The tremendous advantages of owning and riding a bike are numerous but in this post, I'm only going to touch on one.....commuting to busy entertainment precincts ......the traffic is always chaotic and the parking is either pretty much non existent or it will cost you an arm and a leg. However, if you are savvy, real savvy you will take your bike with you. Now, I don't know where you live, nor how close to the venue you can find a park but I can tell you that here in down town Brisbane, in the entertainment and cultural precincts you can normally find free parking, out of business hours, within a couple of kilometres. It is then a simple matter of hopping on the bike, riding the short distance and locking the bike to a suitable object close and handy to the venue and with a bit of luck the said bike will still be there on your return. Chances are, you will be as fresh as a daisy when you get there and the money you save on parking will pay for the beer you know you are going to have when you arrive.
Pretend for one moment that you are a Brisbanite. Yes! there are such people and most of them are nice and law abiding but like all societies there is that one rotten apple of a thief who preys on cyclists trying to do the right thing, doing his or her part in lowering greenhouse gases, preventing unnecessary traffic congestion and most of all saving a buck by not paying the ridiculous parking fees demanded in entertainment/cultural areas.
Most rotten apple bicycle thieves in Australia are opportunists, which means that if they are confronted with any type of secure device they will quickly move on to a bicycle which is not secured. They also like areas that are concealed from the public gaze not ones that are well lit.
Which means that if you secure your bike to a nice well lit, healthy tree with plenty of passers by, you stand a better than even chance of having the bike there when you return. On the other hand, if you have a mean nasty streak, you may secure the bicycle to the steel support holding up the heavy branch secretly hoping that the nasty thief cuts through the steel support, releases the bike, and the branch minus the support falls on him without so much as putting a scratch on the bike.
Please don't secure the bike to a valuable art work that is the property of our Founding Fathers, otherwise the wrath of hell will ascend and engulf both you and your bike.
Maybe, you could get away with it once.......maybe.
The whole point of this piece of theatre so far is to tell you that I do possess a small amount of culture in me somewhere and I do enjoy the exhibitions put on from time to time at GOMA and that the best way to travel to this venue is by bike, particularly during daylight hours.
Just to prove a point that GOMA is a great place to visit, take a peek at the following photographs.
Of course the above photographs are only a small sample of what some of the exhibitions have to offer.
Try driving, parking and then cycling to a venue, you may like it but I don't think I would try this if going to see the Russian Ballet dressed up in all of your finery but it certainly works if you are off to a more informal event such as a gallery, museum or even a matinee of a musical performance.
Don't be like me and arrive to find you have forgotten your bicycle lock otherwise you may face the conundrum of having to make the choice of leaving your bike unlocked and hope that it will be there when you return, or ride back to your vehicle all forlorn disappointed.
Cheers and safe riding,
Jimmy Bee
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