Bike North: Save The M2

The M2 Handicap was a race between two of NSW's fastest cyclists and some ordinary recreational cyclists. The elite cyclists, Bruce Thomas and Chris Smith, had to use the new M2 Cycle Detour (a big Handicap), while our fun loving ordinary riders used the M2 cycle lane. Many riders were on very ordinary bikes while our champions were riding very classy machines.

The race was held in peak hour on Wednesday March 14, 2007. At about 5 pm the cyclists set off from the eastern end of Talavera Road, North ryde. The finish was at the M2 exit onto Beecroft Road, Epping.

The results were obvious. The elite cyclists arrived at the the finish after 16 minutes of battling with traffic on busy roads and pedestrians on shared user paths, not to mention the hills.

Our recreational cyclists arrived at the end up to 7 minutes before Bruce and Chris, with even the slowest rider still coming home 4 mintues faster than the champions. Well done to all riders, and it was really great to see the best can be beaten, if you handicap them enough!

But wait, there's more! The support car driving on the M2 motorway, a high speed road, came in slower than every cyclist on both routes!! This shows beyond a doubt that cycling is the quickest way to get around Sydney's transport mess on short trips of around 5 - 8 kms.

Its very sad that the RTA and Transurban are handicapping all cyclists from the M2 so that even more slow smelly cars can meander along it for just a few hours each weekday afternoon.

We invited the following people/groups to take part in or observe the M2 Handicap. None turned up.

The Bike North M2 Handicap