My research leave in New Zealand has two parts. The first part involved camping our way around the south island, taking the (very) long way between Christchurch and Dunedin. We worked in the morning–starting early so Sarah could overlap with Ontario in the afternoon yesterday. We’re both good now at scheduling meetings in Eastern Time. You just add 6 hours and subtract a day. So 6 am Tuesday for us, is noon Monday Eastern time. Later in the afternoons, after the ET workday ended, we hiked or biked or even, one day, kayaked.
Now, the second part begins, my visit to Philosophy at the University of Otago. We’ve got a tiny rental flat in St. Clair, and every day, I’ll be biking to work. If you know Dunedin, you’ll know that I’m not that close by local standards. It’s almost 8 km to campus. It is, however, a flat route to campus, which is significant given the local geography. Last time I was here I was closer, but I lived halfway up something they call “the city rise.” It was a very steep downhill commute from our flat to campus, and I never successfully made it up the hill home. Ultimately, for the first time in my life, I walked to work and riding became a recreational pursuit.
Here’s my commute. This version was extra-long on time because it had a stop for groceries.
So far in New Zealand I’ve done lots of recreational riding, some beautiful trails as well as some sketchy single track. Now it’s time to become a bike commuter again, on the left side of the road.
As a commuter that means getting used to local bike culture.
Here’s some of my observations so far:
🚴 There are a lot more cycle pathways–separate bike lanes–than there were when I was last here more than a dozen years ago. That’s great but the downside of that is that people expect you to know where they are and be in them. It’s taking us a bit to figure out routes using the bike lanes. There are also bike boxes at intersections. My fave thing is that there are also bike-specific traffic lights. Bikes get a green and no traffic is allowed to turn thus preventing bikes riding straight in the curbside bike lane from getting run over by people driving cars turning without looking. I Iike that a lot.
🚴The other thing that’s changed since I was here last is the proliferation of e-bikes. So many e-bikes. Like sometimes I feel like the last acoustic commuter in town. The university even has e-bike charging stations. Now given the city’s topography if I lived here I would also have an e-bike for commuting. There are places I just don’t go by bike because the hills are too steep to ride. Don’t suggest riding and then taking the bus as bikes are no longer allowed on the bike racks on the front of busses here. It turns out they block the headlights and there is a national rethink of how best to fit bikes on busses.
🚴 I know I can be annoying to local cyclists. First, I’m always signaling with the wrong arm. But I have to since I need to brake and signal and my rear brake is operated with my right hand. See this post for the explanation. I’m also slowing a lot coming into stops and intersections because I’m nervous about looking the right direction. I’m good with all of this driving on the left but on the bike I always need to keep track of where cars are and it takes a bit longer to process when I’m so conscious about it all.
🚴 Then there is the no small matter of the local weather. WIND! Whee! And also, unpredictable rain. Like a rainy day on the forecast doesn’t just mean it might rain. It means it will rain for a little bit in the morning, and then maybe again midafternoon and then thunderstorm at 7 pm. Storms move in fast and the radar isn’t as useful as it is at home. New Zealand is the middle of rather a lot of ocean and the weather is wild and unpredictable.
🚴The Otago campus is a “walk your wheels” zone. That varies from university to university. Guelph is a “ride slowly and yield to pedestrians” campus which I prefer but the building Otago Philosophy is in is right on the edge of campus, so all good.
🚴 Bike theft is less of an issue here so we’re locking our bikes up outside but we’re not being as careful as we are at home about taking off all the lights.
