Posted December 10th, 2007 in The Desk by Philip
Yep, this blog is well and truly dead, with all further blogging about cycling by me now done over at Sydney Cyclist, the social network built to serve cyclists in Sydney. Thanks for reading.
Posted October 26th, 2007 in Advocacy, The Desk by Philip
Follow the link to The Sydney Cyclist and sign up.
technorati tags: cycling, sydney, community
Posted October 19th, 2007 in The Desk, Energy by Philip
Interesting piece in Online Opinion.
Australia is on a long list of oil producing countries that have already passed peak oil production. In our case, production peaked in the year 2000. While several new oil projects on the North West Shelf will see modest increases in domestic production for the next few years, by 2015 Australia will likely be importing 80 per cent of its oil. The annual petroleum trade deficit already exceeds $8 billion, two thirds of the entire trade deficit.
Belinda Robinson, Chief Executive of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, recently estimated that this annual petroleum trade deficit would increase to $27 billion by 2015 (PDF 830KB), assuming that prices would remain at US$50 a barrel. Given that oil prices are already hovering around US$80 a barrel before world production has begun to decline in earnest, a much more realistic figure lies somewhere in the range of $40-80 billion, equivalent to 5-10 per cent of current GDP, or double to quadruple the current value of our coal exports.
The major implication of peak oil for the average Queensland consumer is that fuel prices, and food prices, could realistically double or triple within the next several years. A petrol subsidy of eight cents a litre will make no difference to somebody who can’t afford to pay $3 a litre, or $180 to fill up the family car. Families in the mortgage belt of the outer suburbs, with little access to adequate public transport, will be particularly vulnerable (PDF 921KB).
While the electorate might today be clamouring for governments to build more tunnels and motorways to address the immediate problem of worsening traffic congestion, in the next few years when faced with the choice between filling up the car or putting food on the table they will begin asking politicians why there are insufficient buses and trains for them to get to work. The correlation between increasing oil prices and patronage on Brisbane’s already inadequate public transport for the last five years (see graph) is a very clear “market signal” if ever there was one.
It’s a race that Peak will win.
technorati tags: energy, peakoil, australia
Posted September 21st, 2007 in The Desk by Philip
The long awaited decision is in, and Floyd Landis has lost his appeal to the American Arbitration Association to overturn the sanction for his positive drug test from the 2006 Tour de France. The three member arbitration panel, led by president Patrice Brunet along with Christopher Campbell and Richard McLaren, was split 2-1 in the guilty verdict, with Campbell dissenting.
I am innocent and we proved I am innocent.
Ummm, no.
For all the wailing and gnashing of teeth this was always going to be the decision though I’m sure Landis will continue to take this further. Unfortunately, in this day and age no one seems prepared to accept any umpires decision so it will continue for a while yet with Landis, the conspiracy theorists and rusted on fans never accepting the decision.
Oh, Oscar Pereiro is the winner of the 2006 Tour de France. Yay.
technorati tags: cycling, doping, landis
Posted September 8th, 2007 in The Desk, Meta by Philip
technorati tags: cycling, bicycles, spokesmen, fredcast
Posted September 5th, 2007 in Advocacy by Philip
Apparently Melbourne is very excited about a planned car free day next year, but that’s just the way it is with cities on the make, always taking a page from true world cities.
MELBOURNE will next year get its first “car-free day”, a controversial idea backed by Melbourne City Council — and branded an indulgence by the RACV.
A group of five young environmentalists late last night won support from the council’s planning committee to block key city streets for an entire weekday, an event to coincide with Melbourne’s Sustainable Living Festival at Federation Square on Friday, February 15, next year.
“We want to see Melbourne reclaim its title as the world’s most liveable city,” said Steph Smith, who with four others from the Centre for Sustainability Leadership brought the plan to council.
Who needs one car free day when you can have an entire week brought to you courtesy of APEC?
Update: Knew it was too good to be true, sadly for Sydney it’s all too real. Politicians in this country are not only provincial, but seriously lacking in vision.
technorati tags: melbourne, car, free, day
Posted September 4th, 2007 in Culture, Advocacy by Philip
Paul Pottinger decides that cyclists drive motorists to the 10th circle of hell.
IF Dante was to be reincarnated in Sydney today, he’d add another chapter to his Inferno based purely on his first exposure to the traffic in this Godforsaken metropolis.
There’s no shortage of torments to choose from in this 10th circle of hell - the dysfunctional tunnels, motorways that gridlock in the event of someone sneezing, the perpetual inability of Sydney drivers to indicate.
But it would take Dante’s particular eye for the fiendish to portray the torment inflicted daily on urban drivers by the unlicensed, uninsured, irresponsible and often ridiculously dressed lunatic fringe within the bicycle riding community.
It’s hard to get annoyed anymore by this nonsense from the Telegraph. It’s just a rote opinion piece that reads like a rite of passage for all Telegraph writers. You can hear the conversation.
Editor: “There’s a rite of passage you’ll have to go through to hang around here son.”
Potsy: “It doesn’t involve a farm animal, Absinthe and three root vegetables does it?”
Editor: “Nope, that’s for senior editorial staff promotions. I just want you to write something inflammatory about cyclists.”
Potsy: “Oh! But why bother? Isn’t cycling supposed to be cool? Good for the environment and all that. A transport solution?”
Editor: “No, no,no,no, you won’t get far with that attitude son, around here cyclists are persona non grata, filthy animals, and we try to remind readers of that at least three times a year…..like clockwork.”
Potsy: “But……”
Editor: “No buts, you want to fit in here don’t you?”
Potsy: “Well, yeah, and I do like kicking the weak and defenseless when they’re down.”
Editor: “That’s the spirit, I could see when we hired you that you had it in you. You’ll do well here with that attitude.”
Potsy: “Gee, thanks, but what do I say….how do I start?”
Editor: :Well Potsy just off the top of my head (which is how I do most of my editorializing) a real pro might craft a passage like this.”
Editor: “But it would take Dante’s particular eye for the fiendish to portray the torment inflicted daily on urban drivers by the unlicensed, uninsured, irresponsible and often ridiculously dressed lunatic fringe within the bicycle riding community.
Clad like mad parrots, they’re the pedalling prima donnas who demand the right to occupy a transit lane at peak hour, causing buses full of commuters to crawl and cars to make lane-lurching manoeuvres.”
Potsy: “Can I say how much that reads like pure poetry……..even prose, sir?”
Editor: “Of course you can. In fact just for that perceptive comment you just got a promotion. I’ll even let you use it. Now come over here a really show me your commitment Potsy.”
Potsy: “Oh, I dunno….?
Editor: “You said you wanted to fit in here didn’t you?”
Elsewhere: CFSMTB is also bored stiff by this.
technorati tags: cycling, advocacy, satire
Posted September 2nd, 2007 in Culture, Image by Philip
Marrickville, Sydney, 2007
technorati tags: sydney, cycling, images
Posted September 2nd, 2007 in The Desk by Philip
Recently it was announced that Cycling TV had stitched up an agreement with Joost to broadcast highlights on that service and since than I’ve been waiting for the channel to launch, happily it’s now up and running with a nice selection of race highlights and doco style reports.
So far I’ve viewed an inside look at Tour of Lankawi and Barloworld, something that was particularly bittersweet viewing because of it’s focus on Ryan Cox, and I also enjoyed the Roubaix cobbles masterclass with the always classy Maggie Backstedt.
The segment times run anywhere from five minutes to roughly an hour so you’ll need a quick connection to get the full streaming experience. Joost is still in Beta so you’ll need an invite or you’ll have to sign up and wait. It’s well worth it for any cycling tragic.
technorati tags: cycling, bicycles, joost, cyclingtv
Posted August 31st, 2007 in The Desk by Philip
GutterMonkey has launched.
guttermonkey.org lets people find riders they might like to ride with, and routes they can follow safely, using all the valuable knowledge thats trapped inside your head.
To do this, we’re hoping for your participation, because you’re the expert when it comes to your ride.
* Every back street you take and shortcut you ride represents the very best field research that money cannot buy.
* We want to gather that knowledge and get it into the hands of people who would love to ride each day, if only they knew howSo, guttermonkey.org works by cataloging your route as well as your answers to some simple survey questions about speed & difficulty and stuff like that.
Then, it’s a simple job for other people to find your ride by using ‘rideFinder’ showing them all the rides (and riders) that pass through their neighborhood each day. They can make contact with other people who are also interested in the same rides. The can swap ideas. They can ride together and feel safety in numbers. It’s not rocket science. It’s a community coming together.
Head on over and take it for a spin.
technorati tags: cycling, bicycles, guttermonkey