As we approach the end of 2021 – a year that will be remembered for its challenges – BQ has shown such incredible resilience in managing the difficulties and confusion brought about by the pandemic. I wish to acknowledge the great work done by the BQ team to service members and drive our agenda on active travel, cycle tourism, road safety and the environment.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to our members and valued volunteers for your ongoing support and engagement during 2021.
The BQ team will enjoy a well-earned break between December 21 and January 10 and return in 2022 focused on delivering key projects and how we best achieve our vision of more people riding more often. I want you to know that BQ will continue to do its part in making Queensland a great place to ride a bike, and we won’t stop looking for new opportunities to improve road safety.
I wish everyone who is part of the Bicycle Queensland community a peaceful, safe and happy festive season. As always to you, your families and loved ones, stay safe in these unique times and remember to find time to ride your bike.
If you need any tips to get through your summer of riding, check out our resources below.
It has been lovely to engage with many of you via social media, phone, video calls and more recently the Brisbane to Gold Coast Cycle Challenge. The easing of restrictions is providing more opportunities to meet with members and stakeholders in person which is wonderful. Our recent trip to Mackay for the Annual Local Government Authority conference is a great example of this. From our discussions with councillors at the conference, our campaigning on the role cycling plays in connecting communities and building a robust adventure tourism industry is being heard.
The diverse array of projects the BQ team will be delivering in 2022 will reinforce our strategic approach to position cycling high on the Government’s health, social, planning, tourism, and transport agendas. Whilst there is still much to do, we continue to work hard to achieve our mission of getting more people riding more often. To ensure we can continue to provide a comprehensive membership, we’ll be increasing the cost of our membership categories from 1st January 2022.
Type
Monthly
Annually
Individual
$11.99
$129
Household of 2
$14.99
$165
Household of 3+
$16.99
$189
Individual Concession
$8.99
$95
BQ Supporter (excludes insurance)
$5.00
$47
This increase will ensure you still retain the best value for money cycling membership in Australia. You will also retain the same level of insurance, which is the best insurance product available. I thought it was important to share with you what this increase will also allow us to do:
Invest in and develop new staff to increase our advocacy efforts on behalf of our members
Engage town planners and policy makers to support BQ infrastructure campaigns
Create new education resources for members to increase members skills and knowledge
Develop our Commuter Harmony Alliance stakeholder map and campaigning
Invest in new digital platforms to work strategically with regional and metropolitan Bicycle User Groups
Develop new events in partnership with like-minded organisations to reach and service members outside southeast Queensland
Develop and invest in new digital tools to improve communication and the membership process
Continue to build our school-based education program to achieve our long-term goal of more Queensland children “actively’ travelling to school
Assist us to meet the rising cost of insurance and operational expenses
This increase will enable us to continue to provide the quality and breadth of services you love and expect from us. If you have any questions about the price increase or membership packages, don’t hesitate to contact myself or our membership team.
COP26: More than 250 civil society organisations sign open letter calling on governments to boost global cycling levels to reach climate goals quickly and effectively
An open letter by the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) and a global coalition of pro-cycling organisations urging governments to cut transport emissions by investing in cycling has seen a surge in support from all over the world.
Since it was published on 2 November, over 190 civil society organisations have added their signature to the letter, which now counts more than 250 signatories from all over the world, including ECF, Greenpeace and Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The letter calls on governments at COP26 to commit to significantly increasing the number of people who cycle in their countries in order to reach climate goals quickly and effectively.
As the global pro-cycling movement continues to grow ahead of COP26 Transport Day (10 November), which is set to focus almost exclusively on the electrification of road vehicles, governments and transport ministers will be under pressure to take cycling into account when negotiating climate commitments related to the transport sector.
Today, transportation is responsible for 24% of direct CO₂ emissions from fuel combustion, with the vast majority coming from cars, and these numbers are not decreasing. With global temperaturs rising fast, humanity cannot afford to wait decades for fossil-fuel cars to be fully phased out and replaced by electric vehicles. To quickly cut transport emissions on a massive scale and keep 1.5°C alive, governments need to invest in much more cycling now.
ECF and its allies believe cycling represents one of humanity’s greatest hopes for a shift towards a zero-carbon future. Cycling produces zero emissions, delivers far-reaching positive societal impacts and relies on technology that is already widely available today.
The more than 250 signatories to the open letter call on governments and transport ministers attending COP26 to declare commitments to significantly boost cycling levels at home and collectively commit to achieving a global target of higher cycling levels. The letter was sent to governments ahead of COP26.
Bicycle Queensland is in full support of this movement. More people cycling more often is our goal and a global movement to get more people on bikes is incredibly important.
Jill Warren, CEO of the European Cyclists’ Federation: “The dramatic growth of this global civil society movement in only a few days sends a forceful message to governments at COP26 about the importance of active mobility. There is no conceivable way to reduce CO₂ emissions quickly enough to avoid the worst of the climate crisis without significantly more cycling.”
Henk Swarttouw, President of the European Cyclists’ Federation: “More people riding bicycles will reduce our transport emissions and help save our planet. It will also stimulate our green economic recovery after COVID-19 and relieve our overburdened public health systems. Investing in cycling is a low-cost, low-tech no-brainer. It is what any sensible political leader should be doing right now.”
Ollie and Scott at Brisbane to Gold Coast Cycle Challenge
As the dust settles from a fantastic Downer Brisbane to Gold Coast Cycle Challenge, we reflect on some of the incredible stories of the event and the opportunities bike riding brings to people’s lives.
Ollie and his Father Scott took on the 100km challenge this year and completed it like true champions. Ollie, 14, faces more challenges than most when getting on the bike, he is legally blind and was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma (cancer of the eye) at birth. He has spent his fair share of time in hospital fighting his battle, but that has never stopped him from getting back on the bike.
The B2GC event was a massive day for Ollie, completing his longest ride with the added challenge of another 4,300 plus riders in the mix. Scott and Ollie found their rhythm pretty quickly and were on their way to the Gold Coast at a very nice pace. Like normal, Ollie followed Dad’s wheel into rest stop 1 with barely a sweat on, a croissant, mandarin and the boys were back on the bike.
The duo found themselves helping a few other riders along the way by taking the wind in a little pace line that had formed behind them. A quick check-in from Dad received a cheeky “you can go faster if you want”. The pair rolled into the Coomera rest stop in good shape, a quick bite to eat and they were on the home stretch for Ollie’s biggest ride.
Strongly turning the wheels through the last few kilometres of the course, Ollie and Scott hit the finish line just past 9.30 am. Ollie’s Mum had planned to meet her boys at 11.30 am to see them cross the line in Southport. However, Ollie smashed all expectations and was simply too quick for Mum on this occasion.
Scott let us know how proud Ollie was of what he had just achieved, a very impressive milestone to add to his collection. A 100km ride is an incredible achievement for any rider, but to think young 14-year Ollie with Retinoblastoma breezed through this event goes to show no matter what life throws at you, anything is possible!
Thank you to Scott for sending in this wonderful story, we are thrilled to see the happiness bike riding brings to peoples lives and we can’t wait to have Ollie and Scott involved next year.
Scott and Ollie at B2GC finish line festival in Southport
Please note extended changes to the temporary closures of Victoria Park pedestrian and cycle path. The UNITY Alliance has notified Bicycle Queensland the following statement:
The UNITY Alliance wishes to advise cyclists and pedestrians that intermittent off-peak closures of the Victoria Park shared user path behind Brisbane Girls Grammar School will be undertaken until late August 2020.
These intermittent closures will be implemented outside morning and afternoon peak periods between 9:00am and 4:00pm between Monday and Saturday.
Early works to investigate ground conditions are in sections adjacent to the Bicentennial Bikeway, which may require some temporary reductions in width, however bikeway access will be maintained at all times.
What to expect
The bikeway will remain open, with the width reduced in some areas while works are underway. Works will include:
– A drill rig and support vehicles
– Temporary fencing around the exclusion area
– Workers in the exclusion area undertaking drilling and test pit works
On Friday 8 May, the State Government released QLD’s Roadmap to Easing COVID-19 restrictions. The roadmap outlined a staged approach to giving Queenslanders more freedom to travel, participate in more activities and hold more gatherings. While we welcome this plan and are focused on doing our part to get to Stage 3 as fast as possible, there is still a lot of uncertainty around mass participation events, gatherings of greater than 100 and any future easing of restrictions.
We have therefore made the decision to cancel our planned mass participation rides for the rest of 2020. This includes the Yarraman to Wulkuraka Rail Trail Adventure, Brisbane to Gold Coast Cycle Challenge and the Big Beach Ride.
It has not been an easy decision and we know there will be a lot of disappointed cyclists out there, none more than us, but the health and wellbeing of every Australian must come first.
It is not all bad news though as we have been working hard to find ways to reach all Queensland cyclists over the past few months. We have an exciting new online challenge launching soon called Pedal Queensland – Ride for Rewards! We’re partnering with some amazing like-minded organisations to bring you great discounts, awesome prizes and educational content that will make you wonder how you lived without it.
We’ve also partnered with Orange Sky Laundry for the event, helping them continue the amazing work they do across Queensland supporting people experiencing homelessness.
Keep an eye out for Pedal Queensland – Ride for Rewards – coming to your local roads & trails in August.
We’ve also been busy working with key partners to redesign some great BQ initiatives and help everyone out on their bike as soon as we can. We’ll have our bike maintenance workshops up and running again soon for BQ members, we’ll be out in the parks and around shared paths with eBike test rides, you’ll see us in pop-ups across the South East with an education focus and helping break down some of the barriers to getting more women cycling.
And regional Queensland, we are working on plans to get to you in 2021 with some great new initiatives, activations and events.
As for our mass rides – we are changing things up a little in 2021 also with new dates, new events and a promise that there will be something for everyone at every event Bicycle Queensland offers.
A few positives to take from all this is the new found love of cycling and physical activity outdoors by thousands of Queenslanders. We want to give them a reason to keep cycling for years to come and encourage more people to experience the natural highs from conquering a challenge on two wheels. We can’t wait to see you all back out at a BQ event in 2021 but hope to see many of you out and about every day on your bike.
Keep an eye out for Pedal Queensland soon if you love riding, great rewards, awesome prizes and the power of knowledge.
