Tailgating is probably not polite

So I was riding along Banks Ave and I let a car go in front so I wouldn't be holding it up.

Then I proceeded to cycle very fast behind the car so I wouldn't be stuck in the middle.  

My logic was, I'd rather be near and behind a visible car, than in a random gap somewhere with a car coming up behind me.

However, whenever there was a speed bump, the car would slow down almost to stationery to go over the speed bumps and I ended up getting quite close each time this happened.

After a few bumps, I noticed the driver did a finger waggle that I could see in the rear view mirror.

I don't know if it was directed at me, but in hindsight I realise it was probably rude to tailgate a car, regardless of how slow and safe it is.

(image via nanidesuka.blogspot.com.au)

Gears Out Of Whack

So my gears were not changing properly today so I took my bike into the bike shop.

When I went to pick up my bike, I got a slap on the wrist.

My gears were out because my back wheel wasn't on properly.  Rookie mistake!

I'm not really sure why my back wheel keeps coming loose, but I must remember to check this!

I think I previously thought the quick release didn't have to be on very tight, so I maybe had them on loose.

Silly me!  I should check this from now on!

Not feeling it

Since I cracked a couple of weeks ago on the MC LaPa ride, I haven't been feeling that great on the road bike.

Cycling on the road bike has felt harder and I feel like I don't have that ambition / drive to cycle faster.

It's definitely a mental thing - I don't feel like I'm pushing harder either.  I feel like I could always go harder.

I'm still commuting - as the cycling makes me happy and content with the world.

There's been a bit of rain so it's been interesting looking for outfits that work.

It's been a mixture of dresses that I think will survive the rain and still look ok at work (as I like cycling in a dress), and black exercise gear (so it doesn't go see through in the wet).

Anyway, my husband thinks it's as with life, there are ups and downs and that I'll get there again.

Hopefully.

Anyway, it made me determined to get back into it so I signed up for the 80km Bobbin Head Classic in a few weeks.

It is up North and involves hills.  Real hills.  (I haven't done any real hills yet).

(80km ride details here)

And more than 56km (my max ride length at the moment - although arbitrarily rather than due to lack of fitness or want - I've just never had a reason to stay out more than 2.5 hours on a bike).

I should probably do some training....

Although, being an organised ride, there'll be rest stops etc so it shouldn't be too hardcore..

We'll see.

(image via bobbinheadcycleclassic.com.au)

Summer Rain

By "my baby", I mean my bike.

So this morning's local bike shop (LBS) was called off because the roads were wet.

So I went back to sleep and then woke up to go to Oxford St for the Cyclette popup shop at The Makery (106 Oxford St, Darlinghurst).

(Cyclette)

I actually bought that dress on the right - SO CUTE - and I'm planning to wear it on Gear Up Girl in a few weeks.

ANYway, I rode to Oxford St because it's so easy to get to when you don't have to park.

And I thought it would be a great chance to test my rain jacket.

But I misjudged the weather today, and I now know that sprinkling with heat and humidity does not call for a rain jacket.

It was definitely keeping the rain off me, but after a while, I was starting to feel quite hot.

So, I ended up taking the sleeves off.

I suspected that the rain jackets are best when wearing something wicking underneath, and I wanted to test whether this was true (FOR SCIENCE) and it is!

I was wearing a loose singlet underneath and it was dripping with sweat - it was a bit gross.

With just the windproof vest, it was definitely keeping the wind off me.  There was a bit of a parachute effect at the back - but I saw another cyclist in a jacket (open) and it seemed to be doing the same thing.

Anyway, I ended up just cycling in my black loose singlet - it was only sprinkling and quite humid - 87% and about 27C degrees.

I think if it's not cold and raining, I now think just wear something not see-through, suck it up and shower at the end...

Will now have to wait until Autumn before testing my rain jacket!  (Or much heavier rain).

What would I do if I got doored? Valentine's Day. Rain Jacket. Video of the Week

Nearly doored

So today I found out what would happen if a door opened in front of me.

I'm ok - luckily, I still had half a car length to react.  

I was on Doncaster, heading South, almost at Anzac.  

It's pretty narrow there, so I usually ride in Primary position and then move back into the cycleway (which is where I was when the last parked car opened their door).  They were a pretty fat car - SUV like - so they were pretty wide.

I just braked and yelled OOH SHIT!

But as it was happening, I didn't feel any animosity towards the driver.  They looked pretty stunned and I was just focussing on being safe.

So I just rode to the intersection and stopped and tried to stop my legs from shaking.

(My legs still shake when commuting - random things give me little adrenalin boost - which I have to admit is a little bit exciting about cycling, even though it can be scary.  Examples, close calls, beating a male cyclist, having to accelerate quickly when a car decides to give way to me,.)

I just tried to find a interesting picture and came across an article that mentioned people in the Netherlands are taught to open car doors with your opposite hand.  What an interesting idea!  

Mike Cavenett, of the London Cycle Campaign, says that "dooring" is one of the most common forms of accident that cyclists suffer across Europe, never mind London.

"Dooring is a massive issue. It's thought to be trivial but the fact is that it kills some people. It is such an issue that there have to be prosecutions.

"But there has to be education too. In the Netherlands, they teach people to open a car door with their opposite hand - so if you were in a right-hand-drive car here, you would reach over with your left hand. That means your body turns and you look over your shoulder."

Valentine's Day

Best Valentine's Day cycling post ever:

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Rain Jacket

So after (SO MANY NIGHTS OF) researching and talking to people at my work, I decided on 2 requirements:

1. Good quality / good reputation - that is - the more expensive, well known branded ones.  A workmate said he got a couple of cheap ones and ended up throwing them away because they didn't work.
2. Windproof / water resistant (rather than super waterproof) - Sydney climate is really not that bad (in relation to the rest of the world), and it sounds like it's all about layering, rather than serious waterproofing winter jackets developed in Europe for colder climates.

To be honest, I got a bit fatigued at all the options and lack of stock of the pink ones (I'd decide on one, only to find they were out of stock of pink ones!).

I ended up going for the Ground Effect Flip Flop jacket in blue:

$209 AUD + postage ($15 for next day delivery to Sydney)

Although, I signed up for an account and you get $30 off your order straight away so it ended up being < $200 all up which I was hoping for.

From the FAQ (which I have to say was one of the best FAQs I've ever read - it's rare to read an FAQ that specifically answers ALL the questions I have):   

"The Flash Gordon and Flip Flop provide extended protection and are good for up to a couple of hours in continuous rain."

I figured that would be ok - surely I won't be planning to be more than a couple of hours in continuous rain!!

Although, I seriously never thought I would be one to ride in the rain... so who can say...

Here is a video of the Flep Flurp jacket in action.  ;p

So super extra bonus is that the arms zip off so I have a windproof vest too now!!

I hate orange.  Bleagh.

I chose Ground Effect because they were praised all over the forums and were one of the few cycling-centric companies (the husband said mostly mountain biking).  (A lot of rain jackets are designed for hiking or running).

And I figured being made in New Zealand is pretty cool and hopefully similar to the Australian climate.

Anyway, it got here the next day - just in time for the heavy rain forecast for today.

It's coming right for us!

But alas, no rain hit Sydney today.,

But the jacket is awesome - it packs up to the size of 6 inch subway sandwich and is super light.

I wonder what it's like to ride in.  I will have to wait a bit longer to find out!

It's not super tight fitting - almost a bit loose - a lot of jacket reviews mention whether or not a jacket makes noises when riding, and also how obvious a jacket feels while riding - so it'll be interesting to see what this jacket is like to ride in.

Video of the week

Is this not the coolest thing you've ever seen?  There's even other videos with people doing the DOUGIE!

All Women's Liv Giant Ride, Car Back!, #WomenTalkBikes

On Saturday, I went on a women's only ride this morning run by Liv / Giant.  The Saturday morning CBD road ride for this month.

It was very enjoyable.  The group was encouraged to introduce ourself to each other - so it made for a very friendly ride.  There were 2 ride leaders, but the ride was mostly led from the front.

The pace was good - 22 km / h average which was comfortable.

Distance was about 35 km which was good, however, felt a bit longer because of the 7am start (later than most rides) and we had a flat at the beginning.  But it meant that we were still out on the road after 9am so the sun was out and quite warm.

We were quite a large group so a little unruly on the road (not exactly a tight bunch) but we stayed together pretty well.

On the way back we split up into 2 groups - hills vs no hills.

I went on the hills group as I am already familiar with Mons & Torrington.

I ended up going on the back of the group.  From the MC rides, I am used to there being someone at the back calling "Car Back!" so I kind of did that on the way back.

CAR BACK! 

= "I am communicating there is a car back but I will leave it for the ride leader to make the call about changing lanes / going single file" 

(I initially thought it meant "get out of the way immediately everyone, there is a car behind us!".)

As this ride is only once a month, I guess it's hard to create a routine and have regular riders to help control the group.  (Like what MC do).  

I spoke to my husband and he said there are actually other clubs such as SUvelo (Sydney Uni Cycling Club) are actually much more tight and organised on the road - one rectangular group (equidistant from each other) and rotate leaders consistently, etc.

In computer games, I often play medic / support roles, so I think it's quite natural for me to be the last rider and look after the group from the back.  However, I haven't received structured guidance on how to do this role, so I hope I am helping rather than hindering!

Hey Ladies!

We only got 2 "ladies" comments from passers by.

1. "Good morning *ladies*!"
2. After taking a photo for us, "how about one from the back?"

Which to be honest was better than I expected.

#WomenTalkBikes

So from Facebook I heard about this discussion in LA:

Henny Alamillo, Voluneer Coordinator of Cyclavia; 

Daniella Alcedo, founder and current chair of the Pomona Valley Bicycle Coalition; 

Melissa Balmer, editor of Pedal Love and director of Women on Bikes California; 

Lauren Grabowski, bicycle and pedestrian planner for the UCLA Prevention Research Center; 

Jennifer Klaunser, Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition; 

Hyeran Lee, Advocacy Chair of the UCLA Bicycle Coalition; 

Susannah Lowber, creator of She Wolf Attack Team (SWAT); 

Andrea Denike, creator of Bodacious Bike Babes; 

Cynthia Rose, Director and co-founder of Santa Monica Spoke; 

Siobhan, Braking the Limit blogger; 

Maria Sipin, Pedal Love blogger; 

Laura Torres, with Multicultural Communities for Mobility; 

Nona Vernado, the force behind LA Bike Trains and creator of The Bird Wheel.

Copy of mp3 recording here.  I found the first half interesting but tuned out a bit during the call-in section as it was quite LA-centric.

Some highlights:

What made you take up commuting?

• Health / Fitness - Trying to fit a workout into one's normal routine.
• Environment - Earth Day / No Car Day
• Social - Commuting with someone else.

Safety for bike commuting

• Get to know the neighbourhood - wave at other cyclists, people on the street, people on their porch.  Cyclists are fun, happy people, no need to fear us or worry about us.
• Play the woman card - wearing pink, wearing a dress, smiling.  Even though you get sexist comments, the motorists slow down!  (Not always though!)

How to achieve equity for cyclists?

• Communicate the law - knowing the law related to cyclists.  Why aren't these rules included in driving tests?  
• Visibility - Portland is nicer to everyone because there are pedestrians, cyclists, dogs everywhere.  They're proud of their biking infrastructure.
• Communication with other people on the road - eye contact, saying hi to people at red lights, being friendly (smiling, acknowledgement).  Let them know that we know they're there, it's a team effort, we're all on the road together and we all want to work together.
• Communication with people we know - let them have space to "vent" about cyclists, but let them understand that you are a cyclist and that the people they are "venting" about includes you and you are on the road doing your best.

My tweet made it on the show!

"I've been looking for non aggressive ways to communicate with aggressive drivers."

Although, the group didn't really come up with anything immensely useful.. 

• Make "kissy" face back at them.  :p
• Write messages on marshmallows and throw them through the driver's window!  :p
• Pedal Love have been trying to brainstorm - get more allies out there.  There are guys asking what can they do to support women? 
• Educating families / schools - teaching children how to bike safely, navigate on roads.  Have the kids bring home the messages to the adults.  Cyclists aren't just strangers, they're your friends / families.

How to get more women into racing?

• Outreach and encourage women to race.  Host womens racing clinics.  
• It's ok to get hurt - it's no big deal - you can get hurt anywhere.
• Social aspect - cycling community
• Freedom, enjoyment, joy - experience and share this with others.

How to share this freedom / enjoyment / joy with others?

• Take people to cycling events (eg. CicLAvia)
• Reach out to inner circle.  So people know at least 1 cyclist and the experiences.
• Combining love of cycling with love of something else - eg. nature.  Do a tiny portion of cycling on street, but mostly in nature / on the beach.
• Sphere of influence - when someone says "I'm thinking of getting a bike" - take your chance to share your excitement - when you get excited for them, they're hooked, they get excited too!

Other notes

• Empowerment of women cycling and independently getting around will lead to empowerment in other avenues.
• Bicycle advocacy - remember the fun aspect
• Remain open minded about why people want to ride a bike.
• It's ok to push the Style & Fashion angle.  It's about fun and joy.  Sometimes in advocacy we can be heavy handed / too focussed on athleticism - sometimes it's ok to ride a couple of blocks, sometimes people want to ride the pretty bikes.
• It's difficult to educate a transient group (cyclists include lots of travellers / tourists) in relation to residents, etc.
• To make a change, we don't have to have the same voice, but we have to be speaking to each other.
• "Crashes / collisions" rather than referring to them as "accidents".
• Wear whatever make you feel comfortable and happy.  Dress for your mood.
• Give tips to others, but acknowledge it is a journey of discovery and tips depend on how you want to ride, when you want to ride.  There is not one solution for everyone.

Things you can't live without in your bag

• Chapstick
• License / emergency contact information
• Phone inside a plastic bag (to protect it from sweat)
• Baby powder
• Cucumber makeup wipes
• Buff = neck scarf for biking that saves you in any situation

Buff=neck scarf for biking that saves you in any situation #womentalkbikes pic.twitter.com/oC3wYMaXy6
— Spokes Gal (@brakingthelimit) February 5, 2014

Last note

I met up with my parents last night and my mum said, "How are your cats?  Are they still alive?  You never talk about them any more, it's all about cycling!"

Back Wheel Came Loose

So this morning I was on the way to work and I went to overtake a wobbly cyclist with earphones in and found that my gears were a bit odd.

The changes seemed a bit sluggish.

I went to overtake another cyclist (who was veering all over the place and had earphones in, and had gotten their phone while they were riding to - I'm guessing - change the song - to each their own, but I personally wouldn't use earphones and I like to ride in a consistent line to communicate to others what I'm doing / where I'm going) and then my gear changes started to have no effect.

I pulled over and had a look at my bike.

Everything looked normal with the gears.

I tried to change gears and lift the seat to manually pedal forwards and for some reason it wouldn't pedal forward.

And then I put my bike down and it made a clunking sound and things seemed to shift.

I had another look and suddenly realised my quick release was undone and my back wheel was essentially loose!

I am so lucky that my back wheel didn't fall off after going over one of those gazillion speed bumps along my route to work!

[EDIT (Note from friend - Thanks Tim!): "And just to put any fears to rest, in my experience even with the back quick release fully open, it's extremely unlikely you'll ever experience a catastrophic "back wheel totally falls out" type of failure. I've gone up and down gutters a bunch of times with my back release open before noticing anything was wrong. Gear changing weirdness will always happen before wheel falls out disaster."]

SYDNEY CYCLEWAYS FREE BIKE MAINTENANCE COURSE FOR THE WIN!

The course gave me the confidence to look at the back wheel and work out what looked weird out of all those pointy bits!

I cannot say enough good things about these courses!  Details here!

(image via Hyperbole & A Half)

"This man is no ordinary man. This is Mr. F G Superman. To all appearances, he looks like any other law-abiding citizen. But Mr F G Superman has a secret identity. When trouble strikes at any time, at any place, he is ready to become... BICYCLE REPAIR MAN!"

First Weekday Morning Ride aka Mental Bonk

So after last week's episode with the SUV, I decided to go on the MC LaPa midweek group ride - safety in numbers right?

Anyway, I'd heard because it was a flatter ride (no Torrington), it was a faster ride.

So we started, and I managed to stay in the middle of the bunch.

Then we hit the first hill (Little Bay) and I struggled coming out of the hill and from then on couldn't get back on the group no matter how hard I tried.

I kept going, trying to fight the little voices in my head.

Despite the bike shop team inviting me to the ride, my husband had previously implied that this ride was too fast for me and I couldn't do it.

When I couldn't get back on for ages, I mentally cracked and one of the voices inside my head said "he was right".

[To be honest, he was actually right, but he acknowledged in hindsight saying I couldn't do it wasn't a very helpful statement.]

I tried to keep going though and pushed through again.

And kept riding as hard as I could, but still couldn't get back on the group.

One of the bike shop guys stayed with me and tried to pace me back.

Eventually because the group waited for the group photo, I caught up.

Climbing on the way out of Breakwall, I managed to stick with the group but it was the last of my energy and I started wheezing so much, and then this wave of achiness and pain flowed over me and I thought "I can't do it".  

As soon as that thought went through my head, my wheezing turned into hyperventilation, which turned into slightly hysterical crying.

I was so angry at myself that I couldn't keep up.

And then I was so angry at myself for allowing myself to mentally give up and think negative thoughts.

And then I couldn't ride any more, because I had worked myself up into such a state and I had to pull over and stop.

Me: I'm just disappointed I can't hold the group.
Bike shop dude: So how long have you been riding?
Me: 3 months.
Bike shop dude: Yeah, and most of these guys have been riding for many years / at least a year, so go easy on yourself.  Don't beat yourself up, beating yourself up doesn't help you ever.

Anyway, so I calmed down and rode the rest of the route to the cafe.

Afterwards, we looked at my stats on Strava and I got a bunch of Personal Records up until I cracked a bit.  

So one of the reasons I cracked was because I was riding faster than I had ever ridden before.

I'm hoping that this type of exercise is good for me.  I've never been interested in "sport".

Hopefully I will develop those skills of blocking out those unwanted voices and focussing on what I want to achieve.

Unwanted voices could mean the reluctance to get on the bike (early mornings, winter, tiredness, etc).

It could mean aggressive motorists, other cyclists.

It could mean unconstructive colleagues.

This morning's ride was HARD though.  I now understand why people might want to go on social rides with other women.  

[EDIT: I think I push myself harder when I'm around guys.  And I like the fact that they tend to get awkward rather than encouraging when I whinge / whine, which provides me motivation not to whine.]

Hopefully the weather will clear up for the rest of the week and I can commute.  Get my legs moving without cycling them into the ground.

Yesterday I went pretty hard at boxing - because I was pairing the trainer, I had to do everything double everyone else and I also made sure I punched as hard as I could (because I knew he could take it).

Also, last week I did > 200km and I can always feel it all over when I do that many kms during the week.  It's some kind of threshold for me at the moment.

Anyway, it's been an interesting experience, despite being very overwhelming, it's interesting feeling what it's like to push myself to my limits.  I'm not sure I've ever done that before.

Hopefully I'll get better at dealing with what happens when I do it again (and again).

I was going to say "what happens when I get to my limit", but I'm not sure I believe there is a limit..

Damn you Jens Voigt - you inspire me so much and give me the belief it's all in my head..  :)

(image via www.team-dignitas.net)

(Although, if someone's going to take the ball away EVERY SINGLE TIME, it might get tiring...  Poor Charlie Brown...)

Note: I should probably learn not to beat myself up about not achieving my expectation, but I'm not really sure how you balance that off with wanting something so bad that you believe it's possible.  How else can you push yourself to achieve what you've never achieved before?

Ah, new shoes! 30% increase in speed?

(image via probikekit.co.uk)

Every other rider: "Ah new shoes!  Are you feeling the difference?"

Me: "Yeah.."

I'm not really....  It's a bit more about "cycling" (geddit?) my foot rather than taking turns and pushing down, but to be honest, I couldn't say it felt really different...

I'm not breaking my records on everything or anything..

Although, I spoke to my husband and because it's an efficiency thing, maybe I'm just less tired afterwards..

I guess it's hard to tell because this morning, I went a bit slower up the hills to try and maintain a sustainable pace.

I had this illogical thought that if I slowed down any more, I would stop / roll down the hill and figured a group ride was a good place to test this illogical thought.

It was perfectly fine to go slower (of course!).

Hopefully, if I can try and find a sustainable speed / pace, especially (and not crack) up Torrington, this will prepare me for the longer hill rides..

[EDIT: I was just thinking that my current apprehension of clip stacking resulting in slower, cautious riding may be negating any substantial benefits gained by the pedals.]