Sydney Autumn Clothing For Cycling & Eating More

So it's been cold this week.

I went on the Local Bike Shop (LBS) ride this Saturday and despite us calling it halfway, we still got wet.

Which wasn't a major problem.

Except we then stood outside the coffee shop in the wind for an hour afterwards.

I got cold.

So today I went into the city to stock up on warmer gear.

I'm one of those people who freeze whenever they go swimming in the summer.

That school kid who turned purple and sat there shivering while all the other kids donated their towels.

As an example, I was wearing fleecy Winter arm warmers during the Sydney summer.

Anyway, I casually mentioned how I keep getting super cold at coffee and the girl at Liv Giant pulled out this jacket.

(Pearl Izumi W ELITE Barrier Jacket Women - peacock)

Which I then proceeded to fall in love with and have to buy.

I am biased though - I love anything aqua or pink.

Anyway, I wore it on the way to the morning ride this morning and at coffee and it was AMAZEBALLS.

Along with my new Winter cap, I was utterly toasty.

Giro Ambient Skull Cap

So happy.

Much happier than Saturday!

Eating More

So I'm trying to eat more.

Since starting cycling, I'd lost a bit of weight.

However, I'm finding that I'm tired all the time.

A lot of other cyclists suggested that it was a problem of nutrition.

As I find it hard to stomach things in the morning, plus, I tend to stick to eating things I think are tasty, I bought this book.

http://feedzonecookbook.com/portables/

So I'm committing to cooking one thing from it every week.

I figure if I do up a batch, at least I have something on hand to eat - which is half the problem - it's easy to get lazy and not eat / eat badly when there's nothing good on hand.

This week I have:

Blueberry rice cakes - (sticky rice + coconut milk + blueberries)

And potato and sausage cakes - (potato + chicken sausages + egg + flour)

Despite my Sunday nights being quite stressful (I don't cook and find cooking quite stressful and for some reason seem to have a super power of misreading recipes - getting halfway through and realising the potatos were supposed to be cubed BEFORE boiling, the chicken sausage was supposed to NOT BE ONE COMPLETE SAUSAGE when cooking etc), it's working out quite well.

So I think I'm doing well in starting to build up a routine to make the cycling less impactful on other things.

Although, I love cycling so much, everything else seems boring in comparison!  (Woe is you if you come across me shuffling around at work).

Speaking of work, I'd better be off!  :)

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!