Holding steady in position using their home-spun mallets (playing polo sober is considered cheating and at no point are ones feet allowed to touch the ground), two teams, 4 players apiece, face off at either end of the court. A ref shouts “polo!” and a gunner sprints for the ball in the centre of the court. The first team to smack the rubber ball through a pair of dinky witches hats five times wins.

Every Sunday and every Thursday night under floodlights about two dozen young men (well, mostly young and mostly men) gather in Alexandria Park to form Sydney Bike Polo (SBP). The origins of bike polo can be traced back to sometime in the late 19th century in a paddock somewhere in Ireland where traditional polo players, too cash strapped to strap up a horse, fooled around on bikes. But the rules of modern hardcourt incarnation were drawn up in 1998 by bike messengers working at a tech company in Seattle.

On the SBP Facebook page in the section describing what bike polo is, the word ‘sport’ is used in inverted commas. That isn’t to say there isn’t a great deal of skill and athletic prowess and an even greater deal of kamikaze resolve required to be a bike polo player, it’s just that the blood lusting competitiveness that dictates so much of Australian sport has no place on this re-purposed tennis court.

At the core of the Australian bike polo’s bonhomie culture, and not despite it, heckling is alive and well. But unlike professional cricket or AFL, polo heckles are toothless and decidedly wittier, e.g. “Steve, you are such a bunch of sticks!” If you can’t figure that one out, prominent polo blog Goal Hole has strung together a vernacular translation dictionary.

The SBP Facebook page goes on to say, “If you are bikeless or have never played before, don’t worry. Come down and hop on a bike and we will show you how to get started. ALL WELCOME!”

That’s the thing about bike polo. Elitism is shunned. The best players don’t get around on the two-wheeled equivalent of a purebred pony. When a polo horse breaks its leg it has to be shot. As one aficionado explained to me: “You can buy readymade bikes but they’re all a bit shit. Most players put together their own.”
I like this. There is soul in a polo bike.

At this year’s National Championships in Perth SBP placed two teams in the top 4 which qualifies them for the World Championships in Geneva, Switzerland. Joining them will be 16 teams from North America, 16 from Europe and 16 from all of those other countries. For a sport born in a parking lot, a sport that is yet to form a universal governing body, yet to be professionalized or gentrified by corporate sponsors, the clash of cultures is sure to be a spectacle: In Australia bike polo has a backyard charm. In North America it’s a bloody contact sport. In Europe it’s an art.

When the sun set, the tennis court lights flickered then beamed, and another match got underway. Off-court, as the evening wore on, the focus shifted to a swap-meet for bike parts.

As I set off, I pictured the scene at sun up when tennis lessons would reclaim the court … the local society ladies arriving in white-soled runners and gravely shaking their heads at the skid-marked court and wondering …

Keen?
SBP on Facebook
Goal Hole polo blog

Words and pictures by Marcus Costello

You Yangs:

Lysterfield Park:

Wilson’s Promontory:

Grampians National Park:

My father, Jack Duggan, was a true character, one of a kind, as they say. He moved to Melbourne from Castlemaine (not that far from where the fabled Mulga Bill first made bikes de rigueur in the bush) in 1937 and opened a bicycle shop in the suburb Gardenvale.
Jack had been a keen competitive cyclist in Castlemaine before the move to Melbourne.
The shop was in Nepean Highway on the bank of the Elwood Canal and he ran it for almost 40 years until his sudden death in 1976. Like all good bike shops of the day, he sold Malvern Star bicycles, Dunlop tyres and thousands of other accessory lines and spare parts. I am sure some of them in 1976 still dated from 1937.
Jack also established his own brand of reconditioned cycles, Open Road. These were a restored and repainted frame, rebuilt wheels and a mix of new and second-hand parts, according to what was available.
During World War II, Jack served in the Royal Australian Air Force. Mum had to look after the shop, but luckily for part of his war service Dad was stationed at Ballarat airport and able to catch a train to Melbourne on weekends to do the bike repairs that still came through the shop door.
The bike shop was a central part of our lives. My mother, brothers and I all worked part-time. My mother, however, was determined that my brothers would have “a good trade” away from the shop so they were apprenticed to become tool makers … but not too far away from bikes. My eldest brother Malcolm was apprenticed to Malvern Star factory which was on the corner of Clarendon Street, South Melbourne, where the Melbourne Exhibition Space now stands.
I was the only daughter, but my father still believed I should have some knowledge of bikes, bike tools and the bike business. I was able to eventually be responsible for the final assembly of a new bike. Dad also taught me to build a wheel … quite an enlightened attitude in the 50s and 60s. Looking back, the think I remember and miss is that very special bike shop smell. A mixture of grease, rubber and workshop dust.
What drew people to Jack’s bike shop was his extraordinary knowledge of everything to do with bikes. He could build or customise according to need. I remember him modifying one bike for a boy who had been born with no arms. Another chap, George Stirling, had had a very bad motorcycle accident, and left with brain injuries which had a severe impact on his movements and speech. Jack built him a full sized trike, and for years Jack kept repairing and modifying it … due to Georges’ frequent falls, there were always repairs to be done! George was difficult to understand because of his impaired speech, but Jack was always patient; always made time for George even if it meant other customers had to wait.
Growing up I had a varied stream of bikes and trikes for myself. When I was eight, I had a blue chain-driven trike with a little luggage boot on the back. No-one else had a boot on their tricycle! My first two-wheeler was an Open Road built by Dad.
At secondary school, I would often go to get my bike to ride to school only to find it missing. If Dad had had a customer looking for a second hand bike he had sold them mine. Eventually, my mother decided to put my bike beyond such dealing. She went to the Malvern Star factory and ordered me a new bike. Dad got wind of her plan, and arranged with Malvern Star to paint it especially for me, complete with my hand-painted name. Dad could never sell this one.
Dad was a shy man who never crowed about his abilities, but he had a wonderful reputation in the cycle trade. After his death, my mother received a wonderful letter from Sir Hubert Opperman, noting their long friendship and shared experiences with Malvern Star.
I often think about the changes that have occurred in the trade since Dad’s death. In the 50s and 60s the popularity of the car saw bikes mostly ridden only by school children. Dad would be astonished to see today’ groups of Lycra clad men and women pedalling the highways and bi-ways of suburbs and country, especially along Beach Road, which is very close to where the shop was located. And he would have been staggered by the technological advances; especially the new materials which have made bicycles so light but so strong. And the prices!
I recently visited the newly renovated Gove cycles in Ballarat. It smelt like Jack Duggan’s bike shop … and the memories just came flooding back.

In 2011, the New Zealand Transport Agency funded Cycling Advocate’s Network (CAN) with the help of GHD Australia to develop and deliver a behaviour change program based on creating empathy between different groups of road users. Daly was adamant that the program steer away from mass marketing techniques and instead focus on creating a much deeper understanding of why we act in certain ways.

As part of the program, bus and taxi drivers were given bicycles and asked to document their experiences on the roads of Auckland. On the flipside, cyclists sat in the drivers’ seat of a bus in an effort to provide a well-rounded view of the daily road environment for both parties. Both sides learnt vital information about the other’s vulnerabilities and how they move defensively.

The feel good moment for Jonathon was when the program sparked an interest in cycling for the bus drivers that extended beyond the boundaries of the program. Suddenly bus drivers began commuting to work by bike. Not only had the program succeeded in having participants experience “life in somebody else’s shoes” but merged into a different saying all together, “If you can’t beat em, join em.”

Georgia Costello caught up with Jonathon Daly to discuss why this kind of program is so much more effective than plastering a city with billboards when dealing with such a complex task as changing one’s behavior pattern.

Jonathon Daly: What I got them not to do was waste any money on billboards or anything like that coz it’s an absolute waste of time. They are just too ineffective. It doesn’t work!

What we need to realize and what I’ve been banging my head on a brick wall about is that there is a big difference between changing the brand of beer someone drinks and changing a deeply ingrained complex messy problem such as sharing the road.

Georgia Costello: Wouldn’t that just depend on the content of the advertisement rather than the form itself?

JD: Not at all. Marketing deals with audiences and an audience by its nature is passive, so the impact of the advertisement is very shallow. If you’re trying to change someone’s brand of beer, it’s simple – there’s no big risk. You buy it once, try it, if you don’t like it, you go back. It’s a lot more complex to change someone’s behaviour in terms of health and safety / sustainability – anything that is really complex and deeply ingrained and a whole multitude of factors so it doesn’t matter what you put on a billboard – it doesn’t work. It’s been shown time and time again. But it’s the default option, it’s the easy thing to do and governments see it as ticking a box.

Queensland government have got a share the road campaign that has just come out – that’s part of their cycling strategy, VicRoads have got the current Road user/ abuser . A facebook page is not going to solve the problem. Yes, it’s a start, but that conversation is happening every day in the papers. It’s too easy to have that conversation anonymously online – so what we are doing in NZ is we are tapping into communities; bus drivers who are a community a network – they all know each other, we have the sports cyclists who all operate in communities and know each other and have a social structure, taxi drivers – they are exactly the same. The broader community is a little more difficult.

GC: How do you engage these particular communities? The taxi drivers for example?

JD: It’s about bringing these people together and getting them to understand life in the other person’s shoes. They get to experience that. A bus driver for example gets given a bicycle for a week, gets trained up and all the rest and he experiences the streets of Auckland as a cyclist. He documents his experience and then takes it back to his community. It is someone trusted and respected from within that community that brings the message back. It’s not an activist cyclist, it’s not the government.

GC: It’s straight from the horse’s mouth.

JD. Exactly. It’s more meaningful, it’s more effective, it’s listened to. So we’re tapping into these social structures and networks within these communities. Not just to bring that message across but learning by doing so they’re actually involved in the act of cycling and they understand what its like firsthand what the difficulties are. And the cyclists are doing the same – they are having the experience driving buses, taxis, lorries.

GC: Seriously?! Not a simulated version? They are actually learning how to drive a truck and a bus on the road?

JD: Yep seriously! Some will travel with the bus driver and sit up front with them but they get to understand from the perspective of someone they mightn’t have considered. The whole idea is that it creates empathy between the users. They got to understand the jobs specialisation and they then bring that experience back to their community and because they bring it back it is listened to and it spreads through their social structures, social networks.

GC: It’s a wonderful idea but also pretty brave campaign for the NZ transport agency to fund.

JD: Yeah, they have been brave in saying ‘ Don’t do business as usual. Try and be innovative’, which has really challenged the advocacy groups to look at something different – and I wouldn’t say it has been an easy process working with them not to do business as usual – because the default option is there, there is a certain feeling of safety that comes with not doing something crazy!

But the whole concept of engaging with people has gone really well . They now have some really wonderful things going on. They have bus drivers that participated in the program who are now actually cycling to work.

GC: Wow. An ultimate outcome.

JD: Other examples were bus drivers that have given cyclists an escort on the road as a demonstration to other motorists. So there have been some really good outcomes.

GC: Is this campaign getting a lot of media attention in NZ? Are everyday members of the community aware of the campaign that is going on?

JD: At this stage I don’t think so. At this stage it’s very much a process of prototyping different ideas and seeing what works. These experiences are being documented as stories and from that they produce various _______ for broader communication across the country. This is still early stages, testing, experimentation, seeing what works, tweak it a little bit and refine it. And this is the other very important thing – it has to have a very strong contextual fit. With the location, the culture where you are implementing it.

GC: It sounds like it would succeed in a Melbourne context, would you imagine?

JD: Absolutely. The general framework, the idea could work anywhere but it has to be tailored for the conditions. And that’s the key. People see ideas and programs that have run in other locations and simply copy and paste them.

GC: In this field, you must have come across a lot of (overseas) case studies that are particularly innovative. Do any come to mind?

JD: Certainly, there are lots of innovative campaigns. How successful they have been is hard to know as they evaluation is not always publicly available. There’s been some really interesting stuff done in San Francisco by the main advocacy group there and they’ve actually used things such as fun and sex to try and transcend that conflict and create connections between motorists and cyclists and some really good examples of the materials they used. But what you seem to get on the internet is all the marketing collateral but not the actual program that sits behind it or the process it took to get them there.

…There’s lots of really bad examples too!

GC: Feel free.. vent away!

JD: I think I have already! Essentially mass advertising is guaranteed to fail because, one,  it’s shallow. Changing attitudes doesn’t necessarily result in a change of behaviour. We all know we should eat moderately and drink moderately and we should exercise regularly – most people know those things. But do most people do those things? No. Take for example the approach that various agencies have taken for aids prevention. It started out as a mass media approach. There were lots of TV adverts about aids prevention – it was very much a scattergun approach to the whole community, but they very quickly changed that approach when they realised it wasn’t having any impact. They then started to use the social network approach where they identified key people within the gay community that influenced the wider gay community and one example of that was bar men in gay clubs. They are generally very well connected and know and speak to a lot of people in their community.

GC: I remember one recently where hairdressers were targeted to spread a message because there is a profound relationship between touch and change of attitude.

JD: Yes, it was barbers and they were asking barbers in the US, predominantly black communities to talk to their clients about prostate cancer. Its targeted, it’s tapping into those social networks within those communities. No one cares what the government says, really – because it is too far removed, it comes across as being ‘big brother’ telling you what to do, how to live your life. People are much more receptive to people that they know, that they trust and respect. You very rarely see very broad, national wide cancer prevention programs – they are not more targets. They are about engaging with people – with the key people.

GC: So was the phenomenon of social media a really obvious take off for you? Did you predict in the early days of Facebook that it would sky rocket in mainstream popularity because you know how important friend-to-friend networking is?

JD: Social media is interesting because on one hand you can “connect” with lots of people but on the other hand those connections are actually quite weak. Someone on Facebook can have 500 friends but in reality they don’t have 500 friends- and that’s just a condition of human beings. We can’t sustain 500 friendships, you can’t possibly know 500 people that well! Most people are very lucky to have 20 really close friends and after that the further you go out the weaker your influence towards them.

GC: But those in the 21-500 batch still have a lot more influence than a stranger.

JD: The Kony campaign is a good example – it’s raising a lot of awareness but there are reasonable questions about what action it is leading to. One criticism of that campaign is that the people that started this have no action plan. They have no strategy to turn that into action. It remains to be seen what will happen from that.

GC: I bought a poster : )

JD: That doesn’t change things.

GC: It provides funding.

JD: But it doesn’t change things does it? They don’t have a plan as to what to spend it on to create change. And that’s quite typical of the approach to the share the road campaigns. A lot of trust is put in a billboard, an advert, to change people’s behaviour.

But the key things is, with these wicked problems if you like, these complex and messy problems is that they are deeply ingrained, culturally ingrained and there’s a whole contextual environment of influence that leads to peoples behaviour. With share the road you have to look at the system of influence the physical environment will be a key part of that, the physical layout of roads and how roads are constructed and who gets priority and all those sorts of things and on top of that you’ve also got social factors that influence how people behave and that can be the influence from your friends, family, colleagues, peers and their attitudes and actions. And policy and regulation – at the moment policy very much supports the motorist not the cyclist and that influences how people think and so they believe they have priority and cyclists don’t.

And also there’s in interpersonal considerations to take priority as well – peoples knowledge and awareness, attitudes, even self efficacy – peoples ability and right to assert their rights on the road. So you’ve got all of these issues that are affecting this problem, so when you consider the complexity of it, it’s absurd that an advertisement is going to have any impact.

GC: So clearly it is a very difficult problem to address. How would you go about tackling this issue in Melbourne for example?

JD: Firstly I would stop wasting money on advertising and marketing!
I would start allocating money to tackling the issue that is relative to the size of the problem.

GC: I’m assuming this is a lot more money than is currently invested?

JD: Potentially a lot more money. But lets consider the cost. We do monetise the value of a human life – so just take the cost of a couple of those lives we’ve lost this year and put that towards a proper program that involves engaging with people and bringing people together because with sharing the road it is ultimately about conflict resolution. And to do that you’ve got to, whatever shape your program takes it has got be multi-faceted and its going to have to have lots of layers and it has got to engage with people and it has got to create empathy between those people. So a potential model is what we are doing in NZ, but I’m not saying that is the perfect model – it is still being prototyped at the moment- but it has got to be based around creating empathy between people.

Because all conflict resolution is based around creating empathy and compromise comes as a result of the empathy and that’s not to say marketing and advertising can’t be a part of that – but it’s got to be based on the outcomes of that – the program drives the marketing and advertising element of it, not the other way around. So what you might promote at the end of it is actual real life stories of change. So you can imagine a TV advert where you’ve got a truck driver who is actually telling his story where he’s actually gained empathy for a cyclist and understands what they have to go through and how he’s changed his behaviour because of that engagement and empathy.

How much more effective is that going to be than a very sophisticated, but ultimately useless TV advertisement like some of the ones we’ve got at the moment?

Words by Georgia Costello; picture by Aidan Gifkins

Keen?
gemini-lights.com

If you haven’t been on an extended cycling trip before, there’s a different mindset and approach than if you were just doing a day or even weekend ride. It’s about being away with other people for many days, being personally organised for each day’s ride, pacing yourself through hours of riding so you can keep going until the end of the trip and enjoy the ride as a holiday.
Scenery is important to most riders. Being away from the city and enjoying the natural environment seems to rate highly, not just the riding itself. Some like to focus on finishing each section and each day in a good time. Others take a more holiday approach, stopping at little towns and coffee shops and pubs or scenic lookouts along the way. The “I might never come here again” approach means that things other than riding flat out all day are important. So each to their own is how things work on these long trips.
The social/people aspects of these rides are often another draw card. Chatting to different people at drinks/food stops plus the end-of-the-day drinks adds to the overall experience.
I am sharing two rides done in the past 12 months, one in the Snowy River region and the other in the Flinders Ranges, SA. Both are highly recommended.

Snowy River Victoria/NSW

A 6 day ride with 2 options ranging from 270 to 350 kms.
The rides start in Orbost, East Gippsland, Victoria, a drive time of around four hours from Melbourne, five from Canberra and eight to ten from Sydney via Canberra/Queanbeyan. They are held four times a year in February and March or October and November and cost $1545 to $1595/person. It is a small group style with up to 10 riders on each trip with ages ranging from 35 to 70+. The rides are conducted by Snowy River Cycling, Liz Mitchell, Orbost, East Gippsland, Victoria.
The rides are in the Snowy River country from East Gippsland to the NSW border. The road surface is dirt for 75 per cent to 95 per cent depending on the trip.

Trip 1: ‘Snow Gums to Seaweed’ starts at Gelantipy. For two nights we stayed over the border at Delegate in NSW, a quaint country town. The riding was lots of ups, then mainly downhill to the coast.

Trip 2: ‘Ride around the River’ starts and ends in Orbost. It’s uphill to Gelantipy with some bitumen road then each day riding around the forests before finishing back at Orbost.
While a mountain bike is preferred a hybrid will be ok. Disc brakes or dual suspension are not needed. You can also hire a bike from Liz.
You need to take only personal items as all bedding and food/ eating equipment is supplied. Accommodation is in country cabins/lodges or hotel. There is no camping.
The riding is around 30 to 50 kilometres a day. There are no technical parts albeit some steep climbs and descents. You can hop in the support bus if not comfortable on the really steep slopes.
Each person can ride at their own speed to each coffee/meal stop. There is no pressure. Hooning down hills is great fun if that’s your thing, but cruising slowly is also ok.
Each night facilities include flush toilets and hot showers, but during the day it’s ‘bush toilet’, so up to you to choose a site that suits.
There are a small number of good wineries in Gippsland and Liz brings some local wine for us each night for dinner, my favourite became the red from Noorrinbee at nearby Cann River.
The scenery, as you would expect, is utterly fantastic; mountains, gorges, forests, high country farmlands, rainforests and coastal forests. You cross the headwaters of the Snowy River near the NSW border and several more times right down to near where it meets the sea. A real highlight is meeting friendly locals who live away from the nearest towns. I even got to fill my own jar of local honey at the small settlement of Tubbutt. Liz’s knowledge of the tracks, history, plants, and the various points of view of the contentious issue of logging of forests makes the ride even more interesting.

I rate the rides 9/10 overall, based on value, facilities, the riding, the people, the scenery and Liz’s local knowledge and organising abilities. I have been on 2 trips in 2010 and 2011 and highly recommend them as a great holiday – and I paid for all costs as an independent rider.

In Part Two, I’ll give you the lowdown on South Australia’s beautiful Flinders Ranges by bike.

Keen?

Snowy River Cycling, Liz Mitchell, Orbost, East Gippsland, Victoria
www.snowyrivercycling.com.au.

Twelve years ago, a crocodile farm on the Fremantle waterfront sold up to an enterprising group of brewers. With a new brewing concept (think teapot-style infusions) and a winery tasting room aesthetic, Little Creatures opened for business. Cue pizza oven, kitchens and a 2008 brewhouse upgrade. In a few short years, they’ve become part of the city furniture and have expanded their horizons to our far eastern shores – Melbourne.

Why is the Wheeler singing it’s praises? Naturally, it’s the bikes. Call it a gimmick, but we love the free Kronan bicycles Little Creatures Fremantle and Melbourne have available for their friends, customers and the good folk of the city.  Being involved with the community is part of the Little Creatures philosophy. They loan out the bikes on a simple honesty system to give punters an alternative to the four-wheel ride. Thanks to Jeremy Miller for the pics.

www.littlecreatures.com.au

By Kerstin Oelckers

In the mid 90s last century, the household needed an additional form of transport and I opted to get a hybrid bike.  Soon after that I started riding recreationally on and off-road, including a multiple-day tour mountain biking in the Flinders Ranges with Bicycle SA (something like a mini version of the Mawson Marathon).  To date, that tour would have to be one of my all-time favourites.  It certainly cemented my passion for mountain biking and I sometimes joke that my hybrid off-road riding then set the trend for the 29-inch mountain bike revolution.

Fast forward to 2004: I got my first ‘real’ mountain bike and in 2005 I started mountain bike racing by accident.

Fast forward again to 2011: having done the 100 kilometre Otway Odyssey Mountain Bike Marathon in 2010, I chose to do its 50 kilometre version in 2011.  Despite very demanding conditions on the day, I enjoyed a fantastic race and my result blew me out of the mud.

Following the Otway Odyssey, e-alerts kept hitting my inbox for the Ingkerreke Commercial Mountain Bike Enduro in Alice Springs, a seven-stage mountain bike race held over five days including two time trials and a night race. I thought this event would be pretty much beyond my capabilities, particularly having heard stories from some who’d done it.  But I was intrigued and attracted to the idea of riding in that part of Australia.  The idea would be to approach it like my first mountain biking experience in the Flinders Ranges and not a race.  After doing a little more homework on it, I signed up and the real preparation began.

Lots of forethought and groundwork pays off considering the terrain around Alice Springs.  Mountain bikes get a true bashing up there and can quickly succumb to mechanicals (massive amounts of punctures, slashed side walls and wrecked pedals to name a few).  Mountain bike gurus John Allison (expert in tyre fiascos with a particular passion for side walls) and David Clark (specialists for pedal disasters) allowed me to quiz them about all sorts of issues and potential disasters and provided lots of valuable advice on what to prepare for.  Both had competed in this event before, finishing with excellent race results.  One piece of vital advice was to convert the bike to running tubeless, a little project that Chris in one of the local bike shops was most helpful with.  Another was to take spare tubes injected with sealant, old pieces of tyre to fix damaged side walls, chain links and the list goes on. As it happened, I did take a spare pair of pedals and just as well… I needed to replace one of the pedals after stage two.

The weather was perfect in Alice Springs throughout the event and, when one takes the time to look, the scenery can be spectacular.  My intentions to treat this event as recreational went straight out of the window after the first day. Achieving a very encouraging result after the first stage I thought I might as well give this race a real go. And that change of thought paid off.

Despite thorough preparation, I had a few minor and some more significant mechanical issues on four of the seven stages.  That affected my race time and eventually started attacking my attitude and enthusiasm.  Luckily, the Ultimate Ride Bike Shop in Alice Springs sacrificed itself to help fix any dramas that competitors threw at them throughout the week. Mal in that shop kept the most amazing serenity under the pressure.

After several mechanical dramas, stage six was the turning point for me. This was a night race and it turned out to be my most enjoyable stage in the enduro.  An added bonus to the enjoyable race was an excellent stage result.

The night stage also had the most exhilarating race start. The mass of lights was spectacular. That combined with the music and announcements over the PA system made for a very sizzling atmosphere.

The toughest stage for me was the last one.  Not sleeping well after the excitement of the night race, and the legs not being ready for yet more punishment the morning immediately after, proved to be major challenges. Luckily, no mechanicals haunted me on that last day and, miraculously, the result for me turned out to be even better than the night stage.

It is usually difficult to suppress my enthusiasm for mountain biking but following that enduro I was pretty enthusiastic about having a serious rest from riding altogether. The intensity, both physically and mentally, was very demanding (because I made it that way) and I can now empathise better with those who do stage racing: it is tough on bike, body and mind and not always as glamorous as it may appear from a spectator’s perspective.

It didn’t take too long though for the riding enthusiasm to re-appear and the Alice Springs experience definitely benefited my riding skills on a subsequent mountain bike trip to the French Alps, which has been something of an annual pilgrimage over the last few years.

Out of all the cycling events and races I have done, this stage race would have to be in the same ‘most memorable’ league as my first Flinders Ranges mountain biking experience.

Although progress is evident since first taking up mountain biking, I’ve also remained loyal to a few unfashionable habits – much to the amusement of some who ride with me.  Ultimately, it is a hobby and fun activity and the latest gadget or garment will not make a significant difference to a rider’s performance (having made that statement I can already sense a massive discussion brewing).  Nonetheless, my motto remains: don’t let ego overtake ability and enjoy the ride – there is a lot of cycling fun to be had between riding and racing.  Having said that, I wouldn’t mind trying out this new…

Pic by Jose Garcia

Gerome

Gerome

Profession: Police officer, Senior Constable based at the Melbourne West Police Station.

What are you riding? A Kona Coilair Gold, a cross country mountain bike with a hard tail.

That’s the official bike of the police force is it? We don’t really have an official bike for the police force, but this is the bike we choose to use for our fleet at the Melbourne Bike Patrol Unit.

Have you ever had to test the suspension, jumping up and down gutters on a high speed bike chase? I might of given it a little bit of punishment, yes! I’ve gone done quite a few flights of stairs etc, it’s part of our training package that we do to become a bike cop.

How about when you are out of uniform, are you a rider by choice? Definitely, I head out to the You Yangs quite a bit.

Favourite Melbourne (Victorian) ride? Favourite is the Cressie run, (You Yangs) probably an intermediate run but it’s one of the better runs at the Youies – it flows really nicely, some good jumps on it, some good berms.

Best thing about riding? The pros far outweigh the cons- no parking fees, registration fees, much quicker to commute into town.

Downside to riding? Safety issues. There’s a lot of ignorance amongst road users, probably on both sides. Hopefully over the coming years that culture will change as I think we’ll see a lot more road users.

Advice to not yet riders? Get out there and get amongst it. You can get such a good bike now days for not a lot of money.

Hairiest ride in Melbourne? St. Kilda Rd, Latrobe St.

Bike shop of choice? Freedom Machine in Chapel St. they know their stuff as far as mountain bikes go.

If you were a bike what would you be? I’d be a cross country bike – downhill and aggressive, that’s me.

Mary

Mary

Profession: I’m retired. Hmm what do I do?… I’m fairly spontaneous, so whatever grabs me, I do.

What are you riding? A Malvern Star that goes back to the early 70’s. It belonged to my daughter as a child. It is a bit of a rust bucket, but it does get a few admiring glances.

Where do you usually ride to and from? I ride this bike to the city baths. I whip through the Vic Market when it’s closed from West Melbourne and it feels like just a few minutes and I’m there.

Favourite Melbourne ride? Recently I did the docklands to Port Melbourne with my grandson. We took a picnic lunch and took the ferry across to Williamston. That was really lovely. I loved that you could ride on Footscray Rd on a dedicated bike path and cross with the lights, it felt very safe.

Advice to not yet riders? Simply have a go – it’s great fun. It’s very liberating and satisfying, I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Hairiest ride in Melbourne? One of the crossings in the docklands doesn’t have lights and you have to stop in the centre median strip.

Bike shop of choice? The one on Lygon St. Brunswick

If you were a bike what would you be? A retro bike – at my age!

Carla

Carla

Profession: I’ve just finished studying (art therapy at Latrobe). Right now I’m just riding around figuring out what I’m going to do with my life. (Just finished studying Art Therapy at university)

What are you riding? A Pappilionaire. Not sure of the model, but I know it’s the men’s version (parallel bar)

Style or Speed? Style. (clearly) I love the handlebars They’re actually upside down – the person who owned the bike before me flipped them around claiming that you go faster in that position.

Where do you usually ride to and from? From Fitzroy to Fitzroy! Right now I’m going from George St to the library in Moore St.

Favourite Melbourne ride? I love riding through Edinborough Gardens (the gardens which aren’t illegal to ride through).

Best thing about riding? It’s a good place to think.

Downside to riding? Riding to work you get sweaty

Advice to not yet riders? Just start riding. It’s not that hard.

Hairiest ride in Melbourne? Nicholson St after Alexander parade… I probably should be riding in the street parallel, because there is no bike path there.

Bike shop of choice? Velo Bikes on the bike path on Nicholson St. They’re really friendly.

If you were a bike what would you be? I’ve been thinking about this actually! And I wouldn’t be this one. I need one that more suits my personality – I’m not really vintage. I’d be closer to a road bike- practical, efficient and streamlined.

Larissa

Larissa

Profession: I work in social research and sustainability at RMIT

Style or Speed? This is surprisingly speedy for its size. I get along feeling like I’m moving pretty much as fast on my other full siz e bikes. It’ doesn’t seem slow. I find the upright position of this bike is really comfortable and good for my back which sometimes hurts. I feel quite safe being low to the ground. I got hit by a taxi while riding another bike recently, and with this bike I feel there’s not far to fall. At the moment it’s my favourite.

What are you riding? It’s a Japanese bike, a brand I’ve never heard of – Hustwait. Somewhere here it says made in Japan

Where do you usually ride to and from? To work – a short one from Brunswick to RMIT in the city . Whenever the weather is not bad, I prefer to be on the bike.

Favourite Melbourne ride? I don’t have many rides that I go on when not for a purpose… But I do like heading out through Fairfield and Kew you, ther ride where you end up near Heidi gallery.

Best thing about riding? It’s the sense of freedom. It creates that time in the time where you are exposed to the environment and whether the weather is nice or bad, you’re outside for a bit and it separates your time at from your time at work. It’s relaxing. And you don’t have to get on a tram with hot, smelly people or in winter with people couching on you – you probably catch less colds! And it’s more reliable.

Downside to riding? Looking out for driver and pedestrians and other dangers. Having to have constant vigilance and trying not to get uptight about other drivers doing the wrong thing.

Advice to not yet riders? I didn’t ride either, until 7 or 8 years ago … I thought oh geez that must be hard, and a but dangerous and I thought I just couldn’t be bothered. But then I started and it just felt really great – it just makes the day better. When you get used to it, it’s not hard work. Especially in the city of Melbourne where there is barely any hills.

Hairiest ride in Melbourne? Pulling out from Amer St to Brunswick Rd. There’s a bike path on the left where bikes can go straight but cars can’t go straight ans so the ones turning left are often not looking out for cyclists going straight ahead. There is no signage – there neeeds to be something.

If you were a bike what would you be? I wouldn’t be a new bike. I really like the idea of keeping whatever it is going so long as it is still functional.

Trent

Trent

Profession: I’m a student, studying Environmental Social Science

Style or Speed? More substance and comfort

What are you riding? My Gemini Road Randonneur

Where do you usually ride to and from? Parkville to Balaclava.

Favourite Melbourne ride? Every

Best thing about riding? The freedom, dong what you want when you want however you want

Downside to riding? There are no real downsides to riding a bike.

Advice to not yet riders? Have fun. Be confident. And helmet hair is sexy, so don’t be concerned about that. And wear a helmet!

Hairiest ride in Melbourne? Brunswick St on a Saturday night and Chapel St anytime.

Bike shop of choice? Northside: Commuter Cycles, Southside: Shifter Bikes

If you were a bike what would you be? I’d say my bike – a little rough around the edges but still got some charm

Andrew

Andrew

Profession: Underemployed engineer! … I work 3 days per week in risk and integrity

What are you riding? Today it’s the 1982 Frissoni built by Joe Cosgrave in Brisbane.

You have another bike? Yeah! … A garage full, well more than a dozen.

Wow! So you just can just change bike with your outfit, your mood? Different bikes for different purposes.

So you are a cross genre kind of rider? Almost. No recumbents- because they are wrong. Tracks bikes, road bikes, couple of restorations, cyclo cross bikes, commuters, gravel bikes, tourers, several tandems, single speeds.

Style or Speed? Today, definitely style. Save the speed for when I’ve got a number pinned on me and I’m actually racing.

Where do you usually ride to and from? I commute from Northcote to North Melbourne

Favourite Melbourne ride? Anywhere with friends on a sunny day but maybe a loop through Mt Pleasant to King Lake

Best thing about riding? It feels good. It’s the closest you are going to get to flying.. closest thing without actually having wings

Downside to riding? Nah nothing. I don’t care if it’s raining, or heavy traffic or there are other idiots out there I still prefer riding anywhere, anytime so the worst thing is not being able to ride.

Advice to not yet riders? Pretend you’re invisible, ride defensively – aggressively on occasion and don’t be a dick!

Hairiest ride in Melbourne? The door zone

Bike shop of choice? Northside: Commuter Cycles, Southside: ShifterBikes

If you were a bike what would you be? Probably an Alex Singer 650b Randonneur – practical, fast, can cover all kinds of ground in rain or shine, day or night

Erle

Erle

Profession: I’m the lowly tradesman – I’m a cabinet maker, currently between jobs

Style or Speed? Neither! (… I thought you said it was a good looking frame!) It is- but not with this set up, this is its third incarnation, probably my least favourite. How many bikes do you have? 11 currently!

What are you riding? The only nice Melbourne Bicycle Centre frame ever made

Where do you usually ride to and from? I don’t have a regular ride at the moment, but it used to be Maribyrnong to Tullamarine – the truck drivers weren’t so appreciative

Favourite Melbourne ride? Anywhere that isn’t between Maribyrnong to Tullamarine!

Best thing about riding? Not having to deal with traffic is by far the best aspect

Downside to riding? The occasional unfortunate encouter with some idiot – generally in a commodore or a falcon…. Or a truck, or a taxi or a bus… Dealing with the attitude of some drivers

Advice to not yet riders? Don’t start on a fixie. Keep your eyes open and take your lane

Hairiest ride in Melbourne? Anything with the word Street following it! Elizabeth St in-bound is horrifying at any time … Latrobe St., Bourke St… any street street.

Bike shop of choice? Northside: Commuter Cycles, Southside: ShifterBikes

If you were a bike what would you be? I’d be the custom frame that I’m still getting built, an all rounder basically, comfortable and well worn.