WHEN Yarraville social worker Zoe Hancock hops on her bike each weekday, it’s more than just the cheapest way to get to work.
Her daily ride from Yarraville to the Royal Women’s Hospital in Parkville is a chance to experience one of her favourite activities and start each day on the right foot.
“I love it. I’ve been on a bike since I was four years old, ” Ms Hancock says. “Riding is part of my fabric. You’re out in the fresh air, you feel good doing it.”
At the end of the workday she finds the ride is a chance to clear her head and arrive home feeling good — whatever has happened through the day.
“I’m a social worker and I find it is a very good way to break up the working day. It keeps me fit and it keeps me happy.”
Ms Hancock is one of 150,000 people expected to ride next Wednesday on Ride2Work Day, Australia’ biggest celebration of getting to work by self-propulsion.
Bicycle Network’s Ride2Work co-ordinator Cory Boardman says people don’t have to wear lycra to ride to work.
“Riding to work is for everyone, no matter what you wear. There are people in suits, in jeans, or in their exercise gear.”
Ms Hancock said she had seen more people riding around Maribyrnong in recent years, taking advantage of better infrastructure, including new bike lanes.
“There are still people who don’t like to ride on the roads, but I find in peak hour it’s not actually so bad as the traffic is moving more slowly, so I feel safer. I ride defensively; I keep an eye out on the traffic.”
There remains one negative to riding for Ms Hancock – the notorious Shepherd Bridge crossing of the Maribyrnong River.
“It is such a ratty piece of tar there. When you’re passing someone it’s very tight and you’ve got trucks shooting down the road — that is one thing we would all like to see fixed,” she says.
Maribyrnong Council will host a free Ride2Work breakfast at the corner of Moreland and Napier streets, Footscray, from 7.30-9am next Wednesday.
Police will also be engraving bikes to increase the chance of retrieving one if stolen.
