Happy New Year everyone – 2019 is going to be a great year, and to help you kick it off here’s my favourite ideas for your 2019 cycling New Year’s resolutions: Ride new places I’m very guilty of riding the same routes all the time – you know, the ones within my comfort zone. We all need to try new places on a regular basis. It keeps your mind active and you get to see new scenery and locations as a bonus. It even works when you are away on holidays, and is a great way to see a new
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I always like to hear about entrepreneurs starting a business based on cycling so I was pleased to hear from Lee Hardy in the UK who has started a business called The Complete Cyclist. Lee’s main focus is on working with communities in particular cycling and triathlon clubs delivering tailored Technical Training Courses nationwide. But I also like his focus on what he called the three main pillars for creating a complete cyclist: The Bike – riding skills, technical knowledge and ability to maintain and repair The Body – our diet and nutrition, strength and conditioning and physical preparation The Mind– the
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For me a really fundamental part of riding is to master changing gears on your road bike. It took me a few years to really feel comfortable with all those gears on my bike, but over time I learnt about them and it really transformed my riding. And I, like so many other new riders used to ride in a ‘big’ gear when I first started riding a road bike. It seems that when we start out we expect it to be hard to turn over the pedals so we tend to use a gear that challenges our legs. What
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I completed my eighth Gong Ride on Sunday after a three year absence, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The first time I rode it was only about a month after I’d started riding, and I thought it was really, really hard even though I did the 50 km course. Well I’m pleased to report that it gets easier and after ten constant years of road riding I was pleasantly surprised at how much easier the hills felt. For those who aren’t Sydney riders, the Gong ride is an annual mass participation ride held on the first Sunday in November. It
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The most important bike maintenance lesson you need is changing a flat bicycle tyre. If you ride a bike often enough you’re going to find yourself in a predicament where you need to fit a new inner tube, and it’s likely to be beside a road or similar inconvenient location. Even if you aren’t really confident of your own ability, you should definitely carry a spare tube, tyre levers and a pump or CO2. I guarantee that if you’re in an area where other cyclists ride past, you’ll be offered help by others. There are however a few things you
Read moreI always love hearing about women who are working in male dominated fields so it seemed appropriate to interview a female bike mechanic for a Women Who Cycle blog post. I must confess that I actually work in a bike shop myself but I’m not a bike mechanic (I can hear my bike mechanic colleague Macca sniggering while her reads this!). I do pump up a few tyres and I’m ok at diagnosing basic problems but my mechanic skills are pretty rudimentary. So I had to rely on a Google search to track down Marty Caivano, who works at the
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Undertaking regular bike maintenance is a topic that applies equally to female and male riders but this post is directed more to women who often think they aren’t very good at things like easy bike maintenance. And that simply isn’t true. You don’t have to be a man to learn some basic (or even more advanced) bike maintenance. Women are just as capable, or perhaps even more, than men at keeping their bikes in good working order. Keeping your bike running well can actually save you money because the parts on your bike will wear better and need replacing less
Read moreI’ve signed up to do the Cadel Evan’s ride in late January next year, a mere eight or so weeks away so I really need to start focusing on my training. I’ve done a few long rides in the past including the JDRF Barossa ride which is 160 km, and Melbourne’s Around the Bay which is 210 km, so I know I can ride the 111 km I’ll be required to complete. But I know I’ll enjoy the ride a lot more if I undertake sufficient training. I also know that after the Cadel ride I’ve also got a few
Read moreIf you’re a regular reader of this blog you probably know that I work in a bike shop. I’m not a mechanic, but I do just about everything else in the shop, including checking-in the majority of bikes that come in for repair. So as a result I’ve learnt heaps about simple bike maintenance and here’s a few tips: Keep it clean Keeping your bike clean has a number of benefits, and not just cosmetic ones. Of course it’s nice to keep your beautiful bike looking good, but keeping it free of dirt and grit will actually make it last
Read moreAt this time of year if you live in Australia you’ll notice that road cyclists are all talking about who’s going to the Tour Down Under. I’m going this year and I’ve lost count of how many other Sydney-siders are heading to South Australia for the annual festival of cycling. Most people have done it a few times so they’ve got the bike packing thing all sorted, but there’s always a few new people going along. If you’re not really confident about packing your own bike then make a quick call to your local bike shop and ask them to
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