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The Australian government is slowly acknowledging the benefits of cycling as an alternative form of transport with Melbourne city Council’s approval of the Swanston Street redevelopment. Similarly another Melbourne Council, Moreland City Council has replaced eight parking spaces with bicycle parking.

While many European cities have enjoyed the benefits of supporting bicycles as alternative form of transform, the Australian government is slowly overhauling existing car centric policies. With many Melbourne roads exceeding the capacity there is a strong push to reinstate cycling lanes through these busy thoroughfares.

What many people don’t appreciate is that cycling provides many other benefits of cycling apart from reduced traveling time and environmental benefits when commuting into the city. With recent reviews to the recommended exercise participation being from 30 minutes 3 to 4 times per week to daily exercise of 30 minutes per day, this can easily be achieved through commuting to work.

While many of Melbourne’s roads are gridlocked and have succumb to the ever-increasing levels of increased car patronage, removing a lane of traffic really has little consequence as the destination point is always bottlenecked. So whether the traffic is spread over a greater distance with multiple lanes all bottlenecked at the city center, ultimately the overall commuting time is the same.

The new Swanston Street redevelopment will be the centerpiece of the councils initiative to reinvigorate the road into a major boulevard which has been in a major upheaval with each successive government failing to introduce a viable option. With increasing levels of trams and the number of cyclists doubling since the 1990s, there has never been a better time to to introduce this great initiative. The pedestrian numbers have also increased steadily from 12,500 in 1992 to 60,000 at the moment, with expected numbers topping 100,000 once the development is fully completed.

While this development will be met with this much resistance from the motor vehicle lobby groups, we need to adopt an overall transport strategy to avoid an LA style traffic nightmare scenario.

Similarly the replacement of the eight parking spaces has been calculated to the overall beneficial to the street shops that are joining is far greater given six bicycles replace one car. While the average spend per cyclist may be lower than one car user, the overall revenue per car parking space is greater.

It was awesome to see so many cyclists supporting the annual Ride to Work Day at Edinburgh Gardens in Melbourne.

The event was organised by Bicycle Victoria with the support of the City of Yarra and sponsorship from various local businesses.

The police offered free bicycle engravings that help identify the bike in the event of theft. Lord mayor Jane Garrett and Greens Councilor Kathleen Maltzahn also gave their support to the event.

With increasing road congestion and growing environmental concerns helping fuel peoples’ desire to find alternative forms of transport, cycling offers a viable, cheaper option that also keeps you healthy.

Unfortunately, while cyclists share a narrow shoulder on the side of most roads, it raises the possibility of being hit by cars and trucks..

In many European cities they have three major initiatives to help improve cyclists safety and increase patronage:

1.Copenhagen style bicycle lanes that clearly demarcate cyclists from vehicle traffic using dedicated bicycle lanes. The City of Melbourne has flagged a similar system for Swanston St.

2.Shifting the onus of blame to motorists in the event of a collision with a cyclist, ie in all cases of a vehicle/cyclist collision the motorist is guilty of an offense. Similarly, if a cyclist hits a pedestrian, the cyclist is presumed guilty.

3.Non-compulsory wearing of helmets. This will only be possible with the introduction of vehicle guilt in the event of a collision with a cyclist.

If you are inspired to ride to work, then check out Bikepark a company that has shower facilities and bicycle parking to help commuters get refreshed before heading into the office.

So, even if you missed this year’s event, riding to work is still an easy option every other day!

Thanks to technology, I have downloaded the Melbourne Summer Cycle course and ride statistics. The great thing about this ride is at a comfortable 16.7km/h, I covered 38.44kms in 2:18:08 which didn’t include a cafe stop in Williamstown.

So for those looking at doing Melbourne Summer Cycle in 2011, join the ride with your family as I saw plenty of children on their BMX bikes.

Well what a fantastic day out, I thoroughly enjoyed my first Melbourne Summer Cycle after finishing the 40kms on my BMX bike, for which I send a BIG thank you to BSC Bikes, Melbourne for supplying.

Overall, cyclists raised $520,000 for MS, an awesome achievement:))

A big congratulations also to Jessica, Jak and Sue for getting through the 40kms. Fortunately we didn’t reach the expected top of 34º, rather it was a much more manageable 22º with overcast skies cutting down the sun’s rays.

For next year I’m setting an ambitious target of raising $2000 and will be seeking sponsorship based on riding the full 40kms once again on a fantastic BMX bike again on a fantastic BMX bike.

The great thing about the Melbourne Summer Cycle is its accessibility to families; I saw plenty of kids making the epic 40kms on their on bikes or being towed behind mum or dad.

As cycling is experiencing a major boom at the moment, any events that promote awareness and the attractiveness of cycling as a form of exercise and transport need to be supported.

Which means it’s still not too late to support this great cause and remember all donations are tax deductible.

A question regarding lycra when cycling with regards to wearing undergarments and jocks:

Ok…. I have a serious question for you that I hope you can answer. I am kind of disturbed but an occurrence that happened to me.

Yesterday I went for a ride on my pushy and all was going swell. THEN… I came up behind another dude on his bike. He was in full lycra getup and also had a bike that put mine to shame the only thing was he was showing total ass through his lycra pants. They were soooo see through that even a few cars tooted! I could not handle the view and I had to pull over and stop for a while so that he could ride on.

Question: What’s up with the ass. It was total ass with no undergarments. Is this something you road guys get into?

Mmmmm, this can get a bit tricky for a non roady old skool commuter dude, yes there are no under garments and generally there are certain rules employed to eliminate ass shock.

Firstly your “knicks” or lycra shorts cannot/should nether be white or red for obvious reasons.
Secondly, knicks should never be worn within a whisker of their life, hence the ass shock.
Third and foremost no jocks, boxer shorts or under garments to be worn under any circumstances.

Wearing undergarments is not pretty, after 2 hours in the saddle, I will spare you the gross details but there is some method to the madness.

One morning, during my earlier days or road cycling, I wore undergarments and was politely told by a female at the café table that wearing jocks just isn’t the done thing for various aforementioned reasons.”

So if you are doing a lot of miles on the bike for fitness training and exercise, it’s worth going jocks free

Generally this is something you figure out after spending many hours in the saddle.