UNSW Bike Club

After being bombarded with ‘how to vote cards’ and getting reacquainted with our old primary schools, we decided to get away from the Election Day shenanigans for a few hours and enjoy a ride along the Cooks River.  We gathered at UNSW and some folk from Sydney uni came along too.  There were a dozen or so of us, some old faces and some new.  So there was some catching up and introductions in the first few kilometres through the back streets of Mascot.  We stopped for a break near the landing strip of the airport, Balint got a bit excited about the planes.  One looked like it was coming into landing and then turned away – a pilot miscalculation, a bit of aerobatics or perhaps they were just trying to decide whether they really wanted to land in Sydney on Election Day – who knows.

So, on we went, hitting the Cooks River in style at a leisurely pace.  We were all grateful Eytan hadn’t brought his tall bike as there were quite a few low bridges and pipes for us to duck under.  For those of you who have never had the Cooks River experience by bike, it is like a pleasant ride in the countryside – in the middle of Sydney.  You ride along the river, passing mangroves, fields (sporting fields but you can always pretend they’re fields of daffodils), getting inspired by some cool backyard gardens and crossing over cute bridges.  You pass other people with joyous smiles and you feel like using words like ‘serenity’.  There are of course, dubious road crossing and a very narrow underpass, but that’s all part of the fun. 

We stopped for a picnic at a playground, pulling out an array of goodies to make sure everyone had enough energy to get to Balmain.  After an obligatory play on the equipment which includes the most efficient apparatus for making you dizzy – we almost continued on our way.  As we were about to leave, a lost bike computer got everyone in the group scouring the grounds around our picnic area in a beautiful moment of team work.  However, for all our good intentions, we were unsuccessful at finding the computer, and one can only hope that it has found a good new owner, who wanted to know how fast and far they were going for all the right reasons.

Bidding the Cooks river farewell, we headed into the unknown backstreets of Croyden, in hope that we could come out one day near Iron Cove.  We did!!  Not without some fortuitous instinctual navigation, followed by some less convenient turns, that took us onto a rather busy road.  However, we all stuck together and ended up on the lovely Iron Cove bike path.  By this stage we were all good friends, and when given a mission, we all got together to get it done.  The mission was to get a couple of our party to a voting booth before they shut and then make our way to the ferry.  As we entered the heart of Balmain we found the community hall and sent … in to vote for the first time.  Then getting word from the world of iphone 131500 capabilities, we realised we were going to need to put our pedals to the test to get down the ferry on time.  So, we raced off – unfortunately, we went to the wrong ferry terminal (there is about 4 ferry stops in Balmain I think).  Balmain is not the flattest of suburbs, so an accidental trip down to sea level means there will be some climbing to get back to where you want to be.  But without a complaint we all headed off to the other wharf, escorted by a helpful young lad on a scooter (who the tourism industry should really get a hold of).

As we waited at the wharf watching the reflections of the sunset, eating a family value pack of biscuits (and offering to everyone around), and taking group shots – life felt pretty good.  We all hopped on the ferry, headed back to the world of swinging seats, two party preferred polls and a very confused country….

It was a sunny hour, in an otherwise cloudy day

And people with bikes had come out to play

We’d decided we wanted to be connected

With cycling fever, our brains had been infected

So I tied my bike at the top of a hill

And went for a walk with my tall friend Will

By the time we reached our destination

We looked down to see a manifestation

Bikes had come from near and far

To show there was something better than a car

Bikes were chained in one long line

Someone had chained their bike to mine

The front wheel connected to the back of others

It was like a procession of bicycle brothers

It was a wall created by our choice of transport

If it kept on going we could make it a fort

No one knew when it would end

So we chatted to our new bicycle friends

As we chained up bike number 21

This marked the end of our bike chain fun

We dismantled our beloved bike chain wall

We believe it’s the biggest bike chain of all

But we know we’ll be back for another bike chain

Next time we’ll be noticed, it might bring us some fame

This marks the beginning of a little époque

Where people build chains out of bicycles and locks

So get ready to be interrupted from your daily life

There’ll be bike chains galore causing all sorts of strife

Car free day is happening this Wednesday  and we want to get onboard with some fun activities for this special day.  We all know cars take up a lot of space – even when you are not using it.  People all over the world are now getting out and demonstrating that the space for car parks could be better used if the cars weren’t there, with the concept of Park(ing) day.

For Wednesday afternoon, we thought that some car spaces could be better used with people sharing their skills with others – creating a fun learning environment. 

So if you have a small skill you can share (anything from origami to yodeling , knitting to juggling) and can spare half an hour or so of your Wednesday afternoon (1-4pm), please let us know and we will add your activity to the list and try and get materials you may need.  Everyone else, please just drop and surprise yourself with what you can learn in a parking space! 

This is going to be fun for the sake of fun as well as being a bit of a demonstration. Woo hoo!