Self Righteous Cyclist

I was chatting to a neighbour last weekend that had dropped her husband off at his local golf course early on a Sunday morning.  You should have seen all of the mamils out there this morning, she exclaimed.  I could smell the bait but I wasn't biting.  My straight bat reply was so there was a lot of wild life on the golf course.  What are we talking about kangaroos, wallabies, bats?  No!  Don't you know what I'm talking about? I've seen you on your bike, aren't you one of them? All those middle aged men in lycra riding their bikes. I wish I'd invented the stuff, she lamented. Ok, so I'm in my mid 40s, but does that fact alone make me   middle aged ?  Isn't middle age more of an attitude thing along the lines that you're only as old as you feel?  Society, the media and academia have a need to label and categorize and with the mamil, it's a term that's stuck and besides they do display some odd nocturnal habits like their animal name...

Riding to work early last week I was excited to see a bunch of cyclists whizzing past down a main road. Lights ablaze, plenty of colour and a variety of steeds, road bikes, mountain bikes, cyclocross and hybrids.  Always great to see a group ride happening at anytime, the whir of the gears and the buzz of the conversation, but it was 6:40am on a Thursday morning in Box Hill, hardly a cycling mecca.   Perhaps a group heading for the Dandenongs, who knows.  I caught them up flying down the hill heading into Box Hill from the city and they caught me at the lights.  The lead rider pulled up beside me and we swapped the usual cyclist's small talk about the conditions and our destinations.  Are you a club, I inquired. Turns out this was no ordinary group of riders, it was a group of 12 to 15 women  out on a  Breeze Ride  and about to wrap up their 30km morning spin with a coffee at the  Red Cup Cafe . The most expensive coffee around I'm...

Have to admit I've been a little distracted with work and other pursuits for the past few months, which has not left a lot of time for blogging about cycling culture.  I'm hoping that just like a good ride can blow out the cobwebs and get me refocused, a stimulating encounter of the sensory kind might be enough to get back to the blog I enjoy writing. Whilst out for my run yesterday morning I spotted a tent set up next to the bike path near the corner of Nicholson and Park Sts in North Fitzroy.  Must be counting bikes for a survey I thought.  Hang on a minute it's a little too early for Ride to Work Day  on Wednesday the 16th October.  Oh well I'll stop and check it out on the way back.   Well I have to hand it to the clever folk at St Ali cafe in North Carlton, as they really know how to capture the attention of the passing traffic.  About 100m from the tent was a young lady with a smile and promises of more ahead.  Yes that's her below. ...

Late last year my wife and I bought a new house and sold the old one.  During the sale preparation we went through the process of de-cluttering the house and garage.  The question came from my mother in law - "where are you going to put all the bikes?".  It also turned out that a lot of feedback from people who viewed the house (including nosy neighbours) was "what a lot of bikes!"  And then the odd question such as how many bikes do you need?  Do you ride them or collect them?  I was happy to inform people that, yes, 9 out of 10 of the bikes are ridden at least once a week.  Not a bad effort for a single car family of 6. The garage at our old house (which could never have fitted a car given all the bikes) was home to 10 rideable bikes, 2 project bikes and 5 scooters at the time. Having good bike storage is important  when you've got that many bikes.  It means being able to securely store your bike, have a space to work on it and still ...

It’s time to turn my attention to pike paths.  After recently moving house only about 1.5km east of our old home, I was suddenly faced with a decision to continue riding the same way to work sticking to the roads or take an alternate route on the  Main Yarra Trail  and  Koonung Trail  which runs alongside the Eastern Freeway from the Chandler Hwy in Kew all the way through to Blackburn Rd.  I'd ridden and run this trail intermittently in the past.  After the first time riding with a mate one Sunday morning I loathed it.  With high pressure tyres and lines in the concrete every 5-6 metres along the river flats providing an endless bump, bump bump, I found the "road shock" through the body was too much to bear. My neck and shoulder muscles ached from the experience and that was enough to put me off entirely.  Admittedly I was just getting back into riding and my body had not adjusted.  I'd been back a few more times leading the way for a...

This week I'm as mad as hell.  I rode my mountain bike down to the local football ground to meet up with a few other coaches to sort through our gear for the coming season.  I locked my bike up to a secure post in a well lit place about 10 metres away from the building where we   were working, thinking it would be fine.  I walked out an hour later to retire to a local establishment only to discover my bike had been relieved of its lights.These were no ordinary lights, they were  Knog Frog Strobe  lights.  They are great little lights not much bigger than my thumbnail, visible from up to 600 metres away, waterproof and so easy to put on and take off in a couple of seconds, which makes me wonder why I didn't. It goes to show that sometimes I trust people to much to do the right thing.  What I've learnt from this experience  is to make sure my equipment is adequately secured and if it can't be, then remove it from the temptation of ot...

If it's one thing that really annoys me as a Victorian it's the ongoing public debate about infrastructure.  Here's my summary of what I'm hearing right now and my responses to it. Peak motoring bodies like the RACV and Vic Roads see the answer to the city's traffic congestion woes in more roads -  Build more roads and they will drive on it   Public Transport Users Association see improved public transport as a solution -  Build more rail lines and they will ride on it   Toll road operators join the chorus ready to spruik their wares and rub their hands in anticipation of getting their hands on more public road infrastructure -  Do that on the wrong side of town and you might end up with a short political career Bicycle Victoria advocates for improved cycling infrastructure to make this liveable city of ours even more liveable and provide some viable solutions - Buil...