it was on the old bike. This long weekend I think we'll be going for a longer trip out to Stanley Park.