No 54, September 2007 Contents The Great Bike North Survey The Great Bike North Survey 1 It's time again for you, the members of Bike North, to think about the directions which our City of Sydney Spring Cycle 1 BUG should be taking during the next few years, and to have your say about Bike North 2007 and its work. African Queen 2 For those of you who still receive this in hard copy, the survey will be in the envelope with BNSW: Gear Up Girl 3 this edition of Chain Mail. For everyone else the survey is online and will take you just a From the President's desk 4 few minutes to complete. Which rides will suit me? 4 It's very important for the Executive to know what you want Bike North to be doing in cycling advocacy, cycling promotion, training, our rides programme, the web site etc. It Postcard from Paris 6 also allows us to undertand just who Bike North is representing when we put lodge New Rides and Leaders 6 submissions with various government and corporate groups in the pursuit of a better deal Vietnam Tour 2008 6 for all cyclists in Sydney. Our Favourite Rides: Cowan – 7 Calga Get your ONLINE Survey here! Vale Geoff Shearn 8 Bike North Executive: The Year 9 Ahead City of Sydney Spring Cycle 2007 Rides Programme Trends: Bike North is once again entering a team in the Spring Cycle to be held on Sunday 21 10 Growth & Diversity October. Calendar There are 3 official start sites: Other Editions St Leonards Park, North Sydney - 50/40km Brays Bay Reserve, Rhodes - 20/10km Editor: Jennifer Gilmore Victoria St, Bicentennial Park - 15/5km Production: Keith Griffin Why are there two distances indicated? Once you enter the Olympic Park you have the option to continue riding or take a 10km short cut and finish. The views expressed in Chain Mail articles are Registration is now open on-line. Our team name is Bike North and the pin to enter those of the authors only and do not necessarily represent either the common the team is 14352. views shared by a majority of Bike North Prices: On-line entry $35 adult BNSW member, $45 non member, child $25, family $100 members, or Bike North policy as formulated by the Bike North Executive Committee. member, family $120 non member. For paper entries add $5. Next Page Choose an article No 54, September 2007 With land and property a Maasai man can have up to four African Queen wives. A few wealthy men have black Chinese or Indian- made bikes. They look hilarious as they pedal the dusty by Dave Mitchell tracks between villages, with spears strapped to the top tube and their mates perched on the carrier. John told us that he "It's not the things you do in life that you come to regret but had previously sold Mandy for thirty cows, but the deal was the things you don't". So when John Etherington invited me annulled when it was discovered she was no longer a on one of his trips through East Africa I had to say "yes". teenager. Now, I'm genetically reticent about commercial gigs, but was seduced by the promo... and the reality that I will probably We head for the never cycle Africa under my own steam. John's route follows mountains, and the back roads and trails over sixteen days, from Nairobi in eventually roll Kenya through Tanzania to Dar es Salaam. Apart from the across the Economist's ramblings and the occasional wildlife skit, I am border into blissfully ignorant of Africa and eager to make amends. Tanzania. Green backs validate our visas. Before dawn we're off to the Ngorongoro crater, climbing through lush green rain forest into the mist shrouded tops. Descending the crater we emerge from the mist to discover a lost world. A From Nairobi we ride to Amboseli National Park. Giraffe, soda lake of pink flamingos lies to the west. Zebra and zebra and gazelle cruise across our path. A support vehicle wildebeest cruise the crater. A herd of hyena eye some named Turtle carries our camping kit. It's like a Swiss Army hippos moving from one mud hole to the next. Time slows as knife with a foldout kitchen, slide-out pantry, pop-up roof tent a cheetah stalks a gazelle. She accelerates and turns it and hidden attachments too numerous to name. John was a before tripping it up. Her three cubs assist with the final kill. motor mechanic in a past life - a handy skill on these remote To complete the show, we spot a couple of rhino in the trips. His sidekick Mandy is in charge of food, while a distance as we prepare to leave. Maasai dude named Nash drives the Turtle. Lucy from London, Lynda and Glenn from Canada and myself complete Continuing south we hit the Maasai Steppe. Baobab trees the rogues' gallery. with their oversize trunks and leafless branches dominate the savannah. They look like they have been uprooted and At the edge of the Amboseli we swap our bikes for the planted upside down. We travel beside a railway that security of the Turtle. It's safari time. Herds of zebra, services the sisal industry. Disused water tanks and filler wildebeest and elephant trundle around beneath the omni- nozzles remain, not used since steam trains plied the route. present Mount Kilimanjaro. Hippos wallow in the muddy The sisal industry almost folded with the advent of synthetics water. As we make camp for the night, Kili' shakes off its but is now thriving with the renaissance of natural fibres. Our cloud layer and the moon rises over its snowy slopes. camp on the Pangani River offers a hot shower and stunning Magic! Leaving the park we ride along the cracked surface sunset while monkeys jump between treetops. Crocs lurk of the dry Lake Amboseli. Far ahead, a mirage of water unseen in the river. evaporates as we approach. At the edge of the lake, giraffe glide towards the mountains – their bodies shimmering and Leaving the plains, we climb to the Usambara Mountains and heads bobbing above the heat haze. Behind us the sunset the town of Lushoto. Grand old German colonial homes look plays on Kilimanjaro's snow capped summit, below the out of place amidst the humble local dwellings. We huddle villagers herd their cattle and goats into thorn bush corrals around the campfire that night as the temperature plummets. for the evening. Previous Page Next Page Page 2 Choose an article No 54, September 2007 The next day we ride single-track between the villages. You can imagine the din once the first cup of coffee kicked Navigation is confusing but John manages to track down a in, with everyone meeting and getting to know one another. Benedictine Monastery. The Fathers have been farming here At my table there was a very broad mix: from two young for over half a century – showing the locals how to produce girls (approx 11 and 13) with their Mum, a twenty-something high-value crops instead of just maize. We leave loaded with who uses her brother's hand-me-down bike, a group of 3 bottles of wine, cheese and sacks of nuts. Soon we're more middle-aged TAFE teachers, one of whom had just plummeting down steep 'n' gnarly single-track. Local kids learned to ride within the last 2 months. I was supporting cheer us on – I imagine that it's a World Cup race. Lucy some colleagues who've just got back on the bike after more scores the best winger and the biggest cheer. Miraculously than a 15 year absence. the altar wine survives. After fourteen kilometres of descent The morning's proceedings included lucky-seat prizes, a hot we are delivered to the heat and sweat of the plains. It's time breakfast and two speakers: Caroline Pidcock – Architect, to head for the sea and the historic town of Bagamoyo, once who spoke about her own experiences cycling, both as a a major slave and trading point. Our shady camp beside the commuter and traveller, in London/Europe and Australia. white sandy beach is idyllic. The water is luxuriously warm. Julie Owens – Member for Parramatta, who shared a frank Spotting the fishing boats returning with the day's catch, we and entertaining account of her own introduction to cycling, head to the market to secure dinner. and the joys and dangers she encountered (one such gem We are called to prayer at the nearby mosque at an ungodly being the 'thigh muffin-top' from ill-fitting cycling knicks). hour the next morning. From Bagamoyo, we follow the slave Julie also offered a range of valuable advice, much of which route down the coast to Dar es Salaam and the end of our she'd learned the hard way. journey. It's sad to recall the vast numbers of slaves who We then broke into groups for 2 x workshop sessions. There were marched along this trail and then shipped to Zanzibar were four workshops to choose from: to be sold. A sobering reminder of the real world we are about to rejoin. 'Asante sana' Africa. Training & Nutrition Details / Info: Escape Adventures organises a variety of Practical Skills trips. Check out: www.escapeadv.com Trips are run over the cool, dry season – from June to January. Myths of Mechanics of a Bike African travel abound. Most are unfounded. Large animals Hands-on Advice are awe inspiring and rarely dangerous.