Cycling Websites

Since I've started cycling to work I've been investigating websites with recommended cycle routes. Drawing on the experience of other cyclists is invaluable to work out how to avoid major roads and bastard hills. 

The two most common sites I've found are Bikely.com and MapMyRide.com. They both seem relatively similar in functionality - more of my friends use MapMyRide, but it's more agressive in trying to sign you up and the user view is cluttered with ads. Bikely seems more chilled to just let cyclists use and share. To really do a valid comparison I really need to sign up to MapMyRide as well and test out some of the more fancy printing options. 

In the meantime, here's the embedded version of my morning commute from Newtown to Rhodes. Clicking on the title takes you to the ride on Bikely.Com; hover your cusrsor over the map and little red pins appear; click on them to see my location specific notes. The usual google maps functionality also applies. All in all - pretty handy !

Newtown to Rhodes

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

This ride takes about 50 minutes in the mornings. Use more or less the same route home with variations on where I turn south - sometimes Norton Street, sometimes Catherine St all the way through to Stanmore Station to avoid hils. 

Below is the route I took this morning, mapped on MapMyRide, which gives 3 embedding options - small, medium - this one, and large.

I'll plot the other alternatives soon, and report back on the extra functionality.

Creative Graffiti

There's someone (presumably a Newtown local) who goes to quite an effort to create some cleverer than usual graffiti. The first effort was on the safety sign outside the substation in the car park behind Vintage Cellars, creating a more literal warning in the process:


The good folk at Energy Australia didn't take to kindly to that, and sadly the sign was returned to normal shortly after I took the above snap last year. However, our mystery tagger has recently struck back, albeit with a slightly more paranoid tone:


I'm assuming the same person is also responsible for this postural advice, several of which have appeared in the same area.


There are a few more pictures of Newtown graffiti here, and a collection of some of the Wilson St artworks, mostly near the rail sheds here. Anyone interested in random Newtown bits and pieces should head on over to Nosey in Newtown.