Bike Love

BikeLove has moved web addresses

2009-02-25T11:10:00.003+11:00

It's been a while but BikeLove is in Sydney and back on air!
2SER 107.3fm - 5pm Monday and 10.30am Wednesday.
For all previous shows and podcasts please go to:

http://www.bikelove.wordpress.com

19th February 2007 - London snows

2007-02-19T06:47:00.000+11:00

Riding scuppered by snow...

18th February - London snows

2007-02-19T05:56:00.001+11:00

Riding scuppered by snow...

18th February - London snows

2007-02-19T05:56:00.000+11:00

Riding scuppered by snow...

28th October - Eddy

2006-10-29T23:05:00.000+11:00

So... a few things have happened. Met Jack Thurston of Bike Show fame and we went over to the Bicycle Trade show here in London. Lots of glittering merchandise on display... the Velorbis bicycles are looking very sweet. We also heard that Eddy Mercx was likely to be there and we were fortunate enough to meet him. At 65yrs he's looking pretty good, tall and a lot leaner than other photos I've seen of him. Although he's only riding about 7000kms a year (!!) nowadays. He says he was born with a bicycle in the stomach and will die with one in his stomach!

The bicycle scene really is rolling in London... lots of folded bikes (mostly Bromptons), some old classics and a few single speeds thrown in for good measure. Will be interesting to see how winter effects things. I've already been eyeing off some warmer gloves... although can't complain, weather is 18 degress today, blue sky and sunny!

Will keep you posted... adios.

7th October 2006 - My commute to Uni

2006-10-08T07:05:00.000+10:00

Very different commute to Sydney but interesting nonetheless... have captured some of the highlights here.

Me on the left (hardly a highlight)... My new steed... a steady Puch inherited from Mum.

Views across Peckham Rye... Autumn turning...

And the lovely view across from
Waterloo Bridge... The Eye and
Houses of Parliament...

And (on the right) a tunnel under London Bridge station... pretty spooky!

Classice Icon!

Radio bike love is in London

2006-09-20T07:50:00.000+10:00

If you were wondering why it all went quiet.... well Radio Bike Love has temporally moved to London. Well for 2 years at least. I'll be trying to keep things up to date on cool stuff happening over this part of the world as we gently head towards winter....

stay posted. And try and listen to Bicycle Heaven on Street Stories this Sunday at 6pm on Radio National!

4th August - Pedapod

2006-08-03T22:37:00.000+10:00

Exciting news for Sydney... we have our own fleet of bicycle taxi's! Somewhat more advanced than a rickshaw, these are a new breed of 21st century green taxi's. Manly council look interested in putting in 8 Pedapods in their neck of the woods. Fares for a taxi ride in the CBD is around $7... not bad for the feel of the wind in your hair. The Pedapod team are pretty excited about their new venture and if you fancy a refreshing taxi ride you can meet them around Circular Quay, Martin Place or Wynyard Park.

Download the MP3

28th July - Cycling in the rain

2006-08-03T22:34:00.000+10:00

This week BikeLove took the opportunity to gather some of your thoughts about cycling in the rain... I began by hating it... and have slowly come around. It's about equipping your mind with a good slice of resilience before you set out. Failing that... a good pair of mudguards don't go amiss!

Download the MP3

21st July - Unicycle hockey

2006-07-21T09:15:00.000+10:00

If you thought riding a unicycle was challenge enough for one day... how about unicycle hockey?! I met up with a group of guys who meet up every Sunday around 10.30am behind Newtown public school to play one wheeled hockey. Some were former jugglers others unicycle afficianados and a couple were attending the Unicyle hockey world championships in Switzerland. If anybody is even slightly curious about unicycling I highly recommend checking out the guys on a Sunday morning... they would make you feel extremely welcome. You can email aus_secretary@unicycling.org.au

Download the MP3

14th July - Bike Love talks Amsterdam

2006-07-20T23:33:00.000+10:00

This week, Bike Love talks to Dave Pryor, a fellow Sydney sider, who is currently based in the bicycle mecca of Amsterdam. The attitude towards cycling and cyclists in Amsterdam is enough to blow you away... it is not a strange type of sport, it is simply a method of transport.

Download the MP3

7th July - Bike Love gets Muddy

2006-07-11T09:34:00.000+10:00

This week on Bike Love we go to Killingworth near Newcastle and meet some of the contestants of the 8 hour mountain bike race which forms part of the working week series. There are 5 of these races in total (akin to 5 days of the week) and the races run from 9am to 5pm on a Sunday. The one at Killingworth was a particularly muddy affair but that didn't seem to dissuade any of the riders.
The Last and final race is at Sparrowhill near Canberra on Sunday 6th August... should be a lot of fun.

Download the MP3

Bicycle Inventions - 30th June

2006-06-30T06:35:00.000+10:00

This week BikeLove looks at two exciting new bicycle inventions. The first is an online bicycle map co-operative which allows cyclists to record and share their favourtite bicycle route. The second invention is a new bicycle indicator which automatically flashes when you signal to make a turn...

Download the MP3

23rd June - Protest to keep the bike lanes in William St

2006-06-22T13:58:00.000+10:00

Thursday last week saw a number of cyclists converge at Martin Place together with the Green Party to protest against the proposal to remove the newly acquired bicycle lanes on William st. Sydney could fast be going backwards as Iemma attempts to solve the Cross City Tunnel debarcle by offering up the bike lanes to yet more car lanes. Nice one Iemma! Has Sydney gone mad? Are the streets of the CBD not congested enough to warrant yet more in-roads? Let's pray they see sense.

Chris Harris (Greens Councillor) and Lee Rhianon
(Greens MLC) hold up a blueprint of the outlined
bicycle routes into the city...

On a more positive note, I attended a talk at the City Recital Hall about 'what makes cities great'? Robert Adams an influential dude in Melbourne (Director of Design and Culture at the City of Melbourne) delivered a fantastic synopsis upon the last 20 years in Melbourne and how they have slowly moved from a 'car crazed' city to a city which embraces public transport, pedestrians and of course cyclists. The macro differences affecting Melbourne are now quite startling; small side street cafes have sprung up all over the CBD, people stop and hang out in public places and the CBD has become a navigatable desintation place. He talked about how you focus first upon the streets on a human rather than car scale, you then begin thinking about how architecture interacts with the street landscape. And, rather than asking how you can inject some 'character' you start with the character that currently exists or memories of that public space... I cannot do it justice but I felt a lift of optimism that somebody so impassioned had a seat in power. So come on Sydney!!

9th June - Bike Love is on holiday

2006-06-07T23:02:00.000+10:00

Bike Love will return on 23rd June... just taking a short break!

Kent Street cycle route proposal

2006-06-02T12:28:00.000+10:00

The city of Sydney are proposing a bicycle route along Kent street... and today is the final day to comment on this proposal. It's easy to comment... just send an email to Allan Saxby Allan Saxby, Senior Project Manager Manager asaxby@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au endorsing the proposal. This will be very cool if it gets off the ground!

2nd June - Bicycle Helmet Laws

2006-06-01T12:19:00.000+10:00

Somewhat controversial topic this one... I tend to think that if you want to wear a bicycle helmet then by all means wear one... however, helmets are really there to mask the bigger elephant in the room... namely cars and their poor or speeding drivers.

This week, I spoke to Dorothy Robinson a senior Statistician at the Bicycle Helmet Research Foundation about some research she's conducted regarding the other side effects of legally enforsed helmet wearing laws. Her research makes interesting reading... The most provocative finding is that if bicycle helmets supposedly save the tax payers money, then motorists should also wear helmets given the number of critical head injuries they suffer far and away outweighs bicycle riders!

Download the MP3

26th May - Marrickville Bike Bus

2006-05-26T08:14:00.000+10:00

This week I catch up with the Marrickville Bike Bus on their daily commute from Marrickville to Martin Place in the city. The Bike Bus is a fantastic way of getting to work if you want to commute by bicycle but are wary of traffic (hell, that's all of us isn't it?). The Bike Bus literally starts at Henson Park, Illawarra Rd at a few minutes to 7 every morning and makes scheduled stops picking people up along the way. It heads through lots of pretty back streets through Newtown and then Redfern... a social and speedy way to commute! For more information contact massbug@massbug.org.au or ring/sms 0403 821 374.

Download the MP3 here!

The timetable:

06:58			Henson Park Hotel, Illawarra Rd Marrickville
07:00			Newington/Wemyss St intersection, Enmore
07:09			Newtown Bridge
07:19			George St, Redfern
07:30			Archibald Fountain, Hyde Park

12th and 19th May - Academic Perspective

2006-05-18T09:28:00.000+10:00

This week I catch up with Dr Matt Burke a research fellow of the Urban Research Program in the School of Environmental Planning at Griffith University in Queensland. I talk to him about the impact our urban design has upon the way we live and move (or not move very much as the case may be...). He had some really interesting things to say about our towns and cities and the knock on effects urban design, planning and road policy has upon our way of being... It was such an interesting interview that it spanned over 2 week's shows... so enjoy!

Download MP3 Part 1
Download MP3 Part 2

5th May - Celluloid Cycles

2006-05-04T22:06:00.000+10:00

This week Bike Love seeks the thrills and spills of Celluloid Cycles, a bicycle film extravaganza which took place in Melbourne earlier in April. I caught up with Tim Sheedy the man behind the event to talk about his love of bicycles and films. Highlights for me was a film Red Light Go... looking at NYC bicycle messengers and the mayhem which surrounds their Alleycat races and fixed wheel tastes. And The Collective, which looks at free style riding with some footage that literally blows you mind! (Tim is the chap in the grey hoodie)

Download MP3

28th April - Scream Roller

2006-04-27T17:53:00.000+10:00

This week on Bike Love I caught up with some of our colourful Sydney bicycle messengers and witnessed their inagugural scream roller! A stationary bicycle race on rollers. I had a go myself and did incredibly badly... 480m on a stationary bike is a lot harder than it looks... honest! Sexy roller bike set up by ChainRing Transit Authority... very cool looking bikes they got there!

Download MP3

21st April - Transportation

2006-04-21T14:22:00.000+10:00

This weeks Bike Love talks to Adam Hogan of Cheeky Monkey fame about cycling strictly as a means of transportation. We know you can get cool looking road bikes and some fully sick mountain bikes but what about when you just want to get around town... Cycling needn't be classified as 'sport only'. Bike Love is going to try and poke around all the other cool cycling ventures that exist... Adam (pictured here with his sporty girlfriend Tiff) gives us a bit of an intro this week!

Bike Love is going down... loadable

2006-04-13T13:00:00.000+10:00

In the next couple of weeks every show from Bike Love will be available to download as a podcast. This includes previous shows! A big thank you to Andrew Dodds for making this happen! Ride on!

14th April - Commuter Stories

2006-04-12T22:38:00.000+10:00

On Bike Love this week I talk to a handful of the many cycling commuters who pedal into the city across Pyrmont bridge. Every day, so many cyclists use the bridge on their commute so I apprehended a few of them to find out a little bit more about their journey! There's some inspiring tales among them and I'm not sure you'd get as flavoursome accounts from commuters in their cars!

7th April - Critical Mass

2006-04-05T21:24:00.000+10:00

Critical Mass is an unorganised coincidence which happens the last Friday of every month... All around the world cyclists meeting on that Friday and ride en masse through the urban streets... sharing a public space, raising awareness.... If you have done any cycling at all in Sydney then you should check out Critical Mass... the feeling of riding safely, being part of a majority in peak hour is something worth savouring! It's a very polite protest in a city that is slave to the motor vehicle... you don't need to be a radical to take part... just someone who cycles! Meet at 5.45pm at the Fountain in Hyde Park. I took part last week... listen to Bike Love at 11am on 2SER to find out just how radical I got! And check out these photos
MP3