Friday, 14 June 2013

14th June; Here comes Martha!


Martha goes from E-Cars to E-bikes
(and other more Low-Tech options...)


Martha was one of the Esb electric car ambassadors earlier this year.
See her photo below from when she met with the Lord mayor:


 Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr John Buttimer with Cork’s ESB ecar
Ambassadors, Martha Doyle and Eoghan O’Donoghue with their electric cars outside City Hall.

From: http://www.esbecarsblog.ie/meeting-the-lord-mayor-of-cork/
As one of the three people chosen for a year long amassadorship, Martha is well used to blogging. Here is how the ESB described her:
Martha Doyle is a primary school teacher, living in east Cork with her husband and two sons. She is a keen environmentalist and has maximised the energy efficiency of their home in a number of innovative ways, for example collecting rain water which she uses to water her vegetables.
She has also facilitated six global action plan courses to raise awareness about environmental matters. Her hobbies include growing fruit and vegetables, music, reading, and writing. 
Martha describes herself as "a keen bike user, but because of my children I haven't cycled regularly in some time."

She has a folding bicycle and an electric bicycle and of course an ordinary bicycle!
Before Operation Transportation she said:
"I currently walk my children to school everyday, but I might bring them in the bicycle trailer for the trial as my youngest is now big enough."

We are not sure yet what sort of trailer she'll be using, but we reckon that Martha would like the Eco- attributes of this one, which seems to be made from recycled polystyrene??
From: http://www.paulstoys.blogspot.ie/index.html#297853643222161709 where you can see a video about how the trailer was made.

14th June 2013, Shane McCarthy introduced


 Cycle if You're LAZY? :

An Idea That'sNot So Crazy...?

Extract from Shane's Blog: http://mccarthyshane.com/operation-transportation-cork-bike-week/:

I was delighted to be asked to write about my experiences relating to cycling both in Cork and my hometown of Killarney for Cork’s Operation Transportation.

When I was in Cork during the college year my main motivation for cycling was far from any green ideologies which are very valid, but more due to necessity and laziness.


Laziness? That may seem counter-intuitive, but cycling halves the time it would take me to walk to and from UCC. It also allows me to sit down and gently glide in and out of the campus.


Is it a Bird? Is it a plane?
 No it's Shane McCarthy gliding along on his cycle-machine!

Even if I did have a car I wouldn’t consider for a second using it to navigate through the city. The thoughts of traffic, fuel-costs and parking, immediately dismiss any notion of driving to college. It really would be my definition of a “nightmare”, but each to their own..
Traffic on Barrack Street, Cork from:
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/proposal-to-bar-cars-from-citys-main-street-214933.html

14th June 2013, Dave O' Reagan Introduced

Dave O' Reagan Launches

Editor's notes:

Dave is very good at turning up to things.

(As you can see below,on June 5th, he came to the local Bike Week Promotion Photoshoot with the lovely Ali? )

Lord Mayor: John Buttimer with Dave O'Reagan and a colleague from Red Fm (Ali??)

Dave is not so good at sending in Diary posts.. ( so far)...

But he is so photogenic we can forgive him.. ( so far)...

So Dave: Keep Smiling, Keep Cycling and start sending in some posts!

14th June Operation Transportation Diarist Maurice Danaher Introduces the B-BIKE- and himself!


 Dusting off and Pumpingup!

According to Maurice:

 Friday near Ballincollig via mobile
  
National cycle week starts tomorrow 15th June and continues until Sunday 23rd June. So I have agreed to cycle for at least 10 minutes each day and to write a blog about it.
 
Today I wiped the dust off my bicycle and pumped the tyres.
 
 
Mr. Danaher cycles one of the Innergy Gazelle Bikes sold by one of Ireland's first E-bike merchants: Mr Howard Pearson of  http://www.bbikes.com/index.html
 
Check out these bikes on: http://vimeo.com/8208219
 
 I can cycle wherever I like, but there are several cycle paths near where I live that will be suitable.

If Maurice Danaher wants to be really ambitious this route is in the neighbourhood.
 It is one onf the hilltrainng routes used by the Lee Roadies:  http://www.leeroadies.com/Local/index.htm

Pehaps this is more what was in mind- one of the pleasant routes to Ballincollig Regional Park, where you can park your bike and use the outdoor gym!: http://www.ballincolligheritage.org/site_gunpowder_mills.html


 
 

14th June 2013, Caitriona's Diary

14th June 2013, Caitriona's Diary

Psyching myself up!

According to Caitriona:



http://womenonthefence.com/2012/06/29/why-being-a-morning-person-could-be-the-secret-to-your-success/


 

Operation Transportation 2012 REVISITED!

Operation Transportation 2012 Revisited

Foreword BY THE EDITOR

Mervyn:
Mervyn waiting for his borrowed bike to get the all-clear at last year's training event.
The 2013 team will be doing this tomorrow!!

1.      How often  were you cycling before “Operation Transportation”?
Never (Ireland) always abroad


2.      How often do you cycle now? ( fee free to add details of any tapering off processes?
Once every two weeks


3.      Why do you think your cycle habits have changed? ( Skip if irrelevant)
Positive experience of cycling in cork, never cycled in city before operation transportation, bought a bike after the event

  
4.      Have you got any advice for this year’s “Operation Transportation” leaders?
A good bike, spare set of clothes at work, allow extra time for first day  


5.      Any other comments?
Good gears are very important, city area is not as “flat” as it seems when in a car


Deirdre:
Deirdre impressed us all last year with her nifty cycling skills.

1.      How often  were you cycling before “Operation Transportation”?


Occasionally, more in dry weather and long evenings but that’s probably true of all fair-weather cyclists.

2.      How often do you cycle now? ( fee free to add details of any tapering off processes?


Occasionally and sadly not much in recent months but I will try to do some more cycling from now on!

3.      Why do you think your cycle habits have changed? ( Skip if irrelevant)


The instructions we received were excellent and I still remember Darren’s advice to be more assertive on the road and not cycling close to the gutter and that cycling a bit nearer to the centre line (not on the centre line of course) gives a cyclist somewhere to retreat to.

4.      Have you got any advice for this year’s “Operation Transportation” leaders?

I know that one tip given last year was that wearing high viz jackets can annoy other road users but I would recommend them to avoid giving drivers any ammunition in saying that cyclists don’t make themselves visible enough when out on the road.


5.      Any other comments?

I’ve seen some cyclists close to where I live cycling without lights after dusk – street lights won’t help a cyclist’s visibility to other road users and bike lights are not expensive.