I ride my bike constantly. I am a exercise fanatic, and I train for triathlons nearly full time, so whenever I get a chance to get out and ride, I will.
When I lived in Canberra, I could ride almost anywhere without a care in the world. I could ride over 150km in a single sitting and all I would have to do is ride out my door. The majority of drivers were cyclists themselves, gave me plenty of space and nearly no issues. If I didn't feel like being on the roads, I could leisurely ride the cycling paths scattered around Canberra.
When I moved back to the big city of Sydney, one of the things that I missed about Canberra was that I now lacked any real area to ride in. To safely ride in Sydney, one must either get up before 6am to avoid any traffic or drive to safe area such as the Ku-ring-gai national park. If you try to ride around Sydney as if it were Canberra, you will be abused by drivers, be involved in numerous close encounters, which should ensure either an accident or the selling of your bike.
I've seen cycling accidents firsthand involving cyclists and cars where the car simply did not have the foresight and the care to avoid the incident. Cycling in Sydney is frightening. This video summarises riding in a bustling, car-centric city.
Canberra has a beautifully laid out bike path network (Have a look! http://www.visitcanberra.com.au/getting-around/cycling).
While the city has sprawled outwards at an alarming rate, within the city and nearly every suburb, you will see cyclists everywhere. Many of my friends in Canberra do not have a car, or if they do, use it very minimally, due to the accessibility of cycling paths.
I haven't checked the emissions data for Canberra or for Sydney, but I think that you would find that more people would ride to and from work in Canberra than for nearly any other city (Melbourne would be a close second).
Sydney has narrow roads and due to its poorly planned sprawl, it means that while it is not impossible to ride everywhere, you would be foolish to try.
I have heard rumblings out of the City Mayor's office of more cycle paths, but riding still remains so dangerous because there are an excess of cars on our roads.
Sydney might ignore Canberra and look down upon the little capital city, but being able to move around Canberra on my bike is a great joy, which sadly cannot be said about Sydney.
Not being able to cycle freely in Sydney translates to more drivers on the roads, more congestion and a greater environmental impact for a city already trying to figure out how to cut down all of these aspects. So for my next post, I will continue to look at bikes, cycling and the joys of self-propulsion.
Check out the benefits of cycling:
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Cycling_health_benefits?open
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/bicycle-fitness
http://www.bikeradar.com/au/road/gear/article/30-reasons-to-take-up-cycling-23965/
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