I think that Bicycle Victoria is an excellent organisation that does some fantastic and effective lobbying work and generally does a very good job of encouraging cycling in Victoria.

However, they are an inherently conservative organisation – they have to be – and I think that increasingly it is time there was an alternative, more radical voice.

This morning The Age reported that fines for cyclists went up in November quite dramatically. Frankly, I think that is utter bullshit and symptomatic of a nanny state (I need to find another phrase for that) that is hooked on the revenue gleamed from fines. Australia must have one of the most punitive fining regimes in the world.

I’ve no problem with it being illegal to ride a bike without a helmet, but a $149 fine is utter utter bullshit and it is time that we had a more radical voice for cyclists out there.

What alarms me is that BV are supportive of this move:

But the lobby group … says it is right that cyclists now face serious fines.

I’m a big believer in democracy and that there must be many voices in a society clamouring to be heard. What we need is a more radical bicycle lobby group that works hard to get a high profile and advocate for a relaxing of the laws for cyclists.

Many of my cyclist brothers and sisters out there will disagree with me. I think that’s a good thing. What we’re lacking at the moment is alternative voices, ones saying that a $292 fine for going past a tram at walking speed is utter crap, that there needs to be some flexibility in the law. Of course cyclists shouldn’t be going past trams at 30km/h – most cyclists are very pro-public transport – but to interpret the law so dogmatically is going too far.

So cyclists, let’s radicalise! Let’s build a city that is genuinely pro-cycling.

…I’ll build the website for you.

I know, I know, post something already. Ive been busy, what can I say.

(From here)

http://www.dothetest.co.uk/

Thanks to the good men and women down at Fitzroy Cycles, I’m well on my way to being the proud owner of this (I put a deposit down):

Specs here.

It’s by far the most I’ve ever spent on a bike and I’ll have proper clip-in shoes and all. Not to mention a very smart bib to make me look like a wrestler.

It also means I’ll single speed my current bike to make it the cadence building commuter I’ve been after for so long.

It’s just all too much excitement. Who wants to go for a ride.

Really looking forward to le Tour!

(via Spinopsys)

I’ve just got home from a quick trip into the city on my bike for a few supplies.

It just so happens that it was one of those rides where it would seem that everyone wants to kill you.

The second guy (of three) that nearly killed me just pulled out of his car spot. I stopped next to him and said “did you look when you pulled out”. “Yes,” he replies. “So did you see me?” I ask. “Yes.”

What the hell do you say to that? I just called him a fuck head and rode off.

I thought it was just a buckled wheel which would cost $20 to fix.

Nope, the forks are rooted and need replacing as well as a few other little things adding up to a total of $430.

I guess the bike that I bought for $700 at least 5 or 6 years ago is going to that big Tour De France in the sky.

I’ll keep it for spare parts or something but it truly is a sad day with close to 3,000 km on it for the last year alone – that’s quite a few hours in the saddle.

Still, at least when I return home to poverty and the dole after my trip I’ll be able to spend around $1,000 on a nice new road bike with carbon forks and so on.

I have a sore finger.

I ride a road bike. I love my road bike because the lack of jumping up gutters is easily compensated for by the extra speed. However last night I wished that I was on a mountain bike.

I was riding along the Yarra to get to the Como in South Yarra with a couple of friends. One of them went to go down a ramp but stopped and asked me if I could go down it because it was a wooden ramp. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be able to?” I asked. “Your tires are too thin” he replied. Nonsense I though, are you challenging my masculinity?

So we’re going down the ramp and I note “which fucken genius designed this bridge, you’d think they would have put the wooden slats perpendicular rather than straight up and down the way they are.” Just then I feel my back wheel slip a bit but we’re getting towards the bottom of the ramp and we’re moving at a reasonable pace. “Oh shit, better be careful,” I think to myself.

Just then I look down and see my front wheel drop down between two planks. My bike stops dead. I don’t.

My whole body hurts.