Something unexpected for me today. I decided to do a little afternoon jaunt from Beerburrum and up to Wild Horse Mountain and as many of you would know, there’s track works to upgrade the Sunshine Coast railway line. That means part of the gravel trail running beside Steve Irwin Way has been closed off.

So a short while after leaving Beerburrum, I made this discovery approximately here thinking I would have to re-route my ride via some sort of makeshift bush bash. But to my surprise, a worker on duty signalling the road approached me and informed me that there’s a bus with a trailer available to get people riding bikes past the track works without needing to mix with traffic along Steve Irwin Way. So, I thought why not and got dropped off at the Caltex about 0.5km on and resumed my ride. The driver did inform me, though, that this would be the last day the service would be available after two weeks of running. Not sure what else they’ll have going forward.

Also, stay tuned for a longer write-up and a new route from this afternoon’s ride…

Coming down the Kedron Brook Bikeway today, I happened upon this home made obstruction across the width of the bikeway. Not sure if whoever did this thought it was funny or if they were being purposely malicious but I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to be coming along here are at speed. Pretty dangerous.

Anyway, with the help of a passer-by, we had this cleared in about five minutes. Maybe keep your eyes peeled for any other similar ones.

Honestly, I’ve been like a two-headed cat in a fish shop over the last few months leaving this site a little bit derelict again but I’ve now found the time to add a couple of pieces of interest for those interested.

One more downbeat about the current battle for the very survival of active transport in Queensland and, to counterbalance, also a great new route through the Sunshine Coast hinterland that I’ve added. Enjoy.

It seems that my nightmares are coming true. As at the writing of this update to my previous article on the Queensland E-Mobility Inquiry, it is not yet substantiated but a leaked piece of information suggests that the E-Mobility Inquiry may recommend that all e-mobility devices (yes, including the currently legal, EN15194 e-bikes and e-scooters limited to 25km/h) would require a driver’s licence or learners permit. It may also recommend that nobody under the age of 16 can ride an e-mobility device across the board. So, if you more or less substitute where I have written “registration” with “licensing” in the previous article, you’ll get an idea of what the supposed recommendation is.

Effectively, what this would mean is that young people who have gained independence through the use of, say, a cheap little Ninebot scooter or legal pedal assisted e-bike (ie one with no throttle) will lose their independence. It would mean that an older person who cannot or does not want to drive anymore and has relinquished their licence cannot use their complaint e-bike or e-trike to pick up groceries. There would be other scenarios.

Once the Inquiry hands down its recommendation, the government has three months to respond so there is time to, say, contact your local MP and voice your concerns if you feel so inclined (I managed to say that very politely and calmly, didn’t I).

Also, it’s worth highlighting that, as mentioned in the linked Brisbane Times article above, the only other jurisdiction in the world that has licensing requirement for bicycles is North Korea. Think about that for a moment.

Now would be a really good time to object to this lazy, ill-considered, apathetic and possibly malicious proposition before it becomes law. It’d be really hard to wind back and could serve as the thin end of the wedge to destroy active transport even more.

As I said previously, I’m 100% behind getting rid of the illegal, dangerous e-devices but this is not the way to do it.

I haven’t been here much again lately. On a hiatus of sorts. Something infinitely more important than this cluster of pixels in the corner of the internet has temporarily drawn all of my attention. It’s all temporary though, isn’t it? Anyway, I have a few pieces of two wheeled content sitting in my back pocket and will be back before long to share for those interested. See you soon.

It’s taken about five years but the Viola Place bikeway is finally open. Yesterday in the late afternoon when the 37 degree heat subsided somewhat I headed out towards the airport and turned right into Viola Place to be able to complete a full loop back through Ascot and over to the Kedron Brook bikeway. Massive thank you to Space4Cycling for you advocacy over the years and to BCC for finally getting the work done.

Ready for another long read? I’ve dropped another new article in the main blog. This time it’s about the current Queensland Government inquiry into e-mobility and how it’s upcoming outcome might affect the state of active transport in Queensland. Read it here.

Apparently taking fewer photos makes you more human so that’s what I’ve been doing over my last few rides. Not because I’ve been too lazy to take, crop, optimise and upload them…

Still, despite the heat I’ve been getting out there. The drink stops and mid-ride swims have been more frequent and my DaBrim has made many appearances. On-road, off-road, whatever – gotta get after it while you still can.

Tropical, humid, sweltering. That’s how it’s been in Brisbane for the last little while. Some prefer more colloquial expressions like “hot as balls”. However you phrase it, the heart of summer is here. Somehow it doesn’t seem as much fun as I remember it growing up in these parts. Maybe because as age catches up with me, my ability to tolerate extremes diminishes or maybe it’s just because it’s actually getting hotter each year or maybe it’s both.

Still, I prefer that weather events don’t prevent me from riding where possible but I’ve had to make adaptations. For one, because I’m not really a morning person, I’ve been saving my rides for the end of the day, packing lights and riding into the evening. Also, I’m not racing so I don’t need to set records. Slow and steady is the way to go. Gravity provides thrills when the opportunity arises. And I ensure that the extra drink bottles get put to good use.

Mostly though, I’m thankful that the heat only provides me some minor discomfort when I’m riding my bike because things could sure be a lot worse. I can’t even imagine.

My music picks tend to sway heavily from the extremes of one genre to another so today I’ve selected something referred to by some as “improvisational jazz”. Pink Dolphins by Anteloper is instrumentally complex in the most fantastic way and varies in style throughout the album such that it takes the listener on a journey of a broad gammit of ambience and mood. It’s almost like a jazz flavoured prog album and worth every blow of their saxophones.

If you’re up for a long read, I’ve just published a new article in the main blog on the subject of ebikes. It’s all about separating the illegal, overpowered, cheaply made ones from the legitimate, legal, high quality ones and why it’s a better time than ever to get an ebike into your life. Check it out.

Well, that’s it for another year. Like any year, 2025 had it’s fortunes and disappointments but all up it was a challenging year to be honest (for me at least) so here’s to 2026 and the hope that it can be the beginning of something better. We have bikes and we have Brisbane so my hope is strong. Onward and upward.

This Is Not A Bicycle

In my endless quest for the sublime, the slightly weird, the definitively off-kilter I came across this piece by Petor Georgallou.

I recommend reading the whole thing but if it had ended after the following line in the first paragraph it still would have been brilliant:

“Travel by bike offers the widest selection of strangeness by covering the most ground while also being in the world, with the number of stops limited only by a personal expectation of reaching a destination.”

What’s not to love, right? That answers pretty much the biggest “why” of riding bicycles that I’ve been trying to convey for the last eight or so years of this website’s existence.

Bicycle Queensland calls for active transport corridor to be fully reinstated in Logan – Gold Coast Faster Rail Project

Action is needed folks – the Logan Faster Rail Active Transport Corridor looks to have been cancelled. Yes, it seems that the Brisbane community is about to be duped out of a large and essential piece of bikeway for which the land has already been purchased with your tax dollars. Please read BQ’s write-up and think about contacting your local member to get this reinstated.

Brisbane has some great pieces of public art hiding in alleyways, at the backs of buildings and various other nooks and crannies. Riding bikes is a great way to discover them because bikes are slow enough to make you take notice but fast enough to cover the ground required to go from one piece of art to the next.

If you’ve still got Christmas shopping to get done, riding to the shops is a really good idea. As I’ve said previously, Westfield Chermside has bike racks in the underground carpark right near the entrance which means no parking hassles, your bike stays out of the weather while you’re in the shops and you get to enjoy the summer days and evenings along the way. Plus the bikeways lead right up to the back of the centre.

Tilapia have been a problematic, invasive fish species in Australian rivers and creeks for many decades. You can help the problem while also having some fun by fishing for them in Kedron Brook and other Brisbane creeks.

Grab a pair of polarized sunnies and you’ll probably be able to see them but beware, they’re fussy eaters and a bit tricky to catch so you’ll need patience. My own fishing trip the other day proved this as I returned home without a single bite even though I watched them swim right past my bait all morning.

Getting to the fishing spots is done best by bike as there’s plenty along the Kedron Brook bikeway and remember that once you catch a Tilapia, you can’t throw it back or take it home. Unfortunately, you can only photograph, destroy and dispose of them in a local bin.

Daytime being fairly hot and a bit too busy for me to ride still left me with the evening this weekend. Turns out it was a good option anyway – largely empty trails, quiet back streets, wallabies in the reserves, Christmas lights at people’s houses.

Bikeway counters seem to be going down all over the place. This one near Windsor has been completely turned off for at least the last couple of days. Note that these bike counter outages have been going on for a lot longer than the couple of times I’ve mentioned them here.

EDIT: looks like you can report the non-working bike counters here. I guess if they don’t know, they can’t fix it.

‘Tis the season to be bike commuting.