Thursday, July 10, 2008

Learning to ride a bicycle in Sydney

When I lived in Vientiane, Laos for a year, the bicycle was my main form of transport. I bought a Giant bike, a hybrid between a road bike and a mountain bike. This was perfect for Vientiane because if you go off the main road there are major pot holes, rocky and generally uneven. It was great for keeping healthy and lots of fun so I brought it home to Sydney. In Sydney I had only ridden a bike around as a kid for fun, never for serious exercise or commuting.

My boyfriend pretty much put my bike back together for me when I arrived home. He used some instructions on the internet and advice over instant messaging from a friend. It was challenging riding my bicycle around my local neighbourhood because:

1. The bike wasn't as well tuned as it was when the guy at the bike shop did it. I'm going to have to learn this myself. I should also find a local bike shop.

2. Sydney has hills! I'm going to have to learn to ride on them, ie pace myself appropriately.

3. I pumped up the tyres with a hand pump and I knew this was a poor effort but I did try really hard. I was pleased my local servo now has a digital readout with the air pump so I used it to pump up my tyres. My tyres should be pumped up 45-65 psi. I had only pumped them up a paltry 15 psi.

4. I discovered my front tyre was on backwards so I turned it around today. I'm now proficient at taking the front tyre on and off. I now have to learn to do the back one.

I'm quite bad at things mechanic but I do want to learn how to maintain my bicycle. Here are some good resources:
There are also bicycle related events in Sydney which sound like fun including:
I have to buy a few things including a puncture kit (and learn how to use it), a set of allan keys and other maintenance tools and a bottle cage.

No comments: