I’ve got wheels on my mind at the moment. Two of them actually. I want to get a bike and the whole research into exactly which one to get is BENDING MY MIND.

Having not owned a bicycle for the past twenty years, I’m a little bit out of the loop. I have sweet images of me tra la laaaing along with my basket laden retro looking ladies bicycle.

Ting, ting goes my bell…excuse me, coming by.

I refuse to think about the horror stories that friends keep sharing with me of how unbike friendly Sydney actually is. I’m also trying not to think of the seemingly vast amount of hills I’m suddenly very aware of in my immediate area. It’s now I start thinking, moving to Canberra might not be such a bad idea. Flat, tree lined cycle ways everywhere I needed to go. Melbourne I think would also be good, Amsterdam (for obvious bikey reasons) also fantastic. Byron Bay was also very bike friendly.

Alloy, inches, step through, speeds are all things that I wasn’t thinking of a couple of weeks ago. One helpful young bike enthusiast showed me a lovely looking bike with 21 gears. I know I sound like a big girly girl, but what on earth do I do with 21 gears? Last time I was confidently riding the streets with the wind in my hair, my bike had a back pedal break and that was it. If I wanted to get up a hill, I pedaled harder. (For the record I did, briefly have a three speed bike after this one, but by that time I had become a ‘cool’ teen and cool teens most certainly didn’t ride three speeds, so it didn’t quite get the mileage that I think my parents had hoped for.)

Oh just get on there and ride, someone helpfully tells me. Half of me says, what’s the worse that could happen? The other half of me, tells me in great detail all the horrific worse things that could happen.

And so I sit, in biking limbo. Unsure of which way to venture. With twenty tabs open on my computer, all with a different view on the best city bicycle to own . I know one thing is for sure though, it looks like there is going to be two wheels on my horizon.

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Does anyone have any biking tips for me? Brands they have been happy with, biking stories- horror or happy (I’m brave, I can take the horror ones) or just some general biking tips for riding in the city?