Cycling in Melbourne

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cycling in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia takes place for recreation, commuting and as a sport. There is an active cycling culture enhanced by a relatively flat geography, and a generally mild climate.

In 2005, the popularity of cycling for health, fitness, and as a non polluting alternative to the automobile may be growing slightly. Statistics indicate that for each of the first four years of the 21st century, bicycles have outsold cars in Australia. In 2004 bike sales totalled 1,128,306 — 18 per cent ahead of the motor vehicles total of 955,229. However, these sales have not translated into significant use of bicycles for transport. Most recent figures put cycling at only 2% of trips in Melbourne.

1 History
2 Melbourne cycle trails
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

Sunday cyclists in Melbourne in 1895.

During the 1890s cycle races like the Austral Wheel Race, and later the Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic, were very popular forms of entertainment drawing crowds of many thousands. Cycling was also an exciting new option for transport taken up eagerly by many people. For women, cycling provided the opportunity of more freedom and being able to wear less restrictive clothing. The craze for cycling in the 1890s is portrayed in the poem Mulga Bill's Bicycle by Australian poet Banjo Patterson, and many other ballads from the time.

Cycling provided an enduring activity for ordinary Melburnians until falling automobile prices and growing consumer affluence saw increasing numbers switch over to the car in the 1940s and 1950s.

[edit] Cycling as a sport

Coburg Cycling Club, based on the Melbourne northern suburb of Coburg, is one of Australia's oldest cycling clubs. It was established as a social club in March 1896 by members of the St. Paul's church choir on Sydney Road. Members quickly found themselves participating in all levels of cycle sport. Many cyclists from the Coburg club rose to prominence including Iddo 'Snowy' Munro, Ernie Bainbridge, Richard 'Fatty' Lamb, Richard 'Dick' Ploog (1956 Olympian).

Victoria has produced many cycling athletes of world renown. Sir Hubert Opperman, "Oppy" (1904 - 1996), is perhaps the most well known and internationally recognised Australian cyclist of the 1920s and 1930s. As an Australian sportsman, his feats in cycling are compared with Sir Donald Bradman in cricket. He set the 24-hour road distance record of 505.75 miles (813.9 km) in 1939; the track record for 24 hours covering 489.3 miles (787.5 km) in 1940. He won the 1928 Bol D'or 24 hour race and the Paris-Brest-Paris 1200 km marathon in 1931 in record time of 49 hours 23 minutes. Many of his long distance records stood for many years. In France and Australia he was feted as a sporting hero, with thousands attending a parade in his honour in Melbourne 1928.

Post World War II, Geelong cyclist, Russell Mockridge, was widely described as "Australia’s greatest all-round cyclist for all time". Due to his upper class accent he was initially dubbed Little Lord Fountleroy, however his race wins soon earned him the nickname of The Geelong Flyer. Tragically, he was killed by a bus in 1958 participating in the 225 km Tour of Gippsland. He was just 2.1 miles (3.4 km) from the start of the race at the Dandenong Rd / Clayton Rd intersection in Melbourne.

Cycle racing continues to be popular in Melbourne with the Herald Sun Tour, since 1952, bringing professional cyclists from around the world for a multi-stage race around regional Victoria and Melbourne. Racing cyclists and triathletes are often seen training along Beach Road and the Nepean Highway from Black Rock to Mount Eliza. Each Saturday morning the Hell Ride leaves from Black Rock at 7am. It can contain up to 200 cyclists in summer months with speeds up to 60 km/h. Highly developed racing skills are required to maintain precision pack riding at these speeds and negotiate traffic and lights. The ride has built up a tradition since starting in 1984, and now no one organises the ride or controls behaviour.

Kathy Watt, 1992 Summer Olympics Gold Medallist in the Road Race, works in the Black Rock area as a personal trainer.

[edit] Cycle Touring and Commuting

A goldminer pictured after a 1000 mile (1,600 km) round trip to the Mt Rugged Gold Rush in 1895

Long distance cycle travelling was a fact of life in the 1890s for many sheep shearers and other agricultural labourers with migratory work. The bicycle and swag conquered much of Australia on dusty dirt tracks, long before the automobile made its appearance. In the main, however, long distance cycling was a sport of endurance or was done out of necessity.

Up until the 1940s the bicycle was an important commuter vehicle for many Melbourne people. Post war affluence saw a decline in cycle commuting, and the bicycle was largely relegated to a children's activity or for sporting or recreational use.

It was not until the 1970s that cycle commuting and cycle touring started being widely promoted and used again. In Melbourne cycle commuting and touring was stimulated by a number of factors:

the establishment of the Melbourne Bicycle Touring Club (MBTC) in October 1973. The Club aimed to promote cycle touring and a healthy, active lifestyle. The club has a fundamental commitment to public transport making extensive use of country and suburban trains to get to and from the rides it runs.

the Bicycle Institute of Victoria (now known as Bicycle Victoria) started in 1975, as a broad appeal membership organisation to campaign for improved facilities and recognition of cyclists. By July 2004 it had grown to 40,000 members. Its first Great Victorian Bike Ride was organised in 1984 with 2,100 participants, commonly regarded as the largest single touring bike ride in the world at that time.

innovative supported tours by Friends of the Earth to Canberra to protest uranium mining - the FoE Rides Against Uranium - in 1975, 1976, and 1977.

Australia's first bicycle plan instituted in the late 1970s in Geelong.

growing general environmental awareness of pollution, negative impact of automobiles, and protest at the construction of inner city freeways

the first triple crank, or granny gears, started being sold. Ron Shephard, an engineer and founding member of the MBTC and Bicycle Victoria relentlessly promoted use of triple cranks to promote cycle touring among a wider audience.

In 1993 Bicycle Victoria launched the 210km Around the Bay in a Day ride around Port Phillip, held in October, which in 2005 attracted more than 10,000 participants.

In recent years Bicycle Victoria has run regular Ride to Work days to stimulate, with some success, cycle commuting. This is assisted by the formation of many workplace Bicycle User Groups (BUGS). The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) in 2004 introduced a Bike Assist membership option, to assist cyclists with punctures or basic repairs.

In November 1995 the first Melbourne Critical Mass was held. This has become a popular regular event with cyclists meeting in front of the State Library of Victoria at 5.30pm on the last Friday of every month to ride around the city in safety as one mass. They are accompanied on a regular basis by the Police Bicycle Squad. Generally the police do not interfere in the event but act to facilitate its smooth movement to reduce any obstruction and to calm the antagonism of some car drivers.

[edit] The effects of cycle helmet legislation

As with other Australian states, Victoria's 1990 compulsory cycle helmet legislation [1] may have had a strong negative impact on cycling in Melbourne. Surveys carried out at the same 64 observation sites [2] in May 1990 and May 1991 detected 29% fewer adults and 42% fewer child cyclists, with an overall reduction in cyclists of 36%. Further falls were recorded to May/June 1992, with teenage cycling reportedly showing a 46% decrease from pre-law levels. The reported injury reductions recorded among Melbourne cyclists did not exactly match the actual decline in cycling, but these figures are questionable and the statistics are prone to misinterpretation and are incomplete Injury rates to actual wearing of helmets, for example, as there is a significant percentage of riders who wear their helmets incorrectly or on their handlebars. This has lead some experts to the conclusion that the law has actually resulted in increased rates of injury among Melbourne's cyclists, although again, no definite conclusions can be drawn. The law has also reportedly resulted in significant police efforts against cyclists. As of 2003, Victoria Police were still issuing around 20,000 Bicycle Offence Penalty Notices a year, although whether this is for helmet violations or other traffic violations is not clear. Since the law, some claim that cycling in Melbourne has never been able to recover its previous share of the transport split, although there are a number of other factors (increased relative wealth, affordability of cars and so on) that can influence cycling participation rates and it is important to remember that these statistics, viewed in isolation, can be misleading. In 1985-6, 3.4% of trips in Melbourne were by bicycle, recent 2004 data shows a decline to 2.0%. The experience of Melbourne's cyclists has given some campaigners added impetus to the efforts of cyclists in Europe and elsewhere to resist, or repeal, such helmet laws, but this remains a contentious issue, with a significant number of cyclists in favour of helmet compulsion.

[edit] Melbourne cycle trails

Arising from the campaigns of Bicycle Victoria since the mid 1970s and increased recognition from all levels of government of cycling activities, Melbourne has developed a set of shared bicycle trails along the river and creek systems and next to freeways, as well as on-road bicycle lanes and shared use paths.

A number of freeways have been constructed with dedicated separate bicycle paths built alongside, although the CityLink freeway system was built without including provision for cyclists along several sections including the Bolte Bridge. Cyclists are also excluded from riding the West Gate Freeway over the West Gate Bridge, although exceptions are made for some special bicycle events like Around the Bay in a Day organised by Bicycle Victoria.

The major cycle trails are:

Bayside Trail - Seaford to Port Melbourne
Belgrave Rail Trail - Bayswater to Belgrave
Blind Creek Trail - Wantirna to Upper Ferntree Gully
Capital City Trail (loop) - Melbourne, Docklands, Parkville, North Carlton, Fairfield, Abbotsford, Richmond, South Yarra, Melbourne
Dandenong Creek Trail - Dandenong to Bayswater
Darebin Creek Trail - Fairfield to Bundoora
Diamond Creek Trail - Eltham to Diamond Creek
Federation Trail (under construction) - Brooklyn to Werribee
Ferny Creek Trail - Knox to Upper Ferntree Gully
Gardiners Creek Trail - Toorak to Blackburn
Koonung Creek Trail - Bulleen to Box Hill North
Kororoit Creek Trail - Altona to Sunshine
Maribyrnong River Trail - Yarraville to Keilor
Merri Creek Trail - North Fitzroy to Campbellfield
Moonee Ponds Creek Trail - Docklands to Broadmeadows
Mullum Mullum Creek Trail (two trails) - Ringwood to Croydon & East Doncaster to Donvale
Nepean Highway Trail - Moorabbin to Gardenvale
Outer Circle Trail - Malvern East to Fairfield
Scotchmans Creek Trail - Chadstone to Glen Waverley
Upfield bike path - Brunswick to North Coburg
Warburton Rail Trail - Lilydale to Warburton
Hobsons Bay Coastal Trail - Yarraville to Laverton
Western Ring Road Trail - Laverton North to Bundoora
Western Port Trail - Somerville to Bittern
Yarra River Trail - Docklands to Eltham