You make some really great points about the joy of cycling Chris. One of my favourite things about riding is if there is anything that interests you on your way, or anything peculiar is happening, you can just stop for a few minutes and enjoy it completely stress free. Exampe I was riding to the shops the other day: 1. Smelled the flowers and stopped to appreciate some gardens. 2. Someone was playing music on the way so I stopped and listened for a few songs and gave them some change. 3. Said hello to some interesting animal. 4. Enjoyed riding extra fast down a hill and through some nice curves. Occasionally youll see someone you havent seen for a while and you stop for a yarn. Its a totally different experience. Ocasionally youll see a few kids or the whole family and it is just so pleasant. I dont mind the rain or cold too much either, better than 35°C sun, thats the worst.
You really hit the nail on the head! Cycling allows for so much serendipity and so much pleasant and unexpected engagement with the environment around you, it's great
I love transport-oriented Sydney cycling videos like this because it gives me more confidence seeing other people ride like me (getting a little creative with the rules in order to not get run over haha). I’m starting to feel less weird now being the only person who shows up to the store on a bike.
Glad to hear! There's definitely been an increase in people riding for transport in Sydney even since I moved here in 2018. It's great gradually seeing more and more bikes everywhere
In environmental science we talk about tipping points - social and ecological. The idea that a system can tip from one, seemingly-stable state of affairs to another once a certain threshold is reached. A good example is Arctic sea ice, which reflects energy but if enough ice melts then the dark blue water absorbs much more energy heating the water and making new ice formation more difficult until it tips into a new ice free state of being, and this state change was caused by an intial small change pushing it over its tipping point. But there are also social tipping points, and I think we are gettinf close to reaching one with cycling, where previously the social norms were that there was this one wierd guy who rode a bike because - according to the stereotypre - they were just wierd or poor or uncool or whatever. Whereas once a few people are riding and a portion of the infrastructure is in place, people gain confidence and then the inherent benefits become apparent until everyone has a good friend who regularly cycles but is totally normal, then it takes off.
@@BigBlueMan118 What a great way to put it! I definitely think we're almost, if not currently, at that cycling tipping point in Sydney, at least inner Sydney. The media hasn't quite caught up and we still get lots of SMH articles talking about cycling being "divisive" or whatever but I reckon when centrist media gets mostly onside that will reflect the tipping point having well and truly been passed!
It’s good you can show ways that bikes can be used as transport. I think the problem is over the years those in power see cycling only as a sport and exercise not as a legitimate way to get from A to B. There are lots of good segments of cycleways in greater Sydney but they just don’t seem to properly connect places or to each other.
Definitely, I think that's slowly starting to change, though. Rob Stokes understood bikes as transport to a degree, and Clover Moore gets it. They definitely need to build the cycling network quicker, though.
Wow I had no idea that bike parking was there. I always just chained it to the fence after the crossing. They really should move it to somewhere more visible.
Yeah the only reason I found it was because I saw it on google maps, almost as many people chain their bikes to the fence as park there since it's in such a weird spot
I would normally skip Vimiera Rd, go past the CSIRO, straight through the round about and stay on Pembroke, follow Agincourt all the way to Balaclava and then get in the bus lane heading towards Mac uni. I don't think it's shorter - but less sketchy :) .. too many parked cars and fast moving traffic on Vimiera I think
I would have thought Metro would be one of the most frequent ways to make that trip. My kids often want me to drop them off at Epping to go to the shops because public transport to get to Macquarie centre means 90% of journey time is to get to epping even though it is only 50% of the distance.
Yeah the metro is great! The station is far enough from my part of Epping that riding to the station and catching the metro ends up taking around as long as riding straight there. For lots of people it's definitely the best option though.
Since you mentioned it I would love to see a ride between UNSW and a station. Their site says there's a full bike path to get there but I haven't worked out where it is.
From UNSW upper campus you can go down Wansey Rd, Alison Rd and Anzac Pde which all have shared paths running next to them. Once the Doncaster Ave cycleway opens later this year you'll be able to do get to Anzac Pde from lower campus, too. Which station were you thinking?
I think its ridiculous that you can't ride on the footpath. I live in Brisbane and the whole fun with the bike is that I'm literally allowed to ride anywhere unless there's a sign saying otherwise (motorways and shopping centers.) The whole advantage with a bike over a car is that I could be approaching a dodgy section of the road and just quickly slip onto the footpath for like 50 meters and then come back onto the road when there's too many pedestrians and some separation from cars.
I think almost everyone who rides their bike for transport in Sydney rides on a (non shared) footpath sometimes. The worst thing is, occasionally when the police need to make some money they will go out and fine people. They did this on George St CBD last year in an area where there is plenty of room for cyclists, pedestrians and light rail, but no formal markings and no “cyclist dismount” signs.
@@papa_gowon Yep I've noticed that going on. Sometimes cops will randomly start caring about e-scooters, too. We really need to just do what the ACT and QLD do and legalise it
I think those who advocate for pedestrians and want to keep bikes off footpaths is they are thinking of pedestrian busy urban roads that are packed with pedestrians. When getting to suburbs outside of the inner ones footpaths usually have barely anyone on them. Letting bikes on footpaths outside of busy shopping districts and closely built urban makes a lot of sense, especially in the northern and north western suburbs of Sydney that are very hilly. Have you seen how angry cars get following a bike struggling slowly up a steep hill when there is a totally empty footpath next to it.
In bad spots I don't drive near the edge but in the middle of the car lane. Then cars don't have the option to illegally close pass me if a car is coming the other way. Drivers do swear and honk sometimes, but it's much safer for me. Waterloo shared path looks really bad to me. No access, narrow, unmaintained plants make it even narrower, and it goes through a bus stop. And at one point it looks like there's a speed bump (big hole?)! Isn't it better to go a little further along the road between the cars?
Yep I often do that as well. Waterloo Rd is pretty terrible, although it's on quite a significant hill and the road gets quite a bit of traffic so I prefer to take the shared path, but it's a pretty close bet.
Love the bike excursions but I can actually kinda speak to this one!! The ride through the uni is very nice but as you said it was pretty sketchy getting there (tangent: Ryde has a habit of just painting a line on a barely wide crappy footpath and calling it a day. Also I absolutely relate to the stress of riding on roads with intermittent parking, putting a bike logo on them pretending its safe is a farce). Anyways if you're already on the Epping road shared path I would recommend just staying on it all the way until a little snicket that appears on the right handside that takes you into an underpass that then follows the Shrimptons creek trail all the way up to Macq centre. It ends at the parking entrance off Waterloo road which has bike parking right at the pedestrian lights. The pedestrian entrance stairs are right next to the bike parking and lead you all the way into the middle of the centre (the carpark escalators, near the daiso/aldi). There's also a new development just a bit up from the end of the Shrimptons creek trail on Waterloo road that is connected by a shared pathway and also has a secret entrance that leads to the Coles part of macq centre!! (This secret entrance is a bit nicer as it has an escalator and you don't have to walk through a carpark haha). Love ya work mate, keep it up 😃
The Shrimptons Creek route looks great! I'm not a fan of Epping Road since it's so loud but there are definitely good back routes I could take through Marsfield to get there. That bike parking also looks WAY better. I'm definitely gonna have to hunt down that secret entrance, too! Once I get back to Sydney I think I'll have to make a Macquarie Centre Bike Ride 2: Electric Boogaloo
Great video. Your comment on 'bike lanes that don't communicate the 1 metre passing requirement' is spot on.
You make some really great points about the joy of cycling Chris. One of my favourite things about riding is if there is anything that interests you on your way, or anything peculiar is happening, you can just stop for a few minutes and enjoy it completely stress free. Exampe I was riding to the shops the other day:
1. Smelled the flowers and stopped to appreciate some gardens.
2. Someone was playing music on the way so I stopped and listened for a few songs and gave them some change.
3. Said hello to some interesting animal.
4. Enjoyed riding extra fast down a hill and through some nice curves.
Occasionally youll see someone you havent seen for a while and you stop for a yarn. Its a totally different experience. Ocasionally youll see a few kids or the whole family and it is just so pleasant. I dont mind the rain or cold too much either, better than 35°C sun, thats the worst.
You really hit the nail on the head! Cycling allows for so much serendipity and so much pleasant and unexpected engagement with the environment around you, it's great
Drizzle, fairy lights, & birds appreciated 🌧
Heck yeah
I love transport-oriented Sydney cycling videos like this because it gives me more confidence seeing other people ride like me (getting a little creative with the rules in order to not get run over haha). I’m starting to feel less weird now being the only person who shows up to the store on a bike.
Glad to hear! There's definitely been an increase in people riding for transport in Sydney even since I moved here in 2018. It's great gradually seeing more and more bikes everywhere
In environmental science we talk about tipping points - social and ecological. The idea that a system can tip from one, seemingly-stable state of affairs to another once a certain threshold is reached. A good example is Arctic sea ice, which reflects energy but if enough ice melts then the dark blue water absorbs much more energy heating the water and making new ice formation more difficult until it tips into a new ice free state of being, and this state change was caused by an intial small change pushing it over its tipping point.
But there are also social tipping points, and I think we are gettinf close to reaching one with cycling, where previously the social norms were that there was this one wierd guy who rode a bike because - according to the stereotypre - they were just wierd or poor or uncool or whatever. Whereas once a few people are riding and a portion of the infrastructure is in place, people gain confidence and then the inherent benefits become apparent until everyone has a good friend who regularly cycles but is totally normal, then it takes off.
@@BigBlueMan118 What a great way to put it! I definitely think we're almost, if not currently, at that cycling tipping point in Sydney, at least inner Sydney. The media hasn't quite caught up and we still get lots of SMH articles talking about cycling being "divisive" or whatever but I reckon when centrist media gets mostly onside that will reflect the tipping point having well and truly been passed!
It’s good you can show ways that bikes can be used as transport. I think the problem is over the years those in power see cycling only as a sport and exercise not as a legitimate way to get from A to B. There are lots of good segments of cycleways in greater Sydney but they just don’t seem to properly connect places or to each other.
Definitely, I think that's slowly starting to change, though. Rob Stokes understood bikes as transport to a degree, and Clover Moore gets it. They definitely need to build the cycling network quicker, though.
Wow I had no idea that bike parking was there. I always just chained it to the fence after the crossing. They really should move it to somewhere more visible.
Yeah the only reason I found it was because I saw it on google maps, almost as many people chain their bikes to the fence as park there since it's in such a weird spot
I would normally skip Vimiera Rd, go past the CSIRO, straight through the round about and stay on Pembroke, follow Agincourt all the way to Balaclava and then get in the bus lane heading towards Mac uni. I don't think it's shorter - but less sketchy :) .. too many parked cars and fast moving traffic on Vimiera I think
I'll have to give that route a try!
I would have thought Metro would be one of the most frequent ways to make that trip. My kids often want me to drop them off at Epping to go to the shops because public transport to get to Macquarie centre means 90% of journey time is to get to epping even though it is only 50% of the distance.
Yeah the metro is great! The station is far enough from my part of Epping that riding to the station and catching the metro ends up taking around as long as riding straight there. For lots of people it's definitely the best option though.
Since you mentioned it I would love to see a ride between UNSW and a station. Their site says there's a full bike path to get there but I haven't worked out where it is.
From UNSW upper campus you can go down Wansey Rd, Alison Rd and Anzac Pde which all have shared paths running next to them. Once the Doncaster Ave cycleway opens later this year you'll be able to do get to Anzac Pde from lower campus, too. Which station were you thinking?
I think its ridiculous that you can't ride on the footpath. I live in Brisbane and the whole fun with the bike is that I'm literally allowed to ride anywhere unless there's a sign saying otherwise (motorways and shopping centers.) The whole advantage with a bike over a car is that I could be approaching a dodgy section of the road and just quickly slip onto the footpath for like 50 meters and then come back onto the road when there's too many pedestrians and some separation from cars.
Yeah it's pretty ridiculous. It's not really enforced though so I often ride on the footpath anyway haha
I think almost everyone who rides their bike for transport in Sydney rides on a (non shared) footpath sometimes. The worst thing is, occasionally when the police need to make some money they will go out and fine people. They did this on George St CBD last year in an area where there is plenty of room for cyclists, pedestrians and light rail, but no formal markings and no “cyclist dismount” signs.
@@papa_gowon Yep I've noticed that going on. Sometimes cops will randomly start caring about e-scooters, too. We really need to just do what the ACT and QLD do and legalise it
I think those who advocate for pedestrians and want to keep bikes off footpaths is they are thinking of pedestrian busy urban roads that are packed with pedestrians. When getting to suburbs outside of the inner ones footpaths usually have barely anyone on them. Letting bikes on footpaths outside of busy shopping districts and closely built urban makes a lot of sense, especially in the northern and north western suburbs of Sydney that are very hilly. Have you seen how angry cars get following a bike struggling slowly up a steep hill when there is a totally empty footpath next to it.
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In bad spots I don't drive near the edge but in the middle of the car lane. Then cars don't have the option to illegally close pass me if a car is coming the other way. Drivers do swear and honk sometimes, but it's much safer for me.
Waterloo shared path looks really bad to me. No access, narrow, unmaintained plants make it even narrower, and it goes through a bus stop. And at one point it looks like there's a speed bump (big hole?)! Isn't it better to go a little further along the road between the cars?
Yep I often do that as well. Waterloo Rd is pretty terrible, although it's on quite a significant hill and the road gets quite a bit of traffic so I prefer to take the shared path, but it's a pretty close bet.
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This is enjoyable ride haha. Subscribe ❤
Thanks!
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism no thank you. Keep up the great contents and narratives.
Bro are you sure you had lights cuz that was pretty dark.
Yep I definitely had lights, bike lights are more for being seen than seeing though
Love the bike excursions but I can actually kinda speak to this one!! The ride through the uni is very nice but as you said it was pretty sketchy getting there (tangent: Ryde has a habit of just painting a line on a barely wide crappy footpath and calling it a day. Also I absolutely relate to the stress of riding on roads with intermittent parking, putting a bike logo on them pretending its safe is a farce).
Anyways if you're already on the Epping road shared path I would recommend just staying on it all the way until a little snicket that appears on the right handside that takes you into an underpass that then follows the Shrimptons creek trail all the way up to Macq centre. It ends at the parking entrance off Waterloo road which has bike parking right at the pedestrian lights. The pedestrian entrance stairs are right next to the bike parking and lead you all the way into the middle of the centre (the carpark escalators, near the daiso/aldi).
There's also a new development just a bit up from the end of the Shrimptons creek trail on Waterloo road that is connected by a shared pathway and also has a secret entrance that leads to the Coles part of macq centre!! (This secret entrance is a bit nicer as it has an escalator and you don't have to walk through a carpark haha).
Love ya work mate, keep it up
😃
The Shrimptons Creek route looks great! I'm not a fan of Epping Road since it's so loud but there are definitely good back routes I could take through Marsfield to get there. That bike parking also looks WAY better. I'm definitely gonna have to hunt down that secret entrance, too! Once I get back to Sydney I think I'll have to make a Macquarie Centre Bike Ride 2: Electric Boogaloo
🙉🙈🙊 good to see you were following all the road rules 👍
Yep, I definitely do that every time I ride there too
Yo shout me out sir
Bike lanes along parked cars are suicide
Door zone :(