Watch out! You’ve been warned. There’s a new gang in town. We all wear flouro. We are fast. We are cool. We don’t chafe.
Our leader is ‘Dan Ackroyd’, who likes to lead from the front, though he wishes to only to be known by his mysterious alias. ‘Dan’ powers along in his super high visibility jacket, he shows the way for our office-worker-based gang as we all cycle home.
There are usually at least four of us: Dan, Kate, Simon and Shane, though in the summer our following multiplies.
‘Dan’ says:
“I must say, biking in a group has its advantages, not only can you have a chat to your mates about how much your boss rocks, how cool your job is (no seriously, I’m not trying to suck up to anyone), especially on side streets which don’t have much traffic!!! But you are also far more visible in a pack than you are on your own. Even at the busiest time of the day, people will see your biking posse control their patch of the street. In all seriousness though, whilst I’ve had a few close calls from cars not seeing me biking by myself, I’ve never had a problem biking in a group.
As for biking in general, I took up biking to work over two years ago when I moved to Havelock, and have never looked back. Now that I live in Parkvale, I find it takes pretty much the same time as driving during peak hour. The best thing about it is you get to work in the morning awake and refreshed. Sometimes I don’t think we utilize the great attributes of Hawkes Bay enough, we have great weather, and everywhere is flat!!! This is perfect for people of all ages and ability to get out in the fresh air and onto a bike, hardly anywhere in New Zealand do people have it as good as us.”
Kate says:
“I am probably not the most consistent cyclist of ‘the gang’, however I have to say that I have cycled to work often enough now to feel quite guilty when I drive! I always feel better having cycled in the morning – it wakes me up and there is never a hastle defrosting the car. Cycling home there’s always great company and it’s great to see the looks on some people’s faces when they see the flouro gang cycling past! I think it’s great that Hastings District Council are making cycling safer in Hastings, the new cycle lanes are great. Yes we wear fluoro. Yes we are fast. And yes we are very cool.”
Shane says:
''I bike to work pretty much every day now, rain or shine, and I used to come to work by car. I find being 2kms from work its actually slightly quicker going by bike and I don’t have to search for a car park and can conveniently park my bike at work. This gives me a very enjoyable start and finish to my day, and as I work in an office, getting a bit of air and getting the blood pumping make me feel good. The new bike lane on St Aubyn Street is real handy and cars are very good at giving me space on there, I even get the occasional smile from those nice patient drivers you sometimes find at roundabouts (its true they are out there!)
I think the Iway initiative is great for Hastings, Havelock and Flaxmere, and as my kids grow up will be pleased to see them being able to make good use of cycle paths and walking routes. It’s funny how in New Zealand most of us associate the best places we like to be as our great outdoor landscapes, whereas if you are lucky enough to visit Europe it is often the cities that are the best places to be – Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Prague, Budapest etc etc. the thing is those places are designed for people first. It is great to see that Hastings is gradually turning round to focus on its people first and not cars and to make our city a good place for us to be. Better cycling and walking facilities all add to this.''
Simon says:
“Put your hands on your head”
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