RideStrong

Wimps

Unity Finesmith — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:27:00 GMT

Here's an article from the Sydney Morning Herald on sit-up bicycles and helmet laws - and as usual of course we have the rabid uninformed comments section!

And then we also have a perspective from a city that has successfully made the move from car culture to bike culture.

So they don't have many hills in this particular city but they have lots of this white stuff, freezing temperatures and some killer head winds!
p.s. sit-up bikes are also made in light weight materials with lots of gears - on ya bike Australia ... stop whining and making excuses!

"Cyclists must claim their lane," says UK Institute of Motorists

Benji — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:59:00 GMT

Jonathon Harker

http://www.bikebiz.com

Institute recommends increasing visibility and 'asserting presence' to raise safety while riding

The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has advised cyclists to "claim their lane" to boost their safety on the roads.

The organisation said that by moving out to the middle of the lane when approaching a junction or parked cars, cyclists are raising their visibility to drivers.

Studies have reportedly shown that drivers primarily pay attention to the major stream of traffic when navigating junctions, and consequently paying little attention to auxiliary roads that are more likely to have cyclists on them.

"There has been some debate as to whether cyclists should stick to the kerb or push out into the road when riding in built-up areas," explained Duncan Pickering, IAM Cycling Development Manager.

"Our advice to cyclists, based on a comprehensive study, is to stay near to the kerb on long even stretches, but to assert yourself when approaching a junction, pushing out into the road and putting yourself in the direct view of drivers.   "Sticking to the kerb where drivers are not necessarily looking means they are less likely to see you."

Pickering added: "Drivers are more likely to notice bikes travelling in the same direction as the oncoming traffic and, when turning left, mainly focus their attention on cars coming from the right, as they don't see the left as posing a particular threat.

This means they fail to see cyclists from the left early enough."

The IAM recommends that cyclists:"

-Take up a primary position around 75-100m before reaching a junction, in the centre of the lane, providing it is safe to do so. This move will mean that drivers exiting the junction will be more likely to see the cyclist as they are in the same traffic flow as more hazardous vehicles.
-Take the "secondary position" when cycling along a straight stretch of road which is clear of junctions and parked cars.
-Keep a sensible distance, about half a meter, from the kerb to avoid hazards such as slippery drain-covers.
-Remember it is not always sensible or appropriate to take the centre of the lane especially if traffic is heavy."

The IAM went on to stress that motorists lack of awareness is undoubtedly a huge factor in car/bike collisions, but it pays for the cyclist as the more vulnerable road user to be seen wherever possible."

Cars and cycle lanes - too close for comfort

RideStrong Admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:07:00 GMT

Cars and cycle lanes - too close for comfort

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2009/sep/11/bike-lanes

A new study has found that motorists leave less room when passing cyclists in a bike lane. Should we avoid riding in them?

A cyclist in a bike lane on Blackfriars bridge. Photograph: Antonio Olmos

Along with running red lights and wearing helmets, the use of cycle lanes is one of those controversial perennials more or less guaranteed to start a debate - if not an actual argument - among cyclists.

The latest salvo comes from a university study which purports to show that where there is a bike lane, motorists tend to give less room to cyclists when they overtake.

Ciaran Meyers, a postgraduate student at Leeds University's Institute for Transport Studies, hopped on his Marin Mill Valley hybridwith a camera mounted on it to measure passing distances.

On a 50mph section of the A6, north of Preston in Lancashire, the readings found that motorists, on average, gave Ciaran an extra 18.1cm of space where there was no marked cycle lanecompared to when there was. On a 40mph section of the same road the difference was 6.8cm, whereas on the 30mph section it was down to 3.7cm, seen as not statistically significant.

John Parkin from the University of Bolton, who also took part in the study, had the following explanation:

In the presence of a cycle lane, a driver is likely to drive between the cycle lane line and the centre line in a position which is appropriate for the visible highway horizontal geometry ahead of the driver. A cyclist within a cycle lane does not seem to cause a driver to adopt a different position in his or her lane. This has important implications for the width of cycle lanes and implies that their width should never be compromised.

I suppose that one thing to note is that these were painted cycle lanes rather than kerbed ones - I can only presume drivers would have been more cautious otherwise.

It's an interesting study nonetheless, and one that makes me think of a much-reported project from several years ago when another university researcher concluded that cars skimmed closer to cyclists wearing helmets. If you remember, Dr Ian Walker also donned a blonde wig to conclude that cars gave even more room to non helmet-wearing female cyclists, or at the very least to stubbly men wearing unsuitable blonde wigs.

So what is it with bike lanes? I encounter a few on my ride to work, and I have to say I don't really like them. I've never really been able say why, but perhaps it is because I sense unconsciously that when I'm in one drivers somehow see me as safe, or zoned off, and so in less need of attention. Of course, some drivers also clearly believe they're just another place to park.

Luckily, despite the efforts of at least one judge, UK cyclists so far remain able to decide whether to use them. Could the real problem simply be that too many UK bike lanes have clearly been designed by people who last rode a bike several decades ago?

3News Blogger: Cycling towards a better future

RideStrong Admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:45:00 GMT

Cycling towards a better future

By Abby Ward

http://www.3news.co.nz/Home/Story/tabid/209/articleID/146801/Default.aspx

After nearly being made road kill on my first day here in Auckland, my suspicions were confirmed; sharing the pavement in the commercial capital is not all plain sailing. Here, cars clearly rule. Their constant hum never fails to ensure sleep deprivation. My view out the window consists of a motorway and an overbridge. Don't get me wrong, Auckland's big city life is appealing, and a far cry from my small beginnings on an orchard in rural Nelson. But I can't help but see the flaws in our current way of thinking reflected in this sprawling metropolis.

Auckland's car-centric layout certainly sets the scene for hostile driver-cyclist relations. My recent trip to Copenhagen for the UNICEF Children's Climate Forum revealed stark contrasts in the two cycling cultures. While biking in New Zealand seems restricted to lycra clad athletes who are often the target of ‘road rage', pedalling in the Danish capital couldn't be more different. Even in an exhausted, jet lagged state, it was impossible not to notice the abundance of cyclists when we arrived in the Danish capital.

The 37 percent of Copenhageners who commute by bike are fashion icons, with the majority opting for antique style bikes. Instead of shaking fists and impolite finger formations being directed their way, Danish cyclists are almost always given the right of way. Zero degree days do little to scare away these stoic Scandinavians, instead it is an opportunity for them to parade the latest winter accessories. There's no ‘helmet hair' to be seen, as head gear is not compulsory in the cycle safe city. Wide bike lanes and mini traffic lights are present on almost every street.

In the face of an increasingly sedentary, gas guzzling world, these progressive Scandinavians are rated the happiest and healthiest race in the world. Instead of knocking up more motorways and ignoring demands to ‘get across' the harbour bridge via foot or bike, this ‘super city' should take a large leaf out of the Danish book.

With Earth Hour coming up on Saturday 27th March, now is the prime time to address transport issues, and hold government bodies accountable for a severe lack of planning. Unlike McDonald's dimming of the golden arches last year, Earth hour should not be about one-off acts of tokenism. Whilst you should probably avoid bush-whacking up a hill in pitch darkness (my Earth Hour last year was perhaps taken too literally), it's a perfect opportunity to congregate with friends and family in some form, and dream up a vision for the future. How do you see your city in 10 years time? Since our policy-makers haven't quite cottoned on, it's time for us to do the forward thinking.

Beijing

David Hembrow — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:34:00 GMT

David Hembrow lives in Assen, Drenthe, Netherlands. A cyclist in a cycling family living in the cycling province of the world's greatest cycling country. David was born in the UK, lived for a bit in New Zealand. http://hembrow.blogspot.com

Tonight I watched the Tegenlicht documentary De Regenmakers, a very interesting programme about the growth of environmental activism in China, focusing on four activists.

One of the people featured was Zhao Lei in Beijing. She was protesting against the pollution due to a local incinerator, but the footage included video of the quite remarkable traffic jams now commonplace in the city. This reminded me that I was going to write about what has happened to cycling in China.

It used to be that when talking about the cycling rate of the Netherlands we had to explain that it was first in the world only if you disregarded China, which was a special case. However, that's now changed. As The Guardian pointed out a few days ago, "Twenty years ago, four out of five residents in the Chinese capital pedalled to work through one of the world's best systems of bicycle lanes. But the modern passion for cars has made two-wheeled transport so treacherous, dirty and unfashionable that barely a fifth of the population dares to use lanes that are now routinely blocked by parked cars and invaded by vehicles attempting to escape from the jams on the main roads."

The thing is, cycling in China was never motivated in the same way as cycling in The Netherlands. The Chinese cycled out of necessity. They could not afford cars, and perhaps they weren't available to buy even if they could afford them. This has changed, and a generation who wanted a car but were forced to cycle went and bought cars.

The Netherlands is a completely different case. The rate of car ownership here has not climbed at the same rate as in other countries in large part because bicycles offer such a pleasant experience and a convenient way of getting about. The result is a very high discrepancy between the rate of car ownership and car affordability vs. other comparable countries. i.e. more people make a positive choose not to own a car here than anywhere else.

Even Chinese news sources now recognise the problem in China: The first concern is safety of cyclists as bicycle lanes have been edged out or phased out and bikes must use faster and more dangerous auto lanes. i.e. A lack of subjective safety is also working against cycling.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

And this is what Beijing looks like today (there are plenty of other videos on youtube, including this one showing the technique for making a left turn by car).

Roads have been built on an epic scale, favouring cars even if they don't really provide much in the way of convenience. Some people do still cycle, but in conditions like this they probably wish they had cars too.

Does this really look like progress ?

My new (old) bicycle

Unity Finesmith — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:13:00 GMT

I have recently purchased a new old bicycle off Trademe ... to do up and be the bicycle of my dreams.

Introducing ....

My new bike (she said proudly) ... this is her Trademe picture

I've done a bit of hunting around and found a wonderful site www.oldbike.eu ...

... and have identified her as a 1950s Triumph Popular Sports Tourist (I think!)

So, this is her taken apart and ready for a bit of TLC. You will have spotted by now that she has no wheels and she has undergone a bad repaint job - a very sad state of affairs but, as they say, "we have the technology"!

She has some very nice curl-around handlebars

And a rather gorgeous chain-thingy

Keep watching for the next instalment!

Unity FineSmith

http://aucklandcyclechic.blogspot.com

60 Minutes in OZ

Benji — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:41:00 GMT

Australian 60 Minutes piece about the 'cycling war' in Australia ...

.
http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1026252

A legal perspective

Benji — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:40:00 GMT

A very interesting and well thought out read ...

"Last year (2008) 2,538 people were killed in the United Kingdom due directly to the presence of motor vehicles on the roads. A further 229,000 a year were injured. Countless others suffer detrimental effects from the emissions, noise and even fear of road traffic. Motor vehicles are furthermore a major source of carbon emissions, whose contribution to global warming is now surely doubted only by those with a strong vested interest and the mildly deranged. A human activity which causes this level of carnage ought to be subjected to serious scrutiny and control. However the convenience of the personal automobile has led over the last century to the development of a car culture which largely exempts motoring from the strict regulation of other areas of life in which poor practice costs lives (construction sites, workplaces, product liability, aviation, infectious disease and even dangerous animals)."

Read the rest here

From Treehugger

Thanks to Su Yin for links

And in Auckland ...
"But the increasing use of motor vehicles and more of them is affecting Auckland's air quality - and it needs reduction but there's no help in sight..

The report states: 'With respect to air quality, emissions of PM 10 and PM2.5 particulates and NO 2 all need to be reduced substantially to meet national standards and protect human health. Motor vehicles and domestic heating are the major contributors of these pollutants.'

The report can't see our air getting any cleaner, because of Auckland's addiction to motor vehicles.

'Overall emissions from vehicles will continue to be about the same despite improvements in vehicle technology simply because there are likely to be more kilometres travelled (notwithstanding public transport investment).'

CAN: e-Can March 2010- The Cycling Advocates Network

RideStrong Admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:02:00 GMT

e.CAN 182

The email bulletin of Cycling Advocates' Network, NZ: www.can.org.nz

Contents:

- Safer Journeys Welcomed by cyclists

- Thirteen new cycle trails considered

- Millions saved if more people cycle

- Fashion on wheels for Nelson Go By Bike Day

- Gift coaxes schoolkids back to bikes

- Fittest children cycle to school, says new research

- Road transportation emerges as key driver of warming

- Use muscles, not a motor, urges UK government

- Pedestrian and bicyclist safety and mobility in Europe

- Weblinks

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SAFER JOURNEYS WELCOMED BY CYCLISTS

3 March 2010- The Cycling Advocates Network (CAN) and BikeNZ welcome the commitment by the government to improve the safety of cyclists on our roads with the announcement of 'Safer Journeys', New Zealand's 10-year road safety strategy.

"Safer speeds, safer roads, action on raising driving standards and educating school children will benefit the more than 1.2 million New Zealanders who ride bikes", says Cycling Advocates' Network (CAN) Chair, Bevan Woodward.

However, Mr Woodward warns "New Zealand has a long way to go.

Currently, the roading environment restricts people's right to cycle safely."

BikeNZ and their cycling community RideStrong agree.

"Road safety has united the New Zealand cycling community through RideStrong's 16,000 members. Through RideStrong, over 15,000 signatures were collected in support of the 1.5m to survive petition- a call for improved road safety for cyclists," says BikeNZ CEO Kieran Turner.

Cyclists have demonstrated a commitment to shape road safety policy and actions themselves. Cyclists are invited to submit their ongoing comments and ideas through the RideStrong website or through CAN.

"Today's announcement opens the door for a united cycling community to work in partnership with policy makers to turn the road safety strategy into meaningful actions", says Mr Turner.

"It's great to see cycling included in further road safety action areas, but we believe that in partnership we can make this a 'First Actions'

priority for the government strategy.

"The cycling community is ready right now to start rolling out nationwide cycling skills programmes based on government backing. A focus on education is the key for us and something we are already investing in with RideStrong's 'Rotorua in Gear' programme.

"We would welcome the alignment of government spending in this area with the programs we already have in place."

"New Zealand's road death rate is double that of the UK. It is not acceptable that cyclists and pedestrians account for 30% of deaths in urban areas. We need to take bold action to improve the situation," says CAN chair Bevan Woodward.

"Reducing speed limits and providing safer conditions for cyclists and motorists alike."

BikeNZ and CAN will be meeting with a cross-party cycling group within parliament in March to discuss creating safer cycling conditions. BikeNZ and CAN are looking forward to working closer with government to deliver on 'Safer Journeys'.

'Safer Journeys' can be downloaded here:

http://www.transport.govt.nz/saferjourneys/

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THIRTEEN NEW CYCLE TRAILS CONSIDERED

11 February 2010- Thirteen cycle trails nationwide are a step closer to becoming part of the national cycleway.

New Zealand cycle trail programme manager John Dunn said the 13 had been selected from 54 to proceed to feasibility study stage.

All applications were outstanding but, with only $50 million to work with, only those that were "simply superior in every way" had been selected for the next stage," Mr Dunn said.

"These applications promise trails of stunning beauty and, along with the previously announced Quick Start projects, will provide a network of about 2000km of iconic great rides," he said.

They are: Tauranga Moana Coastal Cycle Trail (Tauranga); Old Motu Coach Road (Opotiki Gisborne); Thermal by Bike (Rotorua); Lake Track (Taupo); Mountains to Sea Cycleway - link (Ruapehu); Heretaunga Ararua: Land of a Hundred Pathways (Hawke's Bay); Dun Mountain and Tasman Cycle Loop (Nelson Tasman); Old Ghost Road (West Coast); Westland Wilderness Trail (Greymouth); Alps to Ocean Cycle Trail (Mt Cook); The Wakatipu Trail (Queenstown); Roxburgh Gorge Trail (Central Otago); Clutha Gold Trail (Otago).

[NZ Herald, http://www.nzherald.co.nz]

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MILLIONS SAVED IF MORE PEOPLE CYCLE

18 February 2010- Researchers say New Zealand could save $200 million per year in health costs if more people left the car at home and cycled instead.

The Centre for Sustainable Cities says it would take only 5% of car trips being replaced by bike rides to make the savings.

Manager Jan Logie says the extra exercise would also save the lives of more than a hundred people each year.

She says a 5% change is not radical, as it is just getting back to the number of cyclists in the 1980s.

Cycling advocates welcome the research. "Investing in cycling is a

win-win-win decision" says Cycling Advocates' Network (CAN) Chair, Bevan Woodward.

"We all win when there are more people cycling. Our roads are less congested, people get fitter, the air is cleaner and the taxpayer saves on health costs."

Cycling is a great way to get around, and an activity enjoyed by more than a million New Zealanders says Mr Woodward.

Centre for Sustainable Cities: http://sustainablecities.org.nz/

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FASHION ON WHEELS FOR NELSON GO BY BIKE DAY

17 February 2010- Proving that cycling can be a fashionable exercise, a group of Nelson women dressed up for Go by Bike Day in their finest frocks.

In a bid to encourage those put off by the idea of cycling to work wearing figure-hugging lycra and sensible shoes, deputy mayor Rachel Reese joined her flock of followers in demonstrating that style and sustainability can go hand in hand on national Go by Bike Day today.

The group, which also included several men demonstrating the suitability of cycling wearing a shirt and tie, had borrowed bikes with enclosed hubs, mudguards and allowing an upright riding position from the Gentle Cycling Company for the event.

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GIFT COAXES SCHOOLKIDS BACK TO BIKES

19 February 2010- A Hastings man has given 62 new bicycles to a local school to get children back on bikes.

Paul McArdle has also given St Mary's Primary School 225 helmets, four bike tracks, a bike shed and an elite cyclist to coach the youngsters.

It is a package worth about $75,000, mostly from his own pocket.

Today at St Mary's, Prime Minister John Key will introduce Mr McArdle's Bikes in the School initiative, which aims to give every primary school pupil access to a bicycle and track.

St Mary's principal Liz Crowley said the scheme had been going for three weeks at her school and was a roaring success.

BikeOn and RideStrong have formed a potent partnership in the Hawke's Bay- read more here.

And see photos of the PM on his bike at the launch of the programme here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nznationalparty/sets/72157623352876207/

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FITTEST CHILDREN CYCLE TO SCHOOL, SAYS NEW RESEARCH

27 January 2010- Children who cycle to school are more physically active and fit than those who use other modes of transport, according to new research from the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine.

The findings are based a study of 6,000 children, ages 10 to 16, from the eastern region of England. The children's cardiorespiratory fitness and travel habits were assessed during 2007 and 2008.

Students from 23 schools completed a school-travel questionnaire and completed a 20-meter shuttle-run test (a speed and agility exercise) to assess their fitness levels. Researchers found boys who walked to school were 20 percent more likely to be fit compared with those using motorized transport such as bus and automobiles, and girls who walked were 30 percent more likely to be fit.

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ROAD TRANSPORTATION EMERGES AS KEY DRIVER OF WARMING

18 February 2010- A new study from NASA indicates that motor vehicles are the greatest contributor to atmospheric warming, now and in the near term. Cars, buses, and trucks release pollutants and greenhouse gases that promote warming, while emitting few aerosols that counteract it.

The new analysis offers policy makers and the public a far more detailed and comprehensive understanding of how to mitigate climate change most effectively, says the project's leader, Nadine Unger. "Targeting on-road transportation is a win-win-win," she said. "It's good for the climate in the short term and long term, and it's good for our health."

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USE MUSCLES, NOT A MOTOR, URGES UK GOVERNMENT

23 February 2010- UK Departments for Transport and Health have jointly released an Active Travel strategy. The next ten years will be the 'Decade of Cycling'.

The Government wants to see access to cycle training for every child, creating a generation of new, safe cyclists according to the Departments for Transport and Health.

This is one of the aims of the 'Active Travel Strategy', published today, which outlines plans to put walking and cycling at the heart of local transport and public health strategies over the next decade.

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PEDESTRIAN AND BICYCLIST SAFETY AND MOBILITY IN EUROPE

The U.S. Federal Highway Administration's Office of International Programs has released a report on the results of a scanning study of five European countries designed to identify and assess effective approaches to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety and mobility. The scan team gathered information on strategies and approaches in the areas of engineering, education, enforcement, encouragement, and evaluation.

Download the report here:

http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/Pedestrian_and_Bicyclist_Safety_and_Mobility_in_Eu_163046.aspx

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WEBLINKS

- Google goes cycling: Google is offering a cycling option for users of its map service (in some parts of the US only, so far):

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/10/google_maps_bikes/

- Sydney: worst city in the developed world to cycle in?

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-the-city-that-hates-bikes-20100312-q45h.html

- Free bikes in China: the city of Chengdu trials a free bike rental

programme:

http://www.gochengdoo.com/en/blog/item/1342/chengdu_to_pilot_free_bikerental_program

- Nubrella: a hands-free umbrella you can wear while cycling (if you don't mind looking like you've been partially devoured by a giant transparent caterpillar):

http://bikereviews.com/2010/01/nubrella-better-hands-free-umbrella-coverage/

- Avoiding the door zone:

http://sf.streetsblog.org/2010/02/25/saving-life-and-limb-by-avoiding-the-door-zone/

- The Bank Job: a new cycle safety promotion video from Transport for

London:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

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

------------------------------------------------------------------------

To find out more about CAN, go to our website, http://www.can.org.nz.

Adrian Croucher

Secretary, Cycling Advocates Network (CAN) PO Box 6491, Auckland

email: secretary@can.org.nz

CAN website: www.can.org.nz

BikeNZ names big squad for UCI World Track Championships

Highperf — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:00:00 GMT

BikeNZ will take one of their biggest squads ever to this month's UCI World Track Cycling Championships in Copenhagen.

The selectors today named a 17-strong team that leaves tomorrow for Denmark for the championships 24-28 March.

Head coach Tim Carswell is looking for the team to build on the recent World Cup successes and produce improved level of performance, although they are expecting stronger competition than last year's championships.

"This is a strong squad and our focus has been to get them in the best possible form at this stage. I would like to think we can make gains as we work towards the Commonwealth Games later in the year and on to the 2012 London Olympics," Carswell said.

"We are expecting more strength across the board at this year's world championships with Commonwealth countries building for New Delhi and other key nations establishing their programmes towards London."

The team is led by individual pursuit world champion Alison Shanks, who will also head the women's team pursuit that won silver last year, with the other medal a bronze for the men's individual pursuit.

Both pursuit squads from 2009 will return to Copenhagen with the women's group also including national road champion Rushlee Buchanan (Te Awamutu) to join Shanks, Jaime Nielsen and Lauren Ellis.

The men's pursuit squad is unchanged from last year in Jesse Sergent, Sam Bewley, Wes Gough, Peter Latham and Marc Ryan, with Sergent riding the individual pursuit after finishing fifth last year.

Livewire Levin rider Gemma Dudley, who turned 20 last week, is rewarded for her outstanding form at the recent national championships with selection for the omnium, which will become an Olympic event in London.

Brilliant Invercargill 20 year old, Tom Scully, who has been in outstanding form in recent World Cups, has won selection for the Points race and Madison with Ryan.

The final endurance spot has gone to Auckland's Myron Simpson who will race the omnium after excellent form in the camp, which means there is no room in this campaign for 2008 world champion Hayden Godfrey.

The team includes a full squad of five sprinters for the first time, demanded after the burgeoning performances from the young group of 2009 world junior champions Sam Webster and Ethan Mitchell, Eddie Dawkins, Adam Stewart and Simon Van Velthooven.

"We decided that the sprint programme has improved to a stage where we wanted to ensure we have covered all eventualities in Copenhagen, and hence we are taking the fifth rider.

"There were some unlucky riders which is an indication of the depth we are developing across the board in the programme which is exciting."

The team is:

Men: Sam Bewley (Rotorua), Eddie Dawkins (Invercargill), Wes Gough (Waipukurau), Peter Latham (Te Awamutu), Ethan Mitchell (Auckland) Marc Ryan (Timaru), Tom Scully (Invercargill), Jesse Sergent (Feilding), Myron Simpson (Auckland), Adam Stewart (Christchurch), Simon Van Velthooven (Palmerston North), Sam Webster (Auckland).

Women: Rushlee Buchanan (Te Awamutu), Gemma Dudley (Levin), Lauren Ellis (Hinds), Jaime Neilsen (Hamilton), Alison Shanks (Dunedin).

Staff: Tim Carswell (head coach), Dayle Cheatley (women's coach), Justin Grace (sprint coach), Craig Adair (manager), Craig Palmer and Kat Phillips (sports science), Mark Hollands and Rebecca Adams (physiotherapists), Dale Hollows and Chris O'Connor (mechanics).

Bus or Bike?

Amy Taylor — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:51:00 GMT

Hello everyone,

Well it’s been a long time since my last up-date! I’ve settled in the UK working at British Cycling in between travels around Europe. Thus far I’ve ventured to Scotland, Italy, Spain, and seen a lot of England. I’ve traveled a lot around the country with BC which has been fun to get out of the office. There is over 2500 coaches in the UK which my department looks after. BC also have a working agreement for coach education with the UCI coaching training school so recently I worked on a project of power training with them.

Thankfully winter is nearly coming to an end here. Boy did it get cold. It not only snowed but the temperatures fell to minus 15 degrees Celcius. Needless to say I did not ride much in December and January! Manchester, where I am based, is a great cycling city: it’s flat. The car drivers aren’t as mad as Aucklander’s and I keep getting surprised by the locals saying it is too dangerous to ride on the road. Despite the larger population of Manchester, the roads are empty in comparison to Auckland, as most people use public transport, leaving plenty of room for cyclists, making my daily commute quite enjoyable, but it took awhile to start this.

I’ve always had a few green streaks running through me but I admit not enough to overcome laziness or overcome ingrained habits. Likes and dislikes can become a habit, just like eating, riding, driving or taking the bus. I’ve been cycling for 20-years at varying levels on the road and track and occasionally extended to commuting, but not always. Moving countries is always a good stimulus to drop habits, or take up awful new ones you later wish you hadn’t acquired. Upon getting my job I caught the bus to work for 6-weeks thoroughly engrained in my bus ride, enjoying my podcasts each day whilst my bicycle wondered when I would use it to get to work.

Then we moved offices.

With an office move a mere 3-miles north we crossed bus territory. This meant bus fares almost doubled and since then I have ridden everyday. I am shamed to admit that money got me cycle commuting to work, not the environment despite my ripples of green. Habits are tough to change, despite our best intentions of what we would like to do or like to be.

Now I love my ride in and wonder why I didn’t start this from week one at work? I’d rather gently turn the pedals than be squashed up against someone I’d rather not smell while my body lunges involuntarily depending on how heavy the bus driver's foot is. My ride is a flat consistent head wind to work and a zippy tail wind home, as if the wind is as keen as I am to get me home.

It’s funny the things that shake us out of our habits, though overall I know that while I have had good intentions the reality is that other influences have shaken me out of laziness, out of conditioning, out of my habits which has made me ponder. How many of us get up before the birds and enjoy a great ride, and then get home and jump in the car to get to work? The longer I spend away from racing, the more I have realised the shear pleasure in just riding for riding, commuting, for the environment and of course for style over speed.

I would like to hope that everyone that rides commutes to work; if not most. If you don’t, why not?! Is it habit, or lack of resources such as bike lanes or showers at work? While a certain level of these is definitely needed for functionality, the reality is that if someone gave me a shiny new Xbox it wouldn’t change my desire to play video games just because it is there right in front of me. I have no attachment or interest in video games but I do have an attachment to £80 that was going to go to the diesel belcher which I would rather spend on shoes, or travel. That was my javelin to quickly change my habit; what is yours?

Amy Taylor is an Exercise Physiologist and Cycling Coach. The founder of Kinetic Edge Cycling Coaching, she was Cycling New Zealand's Personal Coach and Overall Coach of the Year in 2007 and author of the "Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge Guide." She now works for British Cycling in the UK but is still involved in Kinetic Edge. Kinetic Edge can be contacted in Auckland on 09 368 7819.

Karapoti Weekend

John.Randal — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:43:00 GMT

Karapoti's always a great occasion, and I do love getting out amongst it.

That said, I've never actually focussed on it, and this year was no exception. In the month after the Brevet, I'd not ridden a bike off road, though I could be considered well fed, and well rested.

It seemed I was one of the few who realised there was a choice this year, and for me it was a simple one to make. Tucked somewhere in the bowels of Michael Jacques' promotional emails was mention of the Karapoti Original - an event over the original Karapoti course from 1986. This year, it would be run on the Sunday, the day after the Karapoti Classic, to celebrate the 25th annual race. I'd had the pleasure of checking out the first section of the course with Simon Kennett, and was sold! As if the charm of the course was not enough, I try hard not to let a rare opportunity like this pass, and the saving of $35 over the Classic was also attractive.

Choosing to ride on Sunday also freed me up to spectate on Saturday. Kaitlyn and I drove out to the park together and arrived in time to see the M2 start. We walked over to the far side of the bridge and stood with some Bushlove lovers to watch the men hammer through.

That done, we caught another start from the bridge, and headed towards the event HQ. Despite half the field being on course already, there were still many acquaintances to bump into and wish well. When we finally got to the park, we bumped into Simon, and helped him get some stuff up to his car. He, and bros Paul and Jonathan, were taking care of the Original race, and we loaded up some leftover race-packs from the Classic as well as a bunch of stuff Simon and Jonathan would use to mark out the start of the course up to the top of the Rock Garden.

While we were messing about with this, we were constantly being tricked by the weather, and we were alternating between baking in hot sun, and cowering from the rain. I relocated the car to Simon's now vacated spot, so we'd at least be closer to our storm gear. We checked out the various trade displays, and it was good to have my annual catch-up with Tim Vincent, many time Karapoti winner, Tineli owner, and all round good guy.

At about midday, we cruised down to the river bank to watch some people crossing the river en route to the finish line. The first of the Challenge riders were already in, and so we were treated to a steady trickle of mud-covered riders stumbling their way across. The right-hand line must have looked good from the far side, as quite a few people took it, before realising that being up to one's nipples in river was not such a good idea...

A great innovation of recent Karapoti races has been the coloured plates. So when we saw the first green plate in amongst the red of the Challenge riders, we knew that the winner of the Classic race was upon us. As the plate got closer, beneath the mud, I recognised none other than "my" prized racing jersey. It was Tim Wilding, racing inRoadworks colours. Needless to say, Timmy got a great cheer from us, and it was fantastic to see the elated look on his face as he crossed the river.

As soon as he was out of ear-shot, I rang Oli, and told him he'd better haul *** to the finish line! He was just making his way there, and it was great to know that he'd be one of the first to congratulate Tim.

Kaitlyn and I cheered a few more finishers on before making our way up to the park. Tim and Oli were both there, and I think I surprised Tim a little by giving him a big hug! To be fair, I was clean and dry, and he was wet and filthy, but he'd just won the biggest MTB race in NZ (under some metric, surely) and in the team colours! I noticed the state of his helmet, which was sporting what looked to be about a kilo of Karapoti mud, collected in a stack on the way down off Dopers. It was beautifully captured by Tim, and then by Caleb Smith from Spoke (sorry to flog the pic, Caleb!).

As the minutes ticked by, many more of our friends arrived at the finish, most looking pretty pleased with their efforts. We enjoyed chatting to them, in between scoring free muesli bars from the sponsors! We'd had enough though, well before prize-giving was due to start, and so we snuck away home.

Once their, I got my gear ready for the next day, and fired the bike on the back of the car. I gave the chain a bit of extra lube after seeing the amount of crud everyone was covered by. Then we headed out to my parents place in Strathmore so that Kaitlyn could have a decent sleep in in the morning. The dinner we were treated to may not have been the ideal pre-race fodder, but it was a hell of a lot more delicious than most plates of pasta. After dinner, and once Kaitlyn was in bed, I had a nice chat to Mum and Dad, during which Mum was thrashing herself on their exercycle. They've both been logging a bit of time on it in the last year, since Dad's Taupo revelations! Ma wants me to go riding with her on her 60th in June, which I'm really looking forward to.

In the morning, I went through the motions and was waiting in Molesworth Street when Simon and Jonathan Kennett rode up. Their 29ers onboard, we were soon on the motorway, and before long pulling into Karapoti Park. There were a few folk there already, and there was plenty to chat about before setting off up to Akatarawa Saddle. Paul Kennett took the spare seat in the back, and after starting us off, he would drive my car back! Mint!

Once we'd reached the saddle, and overcome one of the two big hurdles of using this course permanently (the point to point nature; the second hurdle being the private land), there was no time for a warm up. While suiting up, I was given a MTB calendar by NZ Mountain Biker photographer and Cycletech good guy Craig Madsen! Cheers Craig!

Simon briefed us (briefly) and then we headed up to the start line. Craig joined us with his camera, and took a few shots - one of which he generously has shared with us all.

And before we knew it, we were off. And boy I was off! Jonty Ritchie, Alex Revell and Rob Kilvington, all sporting Revolution Cycles shirts got straight into it. Gavin McCarthy was behind them, and I found myself "duelling" with Mike Thompson, another Revolution Cycles rider. With cold legs, I struggled initially, but pretty much everyone was in the same boat. My legs actually come online pretty quickly, but I struggle for breath initially. Also, my lack of mountainbiking was showing, and I had to take my sunnies off, somehow attributing my appalling lines to them.

Simon had told us we could leave the tagged gates open, but at the sharp end of the race there'd be none of that! So, over the gates it was, as one by one we decided to leave them closed.

I made some inroads on Gav on the descent into the valley, and managed to gap Mike. As we started climbing out the other side though, I lost sight of Gav. The 4WD road soon left the felled pine forest, and disappeared into native bush. The ground was wet, and I was taking my typical conservative approach by carrying my bike over bogs. While I was reducing my chances of chain suck, this approach was slow, particularly given the difficulty of getting going again on the soft, uphill terrain. Mike came past before we got to the top of the Rock Garden, and I wouldn't see him again.

I've ridden down the Rock Garden on probably about 10 occasions, and have punctured on at least 6 of these. The first time, backnin 1998, I was running alongside my bike, when the rear wheel punctured (I mean, seriously - does that actually happen?!). The most recent time was a year earlier, and I ruined a brand new UST Nevegal on a rock, and a pair of gloves trying to stem the exodus of jizz from the rapidly deflating tyre... Even in my fastest lap of Karapoti, back in 2007, I had to replace a tube after I noticed bubbles emanating from my rear wheel on the way through a bog...

Fortunately, this episode was trouble free. I conservatively dismounted before the first big drop off, and after realising I'd be better on my bike than off it, I sat down, and literally slid on my *** before jumping back on the bike. 1000 or so riders the previous day had left a pretty good line, for the most part. In the worst sections, there was little evidence of a preference, though elsewhere, the riding line was about a foot across. In a couple of places I was caught out by the same rock as each and every one of those before me, and wondered how we could have missed it.

All in all, this was a rare descent for me, and I got to the bottom of the Devil's Staircase intact! With nothing to repair, I resigned myself to heading straight up the hill. After a few minutes, I heard some familiar whistling! "Where have you been?!" I hollered. So, as we did 5 or 6 weeks earlier in the Akatarawa Attack, Simon and I pushed our bikes together up this bit of track. We swapped notes a bit, and if anything, slowed from the pace we'd been holding until the catch. I lamented my lack of oomph, which hopefully wasn't insulting since I'd been up front until this point.

After a cheery "Thanks guys" to the first aid team at the top, it was back on the bike. I followed Simon for a bit, until a small rise suited my extra momentum, and I shot past him. We were soon into the descent, and as befitted the name Big Ring Boulevard, I slotted it into big ring. The light conditions through here were incredibly difficult, and I really just had to point, shoot, and hope for the best. We passed someone on the side of the track, but I had no idea who. Simon, very sensibly, stayed on my wheel, no doubt ready to swerve one way or the other if it looked like things were going to custard. He let me know it was Big Gav somewhere down the way.

Simon took over on the left hander down towards Dopers, and gapped me a little with the tighter corners. I passed him somewhere along the flat section. I pushed up the first 50m of the climb, and then jumped aboard. Simon swung by and then stopped. After stifling a laugh at his old man's bladder, I regained my concentration, and got into the climb. I was feeling OK, but not strong. Though I wasn't moving particularly quickly, this was the first time I'd ridden the entire climb in a long time (please forgive me for starting my "climb" after the tricky loose section at the bottom). Nonetheless, Simon was riding stronger, and passed me about 2/3 of the way up. He was off to find Mike.

I'd love to watch someone else ride the top section, because I suck at it so badly. I don't think it was just the climb taking the sting out of my legs. I hope it's something to do with the tacky clay trying to stop my tyres from leaving. Progress was slow, which probably helped me avoid crashing into the ruts and bogs that appeared out of the blue in a couple of places. I had a stuttery ride down the big descent, and couldn't see the imprint of Tim's helmet in any of the cuttings.

The gorge was a hoot, despite being hard work. It never seems as downhill on the way down as it seems uphill on the way up (if you know what I mean...). I got a bit of a fright as a trio of trail bikes roared around a corner, but luckily I wanted the inside line and they wanted the berm on the outside. Soon after there was an ungodly noise coming towards me. I actually pulled over and stopped, and a few seconds later a couple of unmuffled quad bikes came past. Soon after the gorge was done, and all that was left was to slog into the headwind "down" Karapoti Road - another descent that feels like a climb...

I managed to find a relatively shallow path across the river, and was soon having my time added to Paul's list in Karapoti Park. The Revolution crew were in party mode - it was a shame Simon had chosen to race in his Ground Effect shirt instead of Jonty's colours. Five of them together, with no company until I arrived would have been very cool.

In the last week, it's been great to look at the various results and photos. Tim's had some fantastic publicity, including photos on cyclingnews.com! While the Original probably deserved more interest than it got, I was glad to have done it. The course is so much nicer than the Classic course - my time was probably 40-45 minutes quicker than I'd have gone on the full course.

The Original brought the end of the summer's riding plans. I'm on the look out for some new goals now!

Urban Exploration

Kieran Turner — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:58:00 GMT

Its easy just to ride where you are familiar. You know the route, how long it will take and how hard it is so there is a certain amount of comfort. But there are so many great back roads with a lot less traffic and now a lot more cycleways. I hear a lot of complaints about the lack of facilities and to be sure we seriously lag the rest of the developed world in this respect. But we are starting to see more cycle ways and paths both on and off road developed.

In the last week I have ridden on 2 fairly new parts of the Auckland cycle network. On Sunday coming back from the Waitakere Ranges we utlised the great new cycle path alongside the State Highway 20 extension. No traffic and a lot quicker to get from out west to Onehunga in no time. I've also found a great link from Pakuranga through to Mangere Bridge that is largely off road or on quiet streets.

The entire network design for AKL can be found online so if you live in AKL check it out and see if there is one near you. You'll need to be patient as its still being developed in a lot of places and figure out the back roads that link it up but once you've done some exploring you will be amazed at just how pleasant it can be to get around parts of the city.

Auckland is not alone with Christchurch also having some great cycle paths. In both cases I seldom see lots of people riding on these (yes there are some limitations). So the challenge is to spread the word and get out there and take advantage of what we have. Its not perfect but it really is a case of use it or lose it. The more councils see this sort of infrastructure being used the more they are likely to build more (probably in places where we really want it too).

So go do some exploring and find the quieter spots and you'll enjoy your riding a whole lot more.

Training Blog: Endurance training: large amounts of low-intensity training can develop base conditioning and aid recovery

Highperf — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:41:00 GMT

Endurance training: large amounts of low-intensity training can develop base conditioning and aid recovery

How a train low, train high approach can lead to increased performance

In recent years, the ‘middle way' has been a popular mantra of politicians. However, as Joe Beer explains, when it comes to training intensity in endurance sports such as cycling and triathlon, the middle way is most definitely not the most effective route to elite performance

Professional elite athletes know how to train because they have access to the best coaches and a because of the Darwinian process that ‘kills off' bad methods and keeps good ones thriving! However, until very recently, the amateurs have never had access to the facilities and coaching backup of elite performers, so more often than not they have tended to source information from the best athletes they know locally and/or the group ethos prevailing in their particular training group or environment. The problem with this approach is that the ‘sheep mentality' of merely doing what everyone else does is not especially effective. And let's be honest, sheep don't win many athletic medals!

Peaks in the clouds

Athletes used to look to the top of the sports mountain, shrouded in the clouds of greatness, and wonder what went on up there. Take, for example, the secret regimes of the 1980s ‘doctors' behind the Iron Curtain, possessed of the ability to increase team performances in track, field and cycling. Nowadays, we have greatly increased transparency with more and more data from individuals, teams and countries, and from journals and interviews. From 4km cycling powerhouses (1) to elite junior rowers (2), as well as many others, data is published for all to see. Thankfully, we can now see that the gains are less about pharmacology and more about the analysis of training, outcomes and lessons learned.

For example, the prologue ride of cyclist Bradley Wiggins in this year's Tour De France was online within days so that cycling fans could swoon over the his super-human effort - an average power output of 442 watts. Wiggins also published blood test data to counter any suspicion that he must have been on ‘something special' to get fourth place overall. However, that's a separate article entirely about champion genetics, weight loss and superb equipment choices.

Fortunately, this new openness gives sports scientists, coaches and amateur athletes the chance to see how the best actually train, and most importantly for you, it allows a trickle down of certain ‘golden nuggets' of information from upon high. Think of it in the same way that steering wheel control paddles trickled down from rallying and F1 racing to your family car.

So it was fascinating when recent data were presented in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance on 36 elite junior rowers' actual training data(2). These data will rock the training methods of some and give the thumbs up to what others are already doing. What they suggest in a nutshell is that the ‘Goldilocks' approach to training (not too hard, not too easy) is detrimental for optimum performance, resulting in a no man's land of not much progress.

Standing on the shoulders of giants

Researchers in Germany have looked at the training and competition data of elite rowers with national, world and Olympic rowing performance capabilities. Over a 37-week period, training was quantified methodically using heart rate monitoring, assessment of lactate threshold points (the point at which fatiguing lactate begins to accumulate rapidly in the blood) and performance outcomes. The rowers (14 of whom went onto Olympic finals), were lab tested to find critical points of blood lactate concentration in order to define certain training zones. These have been discussed previously in PP (see issue 239) and are shown below:

While you probably won't have a blood lactate tester to hand, it's quite easy to get a feel for the 2 and 4mmol/L levels. Below 2mmol/L of lactate, there's no burning sensation and heart rates are around 60-75% of maximum. Between 2 and 4mmol/L, blood lactate builds and declines, never quite bringing you to your knees but you definitely get a sense of a ‘workout'. Above 4mmol/L, (sometimes referred to as the ‘lactate or anaerobic threshold'), exercise feels very hard, and in fact rowing data suggests that 6-8mmol/L is often reached in training by elite rowers. This high-intensity effort is such that once under way, you hope it ends very quickly! Typically, it involves from around 40 seconds to 8 minutes of maximal effort (2).

When the researchers analysed the 37-week data, their findings were very interesting. One of the most important of these was that internationally successful junior rowers performed 95% of all specific rowing training at a heart rate corresponding to a blood lactate concentration under 2mmol/L (see figure 1).

Within the average 12-14 hours of training per week the athletes logged over the scrutinised period, this meant six hours of actual rowing in Zone 1 (Z1). Two to three hours were spent resistance training, two hours doing alternative steady state aerobic training, and one hour doing warm-up/flexibility work. Given that this data covered the competition period, it is very, very important to note that the athletes did just 30 minutes a week of very high intensity work.

The real world

Many endurance athletes do events that, in the real world, typically last from 15 to 20 minutes and upward. These include 5K road races, 10-mile time trials and sprint triathlons. Few actually compete in events as short as the rowers tested, though anyone in an event lasting over 40 seconds is really an endurance athlete. Many people are now entering ultra-endurance triathlons such as the Ironman where finish times are 9 to 17 hours. Similarly, sportive cycle events lasting 4 to 10 hours are attracting record numbers. How should these athletes train?

From earlier work on rowers (3), the importance of training below the anaerobic threshold has been steadily gaining attention; and anaerobic thresholds are increasingly being used as a diagnostic tool rather than a training method. In short, the anaerobic threshold is not the Mecca of training effort; it's merely one of the many ways used to measure an improvement or decline in fitness capability. Trying to train at threshold is not the way to train: you are working too hard to be easy and too easy to be properly hard!

As respected cycling journalist and coach Fred Matheny put it almost 15 years ago in an article in Bicycling: ‘NML (no man's land) workouts provide a kinaesthetic sense of working hard but expose the rider to too much stress per unit gain. Instead most base training should be guilt-producingly easy, and the top end, high-intensity-training (HIT) should be very mentally hard, not sort of hard' (4).

Rowing quality sessions

Lets look at what the rowers in this study did for quality (3). Over the study period, they averaged just 2-3% of their time performing very high intensity efforts. In distance terms they did 73km in the tempo zone (Z2) but just over 3200km in Z1. Although 2000m rowing requires just 6-7 minutes of maximal effort, they still focused on ‘very easy' or ‘very hard'.

Examples of these high-intensity sessions included:

2-3 x 3-10 mins @ 90% HRmax - 10-20 mins recovery between;
2-8 x 40-120 sec @ maximal effort - 5-15 mins recovery between.

In order to be ready for this very high level of effort, you need to ensure you've done your base sessions in a controlled manner. The priority is being ready to do the hard work, not making endurance sessions harder than they need to be. Far too many athletes try to push the base and then fail to go really hard for their HIT training.

Why does train low, train high work?

How is it that large amounts of low-intensity work can develop base conditioning, aid recovery from HIT sessions yet not turn an athlete into a ‘plodder', churning out ‘junk miles'? Well, first off if you do your base work in the 60-80% HRmax zone, you will get as fit and efficient as your genetics will allow for that particular training mode.

However, you can't turn base work into quality - it can be good quality technical work and it can be good quality tempo of movement, but it can't be harder than the Z1 upper threshold. If you train in Z1 consistently, allow recovery and have no major health issues, your body will reach around 90% of its potential - no tempo work, no HIT and relatively little effort. Although you may feel guilty, easy training can get you 9/10ths of the way to your peak potential!
You can train excessively in the tempo ‘no man's land' zone for years. But while it gives you a buzz from your workouts and gets reasonable performances, the inputs verses the outputs never match up. For example, if you train over 15 hours per week but include more than 25% of your training in Z2 ‘no man's land', you'll fail to get better despite logging more time than others who do mostly Z1 and are improving. Remember the phrase ‘guilt-producingly easy' for more than 90% of your week, especially if you've been someone who has always trained too hard up until now. Figure 2 shows how elite athletes across a range of sports spend most of their time in zone 1.

For many athletes, the ‘train low, train high' mantra requires a mindset change, forcing them to think about things differently. Perceptions such as ‘base is easy now', ‘I can relax knowing I don't have to keep up with other people' or ‘It's now more enjoyable but also more effective', are typical when people finally get what the elites already know.

Summary

Whatever endurance athlete type you are, train low, train high can work for you. This does not mean ‘go easy, we don't want to push ourselves do we?' Inclusion of the very high intensity (Z3) work is absolutely critical. However, for long-term success, you need to construct your training so that the body can evolve in a very patient way. Many athletes, even with the best coaching, only see on average a 2 to 8% improvement in a given year, especially those who've got several racing seasons under their belts already. If you've been struggling in no man's land and not making much progress, try using train low, train high approach and set realistic improvements of say 5% (not 10 or 15%) faster for 2010. And if you remember the valuable three golden nuggets above, better times are ahead.

Joe Beer is an endurance coach working with cyclists, triathletes, duathletes and runners through his company JBST.com. He is also the author of ‘Need to Know Triathlon' (Harper Collins)

References

1. Med. Sci Sports Exerc. (2002) 34, 6, 1029-1036
2. IJSPP (2009), http://tinyurl.com/kwe26d (in press)
3. Int. J Sports Med. (1993) 14, S3-S10
4. Bicycling Oct (1995) p.90
5. J Strength Cond Res. (2007) 21, 3, 943-949
6. Scand J Med Sci Sports (2004) 16, 49-56
7. Scand J Med Sci Sports (2004) 14, 303-310
8. Med. Sci Sports Exerc. (2005) 37, 3, 496-504
9. Scand J Med Sci Sports (2003) 13, 185-193

This article was taken from the Peak Performance newsletter, the number one source of sports science, training and research. Click here to access these articles as soon as they are released to maximise your performance

Who is this guy!

Unity Finesmith — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:56:00 GMT

Nice video ...

(Please visit the site to view this media)

I have no idea who this guy is but he's talking my kind of language!

Strong BikeNZ squad selected for world track championships

Highperf — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:28:00 GMT

Otago's Alison Shanks has shown great form leading up to her defence of the World Individual Pursuit title.

BikeNZ have selected an 18-strong squad to prepare for the UCI World Track Cycling Championships in Copenhagen 24-28th March 2010.

RideStrong members will be able to receive the latest news from Copenhagen as BikeNZ High Performance Director Mark Elliott blogs on the RideStrong High Performance Supporters group here. Simply join and subscribe to the posts to receive the latest updates via email.

New Zealand will mount their biggest-ever campaign with 16 riders.

The squad are currently in camp in Invercargill for three weeks before departing for Europe.

BikeNZ national coach Tim Carswell said the focus is for selected riders to challenge for medals in each of their targeted events.

"We are keen to build on the success from last year in Poland where we gained three medals, the most we have achieved at any elite world championships before," Carswell said.

"This is a huge campaign and a massive effort to take 16 riders to Europe with support staff and we are grateful to the support from SPARC so we can continue to build towards the Commonwealth Games later this year and on to London 2012 and beyond."

Carswell said the squad includes last year's men's medal winning team pursuit squad with Sam Bewley returning from competing with his new Team Radio Shack with Lance Armstrong and Jesse Sergent (Trek Livestrong) after competing in the Tour of Qatar.

The selectors have also named 2008 Omnium world champion Hayden Godfrey in the squad. The Christchurch rider was knocked off his bike while training and the injuries he received prevented him from competing in February's RaboPlus Elite Track Championships.

The women's endurance squad is headed by individual pursuit world champion Alison Shanks and includes national scratch race champion Rushlee Buchanan, points race champion Lauren Ellis and other members of the women's medal winning pursuit squad Kaytee Boyd (Auckland) and Jaime Nielsen.

The newcomer is Levin's Gemma Dudley after the teenager impressed at the national championships. The 19 year old won four medals at the junior world track championships two years ago.

There are five selected for the men's sprint squad with four to travel to Copenhagen, led by the in-form Eddie Dawkins (Invercargill). The coaches will continue to work with combinations before naming their final four to contest sprints, kilo time trial, keirin and team sprint at the world championships.

The men's endurance squad includes the world championship medal group from the team pursuit along with Godfrey and the Southland 20-year-old Scully, who has five medals from his two World Cup outings over the last three months.

"There's tremendous competition within the squad as well which will give the coaches plenty to mull over as we select the riders best suited to specific events and roles for Copenhagen."

Carswell said it is a challenging year to peak for the world championships and again for the Commonwealth Games in October and there will be a number of other athletes to come in to contention for New Delhi.

The squad is:

Women: Kaytee Boyd (Auckland), Rushlee Buchanan (Te Awamutu), Gemma Dudley (Levin), Lauren Ellis (Hinds), Jaimie Nielsen (Hamilton), Alison Shanks (Dunedin).

Men: Sam Bewley (Rotorua), Eddie Dawkins (Invercargill), Hayden Godfrey (Christchurch), Wes Gough (Waipukurau), Peter Latham (Te Awamutu), Ethan Mitchell (Auckland), Marc Ryan (Timaru), Tom Scully (Invercargill), Jesse Sergent (Feilding), Adam Stewart (Christchurch), Simon van Velthooven (Palmerston North), Sam Webster (Auckland).

Remember you can receive email alerts of news from the team by joining the High Performance Supporters Group on RideStrong.

Devenport ride

Unity Finesmith — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:59:00 GMT

I'm trying to catch up with some of the February Bikewise events, so below are some pics from the Devenport ride ...

There was quite a crowd and we ended up splitting into several groups

Some were new to this bicycling lark

Some had a little more experience

There was a variety of 'notice me' approaches from full-on fleuro to loud shirts! ...

... to just plain standing out in a crowd!

We had Frocks ...

Families ...

Pregnant ladies ...

Kids ...

Guys ...

And of course bicycles ... lots of bicycles!

Northshore city council's cycling superstar (Debbie) conferring on the route ... and we're off!

We stopped for some well earned refreshments along the way

And to re-acquaint ourselves with 'terra firma' ... those bicycles can be tricky little suckers!

The bicycles rested under under the pergola

And it was time for a 'group shot' before heading back.

Lovely day!

Say again?!

John.Randal — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:56:00 GMT

I recently spent an evening or two importing a bunch of old posts from vorb (prior to December 2009). I lingered on a few of them, and really enjoyed the memories they dredged up. The Karapoti Challenge one was almost a tear-jerker, and I reposted that in a fit of sentimentality. There are some other doozies, including some great brain malfunctions on the road. I reckon there are some nice ride ideas tucked away in there too. I've split them up according to subject matter and the links are in reverse chronological order...

Road Racing

Even more road race fail

Popping my Taupo cherry

Saturday road race, Sunday MTB race

Centre champs chump

More road race fail

Road race fail

Balfour Pennington 4, 2008

Balfour Pennington 3, 2008

Balfour Pennington 2, 2008

MTBO

MTBO + a cyclocross race + a road race

Long Gully

Akatarawa Attack 2009

Mangakotukutuku series race

Akatarawa Attack 2008

Cycle Touring and Exploring

New Plymouth - Stratford - Taumarunui - National Park

Around the Tararuas in a day!

Wairarapa "Road" Trip

Pencarrow

Picton - Linkwater Long Cut - Canvastown - Nydia Bay - Picton

Gisborne to Whakatane

Martinborough - Aorangi Crossing - Martinborough

Ohakune - Pipiriki (Whanganui River) return

Picton - Blenheim - St Arnaud - Nelson - Picton

Bicycles for Christchurch

Unity Finesmith — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:45:00 GMT

The husband and I are visiting Christchurch for the weekend soon and we want to hire some bicycles ... of course!

Does anybody know where we can hire some styley city bicycles? - preferably with a step through for me.

I've done a bit of Google searching but just seem to turn up mountain bikes with 21+ gears ... Christchurch is flat isn't it?

Karapoti Challenge 2008 - My favourite race EVAR!

John.Randal — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:25:00 GMT

On the eve of Karapoti 2010, I'm busy uploading old (quality!) posts from vorb onto this blog. And I found this old gem. I've added a few photos to the original post. I still think about this ride often...

1 March 2008
My preparation for this [2008]'s Karapoti outing started years ago, when my daughter Kaitlyn and I saw a Phillips trailer bike hanging in Mud Cycles in Karori. She had recently turned 5, and while she was a bit too small for the 20" wheeled half bike, at a pinch she could sit comfortably on it, and turn the pedals OK.

We bought it, and got it hitched up to my old Avanti Ridge Rider which was at the time my core commuter bike. For the next while, once or twice a fortnight, I'd drop her and the trailer at school, then meet her after school, and we'd head up to the Makara Peak Skills Area for afternoon tea and some stories. We became more adventurous, and before long had ridden over the summit and down Zac's and Varley's.

It became clear that the bike hadn't been specced for the sort of riding we were doing, and so we sourced a slightly bigger rear cog which enabled Kaitlyn to help out a little more on the climbs. At age 6, she did the first lap of the Creek to Peak relay with me, and just before her 7th birthday did the first Makara Peak round, and the Mt Vic round of the PNP series.

We finished mid-field in the Rec Men's class in both. Last December, against my better judgment (due to my knee injury), we rode together in the Rec class in the Tour de Peak, which included a very sketchy ride down Livewires. It was becoming clear that Katy was out-growing the bike, and that her weight was starting to cause trouble - the combined weight of her and the trailer was almost 35kg, and it is un-braked at that.

I was keen for her to experience one of the highlights of the MTB calendar, Karapoti, so in mid-January, I fired off an entry for us to ride in the Karapoti Challenge as "Family Randal". Despite Katy and I looking dashing in our matching Makara Peak Supporters' green jerseys, I am honoured to be supported by Oli Brooke-White at Roadworks and like to race in his colours whenever possible. While Katy doesn't own her own Roadworks jersey, our good friend Harry Brooke-White was happy to lend us his prized jersey for the day.

Entry and kit organised, our attention turned to training. For Kaitlyn, this largely consisted of a massive ride from home in Karori, out to the South Coast via Wright's Hill and Long Gully, and back home via Happy Valley and the bottom of the Roller Coaster. For me, there have been all sorts of weird and wonderful rides that have been fairly well documented on this fine forum.

As the big day loomed, our excitement grew. I borrowed my sister's car, and collected Katy from her Mum's at about quarter to nine on Saturday morning. I had the bikes in the back, our race clothes, tools, food and drink, raincoats and suncream! We had a great drive out to Karapoti, and saw a few other car-loads heading our way. We parked pretty much as soon as we got to the queue of cars, and ended up with quite a long ride to Karapoti Park past hundreds of metres of free parking. I don't know what innovations Michael made with the parking, but whatever they were, they were great!

We got changed at the car, and headed to the briefing just in time to miss the end of it. We explored the event area together, chatting to people we knew, and wishing them good luck. We were on the river bank for the first start, on the bridge for another, and at the point where the riders first hit the tarseal for a third wave. We watched another from the middle of the river.

I'd been anguishing about the start for weeks. Under no circumstances did I want to lose my most precious possession (Kaitlyn, not my Epic) under a whole lot of water and a stampede of mountainbikers. I decided on having Kaitlyn on my back, and holding my bike as if I was lifting it up some stairs, and to forget all about the trailer - it could look after itself. My vantage point from the river told me we should be in the middle start position.

We spent about 5 minutes warming up on the road, and then got a position on the start line. Katy climbed on my back, and we tested out our technique, before reclaiming our place on the beach.

We were singled out by a photographer, and also Mick on the mike, who was keen to know where my beard had gone! Before we knew it, we were off. I was keen to move as quickly as possible across the water, partly so we didn't get run down, but also to repay the people around us, who had graciously given us heaps of space, and not given us a hard time about plonking ourselves in a prime start position.

I kept running on the other side of the first crossing and we passed a few folk who'd thought that riding would be faster. My little limpet was hanging on for dear life on my back, arms around my neck, and legs around my waist. On the far side of the second crossing, I found a nice spot on the right side of the track, and put the bike and Katy down. After she'd mounted the bike, I ran for a bit, and then jumped on, and we were away.

We stayed about 20m off the back of a large bunch all the way up the road, passing odds and sods along the way. At the stream crossing there was a bit of mayhem, and we had to dismount and run up the other side. Katy was a champion, and did everything perfectly. She ran, she held a good line keeping herself safe and she jumped back on the bike as quickly as she could. So many things we hadn't talked about in advance, but she was all class.

We continued passing people up the gorge, occasionally blasting through puddles or piles of rock. The trailer hitches right up below my seat, and so you simply cannot swoop the bike around any of the berm-like puddle edges. You've got to live with any evasive maneuver taken for a lot longer than you would riding alone. The left turn onto Magee's bridge was pretty sketchy with all the loose gravel.

We got some nice feedback from a couple of guys who passed us on the first part of the climb - one in particular seemed pretty relieved to have finally overhauled us! On the steep stuff Katy's contribution is limited on account of her gear. Nevertheless, when she's mustered a bit of strength, my bike makes these disconcerting, yet incredible, surges as she puts the power down. As we passed the marshalls at the bottom of the loop, I was surprised to hear we were in the top 20.

We held our own on the climb. The gradient was almost at our limit, but Katy was still able to contribute well at the very low cadence she was subjected to. I have only one gear when it comes to climbs like that, with the aim to get it over and done with as soon as possible without blowing myself. This means a nice high cadence and a focus on steady pedalling. This was our first ever time using the Epic as the towing bike. Our test ride around Karori Park on Friday had highlighted the need for more air pressure in the Brain shock, and I think I pretty much nailed it with the prescribed pressure for a 115kg rider. Up the hills, as is always the case, the front end wobbles around a bit, so we were a lot like a pair of drunks on our way up the hill. Pretty quick drunks though. We passed a couple of guys, and had about 8 more riders within our sights the whole climb. It was only at the top of the hill that they accelerated away from us.

Apart from the river crossing at the start, my biggest concern was this descent, and it was the main reason for using the Epic. In the end it wasn't too bad. We lost one place, having passed one bloke, and being passed ourselves by another two. We burnt past another competitor on the descent to the river, and gave a wave to Hilary and her mates sweeping the rear of the course in their fluoro yellow vests.

Back on the gorge it was now hammer time. It was nice to be able to use gravity to our advantage a lot more, as well as my big old legs, not to mention my powerhouse stoker. As my brain began being deprived of oxygen, we started missing our lines a little more often. At one point I bellowed "pedal!" at Kaitlyn, only to apologise as I actually meant "puddle". She's such a trooper though. We didn't communicate much at this part of the race. For a start, we were moving too damn quick to be able to hear each other very well.

We rode the stream crossing nicely, and made great time out to the road. I could feel the body starting to object along the road itself. At the speed we were going, Katy is pretty much a passenger, as she can't pedal fast enough to help out. Nonetheless, she is a fantastic motivator, and kept me going hard. At the river crossing we rode right to the water's edge, we both jumped off the bikes, and I picked her up in one arm, sort of like a rugby ball, the bike(s) in the other, and charged into the river. About half way across, it got rather deep, and I began to stumble on a couple of boulders. With my precious cargo aboard, it was time to stop, reboot, then get going again. It was worth the micro pause, and we got safely to the other side. We ran off the beach, and then jumped back on the bikes for the home stretch.

We got an amazing cheer from the folk watching the finish line, which I'm sure made us up a couple of seconds. I almost brought us down at the line by hauling on the front brake a bit heavily, letting my rear wheel come off the ground and then jack-knifing, but luckily there were a couple of marshalls to keep us under control.

We were greeted by my parents, and Katy's Mum, who were all a bit surprised to see us so soon.

Once we'd got our breaths back, we celebrated in the best way, with a great big hug. Neither of us could have had such a wonderful experience without the other. It was a huge thrill for both of us. And I don't feel like I made a sacrifice to do it at all. A lot of people had asked me how I was feeling about Karapoti, and whether I was looking for a personal best. I might have been good for one, but I had something more important to do.

Mum, Dad and Jo headed off, and Kaitlyn and I spent the rest of the afternoon sifting around, celebrating with our friends. For the record, it was incredibly satisfying to once again do the Roadworks jersey proud. I had hoped to finish in the top 20, but didn't for a moment think it was achievable. We also had our eye on Kerei and Angus Thompson's record. In the end, we met all our goals: 7 minutes taken off the record, 19th place overall, and of course the most important bit, we did it together and loved every minute of it...

If you made it this far, thanks for reading!

Originally published on vorb

John (sifter goes bike riding)

http://sifter-writes-bikes.blogspot.com

The BIkeON commuter challenge Hawkes Bay

Bike Chic — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:19:00 GMT

WOW - 187 commuter cyclists took part in the "Bike On NZ" Hastings Commuter Cycle Challenge - I hope you enjoyed. This morning 107 commuter cyclists arrived at K Mart Plaza to a scrumptious BBQ and breakfast!!!! Thanks Charlie and his team! What a fantastic turnout for our final breakfast. Great to see so many of you make it to the final breakfast and what a breakfast - superb. I know a lot of you wanted to win this prize and you all deserved it. But ... there could only be one winner...

Congratulations to Annika Edmondson from Hastings Girls High for winning the grand prize. Annika is an amazing athlete and triathlete and has represented NZ winning gold in the World Long Distance Champs in Perth last year and it's great to see that she loves commuting to work too! What a fantastic prize, a trip to cycle the Otago Rail Trail with airfares kindly donated by Air New Zealand and Trail Journeys package supplied by Bike Hawke's Bay. The Trail Journeys package is for 4 days on the Otago Central Rail Trail with bike hire, accommodation/breakfasts, transport to and from the start and bag transfer. Check it out at www.trailjourneys.co.nz We look forward to hearing all about your fantastic trip.

For all of those helping or competing at the Taupo Ironman tomorrow - Good Luck! It is an inspiring event. Also to all of you competing at the iconic Mountain Bike race, The Karapoti this weekend. Go Emma, I hope its dry J

Thank you for taking the time to fill in the survey. I will put the results on www.bikehb.co.nz once I have a chance to finish compiling and analysing them. The winner of the RideStrong Jersey was Terry Foley from MWH - look out for him in his new jersey!

Now that we have got you enjoying riding to work you may be interested in the next Bike Wise Challenge. Make a note of this below link for next year.

The Bike Wise Challenge will run from 1-28 February 2011 and is open to any New Zealand organisation (businesses, schools, churches, scout/guide groups etc). The Challenge is a fun, free, online competition which encourages you to swap your chair for a bike saddle and give cycling a go during Bike Wise Month. Organisations compete against others of a similar size in their region to see who can get the highest percentage of members/staff riding their bikes. It's all about getting people to try cycling, and to think about swapping some car journeys for trips by bike (sorry, excercycles don't count)! There are fantastic prizes for winning organisations as well as spot prizes for individuals. Registrations will open in January 2011. So if you'd like your business to register check out the Bikewise website. It's great fun and a great way to challenge other business's to get on their bikes. www.bikewise.co.nz

It would also be great to show your support for another fantastic cycling facility here in Hawke's Bay, make sure you sign up as a supporter for the Regional Sports Park, so we can get covered Velodrome here! www.sportspark.co.nz

Thank you again. I've really enjoyed getting to know you all and I'll miss you next week! Thank you especially to ‘Bike ON NZ' for funding this great project and look forward to seeing wonderful things happen in the future with their other great projects. Check them out at www.bikeon.co.nz

Thank you to all the businesses involved and especially to Craig Foss National Party and Tuki Tuki MP, Paul McArdle from Bike On NZ and Bernie Kelly from Cycle Advocates Network - a fantastic team effort. Bernie and Paul came to every breakfast also! Thanks guys, I couldn't do it without your support. Thanks to the businesses that have given you a breakfast every day : Hawke's Bay Today, ANZ Hastings, The Hub, The Doctors, Craig Foss Tuki Tuki Electorate Office, The Hawke's Bay District Health Board, Warrens Bakery (love the custard squares), Avanti Plus Hastings, Visique Grant & Douglas Optometrists, Classic Hits and K Mart. Also thanks to Air New Zealand and Trail Journeys for providing the carrot to get people cycling. A special thanks to ENZA who with the large number of cyclists riding, offered to help out by donating those wonderful new season apples in the last week - thanks Duncan! If you think your business would like to host a breakfast or be involved next year then please let me know. I look forward to meeting you all out on your bikes - stay safe and enjoy the ride!

Cheers Vicki

Vicki Butterworth
Cycling Development Officer
Bike Hawke's Bay

Raleigh 20 rebirth

Unity Finesmith — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:45:00 GMT

Nice little video showing what looks to me like a 21st Century version of the Raleigh 20 ... don't suppose it's available in NZ though ... is it?

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Alerted to this by Curitiba Cycle Chic

Unity Finesmith

Auckland Cycle Chic:

http://aucklandcyclechic.blogspot.com

Sky TV back in the saddle

richard151 — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:47:00 GMT

-- From cycling famine to feast

At the end of last year's Tour de France I switched off Sky.

Bastards made me orienteer my way to a nondescript Mt Wellington office, where I had to deposit the decoder.

No point in gorging myself on magic moments in NRL league and irritating Sky channel promotions.

How sad is that irony - pay for access to a network that turns out to be more saturated with advertising than free-to- air TV?

The joys of a monopoly.

Anyway, it was with surprise and pleasure to discover Sky TV's 2010 progamming plans for the upcoming European bicycle racing season.

Check it out here on RideStrong

Maybe those ads aren't so intolerable after all....

RaboPlus Elite Track Champs on TV, and more!

RideStrong Admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:24:00 GMT

The coming months look set to feature a HEAP of cycling on TV, further reinforicning the growing interset in all forms of cycling in New Zealand.

First up are replays from the RaboPlus Elite Track Nationals held at the ILT Velodrome in Invercargill 11-14 February 2010 as the BikeNZ national team head to Copenhagan and the World Champs.

All on Sky Sport 1 all at 4pm, but please check on the day for final times!

Day 1: 24 March
Day 2: 25 March
Day 3: 26March

2010 Perry Foundation REV- part of the RaboPlus National Points Series:

Watch all the action…

11 March     8.30pm        SKY Sport 2

13 March     6.30pm        SKY Sport 1

14 March     12.30pm      SKY Sport 1

14 March     11.00pm      SKY Sport 2

16 March     06.30am      SKY Sport 2

SKY Sport will then feature unprecedented international cycling coverage in 2010 from around the world with both LIVE and highlight packages. New Zealanders now has five contracted to "Pro-tour" teams in Europe, and we'll be able to monitor the progress of our lads as they race against the likes of Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador.

This month, the ‘race to the sun', the Paris-Nice cycling race returns for the 68th year, running from Monday 8th March to Monday 15th March. The race is made up of 8 stages and covers a total distance of 1,288 kilometres through and is guaranteed action!

PARIS - NICE:

STAGE 1: Monday 8 March, 3.00am, LIVE on SKY Sport 3

STAGE 2: Tuesday 9 March, 3.15am, LIVE on SKY Sport 2

STAGE 3: Wednesday 10 March, 3.15am, LIVE on SKY Sport 2

STAGE 4: Thursday 11 March, 3.15am, LIVE on SKY Sport 2

STAGE 5: Friday 12 March, 2.45am, LIVE on SKY Sport 2

STAGE 6: Saturday 13 March, 3.15am, LIVE on SKY Sport 3

STAGE 7: Sunday 14 March, 7.00am, DELAYED on SKY Sport 3

STAGE 8: Monday 15 March, 3.15am, DELAYED on SKY Sport 3

SKY Sports cycling coverage continues with...

Paris to Roubaix, France (April 10-13): Probably the most important one-day race in the world, the "Hell of the North" takes riders north from the French capital to the velodrome at Roubaix across some of the roughest stretches of cobble stones in Western Europe.

Fléche Wallone, Belgium (April 22)

Liége-Bastogne-Leigé, France (April 26): Two of the most prestigious "Spring Classics" on Cycling's calendar.

Tour de Romandie, Switzerland (April 28): The Pro-tour swings in to Switzerland for a race that always seems to throw up a surprise victor.

Tour of California, USA (May 17-24): Now later in the year, the California tour has quickly become America's number one bike race.

Tour de Suisse, Switzerland (June 13)

Dauphiné Libere 2010 (June 6-13): The Swiss tour and the Dauphine are the ideal lead-ups to the Tour de France and the real indicators to who is going to take the favourites mantle into the season's biggest bike race.

Tour de France, France (July 3-25): Here it is, the climax to the season, 21 stages around France. The race that every bike riders dreams of starting ... and only a very elite few can ever contemplate winning
Paris Tours, France (Mid Oct): The fastest one day classic on the calendar.

The five New Zealanders who'll be vying for places in the Tour de France and all the lead-up races are; Julian Dean of Waihi who rides for the Garmin-Transiions team, Hayden Roulston of Tinwald with HTC-Columbia, Greg Henderson of Dunedin who's signed for the new British team, Team Sky, Tim Gudsell from Kihikihi rides for the French outfit Francaise des Jeux... and finally there's Sam Bewley of Rotorua who's been signed to Lance Armstrong's new team, RadioShack.

Chilli Autumnal start didn't deter the commuters!

Bike Chic — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:59:00 GMT

We had 102 riders come down Heretaunga Street past Visique Optometrists this morning- fantastic! We now have 182 riders registered for the "Bike On NZ" Hastings Commuter Challenge. Thank you Brett and his team at Visique Grant & Douglas Optometrists for the ‘Breakie Bag' of treats this morning. The winner of the Visique Eye Examination valued at $98.00 is Judy Bradshaw from The Doctors - congratulations!

All of you are amazing, you ride to work to save your family money, to keep in healthy, to keep fit, to reduce traffic congestion, to save car parking space, to feel great! Well done!

To keep in contact and see what other commuters around the country are discussing have a look at the RideStrong "Mainly Commuters" Group. It's a place where you can keep up to date with others who commute and share stories. www.ridestrong.org.nz

It was disappointing to hear another of our commuters has been knocked off their bike this week. Maehe Rewi has had his bike written off but he is OK. He has borrowed a bike, is back riding and ridden in to see us this morning, on his way to work at Kirsten Builders Recycling. It again highlights that even if you have right of way it does not mean some car drivers see you. You have to be a defensive cyclist at all times, expect the unexpected - oh and having eyes in the back of your head helps :) If you go to the Ridestrong website above you can sign the 1.5m petition to help lobby for stronger laws that will hopefully assist in changing driver behavior. Make sure you always report these accidents to police, at the least it helps build a ‘profile' of accidents and may identify ‘hot' spots. Safe travels.

Don't forget there is a prize for all those who fill in the Active Transport Survey, a BikeNZ RideStrong Cycling Jersey. The Online survey is available at the link

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/59NRY56

Well if you have biked for 5 or more times over the past two weeks you will be in the draw for the fantastic trip for two to ride the Otago Rail Trail with Air New Zealand and Trail Journeys. Check out this link www.trailjourneys.co.nz This prize will be drawn at tomorrow morning's breakfast at K Mart at approx. 8.30am on the Classic Hits Breakfast Show! Come down and meet Charlie and his team. Don't worry if you are not there in person, I will email out the results. Good luck to all of you!

Cheers Vicki

Change in mood Cycling, just like other forms of exercise, is known to release endorphin which is known to cause pleasure in you and thus wash away the bad mood. It is because of this that one feel relaxed and refreshed even after a heavy workout. With cycling you will feel positive change in your mood. Also, moderate exercises such as cycling are known for relieving stress or depression and helps in improving self-esteem and mood. No wonder you are smiling every morning I see you at breakfast!

Vicki Butterworth
Cycling Development Officer
Bike Hawke's Bay