CSIT RTW Bulletin #22: Sep 2002

The joy of the Mountain Bike

Anyone who has been to Venice may notice one of the incredible things about the city is the complete lack of motorized traffic making a noise and clogging up the streets. This in my opinion is one of the incredible things about that city. For those of us who ride bikes there are often times we wish we could escape the cars and traffic endangering our lives as we ride the roads.

There is a way. Mountain biking. You can get off the roads, away from the traffic, into the bush and escape from the rest of the world for a time. The press coverage of this sport is poor and what press exposure there is tends to cover extreme aspects of mountain biking. People should not be scared away from mountain biking simply due to the fact they have only ever seen pictures of people jumping off roofs, riding down extreme downhill courses, or the resultant injuries received from those activities. The majority of people riding MTBs are not attempting those extreme aspects of the sport that so far get the majority of the media attention.

Personally I like to avoid traffic and roads and be able to challenge my self a bit more than simply riding in a generally straight line on a solid surface. The holy grail of mountain biking is single track. This is a track through the bush wide enough for only one rider at a time. Single track twists and turns taking a very no direct route. Once you get out there and ride it a few times you slowly begin to discover how much fun it is trying to go through these tight twisting tracks as fast as you can. Testing yourself against the trail and your bike.

We are blessed in Canberra that we have a lot of very good riding terrain within a few minutes of most of the city. You can simply hop on your bike and within 5-15 minutes find yourself in bushland riding on fire trails and single track. This also makes for an easy introduction to the sport as you don't have to go too far out of your way to get to off road areas in which to ride and you can simply ride around on the fire roads until you feel like playing in the single track.

Many people in Canberra are even able to commute to work via off road trails if they are in the mood. For people living in the Belconnen area, you could hop onto the fire trails in Aranda bushland and commute into ANU down the trail to the lake rather than down the bike track, or maybe around the back of Black mountain and over the saddle down to the top of CSIRO. For those in Woden a bit of variety might be climbing up red hill and down through Manuka. For those in the Weston area you can come in via Greenhills (the burnt out area above the aquarium) and start off with a bit of single track if you wish. Those in Hackett or Ainslie could ride up onto the bushland off Mt Majura and Mt Ainslie and ride around trails there on the way in and then drop back down through civic or similar. Although all these routes are slower than getting directly to work on a road they will provide a great deal of variety and will get you off the roads and into the bush for a small time. Who knows you may enjoy it.

This weekend I have just ridden in a 12 hour MTB race held at Yarramundi up near Sydney. The best thing about the event was not trying to beat other people in some race for the biggest number of laps, the best thing was the vibe of the event. 600 people rocked up to ride in the event and everyone seemed to be having a great time. With that many people you are not going to win your category unless you are incredibly fit and technically skilled. Instead most people were there just to have fun. The feeling out on the track was amazing. You could chat to people as they passed you or vice versa, and even if they were hurting lots they still had grins on their faces and claimed to be having a great time. There is a lot of fun to be had out on the trails on an mtb. I love it, hopefully anyone else who tries it will get some of the grin factor wearing off also.

Re: The Dog

Re: Pedestrians on Shared Paths

Capital Works and Hazard Removal Requests

• PP is compiling a database on things that could improve cycle routes in this city, eg. underpasses, section of a path to be built etc. Please enter any suggestions you might have on the above link.
• June Hornby, june.hornby (@anu.edu.au), at RTW co-ordinator on the south side, is also collecting a database on dangerous bollards that PP will lobby DUS to remove. I have already reported a very nasty one recently installed on the bike path parallel to Ginninderra Way just to the west of the William Slim Dr underpass (YP map 38 ref A8). Please contact June (giving a precise description + map reference) if you have a bollard that you think presents a hazard (even a grab rail that you dislike).
• DUS have also agreed to look into fixing of sections of bike paths where silting and ponding occur after rain. Email details including map references to Anthony David, adavid (@adavid.com.au).

Recent Events

• Injury Prevention Session, 12:30 pm Thur Aug 22:
  This was given by Catherine Hogg from ATLAS Sports Physiotherapy, and was quite interesting and comprehensive. One new thing for me was the role of the fascia connective tissues, and one major source of injury in cycling is caused by the tightening of the one going from the back down to the outside of the opposite thigh (with special stretches to loosen it). I have a copy of the overheads if anyone is interested.
• ANU Cyclist Reference Group, Tue Sep 10:
  Some points to note from this are that RSChem (to the west of CSIT) will be the next to get a bikeshed. With the recent spate of thefts around the campus, we have granted access to 10 RSChem people to the CSIT Bikeshed (and I believe so has RSISE).
  There are also several improvements to the shared paths lined up for 2003; one is to seal the 30m section of path near the ANU Boat club (the CSIT skaters actually requested this last March, as there is no other safe access to the Lake on blades).
  The AFP have been on campus and booked several cyclists recently for things like riding without a helmet, riding after dark without lights, and riding contrary to the flow of traffic. Not that anyone on this mailing list would ever do anything like that. Oh no.
  Finally, I picked up 4 sets of PP reflective slap bands to give away. Pls let me know if you'd like a pair.

Upcoming Events

• CSIT Ride 9:00am Sun Sep 15:
  This will be a relaxed bike ride around the western basin of Lake Burley Griffin, meeting out the front of CSIT Building at 8:50am for a 9:00am departure. Pausing now and then to admire the flowering trees. Finishing at Tosolini's (Bailey's Corner), for coffee and reminiscences! A modest pace only; occasional riders (+ friends/family) welcome! Hope to see you there!
• Ride-To-Work Breakfast, 6.30am to 8.30am Thu Oct 17:
  This is also the launch of the Festival of Cycling, on at Veterans Park, Canberra City. I went last year ; worth going to again.
• Tharwa Challenge, Sun Oct 27:
  There will a few of us this year going for this infamous ride; if you'd like to take up the gauntlet, let me (peter@cs) know (for training rides, pooling transport etc).