The Cycling Duthies

When we lived in London, Rob and I cycled everywhere, arriving at work, dinners and parties almost always dressed in bike shorts. We also notched up a few hundred miles cycling from London to Brighton, Oxford, Southend and Cambridge - the latter ride the scene of the famous stitches in the back of the ambulance story. We also chucked our bikes on the plane to Madrid and cycled around a sizeable area of central Spain during an August heat wave. Despite being a much smaller city, Sydney is not as bike friendly as London, bike paths stop abruptly or suddenly become part of the freeway. I only started cycling to work again when we moved to Leichhardt and it was mostly bike path door to door. Once Scarlett came along, my bike stood idly by, until I finally left it out in the back laneway for someone to take. It was easier to run or walk with the 3-wheeler pram for exercise and so Scarlett could sleep. Suddenly, I find it is 3 and half years since I have ridden a bike. Yesterday, inspired by the warmer weather and Flo's newfound ability to sit, we hit the bike shop and left with two new bikes fitted with bike seats for the girls. Scarlett's seat sits on the back of Rob's bike and Flo's sits in front of me. This morning was glorious and we headed off for a big ride around the bays near where we live. Almost the whole ride is through inter-connecting parks that run down to the water or purpose built bike paths off the road. We had a blast, Flo loved it, squeaking away as we went, checking everything out in her cute little helmet and shades and Scarlett loves signalling for turns. We all arrived home extremely content, if a little sore in the urals. I can see the purchase of a bike rack in the not too distant future so we can drive to bigger parks further afield. Look out for future pics of our newly re-formed buns of steel.