Hans Penning leads to Cyclists Protection Association formed in South Australia in 1976 and federal lobby group

Part of the plan for the Port Adelaide Enfield area section of the Adelaide metropolitan bike network in South Australia that was initially mapped by Hans Penning.

Hans Penning was the energetic leader of what became the Cyclist Protection Association (CPA) in 1976, a group that started the push for greater awareness of cycling in urban planning.

After making its presence felt though rallies of hundreds of cyclists in the 1970s, the association became involved in the practical aspects of city planning related to cycling. These included 40 km/h urban speed limits, the linear park and O-Bahn, Tea Tree Gully bikeway system, the Emerson Crossing, Adelaide parklands and bicycle parking areas.

The Cyclist Protection Association had a national effect when a president Darrell Penhale in 1979 initiated the Bicycle Federation of Australia, the peak lobby body representing more than 20,000 cyclists nationally.

The association was involved in the planning of the West Side Bikeway to Glenelg, using the skills of Eric Clothier. The state government gave it $200,000 to prepare a Metropolitan Bike Plan.

In 1982, the Cyctlist Protection Association was also active behind the scenes creating the SA Touring Cyclists Association (later to become Bike SA) to focus on touring cyclists’ interests.

Other initiatives of the Cyclist Protection Association included encouraging a Cycle Commute Day that became Ride to Work, also taken up nationally. Hans Penning devoted a day a week over five years 1992-97 to map the Adelaide metropolitan bike path network that became Bike Direct.

After changing its name to the Bicycle Institute of South Australia, the group’s vote to amalgamate with Bike SA failed in 2001.

Bike SA has since taken up a much higher public profile in the advocating for everyday cyclists.