Le Tour de France

July = Le Tour

Antelope Wells 19 Days 5 Hours & 2 Minutes!

Simon has done it: biked from Canada to Mexico. Inspiring stuff.

9-point plan for safer cycling

For many Kiwis the distressing deaths of two cyclists in the Wellington region on 19 June have highlighted the need for New Zealand's roads to be made safer for people already cycling or wanting to take it up.

There are Government strategies and programmes to promote cycling and cycle safety, but we haven't seen many changes on the street yet.

The Cycling Advocates' Network (CAN) is running a campaign to get its 9-Point Plan for Cycle Safety adopted by the Government.

Sign the e-petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/NZCycleSafety/

Visit http://www.can.org.nz for more information about the campaign.

Contact: CAN, 04-972 2552, campaigns@can.org.nz

We want to see national and local government do the following things in the next two years:

• Run a national Share the Road promotional campaign telling motorists and cyclists how to co-exist safely on the roads.
• Change transport planning and funding processes to make sure key problem areas or gaps for cyclists (e.g. Ngauranga to Petone cycleway, Auckland Harbour Bridge) get fixed - no more long delays or buck-passing between various organisations.
• Spend less on road building and more on encouraging alternatives to driving - more motor vehicles on our roads only make things less safe and attractive for cycling.
• Promote the use of lower speed zones (particularly 30km/h).
• Change the tolerance for motor vehicle speed limit enforcement from 10km/h to a maximum of ten per cent of the posted speed limit.
• Increase the walking and cycling budget in the National Land Transport Programme by a factor of five.
• Change funding and audit processes to make sure that all roading projects improve the environment for cycling.
• Change the driver licensing system and driver instruction (including bus and truck drivers) so motorists are educated about how to take care around cyclists.
• Fund and promote nationwide roll-out of cycle skills training for children and adults.

Team Megatron rules

Brooklyn Cornerstore Pub quiz champions 2008!

As champions we got to say which charity should get the door takings: Doctors without Borders.

The final chapter

After ten weeks of catching up with friends, making some new friends, travelling with family, exploring new corners of Europe by foot, bike, car, ferry, bus, train and plane, I am back in Wellington.
About those planes - Simon took me out to Makara Peak this afternoon to put some trees in the ground. I'm not claiming it offsets profligate carbon emissions, but in lots of ways I'm trying to do my bit.

Some highlights:

• bike school in London
  
• that first fresh peach
• Bjork in concert
  
• sunset on the Mediterranean
• swimming in Swiss lakes
• staying in a grass-roofed trekkershut in Delft
• the 2 cent ferry near Delft
  
• meeting Corsican cousins and seeing wild boar
  
• walking in the Alps
• sweet Swiss bike trails
  
• scoffing icecream with a knife and fork with my sister
• cheap beer and good chocolate
• finding a sought-after retro cycle cap in Belgium
  
• Dutch cargo bikes
• generosity from friends and strangers
  

Lowlights:

• getting rained out of my tent at midnight in Somerset
• discovering I'm not a cycling god on the merciless slopes of Alpe d'Huez
• roaming phone bills
  
• Heathrow
  

Mintie moments:

• mixing up my laundry with little Patrick's and travelling with undies many sizes too small
• polite Dutch cops when you bike on the motorway
• Corsican geezer who hadn't heard of Nouvelle Zelande, l'Australie, and possibly the southern hemisphere
  

Thanks for all the feedback. See you next time!

Chasing ancestors

Corsicans built villages high above the sea to escape raids by Genoese, Berber pirates, Romans, and anyone else sailing by.

Here's Olgiastro, near the village from where my ancestor migrated to Wanganui 150 years ago.

Why did he leave? What was it like back then? What would growing up in Corsica be like?

Corsica, the scented isle

Ok, now we,re up to date.

Spent the night snoozing on the ferry from Marseille, now I,m hiding from the heat in Corte,s cybercafe.

Corsica was home to an ancestor, so here I am checking the place out, one cool mountain river at a time.

Stinking hot outside. 70 km beckons.

Recent pleasures: fresh peaches, tomatoes, sunset over the Med, sleeping under the stars.

Only 2 weeks left. Every day counts.

Thanks Malcolm for the great guidebook _ wish you were here.