Cycling in Melbourne Australia

Can we organise a cyclovia on Eastlink?

Fellow cyclonistas. I am not sure if any of you read today's article in The Age (Monday 28 April 2008). There was an article in it about a push to not spend any more $$$ on "free"ways. If you think this idea is off the planet, check your french newspapers. France's new president actually announced just that. But never mind the article (which you can read here if you want) it is all about the photo for the piece. +50 points for the first person to spot Oz on this photo:

In case you need reading glasses, check the left emergency lane. A lone rider is living the dream. And then it hit me. Wouldn't it be great if Eastlink and the appropriate government officials got together and for once in Eastlink's decades and decades of life to come give the people of Melbourne 39km of the most beautiful virgin asphalt to cycle, rollerblade, skeeler, unicycle, run, or even organise a race? Sydney road worked. Other cyclovias in other countries and cities worked. This is the same concept except it is supersized. And most importantly: NO MOTORIST CAN WHINGE BECAUSE THE ROAD ISN'T EVEN OPEN SO NOBODY GETS INCONVENIENCED.
But now I'm stuck. How the heck can you organise such a thing? does anybody know anyone on the board of Eastlink? Do you just sent them an email? Can Bicycle Victoria help out here? Of course, once Eastlink is actually open you can kiss any cyclovia on it goodbye.

Tags: cyclovia, eastlink

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Permalink Reply by rougedragon on May 12, 2008 at 8:41pm: sorry, call me stupid, but I don't get it...

there's the "community open day" on the 15th and there's also the cancer council cycling event on the same day, but one is free and the other isn't? How does that work?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Hielke on May 13, 2008 at 4:24pm: Rouge, I think it may be worse than you think. Alternatively, I'm going paranoid or I have below par reading skills. If you check the text carefully on the Ride Eastlink Challenge website they report there are 3 options. 1) the full 65km loop 2) a race that extends this loop by including other roads and 3) "Family Fun Ride" organised by Bicycle Victoria. You need to pay for option 1, so I presume you need to pay for option 2 as well. Option 3 is free. What gets me though is that option 3 gives you the choice to ride 5, 10 or 20km. WTF?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by ChrisS on May 13, 2008 at 4:34pm: So folks have to register to attend? Even the locals who don't read the fine print and hear about this as yet another public 'Open Day'?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by ChrisS on May 16, 2008 at 6:04pm: Ok, CSV & BV have 'riding opinions' on the day.

CSV: Eastlink Cycle Challenge
BV: Ride Eastlink

There better be plenty of planning or witches hats around, although with 65km of hotmix we should be able to avoid most chaos if it does occur.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Hielke on May 16, 2008 at 10:45pm: I just registered on the BV website for the 30km ride for the very shallow reason of possibly winning a bike or lunch with Phil Liggett. Perhaps subconsciously I'm afraid some EastLink/BV "security" will prevent me from riding *anywhere* without displaying a rider identification bib. It is still unclear to me if the road is open and they just happen to organise something, or if your only chance to ride is with them. They seem to present it as the latter, but I don't see how they could ever enforce that. They also have the warning that if you register for the 65km you need to be able to maintain a minimum average speed of 20km/hr. Or what? No info given.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by LongLoad on May 17, 2008 at 12:04am: Maybe the timing devise they give out for the 65km event is an etag and they just keep charging until you get off.

It appears that the cycling events start and finish well away from the main "Roadshow" and running events, Monash interchange vs Maroondah Hwy interchange.

I was hoping just to ride in from the north end to have a look around, maybe I still will to see how far I get. Hielke could have the right idea, be registered and say claim to be heading to or from the event.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Anne Jovi on May 17, 2008 at 12:27am: Two weeks ago, down my end, you can get on at Greens road without any trouble, from the bike path. There's a huge piece of fence missing.

I'm not that keen on paying to ride on a nice bit of hotmix that I am goign to pay to go on again and again and again through my etag and credit card facility.

I'm with Hielke - "Or what?"; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by fxh on May 17, 2008 at 12:54am: This is all a bit crazy. I wanted to get on the freeway when I wanted to and cycle down to Seaford at my own pace and either get the train back home or cycle back again if I felt ok and the weather wasn't pissing down.

Now from what I can see the only options I have are ones I don't want.

I can, if I want to do a 65 ks loop, pay through the nose for a feckin "timing device" and ride along with a bunch of thick thighed "sportspeople" and a minimum speed.

I don't need to hire a timing device - if I want to time myself I can use a watch a mobile phone or ask someone else or even use my bike computer thingo.

I don't need anyone to organise me or time me. Although I'll concede that maybe a bit of law and order is needed - surely $5 or max $10 is more like the level.

I resent having to sling some money to a for profit orginising mob who thensling a few $ toBike Vic and then sling $15 to Cancer Vic. If I want to give cancer Vic some money I'll do that - I hate bloody stupid fundraising stunts.

I might want to go some of the way and get off at Dandenong or turn around at Dandy and ride back or ride through to F**kston a visit a friend. I might want to pootle along and look at the wildlife for a while or stop and have a banana or see if I can "average 20ks per hour " or keep up with some lycra loonie.

What the hell is Bike Vic on about - I'm a member but I really don't know why - nothing they do seems to relate to me at all.

Yours etc

Angry of Mayfair

BTW - this forum doesnt work in Opera browser - I was forced to use IE.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by fxh on May 17, 2008 at 1:01am: Why any fee at all? Why not charge the walkers and especially those people with those bloody HUGE 4WD type pushers with whiny kids and two dogs on a lead.

I'll be paying for the costs of the freeway for a few years by driving on the bloody thing. As a paying customer I say - EastLink - give it to the pedallers and walkers free for a day - after all I'm really just checking it out before driving my car on it.

Permalink Reply by Oz on May 17, 2008 at 1:16am: Fucm...just ride the thing. If some trumped up eastlink nazi wannabe stands in the middle of the 3 lanes with his hand up telling you "Actung halt!" ...ride around the pr1ck and keep going. Worst case scenario is they have some barricades set up at certain points preventing further progress. Wheel your trusty velocipede off onto the bike path for a bit then gain access back to the feeway at an all-clear point and continue with the journey ;)

All good; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by ChrisS on May 17, 2008 at 1:23am: Plan: If there's any security goons loitering around just say that the Xtracycle is a emmaljunga pram.

Here's betting they wouldn't even know WTF it actually was.

We're going try it with a bob trailer.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by fxh on May 18, 2008 at 1:52am: Yeah well Oz that was my secret cunning plan (so cunning etc - you could put a tail on it and call it a rat) - the convict streak runs deep. But I just needed to vent a bit.

I think I'll enroll in a free activity (possibly not face painting) - get some official looking number or something then just do what I want. My alibi and well practiced disguise is usually "just a harmless suburban dad"; ▶ Reply to This