#lovetoride Gold Coast
My urban bicycle adventure – sprinkled with travel to other places – has been active for ten months. Over that time, I’ve pedalled over 2963 kilometres.
Through this blog, I’ve been documenting my personal experiment in bike riding and story-telling. I’ve committed to riding my bicycle as much as possible in everyday life. I’m testing the boundaries of myself – my laziness, discipline, fitness and lifestyle – as well as the boundaries of my city – its infrastructure, culture and lifestyle – for cycling with ease.
My project is about the bicycle as a means of transport, the healthy lifestyle it brings, the money it saves, the simplicity, the freedom and the smaller footprint it leaves on the earth. It’s about where my bicycle takes me and where it doesn’t.
So with my eleventh month starting, I’m so very happy to know that ‘Love to Ride’ is starting on the Gold Coast.
‘Love to Ride’ aims to encourage more people to enjoy cycling more often. An initiative of an organisation called Challenge for Change, it has been implemented by 4700 companies in nine countries.
While I’ve been running my own little experiment with a sample of ONE, the ‘Love to Ride’ program cultivates behaviour change across entire communities. Their ingredients? In their words: “an online platform, local promotion and good ‘ol human interaction”.
‘Love to Ride’ statistics gathered through the online platform show the program’s success:
- On average, 40% of non-cyclists who join ‘Love to Ride’ start cycling weekly, and
- 43% of occasional cyclists increase their cycling to two or more days per week.
The program suits local government authorities who individually or collectively (as in the UK National Cycle Challenge), implement the program in their towns and cities. And thanks to the Gold Coast City Council (GCCC), my city is now one of them. In the month of October, GCCC launches Love to Ride Gold Coast!
Love to Ride Gold Coast pedals into action from 1st October to 31st October 2015.
So what does this mean for me and my experiment?
Well I’m very excited about it. I’ve registered for ‘Love to Ride’ so I can connect within the online community of bicycle riders and record my rides in the ‘Love to Ride’ online platform (which can provide vital data for planning bicycle infrastructure).
I’m also keen to see where this October focus leads me. Will it open new doors so I can encourage others to pedal more often? Will it open my eyes to other changes I can make?
So, let’s see where it goes…
If you live on the Gold Coast or know someone who does, it’s a simple process to get involved:
- Register on the Love to Ride Gold Coast website (it’s free)
- Ride your bike for 10 minutes or more, as often as you can.
- Encourage other people to join you.
- Oh and there are prizes too! 🙂
a bike for all seasons 
Well done Gail Rehbein you are a worthy Patron of The Cyber Riders Club.
Current membership of The Cyber Riders Club
•PATRON GAIL REHBEIN
•Life Member Kylie Minogue (Past Patron)
•Harry Handlebar member no 1
•Daisy Chain member no 2
•Tim Tyre member no 3
•Court Racing member no 4
•Northern Bell member no 5
•Anna Spanner member no 6
•Dennis Downhill member no 7
•Pat Puncture member no 8
•Ian Innatube member no 9
•Bruced Balls member no 10
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Thanks Sean (aka Harry Handlebar) 🙂
It’s been nine months since you told me I was Replacing Kylie as Patron (http://wp.me/p5lZGE-53). The time has flown and the kilometres clicked over.
I’m so pleased you and the other members of The Cyber Riders Club are happy with the work I’m doing. It’s an honour. They were rather high heels to follow 😉
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I better start peddling. 2963 kms- quite an achievement, Gail!
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Hey there Gina. I was quite surprised too after adding them up! 🙂
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My goodness! Such an impressive number of klms covered. And what a great initiative Love To Ride Gold Coast is, although I think you already had the jump on them. Your project has me noticing more and more people taking to the pedals. Maybe that will translate to more and more cycling friendly initiatives.
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The kilometre tally impressed me too! 😊 It’s quite amazing how small trips add up. There are some longer journeys too but the bulk is riding to the beach, shopping, meeting friends for coffee – all everyday things, just done on a bike 🚲💨
I’m glad to know you’ve noticed more people on bikes Unfurling – I thought it was just my confirmation bias 😂
Thanks for writing ✏️
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What a great program and thanks very much, Gail, for all that you’ve done to help promote bike riding as an alternative means of travelling! I’m looking forward to seeing where this leads in the future. 🙂
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Thanks for your kind words Jane 🙂
It’s fantastic to see the Love to Ride program raising awareness to a broader audience. It makes me very happy and I’m hopeful it will promote some lasting change in the community.
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Wow! Has it been more than 10 months already. Seems like only yesterday I stumbled onto your blog.
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I know, I can’t believe it either Andrew. The weeks and months have passed more quickly than I’d imagined they would. At the beginning of December in 2014, completing a year of cycling seemed like an ‘age’ away 🙂
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What will you do next? Any plans? Or just continue the cycling mission?
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Good questions 🙂 …no plans in place. I’ll see what unfolds this month and next…
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