Writing | Research | Media
I bought an iPhone. It’s really fun.
I joined Instagram. Scrapbooking and sharing the colour in my world is exciting.
I’ve been publishing more writing on the web than is practical to share on this site through news posts.Continue reading “@bicksnpieces: Time for Twitter?”
When it was announced that I’d won the prize for Best Academic Paper at the 2013 Australian Cycling Conference I probably would have fallen off my chair had I been able to move. The prize was for the written version of the paper, submitted before the conference began, and recognises not just the quality of my work, but the relevance it holds to the work of others.
Most of the people presenting at this conference are involved in projects that make the sport of cycling more accessible to the wider Australian community or are looking at data indicating ways in which that community can grow. There were a lot of graphs.
As I sat there listening to people talk about these projects over the two-day event, I kept thinking how lucky I was to be sitting in a room full of people who make the world I live in a better place. But not just for cyclists, for other people too – whether it’s building a bike path that encourages people to get outside and walk as well, or working strategically to develop safer commuting routes which reduce traffic congestion and improve the landscape of certain areas along the way. Projects that encourage more people to get involved in the sport have the potential to really change people’s confidence, sense of self, physical health and mobility, and the ease of their day-to-day.
I take riding and bike facilities for granted sometimes, but sitting in this room made me so grateful for the work people do to make them a reality. It’s certainly motivating to know that the work I do can have an impact in these areas as well, but for me the real impact is the lessons I learned at this conference from others.
There were two other prizes awarded; one for best student paper and one for a practitioner. Both other recipients are a similar age to me indicating that there’s a whole lot of exciting work to come from people who are at the beginning of this journey too.
Next year’s conference will merge into the international Velo-City conference in May. If you work in any area of cycling I encourage you to come along and see how far reaching this sport really is.
Photo: Kath Bicknell
The Year of Shred got off to an interesting start at the CamelBak-WSMTB 4 Hour race last weekend at Yellowmundee. Instead of tearing up the trails, the trails tore up me.
But I wasn’t the only one. Hot weather had made for a slippery, sandy surface which caught many people out on the familiar club track. While a lot of riders crashed their bikes through transition in the opening laps, I’m pretty sure I was the only one to do it twice.
I’d made things a bit harder for myself with some compromised equipment choices, you see. First up, I’d over-inflated a leaky front tyre so it stayed up for an opening double lap. Not the smartest thing to do in preparation for loose sand. Next, I’d been too busy to service my forks when they needed it, meaning the rebound and most of the travel were on hiatus that weekend.
Changing the front tyre and grips had also lightened up the front end of my bike, which I’d failed to recognise until it started to handle differently on climbs. A raised front end, a leftover mod I’d forgotten about after riding a downhill trail, changed the handling further still.
Add to this the early morning feeling where you want to go back to bed for two more hours and the only thing racey about this rider/bike combo was the number stuck on the front. After stylishly losing skin on both legs and tearing up some new knicks, I took it fairly easy for the remainder of the first two laps and made a check list of things to alter before heading out for another.
The total lack of regard for careful bike prep hopefully signifies that I wasn’t really at the race to ride my best. The WSMTB 4 Hour series was just too good a chance to throw my bike in the car and catch up with a whole lot of mates. Mates like Brian ‘Big Dog’ Price who gave me a desparately craved Red Bull to switch my brain on for the rest of the day. And Rosie Barnes who’d come up to visit from Canberra for the weekend and let me talk her into racing the women’s pairs.
Watching Rosie ride reminded me how to ride. She’s so smooth through the twisty and the rough stuff. More than that, the way she was grinning through the first couple of laps made me want to go out and do the same. So we swapped turns a few more times until the clock ticked past midday. There were no other female pairs racing that day so we had the win wrapped up from the gun.
In addition to catching up with heaps of people off the bike, it was great fun smashing out some quick laps on the bike. Rosie got the fastest female lap of the day and I learned how to ride again by the end of the race pulling out a quick one right at the end. The 4 Hour format was super fun, and I really enjoyed how the racing finished on a high and without the addition of any extra scabs.
Thank you to Western Sydney Mountain Bike Club for another excellently run event. Thanks also the Bicycle Garage crew of Marty, Jez and Rae-Anne for sharing their track side set up and making the day even better still. And thanks to the trails for reminding me how to ride and that you should never be too busy to look after your bike.
Photos: Kath Bicknell (most) Big Dog (Bicky Barnesy Dream Team).
Past proceedings from the Australian Cycling Conference suggest that, at least locally, much of the research discussed there examines issues relating to uptake, infrastructure, sustainability, commuting, tourism and risk factors. When I sat down to write a paper proposal for the 2013 conference, there were two things I wanted to contribute from my own work. One was ideas about how we can look toward the actual experience of cycling to discover more about the sport and the theory often used to discuss it. Given there is so much writing on the web from cyclists, about the diverse experiences had through the sport, the second thing I wanted to discuss was how we might be able to consider writing such as this as part of a broader academic method. The full abstract for the paper is below.
The conference takes place in Adelaide, during the Tour Down Under, from 21-22 January. If you’re interested in finding out more about the topics to be covered there, have a look at the program on the website. Research from the conference will be published after the event.
Everybody’s Writing
Kath Bicknell
As participation in cycling grows, so does the amount of research on the sport. But this writing often falls short of accurately conveying the experience of cycling – what it feels like to pedal along on two wheels, and how these experiences are understood through a complex interaction of sophisticated sensory pathways.
One place that is rife with detailed accounts of riding is the blogosphere. Online communities of mountain bikers (as an example of one particular cycling culture) provide countless, reflective, first person reports of riding. These reveal the myriad experiences had while racing, travelling and preparing for the next event. Although heavily coded with insider terminology, these accounts provide rich descriptions of what anthropologist, Michael Jackson, would call the rider’s ‘lifeworld’.
This paper discusses some of the opportunities these data provide for theoretical arguments about sport and performance. By considering the experience of riding in all its lived complexity, we can then build upon ideas about embodied action and awareness to reflect upon a wide range of other circumstances, projects and events.
The first instalment in a three part film from the Flow Mountain Bike Bikes and Brews Tour has been released online. Watch it on it’s own, or see it in conjunction with reading the story in the current issue of the print mag. This link will take you where you need to go.
On a personal note, getting to join the Flow crew on a trip like this was one of those moments that felt too good to be true, but stretched out over days. Guided trail tours from All Terrain Cycles, food and drink at local establishments that are as tourism worthy as the trails, meeting inspiring people who call these places home and getting to watch talented people doing their thing in a sport and job that I love.
We hope the stories from the trip inspire other riders to discover some of the big thrills these locations have offer as well. Part one takes you to Beechworth. Keep an eye on Flow for parts two and three.
Image: Damian Breach. Follow that link for more of these too, and get planning your next long weekend!
Kath Bicknell