Some of the Wollondilly Community Health Staff and BARBUG members who Participated in 2011 Ride To Work

For their efforts the community health centre won the Community Health category for the highest proportion of staff participating in the Local Health Districts Ride to Work Day Awards!

Bargo Bicycle User Group members with staff from the Wollondilly Community Health Centre receiving their award from the Health Promotion Service of South Western and Sydney Local Health District.

Cycling has many health benefits like fitness, weight and stress management; environment benefits; fun and a great opportunity to meet new people.

The Bargo BUG organise rides and cycling activities in and around Wollondilly. The rides are open to anyone with a roadworthy bike and a helmet.  We encourage new riders to join and learn to ride with confidence. Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult.

For more details contact Bargo BUG on Ph 4684 1444

An invisible airbag for cyclists’ head, shaped as a collar worn around the neck has won one of the world’s largest monetary prize for design.

To see full story go to: The Telegraph.co.uk

Tweeted by: @CyclingRightNow

What terrific news!

Friday, 12 August 2011

Men’s National Road Series – Goulburn to Sydney, September 18-19, 2011.

The New South Wales State Government will partner the historic 170km Goulburn to Sydney (Camden) Cycle Classic (est 1902) which will be hosted by the Macarthur Collegians Cycling Club on the 17th & 18th of September promoting the Goulburn Mulwaree, Wollondilly, Camden and Campbelltown regions to a broader Australia wide audience.
State member for Wollondilly, Jai Rowell has lobbied for $20,000 funding assistance from the Premier’s department to continue the history of this iconic sporting event that has assisted many Australian cyclists as a stepping stone to their international careers. Cycling has been receiving world-wide recognition since the victorious salute of Australian Tour de France winner Cadel Evans in Paris last month.

“New South Wales has an event that is older than the Tour de France and we have a unique opportunity to use sport to promote our towns and show off our area.

The event ambassador, Simon Poidevin has led the push to raising over $800,000 that has assisted our local charities like the Odyssey House Drug & Alcohol Rehabilitation Centre Families Programme, the Kids of Macarthur Health Foundation ,Youth Solutions and Goulburn’s Palliative Care,” Member for Wollondilly Jai Rowell said.

The race has a unique history starting in Goulburn, Australia’s first inland city and finishing in the birthplace of Australia’s wool, wine and wheat industries, the historic town of Camden.

This year a short time trial will be held at Goulburns’ Victoria Park from 11am on Saturday the 17th of September with the historic 170km classic commencing on Sunday the 18th of September at 7.45am.

The historic race departs Goulburn and follows the Hume Highway to Berrima and passes through Mittagong, Bargo, Tahmoor, Picton and the Razorback Range before finishing to a friendly Camden welcome at 11.15am.

Media enquiries: Simon Poidevin 0411 206 790 – Paul Hillbrick 0412 842 730.

Released 9/4/2010

Children who walk or ride to school are more physically active in their day-to-day activities around their neighbourhood than those children who are driven to school, a new study finds.

The study, undertaken for VicHealth by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), also suggests that children who walk to school are significantly more connected with their local community.

ACER Chief Executive Officer, Professor Geoff Masters said: “The research involved analysing surveys and pictures drawn by 659 primary school aged children between the ages of 9 and 12.

“Our study found that only 26 per cent of the years 3 to 6 primary school aged children walked to school in the past five days.”

“Children who walked to school demonstrated a greater awareness of, and familiarity with, their local environment. They drew detailed elements of green space such as parks, trees, grass, flowers, sporting ovals and children playing football, people riding bikes, walking their dog and playgrounds.”

“In contrast, children who travelled to school by car tended to depict abstract, isolated images of their neighbourhood environment with the car and the road as the central theme. They drew images of traffic lights, road signs, school crossings, local schools, office buildings, shopping centres, and fast food outlets. They also drew their own street and a lot of empty blank spaces,” Professor Masters said.

VicHealth CEO Todd Harper said: “This study is a great insight into the hearts and minds of our children. It shows that we need to invest a lot more in their physical and emotional wellbeing.”

“This study is also an innovative look at young children, their physical activity and their connection to their local environment.”

“We know the development of healthy young minds and bodies are essential for reducing the huge burden on our health system when these children reach middle age and beyond.”

“This research has been commissioned to evaluate a VicHealth program called Streets Ahead, aimed at increasing physical activity in children aged 4 to 12 years through promoting independent mobility.”

“There is overwhelming evidence that when children walk or cycle to school, they are better off physically and importantly in terms of their social and emotional wellbeing,” Mr Harper says.

The three year evaluation study is analysing results from 1,412 primary school aged children from Prep to year 6 across 19 Primary Schools in Victoria.

The research is being presented by ACER researcher Catherine Underwood at the inaugural International Healthy Parks Healthy People Congress in Melbourne next week.

Australian Council for Educational Research

Dear Loyal Followers
On 11th June the company which I used to host this blog, as well as many other websites, was hacked. All of the servers were badly compromised. In all 48,000 websites were lost.
As soon as I had access to the domains, I redirected them to another hosting company in the USA. Fortunately most websites I provide are basic html sites, copies of which are stored on my computer, so it was a simple matter to upload them to the new server.
However blogs are interactive and store all their posts and comments in a database on the server. If the server is corrupted the info is lost. We managed to salvage most posts up to June 2010.
We have lost a year’s posts from June 2010 to June 2011
If you made a comment or asked a question over the last year, could you please re-comment, so we can get the blog as up-to-date as possible. I will do my best to restore the newer posts. For now, we just roll on…
Thank You

Here’s a link to a fantastic post in Ride On Mag

Want to save a million dollars, or pay off your mortgage 13 years early? Incredibly, those are realistic savings from swapping a car for a bike, find Jon Miller and Stephen Huntley.

http://rideons.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/you%E2%80%99re-in-the-money/

The return ride amazes even more as the road seems to plunge forever downward towards the Nepean Ford. You can only think to yourself, “Did I really ride all that way up?” Then, the climb back  to the entrance gates,  although it is not as hard as the ride up to Avon, on tired legs, seems to never end!

For more information go to: http://www.sca.nsw.gov.au/recreation/upper-nepean-dams

John, Alan and Gina

Ford Crossing Nepean River Below Nepean Dam

How lucky we are to have these terrific riding opportunities in the Wollondilly Shire. There is something for everyone, no matter what level of fitness.

2 Gazelle Bicycles to Win!

PRESS RELEASE

Gazelle Bicycles Australia will be supporting the international development work of ChildFund Australia by offering two bicycles free of charge to the charity to help it raise funds to build a school in Cambodia.

Together, Gazelle and ChildFund Australia will be offering Australians the chance to win one of the brand new bicycles in a raffle. The two bicycles, Gazelle Fuente Plus Hybrid bicycles, are valued at $1,749 each and are offered as the two 1st prizes in the raffle drawn on the 4th of September 2009.

The raffle is expected to raise almost $10,000. Currently, over 500 primary age and at least 50 kindergarten-age children located in surrounding villages will benefit from this construction.

The school building will be equipped with basic classroom resources (such as desks, seating and blackboards) and a school garden will be established as a model for children to improve their nutrition knowledge and awareness.

Currently, many students must to walk up to 3kms to reach their school. As such, ChildFund will also be providing children with bicycles, especially girls who are more vulnerable and at greater risk when travelling long distances.

To purchase tickets in this raffle, please visit www.childfund.org.au or www.gazellebicycles.com.au for more information.