cooks river (sydney) cycleway?

I heard that they were considering banning bikes off the shared path that runs along Cooks river because of the complaints they were getting from pedestrians

Is this true?

This would be a great loss to recreational cyclists. It is flat, user friendly and apart from the stoopid peds who walk 4 across and various pets, it is great path for begineers.

Can anyone enlighten me? I was planning to take a few friends on it on Anzac Day

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Rob

www.bikenorth.org.au

'07 Giant OCR Composite 3 - R550s with Michi Prorace2

'06 Giant CRX1

'96 Apollo Himalaya commuter - Rigid Fork, slicks, fully racked

DMR Switchback Reynolds 520- Velocity Cliffhangers, SRAM X-9, Easton bar/stem


DMR Trailstar 2 4130- Mavic117, Dice Whiplash, SCUD DH bars, LX 9spd, DMR Crisis Cranks.

'04 Giant VT3 frame - SOLD

No idea about that.

Personally I loathe shared pathways for the very reason that you have to dodge deaf pedestrians, small dogs and unrestrained children. They are the worst place to take a beginner because you really need to be on the ball to survive the mobile obstacle course, unless you go very early in the morning when the idiots are still in bed.

i understand where you are coming from, but losing this cycleway means losing a crucial link to the south

shared pathways can be made more effective by splitting pedestrians and cyclist or widening the path. my experience is this path is nowhere near as bad as bicentenial park on a weekend

__________________
Rob

www.bikenorth.org.au

'07 Giant OCR Composite 3 - R550s with Michi Prorace2

'06 Giant CRX1

'96 Apollo Himalaya commuter - Rigid Fork, slicks, fully racked

DMR Switchback Reynolds 520- Velocity Cliffhangers, SRAM X-9, Easton bar/stem


DMR Trailstar 2 4130- Mavic117, Dice Whiplash, SCUD DH bars, LX 9spd, DMR Crisis Cranks.

'04 Giant VT3 frame - SOLD

That path was origionally built for cycling purposes.

The split paths at iron cove bay don't work, the pedrestrians are evenly spread between the predestrain only path and the bicycle only path.

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Training Log

That has certainly been my experience - its particularly bad at Parramatta park.

Even though paths may be marked separately as bicycle/pedestrian, walkers will still insist on using cycle path to walk.

n

Cook River Cycleway is such an important infrastructure for cyclists that I doubt that it can be overturned.

I guess another way to look at the divided path issue is that some cyclists prefer to ride on pedestrian path on regular roads. The only way out is through education and some accommodation by both parties.

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

Education is key. I ride the Cooks River cycle path regularly and have been abused by pedestrians for cycling on the path. Apart from more signs saying its a shared path, the councils should paint cycling signs on the paths. I emailed Marrickville Council suggesting more signs and asking for better education (pedestrians walking on the right hand side of the path is a huge problem) and received no reply at all.

Try acting through MassBug as well as through personal letters.

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

Go and visit the council and express that you feel that safety could be improved with increased signage. Be polite.

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Training Log

I would not be too worried.

It would be like banning ducks from swimming. Stupid and unenforcable. Besides, it runs through many councils (Strathfield, Burwood, Canterbury, Marrickville and others) - imagine them all actually agreeing on something.

Scotty

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www.bikenorth.org.au

2006 Scott Speedstar S10

Thats sad. I ride on bike paths a lot in Canberra, and sometimes I get abused for "scaring" pedestrians simply because I warn them of my presence by saying "Bike right/left". Hmm ... would they rather I run them down?

I have ridden on Cooks River cycle path, and it would be a shame to legally ban cyclists from this path.

Riding on shared paths does mean watching out for the pedestrians, children, prams, kiddies on bikes ... so its not really a place for high speed training. I slow down almost to a crawl when I see kids, I'd just hate to crash into them and hurt them.

That is sad.But an insane friend and I ride the cooks river at midnight.Mostly to have coffee at the coffee house that gets your order wrong(another story).

As for people using the paths to walk etc they are thick, we have bells and we ring them whislt coming along they stop glare and do not move.

In fact BARRY WHITE moved more in he's concerts !
Damn right.

Ah yes the fridge magnets are in stock !

This is a furfy.
My brother-in-law sits on one of the committee's for the earlwood section of the cooks river and hasn't heard of this.
I avoid the path most of the time, but it does come in handy when riding home from my sisters after to much to drink. It's amazing how narrow the path gets at the squeeze point under Canterbury road after to much Kalima Shiraz.

So what coffee shop is open at midnight?? sounds like a great idea

Cheers

Geoff

Hi Geoff,

The coffee shop that is open at midnight is called Corelli's at newtown.
We are doing a ride tonight.
West ryde to meadowbank - homebush-cooks river- tempe- coffee shop and back.
I imagine it to be icy cold.

That would be the classic startle response. When frightened by something you tend to tense up and freeze and focus on the threat.

Most commonly seen in motor accidents where on a straight road with a single tree and clear scrub or paddocks for hundreds of metres either side, the tree tends to attact the most horrendous crashes.

Also seen in mountain biking when you see a big rock on the trail that you don't want to hit...