Yesterday I took it upon myself to cycle round the other side of the river across the freeway and then back up the ocean (a distance of about 50Km for anyone interested). I met up with a group of 'pro' looking cyclists along the way who were very bemused at a tourist trying to get on the cycle paths with no more than a clapped out old trail bike (interesting my bike has developed a squeak which nearly drove me to madness yesterday). They were however quite friendly and pointed out the best place to go and joined me for an ice cream at one of the pit stops on the beach.
According to the local press and listening to people in parks etc it seems that there are two types of bike (or 'pushie'?!?) riders over here - the cyclist and the bike rider. Cyclists wear lycra, are universally hated my car drivers and according to the popular press take it upon themselves to knock over old ladies and children at any chance they get. Bike riders on the other hand are 'normal' people enjoying the local scenery and should be praised for keeping fit and making use of the local cycling facilities. I don't quite understand why there is such a gulf. The West Australian yesterday illustrated this point perfectly. Over the weekend in two seperate incidents 2 people were knocked off they're bikes by a car and seriously injured. One was a cyclist the other a bike rider. In the space of two pages the attitudes to the injuries of these people differed wildly. Yet the only thing I can see different about the two boys is that one wore lycra and had a racing bike and the other wore board shorts and had a road cruising bike. The cyclist had been knocked over coming off the cycle path onto the Stirling Highway near Claremont. The newspaper insinuated that he only had himselve to blame, he was cycling on the road, and as a cyclist probably wasn't looking where he was going! The bike rider on the other hand was knocked off his bike coming off the cycle path also onto a highway near Fremantle. The newspaper blamed the car in this place and lamented the injury of a young man. I don't know the circumstances behind each incident, but it did amaze me how the two incidents could be treated so differently...
Photos will follow soon on my picasa site. I'm just waiting for a chance to find an internet cafe that oesn't charge the earth for uploading photos. What I might do is send them on a CD rom to Phil and let hi upload them. In other news its the grandson of the lady I'm staying with 4th birthday - anyone have ideas for a small present?
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3 comments:
am so envious - it's just too cold to go biking here (which definitely puts me in the 'other category')...love the pianist
Glad to hear you're keeping the cycling up!
The moral behind the story seems to be not to use cycle paths because wherever you are in the world they seem to be designed to launch the unfortunate bicyclist out into the path of unsuspecting road traffic with no warning whatsoever.
Are you a cyclist or a bike rider?
50 km is just over 30 miles for those who speak English :).
You must be so fit these days!
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