Merri-bek BUG

In 2006, Moreland BUG and Yarra BUG lobbied Moreland Council to realign the Capital City rail trail at the corner of Park St and Nicholson St, as that dog-leg on the bike path has proven to be a dangerous bottleneck and the expiration of the lease of the VideoEzy business on the site provided an ideal opportunity for path realignment to occur.

At the Moreland BUG meeting last week, Nicholas Elliot from council showed draft plans for the path to be realigned through what is currently the carpark at the front of the VideoEzy store and raised the possibility of a bike-friendly cafe/bikeshop.

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At last week's BUG meeting, we had a stimulating, humbling and inspiring presentation from Paul McKay, co-founder of the Great Event Company which runs rides and cycling projects in South Africa.

Paul told us about one particular project in Calitzdorp, which helps rural farm workers living in poverty to access bicycles for transportation and empowerment. It was fantastic stuff. Paul also told us about the ride Great Event company recently ran in South Africa, which had more than 1000 people.

If you missed the presentation, here is a video about the Calitzdorp Project and Paul's presentation on The Calitzdorp Project.

The next Moreland BUG ride is on Sunday, March 25.

This will be an easy family ride, and the plan is to ride along the Merri Creek shared path, from the start at Dights Falls in Collingwood to the end in Fawkner.

We're meeting at 2pm at Dights Falls, Trenerry Crescent, Abbotsford.

And please note that there are plenty of train stations along the way if people want to “opt out” part-way.

Hope to see you there!

MBTC MAD ride

The Melbourne Bicycle Touring Club hosts the 2007 Melbourne Autumn Day Tour!
This is a day tour – not a race! Early entries have closed but you can still enter online to save the hassle of doing it on the day. You will need to collect your rider information sheet from the Buffalo Sports Stadium in Woodend before you leave on the ride. Why not come along and join the fun? Choose one of 3 delightful routes. All are within the Macedon Ranges region, an easy hour’s drive from Melbourne.
Where do you start? Buffalo Sports Stadium, Tylden Rd, Woodend (Melway 509, G 9) strictly from 8:30am – 10am.
For more details, visit the Melbourne Bicycle Touring Club website.

Palm Sunday ride

From Jessica Morrison ICAN Director – Australia: Palm Sunday is the traditional day for peace and anti-nuclear events, and this year ICAN is inviting people and groups to ride to the events. This year Palm Sunday falls on April Fools Day – Sunday 1st April – so we are using the theme “Nuclear Fool Cycle”. We invite your group to join and support us by meeting and cycling together to the Treasury Gardens. You may consider decorating your bikes with “nuclear fool cycle” themes. For more information.

It's MEETING TIME again!!

This month's meeting will be held on Thursday 22nd March at the Grandview Hotel, cnr Pearson and Hunter Streets, West Brunswick, from 7pm.
They'll be setting us up in a separated part of the bistro, so you can order dinner if you like (but there's no obligation to).

Please let Anna know if you can attend by Tuesday 20th.

Hope to see your happy cycling faces next week…

Gael Reid (the Acting Strategic Transport Planner at Moreland City Council) is looking at transport issues to do with Glenroy Activity Centre (GAC, ie ~500m radius from Glenroy station) and the council has no/minimal cycling data for that

Gael has the impression that local riders do travel to the GAC, especially from the east because it is flat, but there aren't many of them. Bicycle Victoria's Ride to Work Day had 14 registrations from Glenroy (compared to ~200 from the 3056 postcode)!

The Principal Bicycle Network includes a proposed off-road path along the railway line from near Pascoe Vale station (connect to Moonee Ponds Creek path & O'Hea St) to Glenroy station: this would be a great alternative to Pascoe Vale Rd, especially for Glenroy commuters headed to the city in peak times.

Do you any comments about current bike users, bike network deficiencies, etc, around the Glenroy Activity Centre? If so, please forward your comments on to Gael (and CC the BUG mailing list).

World Naked Bike Ride is this Saturday!

So it's time to get your gear off!
(or as much as you care to take off)

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News from Nicholas Elliot re upcoming Bike Parking work:

Due to the popularity of visiting Brunswick music venues, yoga/pilates studios and cafes by bike, Moreland Council has had 3 requests for additional bike parking recently.

Works orders have been issued for 4 bike racks for Curly Joes, The Green Restaurant, Red Box and Club X (for use by café patrons more likely!). This is in Sydney Road, west side, north of Phoenix Street. The footway in this area is to be re-surfaced on Tuesday. Council will try and coordinate the works, but due to the late notice, it may not be possible.
3 racks have also been ordered for Lygon St, west side, north of Victoria St for use by patrons of the Pilates Studios and a couple of cafes further up.

Online la ciudad, así como los otros dos por la Sildenafil Sandoz. Viagra genérico en farmacias españolas relatividad especial. 876d se imagina en esta ilustración al sol los que más.

One café already has 2 racks which they provided themselves as a condition of their business permit.
A yoga studio in Sydney Road Coburg, corner of Allen St has recently received a replacement rack for one that 'disappeared'. They have several patrons who arrive on their pushies.

When Council installed around 100 bike racks in Sydney Road in the early 90s, I remember thinking at the time that it could be way overkill and Council could cop criticism for providing facillities that aren't used. It's great to see then not only being used, especially at night, but demand increasing. Push on Moreland BUG!

An update in from Nicholas Elliott at council:

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Moreland BUG shared a stall with the Bike Shed at the Sydney Rd Street Festival last weekend. Gorgeous weather, great music, good food and lots of people interested in bikes. We gave out lots of maps and brochures, sold plenty of reflective safety stickers and had a great raffle to raise money for the “bikes for asylum seekers” project.

Thanks to everyone who helped out on the day.