The Wrong Side of my Car
The blog that wants to go obsolete
The isthmus buses really are better
I often tell people that there is one little corner in Auckland with an existing functional public transport network: the western half of the isthmus. That’s it. Usually the response from public transport advocates lies somewhere between derision and bewilderment. I find this odd, because this is completely obvious if you just look at a bus map.
Living in parallel universes
We are living in two parallel universes.
Auckland transport is consulting on roadworks on a roundabout near me.
The good news first: three of the pedestrian crossings would be traffic light controlled. This should make it much easier to cross Glenfield Road if you’re catching the bus. No more watching people miss their bus while waiting for a gap in traffic.
Eliminating barriers to cycling
Last time we saw our cycling route from Birkenhead to Takapuna, and saw how it is almost, but not quite there. Something like 90% there. So, is it 90% as good as 100% there?
Sadly, no.
The four types of cyclists
It is said that there’s 4 types of cyclists, roughly by level of confidence: The ‘Strong & Fearless’, the ‘Enthused & Confident’, The ‘Interested & Concerned’, and the ‘No Way, No How’. A study in Christchurch, New Zealand *1 gives following numbers:
There are some that come up with 3 categories instead *2, but anyway, the majority of people is interested in cycling, but has a limited tolerance for risk taking.<1%7%60%33%
Riding the bicycle from Birkenhead to Takapuna
A while ago I filmed my ride from Birkenhead to Takapuna. You can do this ride mostly on quiet streets. Mostly, but not entirely.
Cycling Hill Misery Index
A few years ago I moved from Milford to Birkdale, and I have always felt that in Milford I could easily get around on a bicycle, whereas in Birkdale an acoustic bicycle is pretty much useless. It is really hilly.
So here I introduce the Bicycling Hill Misery Index, an estimate of how annoying hills are. A value of 0.0 means flat as a pancake. 1.0 means an area is so hilly that it doubles the effort required to go the same distance. By looking at the slopes of streets, we can put this on a map.
Some thoughts on using the Kaiser Baas X600
A while ago I got this action camera. It is relatively cheap, but waterproof so I can use it in the rain.
With cheap electronics things can go two ways. Often the quality is a bit sub-par, but it otherwise works well enough to get the job done. But sometimes it is just too cheap and nasty and you’ll have to go back to the shop for something better.
Kaiser Baas definitely sits in this category. It is not super cheap, but it is way cheaper than a GoPro. What did we get?
Are hills more difficult than flat terrain for cyclists?
Every couple of months I come across some article or video saying that ‘no, hills aren’t harder than the flat’.
Said no cyclist ever.
Let’s imagine some guy called Daniel *1, Danny for friends. He is riding his bicycle to his local café, 3 km up the road. He can go two ways. One way is a bit shorter but it goes over a hill with a big 5% climb. Can you guess which way he is going to go?