March 2015 -

Kaarle McCulloch has her sights set firmly on Rio 2016

March 31, 2015 Nicola Bike skills, Olympic Games, Professional cycling, Track cycling, Women cycling

I caught up with track cyclist Kaarle McCulloch last week to hear about her challenging last few years and her future plans to be in the team for the Rio Olympic Games next year.Like many female cyclists Kaarle didn’t take up cycling until fairly late in her sporting life. Up until the age of 15 she was firmly focused on running but realised that she was pretty good, but not quite good enough to go the Olympics, a dream she had harboured since she was 12 years old. She had no interest in cycling but was persuaded by her step

A woman’s guide to improving road bike skills

March 24, 2015 Nicola Bike skills, Cycle groups, Cycle racing, Cycling Club, Cycling Club racing, training, Women cycling

If you take up riding in your 30s or 40s as many of us do, one area you need to focus on if you want to advance, is to learn some bike skills. As children most of us rode a bike, but the majority of us were not formally taught, so we didn’t have the chance to learn any bike skills and this particularly applies to women. In my experience in meeting many female cyclists, women tend to approach cycling quite differently to men. Although many of us rode bikes as kids we usually did a few laps around the

Four Aussie women to tackle the 3,000 mile Race Across America

March 17, 2015 Nicola Bike skills, charity bike ride, Cycle racing, training, Women cycling

If you think the Gong Ride or Around the Bay is a serious challenge, then think again. A few weeks ago I was contacted by a team of women who are training for a huge race/relay called Race Across America that takes place each year in June. Last year I wrote about two American women tackling it and this time it’s a team of four Australian women calling themselves the Veloroos – Natasha Horne, Sarah Matthews, Julie-Anne Hazlett and Nicole Stanners. Race Across America known as RAAM is a race but instead of being in stages it is one continual

Para-cyclist Carol Cooke won’t let MS slow her down

March 10, 2015 Nicola Uncategorized

I was contacted a couple of weeks ago by the PR agency promoting a Melbourne-based mass particpation cycling event called the MS Melbourne Cycle being held on Sunday, 19 April. One of the Ambassadors of the event is an Australian Para-cyclist who was diagnosed with MS 17 years ago, so I caught up with Carol Cooke via email. Q1: Why did you decide on cycling as your sport after your MS diagnosis? I didn’t really decide on cycling as a sport after my diagnosis. I had always been a swimmer and continued to swim after my diagnosis. In 2005 I

Sign up for The Women’s Ride on 12 April around Victoria

March 3, 2015 Nicola Cycle groups, Women cycling

A couple of weeks ago Melanie from Cycling Victoria made contact with me and asked if I’d like to write about an event she’s organising called The Women’s Ride. I was intrigued to know more about it so I happily agreed to publish a post about this great event. The Women’s Ride is a single day celebration of women’s riding. It’s Victoria’s first mass participation riding event designed especially for women, where individuals, organisations, clubs, social riding groups, bike shops or groups of friends are invited to submit a ride or event taking place on Sunday, 12 April 2015. I was