When I think of cycling in Australia I like to think that whilst we’re no Europe cycling mecca, we’ve at least got it better then a lot of other countries out there.
Having lived in Melbourne I was admittedly spoilt with the abundance of bicycle lanes and large cycling community.
Over in the suburb of Prospect, South [...]
When I came to Taiwan I expected hell on the roads. Asian drivers are a nightmare in Australia and moving to a country full of them I knew it would be bad but I still didn’t quite know what to expect.
During my time cycling in Taiwan I’ve come to learn that the worst threat to [...]
On my first Sunday off from teaching I decided to reward myself after working six days straight with a day long bicycle ride through Taiwan.
A few towns over from where I was staying is the township of Jhushan. Surrounded by mountains, lots of greenery and not nearly as much traffic as the major cities, it [...]
In response to last weekends cycling post, reader Suzie left a comment asking if I’d “written a post on how to teach an adult to ride?”
I hadn’t ever been asked this question so I wasn’t sure initially how to go about answering it. I was however immediately transported back to my own childhood. As a [...]
One of the biggest breakthrough’s I had in making my bicycle commute more comfortable was the investment in a bicycle rack and a good set of panniers.
Not only did I get to experience the enjoyment of having nothing hindering my body as I rode but the addition of a rack and panniers increased the functionality [...]
On my morning bicycle commute I regularly see a specific type of cyclist.
They ride various extreme budget brand bicycles, the bicycles squeal due to lack of maintenance and poor adjustment and more often then not their wheels are dangerously buckled to the point I have no idea how their brakes function.
To be fair it’s not [...]
I’m in two minds about about public bicycle hire. On one hand there’s no doubt that the easy access offered will increase overall cycling rates and is generally better for leveraging better infrastructure, but on the other there’s the less idealistic underbelly of society.
Today the RACV officially announced that Melbourne will be getting a “European-style [...]
Let’s face it, it doesn’t take much to raise the ire of the Australian public when it comes to cyclists.
Despite tougher laws against cyclists, the fact that realistically we’re looking at one bad cyclist article every 3-4 months or so and that every second day there’s a slew of bad motorist articles in every paper [...]
Removing a chain from a bicycle seems like one of those mystical things that doesn’t make any sense until someone shows you how. I remember when I got my first bicycle toolkit and saw the chain breaker for the first time I thought to myself, ‘what on earth is that thing for?’
Like most maintenance jobs [...]
I love my gears on a bicycle. Despite wearing the chain out faster and requiring a bit more maintenance, the ability to switch gears based on how I want to ride and the terrain I’m riding on far outweighs the weight saving gained by going fixed gear.
Despite my objections though I can’t deny the recent [...]
