When I first started cycling like most I wasn’t a fan of hills, the ones near me in Surrey even scared me a little. However after cycling over three mountain ranges and many hills to get across Canada I found I enjoyed climbing hills on my bike and I now embrace the challenge. Watch the video to find out how to better deal with hills so you can learn to love them too.
Buying a new bike is exciting but it can also be a bit daunting. There are so many different bikes and a lot of jargon. In this week’s video I go over the 5 easy steps I use to narrow it down and create a short list of bikes to to test ride.
Check out which bike I test rode and what bike I’ve decided on in part 2:
When you are new to cycling and heading out for a ride it’s hard to know what you need to bring. In the past this lead me to bring too much so in this week’s video I share the mistakes I’ve made and how I’ve gone from a large saddle bag to a compact one.
If you want to know what to bring with you when you go out for a ride from running errands, club rides, commuting, and bike touring. Below you will find the list I keep in my bike room for road rides, they can be early starts and this way I know I won’t forget anything 🙂
What to bring Road Cycling:
✔️bank card & cash (for an emergency cab)
✔️spare inner tube & tire patches
✔️tire levers
✔️pump
✔️multi tool
✔️phone
✔️house key
✔️lipbalm
✔️food
Extras depending on weather:
✔️handkerchief
✔️rain jacket
✔️lights
Last weekend I went out for a solo ride and being that I’ve only ever gotten one flat in 3 years on my road bike I overconfidently went out with a Co2 pump, having never used one before. However because of a little mishap with the pump I had the fortune to meet the Dittons Velo who have invited me to ride them, so it all worked out rather nicely.
If you are in the London area and are looking for a group to ride with, they have the right attitude, fun first on a ride. You can find out more on their website
.I was asked if I would do a video about life without a car. As grocery shopping is the thing that most people seem to think you need a car, after 11 years without a car I can assure you, you do not. I have changed how I grocery shop and it’s for the better, move fresh food and less waste. So check out this week’s video to see a day of errands without a car.
A lot of drivers don’t understand and get annoyed when cyclists don’t use cycling lanes. However many are not fit for purpose and seem to be built by people who don’t ride bikes. There was an article posted on Road.cc about the changes being proposed to Priory Lane a road that leads to Richmond Park. Apparently it is a road with a lot of conflict between drivers and cyclists which I didn’t realise despite it being near where I live. However, I don’t use it often because I access Richmond Park via another route. So I decided to take a ride down Priory Lane to see what the problem is and this is what I found:
Would You Use this Cycling Lane?
This video is about my first road bike, a Boardman Woman’s Team Carbon fi. Watch to find out what I like about it and why I’m changing to another one this year.
Vienna is a great city to explore by bike,there are many cycling paths and paths along the canal to explore the colourful graffiti walls. Last weekend while visiting the city for the 3rd time Nathan and I decided to take some bikes for a ride. As there are both citybikes with 121 docking stations and many dockless bikes (oBikes and ofo) we decided to take one of each to see how they compared.
This is what happened:
I currently have 2 bikes here in the UK and one at my Dad’s in Canada. They are all very different and serve different purposes. My Brodie Argus 1.0 is my workhorse, I use it for touring, commuting and running errands around town. I’ve spent so many happy miles on this bike, had many adventures and have properly bonded. I’m not the fastest on my Brodie (it isn’t the lightest of bikes!) but I am most confident on it. Watch to learn more about why I love this bike.
I’ve spent December enjoying the food and drink and while I’ve cycled into work just about every day and got some Zwift sessions in I’m in no way in training mode, just damage control mode. I think it’s healthy to have some down time so that you can come back energized and excited when it’s time to gear up again
I’ve decided that my goals for 2018 will be the Vätternrundan, a 300km ride around a lake in Sweden (in one ride) and Everesting which is picking a hill and climbing it repeatedly until you reach the height of Everest (8848m if you are wondering). Two big goals! Both of which scare me a little which means I know I’ve picked the right challenges because if it doesn’t scare you a little it’s not really a challenge.
I’ve also decided it’s time to get a new road bike and of course there will be a bike tour and other new adventures in the year ahead. To start 2018 off right (and get Strava off of 0) we headed out New Year’s Day morning for a few laps around Richmond Park for some fresh air and to give those legs a spin, below is the video I made to share the ride with you.
Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel 2018 is going to be an interesting ride.