Cycling on Symonds Street

These are the new road works on Symonds Street. The cycle map states that this is going to be a new cycle route - please, please, please not more 'little blue lines'. The pavement is nice and wide on both sides, as you can see; how about a cycle lane on the pavement? It would beat playing chicken with the traffic crazed bus drivers. I am holding my breath with hopeful anticipation.



The pavement seems to work very well for cycling, as these guys are demonstrating. On a different note, is someone having a sale on white teeshirts at the moment?

Bells

I was alerted to the apparently dying, or at least endangered, art of bell ringing and ownership in NZ by a post from urbanbicycles on the CAA website. Since then I have started to look and he's right. However, I did come across this rather fabulous example on a gorgeous white step-through.





I think this is a Giant and I've seen them for sale at R & R Sports on K Road. They've got some cool stuff and can order brilliant accessories such as skull valve caps - the staff look at you a little strangely, but ...

Uni-cycles

I checked out the cycles at University today and was quite impressed with both the facilities and the bicycles. This certainly appears to be a good hunting ground for snapping cyclists and their vehicles.

This bicycle has obviously been adapted to carry a lot of books - or a lot of beer?



University also has some rather excellent under-cover and secure bike storage - tres chic!

Cycle maps

ARTA now provides a series of cycle maps that are very useful indeed for finding the best route to somewhere you want to go. This of course does not mean the shortest route for the chic cyclist, it means the route that goes past the nicest shops and cafes and has the fewest inclines. With this in mind, it would be very useful if ARTA could put contour lines on the next version to show the topography - just an idea.

Anyway, on to more beautiful bikes and their riders ...

In the pink

Walking past Britomart today, I spotted this lady in full bloom - brightening everyone's day.



And more pink on High Street

Blue line envy

I have just seen this video of cycling in Copenhagen by Colville Andersen and I now have serious 'blue line' envy - they really know how to paint the blue lines for their cycle paths in Copenhagen. Also check out the size of the bicycle icons painted on the their roads!

Stunt riding required on Queen Street

This pothole is really beyond a joke in a 'cycle lane' (I put this in quotation marks because I can't quite, in all seriousness, refer to the 'little blue lines' as a cycle lane). Hey, if they put a ramp in, it might just work for the BMX crowd!

(if your watching ACC, it's at the bottom of Queen Street)



Not chic ... dangerous, but not chic!

Shopping trip

These ladies arrived in style on their 'Amsterdam' bicycles and promptly slipped into Country Road for a little light Saturday afternoon shopping.

Glorious Auckland

When it's good, it's really good in Auckland ... a cyclist enjoying the moment.

Adaptability?

This is an example of an excellent bicycle path along the waterfront ... notice how the cycle path goes around the obstacle ... very chic!



Alternatively, this is an example where the painter of the little blue lines has lost concentration for a moment (or the sense they should have been born with) and failed to account for the obstacle, thus creating a cycle lane that is 30cm (12 inches) wide. This has to be the narrowest cycle lane anywhere ... not chic!

I have to admit that this made me 'lol' as I had recently watched a video where the town planner of Copenhagen, Niels Tørsløv, gave the standard width of cycle paths in his city as over 2 meters. I believe the standard width of our standard cycle paths is around 1m, and evidence suggests that we have an acceptable minimum of 30cm!

Exercise for 8 legs

Glorious Autumn day along the water front - a fine day for a walk/cycle.

The idea

The idea of creating an 'Auckland' Cycle Chic blog occurred after yet another venting to Husband about the veritable sea of lycra in Auckland (New Zealand) and the firmly entrenched perception that cycling was only for suicidal 20-something men with thighs made of steel (although, personally, I have nothing against '20-something men with thighs made of steel') . I continued my rant, as I was now in full flow, with Auckland City Council's attempts at providing a cycle friendly city - whilst this is a highly admirable goal (and one they most certainly should have), the execution is 'variable' in both practicality and insight. Hence, this blog will air the cycle chic-ness of Auckland's lycra-free cyclists and the chic-ness (or not) of Auckland's cycle facilities.