The week’s top bike news from around the world, brought to you every Wednesday.
Local news
What Adelaide women want
Only one in five Adelaide bike riders are female, so what’s can be done to get more women riding? According to a recent survey of more than 500 women conducted by Bike SA, more bike lanes and separated infrastructure are what’s needed.
Vote bike
In preparation for the Victorian state election this Saturday, and Bicycle Network has prepared a breakdown of each party’s bike agenda.
ActiveTag gets students on bikes
Melbourne’s Bell Primary has became the second school to join Ride2School’s ActiveTag program, which uses swipe card technology to encourage students to walk or ride to school by awarding them points for each journey. The program is already proving successful at Malvern Valley Primary, the first school to implement the program, with the active travel rate rising 15% in the month since ActiveTag was introduced.
International news
UK rider numbers rise to almost nine million
A new report has found that almost nine million adults in the UK (or 16.9% of the population) are bike riders. The average UK rider goes for a spin 48.9 times a year, with 20% riding at least once a week. While 80% use their bike for sport, 40% also ride for transport. According to Sports Marketing Surveys Inc, the company that conducted the research, “Cycling is the growth sport in the UK and our report shows no signs of that slowing down.”
Spin ‘n’ save
It’s widely known that bike riding is one of the cheapest ways to get around, and according to City Clock Magazine, US residents could put $7,000 a year back in their pocket if they swapped their car for a bike and public transport, and if the level of car ownership in the US dropped to that of Paris, the nation would save a tidy USD$450 billion each year, which could be used to improve bike and pedestrian infrastructure as well as public transport.
UK road users fail to make the grade
The recent Great British Cycling Quiz, which received more than 7,000 responses and asks questions about cycling-specific road rules, has produced some troubling results. Only 58% of motorists’ answers were correct, indicating that many motorists aren’t aware of how riders are allowed to behave on the road. The riders themselves fared a little better, answering 70% of questions correctly. However, even this is a far from perfect score.
Health
Food for thought
While a post-ride bakery treat is a sweet reward, an unhealthy diet might be holding you back more than you realise.
Video
2014: the highlights
With the year winding down, Cycling Australia relives the big moments for the nation’s cycling greats.
Upcoming events
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