The beauty of bicycling.

There are so many benefits to cycling for transport but sometimes, it is just easier to drive. I am guilty of using the car when I should really ride my bike: yes! I know. Terrible. There are some simple ways to make the transport decision easier; I'm writing this post to remind myself as much as anything!

Keep your bike somewhere that is easily accessible
If your bike is stored in the back of a dusty shed and you have to clamber over the lawnmower, storage boxes and power tools to get to it, you're not going to be doing this at 8.25am when you're supposed to leave for work. You're more likely to grab the car keys - stored within easy reach - and jump in the car that's parked right outside your house. It's important to keep your bike secure but the easier it is to get to, the more likely you'll be to wheel it out and jump on! And if it's waiting at or near the front door, you're going to see it when you're getting ready to leave - what a great reminder!

Adapt your wardrobe to suit the ride
Now, I'm not talking replacing all your smart work clothes with lycra; it's about dressing to suit your commute. (Ka-ching! Cue corny rhyme.) I am lucky that it's a seven-minute ride from my front door to the office, so I generally don't raise a sweat, unless of course it is 45 degrees Celsius (which in summer, it usually is!). For me, now is the perfect time of year to be riding to work and general transport, with sunny, crisp mornings and pleasant daytime temperatures. When I had further to travel on the bike to work, I adapted by wearing cycling gear and getting changed (or showered and changed) once I got to work. It takes a little more preparation and organisation (forgot your undies? only packed one sock? forgot your work shoes? I am nodding yes to all these, and more) but you'll soon get into your own routine. I leave my tailored jacket at work and usually a pair of work shoes under my desk. Given that I've got such a short ride these days, I just wear my work clothes on the bike, usually dresses or skirts with leggings or stockings underneath and a scarf and warm layers when it's icy cold.

The little things count
Accessorise! And by that, I mean make sure your bike is prepared. Does it get dark early where you live? Add some flashing lights to your bike and leave them in place so it's one less thing to think about. Make sure you've got a lock or somewhere safe to store your bike once you get to your destination. Helmets are mandatory when riding on the road in all Australian states and territories, so make sure you've got one that fits correctly and meets Australian standards. Do you need to carry a backpack or does your bike have a basket or panniers to stow your things while you ride? Other small details include reflector bands in case you ride in heavy traffic, a chain guard if you don't want to worry about rolling up your pants, and clear glasses to keep your eyes protected and your vision clear on drizzly days.

Other ideas for making the decision to cycle a no-brainer include planning your route and timing it, so you know how long to factor in; incorporate as many cycleways, shared bike paths and bike lanes where you can, so you don't have to worry about traffic; find a buddy to ride with, if you need extra motivation; and start small by taking small trips on your bike on the weekend until you get used to cycling around!

One of my favourite things about cycling to work is the ride home again. It's the best feeling to leave the office, jump on my shiny red bike and pedal away the day. Once I get home I'm ready to relax* and refreshed for the next day.

What about you? Got any tips to share?



*Err, by relax, I really mean walking the dogs, making dinner and then hitting the textbooks for a couple of hours uni work...but you get the drift, yeah?

Alice Springs Sunday

Back home in Alice Springs, what better way to start off a Sunday than a leisurely bike ride and coffee. My friend and I have almost matching bikes so we set off for a lazy pedal along the river bike path, then back into town for a coffee. Just the right pace for a Sunday.

Hope you're enjoying the weekend, whatever you're doing!

There's a new bike shop in town.

It would be true to say that I love me a good bike shop. There's a combination of factors that, I believe, make up a good bike shop. An interest in your customers is one of these things, and a willingness to listen to what their needs are. Also not being judgemental or elitist. Or talking down at people.

Notice I haven't said anything about what brand of bikes they sell or how much floor stock the shop carries or how loud and cool the music is.

Back in the Adelaide days, I used to do some weekend bike shop work in one of the larger stores. I'm not a super expert on all things technical and there were some questions I couldn't answer, but I always got a kick out of seeing a customer feel confident in their new bicycle purchase. Even if they had no idea about bikes and especially if they had initially felt uncomfortable in what can be a very 'blokey' space.

Anyway, I digress. There are now three bike shops in Alice Springs, and the newest of these is Smith St Velo. The chap there is friendly and the workshop is very well kitted out. There's a small-ish range of bikes but they're pretty on the mark in terms of the Alice Springs market (especially for non-cyclist bike riders), with mountain bikes, flat bar road bikes and a heap of Electra Townies and funky cruisers.

If you're in town, have a visit! Or check out their Facebook here.

Other favourite bike shops of mine are Treadly in Adelaide, Oxygen Cycles in McLaren Vale and Over the Edge in Melrose, South Australia.

This week on Instagram.

Here's a snippet from my Instagram feed this week. How was your week? I happily pedalled around on my shiny new bike, drank coffee and tea and spent a busy week at work. It even rained heavily for a couple of minutes yesterday! An exciting thing here in the desert. Now, it's off to finish an assignment for uni - this time, I've got the deadline right. Happy weekending to you!

I used to be a bike snob.

It's true, I confess. Bikes had to be superlight and superfast. Aesthetics combined with technical superiority were paramount. Admittedly, I was a little spoilt for choice. I used to test ride bicycles and write reviews as part of my job, so I knew what good bikes were made of. Usually carbon fibre.

These days, I'm not so snobby. Actually, not at all. I don't really care what a bike weighs or what it's made of, if it brings the rider the joy of discovering the world in a new way, or a healthier way to get to work. Here in Alice Springs, cycling is an ideal way to get around, as it's mostly flat and not too far to get around town. Bikes need to be able to handle rough and bumpy road surfaces, and thorn-proof tubes and tyres are a must.

I've just added a new little number to my collection of bikes. This one is red. It has a basket and a bell. It's a singlespeed. It's got shiny red mudguards and a rack on the back. It's a little bit heavy heavy and it rattles. It has a kickstand. It was cheap and I bought it through Facebook and what's more, I LOVE it. It's perfect for pedalling lazily on warm (hot) summer days. To work, to the shops, to the pub. I'm imagining lots of summer adventures on this little beauty.

There's nothing light or fast about this new bicycle of mine, and I like it that way.

Summer in September (A 'Stills' Post).

Another week was spent working in Darwin. This time around, I was more prepared for the humidity and how to grapple with my hair. I even managed two early morning runs, in about 95% humidity (and had to apologise profusely to the elderly couple I shared the hotel lift with afterwards!). Back at home, my weekend was spent lazily swimming, drinking coffee, doing uni work and riding to the shops on my shiny new bike. (More about the bike soon!)

I also came across this video over the weekend. It tells the story of Garrawarra Cemetery, an overgrown bush cemetery in the northern reaches of Wollongong, NSW, where more than 2,000 tuberculosis patients were buried in the first half of the 20th century. One of those buried there is my great-great-grandmother, Florence, whose photograph appears in the film. Watching the film made me remember the stories told to me by my great-grandmother, about her mother becoming ill with 'consumption', having to care for her mum and her siblings until Florence was taken to the Sanitorium and my Gran and her siblings to girls' and boys' homes and then foster families. Florence was only 36 when she died. Florence was a singer in the Tivoli circuit, and Gran remembered her as having the 'voice of an angel'. I can't imagine what it must have been like. Nowadays, the cemetery is overgrown and closed to the public.

1. Those chickens just keep on growing.
2. It's shiny, it's red and it has a basket. Perfect for Alice Springs, perfect for summer.
3. The scruffy author.
4. Bright colours from the loungeroom floor, newspaper-reading.
5. Some of the many tomatoes budding on our plants.
6. Kale growing quickly.
7. Deliciously hued bedspread I picked up from Darwin's Mindil Beach Market.

And a link to lovely Em at the Beetle Shack for the Stills linky!

This week in Alice Springs.

One of the great things about living in Alice Springs is that there is always something interesting going on. This week it's the Alice Desert Festival, and we happened - accidentally! - to catch the opening Street Carnival. Parading down the Todd Street Mall was a cacophony of sound, from the town crier (yes! we still have one of those!) to an Afro-Cuban-style marching band, a troupe of drummers from a local Aboriginal school (the Drum Atweme team) and an enormous, slow-moving musical caterpillar. The group of colourfully decorated bicycles in the picture above formed part of the parade.

We also attended a community forum this week that looked at the devastating issue of violence in Central Australia. The statistics are sobering: if you are an Aboriginal woman in Alice Springs, you are 24 times more likely to experience violence than non-Aboriginal women. The majority of this is family violence inflicted by an intimate partner. Alcohol plays a big part. It's a political hot potato and of grave concern for the wider community - the 250-strong audience can attest to that. I tweeted throughout the forum (have a look at @girlplusbike and #walkinmyshoes) and whilst there was a lot of interesting discussion, I came away wondering, what are the outcomes? Where do we go from here? Read more about the forum here.

And in a funny little moment of observation this week, I witnessed this interaction between our two species of pets. One of our dogs, Missy, was lying down, quietly, on one side of the chicken wire, whilst our three chooks were pecking around on the other, each watching the other with a gentle curiosity. 

Not really a 'Stills' post but linking with The Beetle Shack nonetheless!

New rhythms.

A change of season.
New things to learn, a new job.
A different location, new routine.
A new focus.

And a new way to ride to work.

Finding the Happy.

 

Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.
- Omar Khayyám




top: yarnbombed bicycle art in Rundle Street, Adelaide, January 2012
bottom: Naomi Murrell 'Freewheelin' screenprint; framed mandalas by me

I used to be a Tour de France tragique.

This is a big confession, for two reasons. First of all, it signifies the past tense: used to be. Meaning, no longer am. And secondly, because tragic I was, indeed. In all fairness, cycling was my life and my work. I was a staff journalist at one of Australia's biggest cycling magazine publishing houses. I was paid to write about cycling, talk about cycling and think about cycling ALL THE TIME. It was great! I loved it.

I also got very little sleep at this time of the year, Tour de France time.

Right now, as I write this, I can hear the all-so-familiar tones of cycling's famous English-speaking commentators, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen, drifting from the lounge room. I still know most of the riders' names. I can picture the team tactics in my head without seeing the vision - sometimes fuzzy, sometimes fragmented by dropped-out satellites, sometimes without the audio and just the cheering of the crowd and sputtering of the media motorcycle as it weaves around riders and team vehicles.

I can see the dramatic steep ravines, the fields splashed with yellow sunflowers, the moonscape mountaintop and the cobbled village streets. The shirtless fans running crazily up the road alongside their compatriot. The flags, the campervans, the media trucks and the finish arch.

The team colours and names have changed, as they do from season to season when sponsors chop and change. Each year brings a slight alteration in the syntax of cycling style; one year, jerseys were fashioned with loose-fitting sleeves and riders took to cutting them off with scissors; another year saw longer socks than the previous. And who could forget the bright yellow rubber wristbands that spread like fire through the peloton (much like the more unsavoury practices now associated with that shade of yellow).

Let's take, for instance, 2005. See up above here? That's my name, the author of the pre-race write-up of the contenders for that year's edition of le Tour. That year, my TdF daily schedule went a little bit like this:

5:45am wake up
6:00am training ride
7:45am breakfast, shower
8:30am ride to work
5:30pm ride home from work
7:30pm work at home
9:30pm nap on the lounge
11:00pm start watching tour
1:30am go to bed

The next day, I'd rinse and repeat. I really don't know how I sustained this, considering I was on deadline for a major annual magazine and also going through a massive life change. How did I manage to keep deadline, stay upright on a bike, keep my eyes open at work? I'm not entirely sure. I think I ate a lot of bananas.

I remember when I first started learning about the tactics and how the race actually worked. My dad explained to me the timing system and the points and the way that the teams operated to shield their favoured rider, or to increase tempo to try and drop riders off the back, or how a rider in a breakaway group didn't 'have to' pull a turn depending on who was where in the peloton and the GC. Once I understood, I was hooked. From then on, me and July and the couch had a 21-day (or night) date.

Until now. I don't know what it is. I'm mildly interested, in the sense that I'm following without investing any energy or time. Was it the doping scandals that have doggedly plagued the Tour? Perhaps, partially at least.

I think we've just grown apart, le Tour et moi.

For now, à bientôt.

Yep, that's me spruiking a Stuart O'Grady t-shirt.

Bike stuff: Grips, saddle, pedals

A week or so ago I promised to tell you about some of my favourite bike gear. What better place to start than the stuff that makes things more comfortable. The contact points are where your body meet the bike and they're the first place to start if you find yourself walking like a veteran cowboy after a ride. Think hands/butt/feet and I will tell you about grips/saddles and pedals.

Favourite grips: Ergon GP1 BioKork
I love the shape of these grips, made with 40% cork from sustainable sources in Portugal. The rest of the grips claim to have eco-cred and you can read more about it here. What I like about them is the comfort they give whilst riding; the platform is shaped to support your palm and you can adjust the angle to suit your hands. I've got these on my mountain bike. Other models come with bar extensions which can be useful for longer distance riding where you need to move your hands around more.

Favourite saddle: Specialized Jett 143mm
Finding a saddle is a supremely personal thing. Everyone has different preferences and what is comfortable for me might be horrid for you and vice versa. So I can only go by what I know works for me, and that's the Specialized Jett. The aim of the game is to reduce pressure on sensitive parts of the anatomy and this saddle is shaped with a cut-out and comes with three different widths. I find these saddles so comfortable that I've got two - one for my mountain bike and one for my track bike. If it works, stick with it. Oh, and one last word about saddles - the plushest and softest won't necessarily be the most comfortable. It's all about supporting the sit bones.

Favourite pedals: Shimano DX
These are the best flat pedals I've ever come across. Not only are they cool brushed aluminium but they've got a good sized surface area and just enough in the way of spindles to keep your feet in place. Technically, they're a BMX pedal but I use them on my commuter bike. I've had them for years and they're the bomb.

{This is not a sponsored post! This is stuff I use and love myself.}

Bikes + art

= ARTCRANK

{Image: www.artcrank.com}

All the time, they're filling my Instagram feed with images that I LOVE!

What they do, in their own words, is described as thus:

Bikes are the world’s most fun, accessible way to get around. Posters are the world’s most fun, accessible art form. ARTCRANK™ brings them together.

They stage live events all around the place (the world, mostly USA/Europe) showcasing bicycle-inspired art.

Not sure that they will be coming to Alice Springs any time soon, so in the meantime I will keep ogling their instafeed.

You can do the same: 

ARTCRANK website

ARTCRANK Instagram

Happy weekending to you!

It's the weekend, and there are dark clouds brewing over Alice Springs. There's been a little bit of rain on and off the last couple of days, so there might be a few puddles around the place!

Here's a photo of my brother and I, tearing around our great-grandparents' property in Londonderry, NSW in around 1985. I love our muddy hands and my bare feet. And is that a Cabbage Patch Kids dress that I'm wearing?! Oh, the shame.

Happy (long) weekending to you, and whatever you end up doing, I hope it makes you smile! xo

The perfect bike.

I love the formula that bikey people use to describe their obsessive bicycle collecting: that the perfect number of bicycles is n + 1, where n = the number of bikes you currently own. There's always just another bike on the horizon, or at least the idea of such.

Since moving to Alice Springs a little more than a year ago, I've been pondering the qualities that would make the perfect bike for these conditions. I guess I'm thinking along the lines of a 'do anything, go anywhere' kind of bike, that you can jump on to ride to work or the shops, or head out exploring, or take short cuts on rough, sandy tracks, or even scoot along the singletrack on your way home from work.

In my thinking, this perfect bike would need the following qualities:

• tyres that are fast-rolling with enough bitey grip for unexpected off-roading
• thorn-proof tubes (or slime) to ensure that pesky prickles or glass don't slow things down
• flat bars for manoeuvering through traffic or singletrack
• front suspension forks for a little bit of give on the rough surfaces here
• one gear only - it's pretty flat here so no clunky derailleurs required
• wheel size = undecided! 26 inch or 700c or 29 inch or 27.5 inch...eek?!
• funky paint job
• not too flash
• tough enough to withstand being locked up at work or at the shops (or at the pub...)
• needs to be able to ride fast
• also needs to be able to ride slow

So, to narrow it down, kind of a mountain bike/flat bar roadbike/cyclocross-style town bike.

See, you get my problem!

What is your idea of the perfect bike? Is there even such a thing?

 Is it this?

Or maybe more like this?

Or perhaps a little like this?

26 or 29er?

They're everywhere now. And it's a topic of much debate. Rolling resistance. Manoeuvrability. Speed. Efficiency.

I'm talking about 26 or 29 inch mountain bike wheels, of course. There is no other debate in mountain biking, really. (Well, maybe 27 inch?) 

Thing is, I'm still very firmly planted on the side of the 26 inch wheel. My height (not that tall! 165cm) plays a big part in this. Small frame 29ers look a bit silly to me. Especially if they have that crazy angle stem to get the bars down low. I'm wondering how a small rider can throw around a 29er on tight, technical tracks, given the longer wheel base. 

The other thing is that I haven't actually ridden a 29er. And this makes me feel like I'm clinging onto the past like the 90s gym junky clings onto fluoro g-string leotards and scrunchies. Like I'm grasping onto my Walkman while everyone else has an iPod. Oh yes, that's me over there in the faux denim Lycra and Bolle wrap sunglasses wearing a stackhat.

It's been a couple of years since I've worked in the bike industry, and in that time I guess I haven't really kept abreast of these changes as well as I could have.

What do you think? Have you converted to 29ers? Are you unsure which wheel size you prefer? Or are you like me, completely happy with your 26-inch and resisting the change?

Riding to work.

Do you ride your bike to work?

I recently came across this fun graphic that delves into the myths about cycling as a way of getting around. (It was produced by BikeArlington)

I love riding for transport, and whilst I don't ride to work every single day (sometimes it's just too hot here in Alice Springs, or it's easier to get a lift with my partner, or I just feel like walking!) but wherever I can, I choose to bike it. Alice Springs is great for cycling, for the most part - it's mostly flat, there is a reasonable network of pathways/cyclepaths, and it's a small enough town to make it not too far to get around.

My ride-to-work essentials are a good lock, a small face towel (for those 40+ summer days!), tyre sealant, a helmet, sunglasses, small flashing front and rear lights for unexpected overtime, and a handy bag (I love Crumpler bags for on-the-bike).

And to keep it real, I'll confess that I didn't ride to work today...but I will tomorrow!

It's Friday (phew!)

All I can say is hooray...and I hope you enjoy your weekend bike adventures!

...and speaking of bicycles!

Image (c) Lovely Bicycle www.lovelybike.blogspot.com

I have long admired the Instagram stream of beautiful bicycle photography from Lovely Bicycle!

The photographs are so evocative and make you want to jump onto a vintage-style step-through and pedal through leafy groves and meander along country lanes.

Have a look for yourself and start daydreaming immediately!

www.lovelybike.blogspot.com

What it is that I love about bicycles.

The name of my blog is girl+bike and I have been posting on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook under this name for a while.

My previous blog was also called girl+bike (have a look at my old posts here).

I thought I would share with you why I love bicycles and cycling so much and how they have been a part of my life over the past 12 or so years.

I have many bicycles. Different types of bikes for different types of riding, or just because. It's a common phrase touted by bicycle addicts, but it sums up my predicament perfectly, that the optimum number of bicycles is always 'n + 1', where 'n' = the number of bicycles that you currently own. Do I have a favourite bike? Yes, a few of them are favourites for different reasons. I don't ride any of them nearly as much as I'd like, but it doesn't mean I love them any less.

I ride for different reasons. Nowadays, it's mostly for transport or for fun. My love for bikes and cycling as an adult began when I was at university. I decided to try cycling as a cheaper form of transport when fuel prices began to rise in the early 2000s. But I soon found that I was challenging myself, trying to beat my times each day. So when my Dad suggested I try a race (a road time trial), I thought why not?

This first race led to club racing and I started training most days of the week. During this time, a friend roped me into an off-road ride, where I rode a borrowed mountain bike, and I was hooked! I also participated in a round of AIS talent identification testing for track sprint cycling. This was in the early 2000s, when Australia's top sprinter Michelle Ferris was winding up her career and the Meares sisters were still juniors. From this testing, I was shortlisted from the pool of 276 women into the top 30, but just missed out on being one of the 26 selected. This was, however, just enough to make me want to give track cycling a go. I discovered it was a great thrill, and was taken up by a coach and a given a more specific training regime. Initially I trained as an endurance rider, which is events like the individual pursuit, scratch races and points races. It soon became clear that I was better suited to sprinting. A change of coach and new gym routine - including squatting some big weights - improved my strength and speed on the track. I ended up with lots of PBs and a silver medal at NSW state championships, and later a couple of state titles in South Australia, and a sense of surprise that my uni commuting had led to this.

These days, I am content with pedalling as a way of getting around; with blasts through the bush on my mountain bike; and planning the perfect bike for the Alice Springs conditions.

I love seeing the joy and freedom that cycling can bring both here and around the world. I love the role that cycling has played in women becoming independent throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s. I love the aesthetics of a beautifully designed bicycle and the craftsmanship of a well-built bike.

I love...do you?

Bicycle page updated

Hello! Happy Wednesday to you.

I have just updated the Bicycle page of my blog...have a little wander over there to see some sweet and lovely bicycles, found online and in real life. Some of them I may just be coveting...a little.

xx

{Image: http://www.papillionaire.com.au/}