Wet weather needs a tyre check

Weather watch: keep an eye on your tyres in wet weather. Photo: Nicole Hamaker FlickR

Rain created trouble for a friend’s icecream earlier this week. She’d gone shopping with bike and trailer, but forgotten the puncture repair kit.

As always happens when the roads get wet, a sharp stone cut up her front tyre and she had to walk bike, trailer and melting icecream all the way home.

The icecream finally made it to the freezer and the tyre ended up in the rubbish bin.

Light up your life

Lighten up: there’s a huge range of lights available so being seen in the dark is easy. Photo: Mark Slater

The mornings are dark, the sun goes down earlier in the evening – it’s definitely time to be thinking about lights again.

Many cyclists seem unconcerned about lighting up because they can see well enough by street lights. They might be able to see, but they can’t be seen and that makes a cyclist at night very vulnerable.

Impressions of cycling in Bendigo

Outta town: Bendigo offers all kinds of treats for cyclists. Photo: Helen Cronin

It’s easy to forget how lucky we Bendigo cyclists are. Someone who only took up cycling in Bendigo last winter sent me a reflection on his first ride here and reminded me.

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The chilly air was biting nose and ears and I could see my breath forming clouds over the handlebars. I picked up speed, cruising down Specimen Hill Road towards the meeting point at the Caltex on High Street.

How to win the Madison

Local heroes: 1996 Madison winners Tim Decker and Chris White reminisce about the big race. Photo: Eddie Barkla

If you’ve ever taken a peek at the Madison and thought it just looked like a bunch of people riding in circles for a couple of hours, you might wonder what all the fuss is about.

Once you get a handle on the rules, format and tactics it becomes a riveting game of chess on two wheels.

The Bendigo International Madison has been running since 1972 and it’s so-called because it does attract international cycling talent. Seventeen teams of two people battle it out and that’s where you get the most recognisable Madison image-the hand sling.

Ready, set – ride to school

Child’s play: riding to school helps keep your kids physically active. Photo: Eddie Barkla

Maybe it’s the free breakfast, but Ride to Work Day gets bigger every year. The good people at Bicycle Victoria wondered why the grownups should have all the fun. So now there’s Ride to School Day on Wednesday 12 March.

It’s actually part of a much bigger, year-round program designed to encourage kids to get more physically active. And, like Ride to Work Day, it’s a great way to try out the idea with a lot of other people.

If riding to school is a new idea for your children you’ll need to do some preparation before you pack their lunch and wave them goodbye. Start with their gear.

Pre-flight checks for your bike

Easy as ABCD: give your bike a quick check before you ride to catch any potential problems early. Photo: Helen Cronin

No matter how many engineers and maintenance staff look after a plane, pilots always personally run through a series of checks before they take off. If something is not right, the best place to find out is on the ground.

Even though you don’t have to worry about being 5,000 ft above the ground if something goes wrong, it still pays to make sure your bike is roadworthy before you head out the front gate. Much better to find a problem before you find yourself stuck 30km from home.

The ABCD quick check will pick up any potential problems before they get you into trouble, and it only takes a few minutes to do.

“A” stands for “air”. Check that you’ve got the correct pressure in your tyres. (It’s written on the wall of the tyre if you’re not sure what it should be.)