Me and Uncle Sam

Recently I was asked if Jorge the Fibber, who is a follower of mine, was my alter-ego. I was mortified, not only did some of his impure suggestions offend, his picture looks like a bad cross between The Worm fitting a tight tyre and Boy George.

This prompted me to set off on a trail of discovery. What I did discover is that Jorge is from the USA. Not just any part of Amerika, but from the place of Dualies, Gun Racks and Stetsons, in other words, Texas. He is the proud waver of Hook'em Horns and has a picture of Bevo tattooed on his body.

All okay so far, except I understand that he has recently acquired a tenure with the Department of Defence, he and his wife have taken out a part share in a retired ICBM complex and he is closely related to Vernon Howell.

On to brighter matters. The new National Cycleway announcements are indeed exciting, and are neatly summarised with maps and overviews here:-

http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/0907/NewZealandCyclewayQuickStartTracks.pdf

I do commend the Government for this initiative and the vision that is behind it, but I think there is currently a great deal of misunderstanding in the wider cycling community as to the form that these cycle paths will take. From reading the summary of the Quick Start Tracks all of the tracks will be metal and unsuitable for road bike use.

The aim appears to be to establish a network of trails similar to the Central Otago Rail Trail and the Christchurch to Little River Rail Trail. These trails are important and will provide new exercise and recreational opportunities, but may not provide a feasible, safe alternative to existing roads that are too dangerous to currently ride. A good example is the proposed track from Paeroa to Waihi. Currently SH2, running through the Karangahake Gorge, is far too narrow and busy to consider riding comfortably, but it is the only road that runs across the bottom of the Coromandel Peninsula. A good sealed track should be mandatory here, so as to allow safe passage through the Karangahake Gorge.

Additionally, at the stage of writing, no formal research has been published by the Ministry of Tourism. Currently they are undertaking research, but how, with whom and where they are conducting this research is not obvious.

To assist with getting the tracks you would like, become active with suggestions to the relevant parties.

Here is one option:-

http://www.tourism.govt.nz/Our-Work/New-Zealand-Cycleway-Project/Keeping-Informed/

Speak up, share your thoughts.

If we don't speak up, then we may lose a great opportunity to have a world class cycle network.