Norm may not of ridden a bike for 45 years, he kinda looks like a dyed in the wool MBTC/Audax rider. 
On ya Norm!
*******
Two-wheeled remedy for urban headaches. August 15, 2006
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national...urban-headaches/2006/08/14/1155407741526.html
Pedal to the mettle … Wollondilly councillor Norman Jew has become a vigorous campaigner for cycle paths since getting back in the saddle.
Photo: Brendan Esposito
Latest related coverage
* More fat people in world than there are starving, study finds
* Part two: Living ourselves to death
* Multimedia: Our cities are killing us
NORMAN JEW had not ridden a bike for about 45 years, but when he took a fancy to a woman who was an avid cyclist he took to the saddle as well.
The romance with the woman did not blossom, but Mr Jew's love of cycling was so strongly rekindled that he is now a crusader for off-road bike and pedestrian pathways in suburbs across Australia.
"I was 62 and feeling it," Mr Jew said of the time he got back on his bike. "I bought a $250 second-hand bike [and] the freedom and the enjoyment of it all came back … I really felt 10 to 15 years younger."
The Picton resident was elected to Wollondilly Shire Council in 2004, largely on his shared-pathway platform. His zeal has convinced two fellow councillors to buy bikes, and construction will begin this month on a pathway through Appin.
Mr Jew has also taken motions to local government conferences calling for off-road pathways - at least two metres wide with safety zones in the middle of road crossings for cyclists - to be mandatory in all new developments.
"I have probably taken on more than I should have but I'm now 68," he said. "It's a matter of how much longer have I got to do all these things?"
Australians' over-reliance on the car and the subsequent lack of "active transport" - walking and cycling - is a large factor in the obesity epidemic.
John Pucher, an American professor of planning who has spent the past year with the University of Sydney's institute of transport and logistics studies, is working with Australian and Canadian academics on a three-country comparison of transport systems and their impact on people's travel behaviour and health.
What he has observed here comes as no comfort: he thinks Australia is as bad as the US when it comes to urban design and lack of physical activity.
"Australians are so sports crazy; they are just nuts about sports," Professor Pucher said. "But there's something we have in common: there seems to be a lot of armchair sports fans … they are not getting any physical activity while they do it."
He advocates solutions that encourage cycling and walking, including a huge expansion of bike lanes, priority signals for bikes at intersections, improved pedestrian crossings, more car-free zones and reduced speed limits in busy pedestrian areas.
Chloe Mason, a visiting fellow at the University of Technology, Sydney, and a sustainable-transport consultant, works with companies to develop transport access guides - maps on business cards or brochures that explain how to get to places by public transport, walking or cycling.
Canterbury City Council, for example, improved the route from local train stations to Canterbury Hospital when she created an access guide for it.
"With the cycling movement, the challenge is to get people to do it more for a purpose than for recreation," Dr Mason said.
The City of Sydney Council's new cycle plan, which includes 20 new cycle routes through the CBD and bike parking stations incorporating showers and change rooms, recognises that fear is one of the biggest deterrents to would-be Sydney cyclists.
But research shows that the more people ride, the safer the roads become for all cyclists.
One study found the ACT, Queensland and Western Australia, which have the highest per capita distances travelled by bike, were safest for cycling. NSW, where cycling is least common, was the most dangerous.
On ya Norm!*******
Two-wheeled remedy for urban headaches. August 15, 2006
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national...urban-headaches/2006/08/14/1155407741526.html
Pedal to the mettle … Wollondilly councillor Norman Jew has become a vigorous campaigner for cycle paths since getting back in the saddle.
Photo: Brendan Esposito
Latest related coverage
* More fat people in world than there are starving, study finds
* Part two: Living ourselves to death
* Multimedia: Our cities are killing us
NORMAN JEW had not ridden a bike for about 45 years, but when he took a fancy to a woman who was an avid cyclist he took to the saddle as well.
The romance with the woman did not blossom, but Mr Jew's love of cycling was so strongly rekindled that he is now a crusader for off-road bike and pedestrian pathways in suburbs across Australia.
"I was 62 and feeling it," Mr Jew said of the time he got back on his bike. "I bought a $250 second-hand bike [and] the freedom and the enjoyment of it all came back … I really felt 10 to 15 years younger."
The Picton resident was elected to Wollondilly Shire Council in 2004, largely on his shared-pathway platform. His zeal has convinced two fellow councillors to buy bikes, and construction will begin this month on a pathway through Appin.
Mr Jew has also taken motions to local government conferences calling for off-road pathways - at least two metres wide with safety zones in the middle of road crossings for cyclists - to be mandatory in all new developments.
"I have probably taken on more than I should have but I'm now 68," he said. "It's a matter of how much longer have I got to do all these things?"
Australians' over-reliance on the car and the subsequent lack of "active transport" - walking and cycling - is a large factor in the obesity epidemic.
John Pucher, an American professor of planning who has spent the past year with the University of Sydney's institute of transport and logistics studies, is working with Australian and Canadian academics on a three-country comparison of transport systems and their impact on people's travel behaviour and health.
What he has observed here comes as no comfort: he thinks Australia is as bad as the US when it comes to urban design and lack of physical activity.
"Australians are so sports crazy; they are just nuts about sports," Professor Pucher said. "But there's something we have in common: there seems to be a lot of armchair sports fans … they are not getting any physical activity while they do it."
He advocates solutions that encourage cycling and walking, including a huge expansion of bike lanes, priority signals for bikes at intersections, improved pedestrian crossings, more car-free zones and reduced speed limits in busy pedestrian areas.
Chloe Mason, a visiting fellow at the University of Technology, Sydney, and a sustainable-transport consultant, works with companies to develop transport access guides - maps on business cards or brochures that explain how to get to places by public transport, walking or cycling.
Canterbury City Council, for example, improved the route from local train stations to Canterbury Hospital when she created an access guide for it.
"With the cycling movement, the challenge is to get people to do it more for a purpose than for recreation," Dr Mason said.
The City of Sydney Council's new cycle plan, which includes 20 new cycle routes through the CBD and bike parking stations incorporating showers and change rooms, recognises that fear is one of the biggest deterrents to would-be Sydney cyclists.
But research shows that the more people ride, the safer the roads become for all cyclists.
One study found the ACT, Queensland and Western Australia, which have the highest per capita distances travelled by bike, were safest for cycling. NSW, where cycling is least common, was the most dangerous.
