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NEWS REPORTS

(page updated 21 Sep 2007)

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2007

April - Geelong:            Australasian Cycling History Conference 2007

The Australasian Cycling History Conference 2007 is the biennial conference for cycle collectors, enthusiasts and historians from Australia and its surrounding region. It aims to bring new knowledge into the public gaze which showcases the cultural, technical and economic context of cycling in Australasia. ACHC 2007 also endeavours to promote the preservation of cycle history and material culture.

The Conference will be held from Friday 13th to Sunday 15th April, 2007, and it will be hosted by the National Wool Museum in Geelong.
Geelong is a city rich in cycling history, and will be an ideal setting for cycle aficionados to share their expertise, research and opinions.
CONFERENCE THEME
The theme for ACHC 2007 is Spinning Stories: Cycling and cyclists in Australasia. It is an intentionally broad theme, because although cycling has been a significant aspect of life in this region for well over a century, the practice of recording and presenting cycling history is in its infancy and there is much territory yet to be explored.

2009 Conference - Melbourne. More details later.

http://www.cyclinghistory.net.au/

 

February 27 - Tasmania: Featuring the Penny-farthing World Championships!

National Penny-farthing Championship At Evandale by Alan Payne 

I have just returned from a trip to Tasmania. One of the highlights of the trip was the festival at Evandale on 24th and 25th February. This event has been held for over twenty years and started as a gathering for enthusiasts based mainly on fun. Over the years none of the fun and enthusiasm has been lost but the main races have become fiercely competitive. Riders prepare lightweight replicas which are designed for racing (i.e. no brakes) The riders themselves are highly trained and also compete on conventional modern bikes. To see three or four of the machines and riders fighting for position while leaning steeply into a tight corner at high speed is a heart stopping experience.

The event is always held over two days. The Saturday consists of many interesting novelty events such as the slow race and the slalom culminating in the prestigious National Men’s and Women’s Championships. The Sunday event is a 25 km road race. These bikes are relatively heavy and are “geared” at between 50” and 60”. On the road they are suitable for flat riding or gentle uphill. Steep hills are very taxing and there is no possibility of standing on the pedals. Downhill the competitive riders lift their feet off the fast spinning pedals and the machines achieve speeds which terrify spectators (and probably riders too). The winning male rider, Sean Hennessy, said that the 25 km road race is “as hard as doing a 120 race on a road bike.”

The results of the main Saturday events are as follows

 

 

The Sunday road race was won by Sean Hennessy (men’s) and Bel Chamberlain (women’s).

 

Insert pics taken from local newspapers. 

Any enthusiasts touring in Tasmania may be interested in the following collections.

‘The Whitehouse’ at Westbury houses a very representative general historic collection of about 30 bikes. 

‘The Zion’s Hill Bike Museum’ at Ravenswood (Launceston) houses an excellent collection of Tasmanian road bikes and a most informative and knowledgeable curator.

The ‘Tasmanian Museum’ at Hobart has an interesting small collection.


Joff's Penny-farthing World Tour - 650 miles (1,046 km) - Total so far: 7,022 miles (11,301 km)

Tasmania, the island an 11 hour ferry ride off the south of Australia sets itself before me as the wheel

rolls onto its rugged soil. An embarrassing moment occurs only a 100yds onto the island as I nearly

come a cropper when mounting up under the gazing eyes of a large group of Harley riders. Wheeling

out to the east coast gives me rolling forested roads to traverse. These in turn carry me to the lovely

village of Avoca, set in a windy valley landscape. The old coach road leaves the centre on tarmac for

the first 20km, then turns into 30kms of gravel and bumping corrugations which make my teeth

chatter as the wheel passes over their rough peaks. A two day detour is made out to Maria Island

with Chloe a splendid cyclist from Canada. We ride the mountain bike path the length of the island

and I'm happy with only falling from the wheel five times. Onwards round Tassie the machine rolls,

and soon the grade starts to get steeper as mountains appear in the west. It's back to the feet I go with

a good two hours of pushing the wheel to the top of the first peak. Another week of riding follows

this pattern through the ups and downs of the stunning mountainous landscape, finally bringing me

to the view out over Dove Lake to the glorious Cradle Mountain. Avoiding a few bush fires on the

way completes my lap of the island and breaks the 7000 mile mark of the journey. Tassie is a Mecca

for the touring cyclist, and somewhere I will happily return too in the future.

The latest photos are below..

http://www.crazyguyQnabike,cpm/dQC/page/?Q=k&page_id^7865&

 

Hallo all, here's the next instalment with the pics on the link below..

Cheers, Joff!

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=lt&page_id=46743&v=42

Australia: Sydney to Melbourne

Monday January 22, 2007, 665 miles (1,070 km) - Total so far: 6,372 miles (10,255 km)

Not long out of the suburbs of Sydney and the wheel gladly finds itself entering the lovely National Park. Thick vegetation is all about me as I roll through the ups and downs of the roadway. My evening's slumbers are kept interesting by a large group of giant 'Meat Ants' who decide to pay me a visit while I'm laying in my tent. By morning it seems that at least one of the thumb sized fellows has made it through the mozzie net and managed to leave his teeth marks on my left buttock. With a sore bum I'm soon again into the rolling hilly landscape, giving me many a long hard period of pushing the machine, but all the effort is worth it just for the views. Further south and now the air is getting a little smokey from the many forest fires blazing away nearby. My free camping spots have to now be chosen with a little more care as I'm not to keen on being toasted in the middle of the night. Away from the flames I'm able to find one of the fantastic 'Rail Trails' to ride on for a few days, no traffic, no end of camping places, and not many hills as well! Heaven for this particular wheelman. A quick skip across Philip Island and a short ferry ride brings the Melbourne bay into view, but then a huge headwind makes me work hard on my last day wheeling in Australia, but finally after much sweat the city is reached.. Wow was that one big country!

http://www.abc.net.au/gippsland/stories/ml342582.Mp3 Listen to ABC radio's Gerard Callinan speaking with Joff on the side of the South Gippsland Highway!

Early 2007 / Late 2006 - Australia

Hallo everyone, my latest update below..

What a change, suddenly I now find myself in the lush green lands of Australia such a contrast to the beautiful barren mountains of eastern Turkey. After a few weeks of wheeling down the coast I'm now feeling a whole lot fitter having partaken in a large amount of Aussie edible culture. Also it pleases me to relate that coffee and beer are back on my daily menu, much needed to start and finish the cycling days. The roadway so far has been extremely flat with a good margin at the side to keep me away from the thundering trucks as they pass on their way south. Free camping has been perfect here, though upon waking up next to a Creek one morning a sign was noticed saying "No Camping, Crocodile area". Must start to read warning signs! Having ridden about half the way down the coast to Brisbane, a stop was made in a town called Mackay. Here I had a contact to stay, and stay I did, such has been the wonderful hospitality of my fantastic hosts Rob and Lynne Robson. What started out as a few days rest expanded into a month, I got a job as well porting cylinder heads which has been a great boost to the funds, and I have been able to get to know the extremely friendly Mackay, and surrounding area very well. Its now back to the road and on Monday I shall set off south again on my journey, and if all goes well hopefully the Northern winds will be blowing upon my back....

Happy days, Joff

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=lt&page_id=44039&v=30

 After a lovely few weeks rest its back to the road once again for the wheel and I. My first mistake in my energetic rush to the tarmac is to go too far on the first day resulting in a dodgy groin strain. This is cured by a short and a lazy day in the Ilbilbie rest area, these are spread all along the main travelling routes in Australia and are fantastic for the travelling cyclist. Although the climate is still rather hot and humid there are now many a dark cloud forming over me up in the heavens. Not long after the rubber has kissed the tarmac the sky does its best to drown this Penny farthing rider. A rapid stop is made under a local bus shelter to keep the worst of the downpour away from me, and to save myself from the large lorries wheels that are flying past now so close in the rain. The evenings camping happily proves to be quite dry, but upon waking it is found that the machine has been invaded by the dreaded green biting ants, I would rather them on the bike than in the tent, and they are soon removed by some deft twig and sandal work.

A night spent camping in the bush is next on the agenda, unfortunately the ground has recently been on fire and by the time I leave in the morning I'm probably wearing the grubbiest, charcoal appearance of the journey so far, quite shocking for the locals I'm sure! With the wheel still turning onwards little by little the distance is made and after a few more weeks my first large city since Cairns is reached when Brisbane rolls into view. Pretty much the halfway mark down Australia and boy am I now realizing how large this country is..

The latest photos can be found here..

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=lt&page_id=44976&v=7x

 Cheers, Joff!

Hallo,

Well I'm feeling a whole lot fitter now with a week under my belt in Australia. Good food riding at sea level on flat roads has done me the power of good as hopefully you can see in the photos. Please find the link below to the photos..

http7/www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=lt&page_id=41660&v=3^

I'm also trying to raise some money for the Born Free foundation, donations can be made online so if you could spare a pound or a dollar that would be fantastic thanks. The link is below..

http://www.justgiving.com/joff

 

2006

6 September - Just to let you know my visa for Iran has landed! Hooray! Have added a few more pics today as well...Cheers Joff!

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=lt&page_id=40614&v=2n

 

From: Joff Summerfield [mailto:joffslegs@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, 13 September 2006 12:20 PM

Subject: Penny-farthing world tour...

 

Hallo All,

well its been a fairly eventful few weeks, and the journey has taken a slight change of direction.

Leaving Eruzurum in Eastern Turkey with the visa safely tucked in the passport I couldn't have been happier. Unfortunately the body started telling me different, again plagued with a total lack of energy.. That first day I managed a huge 23 miles before having to stop exhausted. The only thing I could put it down to was the altitude, at over a mile high it was having a big effect. The next day was the same and on the third day out of Eruzurum on a small hill I hit the wall. Standing by the side of the road I couldn't continue, an hour passed, to turn back was so hard, but to go on felt impossible. With probably more than a thousand kilometres of mountains before Tehran I knew I couldn't make it. After all the effort and cost to get the visa, it was now wasted.

Finally a decision was made. Giving up on the journey wasn't an option, but a big route change was, I needed to get down to sea level, get good food inside me, have a flatter route and have a radical lightening of the bike.

In Australia

So where am I now? Well after a lot of train and plane travelling I now find myself in Cairns in North eastern Australia. I intend to ride down the length of the country on the coast road, a flatter cooler route at sea level. I may get to do the Asia part later on now, it makes the line on the map a little convoluted and changes the trip into more of a world tour rather than a round the world journey, but hey I'm still going.. Oh and the trailers gone, I now have 20 litres of bag space plus small backpack... Very light...

Joff

 

July

Thursday, 27 July 2006 3:57 PM
Subject: Penny-farthing world tour!

Hallo, the latest instalment is up! The photos can be found here..

To save myself the torture of riding out of Istanbul with the traffic the wheel heads for the Ferry, and for an hour it carries us south across the sea to Yalova and its silent roads. Here the wheel finds an abundance of orchards giving out the most delicious fruits. Peaches, plums, apples and pears of a size and taste to bring a smile to the face of any Hungary cyclist. The way now becomes part of the old Silk route and also a route previously ridden by Thomas Stevens in 1885. The amazing Kara Su pass is a long and winding road up into the mountains and takes a large amount of pushing to finally reach its summit at 2360ft. On the road winds through Beypazari and just before Ayas the wheel turns south and makes its way across the hot rolling wheat covered plains to Gordion. Here while strolling about the ruins of the old city I'm lucky enough to make one of the greatest discoveries of the modern age. I've found the Gordion knot! A little shrunken, but this is to be expected after a couple of thousand years sitting about in the sun, and now its tied to the machines bars for good luck. The wheel now heads off on a bit of a shortcut across country, hot high rolling fields with rough roads which slowly become rougher as the wheel becomes more lost. Mud brick villages and goat herds with the most vicious dogs are all the life that can be found. Not to helpful for directions! Two days are spent wandering around until finally while drinking the last drops of condensation from my water bottles a main road comes to the rescue and saves the day. Another 3 days riding brings the wheel to the amazing Cappadocia, rock caves, underground cities, and fairy chimneys all go to make up this surreal landscape and here its time to rest for a few days.

 

June

Hallo All, 

Well would you believe I have actually made it to Budapest! I guess I only have to ride a few miles out of town and will have broken my record from the last attempt, hooray! I seem to be flying along now, helped by a splendid tailwind for the last week, though this also bought rain and cold which isn't too nice.  

 Having a great time still and meeting loads of great people, the legs are slowly getting stronger which is good news so hopefully will be able to get up some of those mountains that are to come. 

 I have hopefully uploaded some more photos now, and these should be at http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/journal/?o=lt&doc_id=1451&v=94  

 Happy days, Joff!   x

 

April

Steve Stevens Liverpool to Tehran

Steve Stevens, our eccentric American friend will be leaving for London about now to start his ride from Liverpool to Tehran. The ride from Liverpool to Tehran - on the route of Thomas Stevens 1885 ride and is planned to take 70 days from April 7, 2006 to June 15, 2006. Keep abreast of Steve's adventure using the link       http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/journal/AroundWorldPenny2

 

2005

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