Johannesburg residents are encouraged to take out their bicycles and participate in the third Freedom Ride on 22 March, which is the final event of the Cycle Jozi Week to be held from 16 to 22 March 2015 to promote cycling in the city.
Thousands of cyclists are expected to participate in the ride between Sandton and Alexandra. The Freedom Ride of 27 kilometres symbolically links up communities separated by apartheid. Cyclists will be riding through Houghton, Rosebank and past the Zoo Lake as part of this route.
The Cycle Jozi Week will start with a community cycling safety and awareness event in Fourways, where helmets and reflective jackets will be handed out to cyclists from the Diepsloot area when they attend a safety awareness talk. Cyclists will then participate in a cycle ride from Fourways to Diepsloot.
The next day, Tuesday, the focus shifts to the Orlando community with a cycle ride focusing on learners and encouraging them to use the newly launched cycle lanes in this area. The cycle ride starts at 14:30 at Orlando High School. A training workshop for engineers and planners involved in designing and building cycling infrastructure will be held at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) on 18 and 19 March. International and local experts will discuss the technical planning, design and engineering required for a cycle friendly city.
University staff and students are urged to join participants on a lunchtime ride along the recently constructed bicycle lanes in Braamfontein. This ride on Wednesday 18th March will start from UJ Bunting Road, on corner of Bunting and Annet Road and goes up to Wits main entrance at corner of Jorrison and Yale Road.
The training workshop will be followed by a national cycling cities workshop on 20 March that will explore the challenges of scaling up cycling in cities, examine international best practice and explore the possible development of a National Cycle Cities Framework. #Decongest will also launch Cycle Fridays at Mandela Square in Sandton in preparation for the Freedom Ride. Sandton residents and workers are encouraged to cycle to work and join in the Cycle Friday ride from 12.30pm.
The Cycle Jozi Week is aimed at encouraging cycling to reduce traffic congestion, reduce carbon emissions from cars and promote a healthy life style.
Cyclists can register for the Freedom Ride on www.freedomride.org.za or on the FreedomRideJozi Facebook page.
Click here to view the Cycle Jozi Week programme: https://www.cyclingsa.com/s/20150311_Cycle-week-programme_Final_EB.pdf
Click here to view the Cycle Jozi Week cycle paths: https://www.cyclingsa.com/s/20150311_CycleWeek-Jozi-Cycle-Paths_EB.pdf
For more details on the above activities and to find out how you can register or get involved go to www.joburg.org.za . To register for the SAICE workshop on 18 and 19th March, please go to www.carlamani.co.za/cyclejoziworkshop to book your place.
