5:30am Sunday morning, riding my bike up to the train station in the record September cold I thought to myself "Why am I doing this again?" I worked it out by the time I found myself wizzing teary-eyed down Arthur Street North Sydney with Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour in full view. Not teary-eyed because of sadness. The wind got in my eyes, you know? 11,000 people participated in the Sydney Spring Cycle. It raised $80,000 for the Children's Oncology and MS Society. With the increased interest in cycling this figure is only set to rise in the future. But why does it take a 7am , once a year charity event to experience Sydney bike friendly streets and why don't these streets exist any other time? These events only mark the sadness for cycling enthusiasts in our fair city. Sadness that it will be a long time before urban cycling becomes safe enough to be considered as part of everyday transportation, as natural as walking. I've often thought that the key is to encourage more women to cycle. Scientific American pose a few interesting insights into this area. It's good to see, also, that an Australian, Deakin University's Jan Garrard is making ground in understanding these gender differences locally...
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=getting-more-bicyclists-on-the-road
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