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What we’re about

Find the group on facebook https://facebook.com/BikeAboutTownNewcastleNSW
On facebook I post weekly ride schedules, ride recaps, photos and Newcastle active transport news.

Hello! Welcome to Bike About Town - Newcastle. I’m Philippa and I run free very slow guided bike rides around the Newcastle on low-pressure streets and shared paths.

Great for those new to riding through to those who are experienced. All you need is a helmet, a bike in good-working order, and good bike-handling skills. No prior experience cycling on roads necessary.

I hope this group will give you the knowledge and skills to experience the freedom and enjoyment of riding a bike, whether for transport or for recreation.

The schedule can vary but there are usually 2 or 3 rides every week. Usually one on a Wednesday evening, and one on Saturday or Sunday, in the morning or evening.

New rides for the following week are usually published every Tuesday. Turn notifications on to receive an alert whenever a ride is published.

The routes vary, but wherever possible we use quiet neighbourhood streets, shared paths, and separated cycleways. We do not ride on high-traffic, high-speed roads, nor on roads where drivers are likely to overtake too quickly and too closely.

The rides start in various locations throughout the CBD or the inner city suburbs, usually in Wickham, Hamilton, Adamstown, Nobbys Beach, or Lambton, as well as occasionally in Mayfield, Waratah, Wallsend, or Fletcher.

The rides are usually 10km to 20km return.

Welcome! Any questions, send me a message. Come along to learn safe cycling principles, find low-pressure bike routes and to meet others.

The group's five cycling fitness levels

  1. Very Easy: mostly flat, may have some short slight or medium inclines, no steep inclines, less than 15km
  2. Easy: mostly flat, may have some short slight or medium inclines, may have a long gradual incline, may have a short steep incline, usually less than 15km
  3. Medium: may have some medium inclines and steep inclines, can be up to 30km
  4. Hard: will have medium, steep or very steep inclines, can be up to 30km
  5. Very Hard: will have some very steep hills, may have long medium hills, can be up to 30km

For the majority of rides either a very low level or low level of cycling fitness is required. We ride slowly and the most rides are pretty flat. I breakdown the topography in each ride's description. Feel free to peel off at any point on the ride if you’d like to.

The primary aim of this group is to give people the knowledge and skills to enjoy using their bike as a quick, enjoyable and convenient transport option for short everyday trips - as well as to meet others and maybe find a cycling friend!

The rides are for people who feel uneasy riding a bike on roads and would like to learn safe cycling principles; they are for people who feel confident and would like to learn low-pressure bike routes; they are for people who are experienced and would like a leisurely ride. You may have recently learnt to ride, haven't cycled in a while, or don't know the quieter route options - these rides will allow you to access the active transport world of Newcastle.

When in a city where the streets are designed to overwhelmingly favour cars at the expense of public and active transport, it’s not easy to know where to start when it comes to using a bike for short trips (less than 10km return). The biggest barrier is perceived safety. With the right skills, technique and routes, you can feel safer and more in control. Over short distances, riding a bike can often be quicker or no slower than driving. The nimble bike can find shortcuts to avoid traffic jams and it is easier to park than a car.

Who am I?
I'm Philippa, a Newcastle local, who loves using my bike to get from A to B and wants to help others to do the same. I started Bike About Town in August 2022 as a facebook page/group. I added the group to Meetup in late November 2022.

Need a bike?
There are a lot of bike shops around, just google away. Here are two options in the city. Both are located a few hundred metres from the foreshore shared path.

  • The Newcastle Pushbike Library - 106 Robert St, Islington. Buy/borrow/swap/sell/repairs. Secondhand bikes. Usually open Mon-Sat 9-5 and some Sunday mornings. Check the website as opening times can vary slightly each month. Run by Daniel. No appointment needed - just turn up. Or message him on Facebook messenger. It's the house with all the bikes out the front. You can borrow a secondhand bike just for the day or for up to two years. Pay a cash deposit. Deposits are around $50, some more, some less. Get the deposit back when you return the bike, or lose the deposit keep the bike for good. It can be a great way to test out different styles of bikes. https://newcastlepushbikelibrary.wordpress.com/ https://www.facebook.com/NewcastlePushBikeLibrary/
  • Drift Bikes Metro - 2 Bellevue St, Newcastle West. Buy new bikes. Repairs. Accessories. https://driftbikes.com.au/

Cycling maps

How We Ride Policy
i) Riding safely and graciously are priorities. At the start of the ride I give a safety briefing. As we ride, I give instruction as needed. It is crucial that as a group we ride cooperatively, predictably and graciously around motorists and pedestrians.

ii) The four principles of safe cycling that we follow:
1. See and Be Seen - ride in a position so that people can easily see you and you can see them; make sure you are in the driver's field of vision; position yourself so that you have good sight lines waiting at junctions and going around corners; be aware at all times of what's behind, in front, and to the sides of you; ride 1.5m away from parked cars (the doorzone) so that you don't get hit by a door opening; do frequent head checks so you know what's coming up behind you; before turning left or right do a head check/s.
2. Predict and Be Predictable - signal left and right; anticipate what a motorist's or pedestrian's next move is likely to be; don't weave in and out of parked cars - maintain a constant trajectory; decrease and increase speed gradually.
3. Communicate - make eye contact with drivers in front of you and behind - this is very effective: it humanises you and results in friendlier driving behaviour, and it is confirmation you are both aware of each other's presence; smile and be friendly; wave drivers through when it's safe for them to overtake; give plenty of advance warning before overtaking pedestrians and be friendly when you do so ("passing", "morning", "thankyou").
4. Be Gracious - be forgiving of people's mistakes and ride as though you expect everyone to make mistakes (including yourself!); stop and pull over to let a car overtake if they've been waiting behind a while; give people on foot plenty of time and space when overtaking and overtake at a slow speed - the faster you're going, the greater the passing distance required.
(Credit for the principles goes to Bikewise, a Sydney-based bike education company)

iii) Secondary and primary road positioning
When sharing space with motorists, we ride in either:

  • Secondary position - clear of the doorzone of parked cars while deliberately leaving enough space for motorists to overtake, or

  • Primary position - clear of the doorzone while positioning ourselves so that motorists have one option: to stay behind and not overtake because attempting to do so would be unsafe.

    We switch between these two positions depending on the conditions. At first, it can feel strange and nerve-wracking to ride in primary position but with the right skills and technique, it becomes easier and gives you far more control. A head check to make eye contact with the driver behind will reassure the driver that you've taken them into consideration. The person on the bike usually knows the road in great detail because they have many things to look out for, such as little bumps, pinch points, car doors, and road narrowings. Riding in primary position is a key skill in order to signal to the driver that now is not a safe time to overtake.

I highly recommend that you check out the two resources below, regardless of your cycling experience:

———End of How We Ride Policy ———

RSVP Policy (Effective 9am Monday 20/2/2023)
i) If you can no longer attend an event change your RSVP to Not Going, otherwise you will be counted as a no-show. Changing your RSVP allows your place to be taken by someone else, and we won't end up waiting unnecessarily for you at the start of a ride.

ii) Only members who have RSVP’d as Going can attend. No guests allowed.

iii) Four no-shows (they don’t have to be consecutive) will result in you being removed from the group for two months, after which time you can request to re-join. A no-show is when you don’t turn up and you didn't change your RSVP to Not Going before the start time of the ride. I will consider mitigating circumstances when counting no-shows. After each no-show I'll send you a message so you can keep track of them.

iv) If, after having been removed from the group once for 4 no-shows, you then have another 4 no-shows, you will be permanently banned.

v) If you ride in a way that puts the group at risk, or makes people feel unsafe, and you do not change your behaviour after being spoken to about it, you will be permanently banned.

vi) Watch out! It's easy to be an accidental no-show if you're on the waitlist for a ride! When someone drops out of a ride, the next person on the waitlist is automatically moved to the Going list. The Meetup app is supposed to send you a notification when this happens. However, I and others have found that these notifications sometimes don’t appear immediately. Please check back, up until the RSVP Close Time, to see if you have been moved from the waitlist to Going. After the RSVP Close Time, people on the waitlist cannot move to the Going list (even if someone drops out). For morning rides the RSVP Close Time is 6pm the night before. For afternoon rides the RSVP Close Time is 2 hours before the start time.

vii) If no one is on the Going list after the RSVP Close Time, I will most likely cancel the ride.

— — — End of RSVP Policy — — —

Why use a bike for everyday short trips?
Using a bike instead a car for just one short trip per week has enormous benefits for you and your community. It is great for your physical and mental health. It reduces air and noise pollution. It reduces traffic congestion. Parking is easy. It can save you money on petrol. You are nimble on a bike - you can stop and duck into a shop whenever it takes your fancy. You can stop and say hi to a friend. Some shared paths and bike routes are completely immune to peak hour traffic jams. Riding a bike frees up car parking spaces for those who have no alternative but to drive. Riding a bike is an act of advocacy in and of itself: the more people on bikes, the more normal it will become, the more smoothly bikes and motorists will interact, and hopefully the government's active transport budget will be increased.

Slow Skill-Building Rides
The rides could be described as Slow Skill-Building rides. They are not in any way races; they are an opportunity for people to practise their bike-handling skills, build their confidence, learn road positioning techniques, learn safe cycling principles, learn low-pressure routes, enjoy their surroundings and meet others.

How much cycling experience do I need?
It is not necessary to have any previous experience cycling on roads or shared paths. However, you must be able to effectively stop and start, brake, pedal, steer, signal left and right, and check for what's behind you by turning your head or using wing mirrors.

How often are rides scheduled and when?
There are typically 2 or 3 rides every week. I post rides when I can, generally a week in advance of their start date. At the moment there is no regular repeating weekly schedule but typically there is one ride on the weekend, and one on a weekday afternoon/evening. Sometimes a weekday morning ride will be scheduled.

Where do the rides start and finish?
The rides start and finish at various locations throughout the Newcastle LGA, mostly in the city or in the inner city suburbs; occasionally further afield. A ride will both start and finish at the same point. Common starting points are Gregson Park Hamilton, Tree of Knowledge Park Wickham, Nobbys Beach, Islington Park, Adamstown Station, Lambton Library, the Wallsend Rotunda and Newcastle City Library.

Do you ride on main roads?
No. We avoid sharing space with cars on main roads and at high-pressure traffic lights and crossings. I design the route to be low-pressure, which means avoiding wherever possible roads that are rat-runs; roads whose design leads to close-overtaking behaviour; roads where we share space with drivers going above 40km/hr for more than 100-200m due to the road design (eg long, wide and straight roads); and roads that have dangerous pinch points. Shared paths and cycleways are used whenever possible.

What’s the distance of the rides?
Most rides are 10km to 20km. Sometimes there is a longer ride up to about 30km.

What types of wheels can come on the rides?
Leg-powered and electric bikes are very welcome. Handcycles are very welcome. If you have a wider bike like a cargo bike or a tricycle or a trailer, it is best to send me a message to check whether the route has any points through which your bike may not fit. The rides sometimes go under Broadmeadow Station and we have to walk our bikes on the steep station ramps. It's great to have these types of bikes along so please do contact me so that we can avoid any tricky spots. Electric scooters are only legal on shared paths in NSW. Occasionally a ride is "shared-paths only", eg the Fernleigh Track or the foreshore path, in which case all types of wheels are welcome.

Pace
We go at a very slow pace. Around 15km/hr on the flat.

Max. no. of participants is between 3 and 10, depending on the route. It is important that the size of the group is manageable for the route so that we all get through junctions together and don't get split up too much, and everyone can see my signals. I set the limit based on various factors: the length of the route; the nature of the junctions and traffic lights on the route; the topography; how much of it is on shared paths; the design of the streets on the route.

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