![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/onecms_1lneukmcos7um5qoz6f_1146mowkjk0.jpg\")
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Robert Fleming. Photo: Geoff Sloan<\/p>\n
Spending five days in hospital after being hit by a car was the catalyst cyclist Robert Fleming needed to dedicate his spare time to making Christchurch streets safer for cyclists.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just the usual broken ribs and stuff, but it did linger for quite a while,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The enforced downtime in 2013 gave him space to think.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I think the city\u2019s got to be a little bit better for riding a bike than it is at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The drive to make a change saw Fleming, 72, attend a Spokes Canterbury meeting as soon as he was able to.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sat quietly for the first year and learned a lot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Over the last 12 years, he has contributed to the volunteer cycling advocacy group\u2019s submissions and made his own deputations to community boards.<\/p>\n
He later became treasurer and organised Spokes\u2019 annual Biketober event for five years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing I can do is soft touch, subtle advocacy \u2013 getting people to see what it\u2019s about,\u201d Fleming said.<\/p>\n
After retiring as a pharmacist last year, Fleming began volunteering for Medical Aid Abroad, helping sort and analyse unused medication.<\/p>\n
The charity, with has bases in Auckland and Christchurch, sends surplus in-date medicine and supplies to developing countries in the Pacific for possible re-use.<\/p>\n
However, Fleming\u2019s real passion is coordinating the Wednesday Wheelies.<\/p>\n
Every Wednesday at 9am, cyclists, mostly aged between 60 and 80, meet at the St Albans Community Centre.<\/p>\n
Groups of up to 12, each led by an experienced rider, take on a different route each week.<\/p>\n
In the past year, the average number of riders each week has gone from 42 to 56, Fleming said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe highest number of riders we ever had was 75.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fleming said the group\u2019s popularity was helpful when advocating for better cycling infrastructure in the city.<\/p>\n
His volunteer work with Wednesday Wheelies earned him a civic award last year for services to cycling.<\/p>\n
The citation described him as \u201ca quiet enabler who, through his good nature, strong people and organisational skills, and sheer hard work has made Christchurch a better place to live.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was nice that my work is appreciated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Fleming continues to advocate for his fellow riders and make cycling safer for all.<\/p>\n
Cycleways, he says, have always been a contentious issue, but they remain key to change, encouraging and giving more cyclists the confidence to ride on the city\u2019s roads.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Christchurch drivers are 10 times better than they were, and that\u2019s purely because there are not many roads these days where you don\u2019t come across a cyclist on your travels.”<\/p>\n
As cycling becomes increasingly popular in Christchurch, Fleming says he will be part of it for as long as he can.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll carry on doing what I\u2019m doing, as long as I can get out of bed in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city council\u2019s cycle counters back up his optimism.<\/p>\n
In 2024, a record 4.08 million counts were logged across 31 locations \u2013 up from 3.8m in 2023 and 3.6m in 2022.<\/p>\n
Since the first counters were installed in 2016, cycleway use has increased by more than 30% across the network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robert Fleming. Photo: Geoff Sloan Spending five days in hospital after being hit by a car was the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-143915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}