~Mark Twain, ‘Taming the Bicycle’
Still on the transport theme, but realising life has so many facets that I’m going to have to move slightly quicker if I expect to cover even the smallest faction of these before Copenhagen, so I’m working through bicycles today. All of them.
Bicycles are such a great option, perhaps the greatest invention of all time, and with so many and varied alternatives, a person has the luxury of picking the bicycle that best reflects them…
The extremely civilized lady’s bicycle:
My beautiful bike is a 1960s Triumph, done up with a flashy new bell, basket, handle-grips, paint job, white-rim tyres, and most importantly a new seat! Granted my own rear-end natural cushioning makes for a pretty good ride, even the most padded of bums will appreciate the pure luxury of a new bike seat.
Cycling up and down the driveway, otherwise always wear a helmet! brains are too important not to protect.
Tips:
- search trade-me for second hand bicycles, or ask neighbours particularly those with well-stocked garages. Most people hold onto old bikes for sentimental reasons, and would be happy to hand it over knowing it is going to be done up lovingly.
- safety first! check that brakes, wheel rims, chains and any gears are complete, free from rust and lubricated.
- replace any essentials as necessary i.e. tyres
- check out trade-me, garage sales or perhaps just around the house for boxes or baskets that can be attached for handy storage
I use my Triumph for…
- Trips to the butchers at Redcliffs (to be discussed later in relation to what we eat, and where its from)
- Taking the Charlie dog for run. It would be totally ridiculous for me to try and run alongside my big black lab.
- Small trips around Sumner village i.e. to friends places, videoshop, the weekend market
- Occasionally venturing out further in the Port Hills, but any trips much further then I borrow the road bike
The extremely uncivilized group bike-powered bar
Saw this in Amsterdam, not sure New Zealand law would allow this…
The road/ racing bike
sweet single speed bike
Pros:
The more you use it, the fitter you become. How incredible! It’s a gym membership and method of transportation all-in-one! So really, when you’re measuring time efficiency, you have to calculate the trip in comparison to a car in traffic (perhaps 10 min longer by bike in my case), but then overall that’s 50 min I can take off being at the gym. Winner! Gym sessions that would take 55min (3 times a week), now take a total of 5 min, brilliant. Count me in for anything that means less gym techno in my life.
The outfit! A very large part of road-biking is the dress-ups that go with it, mostly lycra. This can be off-putting at first, but once you get into it you feel super stealthy.
ninjas/cyclists celebrating survival with juice from the garden, looking like squinty muppets
Single speed bikes are the new skinny jeans, only super cool as opposed to super uncomfortable. They’re making an urban come back, developed from velodrome cycling to urban posties, and now to the rest of us.
Group rides in the weekends! Cycling can be a great way to meet people, and i’ve found other cyclists to be really friendly i.e. waving or nodding as they usually pass me pretty fast (im not about speed, im enjoying the journey!). There are also great adventures to be had, rail-trail cycle rack, le race (Chch to Akaroa), grape ride (round Blenheim), Lake Taupo cycle challenge, Rainbow rage (Hanmer) etc
It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.
~Ernest Hemingway
Cons:
The reality of biking amongst traffic can be pretty scary. This is something i am working on. Its really important to bike predictably for traffic, its safer to assume that cars havnt seen you.
The mountain bike
The secret to mountain biking is pretty simple. The slower you go the more likely it is you’ll crash.
I’ve not got into mountain biking yet, although my partner Dave got his old one all tuned up yesterday so it may well be on the cards! It looks super fun, not great for commuting unless you live in the mountains!
Denise said,
October 12, 2009 @ 5:23 am
I normally just stick to walking, even if it takes me an hour to get somewhere!! I don’t think I would utilise a bike that much, especially as I will be moving to Dunedin in January for midwifery.
I didn’t know that you are no longer a vegetarian!! The environmental impact of eating meat (whether or not it is organic) is quite large, hence the reason why I became a vegan (along with the ethical reasons, such as artifical insemination, which I view as a form of rape).
clairewaghorn said,
October 12, 2009 @ 9:59 pm
Haha biking in Dunedin! You would certainly builod muscle on all those hills. I am spectacularly lucky to be in Chch really where its all flat, and quite ‘beginner-friendly’.
As for vegetarianism, yeah that was a massive part of who i am for 9 years, and i still very much beleive in the philosophy behind it.
Personally it came down to some pretty serious health issues which are based purely on my genetic make-up. Basically my family have always been carnivourous, for generations i expect, and my genetic history is a product of that, the result being my body doesnt absorb non-haem iron (the vegetarian version), only haem iron which you get from meat.
After 9 yrs of vegetarianism, this meant i was severly iron defiicient, the worst my doc had seen. I passed out a few times, once in a lecutre, and my doc said he wouldnt advise me to fly because the risk of a blood clot was too high.
Anyyway long and short of it, was a pretty traumatic reintroduction to eating meat. But thats another blog for another day…
Two wheels good said,
May 30, 2010 @ 11:13 pm
[...] of a role model for us in living in a consistent and conscious environmental life. She wrote a good entry about cycling on her blog a while [...]