6 months plus and Bicycle Business

Well, we have reached and exceeded our first major landmark, Olive's first semiverssary. The peace and tranquility of our hitherto idyllic lifestyle was shattered a week before 'happy six month day' with the onset of independent baby locomotion.



With her new found freedom, Olive is finally able to make a beeline for all the things that *she* wants. These of course are not the brightly coloured, non-toxic toys provided by her parents, but things like electrical cables, cups of tea (and any other spillable liquid), razorblades, chainsaws, etc. It's all downhill from here ...

As all the pommies begin to bask in the May sunshine, we are starting to hunker down for winter. However, the first showings of snow have begun to appear on the mountains, and our thoughts turn to sliding again. Malc and Annie have both acquired new snowboards in the pre-season sale and are looking forward to a season of extreme-tag-team babysitting / snowboarding.

For coming up to 2 years now, Malc has been commuting by bike to work and trying to find a way to share some of the excitement with you, loyal blogees. In the end, he came up with this.



The movie is at roughly 10 times normal speed, depicting the 9 kilometer ride from home by the sea to the city centre, which normally takes around 35 minutes. Filming was extremely low tech, with a small bendy leg tripod sellotaped to the handlebars. Also, because the camera doesn't have a time lapse function and a small memory card the ride had to be recorded over 4 mornings, then sliced and diced afterwards. Hopefully the end result gives you a feel of what cycle-commuting in Christchurch is like.

As most of you know, we've been avid cyclists for a long time. Having lived in Holland for a short while, the situation for cyclists here in Christchurch is a little frustrating. We have a city ripe for a cycling explosion. Apart from some of the southern suburbs, the city is flat as a pancake, the streets are wide and the climate is mostly favorable. But the car is still king, and dedicated, segregated cycle lanes are basically non-existent. We are left to fight with the traffic. Recreational biking, both road and mountain biking, are massive here, and 25% of school children bike to school (watch closely and you'll see them in the video).

Yet only 2% of adults commute to work. Those that do are generally of the Lycra clad, shaven legged, carbon fibre underpants variety. For most people, the reason that cycling is not considered as a transport option is simple ... it doesn't feel safe. Biking through the city most days, it's hard to disagree. The hope is that the city planners have the foresight to create a segregated cycling infrastructure. To quote the excellent copenhagenize blog's comments about recent improvements in Paris:


... there are many places that have segregated and dedicated bike lanes. This is, of course, the key to developing bike culture. If there was a book called Bike Culture for Dummies, this would be on the first page.


Here's hoping that the powers that be can fulfill their vision to make Christchurch a cycle friendly city for all of us to enjoy.