VELO MODA

My eyes and ears have been firmly fixed to the goings on of the proposed Queensland E-Mobility Bill over the past month or so and we are deep in the trenches of what can only be described as a war with the Queensland Government over this issue.

After handing down the proposed Bill in the worst possible form it could have taken the Queensland Government received an almighty backlash from advocacy groups, tourism operators and associations, the RACQ, various Queensland councils, bicycle retailers, the Queensland Law Society, Uber Eats, Doordash and many, many others.

The Bill, which proposes a licensing requirement for all e-mobility devices (including the compliant ones), a 10km/h speed limit on all Queensland footpaths and bikeways, a blanket ban on use by anyone under the age of 16yo and a raft of other ridiculous, draconian propositions would have ripple effects throughout the Queensland community and economy. Continue reading “Deep In The Trenches Of The Qld E-Mobility War”

December nights in Queensland are almost never cool. Warm is usually an understatement to describe them. And yet there we were, standing in the middle of an anomaly a few days out from New Year’s Eve unloading bikes off the car at the town of Glasshouse Mountains in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland wondering if we would actually decide to swim in the Ewen Maddock Dam at about the halfway point of the ride we were about to start.

It was late afternoon. The shadows were getting long. CJ’s Bakery was closed and only a few of the locals were still milling around the town where we parked. A little bit of faffing, a visit to the toilet, attachment of bike lights and we rolling. Up a little incline along a narrow street flanked by densely spaced, large, old trees leading out of town and then ducking off down another even narrower lane. The dense trees gave way to country houses and orchards. Maybe avocados, maybe apricots, I’m not sure. Continue reading “Dreamlike Twilight”

As many are already aware, the Queensland government e-mobility inquiry is currently under way which was triggered by, among other things, a high number of e-scooter related injuries over the last few years and the increased use of illegal, overpowered e-bikes and e-motorcycles. And, as I’ve written previously, I’m 100% in favour of addressing these problems. I do believe that, illegal, overpowered devices should be removed from our streets and bikeways and there should be an education campaign around the safe use of e-mobility devices. There are several other measures that could also be thrown into the mix.

However, I think what we don’t want is for the findings and recommendations of an inquiry like this to lead to any kind of legislative overreach or blanket restrictions on things that are actually quite nuanced and deserve a nuanced approach in order to protect innovation and progress in the uptake and development of active transport. I also think, the subject of active transport being quite an emotive one, heightens the risk of the outcomes of such an inquiry happening for the wrong reasons or for reasons other than those outwardly stated. Continue reading “Queensland E-Mobility Inquiry – Better Alternatives To Driving Or A Wrecking Ball Through Active Transport?”

Ebikes have been in the news quite a bit lately and for all the wrong reasons. There are some big problems with the illegal ones but there’s also a lot of misinformation and unsubstantiated conclusions about the good, legal ones and ebikes more generally being put out there so I’m going to take a peek at what ebikes actually are, what they are not and why not all ebikes are created equal. Continue reading “Don’t Confuse Me With My Nasty Cousin”

If you’ve noticed anything new and strange on this website, you’re not imagining – I actually have been adding GPS routes to some of my previous articles.

Yes, it means I have somewhat capitulated to the Internet and opened a Ride With GPS account to make it possible despite my proclamations to the contrary but it was going to happen sooner or later, I think.

Anyway, not all articles will have routes added because some are either not interesting enough or too self explanatory to warrant getting a route but I’ll keep adding them as time goes on. Here are the ones I’ve mapped out so far: Continue reading “GPS Routes And Journeys”

This is a retrospective write-up of a ride that I’ve been hoarding since September 2024.

I feel really lucky to live very close to not one but three of arguably South East Queensland’s best mountain bike parks – Bunyaville Conservation Park, Ironbark Gully and Gap Creek Rd Reserve and I certainly try to make the most of them. But even in this most fortunate situation, every now and again I crave to break out and try something different. So, after consulting a well known online mapping application and a couple of other resources, I decided that the Bayview Conservation Park at Redlands should be a place that my mountain bike and I would enjoy. Continue reading “Bayview Conservation Park, Redlands”

Breathe in the essence of the Earth from which you come. Continue reading “Decompress”

I’m sitting at my desk clacking on my keyboard, clicking with my mouse, scrolling pages, changing between applications. My eyeballs rarely focus away from the artificial light glaring off my monitors. My posture is less than ideal and rarely changes. My muscles are a little stiff and achy but the monitors distract from that. It’s maybe day three or four of this situation with the only changes in direction being sleep and any short, functional trips I might do which usually relate to whatever is happening on the monitors. Continue reading “Testament To The Mental Health Benefits Of Riding Bikes”

I do love a good bike hack, a kludge, a mashup if you will. Astute readers may have noticed a (perhaps) odd looking saddle bag attached to the seat post of my Bombtrack Beyond+ lately and that thing is one such hack which I recently fashioned from stuff hanging around in my bicycle spare parts storage. Continue reading “Hack-A-Doodle-Doo”

It’s time for me to come clean. I’ve been hiding a dirty little secret from you for about ten months now, dear reader. No, I haven’t been laundering money or smuggling illegal goods but I am only human and thus susceptible to the alluring forces of consumer marketing. Despite my best efforts to resist the many temptations blasted at me through the bicycle media, I have succumbed and purchased, yes, another bicycle. A brand new one, I’m afraid. And not just a practical, pragmatic beast of burden or creature of expedition. No, this bicycle is purely a plaything. A vessel of frivolity. Yes friends, I have dived headlong into the realm of the modern mountain bike. Continue reading “Dirty Little Secret”

Time is a scarce resource and for me (as I keep mentioning) and that means I don’t necessarily post here as often as I’d like. Writing the longer, more detailed missives is what I love to do but reality doesn’t always allow that.

And so I’ve decided to try something a bit different and offer a short form feed of bicycle related ideas, thoughts and news items that will be rougher and more incomplete than the main blog but, in exchange, I hope to be able to post more often. I’ve called this my Microfeed. The main blog will continue as normal.

Yes, I know there are popular platforms in existence on the internet which already offer this kind of functionality but I made my choice on those quite a while back.

Anyway, here is the new Microfeed. I hope you like it and find it useful.

 

I realised not so long ago that my Yuba Boda Boda electric cargo bike – my pack horse with a little charge has been with me for over five years now. It’s definitely a thing that both brings me joy and saves me money. It also does its’ bit for helping ease traffic congestion and reducing our collective boot print on this planet however small that effect may be and however much it may be smothered by activities doing the very opposite. It’s important to try, I think. If not for measurable net effect then for a slightly clearer mind – a little psychological boost knowing that you’ve at least tried something. Continue reading “Five Years Of Cargo Biking”

Did you think I was gone for good this time? Yep, it’s been even longer between drinks than usual. Partly because that’s just the way this website rolls – drifting between day and night, life and whatever happens after it, a leaf blowing in the wind. Continue reading “What Dimension Is This?”

The deeper you dig, the more you find. I’ve been exploring the Samford area quite a bit over the last few months. I’ve been looking for interesting off road link-ups between the northern suburbs and Samford in the hope of piecing together a complete loop that takes in Samford, Ironbark Gully and the Samford Pony Trails and I think I succeeded a few days ago. I’ve ridden in the Samford/Ironbark Gully/Mt Nebo area for many years but have all too often followed the same old routes without digging much deeper. I guess a combination of time constraints and a slight fear of “wasting” a ride by getting lost and needing to turn back has prevented any real exploration but these days I’m much less concerned with such things. To add to that, I can also say that plotting a route on an app or website vs actually going out to a place and putting some tyre tracks down on various trails, laneways and supposed dead ends are slightly different things. Obviously, the latter leaves you with a much better sense of a place and uncovers the actual reality of its traversability. Continue reading “On The Pony Trails Again”

Every once in a while, I’ll repeat myself by writing an article like the one you’re about to read for the purpose of reiterating that it’s probably best to approach bicycles with an open mind. While bicycles can definitely be for sport, they are made better when also viewed as a great method of transport, a creative outlet, vessels for escape and pretty much anything else you can morph them into. This particular missive is focused on my perpetual relationship with road biking. Continue reading “Form Vs Function”

Or maybe it’s more like “strike while the iron is hot”. Either way, the point, as Space For Cycling have said, is that with the new casino is pretty much finished, there should be no excuse for not going ahead with the completion of the George St bikeway in the CBD which was always meant to run its full length.

As such, there’s a petition on the BCC website here to try to convince those with the power and the pennies that it’s a really good idea (which it is). So please get clicking and add your name to the list. It’s really quick and really well worth it. Petition closes Sunday, 20th October, 2024.

EDIT: While we’re at it, there’s a heap of other bikeway upgrades that need doing in this great town so we may as well ask for some more. S4C have also put these up if you’re keen.

O’Connell Tce at Bowen Hills has been a dangerous and a pain in the butt for long time so now would be a great idea to put a bikeway in especially seeing as though there’s new multi-story parking in the RNA. Sign here.

Sugarmill Rd at Pinkenba is another linkup that looks like a good idea to ride down from Eagle Farm on a map until you see how dangerous it can be in real life. It would be great to  make that safer for bikes too. Sign here.

See you out there sometime.

Sometimes it’s best to launch yourself into doing something before you can talk yourself out of it. Colder weather means excuses not to ride come more easily. Shorter days mean that there’s actually less time in the day to ride. There’s good news though; bike lights are really good nowadays and relatively cheap. I’ll bet you have a set or two that have rarely been attached to your bike. If you don’t, that’s OK because even the K-Mart ones are alright.

So maybe you were never a morning person and maybe the cold has made the thought of getting up early to ride even less appealing. But there’s still the night. You’re almost definitely still wide awake in the evening and you know all that extra eating and sleeping you’ve been doing through the winter is probably the reason why you’re not feeling as well as you’d like. You know what I’m going to say next. Pump the tyres, get those lights on and lube the chain on that whip. Throw yourself out the door. It doesn’t matter if you have a mountain bike and some trails nearby or a bike that prefers sealed surfaces and the city lights on your doorstep. Just get out and go before you think too much more about it. Continue reading “Night Time Is The Right Time”

As I’ve said before, bikes and trains go together like gin and tonic (if you fancy a tipple; even if you don’t it’s still a good analogy). This “compound” method of conveyance is, on one hand, as close to freedom as anyone alive today is likely to get and, on the other hand, can project you far from home quickly and efficiently. But it’s a piecemeal affair that requires a little knowledge, a little thinking, a little planning. Only a little but that’s what makes it so good – it’s the adventure of it, the detachment from the status quo, the pushing away of unthinking predictability, comfort, convenience and reliance. So simple, so cheap yet so satisfying. Continue reading “Coasting”

Life is full or ironies and, indeed, it was not very long ago that I opined regarding the upkeep of old bikes in order to keep them in service as long as possible and that, as long as the frame was still good, the bike should theoretically be able to keep going indefinitely. Alas, upon inspection of the frame of my trusty Cannondale F4 a while ago, I noticed a crack near one of the rear stays. Not a massive crack and I’m not really sure how long it’s been there but unsettling nonetheless. And I guess even if the stay cracked right though, it would probably not be a life threatening situation but it could mean quite a long walk home. And so, given that the bike is something of a pack horse which means continuous extra stress on the frame and also given that the bike is about sixteen years old now, I decided that maybe a replacement was in order. Continue reading “All Good Things”

The last few posts on this site have been a bit angry and a bit ranty. Whilst I’m still not sorry about that, I am now going to move on to lighter topics and cheerier moods. For a while anyway.

Samford is a magical little locality as a destination for riding a bicycle if you’re situated in Brisbane as I am. It’s very rural and far enough out to make the ride feel like an adventure but close enough that you can easily do it in half a day (depending on which part of Brisbane you’re riding from). It’s got some of the best food around Brisbane on offer, interesting historical venues and there’s even a place to camp not too far out of town if you wanted a short little overnight bikepacking trip to do (that’s still on my to-do list).
Continue reading “Rambling On”