YarraBUG

Val and Faith are joined in the studio this morning by Gayle Ilievski of WeCycle. We all share our bicycle moments before taking a look at news including the Giro d'Italia, Chad Haga's 'oversimplified' summaries of the Giro on twitter and the Melbourne Water pipeworks detour affecting commuters on the Edingburgh Gardens shared path. We also mention the 3CR Community Radio Radiothon coming up in a few weeks. Its not too early to donate and contribute your share, no matter how small, to keeping 3CR and the Yarra BUG Radio Show on the air for another year. If you enjoy listening to the show or sharing your story on the show, please donate now, every little bit helps! Gayle tells us all about WeCycle, based in Batman Park in Darebin, and the community that has built up around it. Set up to provide refurbished unwanted bicycles to refugees and others in the community who need them, WeCycle is now at the heart of a lively community of volounteers sharing their love of bicycles. Everyone is welcome to pop down on Saturdays and join in, or ndeed to buy a cheap and accesible bike for themselves.We finish with an event coming up this Friday in Maribyrnong: Bikes and Beers - a chat about bike infrastructure in Maribyrnong.

On this weeks program Chris and Steve discuss local news and events, including Curve Cycling event, After the IPWR, riding in Toolangi with Aidan and friends from Riding For The Great Forest and plotting further bikepacking adventures with apps such as mapout. Mike Bodsworth chats about challenges facing the Anglesea Bike Park in the wake of Alcoa leaving town and potential future issues from freehold land having possiblity of being rezoned, with a loss or relocation of the bike park. Read more: Change.org Petition: Save Anglesea Bike Park | People of Anglesea | Anglesea Bike Park(facebook) You can join Anglesea Bike Park supporters at 2pm, June 3 to celebrate World Bicycle Day & rally at 80 Camp Road, Anglesea.Radiothon is coming - support us during 3CR Radiothon 2018 you can donate to keep community radio onair and pledge to YarraBUG Radio right hereFor more Melbourne bicycle news and events, follow Yarra Bicycle Users Group on twitter, facebook and our public events calendar.

Val kicks off this week's show with an observation from Lillias Campbell Davidson, early 20th Century advocate and champion of women's cycling. Val and Faith share their bike moments before moving on to recent news including: an update on the Giro d'Italia, stage 9 winners and Froome's performance, Federal and State budgets amd the money NOT being provided for bike infrastructure and transport, and the end of the Thule Bright 24hr MTB race. Val fills us in on Lillias Campbell Davidson and her life and work and a recent undertaking by the New York Times to write the obituaries for significant women that weren't written in the past. We move on to upcoming events including: After the IPWR at Curve Cycling on May 17, volunteer opportunities at WeCycle every Saturday, the annual Commuter Cycles Garage Sale on May 26th and Melburn Roobaix on June 24th.

This week Chris catchs up with Cr Jonathan Sri and discusses unpacking local issues that led to last week's Vulture St cyclist die-in action, including the lack of responsiveness from Brisbane City Council to Woolloongabba residents continual calls for improved infrastructure, background to "die-ins" as advocacy tactic (read Stop de Kindermoord and How Amsterdam became the bicycle capital of the world) and his explanation for recent Brisbane protests: Are Controversial Road Safety Protests Helpful?For more Melbourne bicycle news and events, follow Yarra Bicycle Users Group on twitter, facebook and our public events calendar.

Val and Faith are joined in the studio on this gorgeous autumn morning by Cate Hall of Our Children Our Schools. We kick off the show sharing our bike moments which, this week, feature kangaroos, the You Yangs and Portarlington mussels. We take a look at some news including the upcoming Giro d'Italia, the recent Handmade Bicycle Show, an increase in cyclist deaths in the Netherlands and the commitment of Yarra City Council to the Rushall Reserve Path.Discussion turns to the work of Our Children Our Schools lobbying the state governement for commitments and funding to support active travel to public schools across Victoria. Cate explains the myriad government departments and bodies involved in getting a mechanism and budget in place for this. Cate's recent experience at Coburg High School illustrates how much a committed school and local council's can achieve, but also the neccesity for State Government commitments and funding. You can read OCOS'ssubmission here.

Two interviews on this weeks program, first up Chris catches up with Robert Kretschmer from Bike Bendigo about Project Underpass, their city receiving international accreditation from CycleLifeHQ  as Australia's first Bicycle Friendly Community, and Australian Walking and Cycling Conference and Australia’s inaugural Bicycle Tourism Conference both happening in Bendigo this October.Second interview: Rosa McKenna from Better West spoke live from a #GetOnBoardVic Day of Action event at Wade Noonans electorate office in Williamstown about state governments road building agenda and how West Gate Tunnel will badly affect the inner west for residents.Local news: the recommendation to abandon the Rushall Reserve share path plan within Yarra Councils agenda for 24th April, makes for an intriguing read, including why are Metro Trains Melbourne massively escalating the construction costs within such a short time?

Val and Faith kick off this week's show sharing their respective bike moments; adventures in recent rain and the learning curve associated with vintage road bikes. We cover news items including recent research about drivers and close passing of cyclists and the Amstel Gold road race. We catch up on progress with riders taking part in the ride of the Indian Pacific Wheel Race route and note that almost all riders that intend to finish the route have made it to Sydney Opera House with only a handful still to arrive. Talk turns to a different long distance event, the Hunt 1000, coming up in November. We chat to Huw Vellacott of Commuter Cycles who took part in the 2017 event. Huw talks about the demands of the ride, the challenge for riders and the planning he put in to his 2017 ride. Huw will be hosting a slide night, Beginners Guide to the Hunt 1000 this coming Wednesday, April 18th, at Commuter Cycles in Brunswick. WE finish up with two upcoming events, Short Rides for Newbie Riders in Carlton and Northcote and the Handmade Bicycle Show.

This week, Chris chats to Elise and Kate from Melburn Durt IndyPac Team about their Indian Pacific Wheel Race experiences alongside Liz, Stef and Tess, riding a combined 5500km across Australia, including tales of inspiration, exhaustion, trail angels, dotwatchers and taking on massive personal challenges. You can catch up with two previous Melburn Durt IPWR interviews here:  Post-Indian Pacific Wheelrace: Melburn Durt still going for a ride (12 February 2018)Talking to Melburn Durt: all women Indy Pac relay team (4 December 2017)For more Melbourne bicycle news and events, follow Yarra Bicycle Users Group on twitter, facebook and our public events calendar.

In this episode of the Yarra BUG Radio Show which was pre-recorded for the Easter break, Faith and Val take a look at the history of Critical Mass in Melbourne.Its a personal history with Val sharing his own involvement, and the significance of the movement for him personally. We also touch on the significance for Melbourne itself with several long-term participants going on to help shape planning and implementation of active transport policies in suburbs around Melbourne. Val's highlights between 1996-2010 include cameo appearances from Ken Lay and Andrew Bolt in addition to the hundreds of regular riders Critical Mass enjoyed.

On this weeks show: Chris talks to Carlton Reid, editor at large for BikeBiz UK on emerging problematic issues and if autonomous vehicles are capable of detecting their surrounding environment, ("All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss") in relation to the death of Elaine Herzberg in Tempe, Arizona.Local news includes the *long awaited* opening of the Darebin-Yarra trail connection at Sparks Reserve and #dotwatching self-supported cyclists who are riding the cancelled 2018 Indian Pacific Wheelrace route from Fremantle to Sydney.