MIKAEL’S COMING TO TOWN

Great news! Mikael Colville-Andersen, the famous bike thinker and blogger is coming to Melbourne to the State of Design Conference to give a Saturday afternoon talk. The date is is July 24th.

Here’s Mikael with Janette Sadikh khan lifted from his famous blog Copenhagenize.com

I plan to travel down from Sydney to be there, coming on the overnight train with my bike. Internet friend, Dr. Paul Martin, plans to come from even further, from Brisbane.

But the real commitment is being made by Unity Finesmith of that great blog; Auckland Cycle Chic who’s coming all the way from NZ for the talk. I’ll be meeting Unity and Paul for the first time.

Here’s what the festival site says Mikael will talk about;

Four Goals for Promoting Urban Cycling with Mikael Colville-Andersen

Sponsored by Bicycle Victoria

I would strongly suggest you try and attend. Mikael not only knows more about utility cycling than probably anyone in the world, but he has been keeping a close eye on what’s happening here in Aust. in a most encouraging way.

He’s given great support to Sue Abbott, for example, in her fight against our compulsory helmet laws.

What am I hoping for personally? That he’ll lend his powerful voice to the argument that utility cycling is something very different from the current dominant cycle culture here, which is the Lycra-garbed sport and leisure mode.

People can do both, and whilst there’s nothing wrong per se with cross over, with folks riding to work on racing machines in their Lycra, we need to promote a another look, people in their own clothes, riding the sit-up bikes favored by most Danes and Dutch when they want to go A to B.

From the type of bike you ride and your garb, flows the mindset which drives you, I believe.

In lycra, you are not just riding more efficiently, though that may be true if you have distance and hills to contend with, you are probably also in training and are thinking speed and personal best.

Admirable though that may be, fit though though you surely are, it’s not utility cycling the way its understood in Europe, and since the Europeans are so far ahead of us in this essential mode, we have to ask, is there is causal relationship? Is the Lycra culture holding back utility cycling in some way?

As you can guess, I think it is. I predict that the day we see flocks of Aussie bikers looking like Stockholm or Amsterdam, that will be the day we really begin our cycling transport revolution.

I suspect Mikael agrees in some part, but does he feels it’s important in terms of driving useful change, this talk of bike types and clothing worn?

I’ll be asking him for sure. Asking if we should not declare a clear difference, two ways of cycling, each great but different.

On that Saturday Morning,(24th) Paul Martin and I are going to try the new Bixi bikes now strewn around Melbourne. We’ll ride them as they are ridden in their city of origin, Montreal, that is without helmets.

If we are ticketted it will cost us $154, a hefty sum but worth the sacrifice to make the point that that helmets are hobbling this great initiative, Bike share.

And if people in 60 cities around the world which now have bike share can be trusted to ride without helmets, we should enjoy the same trust.

If you feel like joining us, please do so. Leave a note here.

And for a taste, of Mikael’s style take a look at; The Guy From Cycle Chic.