I have slowly been getting back to my bike riding after a long time away from it. Not bike races like I did in the old days, just enjoyable rides. I'm too fat for racing anymore!
There's a local bike riding group I've joined and it's been great to get out and about again. After being back on the bike for about 6 months or so, yesterday I did my first 100 km ride in many years.
Starting back on the bike was all part of our plan with our house move. We are now in a home where I can just roll straight out of the shed and onto excellent cycling roads. Previously I had to drive somewhere to do a ride, it's just a hassle/barrier. Being a leg amputee just adds to the hassle as I need to fart about changing legs (I have a dedicated cycling leg) and that means more kit to carry. It's so much easier doing all that at home and just rolling out the door.
That said, I do want to travel places and do granfondos, ride challenges or visiting mates in other towns for some fun outings. I'm also keen to try some rail trails at some stage when I get a gravel bike suitable for them.
So driving places to ride is still going to be a thing, just not all the time.
With increasing fitness I'm now occasionally travelling to participate in cycle events. I went to Tumut a few weeks back for an organised event, that involved a drive to Sydney to hook up with a good mate and we took his car to Tumut from there.
When travelling by myself carrying the bike in the car is no issue, I can get the bike in the back of the car easily enough with rear seats down and the front wheel removed but for the next event my wife will be coming along as we have some couples friends doing the same. Nice long weekend away.
But I need a way to transport the bike plus have room for luggage, passengers etc. I could still get the luggage and bike in the back if I
really wanted but I plan to make this a more regular thing so being able to load the bike onto a carrier seemed the way to go. Keep the interior free for luggage and people.
While I've had roof rack bike carrier on most of my previous cars, I didn't want to put them on the MG4, so this time I've decided on a tow hitch bike carrier.
In the end I went for the
Kuat Sherpa 2.0. I liked the design, general features and the fact that removing it from the tow hitch is a simple operation which requires no tools. Fitted it today, some pics:
It has a release lever allowing you to tilt the rack down to have access to the tailgate:
Which opens without issue.
In this configuration there's actually enough room for me to sit on the rear lip of the car so I can swap my leg over.
Then it's easy to fold the rack up and out of the way when not used. It is key locked to the hitch. There is also a cable for locking the bikes to the carrier - it has a key lock built in. Useful for those times you need short term unsupervised security.
I'll do some local drives with it, need to test it out and check I'm doing it right but it's simple enough.
Also need to order a bike carrier number plate from Service NSW. Not legal to use these without the extra rear plate being visible from all rear angles.
The brake lights and indicators are visible with the bikes on the rack.
The rack weighs 14.5 kg, while the two bikes shelves have a load limit of ~18 kg each, perfect given the MG4 towball downforce rating (50 kg). That is fairly generous for typical lightweight road/gravel bikes and e-bikes. My two bikes combined would be 16 kg or so and I'm most likely to carry just the one.
It is a very tight fit with the handlebar of the inner bike being very close to the car's rear light shelf, it could rub - the bar tape can touch. My handlebars (44 cm) are fairly wide for a road bike, but not an MTB (I don't do MTB, not much fun in dirt/mud with my leg). In such a case you might put a wide bar bike on the outer carrier shelf.
I paid A$949 delivered to my door.
I'm starting to wonder if the marbles are rolling at all just lately 
