Bikes on Trams (Blackburn's Velodrome, Melb)

"JAF" wrote in message
...
If you do use public transport how will you get home after training
anyway? I would take the car. I used to go from FTG to Swinburne

Reverse the path I took getting there, basically. Just ride back to
the station. It'll depend if I can leave my track bike at the club
or not.

Is Blackburn CC only velodrome based, or do they have other
rides/races
etc? Are they friendly to new/inexperienced riders?

They run road and track racing and cater to juniors and
seniors and total newbies. I was a total newbie with them.

Track training is on most nights of the week for different
skill levels (check the website). Novice track training is
on Thursdays at 6pm.

METEC criteriums are also run on Thursday nights at
6pm. METEC is a closed circuit usually used for driver
and motorbike-rider training. Training sessions are run
here on Wed I think. It's in Kilsyth.

They also run longer 'road' races which are listed on the
race calendar which is everybody "on the website!" :-)

http://www.blackburncycling.org.au/

hippy

You could get there on a tandem. Harry and Billie Worthington once told us
that in the 1930s they used to ride to track meets on a tandem. Billie was
stoker and would have Harry's track bike slung over her shoulder; their baby
daughter was in a box on the rear rack, cushioned by a car inner tube...

I think Harry was born in either 1912 or 1914 and was still racing in the
85+ age group until a few years ago. In his day he was one of the best
trackies in the country.

Nick

"hippy" wrote in message
...
I just called Yarra Trams who run the tram service
along Burwood Hwy. and their official response to
my question about whether or not bikes are allowed
on trams was "No, bikes are only allowed on trains".

So now I have to find some other way of getting from
Hawthorn to Blackburn's velodrome.. :-(

hippy wrote:

I just called Yarra Trams who run the tram service
along Burwood Hwy. and their official response to
my question about whether or not bikes are allowed
on trams was "No, bikes are only allowed on trains".

So now I have to find some other way of getting from
Hawthorn to Blackburn's velodrome.. :-(

Looks like I'll have to train from Hawthorn to
Blackburn station and then ride the track bike along
Blackburn Rd. to the velodrome... illegal, given that
I haven't fitted brakes to it yet.

Any other alternatives? I prefer the above option to
driving to work and then to the 'drome with the bike
in the back.. but it may come to that sob peak
hour driving sob

hippy

A lot of other people wrote:
intelligent and insightful things, snipped nevertheless

The reason why you are allowed take a bike on a train but not on a tram
is (in terms of Legal Positivism) because you are allowed to take a bike
on a train but not on a tram.

The real reason is probably a combination of pragmatism and history.
* Pragmatism: flash back to when bicycles and/or public transport were
the majority ways to get to work. Friday 7 November 1927, the 7:42
train to Flinders St picks up 50 blokes (yes, I know, I know) at
Carringbush Station (ok, yes, I'm making this up), 25 of whom put their
bikes on the 6-car train, but they fit in fine. The alternative to the
7:42 is the 666 (making this up, redux) tram from Mont Camberthorne via
Carringbush to Flinders St. If 20 of the 50 blokes (many of them
probably C J Dennis-ly Sentimental) tried to take their bikes on the
W-Class (Hi Dad!) tram, that bird wouldn't fly.
* History: Now back to now: same rules, with maybe just the same
justification (I have no probs fitting my bike on the Upfield line train
in the pm when it's raining, but it would just not be right to stick it
on the tram up Sydney Road)... or maybe it's just because the rules
haven't changed.

Maybe a solution?

(Background: you can't take bikes on trains in Japan, because if
everyone did, see the 666 Tram scenario above times a coupla thousand)

I bought a bike in central Tokyo about 10 years ago, and asked my
Shibuya LBS (sort of) guys if I could take it back to my apaato
("apartment") in the outer suburbs by train.
They said "[shhh] maa, neh, muzukashii darô, naa"
(literally: "[intake of breath through closed teeth with head tilted]
well, you know, it may possibly be difficult, perhaps", idiomatically:
"absolutely no, no f*ckin' way, don't even think about it, man.")

After about 2 minutes of worried looks, intakes of breath through closed
teeth with head tilted, and "maa neh, komatta da naa"s (ok, so we spoke
the International Language of People who are Serious about Bicycles, but
when in Sakura-ga-Oki-Chô, do as the Sakura-ga-Oki-Chô-ns do, or
something) they suggested I shell out Yen 3 000 more for a "baishikuru
baggu" (that's pronounced "bye - shee - koo - roo bug-goo, but I'm sure
you don't need me to translate)...

So, my beautiful 1993 GT Karakoram is transformed from a prohibited item
into a big package slung over the shoulder of a lycra-clad Gai[koku]jin
traveling on trains all over the 8 Blessed Islands of Zipang. Cf:
Roland Barthes, "The Empire of Signs", and all.

Seriously, there is a point to this post. Really.
Buy 3 metres of Condura Nylon, some webbing to make a carrying strap,
and a big zipper. Then spark up the Bernina (or Janome, or whatever),
take the wheels off your track bike (yep, I know they may not have QRs),
set it down and trace out a pattern, and sew yourself up a baishikuru
baggu.

And then take your no-longer-a-bicycle-but-a-package on the tram.

(if you want my real e-mail so I can lend you my real physical
baishikuru baggu, post a response on a.b)

xxx

p

Originally posted by Arpit
why not?


Because track bikes are fixed gear with no brakes for safety on a tight
track, no one can slow down too quickly.



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On Thu, 06 Nov 2003 00:05:47 +0000, hippy wrote:

I just called Yarra Trams who run the tram service
along Burwood Hwy. and their official response to
my question about whether or not bikes are allowed
on trams was "No, bikes are only allowed on trains".

So now I have to find some other way of getting from
Hawthorn to Blackburn's velodrome.. :-(

Looks like I'll have to train from Hawthorn to
Blackburn station and then ride the track bike along
Blackburn Rd. to the velodrome... illegal, given that
I haven't fitted brakes to it yet.

Any other alternatives? I prefer the above option to
driving to work and then to the 'drome with the bike
in the back.. but it may come to that sob peak
hour driving sob

hippy

Take the wheels off. Then its not a bike, its 'bike parts'.

Is that the track at the Burwood East Reserve? The tram doesnt go that far
any way. Of course, its a lot closer than Blackburn Station.
--

phillip brown

Hey you could just conceal the Bike on your person Hippy. Do they make
fold up track bikes? :P



--
"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I have hope for the human race." - H G Wells.

life ain't much but there's nothing else to do

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