Merri-bek BUG

The Moreland BUG has just recently received the draft document for the options study, survey and design of “On Road Bicycle Path Infrastructure” in Brunswick by Cardno Grogan Richards for the Moreland City Council.

Have a read of the documents and tell us what you think!

The Moreland Bicycle User Group is due to meet this Thursday 25th June 2009.

The much-looked-forward-to updated TravelSmart maps for Moreland are now available – you can get them from Council civic centres and libraries, local bike shops or by emailing info@moreland.vic.gov.au.

For those who haven’t seen them before, TravelSmart maps are like localised versions of Melway but instead of emphasising major roads they highlight cycling and public transport routes. Very handy to have in your pannier!

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Detour along Upfield Bike Path between Victoria St & Hope St, Brunswick
From 9am to 4pm
Tuesday 31st March 2009

Detour routes run parallel to the Upfield Bike Path on both sides of
the train track has been proposed
– via Percy Street to the west
– via Ovens, Ballarat, and Boase Streets to the east.
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Hi everyone,

The Moreland City Council will be closing the Upfield Bike Path
between Hope Street and Victoria Streets to fix up fencing along that
stretch between 9am and 4pm on Tuesday 31st March, 2009. A detour
route has been organised by the Moreland City Council. Please pass
this message onto any family or friends who might be interested.

Note, the Upfield Bike Path will be open to cyclists before 9am and
after 4pm, so as to reduce inconvenience caused to cyclists.

See attached map.

Detour path for works along the Upfield from 9am-4pm

1. From Brunswick to Mordialloc along Beach Road

Date: Sunday 8 March 2009
Time: 9:00am to 11:30am
Meeting Venue: Upfield Bike Path between Railway Hotel & Brunswick Train Stn
Distance: 40km with a few hills
Surface: Road
Suitable: All bikes
RSVP: Please e-mail to rides@morelandbug.org by March 6 2009

2. From Brunswick to Altona via Cheetham Salt Lake

Date: Sunday 29 March 2009
Time: 10:00am to 4:00pm
Meeting Venue: Upfield Bike Path between Railway Hotel & Brunswick Train Stn
Distance: 30km with a few hills and moderate, good, elite level of riding
Surface: Along various bike path
Suitable: All bikes
RSVP: Please e-mail to rides@morelandbug.org by March 27 2009

And remember that the Moreland BUG events, including upcoming rides, are listed on our Google Calendar.

The Sydney Rd Street Party is on today and the BUG will be there in force – so keep an eye out for the BUG stall and valet parking…

12 noon – 7pm; Sydney Road – Union to Victoria Streets, Brunswick.

And there’s plenty of good music on as well.

The Cycling Promotion Fund, the Amy Gillett Foundation and Digicast have produced four great video clips with tips on how to avoid common risks when cycling in traffic.

These clips include:

• Dealing with Intersections
• Heavy Vehicles and Cyclists
• Dealing with Car doors
• Cyclist Visibility

The clips have been developed by bicycle riders for bicycle riders with financial assistance from the TAC Community Grants program.

Our friends over at YarraBUG have a bike show, broadcasting every Monday at 10-10.30am on 3CR Community Radio, 855am.

See their radio page for more information.

Those who don’t live locally or close to an AM radio, can find
YarraBUG Radio streaming live on the web at:
http://www.3cr.org.au/3CR_streaming

If you are travelling the new section of the Upfield Path (through the Fawkner Cemetery) in the evening any time soon, you will notice a bunch of coloured lights marking the sides of the path. These are solar lights installed by council and Hugh Mitchell from Solar One – regular meeting attendees will remember Hugh from BUG meetings where he brought along some of his lights for us to look at.

Hugh has been working with Moreland and other councils to trial the use of these lights in bike paths for a while now, and after experimenting with a bunch of different configurations he has come up with a consistent lighting pattern for identifying hazards and marking the path. The lights are charged up by the sun through the day, and then shine all night to make sure we keep our wheels on the track.

A kilometre of lights has been laid on the new section of the path already, with the rest expected to be completed by Wednesday – head up there and check em out if you get a chance!

The Sydney Rd Street Party approaches! BUG will be running valet parking again this year, and if all goes well we may even expand our services and set up in two locations. We’ll also be running a small stall, as usual, so we’ll need considerably more volunteers to help out this year.

This is usually the BUG’s biggest day out of the year, and hanging out on the stall or valet chatting to friendly cyclists isn’t a bad way to spend a couple of hours.

The Street Party will be held on the 1st of March; if you can help out, please let Anna know so we can start making a roster. Shifts will be in 2-hour blocks and if you have a preference for valet or stall, let Anna know.