A very Happy New Year to all, especially those venturing out on our roads and cycleways astride Shiny New Bikes.
January is the kindest month for inner-city cyclists. So many citizens are away on holidays that traffic snarls are faded memories: that Silly Season of frantic party hopping and panic shopping in frenzied competition with millions erased by the good times and tidings of gatherings with family and friends.
That was soooo last year riding through Xmas CBD gridlock gobsmacked by the determination of motorists to come together and go nowhere interminably. Leave those repressed memories to rot with the Ghost of Christmas Past and turn to our resolutions for this Brave New Year.
There has never been a better time to get on your bike. More of us than ever before are following the lead of Banjo Patterson’s Mulga Bill, from Eaglehawk. But unlike that blustering blowhard we must not lose our enthusiasm halfway through our first ride. Always remember that falling off a bike is far less common than you fear. A recent Department of Health and Ageing study reports “the health benefits of cycling outweigh the risks by factors ranging from five to one, to twenty to one”. Especially if you don’t start off, like Bill, on “the awful slope towards the Dead Man’s Creek”.
Wear day-glo bright vests and ride the quiet back streets and lanes to Centennial or Sydney Parks and enjoy the breeze on your sun-screened face as you revel in the independence of pedal power. Don’t overdo it on the first ride and traumatise your unprepared thighs. Prepare patiently. Be very confident about your bike handling before you go carefully into serious road traffic. If you are scared get off the road. But keep riding places you feel secure.
That DHA study also reported – “the more cyclists there are, the safer it becomes. In fact, if cycling doubles, the risk per kilometre falls by 34%”. Your fellow pedal-pushers look forward to seeing you out there.
by Peter Whitehead
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