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Date: 3/4/2026
Subject: Bike North Chain Reaction 4 March 2026
From: Bike North


4 March 2026	Your Bike North NewsLETTER

Are your Emergency Contact Details correct?

As your circumstances may have changed since you initially provided the club with these details,

or alternatively, your emergency contact’s details may have changed, please take a few minutes to log on to the Bike North website to review this information.

Step 1: Log on to the Bike North website and select ‘Profile’ from the drop-down menu under your name.

Step 2: Select ‘Basic Member Information’ card

Step 3: Scroll to the bottom of the page to review your ‘Emergency Contact Information’

Step 4: Make any updates as required and hit the ‘SAVE’ button.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Safety Doesn’t Happen by Accident

Safety doesn’t happen by accident and Bike North will be conducting a year long focus on ensuring we have done everything possible to ensure the safety of our riders. Read on for more information about this new initiative and what you can do to help all riders return home safely at the end of a ride.

All Bike North members should be aware of our warning that exists on every ride listing and read at every pre-ride briefing.

Part of this says: “As a participant in this dangerous recreational activity, you may be exposing yourself to a significant risk of harm….”

Despite this, Bike North has an enviable reputation for safety and lack of incidents on our rides. But, as the heading states, safety doesn’t happen by accident.

All our rides are assessed by the Rides Committee for safety. During this assessment process, often changes are made to use safer paths or backstreets. Ride leaders are trained in how to safely lead rides and are reassessed every three years to ensure maximum concentration on safety so that everyone has a safe, enjoyable ride.

Riders also must ride in a safe and responsible manner. Through the balance of 2026, Bike North will be undertaking a focussed approach to safety, rather than it just happening by accident.

Each month, we will have a different focus with articles in Chain Reaction backed up by our Ride Leaders focusing on things that will improve our safety. This will include things like overlapping wheels and travelling too closely, use of lights, defensive riding, walkers on paths, etc.

Every rider must be part of our program and will be the beneficiary by improving the way we organise our rides. So, keep an eye on Chain Reaction, click through to our special articles and ensure safety doesn’t just happen by accident.

Brian Lynne

Rides coordinator | Bike North

www.bikenorth.org.au

Tour de Cowra:

Experience the Freedom of the Open Road

If you love the freedom of wide-open roads, rolling countryside and riding at your own pace, then Tour de Cowra this Easter is calling your name.

Tour de Cowra offers the chance to enjoy some of regional NSW’s most scenic and lightly trafficked roads over several days of independent riding. No traffic congestion, no rush, just the rhythm of your pedalling, the beauty of the landscape unfolding around you and the camaraderie of fellow members sharing the experience.

A range of routes are available each day, including road and gravel options. Register for each ride via the Bike North calendar.

Before heading to Cowra, we strongly encourage you to download and print the route maps and cue sheets. While routes can be loaded onto devices such as Garmin or Strava, having a printed copy is a wise backup, particularly in areas with limited reception. Preparation will make your weekend smoother.

Arrange a bike service ahead of time, check your car, and book your accommodation early, as Cowra fills quickly over the Easter break.

Join us for fresh country air, open horizons and great company — Tour de Cowra is open-road cycling at its best!

Tour de Cowra sub-committee

cowra@bikenorth.org.au

Ride Leader Interview

Our Ride Leaders do a great job, putting on rides for us all to enjoy but do you really know them? To change this, we plan to do “interviews” with a number of our volunteer Ride Leaders, the first being Kerry Tipton.

What is your favourite ride? - Como Loop, one I often lead.

What do you love about cycling? That’s easy. It can take you just about everywhere a car can but in such a way that you can fully experience the journey.

We all have a favourite coffee stop. What is yours? Again, an easy one. It’s the Blackfish Cafe at Como. What a view and who can resist the bacon and egg rolls?

Do you have a pet peeve about cycling? I hate illegal electric motorcycles on bike paths. It makes me smoulder when they zoom past.

Is there one thing you want new riders to know? Yes 17 to 19 km per hour is the average speed over the ride, not the speed limit for the ride. To achieve this, cruising on the flat would be around 22kph, faster on descents but slower on climbs.

How did you come to join Bike North? My mechanic was a cyclist and helped me get back into cycling in my twenties. He had heard of this new bike club meeting at Meadowbank wharf, not far from where I lived at the time. I rocked up for one of the anyone-can-come Saturday morning rides (this was in 1997) and by the end of the ride I was filling out a membership form

How has cycling changed your life? Cycling has changed my life more than for most, I think. It keeps me fit, is my main mode of transport and greatest pleasure, not to mention joining Bike North greatly expanded my social life

What is your current job or, if retired what did you do? I am currently a legal assistant at a law firm in North Ryde

What is something that most BN members wouldn't know about you? I love photography and use it as a way of making a living record of my life to help me recall and relive good times. Today’s modern phones give excellent quality and are always at your fingertips.

Interviewed by Brian Lynne

Ride Coordinator | Bike North

www.bikenorth.org.au

The next Big Rides Day will be held on Sunday 19 April 2026. Put the date in your diary now and keep an eye on the Calendar to register for a ride.

Your favourite ride

Why not tell us about your favourite ride and we will share it with the club in an upcoming edition of Chain Reaction. Click here to share.

CHAIN REACTION ARTICLE DEADLINE

Bike North members are keen to hear about your rides and ideas. Send your article to editor@bikenorth.org.au by 1.00pm each Tuesday for publication in our weekly newsletter Chain Reaction or for your article to be added to our News library.
Before sending your ideas please read the Guidelines for Contributors.

Submit your article

BICYCLE NSW DISCOUNT

Did you know that membership of Bike North entitles you to a 15% discount on a membership to Bicycle NSW? Use code 15NORTH when you join or renew. Bicycle NSW members receive global, comprehensive (personal accident and public liability) rider insurance and a range of other benefits as well as advocacy and legal support.

Find out more

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