Single in Sydney: Sarah tries speed dating on a bike ... will she end up in a love spin?

SARAH tries speed dating with a difference and jumps on her bike. Will she be left going round in circles or could a bloke in cycling shorts sweep her of her bike seat?

Sarah Swain with Richard Beere from Soul Roadies at the Soul Roadies, Cycle speed dating, as part of the Sydney Rides Festival in Centennial Park.

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JOURNALIST Sarah Swain has been single (but dating) for longer than she cares to remember. That’s because it’s tough out there, as any single will tell you, so to bring hope to others across the city, she’s sharing her no-holds-barred adventures on the Sydney single scene every week.

Cycle Speed Dating

I hate speed dating. I loathe getting up early on Sunday mornings. And I’m not too keen on exercise either.

But, when an invite to the Soul Roadies Speed Dating, as part of the Sydney Riders Festival popped into my inbox, I geared myself up and said yes.

Not because I thought I was going to find a guy to swap my bicycle-made-for-one for a tandem.

But because I wanted to support the organisers for trying to arrange something a bit different.

However, as I made my way though Centennial Park in the middle of the night (well, 9am) I felt worried.

What if all the people were padded-cycling-short-fingerless-glove-wearing types who had dash cams on their heads and cable ties on their helmets to deter swooping magpies? (The closest I’ve ever come to a cable tie is reading Fifty Shades of Grey.)

Anyway, when I arrived, the organisers were pretty friendly (they were wearing cycling shorts and gloves but no cable ties or dashcams, thankfully) and one wheeled over a bike for me to borrow as I’d arranged.

It had a pink ribbon and a pink lily tied to the handlebars.

Next to one of the organisers’ slick silver fibreglass models it looked like a Datsun 120Y.

But that was the least of my problems, seeing as I’m more adept at riding a horse.

Anyway, the organiser, Maria, who set up Sydney singles cycling group Soul Roadies, explained we girls would ride along in a line, with one guy riding alongside each of us, as we did laps of the park.

After four minutes, the men would move forward by one girl, with the guy at the front riding to the back.

Easy as falling off a, um, bike, right?

We set off.

I pulled into position near the front alongside an Asian guy fully kitted out in black and fluoro green Lycra.

One of his socks said “F***” on the back, and the other said “Yeah”.

Right.

And I was about to open my mouth to say hello, when he sprinted off without me, like Graeme Brown heading for a podium finish.

I couldn’t stop laughing.

“Wait! Hellooooo!” I shouted after him.

Luckily, we hadn’t officially started.

But when he finally did slow down enough to chat, it was a pretty painful conversation.

I wondered if he’d got bunched up with our group by mistake and was actually training for Tokyo 2020?

Anyway.

The next few blokes were a mix of serious cyclists, ride-to-work bikers, and a guy in an oversized bright blue waterproof jacket that billowed in the breeze like a wind sock. I was a bit worried that if the wind got up any more, he’d take off, like in ET.

And it was around this time, things started to go wrong.

One of the blokes seemingly didn’t want to stop talking to his female friend and, so, stopped moving forward, creating a speed dating bottle neck just behind me.

One girl fell off. Luckily, nobody crashed into her, Tour de France-style.

(“Did any of the guys stop to help you?” I asked her later. “No!” she replied.)

My bike was like Datsun 120Y.

And, so, I was left riding alone at the front for a couple of laps.

Still, I was quite happy not to have to pedal into a headwind while reciting where I was from and what I did for a job again.

And by the time we got back to the cafe where we’d started, I bonked.

Which is a cycling term for hitting the wall. And not anything else.

The organisers didn’t do the usual secret email thing which usually happens at speed dating, leaving everybody to mingle instead at the cafe, which was crammed full of couples and kids.

I had a chat with a few of the girls, and it was actually pretty nice being out and about so early on a Sunday.

And I’d had fun, even if the only bloke who’d seemed interesting was actually one of the organisers.

And he was talking to a cute girl in cycling shorts.

So I locked up my bike and sped off home.

In a taxi.

Details: facebook.com/soulroadies/

First dates Australia Season 2