The UCI Road World Championships has been called the Ride of Your Life, Wollongong’s Olympic moment, a once-in-a-lifetime event. But it’s bigger than that. The Flame spoke to Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM
The UCI event is more than a cycling competition, says Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM. It’s a chance to lift our spirits, showcase our city to the world and boost the cultural shift towards planet-friendly transport.
And that’s a reason to celebrate, which is why council is throwing a spring carnival called Spin Fest, a month of cycling-related events popping up everywhere from Helensburgh to Cringila.
“I think it’s very important that it’s not just about a cycling event,” Cr Bradbery says.
“It’s coming up to spring … I’m looking forward to warmth. We’re emerging from the Covid situation, the rain events – it’s been a miserable winter – and from my perspective, the Spin Fest is not just about UCI and adding to that mix, but it’s also about creating opportunities for people to get out and have a good time – to lift the spirits of the people of the city.”
It’s a wintry day for our photo shoot with the Lord Mayor at Helensburgh Skate Park, marked by grey skies, a gentle drizzle and a rash of graffiti that will need painting over before the family-friendly Spin Fest comes to town. Spirits, however, are already high, thanks to a crew of Helensburgh Off Road Cycle Club (Horcc) riders rolling up after their Friday morning ride – a regular adventure on local bushland trails, followed by a coffee.
“That’s the main thing,” jokes club leader Dave Eccles, as the mountain riders demonstrate some skills before heading off to a local cafe.
Founded about 15 years ago, Horcc has become a strong part of the local sporting community. Its members built the oval’s popular bike trails and the club will field a team of about 24 volunteers from 3-6pm at Spin Fest Helensburgh.
On Friday, 23 September, this free festival is set to be both a celebration of cycling, and a fun start to the school holidays.
“We’ve got Specialized demo bikes coming along, short movies on a big-screen TV in a marquee, some skills training,” Dave says.
“If people bring along a bike and helmet, we’ll go through basic skills, also a few demonstrations on bike maintenance. We’ll also have tandem bikes for joy rides on the oval.
“We’ll have track-stand competition too, which is just a bit of fun.”
As well as Horcc’s activities, there’ll be demos by skate, scooter and BMX pros, food trucks, a circus playground and entertainment. Helensburgh BMX legend Kai Sakakibara will be there to chat to fans. And everyone is invited to take part in the Dress Up Your Bike competition.
The event at Helensburgh Skate Park is part of a wider Spin Fest, held at libraries, beaches and cycling tracks, featuring everything from bike demos to live music, a photographic history of cycling and inflatable sculptures at Crown St Mall.
“I just invite everyone to be engaged where they feel comfortable,” the Lord Mayor says.
“Not everyone’s into cycling … I know there’s going to be some challenges, but that’s like anything in life. If you do something new and different, there are going to be challenges as well as advantages.
“But let’s throw our weight behind this and enjoy ourselves for once.”
After a tough couple of years, and the recent winter wave of sickness, he believes Wollongong has earned the right to celebrate.
“I think we deserve a pat on the back and I’d like to congratulate the community, and engage the community in a celebratory way.”
Ahead of the UCI races, Cr Bradbery kindly took time out of a busy schedule to chat.
What memories do you have of learning to ride?
I didn’t have a bike, but my next-door neighbour had one, sufficiently that I could get on as a child. It was an adult bike, but it was a girl’s bike, so you didn’t have the bar. Remember, there used to be boy’s bikes and girls bikes?
So I was able to borrow that every now and again and learnt to ride, but never was an overly confident cyclist until my wife and I acquired a couple of mountain bikes around about 2002, just before we were to be married. We were cycling down the South Coast and had a great time. And then she came off the bike, two weeks out from our wedding. So, fun and games …
I’ve got two sons and my previous appointment was in the Sutherland Shire at Como, and we used to go on regular rides across the Como cycleway, the old rail bridge to Oatley. My boys always had bikes. And so, as a father, I had to also jump on one. So it was just part of parenthood. It more or less pushed me into riding bikes.
Do you have a favourite cycling route?
I’m not a cyclist now. I’m more concerned about the implications of coming off and I take a lot longer to repair at 71. So as far as cycling paths go, just what I’ve observed, I think people enjoy riding around the lake, the Lake Illawarra cycleway is very popular. And then along Spring Hill Road.
A lot of time and work has gone into preparing for the UCI event. When did it all start for you?
About three or four years ago, I then went off to have a look at the UCI event in Harrogate, in Yorkshire. That was pre Covid, about three years ago. So I got an idea of how it all works … its implications for Harrogate were immense, in terms of stimulation of the local economy, the number of visitors. It’s rather an interesting situation because the weather that we are experiencing in Wollongong at the present time is very similar to what was going on at Yorkshire – they had had flooding. And the event certainly went ahead but, boy, it was challenged at times. But they got through it.
And it also really put Harrogate on the map. As it will for Wollongong.
What are you most proud of achieving?
It’s not so much my achievement, but it’s a collaborative thing between the state government and UCI and Wollongong City Council.
From my perspective, it’ll showcase the city. It’s an opportunity for us, not only to look at the opportunities for cycling, and being designated a Bike City, under the UCI nomenclature, it’s also about the fact that we can showcase Wollongong to the world. We are not just a steel city. We’re a destination now.
This will put us on the map – in the cycling fraternity anyway – around the world, with millions and millions of viewers, who will not only look at the event, but also see the surrounds that go with it, and it has implications for our tourism.
And also, I think it’ll lift the spirits of the city and the pride in the city.
What do you hope the UCI event will mean for Wollongong in the long run?
I think the amount of investment that we’ve put into cycling facilities, like the Cringila mountain biking park, the Criterium track at Unanderra, the focus upon cycling, then will lift the expectations of the residents for cycling, and give it a higher priority in terms of our fitness, as well as transport opportunities.
There are lots of legacy issues involved here.
Not only that, but also I was only thinking, after all the rain events, we’ve got a lot of extra roads re-surfaced. [He laughs.] The focus upon filling potholes and bringing those road surfaces up to a higher standard has certainly benefitted us.
But it’s also been a focus of council to put in more cycleways and pathways and things of that nature, so that you’ll be able to get around the city, the full length of the city, which is about 40, 50 kilometres long – you’ll be able to ride from one end to the other. That, I do think, will be a marvellous addition to our activities, and more specifically to the Grand Pacific way that goes down parallel to Lawrence Hargrave Drive.
How do you feel about Wollongong becoming a cycling city?
Well, we’re going to have to get our head around the fact that, into the future, cars take up a lot of resources. And so anything that also adds to the mix of transport – cycling in lots of parts of the world is for transport, not for recreation – this is a cultural shift in Australia to get our heads around, utilising cycling a bit more efficiently and effectively to take some of the pressure off the use of fossil fuels and things of that nature.
It needs to be better integrated with public transport. So you can take your bike with you on the train or use a locker at the station.
[Wollongong] is a great place for cycling … but it has to transition away from just being for recreation over into a major contributor to our transport opportunities.
Where will you be watching the races?
Preferably, I’ll be down around the area at Lang Park – simply because it means that I can also get back to the office and do mayor things.
So a bit of multitasking?
It’ll be a case of dropping down to have a look at the events, as well as the hospitality that will be required on the part of the mayor of the city. So juggling all those bits and pieces.
But the point is that I’ll be able to walk between the hospitality venue, which will probably be the Old Court House, and then back to my office.
I’ll be doing a lot of walking that week – and avoiding road closures and those things that way.
Visit www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au
Wollongong 2022
The UCI Road World Championships in numbers:
18-25 September 2022
1 of the world’s top 5 sporting events
8 days of competition
11 World Championship races
1000+ riders
70+ countries represented
300,000 spectators lining the course
300 million viewers globally
$95 million in economic benefit for Wollongong, NSW and Australia
1: Wollongong is the only UCI Bike City in the Southern Hemisphere, joining a network of 18 international cities that celebrate and champion cycling
The source: for more details on everything UCI, including road closures, visit wollongong2022.com.au