Bike festival gathers pace

RARE and unusual bikes will be on show during the national Alternative Cycling Festival and 2007 Oz Human Powered Vehicle (OzHPV) Challenge at Casey Fields criterium track, Cranbourne on Sunday 1 April.
Alternative cycling machines will include recumbent trikes, lowracers, tall bikes, fully streamlined hitech recumbents, modular bikes, vintage cycles, faired cycles, unicycles, handcycles, pedalpowered loadcarrying vehicles, chopper bicycles, lowrider bicycles, folding bicycles, tandems, homebuilt recycled masterpieces and even conventional bikes used in different ways.
OzHPV organiser Alan Ball said the national body was grateful for assistance from the Casey Cardinia HPV and Cycling Club in bringing the national event to Cranbourne.
Activities will include free rides on folding bikes, recumbents, unicycles, and tandems.
A roaming radar speed gun will be in action and people will be able to sit in a speed bike built to beat the 130 kilometresanhour world pedal speed record.
A highlight will be a speed bike pursuit race.
A range of cycles will do battle in a series of challenging and competitive events to find the best overall design for a humanpowered vehicle (HPV).
Any design is allowed provided it doesn’t have a motor.
Events are designed to test different aspects of performance and range from a fun loadtesting shopping race to a flying 200metre run speeds of up to 80 km/h are expected.
Visitors can challenge themselves by entering an event, even on regular bikes. The question is will the aerodynamics, ultralight frames or athletic trim competitors win?
Several high tech bikes have been built in Melbourne to attempt the current world unassisted pedal powered speed record, but this speed cannot be reached on the Cranbourne track. Events run from 10am to 5pm. Admission is free, with an optional gold coin donation towards festival costs.