Blog

New Bike Day! Polygon Syncline C5 Carbon Hardtail 29" MTB. Dec 2023

The trusty 1998 Apollo Summit mountain bike was 25 years old so it was finally time to upgrade! I ordered a Polygon Syncline C5 carbon frame hardtail with front Fox suspension, hydraulic disc brakes front & rear, modern geometry and 1x12 Shimano SLX drivetrain - a massive upgrade. I decided on a lighter carbon hardtail to tackle the more cross-country (XC) riding I do on trails in places like the blue mountains. Of course I did an assessembly video with its first 4 km practice ride, there will be an upgrade video in the future and of course more adventures - I have two gravel events planned for 2024 - stay subscribed to ecopenny to stay tuned to all the adventures!

Mudgee Classic Social - Penny Farthing 35 km. 30 Apr 2023

After the setback of cancelling attendance at Mudgee in 2022 due to contracting COVID-19, I was raring to go for the 2023 event. I made sure I did two 35km+ rides in Bathurst to make sure I could do the distance and also did hill climbing training as the event had 2 peaks. My penny was on display at the event village on the Saturday under a marquee with torrential rain the whole day! Luckily, the Sunday had no significant rain for the event. The Mudgee event had  the 55km gravel event on the Saturday and 175, 125, 65 & 35 km events on the Sunday. After doing the 120 km in 2021 on the road bike, my goal was to do the 2023 on the penny. My training paid off & I completed the course in about 2.5 hours, only walking a short way before the top of the first peak. The penny has one fixed gear, very steep hills are too difficult! I was proud of my effort and had a great time at the event, of course my penny was the centre of attention!

ecopenny Banner at the Oberon Show. 11 Feb 2023

The skillful team at Officeworks in Bathurst has printed a ecopenny banner for events. These are great value and are custom designed on your home computer, then saved as a PDF file for Officeworks to use. This was first used at the Oberon Show where we had penny farthings & tricycle on display, as well as the animals, vintage cars and machinery that were on display also. Here is the video showing how I created it.

Great Vic Bike Ride. 1 Dec 2022

The GVBR is an annual event organised by the Bicycle Network. There are 3, 5 & 9 day versions. This time, I did the 5 day event from Koroit to Apollo Bay in Victoria Australia on the Trek Emonda road bicycle. This was a supported ride with your camping luggage transported to the next site each day. I did over 300km which was a fantastic achievement. Of course, there is a ecopenny video showing the journey.

YouTube #shorts. 14 Oct 2021

YouTube #shorts are gaining popularity due to their short length of 1 minute or less and vertical aspect ratio to suit watching on mobile devices. I have released a number of #shorts including how to tie boot laces, safety tips for tying a kayak to a car's roof, Aldi's battery recycling collection and a cute lantern which contains a removable headtorch. These videos will allow the Ecopenny experience to grow as it targets people who are time poor and can give a single tip or hint which is more easily digested by the watcher.

Wow - 177 videos done on YouTube. 19 Aug 2021

What an achievement, 177 videos released on YouTube now, one per week with a few extra 'bonus' videos thrown in. The subscribers are over 130 now also! It has been quite an ordeal churning out video after video! I have tried to keep to just one a week to allow the necessary time to be creative and not to get burnt out. Some videos have been done in bursts of 5 in one day and some have needed longer (many weeks) due to their nature when I have needed something to grow like the veggie garden videos and am adding footage together from multiple weeks. I am at the stage where I am usually ahead of myself and have the next few weeks videos uploaded already so I do not have to panic to upload a video on the Sunday night like it was in the early days! YouTube shorts are one minute or less videos which are like quick 'snacks' to view, I have done a few of them this year to appeal to viewers who do not want to watch long videos.

New ecosport - single scull rowing. 10 May 2021

I'm now the proud owner of a second-hand Ausrowtec single scull rowing boat. This had not been used for many years so I thought it would be worthwhile to repurpose it and repair it to full rowing order. Of course, this will be the subject of a more ecosport videos, I plan to document creating a shelf storage system to store the boat and show the repair and restoration process and of course finally getting it on the water!

Saving the earth one tip at a time. 29 Dec 2019.

It's overwhelming to try to think of saving the planet and being more sustainable in one go. There are many problems, some of which have difficult or no solutions available in 2019.

I started my journey by doing things one step at a time. Everyone can start today by doing simple steps to help the environment. If enough individuals act, it will create a movement for change which is quite powerful.

I suggest to start with baby steps, for example, try keeping a reusable coffee cup in the car or work bag and use it to eliminate disposable coffee cup wastage. Also, put your shopping bags in the car boot so they are ready for the next grocery shop. Use reusable containers for your food left overs for the fridge instead of wrapping with single use cling wrap. Each little step adds up, breaking old habits and being more sustainable.

2019 was a mammoth year getting the videos up every week and launching the online social media channels. I thought it would be tough getting ideas but the creative process came easily to me and often one video would inspire more related videos in the future.

I look forward to you all coming along with me on my journey into 2020 and beyond.

Ecopenny.