Sometimes, with a blog and whatnot you are actually only talking to an audience of one and that’s kind of reassuring. And so it was with the invitation to the Cyclofemme ride because, to be honest, with how tired I was feeling with the show, I was not sure I wanted to go on a ride on Sunday morning, since mainly I thought that I would feel like falling asleep which I did.

Luckily my ride companions, while small in number, were dedicated in spirit!

We took ourselves along the river, avoiding the Mother’s Day fun run yet benefiting from the inspirational vision of a lot of other people doing exercise at the same time.

And then we talked, mainly because we were just going for a ride, this talk was of the weather, how nice is the sunshine and how nice was riding etc.

But there is one story that has stayed with me.

Ellen mentioned somewhere between Southbank and St Lucia that her mother had, in the early 70s, attempted to join the police motorbike corps. (I’m not sure if that’s exactly what it’s called but effectively her mum was in the police and also wanted to be in the police and riding a motorbike for the police.)

At the time the police rode 1200cc motorbikes which they told Ellen’s mother would be too hard for a woman to handle and so as a result she was not allowed to join the police motorbike people. She responded by turning up to work one day on a 1900cc bike and wondering if they that was too hard for her to handle too.

Well, circumstances (i.e. the birth of her first child) eventually prevented Ellen’s mother from finding out if the motorcycle corp would take her, but it’s an amazing/sobering thing to think that even in our own country and in only a few short decades so much has changed.

Maybe we didn’t need to organise a bike ride here, because in this day and age, it’s just your average bike ride, not something to think about. Or is it?

Thanks to the Cyclofemme crew* for encouraging us to ride – sometimes it’s nice to remember those who’ve come before and feel grateful for all that you have.

*I’ll be sure to be a social media good citizen and send you some links and pics and whatnot.

Wanna come for a ride on Sunday?

 I don’t have a mother, or at least one I will have to see on Sunday (because she is interstate) so I’m going for a little bike ride on Sunday. If it wasn’t for the fact that I need to be somewhere in the mid-morning, I would go with the lovely folk for Lazy Sunday Cycle, but them is the breaks. Weather is meant to be lovely, but then again, it is Queensland.

This time around, I don’t believe you have to be a woman to ride this ride, you can come in recognition of the amazing women in your life, bring a daughter, a sister, or a partner or even just know a couple of women and I think it will be fine. Maybe you can wear your pink Rapha. 

See you there.

Before I get too far ahead of myself, however, I wanted to ask. It’s easy with friends to often assume that because you “know” them, you don’t have to “get to know them better”. You know what I mean?

So, Claire…who are you again?

1. What was your first bike?
I actually can’t remember my first bike. As I child I wasn’t particularly fussed about riding. Huddling under a doona on the couch and reading my book was much more interesting to me. I got back into riding in my early 20s as a holier than thou environmentalist, going through a series of heavy made-in-china hand me down bikes from friends, and later through bikes from a bike swap scheme. When I started dating my (bike mad) partner he took one look at my bike and laid it on the line. It was going to be a bike upgrade or he was leaving. And that was it. I got my first credible bike, a Giant CRX3, shortly afterwards.

2. What are you riding right now?
I have 3.5 bikes: my Giant; ‘whitey’ – my On-one In Bred white mountain bike; an Avanti Sub-Rosa.1 road bike; and I share ‘Brompty’, a green Brompton folding bike, with my partner.

3. How the hell did that happen?
I do not know, but bike storage is now pretty high on our list of priorities when house hunting.

4. Favourite ride-on song?
The birds tweeting, the wind rustling through the trees, and the complete absence of any car noise –my favourite riding soundtrack by far.

5. Anyone to thank for getting you into cycling?
Melbourne for its flat roads and multitude of cyclists providing unspoken encouragement. My partner Jon, for showing me that 100kms is not that far, biking holidays are fun, and hills are not that scary in the right gear. And a sexist guy at the 3-ring circus MTB event, who through his derision inspired me to move beyond team support status to actually riding in events.

6. If you could take your bike anywhere, where would that be?
Somewhere quiet, in the mountains, where I can ride for hours with beautiful scenery and hardly any car traffic.

7. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being “like eating a good breakfast” and 10 being “this is the meaning of life”, how important is cycling to your life?
How much do I love it? 10. How important is it? Maybe an 8. Cycling is my main form of transport, it gets me fit, and it makes me happy, but I can live without it for blocks of time without any detrimental impact on my mental health.

8. How do you feel about helmets?
I have to admit that when I don’t wear one I feel naked. I’ll be half way down the street and wondering what have I’ve forgotten. Having said that, I’m not convinced that requiring people to wear helmets is very helpful. We want more cyclists on the road to improve road safety, not less.

9. What interests you about women and cycling?
I ride with a bunch of lovely ladies on Sunday mornings and have oft wondered – why did we all choose to ride in a women’s only cycling group? Something to explore for my first post perhaps?

10. Complete this sentence: “riding my bike makes me feel…”
pretty darn happy.

Like at 8am, leaving from the Go Between Bridge, then just cruising along the Bicentennial Bikeway, up and around the Storey Bridge then back via Kangaroo Point? I might continue up and onwards into West End, or I might just find somewhere nice in South Bank. Who knows?

Won’t be formal, or fancy, or fast, but it will be taking all comers and just trying to recognise how lovely it is to be a woman on a bike for Cyclofemme. Honoring the chance to wear (the) pants, so to speak.

Lil’ wiki tidbit for you, just to pop in your pipe and think about.

During the 1920s and 1930s, the media gave very little attention to women who set endurance records. Instead the media chose to focus on male cyclists. During this period, Australian women were setting records. In 1937, Joyce Barry bicycled from Newcastle, New South Wales to Sydney, New South Wales, a distance of 160 kilometres (99 mi) in six and a half hours. Valda Unthank set several records in the same era, including a 1938 distance record for her ride from Adelaide, South Australia to Melbourne, Victoria.

I always just like to remember, we didn’t get here alone.

I am hoping that this phrase will catch on. I hope and I hope and I hope. Such is the life of a helmet blogger.

Last Friday/Sunday, in an effort to be BYO Vulva, I sped down to the ABC studios in Southbank to chat with Phil Smith and Andrew Demack of the Sunday Spin. Talking all things ladies cross cycling cross mountain bike cross poetry cross cross.

Joining me, Phil and the D-ster, was also Kate Lansell, urban planner, dirty deeder, cyclocrosser, radio crosser and generally amazing woman, and Rowan Lamont from MTB Skills.

If you wanted to listen in for yourself, please click ye olde link here. It will make you realise that it is a great thing that no one played my bike poem; that Rowan is beautifully softly spoken; that Kate is a thoughtful and considered soull and that the D-ster spent too much on his mountain bike.

What it made me realise, however, is that I have been rather slack about putting my time where my mind is (hence under-loved blog) – it’s just called work, but sometimes, not investing time in the issues that I care about makes it quickly untenable to invest in even the basics of other things. I quickly fall to pieces.

So what this means in terms of this blog – is that stuck in the pipes is a sweet Q&A from the Claire In There, a bit of food for thought from Z to the V, and some painting the town red, blue and gold from the original Ideas Curator, Talia. I’ll commit to sending these pieces of goodness your way sometime in the coming week, which is a helluva commitment since this is the week of She Stole My Every Rock and Roll. Don’t forget that if you ride your bike to the show, or if you bring your very own first date – there’s a free zine in it for ya. This is for you, Brisbane Reader. I would like to meet you in person.

Oooh. I should mention, I rode my bike to and fro from Murrarrurrarrrarrie this week, which was truly heart warming. I’d almost forgotten how much I love riding. Hear that, I had almost forgotten, but then I had also remembered, if I don’t ride, then I can’t write. So let’s do a little more of both.

OH MY GOODNESS – did you think I had abandoned you?

Did you know that I actually have three scheduled posts for indicator species ladies, that I have started riding my bike again, that I am IN LOVE WITH YOU and that I think that you should pump some serious tunes?

I have – sadly – been called away to my real job and that has taken a lot of time.

JUST YOU WAIT!

When I need LIVING IN CAPS, I go to the New Timer. Who does not need to come back to you like hipsters to blogspot because he is already there.

And when I need some Caffeine Fuelled Cyclemania, I go to Anna B. Ordinarily Anna is making serious business with regards to  the National Cross Country MTB Series, and then making me laugh via her blog. It takes a lot to make me laugh, seriously, I find it hard.  This year, however, she is also making serious business with a baby. So she took some time out from her busy schedule and I took some time out from my busy time wasting to discuss a little riding while pregnant.

(this is Anna; arguably, this is the image of myself I would want shared, so you can look at her blog for pictures of her doing awesome cycling related stuff).

Mainly because, as a woman who cares about cycling and women who cycle, sometimes people ask me about what’s hot and what’s not for the pregnant cyclist and sadly – I don’t know. I’m barely able to handle riding for one, let alone two.

Now, Anna is going to be giving a much more nuanced, sensible and sub-edited round up of MTB/pregnancy madness in Enduro Magazine, which I bought once or twice and felt genuinely Serious About Sport, so you can look out in good newsagents for that.

And  in the meantime, here’s 5 questions you didn’t even know you wanted to know about riding while pregnant answered by an awesome rider, coffee freak and new mum with the skinny on what it means to ride with your bump.

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1. Should I? Can I? (obviously, I would need to get pregnant first!)

Can you? Should you? Well the experts say that you shouldn’t suddenly take up exercise once you’re pregnant. Going “hey, I’m knocked up, I think I should start riding some gnarly trails and maybe knock out a couple hundred clicks every other day on the roadie” is not a good idea. That being said, if you have a healthy, uncomplicated pregnancy and you were already riding your bike beforehand, then most health care providers will state that it’s ok to continue riding—just monitor the intensity and your hydration levels.

In my experience talking to other cyclists that have been pregnant, there are many obstetricians that are hesitant to condone riding on the road or offroad—especially after 12 weeks when your uterus pops out of your pelvis.

On the other hand, have people like the group of midwives that looked after us throughout my pregnancy who were quite happy to let me continue riding my bike throughout the entire pregnancy, trusting that I wasn’t going to go and enter any downhill races.

Seek advice from the professionals, but also do your own research if you’re pregnant and concerned. Ultimately, the choice is yours. Ride within your limits and experience is the only kind of advice I’ll offer.

Personally I felt very lucky to be able to ride up until the day prior to my waters breaking. It definitely helped recover quicker and get back on the bike just after a week post-partum. It may have even helped speed along my (very quick) labour and help with the grunt required for the pushing phase!

2. On my bike, or do I need a more uprighty fit for my baby bump set up?

I found that I was fine initially. Up until about 5-months pregnant I was relatively comfortable, but it will be a personal thing. I gave away road riding after the first trimester. It wasn’t a safety worry so much, more so that riding road, for me, was always a supplementary training for the mountain bike.

Once I found out I was pregnant, I sold the roadie as I wasn’t training for anything. I rode the singlespeed and ran up until about 6months and rode the geared mountain bike and commuter bike throughout the whole shebang.

After I developed a bit of a bump at about 5 or 6 months, we invested in some riser bars and a super highly positive stem (one that points towards the sky—very unfashionable on a race bike but unfolded my belly a bit!).

Furthermore, I traded in my regular saddle, which is a little on the lightweight and wooden-feeling side of things, for a slightly wider more plush women’s cross-country one. I found that my sit bones were getting sore on the old one—likely from those pesky hormones that loosen everything up so that you can, you know, push a baby out your hoo-ha.

3. What say you to the “pregnant rider” safety signs that I have seen about? Good idea? I mean, who can tell you’re pregnant necessarily from behind? Maybe this will stop other commuters from having heart attack issues if you’re riding slowly. Or are they only marginally worse than those odd “my family” stickers? Waste of time?

I wasn’t aware that they existed? Considering the filth and vitriol that spews forth from the mouths of motorists WITHOUT a sign illustrating a baby on board, I’m pretty sure there would be a fair few ‘pro-life’ people out there willing to give you an earful. But maybe I’m wrong? If you’re pregnant and it makes you feel better, then do it. Surely there’s no harm.

4. If my lycra won’t hold my tummy in now, will I have to upgrade to bib knicks by second trimester?

Not too sure on this one either—I’ve been a bib-knick kinda girl since I began to ride bikes. All that lovely comfort without worrying about muffin-top on your fat days. Win-win!

What I found with pants etc (and it possibly transfers across to lycra) is that I wanted something really low under the belly or something that pretty much went up to my chest. I found the bibs handy at all stages as the front could kind of just keep expanding out, then in the last 5 or so weeks where I’m looking noticeably spaceship-like, I just tucked the bib part into the jersey, thus being a lot lower down than knicks.

The downside with bibs—peeing. This becomes an even bigger downside when you have a small person tap-dancing on your bladder and you need to pee, like, every 10minutes. Mountain biking is much better for road riding in this regard too—there’s always a tree to pee behind.

5. Did you get any schtick from others about riding while pregnant? Again, as a not-pregnant person, I am still surprised at how women’s bodies become public property when pregnant. While I am no doubt guilty of it myself, did you find that others (rider/non-riders) had opinions on your cycling while pregnant?

Not really, as I mentioned my midwives at the Birth Centre were the best kind of rad and really supportive. I had heaps of people ask when I was planning to stop riding, and I would just say ‘hopefully not until I go into labour’.

A friend recommended not riding outside in the last trimester, but that seemed boring. My husband wanted me to ride only until the last month, then that came and went.

We rode on some local firetrails and easy singletrack at 8+months and he said ‘maybe this should be your last off-road ride’ as I hauled my lardy butt up this (seemingly) huge hill. But I said I would quit when I needed to. I wasn’t in any pain (except emotional pain the time a trail runner passed me riding up a hill!) so I didn’t see the need to stop.

Yes, it was damn uncomfortable sometimes, and I just wanted to be at home on the couch other times, but without a doubt I felt far more fabulous at the end of each ride than at the start, so that’s why I kept riding!

—

Do you have other perspectives on riding while pregant?

(does resemble this picture, which is an after shot, dammit)

Even all the way away from NY, NY.

This is when Tals thinks helmets can get really hot*, as she indicated when she sent me this link to  helmets repurposed, upcycled, and breaking new ground. I am not kidding. I would genuinely create a hanging garden from helmets. Not least of all because I’d be guaranteed good drainage.

*Tals, at this rate I should write copy for the Herald Sun. Really. I’m ashamed of myself. It’s like I should get my HECS debt erased because clearly I have done nothing with my higher education.

That said, there was a pretty view. There is always a pretty view.

I used to have a project called Project Look Up. Sometimes I wonder if cycling isn’t just a proxy.

I also have another project called She Stole My Every Rock and Roll. It’s with a lovely poet called Betsy Turcot and I think that if you rode your bike to any of our shows between the 10 – 19 May as a part of the Anywhere Theatre Festival and you bring in your little bike helmet so that I know (on your honour) that you rode your bike there, then I think you can have a free zine. I think Betsy will allow me to do this.

Just this once.

I won’t assume that cyclists love poetry, or that you are based here in Brisbane but if you are and you do. Then I would be honoured if you would come along to the show. Poetry, it’s one of the few things I love as much as cycling. It’s a two person poetic dialogue set in a very cute record store in West End.

Here’s a little bit of what it looks like.

But have you heard of Scott Emerson? He is the new transport minister for the Fair State.  This is a photo of our new transport minister at the recent BQ Ride to Work Day.

That is all.