A couple of weeks ago, my lovely friend Nicky stayed for a few days. Luckily the bunnies were on their best behaviour and didn't eat or wee on anything belonging to Nicky. I'm still sort of mortified that my other lovely friend Lauren, who lives 2 hours away,  prefers to drive home rather than sleep on the couch because of one time that the girls kept her awake. All night..

Lauren, I swear to you, they sleep outside now!

Anyway, Nicky convinced me that this year we should go in some kind of charity bike ride. I'm not sure why exactly, bit I got a bit caught up in the moment and parts of the conversation are a bit hazy.

Even though I don't own a bicycle, and the last time I rode one with any regularity was in 2008 in a country that is almost entirely flat, she convinced me that we should ride from Sydney to Wollongong. 90 kilometres. On bicycles. For fuck's sake.

I think somewhere in there I found myself agreeing to the City-to-Surf again as well. 

Faced with the alarming prospect of a 90km bike ride, fast approaching, and my lack of an essential piece of equipment, I did what any self-respecting internet-materialist would do, and started researching bicycles. It took me a while to realise that people who ask, "what kind are you thinking of," don't actually mean, "so, are you going to get a wicker basket? and do you prefer that one because the bit that goes around the gear thing is purple, or is cream just a more classic choice?" No, people who ask such questions have Opinions about gear shanks, and frame weight, and whether hybrids really are the best of both worlds or just a poor smattering of shitty wheels mixed with sub-par handlebar position. I had so much to learn.

I'm going to be honest with you. I'll admit that I looked at the road bikes, and I almost convinced myself that it was a road bike that I needed, because, you know, I was going to be doing 15km training rides daily and wearing those padded pants.  But in the end my vanity got the better of me, I accepted that I will not be riding 15km daily, and I just couldn't bring myself to buy something so butt ugly. Also, I don't think you can even put a basket on a road bike.

Enter Betsey. Isn't she beautiful? She is a Trek Allant, and Lance Armstrong rides Trek, so I'm sure she won't have that much trouble doing 90 km at a stately pace.





And just in case you're wondering, cream is a more classic choice.