
NSW - ORANGE
Carolynne James
I cycled at high school but had a long break living in Sydney and avoiding its traffic. After moving to Orange in 2015 and wanting to meet new people, improve fitness and get to know the neighborhood, she did the She Ride Confidence Course. Carolynne loved the cameraderie and started an ongoing group combining her two loves – wine and cycling. Carolynne likes social riding for a coffee and a chat but has also expanded her horizons with rides around the world such as Malborough Wine Trail in New Zealand and food and wine cycling in Europe with the skills and support from starting in She Rides.
Program Description:
Orange She Rides Road Confidence Program aims to provide you with the skills, knowledge, confidence and motivation to ride, and connect you with other likeminded women to ride with in your community. Over the course of the program you will learn to love riding and will want to make it a part of your everyday life. You will be able to see improvements in your fitness levels, be able to ride with friends, and enjoy the freedom and fun that bike riding provides.
You may even choose to put your new found skills and confidence to good use and commute to work, ride with your children to school or participate in community rides/events.
Program content – What you should expect to learn She Rides begins with bike confidence sessions, conducted predominantly in a traffic-free location. The first couple of sessions will include, but not be limited to, general riding skills, traffic riding skills, basic bike maintenance session at DG Cycles (cleaning the bike, oiling the chain, changing a flat tyre and bike transportation) and the introduction of group/social riding skills to begin building fitness and confidence.
The following sessions will continue to develop your general riding skills and fitness, and get you riding as a group. Riding on pathways and low-traffic roads in small groups is introduced and there will be plenty of knowledge and information sharing about great places to ride. The program will be conducted predominantly on pathways, shared paths and low-traffic environments. She Rides also includes a visit to the local bike shop so you know what goods, services and support the bike shop can provide you with. During all of this, you will have plenty of time to get to know the other participants and make new friends to ride with. By the end of the program you will be aware of and feel more comfortable to join one of the many local riding groups or form your own with your new cycling friends to help you to continue to ride and enjoy some of the best cycling in NSW, once the program is complete.