The title is a quote from Ernest Shackleton in his letters to his wife, referring to his failure to reach a particular goal in polar exploration. To a lesser degree it's also an apt title for cycling as a recreational activity.
The recent death on Tamaki Drive has prompted a degree of irrational debate and provocation from all sides that appears to be achieving very little apart from making various tub thumpers feel vindicated.
I have resisted putting fingers to keyboard on this issue this week, especially in light of recent editorial and journalistic opinion in the NZ Herald, which has been one dimensional in it's treatment of a very complex issue. Unfortunately this one-dimensional view seems to be present across the spectrum on this issue. Few commentators appear to want to engage in the deeper thought process required to offer useful suggestions.
Lance Wiggs' Ten Ways to stop killing cyclists is one of the few that is a little more pragmatic and reasoned. You need not necessarily agree with all he argues, but it is thought provoking, without being antagonistic.
CAA's suggestions have been at best knee-jerk, and at worst the same message that they have been preaching for years. CAA have had a number of successes in the Auckland region, with huge input and lobbying in the creation of cycleways, and safer roading, but their profile is low, and muddied by other groups. They also tend to alienate many regular cyclists with their slightly zealous nature.
CAA are hosting a memorial ride tonight, along Tamaki Drive, I only heard about it by chance and what this will achieve I'm unsure, and without any decent public awareness of the event, I'm uncertain as to it's impact.
Then we have Facebook...I saw a group calling themselves "Respect for NZ cyclists, we are drivers to" (sic), quickly, where are they driving to? Seriously, how can one expect to be taken as credible with that sort of knee-jerk posting/title? It all starts to remind me of Monty Python and The Life of Brian - People's front of Judea vs The Judean People's Front.
At the present time BikeNZ have been notably absent from the debate, and to my thinking, this would be an ideal opportunity for them to raise their profile and step out of their apparently moribund state. I believe they should be at the front of this debate and campaign, not leaving it to small factions to squabble and the likes of yours truly to poke holes.
Anyway, now something trifle, but interesting. Just in case any of you are creationists, flat earthers, or otherwise occupying the lunatic fringe of thinking. The irrefutable proof of us, Homo sapiens, having a common ancestor with higher primates lies in this compelling piece of evidence - we can't synthesise vitamin C, neither can chimps. From Sciblogs and Brendan Moyle:-
One of the most compelling pieces of evidence is the vitamin C pseudogene [2] Chimps and humans have one extraordinary thing in common. Neither of these two species can synthesise vitamin C. That’s why we (& chimps) need to eat fruit and vegetables to get vitamin C in our diet. Otherwise we get scurvy and die. The curious fact is that this is caused by both chimps and humans having the same broken gene. This mutation occurred about 6mya. We are in effect, the only species to have this exact, same, broken gene. (Guinea pigs also can’t synthesis vitamin C but that’s caused by a different mutation).
To quote Eddie Izzard - Monkey, monkey, monkey...you!
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