Nicola Davis has been a keen cyclist all her life. Like many people, she first jumped on a bike as a kid, then rode to school as a teenager and now rides to her “office” – the bike shop she owns with her husband, Paul.
In her spare time, she cycles with her two daughters and is part of a women’s cycling group and Whittlesea’s Bicycle Users Group.
BUG, as the organisation is nicknamed, was established in early 2010, catering to the growing needs of the Whittlesea community.
“With all the recent growth, there have been so many more families and cyclists on the road in this area, and council picked up on the requests for cycling groups in the area,” Davis says of BUG’s inception, adding that they advocate for the community, lobbying for better local cycling infrastructure.
This Sunday, the organisation is running the first of its beginners’ training sessions, which will give participants the opportunity to learn bicycle basics such as braking, balancing, cornering and changing gears. The free sessions will be run by two BUG members who have completed an AustCycle training course, thanks to money received from a community grant.
Training will be broken into two sessions of two hours each: a women’s only session in the morning and a mixed group in the afternoon. “We felt sometimes females, especially migrant females, are a bit more self-conscious at trying [new] things,” says Davis. “But just as many migrant females have asked about the mixed group as female-only. That’s good. It shows that everyone’s coming together.”
It’s not the first time BUG has provided training to the local migrant community.
Earlier this year the group worked with Whittlesea Connections and the Whittlesea Healthy Communities Initiative to give migrant children and their families the opportunity to hop on a bike in a safe, social environment. Davis hopes for more of these sessions.
In the meantime, her own recreational rides take her to a variety of places, depending on the company. “If I’ve got the kids I head to the local lakes with all the ducks and the play area, but with the ladies I ride with, we might ride to Whittlesea, stop at a cafe, and then come back.”
Davis says it’s the ease of bike riding that’s made it such a longstanding interest.
“You can jump on a bike and go, whereas with a car you’ve got to get it out of the garage,” she says.
“And at the moment, with all the roadworks, it’s so much quicker to get on a bike. It takes me five minutes to drop my daughter to kinder on the bike trailer, as opposed to 30 minutes sitting in traffic just to get out of the estate.”
Davis wishes more parents would consider bikes as a transport option. “I think most car journeys in Australia are less than five kilometres.”
The training sessions are on July 29 at City of Whittlesea Civic Centre, 25 Ferres Boulevard, South Morang. The women-only session is from 10am–noon and the mixed session is from 1pm–3pm. Registration is essential.
Details: call Tori on 0438 574 213 or email whittleseabug@gmail.com
