Bike Waikato October 2024 Newsletter
In this newsletter from Bike Waikato:
- Biketober is in Gear 🚴♀️ – A quick brief on what is happening and what has happened so far!
- AGM Recap – We have a new constitution and a new committee! 📜
- Our plan to increase memberships 👪
- New cycling study shines light on safety! 🔬
Biketober is in Gear! 🚴♀️
Biketober is finally here and we are excited to work amongst some of the great bike-minded people in Hamilton. First off, we’d like to acknowledge the work that Hamilton City Council and Go Eco have done in setting up the Cycle Paths Bingo, cycle check days, and the Te Awa River Ride thus far enabling an awesome kick off to the summer season and BIKETOBER! Find information about their events here.
On the 20th October we have the Love Your Bike Day at Claudelands Park. We’ll be there with our flag so you can come and share your support and the love for bikes.
Also have you checked out this month’s deal for membership yet? Jump right in and become a part of the team.
Ride to Karapiro (Bike Waikato/Go Eco)
On the brisk Saturday morning of 12 October, a small but dedicated group set off from River Riders at Hamilton Gardens south along the Te Awa River Ride to Karapiro. Some of us peeled away early for a cheeky coffee in Tamahere, while others still continued to the Velodrome in Cambridge and some continued all the way to Lake Karapiro – an impressive 76 km round trip!
Thank you to everybody who joined us and especially Go Eco for supporting the event and Kelli Pike for pulling the whole thing together.
Other Upcoming Events!
Be sure to check out our upcoming events:
- Love Your Bike Day (Claudelands Park) – October 20 @ 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Annual General Meeting 2024 (AGM) 📜
We had the fourth Annual General Meeting of Bike Waikato on Sunday 29 September 2024, where we discussed the work we achieved in the last year and brainstormed new ideas to help Bike Waikato grow. We would like to extend our thanks to our outgoing committee members who did a lot of work organising events and keeping things moving and congratulate our new committee members who have joined the fray.
We elected four members to the committee for this year and have jumped right into getting some awesome stuff under way. Melissa and Jackson are returning to the committee and we are welcoming Phil, who is managing the Bike Valet, and Chris, a new member eager to lend a hand and voice to improving infrastructure and the organisation’s scope. We are doing a slight revamp on our subcommittees as well as preparing a vision and purpose statement! So watch this space next month for a chance to join in the conversation.
With the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 established, it was also time to renew our constitution. It is broadly the same, with a new layout, some grammar changes, and the new requirements required by Act. For the nerds in the room check it out on our website bikewaikato.org.nz where it will be published in full!
The committee has decided to hold our next Annual General Meeting in July 2025. This will give us time before next year’s Biketober and the busy season and align with our statutory requirements (such as our financial reporting period). More details will follow.
Membership Revamp 👪
Bike Waikato wouldn’t be what it is without our members and donors and in recognition of this we want to be able to give back to our supporters. The committee is in the early stages of discussions about how to improve the value of membership. We don’t want to be totally advocacy driven, we also want to play a part in encouraging more cycling and developing a community (see our purpose statement above)! If you have your own ideas we would love to hear from you.
C is for Cycling (or a Cookie) 🔬
We are absolutely thrilled to announce that there has been a great leap forward in New Zealand based cycling studies! Our very own co-chairperson, Melissa Smith, has recently completed a Masters research project at the University of Waikato investigating and holistically categorising cycling infrastructure based on the level of safety it provides for that route. This was translated into a map of Kirikiriroa Hamilton’s (very fragmented) cycling routes.
What does this mean for cycling advocacy? It means we have a long way to go but we have a good understand of what works and what does not work when it comes to providing a safe journey. It also gives us another tool to use when advocating for safer cycling routes here in Hamilton and in the Waikato.
You can check out their thesis here! Warning: It is 87 pages long, but do check out the abstract and/or conclusion if you find the topic interesting.
