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Freewheeling to the election
By Peter Trute
March 13, 2007 12:00am
RECENTLY a combination of greenhouse guilt and growing girth led me to start riding a pushbike to work. It is not a game for the faint-hearted.
Riders face an absence of bike lanes and the natural hatred and envy that exists between drivers and cyclists: drivers hate cyclists beating them through peak hour and cyclists envy the drivers' air-conditioning and six-stack CD players.
Despite all this, Sydney is leaping on to bikes with the same gusto it took to motorscooters a few years ago.
Bike sales hit 1.3 million last year – exceeding those of motor vehicles.
Why are people taking up cycling?
Well for one, it's free. Save $20 a week on your train fare and there's five more beers on Friday.
It's also exercise, which you need with the extra beer.
But it won't really take off until it fixes its biggest problem: cycling is not cool.
We cyclists know it can be fun – but non-cyclists remain nonplussed.
Having switched from a motorcycle to pedal-power I've had first-hand experience of just how uncool the bicycle is. On a motorcycle you can channel Marlon Brando in The Wild One or Steve McQueen in The Great Escape.
On a bike you channel sweat, usually from your armpits down into your socks.
You can talk about fitness and the environment but cycling retains some crippling image problems.
Getting out of a climate-controlled sedan you will always look nicer than if you just huffed up on a pushie. Even coming off a CityRail train you'll look less flushed and sweaty.
Then there's the people problem.
Some of the worst ambassadors for cycling are, sadly, its most strident supporters – those with the "one less car" stickers on a rusting Malvern Star who treat every ride as a protest action. They cruise through the traffic and red lights, glaring at drivers.
Also in need of an image makeover are the Critical Mass mob who periodically block the Harbour Bridge in peak hour in the belief it will make motorists want to join them rather than run them over.
But for cycling to truly make the mainstream, our leaders must embrace it.
The industry-backed Cycling Promotion Fund has just surveyed candidates in the NSW election on their attitudes to cycling. Results come out this week but already the Liberals have released a policy to boost cyclist numbers 100 per cent by 2011.
It's a start but would pale alongside the example set by Morris Iemma and Peter Debnam swapping limos for a Speedwell.
As long as Speedo-loving Debnam can be steered away from lycra bike pants.