Sydney Airport and cycling & Charity Challenges

Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport
The interesting thing about commuting to work and being part of the Sydney cycling community is that you get to find out how easy cycling to some places really is. This includes some of the places you previously thought were out of the question such as the airport. The Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport is surprisingly accessible by bike. In fact it is interesting how many bike facilities exist in this area. Starting with the Bay to Bay shared path – this passes through the airport and is used by airport staff for commuting from as far afield as Cronulla and Sydney’s Inner West. Commuting using the Cooks River cycleway is possible from Parramatta and Liverpool. Commuters also ride in from the Eastern Suburbs using Coward Street and the cycling route from Centennial Park.
It is interesting that the official bike parking that is available to the public and airport workers is limited to a group of bike racks hidden behind a group of hoardings at the International Railway Station end of the International Terminal, this is at the opposite end of the terminal to the Cooks River Cycleway access. There are only a few racks as my photos show and these are used by airport workers. They are outside racks so if anyone was going to use them on a wet day I would seriously urge them to take either a bike cover to cover the bike or a plastic bag to put over the seat. Because the racks are out in public and are accessible I would highly recommend anyone riding to the airport to use quality locks eg D or U locks as well as a good cable lock.On the issue of security a member of MASSBUG who will remain anonymous once took his ye olde junker with a set of panniers on it’s rack and locked his bike to a pole outside the Domestic Airport and went off in search of the friend he was meeting. When he returned  he found his panniers had disappeared. On asking someone who looked like the were security he was directed to the Lost Property Office. On attending the Lost Property Office, he was told he was extremely lucky he still had panniers. Someone saw them on the bike and thinking the worst had contacted the Australian Federal Police Protective Service (AFPPS). The AFPPS used an explosive detection robot and an explosive detection dog to determine if the panniers contained explosives. They then took them to lost property suspecting they and the bike had been abandoned (It was a junker after all!).  The lesson – do not leave panniers, handlebar bags, rack bags or baggage of any sort on the bike. Not only does it attract the wrong kind of attention but it can also get stolen. I am unsure if there is similar bike parking at the domestic airport.There is a plan to lobby Sydney Airports Corporation which is owned by Macquarrie Bank to provide more bicycle parking as part of a plan to develop cycle tourism routes through Sydney. I would suspect that with the current development of the airport – there is an 8 storey car park being developed as part of the airport upgrade. As Macquarrie bank makes money through the airport (they bought it from the Commonwealth Government at an absorbent price after all) his may take us into the debate over paying for cycling facilities in this case bike parking. I have heard of similar user-pays facilities in Sydney. Bicycle NSW owns and operates a network of bicycle lockers at various bus and railway stations and ferry wharfs which are rented on a quarterly basis and there is some bike parking in the Warring-ah shire area which is operated by the council which is user-pays. My own personal position on userpays bike parking is that is the userpays option should as with car parking never be compulsary (ie you can only park there and nowhere else), and it should be secure.The only barrier to the sucess of the cycle tourism scheme is the reputation that Sydney has as being Australia’s most hostile cities for cyclists. This was even noted in the Lonely Planet Cycling Australia guidebook. This is the same Guide book that has a cycling route from Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne to the Melbourne CBD. I would hope that if the cycle tourism scheme gets off the ground that there could be changes in Sydney and it’s acceptance of cycling.

Charity Challenges

There have been a couple of charity challenges that have been on my mind over the last couple of weeks. The first is the Global Corporate Challenge which is a virtual tour. It starts Thursday May 22 and ends Tuesday September 23, it is primarily a walking challenge but there is an allowance for cyclists to enter the kilometers they cycle and for that to be converted to steps and added to their total. I am looking at entering this because it would help motivate me to keep cycling through what will be our winter.

The other is the Pedal Against Poverty, in this one I just have to set a date between the 14th and 28th of April for a ride. Set the route and distance of the ride. Register the ride (which I have). I am looking at calling the ride Bridge to the Blueys because I will be riding from the Harbour Bridge to the Blue Mountains (to a point in the Blue Mountains which I can reach in one day – yet to be decided). I will enlist as many people as I can – I will contact the media people at work and ask about getting a report in the newsletter and I have also sent an email off to MASSBUG.

I realise this will annoy those who feel like Sheldon Brown that “Although “thons” do get people out on their bikes, and maybe even bring some people into cycling in a serious way” “they send a message that cycling is a painful, unpleasant chore that you should do because it is good for you, or because it benefits some charitable organization. Too many well-meaning people sign up for a long pledge ride without an adequate mileage base, with substandard cycling skills and equipment. These people will “learn” that bicycling is about pain and exhaustion, saddle sores and sunburn, aching knees and stiff necks”. The good news is that with the amount of Ks I will have cycled over the Great Escapade and it’s preparation and the challenge of riding the Blaney To Bathurst ride, I should be prepared for the exercise and so avoid the pain and exhaustion and with use of a good bike like the Green Trek or the Red Hybrid the ride should be fun and maybe educational.

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