Winter has finally arrived and the rain we thought would never stop has finally disappeared. Not before the flood water managed to take out the end of trip facilities at the place I commute to to surf the Internet and pretend to work, however. But, fortunately, as the owner of a Brompton folding bicycle, this didn’t prevent me from riding. Departing from my usual bike plus train mode with the Brommy, I decided to try bike plus bus and I have to say that it worked out well. Plopping the folded Brompton in the luggage rack of the bus in the mornings allowed me to arrive to my place of employment fresh as a daisy without the need to shower and to enjoy a swift, sprightly ride all the way home at the far end of the day.
The situation with lack of end of trip facilities has mostly been rectified now so I’m back to riding a “big bike” all the way in and out which I great because I get to use those fantastic CityLink CBD bike lanes again. Which reminds me: the trial of CityLink is now finished and there is now an assessment being done to decide what the future holds for them. As anyone who frequents the CBD can see, the sky in the surrounding area hasn’t fallen in, they’re filled in the peak hours with people on bikes and scooters more than I’ve ever seen before and city life has simply adjusted to them being there. For my money (and, as a rate payer, it partly is my money), the case in favour of keeping and expanding CityLink is very clear but I guess we’ll see what the assessment reveals. In the meantime, as I’ve said before, just keep riding in the CityLink lanes whatever you have that’s permitted in them as much as possible.
Other stuff that’s happened since last I was here was the EV expo which I rode to on the Boda Boda which had, as you’d expect, a bunch of really cool electric vehicles including ex-fossil vehicles that had been converted to electric, the folks from Blind Freddy Ebikes displaying their wares and as well as a bunch of really interesting speakers and great coffee.
Also, unless you’ve been napping in a very quiet, dark place for the lat few weeks, you’ll know that the land of Oz has a new Prime Minister plus new incumbents in a few unexpected federal seats which will probably mean very good news for the Australian cyclosphere and generally getting the country back on track. I’m both very relieved and very excited.
Last but certainly not least, the Brisbane Bicycle Film Night happened again for 2022 on May 28th. Unfortunately, this time I had prior obligations but will definitely be making my way to next year’s instalment. Do mark you calendar around the same time next year.
That’s it for now – another short and sharp one. I’m off to do some more bike commuting and maybe some off road adventuring so stay tuned.
Ride safe and see you out there some time.