Caught in the Helmet-War Crossfire

To helmet or not to helmet? A question thats been floating around in my head this past year. Of course it's illegal to not wear one in New Zealand, though I don't know how vigorously the police enforce that law. 

I recently left an innocent comment on copenhagenize.com, a site run by my old Flickr contact Mikael. Just a couple of anecdotes from my past where I felt a helmet had saved me at the very least a fractured skull, and in one of my motorcycle accidents I'm pretty sure it saved my life. For balance I mentioned that I don't think they should be mandatory and I certainly agree with the anti-helmet brigade that regulating helmet use reduces the number of potential cyclists in a population. 

Well this is obviously a passionate subject! Insults were flying in both directions, examples made to support both arguments and statistics twisted to fit all views. 

I'm so keen on all forms of cycling that I don't like to see us arguing amongst ourselves, but it is a subject that needs debate - rational debate. 

So I walked away from this fight for now, a little gun-shy but determined to learn more about the subject.

What's your opinion?

Rainy Day Cycling

Not a lot of cycling done this past month apart from my ride into work and back. It's been cold and wet but I've had a dream run on my commute, not even needing to don a raincoat yet. 

My days off looking after my daughter have been quite another matter. Long cold rainy days with no prospect of a quick trailer trip to the park or riding on the street. 

To beat the boredom and stay warm we have been heading to the garage to race our bikes around my car. You couldn't do this on a normal bike, there's just not enough room, but the A-bike is perfect. It takes nerves of steel to pilot a 6 inch wheeled bike at high speed on the slippery concrete floor whilst a two year old is trying to t-bone you at every opportunity. God knows what the neighbours think... manic bell ringing, shrieks of delight and the roaring of "bike monsters" can be heard echoing up the street. We really have a good time together and get some exercise as well.

The self-portrait taken while riding a bicycle is known as a "Panda" in Flickr circles. I may well be the first to pull it off successfully on an A-bike without requiring hospitalization. It handles like a two wheeled office chair on ice at the best of times.

This cracks me up. When I pulled out the Bickerton for a pre-race tune-up I put it upside down and grabbed a rag and a stool. Carla then flicks her trike upside down, steals another rag and found a block of wood to sit on. Bike obsession at 26 months old, I'm so proud!

Training Nosedive

One month to go to the New Zealand Singlespeed champs and I've spent the last five days sitting on the toilet.

"I WILL NEVER, EVER, EAT A SERVICE STATION PIE AGAIN!"

I started the Easter long weekend feeling like the bike on the left and now I feel like the little one on the right. Five kilograms (11lbs) lost in the first three days and I was skinny to start with.

This Easter weekend was supposed to include two three hour rides and a trip to the forest. I am never going to fit enough for this thing if I get sick again. 

My new goal for the race is just to finish it riding the bike and not walking beside it. I had been aiming to not finish last ;-)

Adventure starts here

I'm in my third cycling cycle.

The first was in childhood. My dad bought a little red bike for my birthday off a Japanese guy on a cargo ship. I would have been five or six years old. I fell in love. It was candy apple red and had a chrome siren on the bars that you controlled from a button by the handgrip. I loved that bike more than anything in the world and I got to ride it for a whole fifteen minutes before it was taken away from me! I was too tall for it. A problem that plagues me to this day. I had to wait another year for my next one.

The second cycle was in my mid twenties. I worked in a design studio with a teenager so enthusiastic about bike racing that the majority of staff ended up getting into cycling without really trying. Before we knew it even the owner had bought a fancy road bike and we were organising company cycling events for our clients and their families. I bought my first bike as an adult and started mountain bike racing with the guys from work. I'm still riding that bike fifteen years later.

I'm in the third cycle now. I can't remember how it started but I got wind of the singlespeed movement. I sniffed around the internet and found Sheldon Brown's site. All the information I needed was there. I purchased a Surly Singleator to convert my bike from Harris Cyclery and I was hooked. People talk about the zen of fixed gear riding. Well I think the same thing applies to singlespeed mountain bikes. The simplicity, the silence and the extra effort required makes for a special experience. You just zone-out and forget about the bike completely. It's more like running than cycling. That was three years ago and I'm totally obsessed with cycling again.

I'm going to share some of my cycling adventures on this blog.