Category: Bikes

‘Jail threat for dangerous cyclists’

Courtesy of The Age…

Cyclists found to have killed or seriously injured a pedestrian will face penalties of up to five years in jail or a $68,000 fine, after tough new laws came into effect today.

“Cyclists need to recognise that, if they do occasion damage, they have responsibilities. They do need to stop,” said Roads Minister Tim Pallas said, launching the new laws this morning at a Bourke Street bicycle shop.

The new penalties, he said, would help police tackle reckless riding by cyclists, and reduce the likelihood of pedestrians, other cyclists or drivers suffering serious injury.

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IMPORTANT: The Future of Tasmanian Mountain Biking

Alright kids, this shit is important. The Sport and Recreation department of the Tasmanian state government is currently putting together the Tasmanian Mountain Bike Plan, which is effectively a plan for the future of MTB in Tasmania. It’s bloody important, and getting involved and having your say is vital for anyone who ever rides on any kind of dirt in Tasmania. You don’t have to be hardcore, you don’t even have to consider yourself a mountain biker, all you need to do it get involved. There are community forums coming up in a few weeks and they’ll be a vital chance for people to put forward their views on the direction of official MTB support in Tasmania.

You can get all the basics, and read the details of what the plan will cover over at the Sport and Rec website.

Here’s the meeting information:

Opportunities for Input

Land managers, mountain bike riders and other stakeholders will have the opportunity to provide input into the plan through a series of community and land manager forums to be held in June 2009. The community forums are open to mountain bike riders, other stakeholders and the general public.  Three community forums, one in each region, will be held at the following dates, times and venues:

  • North West Community Forum
    22 June
    7:00-9:00 pm
    Ulverstone Surf Life Saving Club
  • Northern Community Forum
    23 June
    7:00-9:00 pm
    West Tamar Council Chambers, Riverside
  • Southern Community Forum
    24 June
    7:00-9:00 pm
    Domain Athletics Centre, Hobart

In addition to the forums, members of the public will have the opportunity to provide input through an online feedback form, which will be available on this website shortly.

Please, please come along and have your say. Trails in Hobart are currently under threat and we really need to show that MTB is a legitimate and popular activity down here!

On a somewhat related note, there’s also an opportunity to offer suggestions for the Conningham Recreation Area on the Parks & Wildlife website. If you ride this area (or know it), yous hould definitely get your voice heard.

Lost Coast Bike Expedition

Lost Coast Trailer from Eric Parsons on Vimeo.
Ok, so I’m a tad into ‘adventure’ biking. Fk, well you know I love Surly’s and any ride (bike or destination) out of the ordinary is fully my bag. Imagine the Correy Brothers stole Dave Killicks kayak and were marooned on Macquarie Island with bikes. Yep. Thats what THIS is.
(p.s. – they’re riding singlespeed. fixed next trip)

Salt and other inspiration

salt1

Central Australia is an awe inspiring region. Difficult to tackle on a bicycle but possible. The arrival of winter has opened up a window of opportunity for some serious back-country epics but water is a limiting factor. Any off road touring mission is restricted in distance by how much water you can carry. I’ve been scanning the internet for cargo solutions to increase my bikes water carrying capacity. The 16′ wheel of the Bob trailer is too small to handle the soft conditions, the two wheeled Y-Frame trailer is too wide for singletrack (and the 20′ wheels again are too small), but I think I’ve found a solution.. the Extrawheel. 

Anyway, I’ve kinda steered away from where I was headed with this post.. I’m not trying to endorse any products or write an advert, instead I wanted to link up some amazing sites I came across during my search.

The first inspiring site I came across was ‘Salt‘. Salt is a movie produced by Cinematographer, Murray Fredericks who annually rides across the salt pan of Lake Eyre on his Surly Pugsly to capture some of the most beautiful landscape images you’ll ever see. Do yourselves a favour and watch the movie trailer. Liam and Mischa, I think you two will especially appreciate the the work undertaken in capturing these frames. Unbelieveable.

The ‘Canning Stock Route Adventure’ also inspired. The trip undertaken by this Polish cyclist crosses landscapes similar to what I face out here. The images on this site are captured with all the skill of your Grandma with a point and shoot camera but they still rock my world.  This boy also drags an Extrawheel trailer along with him for the ride.

The final site is ‘bikepacking.net’. This site is dedicated to overnight and multiday offroad adventures (mainly in the US). I spent hours pouring over images of remote trails and high mountain singletrack. So fkn inspiring!

Now, who wants to load up the bike and come for a ride?

Mantaru – Remote Area Cycle Touring!

I’d been inspired Jim Fitzpatrick’s book ‘The Bicycle and the Bush’. Stories of overland cycle journeys in the 1890s had me pumped. Tweed cycling suits, swags and singlespeeds, the stock routes and camel pads of Central Australia, I was sold and winter had arrived. Time for some remote area, off-road cycle-touring yo!

mantaru

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